Final 3D Set - Main Building Progress

Its coming together nicely, really adding up with the mental image of what I was hoping for, going to over some minor details with Simon and hopefully it will be ready for texturing after tomorrow!

Life Drawing Week 10

 

Car Colour Update for Concept Mark.2

Just some quick tests for a brighter less... Grey version of my car for the final texturing.

Life Drawing - Week 9

10 Minutes

1 Minute

1 Minute

2 Minutes

4 Minutes

20-30 Minute Study

What If Metropolis - OGR, 18/11/2015

What If 2.pdf by BradKompany

What if Metropolis - Final Featured Building's (Feedback Desired)

From my last feedback sheet of thumbnails, I have finalised the building design and colour schemes of the most popular three building design's. Once a favourite house has been chosen , and the most popular design has been chosen for each house, I will begin working on the coloured versions of the final concept art piece.

Thank you all again, here are the final design's:

What if Metropolis - Map Idea

From a piece of early concept art I made for this project, that was an abstract interpretation of a group of buildings fitting together to make a larger image, similar to the old Channel 4 Indents. Jordan and I worked on the idea of that being used as a map of the city effectively. How this could be incorporated into the final piece is unknown, though an interesting page was produced featuring early concepts of my final house designs and some initial idea's.

What If Metropolis, Final Building Concept Thumbnails (Please Give Feedback !)

Here are my final concept designs for the centre piece building of my final piece, please chose which ever one (or more than one) you like the most considering my artist, the theme of the city and overall eye catching capabilities. The theme i'm going for is 50's suburbia (think Edward Scissorhands)

Please focus on the shape and design of the buildings rather than the colours, once I know which one I will be doing I will then do a colour test sheet of that design for final feedback later on.

Thank you in advance.

Final Concept Style, Influence Map

Now I know the way i'm going with the architecture of my city, I was now thinking about the composition, and general vibe of the city. I have been looking towards a kind of idealized 50's suburbia, with pastel coloured houses, perfectly maintained gardens, and overly designed cars.

I have used Edward Sissorhands set design as a main influence for this idea. A concept that Jordan and I talked about that I think is really interesting is the Idea of everyone needing to follow a series of social must do's, to fit into there society, but still having a moderate sense of individuality with what colour or bird there house is. So its a large group of people all acting similarly, like a Flock...

See, it all come full circle.... I hope.

After Effects, 3D Layer Animation

Simon told us to ascertain about 4 or 5 assets, a sky, a background, foreground objects, and something in the immediate foreground. I essentially just took a few things I was thinking about at the time (Howl's Moving Castle, Evangelion, Star Wars, and Fallout 4)

I like how it came out and excited about using these skills in the future, I think they will be especially useful for Animatic production.

Life Drawing Week 8

4 Minute Poses

1 Minute Poses

30 Minutes

Edward Sissorhands Review

Edward Scissorhands (1990)

Fig.1

In 1990 a picture that can only be described as a love letter to the classic campy horror/thriller films of the past, was created by a man who clearly had a taste for the bizarre and macabre. Edward Scissorhands (1990) was this love letter, another master piece directed by Tim Burton, no commonly regarded for his quirky yet, dark cinematic style, for example his reimagining of the batman series as a darker more serious story than the classic comedic one, which it has remained to this day. Edward Scissorhands Plot is a sort of hybrid between two iconic and classic cinema stories and tropes, the Frankenstein's monster idea, and the classic romance story of "Beauty & the Beast" (belle le bête link). This was achieved by taking the concept of a man created by science, who does not fit into the world and is feared because he is not understood, but unlike the Frankenstein's monster of before he is innocent and kind, and the trope of the monster who doesn't fit in falling in love with an evanescent beauty. There's this strange contrast as well where everyone who doesn't know Edward personally think he can only destroy but in fact he is a great artist and creator who actively attempts to express himself.

This contrast of what people this versus what the truth actually is carries on into the set design too. Throughout the film we are shown a overly idealistic concept of fifties/sixties suburbia, all the houses are more or less the same design, all owned by materialistic house wife's who all own similar things and dress in form with each other, as if there is a form of status quo to meet, all very fake. They seem harmless enough at first but evilly you find out they're are disloyal and malicious. The only real difference of there lifestyles is the colours of their houses and they're cars, as a small state of individuality. On the other end f the scale Edward lives in a completely in case gothic castle on a hill built directly next to this city for some reason, very looming and intimidating, but In fact there is nothing sinister going on inside, the old scientist before his death only had good intentions for his creation as far as we are shown "...gothic castle crouches on a mountaintop high above a storybook suburb, a goofy sitcom neighbourhood where all the houses are shades of pastels and all of the inhabitants seem to be emotional clones of the Jetsons." (Ebert, 1990).

Fig.2

Edward is initially discovered by Peg, the mother of the family Edward is taken into, after failing to sell her Avon product to her various friends and neighbours she decides to head to the old gothic castle for some reason and see if anyone there will buy her products. After walking through a garden of well kept bush statutes she enters the castle on her own accord, eventually discovering Edward at the top of the building, initially afraid of his shining claws, but she sees that he is in fact fearful and doesn't want her to run away from him, seeing his state she decides to take Edward in, realizing he has no one else. "Peg is alarmed at first by the flash of Edward's lethal blades. But her maternal instincts are soon aroused. Edward is a hazard, slicing gashes in his face every time he wipes away a stray of hair." (Travers, 1990).

After Edward enters the town he is soon seen as exciting and desirable, because of his uniqueness and outspoken difference to what the towns people consider normal,. His latent skills and overall kindness begin to shine out and he is soon the centre of attention in the town, going from continuing his garden foliage art, through dog grooming and eventually hair dressing, to the point where he is put forward for opening his own salon.

After moving in the Pegs family Edward soon meets her daughter, who Edward is immediately smitten with. At first she is intimidated and unfriendly with Edward, and her jock'ish boyfriend sees him as no immediate threat to him. But after a few encounters were she sees the real person Edward is beyond his appearance, and a botched robbery planned by her boyfriend, she realizes she loves Edward and not Biff. Resulting in her confessing and Edward finally experiencing love, but after a misunderstanding the entire town ends up against Edward and he flees back to his original castle, there he has a final confrontation with Biff after he hits and he is swiftly killed by Edward, realizing they cannot be together now Edward bids his farewell and she returns home, never to meet Edward again.

Fig.3

It can be said this story of a creative misfit having to live in a cookie cutter consumerist society and not fitting in because of that, is in fact a reflection of Burtons youth, and he is using Edward as a reflection of his experience "The Visual representation of suburban life is skill fully and imaginatively portrayed through the eyes of the outsider, of Edward and no doubt the eyes of self proclaimed odd-ball Burton Himself." (Horne, 2003).

Bibliography:

Ebert, R Edward Scissorhands http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/edward-scissorhands-1990

Horne, D Edward Scissorhands http://www.close-upfilm.com/reviews/e/edwardscissorhands.htm

Travers, P Edward Scissorhands http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/reviews/edward-scissorhands-19901214

Illustration:

Fig.1 http://fat-sheep2002.deviantart.com/art/Edward-Scissorhands-Poster-265702523

Fig.2 http://www.fanpop.com/clubs/edward-scissorhands/picks/results/53676/think-edward-cute

Fig.3 http://theredlist.com/wiki-2-20-777-782-view-1990-2000-profile-1990-bedward-scissorhands-b.html

What if Metropolis, Travelogue.

Subirdia (get it?)

You have been travelling for weeks, the relentless ocean has gifted nothing to you yet, your voyage of discovery has yet to yield anything for the books of exploration. After venturing into tropical waters you soon see a befuddling scene; even though you look into the water below you to see the clear water, sharks and exotic fish, an iceberg has just floated past your ship, heading to the bow you look out to see what appears to be a divide between the water. Even though you are travelling through what can only appear to be tropical ocean, the water to the starboard side becomes increasingly arctic, with large chunks of ice floating around with the odd sun-bathing seal or penguin. You decide the best course of action is to follow this anomaly in an attempt to understand how this is possible.

After following the waters for a couple of dozen nautical miles, you eventually set sight on land. As you come closer, you notice that the land has the same traits as the water. Where the water touches the land, the biomes appear to change in sync with them, and as the tropical water is met with a sandy beach, the arctic water is in turn met with an icy rock shore. You disembark from your boat which was heavily damaged by the sudden ice and rocks and have the choice of heading out into a dense rain-forest, or an arctic desert; you take your chances with the jungle. While heading through the jungle you're met with a myriad of different birds and wildlife, their bright colours and calls lighting up the otherwise shaded green environment.

As you head deeper into the land you start to notice small signs or civilization, small paths emerge, totems and small statues thousands of years old appear, all of which seem to have a similar animal like design motif. The further you travel into the jungle you begin to notice that the ruins and tools of the civilisations you are going past are slowly becoming more advanced, but it also appears that they have been intentionally abandoned and dismantled, as if they’ve tried to make them as least intrusive and noticeable in the environment as possible. In some places they have been removed completely and all that remains are the foundations or a mound of materials.

Eventually you see the jungle is beginning to thin out, the path that you have been following (which has slowly become wider and better maintained) eventually reaches an opening where you are blinded by a large shining beam of light. As your come out of the opening and your eyes begin to adjust, the forms of large buildings take shape, the blinding light reflecting off an angled window that stretched down one of the taller buildings. You look around you and see what appears to be a small city, starting with smaller residential like buildings which slowly get taller as they reach the city centre, with a few larger buildings taking centre piece, reminiscent of Canary Wharf.

Taking in your surrounding’s, you notice that if you look to your right the forest eventually ends and the snowy landscape takes over again. Curious you keep following the outside radius of the city with your gaze and see that eventually the arctic biome ends as well, to be taken over by another forest, taken over by Oaks,Redwoods and Pines. You see a mountain in the distance shared by both of these environments, and coming full circle you finally see a small desert next to a large river to the sea, you can see large boats coming and going from the port, the rain-forest is on the other side of the river.

You venture down the path towards the city where you enter the residential part of the city, all the houses are like pieces of abstract art, sharp angles, smooth curves and bright colours, they remind you of the birds from the forest. As you reach a street and start walking down it, you notice that the fantastic houses are in fact shaped like large parts of birds and animals, that can only really be seen from their intended angle, artistic in a more traditional sense, with vehicles driving past and parked outside houses with large beak like front ends and toothed grills. The atmosphere of this street reminds you of a sixties (fifties?) suburban neighborhood, with the bright coloured buildings and over the top vehicle design.

After travelling through the district on your way to the city centre, you notice a general scheme of design for the city, its as if everything is based on what the citizens have seen around them, as if it is all in tribute of their natural origins, even the street lights look more like dead tree’s than man made structures. At first you wonder if this could be based on some sort of religious design tribute, but it seems to be much more about some kind of mutual respect for nature.

Reaching the business part of town you arrive to the sight of the tall buildings you could see from your original descent towards the city, the smaller of these buildings stand at least 4 times higher than the norm, the main few tallest buildings in the centre however stand taller than all others, looking more like skyscrapers, each looking like a giant bird, towering over all else, beautiful in design but almost intimidating in their looming presence, like any one could just pluck you off the ground.

After finding a map, which shows you the entire city, you soon head towards a port by the river to the sea, you also notice that the circumference of the city is reminiscent of a bird as well. Reaching the port you find a heavy trading goods industry, where resources are outsourced from other places of the world so they do not impede on their own supply, and traded for precious gems and other rare items unique to the island. Knowing you can now return home on one of these boats, you decide to stay a while first, and enjoy what nature has to offer. You soon realize that these people live in peace, and do not let the location of their island be known to anyone so they do not harm the wildlife, so you decide this place will best be left undiscovered, maybe there’ll be another island to discover.

Digital Thumbnails

After a meeting with Phil we discussed where I was going with my sketch book thumbnails, we decided that I was straying too far away from my original artist' (Charley Harper) idea's and work ethics and decided that the best idea was to reassess my work process and focus on digital thumbnails instead using the marquee and lasso tools, to better capture his style. Also rather than focusing on having a chaotic city where the true designs of the buildings could only be seen from a specific angle, that the buildings should be pleasing to look at from all angles but still resemble an intended form from a given perspective.

I tried to capture a sort of modern take on 50's suburban house design with bright colours. Also with more complicated shapes that capture many objects in one form of colour as this was a method of Harper's, but soon dropped this idea and settled for a more simple one.

There are concepts for taller, more noticeable buildings for the city, like the real world Gherkin or Shard. My personal favourite is Number 9.

(Note. For Number 7 I tried to make the head feathers look like an antenna array, with satellite dishes and red light's for plane warning.

Life Drawing Week 7

15 Minutes Pose and 2 Minutes Poses

15 Minute Pose

25 Minute Pose

15 Minute, No Lines Pose 

What if Metropolis Thumbnails

These were my initial thumbnails before a meeting with Phil took my work in another direction. 

Life drawing weeks 4 & 5 (Dia de Los Muertos special)