Like a lioness in the Serengeti

Anthony talks about his most famous creation: the Dora Milaje team of warriors from Black Panther

“I was busy working on Avengers: Infinity War when I got the opportunity to contribute to Black Panther. I designed the Dora Milaje that director Ryan Coogler and costume designer Ruth E Carter brought to life in the movie.

I love comic books and so most of my suggestions were based on the rich source material. When I started working on the film Ryan was confirmed as the director, but Ruth was yet to join the production team. I had to work on character designs based on descriptions of scenes.

I wanted the women to look fierce and definitely not scantily clad. I had this idea of a lioness hunting in the Serengeti, standing up on a rock, surveying her land, getting ready to attack her prey. That gave me warm colours, yellows and oranges and reds.

After head of visual development Ryan Meinerding took my designs into the first pitch, the discussion opens up to other members of the team and the producers of the movie, and there are changes and little things added on. “Okay, let’s try red. Let’s try this. Let’s try more African patterns and get even more of a tribal feel.” Overall, that’s kind of the process. It comes back to me and I make those changes.

I had a blue version, a version with white stripe, more multicoloured. They ended up sticking on my initial yellow, that feeling of a lionesses hunting. But when my design doesn’t get through, I’m okay with that. I understand it’s not what they want so I try something else. You have to take criticism positively.

I heard Ryan Coogler really liked the final design. I didn’t get to go to that meeting, so the head of the team relayed these messages. But hopefully I’ll be in those meetings one day.”

I had this idea of a lioness hunting in the Serengeti, up on a rock, surveying her land, getting ready to attack her prey

Even if your design isn’t chosen, you still did your job by letting them know that’s not the direction they want to go

character to design. The team, headed up by Andy, received the brief, then it was “all hands on deck,” and everybody came up with designs. Anthony tried to balance doing what the producers wanted with his own personal tastes, which is usually “going really far – like, weird far.” He came up with five designs and took them to the meeting where the team compared work and received notes. From there, Andy guides the refining of the idea until it looks right.

“Even if your design isn’t chosen, you still did your job by letting them know that’s not the direction they want to go. Process of elimination.”

Most people hadn’t heard of Guardians of the Galaxy when Anthony started work on the film. However, he’d collected the comics as a kid. Anthony insists you have to be a comic book nerd to do his job. First, it wouldn’t be interesting if you weren’t seriously into it, and, second, you need to have an almost encyclopaedic knowledge of a film’s source – the comics.

When Anthony doesn’t get to see the full script – to prevent leaks – he has to come up with ideas based a scene or scene description. On Infinity War, he was told to come up with “an epic battle” between Thanos and Dr Strange. He says Marvel’s way of working is so open and collaborative that an artist’s design can have a direct influence on the final script.

The word escapes me

Anthony Francisco is still trying to find the right words to answer this question: beyond top-notch art skills, what does it take to work as a vis-dev artist at Marvel Studios?

“People skills… That doesn’t mean doing whatever people want. It means you’re open to working in a collaborative manner. And respectfully. Show respect, get respect… I don’t know. The word escapes me.”

Maybe the questions threw him off because of the word “work.” Talk to Anthony about Marvel and you see it’s more than just a job. The Dora Milaje’s costumes are inspired by mainly by African culture, southeast Asian tribes, Native Americans, samurai and the Ifugao people from the Philippines. Baby Groot was modelled on his children. Marvel is part of his life, and has been since he was a kid. Anthony finds the word that defines a success in entertainment art: “Longevity.”

He’s been involved in the industry for nearly 20 years now. The film’s he’s been part of have made billions of dollars. But he never mentions that. He’s in it for the making of fully formed worlds, a hero for every villain. Anthony makes dangerous places you can safely explore.

Dora Milaje tribal warrior “I wanted to apply some of the Massai elements to this design of the Dora Milaje.”

Dora Milaje warrior “Testing out other shapes and layering inspired by Zulu warriors and weapons.”

Okoye weapons “I wanted to show the general in a fighting stance and also to work out the costume in a more dynamic pose.”

Dora Milaje Final “There’s a lot of symbolism in this image. Okoye is a traditionalist, very balanced and unwavering like a rock and she’s on a rock, while Nakia is more adventurous. Okoye’s shoulder armour is symmetrical for balance and Nakia is A-symmetrical to symbolise her rebellious nature. Even the shape of their weapons echo their personality.”

Tween Groot “I’m always using reference when I can. Capturing my son in this pose was just priceless.”

Surtur Design Options “Exploring the balance between the molten rock on Surtur’s body. The final design was by Aleksi Briclot.”

Valkyrie “A more Norse-looking version of the character. The final design was by Constantine Sekeris.”

Ant-tony “Designing a retro-looking ant, but he needed to feel like a bike. I used ZBrush and Keyshot for the ant design.”

Hulk vs fenris “This keyframe was to help visualise the size difference and how cool their battle could look.”