Image shows: This is what the Na’vi could have looked like in “Avatar” and “The Way Of Water”.

In 2009, the cinema success story began with “Avatar: Aufbruch nach Pandora”, which is currently impressively continued with “Avatar 2: The Way Of Water”. But of course the actual development started much earlier. Recently, concept artist Joseph C. Pepe even took us back to 2005 when he invented his first Na’vi.

On his Instagram channel, Pepe has been giving various insights into the creation of the two previous ‘Avatar’ films for some time now. As a concept artist, his job is to create a look for the world, beasts, and characters. Work began in 2005 when James Cameron brought him on board, gave him his vision for Avatar and asked him to design a Na’vi within 14 days. With a photo-realistic film in mind, Cameron felt the pressure to create a design that impressed the director. The result:

“Na’vi_v01k” is the first character Pepe created for “Avatar”, then still trading under the working title “Project 880”. You can already see many parallels with the later design, not just the unmistakable blue skin color and yellow eyes. But there are also plenty of differences, so this image not only gives a small glimpse into how a design develops from an idea, but also shows what could have been.

Incidentally, the design earned Joseph C. Pepe the job as concept artist, which he now held again for the sequel. There is on his Instagram channel, which we recommend to anyone interested in this kind of concept art, has many more insights. You can see how he first imagined Neytiri, before Zoe Saldana came on board, and how he imagined what her and Jake’s kids would look like for Avatar 2.

For more insight into the creation of the second part, we can also recommend the book “The Art Of Avatar The Way Of Water”, which also contains many drawings by Pepe and photos of many other participants from the history of the film.

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