ILM.com is showcasing artwork specially chosen by members of the ILM Art Department. In this installment of a continuing series, three artists from the San Francisco and Vancouver studios share insights about their work on the 2025 Warner Bros. production, Superman.
Art Director Chris Voy
The premise for the Luthcorp escape shuttle was that it would first be seen by the audience as a command center/observation deck at the center of the skybridge between the towers of the Luthcorp building. During the escape it is revealed that the room doubles as an aircraft detaching from the structure and takes flight.
When we started on it, the overall design of the building and shuttle had been established. My task was primarily to work out the details and mechanics of how the two structures would fit together and work in a convincing way. I provided a range of iterations and options to the client but always tried to maintain the elements of the design they liked. It was a challenge to make the shuttle first believable as architecture and then as an aircraft without the former spoiling the later!
The client provided concise tasks and great feedback with reference that made it a fun sequence for us. At one point they asked to see how the shuttle would detach, clear the tower and the engines would deploy in time without everyone inside falling hundreds of feet. I mocked up a few rough animations where we played around with timing and different ideas of how it might detach from explosive hard points like a fighter jet canopy or something. We experimented with a few variations on the idea until they were happy and could see how all the elements would work together.
Senior Art Director Alex Jaeger
I jumped into this project late to help out with some designs, one of which was the look of the Engineer’s “nanite tech,” and how it took from one part of her body to form another part. The challenge was to come up with believable solutions for where to take away, and how much, and what would the resulting areas look like.
My goal was to create a balance of removing enough material from her silhouette to create the weapons, while leaving enough in the right places so she still felt strong and capable of holding up the new weapons. I had also played with whether or not to reveal some sort of understructure or skeleton in areas.
While researching various looks, I came across some great minerals in nature that exuded a great level of design within chaos. They show how, even in the depths of the Earth, there is a design presence in the smallest of details.
Senior Concept Artist Evan Whitefield
The concept captures a defining moment that shows who Superman truly is, someone who puts saving lives above everything. In the story, he holds up a collapsing building until every last person is out of harm’s way, letting it fall on him to keep them safe. Then, through the rubble and dust, he rises. It’s the moment we see the cost of his sacrifice and the unstoppable strength of his compassion.
The composition and scale were established with a wide, low-angle shot, placing Superman small against the vast, ruined building to emphasize the enormity of his sacrifice and the weight of what he had endured. Clouds and smoke were added, carefully scaled to match the figure, reinforcing the sense of vastness. Light and atmosphere were refined, shifting from dull gray smoke to a warm, golden palette of dust and heat, tones that conveyed both the chaos of the collapse and the radiance of hope breaking through it. Finally, subtle rays of light were added, with one more pronounced, elevating the iconography as it pierced the haze and cast a long shadow framing his upward, determined stance. The effect felt almost celestial, transforming the small, central figure into a symbol of resilience and hope rising from the ruin.
Inspiration for this piece merges classic comic book iconography with modern film cinematography. It draws on the emotional power of Superman’s emergence from overwhelming danger and the idea of his strength being renewed by sunlight.
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See the complete gallery of concept art from Superman here on ILM.com.
