Official BIONICLE Concept and Design

[Crunchyn]

As approved by Makaru

 

Lately, I've been searching around for BIONICLE concept art and the like and this is what I found so far.
 
TOYS/PRODUCTS/ETC.
 
BIONICLE Style Guides
http://www.majhost.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=264895
 
http://www.ulkutay.net/vsg/ [under "Style Guides]

 

Phantoka: new

http://www.ulkutay.net/work-detail-53.html

 

Barraki: new

http://www.ulkutay.net/work-detail-54.html

 

Piraka: new

http://www.ulkutay.net/work-detail-55.html

 

Inika: new

http://www.ulkutay.net/work-detail-58.html

 
Christian Faber
http://faberfiles.blogspot.com/

http://derchronist.net/derspion28/Report-CF-110411AA.pdf

Title Design for TLR's sequel
 
Christopher Woollett
http://www.behance.net/gallery/LEGO-Bionicle/3770232
Barraki design?
 
David Bird
http://birddavid.com/index.php
Character/Kanohi designs + Case study on the design of Krika.
 
GuuPress- "Behind the Scenes at LEGO"
A look at the development of the Hordika
 
http://www.guupress.com/magazine/features/lln-lego/1.asp
 
MonoRed Labs
http://www.monoredlabs.com/en/portfolio/type_id-11/#.UzR1X_ldV8F broke link
Packaging designs for the Matoran w/ playing cards.
 
Toby Dutkiewicz
http://www.coroflot.com/toby_dutkiewicz/portfolio1
Bionicle Shoe Package Design
 
 
______________________________________________________________________________________
MOVIES
Blacksheep Productions [Dave Max + Eric Hilleary]
http://www.blacksheepproductions.net/portfolios/blacksheep/
Features character and environment design for MoL, LoMN, and WoS.
 
Chris Aguirre
http://caguirre.blogspot.com/2009/06/art-direction-color-script-bionicle.html
Color Script for TLR!
 
http://caguirre.blogspot.com/2009/06/art-directionbionicle-legend-reborn_8804.html
http://caguirre.blogspot.com/2009/06/art-directionbionicle-legend-reborn_23.html
Environment concepts
 
http://caguirre.carbonmade.com/
Work he did for Hero Factory got mixed in with his folder for TLR.
There's also work he did for LEGO: Atlantis
 
Creative Capers Entertainment
http://www.creativecapers.com/ [Creative Design-> Bionicle]

 

 Dan Kubat- NEW
http://www.danosimagination.com/Portals/0/Bionicles.pdf

MoL Storyboards

 

http://www.duckyousucker.com/BIONICLES1copy.psd.gif
http://www.duckyousucker.com/BINICLES2copy.psd.gif
Storyboard for MoL's Takua+Tahu Lava Surfing Sequence.

 

Stephen Lewis

http://stephenlewisorthographics.blogspot.com/2010/07/blog-post_8830.html

Stephen Lewis did orthographics for TLR. This is an ortho of the moving of parts to form the Prototype Robot.

 

Duane Loose
http://dloosedesign.com/portfolio-2/concept/
Duane Loose was the art director for LoMN, as well as visual arts supervisor for MoL and LoMN, and a environmental designer for WoS and LoMN. His portfolio showcases environment and prop designs from LoMN.[/size]
 
HeavyMetalDesigner
http://heavymetaldesigner.deviantart.com/art/Bionicle-II-Cog-Mountain-254359747
Concept art- Cog Mountain of Po-Metru
 
Pedro Ruiz Reyes
http://www.behance.net/gallery/Bionicle-The-Legend-Reborn/3774644

 
Pedro Reyes did digital matte paintings for TLR. 

 

Michael Rose - NEW

Art director, visual development for the movies

 

http://www.mproseimages.com/work/#/bionicle-movies/

 

 
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
GAMES
Enrique Barahona
http://www3.telus.net/public/kikokun/character_design/bionicle/index.html
Enrique Barahona worked as Senior Character Animator, Lead Character Animator and Character Concept Artist on BIONICLE: the Game, responsible for the main character art as well as overseeing rigging and animation. This gallery shows some of the models, a bunch of Rahi concepts, and two environment concepts.[/size]
 
Richard Aidley
Kahu Concept Art from BIONICLE: the Game 
Richard Aidley worked as concept artist and level scriptor on the game.
 
Templar Studios
http://templarstudios.tumblr.com/
Concept Art, Storyboards, etc. for MNOG

Edited July 2, 2015 by Crunchyn

[Gatanui]

Hey, that's a nice compilation you've got there! I didn't even know some of these.

 

-Gata

[emily]

Most excellent, thank you for sharing! Interesting that they were still calling it the Kahu and not Gukko at the time BIONICLE The Game was in production.

[Aanchir]

I'd come across a lot of this stuff before, but those style guides are new to me and have lots of interesting and even potentially useful information!

 

I don't want to fish for concept art I've found right now, but sometime I can see if I've found any sites to share that aren't in your list.

[Crunchyn]

I'd come across a lot of this stuff before, but those style guides are new to me and have lots of interesting and even potentially useful information!

 

I don't want to fish for concept art I've found right now, but sometime I can see if I've found any sites to share that aren't in your list.

I didn't even know about the style guides until I read about it in "Brick by Brick." I really wished that the button found in the second link worked, could've been able to see larger images possibly.

 

I excluded some sites since I thought they were sites that people knew about already, but I think I might add them in anyway to the list, but it would be great if you can share any new sites

Edited March 23, 2014 by CrunchbiteNuva

[Katuko]

I love the designs used in BIONICLE: The Game. The graphics may be a bit old at this point, but the mix of set and movie style for the characters looks wonderful in my eyes.

 

I see that Templar's storyboard art is as rough as my sketches usually are. Kanohi obviously drawn in seconds (look at Matau!), image frames of different sizes, stains on the paper, etc.

[Kopekemaster]

Wow. I love me some good concept art! I liked this one in particular. Definitely looks very Barraki-esque, though it reminds me of some creatures in VNOG for some reason.

 

Also, I think I'm going to try to make this into set form. Or maybe this.

Edited March 27, 2014 by Master of all Kopekes

[fishers64]

The first two links appear to be broken - I can't find the style guides under the second.

 

Anyway, the movie concepts is some real eye-catching stuff.

Edited March 27, 2014 by fishers64

[JAG18]

Wow. I love me some good concept art! I liked this one in particular. Definitely looks very Barraki-esque, though it reminds me of some creatures in VNOG for some reason.

Wow, *downloads to computer* that looks really cool. I might use that as an image for a Barraki soldier or something.

 

Anyway, I haven't gotten around to going through this whole thing (yet), but it looks like a great collection of concept art. Thanks Crunchbite!

[Crunchyn]

The first two links appear to be broken - I can't find the style guides under the second.

 

Anyway, the movie concepts is some real eye-catching stuff.

Alright, think I just fixed the first link. As for the second one, it needs Flash to work I believe and there's also the possibility that the window's too zoomed and the tabs on top got cut off.

 

Haven't found anything new yet, aside from packaging for the Bionicle shoes and I think I already went through all the credits from the games and the movies in hopes of finding artists who worked on BIONICLE.

 

I'm gonna start updating the list with more known sites, like the FaberFiles. If anyone has any new stuff to share, that'd be great

Edited March 27, 2014 by CrunchbiteNuva

[Kopekemaster]

Wow, I didn't know that Twilight Sparkle was in the initial concepts for Bionicle. Very interesting.

[bonesiii]

Like everybody's saying, some of these are new to me. And I've spent a lot of time searching for concept art myself, so much appreciated!

[Crunchyn]

Found some more stuff! Added to the list.

 

MonoRed Labs

http://www.monoredlabs.com/en/portfolio/type_id-11/#.UzR1X_ldV8F

Packaging designs for the Matoran w/ playing cards.

 

Toby Dutkiewicz

http://www.coroflot.com/toby_dutkiewicz/portfolio1

Bionicle Shoe Package Design

 

Chris Aguirre

http://caguirre.blogspot.com/2009/06/art-direction-color-script-bionicle.html

Color Script for TLR!

 

http://caguirre.blogspot.com/2009/06/art-directionbionicle-legend-reborn_8804.html

http://caguirre.blogspot.com/2009/06/art-directionbionicle-legend-reborn_23.html

Environment concepts

 

Dan Kubat

http://www.duckyousucker.com/BIONICLES1copy.psd.gif

http://www.duckyousucker.com/BINICLES2copy.psd.gif

Storyboard for MoL's Takua+Tahu Lava Surfing Sequence.

 

HeavyMetalDesigner

http://heavymetaldesigner.deviantart.com/art/Bionicle-II-Cog-Mountain-254359747

Concept art- Cog Mountain of Po-Metru

Edited March 27, 2014 by CrunchbiteNuva

[Kopekemaster]

Just curious, but how do you go about looking for these?

[Crunchyn]

Just curious, but how do you go about looking for these?

Mostly two ways.

 

The main way I search is by Google (either Web or Image) and I just search "BIONICLE" with an art-related term like "Portfolio" or "Concept Art/Environmental Art/Product Design/Storyboards" or "Demo Reel" or "Industrial Design" (there's a lot of more terms I search by) and just scroll through the results until I see something that looks like it could be an official work. Sometimes I find something but it's likely it's not originally from that website so I right click and "search Google for this image" and find other places where this image might be from.

 

Then the second way I did it was by going through the credits for the movies/games/etc. and literally searching all the artists by name and hoping that they have a website or portfolio online that might have some BIONICLE pieces inside.

Edited March 28, 2014 by CrunchbiteNuva

[Kopekemaster]

Oh, I see. Cool.

[Crunchyn]

Found a lot more TLR work from Chris Aguirre!

Chris Aguirre

http://caguirre.carbonmade.com/

Work he did for Hero Factory got mixed in with his folder for TLR.

There's also work he did for LEGO: Atlantis

 

GuuPress- "Behind the Scenes at LEGO"

A look at the development of the Hordika

http://www.guupress.com/magazine/features/lln-lego/1.asp

Edited March 29, 2014 by CrunchbiteNuva

[LordofBionicles]

Really impresive, must have taken you quite some time to find all of this!

Thanks for sharing it with the community.

[Wazdakka]

Wow, this is some great stuff! Wonderful peeks at what brought Bionicle into being.

[Mask collector]

Absolutely amazing! Thanks for this, they're a great find

[Crunchyn]

Finally found something else!

 

Stephen Lewis

http://stephenlewisorthographics.blogspot.com/2010/07/blog-post_8830.html

Stephen Lewis did orthographics for TLR. This is an ortho of the moving of parts to form the Prototype Robot.

Edited June 8, 2014 by CrunchbiteNuva

[Crunchyn]

Found some more stuff. I received permission from Erebus to double-post.

 

Duane Loose has updated his portfolio. There's a couple of new pieces you can see there.

http://dloosedesign.com/portfolio/bionicle/

 

Dan Kubat

http://www.danosimagination.com/Portals/0/Bionicles.pdf

Much more storyboards from MoL

 

Christian Faber

http://derchronist.net/derspion28/Report-CF-110411AA.pdf

Not sure if this is real actually. Design for the title of TLR's sequel.

[Crunchyn]

Wow, it's been a year since I updated this.

 

I was watching the behind-the-scenes for MoL and on a whim, I attempted to search for more development pieces and needless to say, I found a visual development portfolio from Michael Rose, who worked as art director. So check the link down below:

 

Michael Rose

http://www.mproseimages.com/work/#/bionicle-movies/

 

He has some pretty interesting stuff, such as a painting depicting the Makuta hatching a Visorak army o.O

 

EDIT: Ulkutay Creative has overhauled their site so the old style guides is gone but they replaced them with selected images from all the years they've done, previously I could only access the Piraka/Inika guides.

 

Phantoka:

http://www.ulkutay.net/work-detail-53.html

 

Barraki:

http://www.ulkutay.net/work-detail-54.html

 

Piraka:

http://www.ulkutay.net/work-detail-55.html

 

Inika:

http://www.ulkutay.net/work-detail-58.html

Edited July 2, 2015 by Crunchyn

[Makaru]

This is not a usual way to do things, but this is an extremely well established and comprehensive collection of concept art. I have approved this as an official topic, since I'm certain we will be seeing much more concept art as time goes on.

[Rooster Nui]

It's a good thing you're doing, Crunchyn. Some of these I've seen, and some I haven't. When I'm on a hunt for some concept art, I'll know to check here.

 

Thank you.

Edited July 3, 2015 by Rooster Nui

[Taria Pakari]

Michael Rose

http://www.mproseimages.com/work/#/bionicle-movies/

 

He has some pretty interesting stuff, such as a painting depicting the Makuta hatching a Visorak army o.O

 

Sidorak looks so done in that concept art.

[doodleloot]

What exactly was the concept art in Michael Rose's portfolio made for? One of the pictures, wich shows several Visorak from Web of Shadows, uses a modified picture of Megatron from the 2007 Transformers movie. Since Web of Shadows came out in 2005, it couldn't have been made during the production of that movie. Yet the picture is labeled as concept art for the Bionicle trilogy. 

[Cheesy Mac n Cheese]

What exactly is this? I don't remember anything like that. Almost like a Metru Nui structure on Mata Nui.

 

Michael Rose

http://www.mproseimages.com/work/#/bionicle-movies/

 

He has some pretty interesting stuff, such as a painting depicting the Makuta hatching a Visorak army o.O

 

Sidorak looks so done in that concept art.

 

 

Sidorak is NOT amused.

[emily]

What exactly is this? I don't remember anything like that. Almost like a Metru Nui structure on Mata Nui.

A bunch of Web of Shadows stuff got left on the cutting room floor, that's probably just one of those bits. Most of it had to do with the Hordika traveling to Keetongu.

[Crunchyn]

What exactly was the concept art in Michael Rose's portfolio made for? One of the pictures, wich shows several Visorak from Web of Shadows, uses a modified picture of Megatron from the 2007 Transformers movie. Since Web of Shadows came out in 2005, it couldn't have been made during the production of that movie. Yet the picture is labeled as concept art for the Bionicle trilogy. 

Both Makuta pieces are equally confusing. WoS was released in 2005, Transformers was 2007 and the other pic featured a MOC by Biorockdude which was uploaded in 2013. My only guess is that these pieces aren't meant as official concept art but rather that they are meant as a part of mass design package to informing the other artists of the mood/look/etc. that he wants WoS to feel like. After WOS, he probably went back to edit those pieces for the portfolio, clearly not meant as official concept art but as to demonstrate an ability to quickly get a point across, as from there, the technical (modeling/lighting) department can begin work on lights as the visual development can work on finalizing the looks of assets.

 

EDIT: On the line of more questionable content, here's the work of freelancer artist Raphael Kuntz who worked on level design for the games Inika Island Assault and Matoran Escape

 

Raphael Kuntz

http://www.visu.kuntz.tv/home/bionicle-island

http://www.visu.kuntz.tv/home/bionicle-matoran

Edited July 4, 2015 by Crunchyn

[Crunchyn]

Here's a new update featuring Jan Kjaer, who worked as a freelance illustrator and story development for LEGO, one being BIONICLE way back in the developing stages. and beyond. You might recognize this art of Axe, one of the preceding six characters who then were developed into the Toa Mata. Recently I came across his site which has two more pieces he did which were for a much later year in the Metru Nui setting. The image names suggest that the Toa Metru may have possibly been meant to be different forms of the Toa Mata until LEGO decided to make them a new team instead.

 

http://www.jankjaer.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/B_Onua1.jpg

http://www.jankjaer.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/B_Lewa1.jpg

 

 

[Naota Takizawa]

Nuju wanted to copy Whenua & Matau, so he painted himself black and began looking for rocks, then later stole Matau's aero slicers.