Jordu Schell (born June 5, 1967) is an American sculptor and

concept artist Concept art is a form of visual art used to convey an idea for use in films, video games, animation, comic books, or other media before it is put into the final product. Concept art usually refers to world-building artwork used to inspire the de ...

who has been working in the film and television industries for over twenty years.

Career

Jordu Schell began his career as a sculptor and Halloween mask maker. He primarily sculpts in

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4). Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...

and other physical materials, rather than in CGI or in 2-D drawings, although he works in those forms as well. Schell first started designing FX for Hollywood on '' Bride of Re-Animator'', and went on from there to work with Stan Winston on such movies as ''

Predator 2 ''Predator 2'' is a 1990 American science fiction action film written by brothers Jim and John Thomas, directed by Stephen Hopkins, and starring Danny Glover, Gary Busey, Ruben Blades, María Conchita Alonso, Bill Paxton, and Kevin Peter Hall ...

'', ''

Edward Scissorhands ''Edward Scissorhands'' is a 1990 American fantasy romance film directed by Tim Burton. It was produced by Burton and Denise Di Novi, written by Caroline Thompson from a story by her and Burton, and starring Johnny Depp, Winona Ryder, Antho ...

'', and ''

Batman Returns ''Batman Returns'' is a 1992 American superhero film directed by Tim Burton and written by Daniel Waters. Based on the DC Comics character Batman, it is the sequel to ''Batman'' (1989) and the second installment in the 1989–1997 ''Batman ...

''. In television, he designed aliens for the opening season of ''

Babylon 5 ''Babylon 5'' is an American space opera television series created by writer and producer J. Michael Straczynski, under the Babylonian Productions label, in association with Straczynski's Synthetic Worlds Ltd. and Warner Bros. Domestic Tele ...

''. From 2005 to 2007, Schell was instrumental in the design of the

Na'vi The Pandoran biosphere is a fictional habitat introduced in James Cameron's 2009 science fiction film ''Avatar''. The ecology of the lush moon Pandora, which teems with a biodiversity of bioluminescent species ranging from hexapodal animals to ot ...

and other creatures in James Cameron's movie ''

Avatar Avatar (, ; ), is a concept within Hinduism that in Sanskrit literally means "descent". It signifies the material appearance or incarnation of a powerful deity, goddess or spirit on Earth. The relative verb to "alight, to make one's appeara ...

'', shaping the designs of the characters with physical sculptures when Cameron felt that the CGI designs were not capturing his vision. Schell sculpted numerous

maquette A ''maquette'' (French word for scale model, sometimes referred to by the Italian names ''plastico'' or ''modello'') is a scale model or rough draft of an unfinished sculpture. An equivalent term is ''bozzetto'', from the Italian word for "sketc ...

s to help solidify the look of the Na'vi

race Race, RACE or "The Race" may refer to: * Race (biology), an informal taxonomic classification within a species, generally within a sub-species * Race (human categorization), classification of humans into groups based on physical traits, and/or s ...

, often working in the kitchen of Cameron's Malibu home. Films for which Schell has designed creatures and characters subsequent to his work on ''Avatar'' include '' The Mist'', '' AVPR'', ''

Prince Caspian ''Prince Caspian'' (originally published as ''Prince Caspian: The Return to Narnia'') is a high fantasy novel for children by C. S. Lewis, published by Geoffrey Bles in 1951. It was the second published of seven novels in ''The Chronicles of N ...

'', ''

Spike Spike, spikes, or spiking may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Books * ''The Spike'' (novel), a novel by Arnaud de Borchgrave * ''The Spike'' (book), a nonfiction book by Damien Broderick * ''The Spike'', a starship in Peter F. Hamilto ...

'', '' Creature of Darkness'', and ''

Dragonball Evolution ''Dragonball Evolution'' is a 2009 American science fantasy superhero-martial arts film directed by James Wong, produced by Stephen Chow, and written by Ben Ramsey. It is based on the Japanese ''Dragon Ball'' manga series created by Akira Toriyam ...

'', as well as working in various FX capacities on several others. Schell also teaches classes in sculpting and design at his studio and, in addition, sometimes works in the video game industry.

Filmography

* '' Bride of Re-Animator'' (1990) * ''

'' (1990) * ''

Puppet Master II ''Puppet Master II'' is a 1990 direct-to-video horror film written by David Pabian and directed by Dave Allen. It is the second film in the ''Puppet Master'' franchise, the sequel to 1989's '' Puppet Master'', and stars Elizabeth Maclellan, Gr ...

'' (1991) * '' Guyver'' (1991) * '' Nemesis'' (1992) * ''

The Silence of the Hams ''The Silence of the Hams'' (Italian: ''Il Silenzio dei Prosciutti'') is a 1994 comedy thriller film written by, directed by, and starring Italian comedian Ezio Greggio. It is a parody of many popular thriller and horror films, notably '' The ...

'' (1994) * '' Hellraiser: Bloodline'' (1996) * '' Sometimes They Come Back... Again'' (1996) * '' Escape from L.A.'' (1996) * ''

Face/Off ''Face/Off'' is a 1997 American science fiction action thriller film directed by John Woo, written by Mike Werb and Michael Colleary, and starring John Travolta and Nicolas Cage. The first Hollywood film in which Woo was given major creativ ...

'' (1997) * '' Starship Troopers'' (1997) * '' Alien: Resurrection'' (1997) * ''

The X-Files ''The X-Files'' is an American science fiction drama television series created by Chris Carter. The series revolves around Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Special Agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson), who ...

'' (1998) * ''

Patch Adams Hunter Doherty "Patch" Adams (born May 28, 1945) is an American physician, comedian, social activist, clown, and author. He founded the Gesundheit! Institute in 1971. Each year he also organizes volunteers from around the world to travel to var ...

'' (1998) * ''

My Favorite Martian ''My Favorite Martian'' is an American sitcom that aired on CBS from September 29, 1963, to May 1, 1966, for 107 episodes. The show stars Ray Walston as "Uncle Martin" (the Martian) and Bill Bixby as Tim O'Hara. The first two seasons, totalin ...

'' (1999) * '' Bicentennial Man'' (1999) * ''

Galaxy Quest ''Galaxy Quest'' is a 1999 American science fiction comedy film directed by Dean Parisot and written by David Howard and Robert Gordon. A parody of and homage to science-fiction films and series, especially ''Star Trek'' and its fandom, the ...

'' (1999) * ''

Hollow Man Hollow may refer to: Natural phenomena *Hollow, a low, wooded area, such as a copse *Hollow (landform), a small vee-shaped, riverine type of valley *Tree hollow, a void in a branch or trunk, which may provide habitat for animals Places *Sleepy H ...

'' (2000) * '' Bedazzled'' (2000) * ''

Evolution Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...

'' (2001) * ''

Planet of the Apes ''Planet of the Apes'' is an American science fiction media franchise consisting of films, books, television series, comics, and other media about a world in which humans and intelligent apes clash for control. The franchise is based on Frenc ...

'' (2001) * '' Hulk'' (2003) * ''

Scary Movie 3 ''Scary Movie 3'' is a 2003 American parody film which parodies the horror, sci-fi, and mystery genres. It is the sequel to '' Scary Movie 2'' and is the third film in the ''Scary Movie'' film series, and the first to be directed by David Zuck ...

'' (2003) * '' Dawn of the Dead'' (2004) * ''

Hellboy Hellboy is a fictional superhero created by writer-artist Mike Mignola. The character first appeared in ''San Diego Comic-Con Comics'' #2 (August 1993), and has since appeared in various eponymous miniseries, one-shots and intercompany crossover ...

'' (2004) * '' Blade: Trinity'' (2004) * '' Reeker'' (2005) * ''

Feast A banquet (; ) is a formal large meal where a number of people consume food together. Banquets are traditionally held to enhance the prestige of a host, or reinforce social bonds among joint contributors. Modern examples of these purposes i ...

'' (2005) * ''

300 __NOTOC__ Year 300 ( CCC) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Constantius and Valerius (or, less frequently, year 1053 ''Ab ...

'' (2006) * '' The Haunting Hour: Don't Think About It'' (2007) * '' The Mist'' (2007) * '' Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem'' (2007) * ''

Cloverfield ''Cloverfield'' is a 2008 American found footage monster film directed by Matt Reeves, produced by J. J. Abrams, and written by Drew Goddard. It stars Lizzy Caplan, Jessica Lucas, T.J. Miller, Michael Stahl-David, Mike Vogel and Odette Yus ...

'' (2008) * '' The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian'' (2008) * ''

'' (2008) * ''Creature of Darkness'' (2009) * ''

'' (2009) * ''

'' (2009)

References

External links

Schell Sculpture Studio
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Schell, Jordu 20th-century American sculptors Living people Special effects people 1967 births 21st-century American sculptors