Exclusive: Ron Mendell IRON MAN 3 Concept Art is Breaking Hearts

Mendell's Iron Man chest arc light designs, which keep his heart going, are so cool they break my heart.

Here's the third interview for Iron Man 3 that I've done. You can read the ones with Rob McKinnon, Andrew Leung and Justin Fields.

Ron Mendell's a professional concept artist who's worked on films such as Star Trek (2009), Looper (2012) and The Amazing Spider-Man (2012) as a prop designer.

Check out the rest of the pictures after the jump. Also, find out what Ron's favorite prop was and a surprising change from the film. Click the images to enlarge.



Mendell started on Iron Man 3 working for the Property Master Russell Bobbitt. He's worked with him on many Marvel shows like Iron Man, Iron Man 2 and Thor.

RT or Chest Arc Light
Ron's favorite item from the film is the "RT" on Tony's chest. He adds, "It is such an important piece to his survival and being the one who has a chance to design it is very cool."
 

Iron Man 3 Movie still

Here's a quote from Bobbitt in the book Art of Iron Man 3:
"The world calls it an arc reactor; we call it an RT, which is repulsor technology," explains Property Master Russell Bobbitt, who designs and manufactures Tony Stark's arc reactor—the chest piece that saved his life and powers the Iron Man armor. It takes about 80 or 70 people to make the arc reactor, and a good six to eight weeks to make it happen.

"In every Iron Man movie, Robert comes up with a new motivation to redesign that thing. He'll say something like: 'We're going to take that one triangle we have and break it up into a thousand triangles because I need to break up the molecular structure of the energy so that it's increased by a thousand.' Then he and I sit and work the details out, and then I redraw and rebuild it.

"A lot of craziness goes on inside it just to make it light up. And we have it on a remote control since I have such a small piece of real estate to put in electronics and lights. And then we make a new one for each film. And every time I make a new one, I have to make three backups because Robert does stunts and sometimes they get broken. The arc reactor has been a piece of my life for six years now."

Ron says, the Iron Man comic was one of his favorites as a kid (mine too) and when he got a call to work on the first one he "was thrown back to my childhood days of drawing refined versions of gadgets I read about in the comic book."

Extremis Inhaler
This next design is interesting. It's the design of the "Extremis" bio-techdelivery system. In the illustration it's an inhaler, but in the movie it's a syringe. I like the syringe better since it gives it a sense of danger for the few scenes that it appears in.

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Augmented Cognition Headset

Here are a couple of designs for Tony Stark's headset control, called an "Augmented Cognition Headset" that allows him to control the armor.

Iron Man 3 Movie still

Bobbitt said, "In layman's terms, this is a remote control headset that works on algorithms in your mind. We designed and fit it to Robert's head to look like no other headset."

See more of Ron Mendell's stunning work at RonMendell.com. You should also check out his custom car and motorcycle company Killdevil Kustoms

You can find out more about Russell Bobbitt at RussellBobbitt.com

Official Synopsis
Marvel’s “Iron Man 3” pits brash-but-brilliant industrialist Tony Stark/Iron Man against an enemy whose reach knows no bounds. When Stark finds his personal world destroyed at his enemy's hands, he embarks on a harrowing quest to find those responsible. This journey, at every turn, will test his mettle. With his back against the wall, Stark is left to survive by his own devices, relying on his ingenuity and instincts to protect those closest to him. As he fights his way back, Stark discovers the answer to the question that has secretly haunted him: does the man make the suit or does the suit make the man?

Starring Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Guy Pearce, Rebecca Hall, Stephanie Szostak, James Badge Dale with Jon Favreau and Ben Kingsley, Marvel’s “Iron Man 3” is directed by Shane Black from a screenplay by Drew Pearce & Shane Black and is based on Marvel’s iconic Super Hero Iron Man, who first appeared on the pages of “Tales of Suspense” (#39) in 1963 and had his solo comic book debut with “The Invincible Iron Man” (#1) in May of 1968.

“Iron Man 3” is presented by Marvel Studios in association with Paramount Pictures and DMG Entertainment. Marvel Studios’ President Kevin Feige is producing and Jon Favreau, Louis D’Esposito, Charles Newirth, Victoria Alonso, Stephen Broussard, Alan Fine, Stan Lee and Dan Mintz are executive producers. The film releases May 3, 2013, and is distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.


Directed by: Shane Black
Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Guy Pearce, Rebecca Hall, Stephanie Szostak, James Badge Dale with Jon Favreau and Ben Kingsley

Official website: http://marvel.com/ironman3 
Like IRON MAN 3 on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ironman
Tweet the Official Hashtag: #IronMan3
Follow IRON MAN 3 on Twitter:@Iron_Man

What do you think of the concept art? Are you planning to watch Iron Man 3?
@ Copyright 2013 Marvel Studios, DMG Entertainment, Walt Disney Studios, Paramount Pictures. All rights reserved