Pinoy artist who worked on 'Power Rangers' sees 'Encantadia' as inspiration

A Filipino visual artist who immigrated to New Zealand to be part of the legendary Weta Workshop has temporarily returned to the Philippines as his studio's latest project hits the country's theaters.

Ryan Serrano worked on the costumes seen in the live superhero movie "Power Rangers" as part of Weta's special effects team for the 2017 reboot of the Americanized tokusatsu franchise.

"Ang pinaka-main na ginawa namin dun is yung mga armors, yung mga chestplates, and everything," Serrano told GMA News' Audrey Carampel on "24 Oras" on Wednesday.

Serrano was a mentee of "Encantadia" and "Mulawin vs Ravena" lead visual artist Noel Flores while taking his thesis at the University of Santo Tomas.

The original incarnation of "Encantadia" in 2005 was the basis of Serrano's thesis and was his inspiration to pursue the visual arts.

"Since fan ako, ang ganda nung lore nung 'Encantadia.' Then after nun, parang naisipan ko na since fantasy siya, pwede ko siyang bigyan ng sarili kong style," Serrano said.

Flores said he was unsurprised when Serrano became part of the team that brought Power Rangers back to life as his student had always been passionate and had experience prior to working with Weta.

"Nung estudyante siya, nakita ko yung passion niya to learn, yung passion niya of course na maging artist," Flores said.

Before Serrano came to work for Weta, the special effects and prop company that also worked in the "Lord of the Rings" franchise, he worked in the production house that created effects for Captain Barbell, Darna, and Iglot.

In the future, Serrano hopes his work on Power Rangers would land him work with any of the heavily CGI-reliant, multi-billion films within the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

"Kung ako papipiliin, gusto kong mag-work sa Marvel, sa Cinematic Universe. Kung mabibigyan kami ng chance, that's very fortunate for me," he said. —Rie Takumi/KBK, GMA News