Chaos Dragon

Client: BibleProject
Role: Visual Development Artist, 2D Illustrator

About the project
In 2023, I had the incredible opportunity to work with BibleProject on a video unlike any they had made before. My good friend and fantastic illustrator and art director, Rommel Ruiz, invited me to collaborate in the visual development and illustration processes.

“CHAOS DRAGON explores how biblical authors use dragon imagery to describe the forces that pull creation into disorder and death.”

Really—DRAGONS in the Bible? —BibleProject

The art direction for Chaos Dragon was based on a visual idea that to truly understand chaos, one must first realize order. In order to achieve this, we used visual metaphors to identify chaos and order.

For the dragon, which represents chaos, we used moving textures and distorted images to create a blurry or incomplete effect, much like in dreams where reality and imagination become hard to distinguish. Additionally, we employed a desaturated and darker color palette to convey the sense of mystery and chaos.

For Jesus, who represents order, we used gently curved shapes and warmer, brighter colors--partially inspired by the light in the darkness that is generated by bioluminescence--to create a sense of clarity and stillness. Our aim was to convey a sense of harmony through the use of these visual metaphors.

Our approach to the design was to fully illustrate each "chaotic" frame and then distort it, much like finishing an oil painting and then purposefully brushing it off to ruin the image. This concept and process led us to an appropriate aesthetic and an interesting metaphor in the action itself.

Writers
Jon Collins, Tim Mackie
Director
Patrick Murphy
Creative Directors
Robert Perez, Allan Rosenow
Producer
Patrick Ramos
Art Directors
Patrick Murphy, Robert Perez
Story Artists
Patrick Murphy, Robert Perez, Allan Rosenow
2D Artists
Rommel Ruiz, Amber Kenneson, Robert Perez, Alex Lay, Laura Swalley
Animators
Brian Covalt, Christopher Vela, Patrick Murphy, Jonathan Rooney, Allan Rosenow
Title Designer
Dylan Menges
Recording Engineer
Tyler Bailey
Sound Designer
Reed Harvey