Godzilla Concept Art Shares the MonsterVerse's Original Design
Godzilla has been around for decades now, and the kaiju is more popular than ever thanks to the MonsterVerse. The franchise kicked off back in 2014 under Legendary Entertainment and Toho's careful watch. Now, the franchise has grown to include legends like King Kong and Mothra while Godzilla stands in the lead. And now, one of the kanji's original concept designs has surfaced courtesy of artist Andrew Baker.
As you can see below, Baker took to Twitter recently to share their first take on Godzilla circa 2014. The concept artist says they worked with director Gareth Edwards extensively to fine-tune the design, but clearly, their original pitch was pretty spot-on to start.
A couple of my final designs for Godzilla 2014. I sat with Gareth for what is still my longest skype call to date (8 hours) and worked over the design. There was a lot of great work that came after to bring him across the finish line and I was stoked to be part of the process. pic.twitter.com/aOeo8Yz4w2
— Andrew Baker (@a_good_baker) August 22, 2022
"[Here's] a couple of my final designs for Godzilla 2014. I sat with Gareth for what is still my longest skype call to date (8 hours) and worked over the design. There was a lot of great work that came after to bring him across the finish line and I was stoked to be part of the process," Baker wrote.
READ MORE: Godzilla vs Kong Sequel Shares Working Title | Godzilla Vs. Kong Sequel Story Spoilers Revealed by Australia | Will Godzilla Appear in the Next MonsterVerse Movie?
As you can see, this concept art taps into Godzilla's lizard aesthetic without making him into a dinosaur or crocodile, fortunately. There are a number of spines sticking out from their face, and of course, Godzilla is gifted a pair of narrowed eyes that scream intimidation. It is hard to imagine a scenario where you wouldn't cry out in fear if you met this monster face to face. And given Godzilla's gnarly origins, that intimidation is what the MonsterVerse was going for.
Of course, the kanji's look did change during development, and the MonsterVerse unveiled its take on Godzilla years ago. Now, the franchise is eyeing its next steps as Legendary Entertainment has begun work on the theatrical sequel to Godzilla vs Kong. The IP is also expanding to television with help from Apple TV+ as a live-action series centered around Monarch is being developed.
What do you think of this first Godzilla design? Do you think the MonsterVerse went with the best concept...? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section below or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB.