Weta Digital and Weta Workshop business.employment_tenure under the supervision of Richard Taylor and Christian Rivers , began work on early visual effects tests , specifically the complex task of building a CGI version of New York City circa 1933 .

Del Toro met concept artists John Howe and Alan Lee , Weta Workshop business.employment_tenure Richard Taylor , and make-up artist Gino Acevedo in order to keep continuity with the previous films , and he also hired comic book artists to complement Howe 's and Lee 's style on the trilogy , including Mike Mignola and Wayne Barlowe , who began work around April 2009 .

Richard Taylor , who is the head of Weta Workshop business.employment_tenure has won a notable number of awards for his work on the `` The Lord of the Rings '' film trilogy and King Kong .