We know the final season of Game of Thrones wasn't what everyone expected (that's putting it mildly), but it's fair to say that the HBO series blew our minds.
Some of the most impressive visuals from it all was the level of artistry involved in making the dragons.
Jonathan Symmonds, lead Animator at Pixomondo for Game of Thrones, was one of the main creators of Rhaegal, Viserion and Drogon. And what a job he did with them.
Chatting on Dermot and Dave, Symmonds reveals how life-like they wanted the creatures to be, "as the dragons got bigger we decided to focus on what would be realistic for something so massive".
To help with flight simulation, he and the team got their hands on some chickens (dead chickens that is) and "started playing around with the wings" to get a gauge on anatomy. That's one way of doing it.
When asked what the hardest part of the dragons to animate was, he says, "anything around the face...the lips, the teeth, the gums. Closing the mouth - that was very, very technical. Opening and closing the iris".
He also chats about it being a "24 hours a day" job - with people all over the world working on the project simultaneously.
Jonathan will be in Dublin on Thursday for two events:
- The Creating the Dragons of Game of Thrones Event which is at the Talent Garden Dublin in Glasnevin in Dublin on Thursday from 6:30-8pm. It is free but you need to register in advance on talentgarden.com.
- The second is a data visualisation masterclass which is also running on Thursday and also on October 3rd. This is not just for GOT fans or for animators but for anyone who is interested in showing how to communicate in new ways. To get more information and for a special discount for Today FM listeners, email dublin@talentgarden.com
Check out the chat in full by pressing the play button on screen.
