Greg Broadmore: The Art of Creativity and Resilience in Concept Design

Greg Broadmore is a concept designer and artist best known for his work with Weta Workshop on films like District 9 and for creating his own IP like Dr. Grordbort's. In this wide-ranging conversation, Greg discusses his creative process, artistic inspirations, and lessons learned from a career in concept design and worldbuilding.

Early Inspirations and Developing as an Artist

Greg traces his love of retro science fiction back to childhood memories of watching Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers serials. This nostalgic appreciation for vintage sci-fi aesthetics would later inspire projects like his Dr. Grordbort's ray gun designs.

As a teenager, Greg was heavily influenced by comic artists featured in 2000 AD, particularly Simon Bisley. He recalls the impact of seeing Bisley's work for the first time:

"I was 15 and reading 2000 AD and I was getting better at drawing. I wanted to be a comic artist, I really wanted to work for 2000 AD. And so I started to get to a level where I'm thinking 'I think I'm okay, I think I could send in a folio, I think I could do this.' Then [Bisley's work] came out and oh man, it just freaking blew the lid off my mind. It's so nuts, it's still unparalleled."

Seeing such a high level of artistry was both inspiring and deflating for the young Greg. It showed him how much further he had to go, but also motivated him to keep improving.

Other major artistic influences Greg cites include:

• Frank Frazetta - Known for his fantasy and sci-fi paintings featuring muscular heroes and buxom heroines
• Richard Corben - Comic artist with a distinctive airbrushed style, often featured in Heavy Metal magazine
• N.C. Wyeth - Early 20th century illustrator famous for his book illustrations
• Bill Watterson - Creator of Calvin and Hobbes

Greg emphasizes that he's less interested in technical aspects of how artists create their work, and more inspired by their imagination and ability to create captivating worlds and characters.

Joining Weta Workshop

Greg joined Weta Workshop in the early 2000s after sending in a portfolio that caught Richard Taylor's eye. At the time, Weta was gearing up to potentially work on a Halo movie. While that project ultimately fell through, it led to Greg's involvement with District 9.

He describes the transition from Halo to District 9:

"All of a sudden the idea of District 9 came along and we'd seen Neill Blomkamp's short that was the basis for that. It was like, this is even more exciting. No disrespect to Halo, but if this can happen we get to create a science fiction world from the ground up. It can be whatever we dream up. Neill has a crazy imagination so this is going to be fun."

This experience of having months of work on Halo suddenly scrapped, only to pivot to an even more creatively exciting project, taught Greg valuable lessons about resilience and adaptability in the film industry.

The Creative Process and Overcoming Setbacks

Greg shares insights into his creative process, which involves generating many ideas and iterations before arriving at a final design. He emphasizes the importance of speed and volume in concept work:

"You have to generate a ton of work whether you like it or not. You're in competition with your other artists, which is a great camaraderie but it's still a competition. You're all bouncing ideas off each other and most of your ideas will be rejected."

This high-volume approach means artists must learn to not get too attached to any one idea. Greg describes the challenge of caring deeply about the work while also being able to let go:

"You have to care about the work deeply, it is your baby, you have to care about it. And if you don't care about it the work won't be any good. So you cannot become cynical to the work, you have to love it and you have to be able to let go of it. Those two things are really in opposition because you're fighting with yourself."

He recounts an experience on District 9 where he spent months designing and building an exo-suit prop, only to have director Neill Blomkamp decide it wasn't working and scrap it entirely. While initially devastating, Greg had to quickly pivot and generate new designs:

"You have to like snap yourself out of it. You cannot be depressed, you can't be bummed. You're just going to be like, 'Okay now I've got this new problem to solve, I got to figure out what this next version is.' And I think I probably did like 30 designs in the course of a week, just working my ass off to create as many options as possible."

Ultimately, this process led to an even better design that better served the needs of the film. Greg sees these setbacks as opportunities to push creativity further and solve new problems.

Balancing Artistic Vision with Collaboration

While Greg values creative control and purity of vision in his personal projects, he also recognizes the value of collaboration and outside input in professional settings. He describes working with directors like Neill Blomkamp:

"Neill, like many directors, he knows what he wants. He has complete confidence and faith in himself, knows when he doesn't like something, but is happy to change course immediately if he feels like that's not working."

This decisive vision from directors, while sometimes difficult for artists, ultimately pushes the work in new and often better directions. Greg has learned to balance caring deeply about his work while also being open to change and redirection.

Creating Original IP with Dr. Grordbort's

One of Greg's most notable personal projects is the Dr. Grordbort's universe, which began as a series of retro-futuristic ray gun designs. He explains how it started:

"I had done these nine paintings just for myself because I love ray guns, put them on the wall. Richard [Taylor] wanted to do our own IP, so he put the word out to the entire workshop saying 'Has anyone got any creative ideas for collectibles?' I was doing those ray guns so it was perfect timing."

With Richard's encouragement, the project expanded from just ray gun designs into a fuller fictional world:

"Richard got it straight away. He saw it and we almost said the same thing at the same time - we should make these as real. They'll be metal, they've got glass, they'll be in a case. We'll just pretend they're real, they will be real as far as we're concerned."

From there, Greg developed the character of Dr. Grordbort and fleshed out the satirical retro sci-fi universe through various books, collectibles, and even video game projects. He emphasizes how the world grew organically by following creative threads and asking "why" questions about the initial concepts.

Approach to Worldbuilding

Greg describes two main approaches to creating stories and fictional worlds:

1. A directed approach where you know the ending and work backwards
2. An exploratory approach where you follow creative threads and see where they lead

He tends to favor the second approach:

"I am just chasing these 'why' questions, getting your imagination giving you answers back and you following with the one that is most profound to you, that makes you feel the most. It must make sense logically to you, but it also must excite you."

This exploratory method allows for unexpected discoveries and keeps the creative process exciting for Greg. He compares it to scientific inquiry, with the artist's emotions and instincts serving as the "instrument" to measure which ideas resonate as true.

Recent Work: One Path Graphic Novel

Greg's latest project is a graphic novel called One Path, set in a prehistoric world with dinosaurs. He explains how the project emerged after his video game work with Magic Leap was cut short due to the pandemic:

"I actually sat here thinking about 'Well, what next?' I handed over reins of the game studio. I didn't really want to make traditional games. I was so in love with making the kind of wild and crazy technological things that Magic Leap was aspiring to do that I kind of went back to basics."

The graphic novel format allowed Greg to work more independently and explore ideas without technological constraints. He describes it as a return to fundamentals after working on cutting-edge AR projects:

"I thought, 'I need to go back and do something that I can do on my own.' I also discovered about myself that maybe I should take a break from running a big team. I realized I needed to get back to basics."

The story draws on Greg's longtime love of dinosaurs and prehistoric settings, while also exploring themes of technology and survival that resonated with him during the pandemic period.

Thoughts on Creativity and Parenting

When asked about transformative experiences, Greg speaks about becoming a parent:

"Having a child, when my boy came out, it was like instant. I just snapped and you moved. Most changes in your life, you're working on a project, something goes right, something goes wrong, you have to internalize it. You feel something about it, you have to sit there, internalize it. It might take you maybe it takes you a few minutes, maybe it takes you a week, maybe it takes you a month, maybe it takes you your rest of your life. But you internalize it and then you figure out a new thing from it. But weirdly enough, having a child was instantaneous. I felt like I was a different person."

He describes how parenthood shifted his priorities and perspective, making him think beyond his own life and consider multi-generational impacts. Greg also notes how parenting provides a mirror to examine one's own behavior and choices:

"Selfishly, it's a chance to learn because you realize when you're doing something and this is a bad choice. I shouldn't have talked to him that way, I shouldn't have pushed him to do that. You can immediately know, you feel it. You want self-help? Be a parent. It will teach you what you're doing wrong very quickly."

Advice for Aspiring Creatives

Greg emphasizes the importance of curiosity and finding inspiration in everyday things:

"To me the core attribute of creativity is to be inquisitive, to be curious. I do see that a lot of people choose to journey through life looking at the world but not studying the world. They don't find beauty and curiosity in the simplest of things."

He encourages people to start making things, regardless of the medium:

"There's only one thing that you can do - just start making. It doesn't matter what the medium is. We have people turn up to interview with me and you can see that they're slightly bashful and I say 'Well what do you do?' and they will go 'Well I do macramé.' Macramé is about hand-eye coordination, pattern weaving, color combinations, strength, engineering. All these things add up."

Ultimately, Greg sees creativity as a way to explore truth and meaning:

"I feel that art and the act of creativity broadly and generally, or actually no, come back to me specifically - making art as comic books and stories is this quest to find truth or to point towards truth. It is like science. I don't think science and engineering and art are very, very different at all."

By following one's creative instincts and being open to where they lead, Greg believes artists can tap into profound insights about the world and human experience.

Greg's journey from aspiring comic artist to concept designer for major films to creating his own graphic novels and IP showcases the rewards of persistent creativity and adaptability. His reflections offer valuable insights for anyone looking to develop their artistic voice and navigate a career in the creative industries.

Article created from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8uYTxJtTGY