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February 24, 2014: Keith Christensen on Costume Designs for Superhero Movies

Costume Illustrator Keith Christensen spoke with ComicBookMovie.com about his work, sharing a number of concept designs from films his worked on, including "Man of Steel". Here's a few excerpts from the interview...

Comic book fans always want to know why the costumes often differ from the source material. Is that because it won't translate well on film?

Keith Christensen: I think what hardcore fans don't realize is that they're willing to suspend their disbelief to a much higher degree than the average moviegoer. In a comic book movie, visually speaking, everything has to be different from the source material, otherwise we'd be animating. A shot for shot, absolutely faithful live action version of the Super Friends might be very entertaining, but laughable. It's a different media, a different language, with it's own rules and limitations. The changes in costume appearance are the attempt to put the essence of that character within a live action framework. If you read a literal word for word translation from Japanese to English, you might get the gist, but it's not poetry. Just like verbal language, translating from one visual storytelling media to another requires an intimate knowledge of both. Admittedly, respectful fidelity is not always the case. Sometimes the source material is blatantly ignored.

In those cases, I'm just gonna do my job. I've got a family to feed.

Which costume design are you most proud of?

Keith Christensen: To quote Picasso, "the next one". If I have to be proud of something, I'm proud of the fact that my work changes. Connecting with one piece is an experience best left to the viewer. I have favorite pieces from a variety of artists, but focusing too much on my own previous work has a stagnating effect. I do still kind of like that transforming Zod helmet though...

Read the entire interview, with many more images, at the ComicBookMovie.com website.