Meet Abe Sapien

This week we’ll be recording Doug Jones as Abe Sapien.  For those not familiar with his name, Doug played Abe Sapien in Guillermo del Toro’s movie.  You didn’t hear his voice but that was him onscreen.  So who would understand the character better than the actor who sweated through hours of makeup to create him?

Abe has a small role in the first movie but is one of the investigating team in the second. He was one of the first characters to be explored by Cheeks.  You can see that he made him a little more "contemporary" in feel than I was comfortable with.  And I didn't think he should have to take time to strip down before diving into water.  Sean went back into the design but we kept the feeling of body armor/flack vest and combined it with a wet suit.  We toyed with the idea of putting BPRD on the back of the vest but in other countries the organization has a different name. 

This final version is by Greg Guler with some notes by Cheeks.  The arm fins have been simplified for animation.  His head is narrower, giving him a more streamlined, elegant feel.  The color by Tracey Jones will be tweaked depending on the lighting of each sequence but this is basically the Abe you'll see on the screen.

  Takes a village to design a fishman. -- Tad

             

Comments

[Houseofduck]

Man that cheeks is great. I have been a fan of his for a while now and just cant get enough of his style. Now to see his style combined with my favorite comic property I can not wait til these movies come out!! keep up the great work guys. I look forward to more updates.

[David Petersen]

Love the final version. Glad you made the head more slender and contoured the arm-fins.

Also glad to hear Doug will be voicing Abe

[mattcrap]

i don't know- I think Sean's original take on the head beats out the final

[Typhon24]

I gotta say, I like the original head better too. But either way...awesome. Totally freakin' awesome. And kudos to Doug!

[Jérôme]

What's behind his chin ?

[Helen Chavez]

Excellent news, and good to see Doug doing the voice. LOVE the designs, and I see you've done a great job in keeping Abe's innate grace and elegance.

HM

[Tad]

Sean added a sort of fin/flap under his chin to blend it into the other gills. I wasn't sure about it but other people chimed in that they liked it.

So there you go.

[Dillon]

Very nice looking.

[LucasVB]

Doug? That's great news!

I'm very happy with the final version. The chin fins are fine.

[Dominic Shaw]

This looks really cool, I like all the designs (well perhaps not the second one so much) but the final one is definitely the best! Keep up the great work guys!

[Julien Pirou]

Great job, with a good balance between his original design and his look in the BPRD comics. Can't wait to see the other characters ;)

[Barney Dillweed]

I normally dig Sean's designs the best... but...Greg Guler greatly improved Seans design. He gave him better definition in the arms and legs, I like the fact that he has knee's. His head is way better...the nose is spot on as well. The fins make much more sense from a sillouette and animation standpoint....Simple is better. Great job to both Sean and Greg.

[Jeremy]

Looks great...but my biggest fear of all is...even tho this is gonna be an animated movie (direct to dvd right?) will it be kiddy? Or is it gonna be gritty and witty like the comic?

PLEASE do not say kiddy.

[mike]

Seeing as Tad discussed the need for "three versions of Hellboy in various stages of bloody and beaten" in an earlier post, I'm guessing it's not going to be "kiddy".

[Flashback]

Esse desenho vai ser duca!!
This cartoon rulez!!

[Siona]

Nice. I like it alot, and as a big-time fan of his, I can't wait to see more about Abe!

[Rick Cortes.]

Abe looks gorgeous. It's a pleasure to read these posts on the process, making us lowly fans feel as if we're part of the production. Thanks, Tad.

[Kim Larsen]

I guess the choice feel on Doug, because David Hyde Pierce was too expensive? -How is Doug going to go about voicing Abe? Will he be doing his own take on him, or mimicing David?
I have never heard Doug ...

[Madam Raptor Cat]

oh my goodness I loove Hellboy! Especially Abe Sapien! Also, after i saw the comic pictures on the internet(this was about the time the movie came out) and I kept thinking about Hellboy cartoons for some reason. Do you know when it's going to air?

[Kitsune]

"BPRD! Freeze, scumbag!!"

That vest rocks, too bad it couldn't include the acronym.

So the "mime" (for lack of a better term) is going to do Abe's voice? Hmm, I've got to rent "Hocus Pocus" and think about it (Doug plays the long-suffering zombie Billy Butcher).

[Helen Chavez]

Substitute 'mime' with 'classically trained actor' and you have the talent that is Doug Jones. He can sing too, by the way. Anyways, I would suggest you try the episode of Criminal Minds called 'Blood Hungry' and see what an astounding actor he is. He'll do his own 'thing' as Abe ... and he'll be terrific. But then ... I'm biased ...

[minmaxticus]

I think its a fabulous design, and I can't wait to see them in action. Nice to see Mr. Jones get to put his voice to the character after so many long and grueling hours in the suit!

[Anastasia]

I am so happy Mr.Jones will be doing the voice of Abe! Love the final design here, and can't wait to see it!