At 48, Belker has been involved in the design field for roughly 20 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. 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.

With his switch to the entertainment industry he quickly became a household name. Still adding to his credit, he started out with 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, Triple X series, concept designs for Spider-Man 1 and 3 and Iron-man 1 and 2, and many more.

What time he has left, he spends with his family and enjoys seeing his daughter growing up and whenever there is time and wind, he can be found kitesurfing somewhere along the southern California coastline.

In today's world of digital artist, anything is possible. I am amazed about the talent that is out there delivering incredible work. But as confusing as the term design is, the digital aspect only added to it.
I was lucky to be old enough to still have learned everything with traditional media. Knowledge helps to set yourself apart from a world that moves closer and closer, and it become more difficult to identify ones style.

I still draw on paper, for me the only way to empty my brain looking for new ideas and making them visible to later be sorted. Photoshop allows me to either render them quickly or spend time and make the design look realistic. In movies it crosses over to illustrations where things have to be placed into an environment. Lately I have crossed over to the 3D world. First SketchU and since the beginning of 2010, I am heavily involved with modo. These are tool again that allow me to execute my designs faster and to a higher level.

We live in a world of instant gratification, that goes for design too. Directors and clients in general want to "walk" around a model asap. Nobody has time to wait for another rendering anymore.

I love and it is exciting, every once in a while I miss the final touches with a paint brush...

Movies

BATTLESHIP ’11 - design of ships and weapons.
IRON-MAN2 ’10 - design and graphics for the race cars.
TR0N2-Legacy ’10 - early concepts on the Light-bike and design of the guard bikes.
DRAGONBALL ’09 - design of weapons and vehicles.
DEATHRACE ’08 - design of all the vehicle armor.
IRON-MAN ’08 - design of a car that was later scratched, alternative weapons for the suit.
TRANSFORMERS ’07 - design of several background vehicles.
SPIDER-MAN3 ’06 - design of the Sky-Stick.
XXX-State of the Union ‘04 - re-design of the GTO and Mustang.
ZATHURA ‘04 - robot design and studio sketches for the at-home, car designer.
SERENITY ‘04 - design of the thug attack sled.
CONSTANTINE ’04 - prop design.
STEALTH ’03 - design of EDI and plane interior.
CAT IN THE HAT ’02 - design of the S.L.O.W. car.
XXX ’01 - design of the GTO.
MINORITY REPORT ’01 - design of the MagLev Vehicles, futuristic transportation system and red Lexus sportscar.
SUPERMAN ’01 - design of the Alien Space fleet
SPIDER-MAN ’00 - design of the Pumpkin Bomb and several other gadget.
BATTLEFIELD EARTH ’00 - design of the alien attack craft.
FAHRENHEIT 451 ’99 - design of the fire truck.
INSPECTOR GADGET ’98 - design of the Gadgetmobile.
DEEP BLUE SEA ‘98 - concept art.
SUPERNOVA ’97 - concept art.
ARMAGEDDON ’97 - design of the X-71 space shuttle.
BATMAN & ROBIN ’96 - design of the Batmobile, Redbird motorcycle and all other vehicles.

Consumer products

Oblong – design for a gloveless hand devise for the g-speak interface.
Shell – ''Hydrofuel'' staton design proposal.
Kaenon – design for the complete line of sunglasses.
Solar Monkey - electric car design.
Lee Iacocca – e-bike, first full electric bicycle.
Studio Roundhouse – Hydrapak, hydration backpack line.
Mattel Toys – Hotwheels
Gnomon workshop – 5 design tutorials, from concept to finished art work for automotive design.
Digital Anvil – designs for all the ships of the [[Freelancer]] computer game.
Nissan Design International - design consultant for Quest show car.
Mercedes Benz Advanced Design – worked on designs for the [[Smart car]], M-class and S-class.
Porsche Design Germany – design entry for the model 996.

Georgia Southern University, 1987
Art Center College of Design, 1990

I encourage you to learn about my Gnomon Workshop DVD-ROMs, a series of two-hour design tutorials providing a detailed look at my design approach, from concept to execution. For more, visit http://www.thegnomonworkshop.com

For a complete education as a designer in any field, check out the Art Center College of Design. One visit will convince you to join the program. You just need to find a way to pay for it. It ain't cheap :-)