The creative process behind the shocking autopsy scene from WandaVision that showed the synthezoid Vision broken down into parts is explained by concept artist Phil Saunders.
The release of the new book Marvel’s WandaVision: The Art of the Series offered more insight into the design of the hit streaming show, and Saunders added his own input on Instagram. The first post showcases a traditional-looking process for Vision’s autopsy, while the second gets more technical with the dissection, and the third post featured the final “dehumanizing” design that producers selected as the reference work for the show.
For the first design, Saunders highlighted the effort to “humanize” Vision while showing “bionic organs that mimicked human anatomy.” He also revealed that due to a misdated file an earlier version of the image appears in the book, so he shared the final image on Instagram. Saunders then took the time to call out some members of the Art Department that he wrote were “left out” of the book, including Joshua Viers (Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Loki) and Finnian MacManus (Obi-Wan Kenobi, Thor: Ragnarok).
The second post delved into the “exploded view” concept, with layers of Vision’s skin and various components visible while still keeping his overall shape. Saunder’s envisioned this design with “rods to keep the layers suspended.” He wrote, “I thought it looked really cool and robotic, but the showrunners wanted something even more alienating.” This note led the artist to his final design for Vision’s autopsy that the producers ended up using in the show.
Marvel’s WandaVision: The Art of the Series revealed other interesting tidbits about the detailed design work put into every aspect of WandaVision, such as how the Wakandan alphabet influenced the look of the magical runes used by Wanda and Agatha. “The first symbols I did I remember them saying looked too much like snowflakes,” said Jana Schirmer from Marvel’s Visual Development. “Other concepts they said looked a bit too inspired by the Wakandan-style language, so they didn’t choose those. In the end, the final symbols had more of a traditional, witchy look.”
Andy Park, another concept artist for the series and the director of Visual Development for Marvel, celebrated the one-year anniversary of WandaVision‘s series finale by sharing an unused design for Wanda’s Scarlet Witch outfit. “Here’s an alternate version I came up with during preproduction,” he said of the design. “Note: I like the final one you saw in the show the best out of all the versions I did so I’m happy.”
All nine episodes of WandaVision are streaming now on Disney+
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