Harald Belker
by bornis , under 2D Artists
Name: Harald Belker
Birthday: 1961
born: Krefeld, Germany
Location: Los Angeles
Awards: honorary doctor from Art Center College of Design
Website: www.haraldbelker.com
Biography:
Harald Belker PhD hon.
Harald Belker is a force of nature in the area of automotive design with a list of design credits
that include the Smart, the Batmobile for the Warner Bros. Batman and Robin film, and the
futuristic cars of Steven Spielberg’s Minority Report including the sporty red Lexus. Other
movie credits include vehicle design for Armageddon, Inspector Gadget, Fahrenheit 451 and
Cat in the Hat and concept designs for Spider-Man 1 and 3.
Automotive design
Belker’s initial interest in all things automotive started by hanging out with a childhood friend
who unwittingly laid the foundation for his design career. “He was car crazy and I liked it, but
for different reasons”, he explains. “I wanted to change things all the time. Drove him nuts,
but he was the one that sent me a magazine about the schools where one can do
automotive design and therefore he had a hand in my career and sort of helped me to get
me into the right direction.”
At 42, Belker has been involved in the design field for roughly 15 years. “I started dreaming
about car design pretty late. I was about 26 and finished a degree in engineering before I
even heard of the Art Center College of Design”, he admits. “But once I saw what they did, I
was pretty sure that this would be my future as well.”
After graduating from the Art Center College of Design, Belker fell into the dream design job
of designing cars for Porsche. “Though my time at Porsche was short”, he explains, “I made
some long lasting friends”. From Porsche, Belker then moved to another iconic automotive
company at Mercedes Benz in California where he worked on the Mercedes Smart Car as well
as the ‘S’ and ‘M’ class models.
Entertainment vs. industrial design
Though Belker’s early design work centered on the industrial design of cars, he gained a
taste for entertainment design when he was offered the opportunity to design the Batmobile
for the Batman and Robin movie. “Since then I have worked on many fun projects”, admits
Belker. “Some of the projects have been hard to watch movies, but nevertheless they were a
blast to work on. My work on Minority Report was an absolute highlight of my career because
aside from the manpower behind it, it gave me a chance to show a future sense of vehicle
design that we had not seen before.”
Belker is well aware of the different dynamics of automotive design for the entertainment
industry as opposed to the industrial design that results in a car on the road: “The difference
is that for the automotive world, you get a package with hard points, with restrictions, and
parts being used from other lines, and then some more restrictions. I don’t have a problem
with that, but that is the world of car design. In the entertainment or game world, you have
none of that. It is up to me to choose what proportions and dimensions will work for the
vehicle to fulfil the requirements. The projects go from Comics (Batman), to future (Minority
Report) to fantasy (Cat in the Hat). Very different goals and very different philosophies.”
From real cars, to futuristic cars, Belker enjoys the challenges that each produce. “Right now I
am completely submerged in the world of Hot Wheels. Besides the ultimate racer, I have a
couple cars that are funny, different and challenging. They’re hitting the shelves very soon. ”
Style
A glance at Harald Belker’s body of work shows a great range of styles. He describes his
visual style as “graphically bold, with the sensitivity and vision to push new forms”. He
continues: “I like to design everything and I do. I am working on furniture, sports equipment,
bags, toys, cars etc. I don’t want to do the same thing over and over.”
From thought to movie production
One of the thrills of designing cars for movies is that they are often built. Belker describes the
biggest challenge in this type of one-off automotive design is cost: “These things are not
cheap and producers don’t like to spend money. Once I get the basic design approved, I
have a 3D guy model it in the computer. With that information we can output a small model
and use that data later to mill a full size model out of foam, make fiberglass molds and start
the full size car. In parallel a chassis is built, suspension and power plant located, etc. The
movie vehicle is built for the scenes in the script. If it has to go fast it will. The same data can
also be used for the postproduction phase. It all has become very streamlined because of
computers and the Internet. Thank god!”
Inspiration
Belker credits the strong group of friends that he met during his design studies as an
inspiration in his work: “I was lucky to graduate with a great bunch of guys from Art Center.
We are still meeting and working together.”
“I get my ideas from addressing the issue at hand”, he adds. “I don’t like to research or look
at other cars for instance. I absorb everything from my environment anyway. My goal is to do
new things and not redo things. It is difficult, and sometimes when I think I’ve got something
new I see it a day later and realize that it had influenced me subconsciously.”
The medium
Belker’s design career and studies mean that he has learnt and worked with both traditional
and digital tools: “I love digital work, but I have spent years learning the basics, perfecting a
way of working with traditional media such as markers and gouache”, explains Belker. “With
these principles, I have been able to effectively move into the digital world. These tools,
especially Photoshop, make it all much easier and are great for presentation purposes.”
Making a name for yourself
Not surprisingly, Belker is very upbeat about the discipline of design and its value as a career
path. He offers the following advice for those looking to move in this direction: “Make sure
that you’ve got a good understanding of design. Most of the time you have to work for
people with a different sense of design than your own. It takes a long time to develop skills
that will make you special. If you succeed, it is the best job in the world, because it is always
new and constantly changing. Follow your dream!!!”
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