Weta Workshop initiated the design of Mr. and Mrs. Beaver for The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. The task began with drawings and eventually culminated in the sculpting of neutrally posed scannable maquettes for the digital artists at Sony Pictures Imageworks to base their final animated characters on.  Weta’s artists also explored some of the Beavers’ accoutrements and possessions in drawings.

Harper Collins and Weta Publishing’s new book, The Crafting of Narnia: The Art, Creatures and Weapons from Weta Workshop, explores the process of designing the Beavers in detail, with insights into the creative and practical challenges.  Here are some selected examples of artwork and photos that Narnia fans can expect to find more of in the book itself, out now…

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A scannable Beaver maquette takes shape in plasticene.  The Beaver scannable maquettes were sculpted by Tom Lauten.

Concept art for Mr. Beaver’s expeditionary equipment by Paul Tobin.  Early in the design process there were a number of drawings done exploring props made from woven fibers, flax, wicker and water-tight birch bark containers. 

A concept for a wicker and birch-bark backpack for Mr. Beaver by Paul Tobin.

Available from Weta Collectibles are reproductions of some of the actual design maquettes produced for the film, including the Minoboar, by Stephen Crowe; Mr. Tumnus, by Greg Tozer; and Satyr, by Steve Unwin.