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 film, video games, animation, comic books, television shows, or other media before it is put into the final product. The term was used by the Walt Disney Animation Studios as ...

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 Halloween, or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve), is a celebration geography of Halloween, observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christianity, Western Christian f ...

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. kaolinite, ). Most pure clay minerals are white or light-coloured, but natural clays show a variety of colours from impuriti ...

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 Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood ...

on '' Bride of Re-Animator'', and went on from there to work with

Stan Winston Stanley Winston (April 7, 1946 – June 15, 2008) was an American television and film special make-up effects artist, best known for his work in the ''Terminator'' series, the first three '' Jurassic Park'' films, '' Aliens'', '' The Thing'', ...

on such movies as ''

Predator 2 ''Predator 2'' is a 1990 American science fiction film, science fiction action film written by brothers Jim and John Thomas, directed by Stephen Hopkins (director), Stephen Hopkins, and starring Danny Glover, Gary Busey, Ruben Blades, Rubén Bla ...

'', ''

Edward Scissorhands ''Edward Scissorhands'' is a 1990 American gothic romantic fantasy 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 as the title ...

'', and ''

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

''. 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 Tel ...

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

Na'vi In the 2009 science-fiction film ''Avatar (2009 film), Avatar'', director James Cameron conceived a fictional universe in which humans seek to mine unobtainium#Science fiction, unobtanium on the fictional Habitability of natural satellites, h ...

and other creatures in

James Cameron James Francis Cameron (born August 16, 1954) is a Canadian filmmaker, who resides in New Zealand. He is a major figure in the post-New Hollywood era and often uses novel technologies with a Classical Hollywood cinema, classical filmmaking styl ...

's movie ''

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

'', 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'' is a scale model or rough draft of an unfinished sculpture or work of architecture. The term is a loanword from French. An equivalent term is ''bozzetto'', a diminutive of the Italian word for a sketch. Sculpture A maquette ...

s to help solidify the look of the Na'vi race, 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 ''

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'', '' AVPR'', ''

Prince Caspian ''Prince Caspian'' (originally published as ''Prince Caspian: The Return to Narnia'') is a high fantasy novel written by British author C. S. Lewis and published by Geoffrey Bles in 1951. It was the second published of seven novels in ''The C ...

'', ''

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

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

Dragonball Evolution ''Dragonball Evolution'' is a 2009 American superhero film loosely based on the Japanese ''Shōnen Jump'' manga series '' Dragon Ball'' created by Akira Toriyama. Directed by James Wong, written by Ben Ramsey, and produced by Stephen Chow, i ...

'', 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 In ancient Greek religion and myth, Nemesis (; ) also called Rhamnousia (or Rhamnusia; ), was the goddess who personified retribution for the sin of hubris: arrogance before the gods. Etymology The name ''Nemesis'' is derived from the Greek ...

'' (1992) * '' The Silence of the Hams'' (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 film directed by John Woo, from a screenplay by Mike Werb and Michael Colleary. It stars John Travolta as an FBI agent and Nicolas Cage as a terrorist, who undergo an experimental surg ...

'' (1997) * ''

Starship Troopers ''Starship Troopers'' is a military science fiction novel by American writer Robert A. Heinlein. Written in a few weeks in reaction to the US suspending nuclear tests, the story was first published as a two-part serial in ''The Magazine of ...

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

The X-Files ''The X-Files'' is an American science fiction on television, science fiction drama (film and television), drama television series created by Chris Carter (screenwriter), Chris Carter. The original series aired from September 10, 1993, to Ma ...

'' (1998) * '' Patch Adams'' (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. ''My Favorite Martian'' was th ...

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

Galaxy Quest ''Galaxy Quest'' is a 1999 American satirical science fiction comedy film directed by Dean Parisot and written by David Howard and Robert Gordon. It stars Tim Allen, Sigourney Weaver, Alan Rickman, Tony Shalhoub, Sam Rockwell, and Daryl Mit ...

'' (1999) * ''

Hollow Man ''Hollow Man'' is a 2000 science fiction horror thriller film directed by Paul Verhoeven, written by Andrew W. Marlowe, and starring Elisabeth Shue, Kevin Bacon, Josh Brolin, Kim Dickens, Greg Grunberg, Joey Slotnick, Mary Randle, and Will ...

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

Evolution Evolution is the change in the heritable Phenotypic trait, characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. It occurs when evolutionary processes such as natural selection and genetic drift act on genetic variation, re ...

'' (2001) * ''

Planet of the Apes ''Planet of the Apes'' is a science fiction media franchise consisting of films, books, television series, comics, and other media about a Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction, post-apocalyptic world in which humans and intelligent apes c ...

'' (2001) * ''

Hulk The Hulk is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in the debut issue of ''The Incredible Hulk (comic book), The Incredible Hulk ...

'' (2003) * '' Scary Movie 3'' (2003) * '' Dawn of the Dead'' (2004) * ''

Hellboy Hellboy is a superhero created by Mike Mignola and appearing in comic books published by Dark Horse Comics. The character first appeared in ''San Diego Comic-Con Comics'' #2 (August 1993), and has since appeared in various miniseries, one-shots ...

'' (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 inc ...

'' (2005) * ''

300 __NOTOC__ Year 300 ( CCC) was a leap year starting on Monday 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 urbe condita''). The denomination 300 ...

'' (2006) * '' The Haunting Hour: Don't Think About It'' (2007) * ''

'' (2007) * '' Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem'' (2007) * ''

Cloverfield ''Cloverfield'' is a 2008 American Found footage (film technique), found footage monster movie, monster horror film directed by Matt Reeves and written by Drew Goddard. It stars Lizzy Caplan, Jessica Lucas, T.J. Miller (in his film debut), Mic ...

'' (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 American special effects people 1967 births 21st-century American sculptors