With the fantastical worlds of Wednesday and The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power, audiences are whisked away into fantastical settings that could only be imagined in previous years. The work of the production team on both shows is incredibly impressive, but they share some creative DNA thanks to the work of Dom Lavery on both shows.

During an interview with Screen Rant during the LightBox convention in Pasadena, concept artist Dom Lavery spoke about hopping between the worlds of Rings of Power and Wednesday, the secret purpose of concept art in film development, and which concept sprang straight from his dreams into the world of Tim Burton’s Nevermore.

How Dom Lavery Stepped Into Nevermore

Stepping into the world of Wednesday for season 2 proved to be an interesting challenge for Dom Lavery, especially considering that he was “going back and forth” between the Netflix Tim Burton show and The Rings of Power with Prime Video. “It’s always a bit weird going from Middle-earth back into Nevermore.”

“I was re-watching [season 1], and I’ve known [production designer Mark Scruton] for ages; we go back a long way. I understand how he works, and we had lots of reference material.” According to Lavery, a big focus in the visuals for Wednesday are directly inspired by Charles Addams’ original New Yorker strips.

“We were looking back at the original cartoons rather than the previous films… if you go back and look at it, there is actually a connection between those.” Having previously worked with Tim Burton on Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, Lavery knew what kind of exciting challenges he’d be facing in helping flesh out the world of Nevermore.

“Tim is such a visual person that it becomes tricky at times. He knows what he wants. When you know you’ve done something that is going to make it into the show, that has made Tim happy, it gives you a thrill.”

“The fact that so much of what we did and a lot of the drawings I did actually translated almost identically on screen, that was a big thrill.” One such translation was the Skull Tree, which Lavery reveals made the leap to the screen with a design that largely matches his original conception.

“I did a load of sketches and ideas for it, but I didn’t spend that much time working on it. The actual design itself, the one that was chosen, actually came to me in the middle of the night. I woke up in the middle of the night, and I’ve got a sketch pad next to my bed, and I went, ‘Oh, that might work.’ So I did a quick sketch and went back to sleep.”

“The following day, I worked that one up a bit and sent it off. That’s almost absolutely identical to what it looked like in the end. It’s funny how things suddenly come to you.”

Making What People Want (And Proving What They Don’t Want)

Lavery is currently at work on Rings of Power season 3 and Wednesday season 3, neither of which he could reveal much of. “I’ve got Netflix and Amazon watching me,” Lavery joked. Reflecting on his time helping flesh out Prime Video’s version of Middle-earth, Lavery recalled how he did more than just establish the look of the world.

“The biggest thrill is… I did a lot of mood boards, quick black and white sketches for the big battle. It was before any of it had been worked out. It was more about trying to understand the sets that we were going to build, the locations, the sort of action that they were talking about doing.”

“I just did these really quick sketches to try and flesh out how it could evolve. I think it’s probably those that I’m most proud of.” Those sketches proved crucial to the season’s biggest battle on lots of fronts. Even though they’re just quick sketches, some of the elements translated really well.”

“What a lot of people don’t realize with concept work is that we’re not just doing pretty pictures just to sell a designer set. What we do influences other departments, like the stunts unit, the camera unit, and the directors. Everybody will look at these mood boards, and it starts discussions.”

As Lavery explained, so much of his work is about helping various corners of production. “We’re quite often trying to show people what they can’t do, what they don’t want, to try and make them realize what they can do and what they do want. We’re trying ot get it as wrong as much as trying to get it right.”