Hey folks, Harry here... A few days ago, Merrick posted an image that was represented as being a Na'Vi character design from James Cameron's AVATAR. The design was also allegedly removed from a number of other sites that it had been posted upon. However, we here at AICN, never received such a request. However, I did receive an email from James Cameron today catching me up with how production is going on AVATAR. In that letter, he specifically addressed that design, here is that portion of the letter...
You recently posted some artwork of a supposed Na'vi character. Don't know where you got it but it's spurious. I've never seen that piece of art. We had a lot of free-ranging conceptual stuff in the early days of design two and a half years ago, and it might be something that was done then but not shown to me, but it is definitely not remotely our actual character design. Aside from two legs, two arms and a tail, it doesn't have any features in common with our final designs. If I had to guess I'd say it's a piece of fan art based on the description of the Na'vi from the old treatment which was leaked twelve years ago. That description is obsolete relative to the shooting script, since things have changed a lot over the years.
