Josh Nizzi's story of how he got to work on Transformers ROTF

ore than meets the eye? The motto of "Transformers," whose sequel, "Revenge of the Fallen," is opening at midnight tonight at both Champaign's Carmike Beverly Cinema and the Goodrich Savoy 16, could also describe Champaign native Josh Nizzi, a 32-year-old freelance artist whose designs of transforming alien robots such as Megatron will grace big screens around the world.

Nizzi, who now lives in Cary, N.C., tapped into a more typical machine to tell The News-Gazette how he broke into film, and how a Transformer goes from sketch to screen.
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What is your connection to the Champaign area?

Josh Nizzi: My parents (Patrick and Andrea Nizzi) live there, I was born there, went to the (University of Illinois), my first job out of college was at Volition, I met my wife at Vineyard Church, and had two of our three kids at Carle.

How did you first get involved in "Transformers?"

JN: I have been a fan of Transformers since I was a kid. After seeing the first movie, I loved how the robots were brought to life and wanted to work on the sequel. But breaking into any industry is hard, especially films – there is like no information on the Web about how to do it. So I decided my best bet was to design a robot that would likely be in the sequel and put it on the Web. I figured that Devastator would probably be in the next film so I designed one of the robots that combines to create him – Long Haul. I put the image on the Web and got a lot of nice fan feedback.

Freelance artist Josh Nizzi, a Champaign native and University of Illinois graduate who now lives in Cary, N.C., is the designer behind several of the robots featured in 'Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.'

Then a few months later, I got an e-mail from the design director of boys' toys at Hasbro, Aaron Archer, asking if I wanted to do concepts for "Transformers 2." After dancing around the house a bit and talking with my wife, I signed on. Soon after that, (film director) Michael Bay's studio hired me on and I was making trips to L.A. to work on site as well as remotely.

N-G: What are the robots you designed and what was your design process like?

JN: The robots I'm primarily responsible for are Megatron, Jetfire, Power Up Optimus, and Long Haul.

The design process usually goes something like this:

– Brainstorming/rough sketches.

– Refine a few roughs that are most promising.

– Pick one and do a finished painting.

– Do a rear view.

– Do a close-up of the face.

Depending on how fleshed out a character is in the director or production designer's mind, this process can be quick or there can be a lot of iterations. For example, Long Haul, the design I did before I was hired was the first design approved for "Revenge of the Fallen"; there were no iterations at all. Megatron had many iterations because Michael was still figuring out what to do with the character as I was working on him.

N-G: What kinds of machines can the robots you designed morph into?

JN: Megatron transforms into a Cybertronian tank. Long Haul is a giant dump truck. Jetfire is an SR-71 ("Blackbird" reconnaissance aircraft). What happens with Optimus is one of the big plot points in the movie, so I don't want to give that away.

N-G: Have you worked on other movies, and if so, what have you done?

JN: I've worked on "G.I. Joe," "Robot Taekwon V," "Tarzan" and other movies that don't have titles yet. But I also do a lot of work in other entertainment such as video games, comics, toys and theme parks.

N-G: How did you get into this field?

JN: I've always loved drawing. My parents did a great job of nurturing my interests and talents. I went to the U of I and got a degree in graphic design. After college, I got a job at Volition and worked on a number of games there. I went to work at Day 1 Studios in Chicago before going freelance and expanding into films and other areas besides video games.

N-G: Have you seen the final cut of the new "Transformers" movie yet? How does it compare to the first film?

JN: I have not seen the final cut. I'm probably more excited than anybody to see it, though. From what I have seen, it looks like the movie is going to be a lot like the first one, but with more of everything – and I like more.