3D World takes a journey above and below water as Pixar shares insights into the creation of its new feature film, Luca

“The colour of the Mediterranean water is so incredibly deep and gorgeous. When you dive under, it has these beautiful aqua tones that we had to capture,” notes production designer Daniela Strijleva

The film conjures a sense of place that’s marked by the influence of both anime and Japanese woodblock design

“WE PLAYED WITH LOTS OF PATTERNS LIKE SCALLOPS WITH THEIR SCALES. THEY HAVE A HANDMADE QUALITY”

Chia-Han Jennifer Chang, art director, Luca

When a fantasy movie strikes a chord it’s usually because it succeeds in weaving a thread of reality through the escapism and visual spectacle of it all. Luca takes a story of friendship and places it within the genre of a richly imagined fantasy tale and to begin the process of drawing these two worlds together, the team working on Lucaembarked on a research process that included an exploration of Italian myths, legends and lore – from tales of dragons to the story of a bellringing octopus that saved a village from a band of pirates. “Some of these tales were actually made up by fishermen,” says the film’s director Enrico Casarosa. “They’d find a great fishing spot, and they didn’t want anyone to take it over, so they’d make up scary stories.”

To create the look of the sea monsters, artists studied medieval depictions of such creatures that appeared in the Carta Marina –a Renaissance map dating back to 1539 – as well as sea monster sculptures throughout Italy, seen on fountains and benches, and even mosaicked on the ground.“I really wanted these designs to be unique, a departure from their medieval depictions,” says Deanna Marsigliese, the film’s art director. “However, I also wanted to stay true to their decorative origins. You’ll notice beautiful, irregular scale patterns – as if carved by hand. You’ll see different kinds of facial fins, scalloped crests, sharp spines and webbing, and curlicues within the tails. And as our sea monsters age, these features only grow bigger and bolder. They’re beautiful creatures and combined with their iridescence and gorgeous colours, could pass for pieces of costume jewellery. ”Colour and shading art director Chia-Han Jennifer Chang adds that, “On all of the sea creatures, we played with lots of patterns like scallops with their scales. They have a handmade quality. In terms of colour, they represent the Mediterranean sea – the blues and turquoises – with an iridescent quality.” Chang says the sea monster colour palette is as bold and saturated as that of the human world, “but on the opposite side of the spectrum.”