I Am Mother
Back in August 2015 I started creating concepts for what would become I Am Mother, directed by Grant Sputore. Here's a bit of a selection of 'em, all created at Weta Workshop.
This project was unusual and pretty amazing in that it was intended to be a lead character fully practical build right from the start with no plan to digitally alter or enhance the suit. Ultimately here were a number of CGI augmented action shots but, from my understanding, 90% of the shots of Mother were completely captured in camera. Extra-remarkable is the fact that our lead builder on this project Luke Hawker ended up performing the role of Mother in the film!
Grant Sputore was heavily involved throughout this whole design process and contributed to many aspects of Mother, this character really is his vision. He's one of those guys who could probably do everything on the film himself if he had the time. A real jerk!
I Am Mother is on Netflix now!
Starting at the end - the final concept next to the completed build.
The very first round of sketches. Trying to figure out how to hide a person in there.
Some of the head options I went through. All credit to Grant Sputore for ultimately finding the final direction for Mother's face.
Infant comforting surface options. This continued from an idea in the very first sketch created on this project.
Getting pretty near the end! I thought it'd be nice to see some personalising touches from Daughter.
Multiple views featuring contributions from Tahiwi Trenor-Hunt, Grant Sputore and Luke Hawker.
A real rough environment sketch
Illustrating this IKEA-styled crew tshirt was a fun way to finish up the project
Creating the Robot for I Am Mother (Netflix): Inside Weta Workshop