The Living Seas Pavilion Entry Mural
The second full-scale recreation of the original artwork created for the EPCOT Center pavilion, The Living Seas in 1986.
ABOUT THE ORIGINAL
Designed by master Imagineer, Tim Delaney, the original mural was approximately 30 ft. high and over 100 ft. long and was composed of multiple levels of painted stucco. In 2005, the mural was redesigned to conform to the Finding Nemo re-theming of the pavilion.
PROCESS
The recreation of this mural presented many new and unique challenges. First, the subject matter did not (technically) exist anymore by the time of production. So a lot of pre-production time was consumed by amassing a large number of reference photos across multiple sites and platforms. Secondly, (and unlike the Energy Mural), the original mural was on a curved surface making straight rotoscoping impossible. Finally, there have already been other attempts to recreate the mural therefore making it imperative to distinguish and surpass previous efforts both in accuracy and complexity.
Nemo Lines
In order to achieve the right scale and portions, I was able to use an existing data set of the current (Finding Nemo) mural.
Notice: The current mural does utilize a few design elements of the original.
Photo Reference
A small selection of the over 28 vintage photos were analyzed for placement and color scheme.
In production
As the most complex element, the refracted Sun was the primary focus of the recreation. Notice the concentric circles that were used to replicate most elements of the design that although close in proximity was not traced at any point in the process.
Layered Currents
The original mural featured several layers each one of varying depth. However, for simply (and for the preservation of sanity), it was discovered these could be streamlined into three layers and achieve much of the original design intent.
Design Progression 2005 — 1986
Final Results
Click on the Above Image to Download the Full Resolution PDF
(For Demonstrational Purposes Only)
7MB