Independent Practice Week5:Chris' Insect Designs

As i mentioned in the previous blog post during the intrim crit Chris had wanted me to do some more designs of the insect characters of more towards stages of mutations of the characters starting with small mutations.

So i designed a character fitting Chris' description of skinny, small mutated character and by doing this i followed the usual character design but creating a thinner shape of the body which would then have sketches of mutations forming over areas of the body.

The next design would be the medium mutated character which his body would have an increase of body mass as well as mutations which are much more noticeable.
As well as increase in body mass and mutations i wanted to get across the fact that these mutations are stripping the characters humanity as he mutates further.

This had meant to be the final character being the large boss character and i had designed the character fitting with Chris' description of large body mass and larger mutations but after sending the design over Chris didn't see the design as a boss but more of a medium design.

So after the unsuccessful attempt at a large boss like insect character design Chris told me to look at Batman's Bane specifically from the 2008 game Batman:Arkham Asylum, as well as the build of professional wrestle Dave Bautista and also for the character to be around seven foot.

So after giving me the specific bits of research i created a design similar to all the areas that Chris covered in the research and with this design i wanted to get across that the mutations haven't given the character a disadvantage but rather and advantage with the tough exterior of a beetle covering areas of his limbs as armour or pincers to attack with, this character looks more menacing than the previous design.

Now with this final image that looks unchanged from teh previous image but once again after sending over the previous design Chris mentioned the proportion of the head being too small so i went back and inflated the head of the character to a suitable size but have to think more about looking at my designs' proportion as this problem has come up multiple times.

Independent Practice Week5:Chris' Battle Poses

During the intrim crit Chris stated that he may need me to design a few battles poses and more insect character designs and so here are the three battle poses for the main character basing the poses off of the three images you see below. The first thing that i had to do was form the body shape of the pose to which i would then use the body shape as an outline for the main character.

 

After sending the poses over to Chris via email he responded with "these are great the second is the best, i do like the third one but the other hand should be further up the gun holding it underneath" and with Chris liking the designs but going towards the second which i feel fits better with his main characters design and as Chris mention with the third design the positioning of the hand is off so another point added to proportions for me to focus more on when designing.

Independent Practice Week4:Chris' Choices Turnaround

With a few days till the intrim crit i am pretty confident that what i have done so far is enough to show and so i took another 'breath of fresh air' when Chris asked me to do a turnaround for two of the character designs that i had done for him. Happy that two design that i had done was chosen for his project i went further into development producing side and back views to the previous front views that i had done.

Starting with the simplest of the two choices i went ahead and produced the back then the side views but leaving a blank spot for the controlling insect as i was unaware of the choice of insect i was going with. So as the design for the character was pretty simple i had done the side and back view pretty quickly and went on to work on the insect design and looking back at the insect from my research there wasn't many options to choose from that was thinking for the design but what had stood out was the beetle. The beetle had to be the choice of the controller as it looks menacing, powerful and a fitting insect that could overpower and wrap its legs around the character to do its bidding. So i went on to choose the beetle and once again do a turnaround of the insect so that Chris would be able to take the design and model the insect but with the design i made sure that the look of the back of the insect looked tough so that it would be hard to take the insect off of the character. Once i had the turnaround of the insect complete i started to place the insect on the front, side and back of the character and wrap the legs of the insect around the characters neck to give the viewer the knowledge that this character is being controlled and the veins being larger and showing up on the character as the insect is starting to mutate the character.




























The other character design that Chris had chosen to go with is one of the main character designs that i had done although the image shows the design of the main character the original face design was different as Chris had wanted the facial design of one of the other character designs. So after placing the new facial design upon the chosen body design, i knew that doing the full turnaround of the character would take much longer as the design has much more detail. Doing the back view first forming the design from the front view i finished off the back view by adding a backpack, inventory design to show how the character is breathing, where he gets his equipment and just a design that would be used as an all round purpose item. After i had done the back view i can then start to work on the side view as the frn and back views allow me to join the two sets of views and give the design a connection point where everything goes together.

Overall i believe the turnaround design came out brilliantly, doing a turnaroung for the insect was great to do because its apart of the design as an individual object which makes up the character design as a whole. But by far my favourite had to be the turnaround of the main character as i feel from the front view you don't get across certain areas of the design and their purpose and i feel at the end being able to do the turnaround of the character i was able to further develop a design which looks better and understanding from different views. Also after showing Chris the designs and being updated on his progress of cleaning up the design he told me that certain proportions were messed up, so that is an area of skill that i would need to work on.

Independent Practice Week3:Chris Character Design Part3

Chris, during the feedback on the other character designs had given me little bases of what he wants for the main character design i had received these main characterisations for the character
"For the main guy I'm thinking a mix of the Mass Effect and Crysis suit and the head off the Killzone guy when he doesn't have a helmet on. Maybe even just a breathing mask too see what that might look like." "For the suit in my head it is a mix of Metal Gear Solid, Mass Effect and Crysis.The final set of character design i had an outline of what the design should look like from Chris' responses and along with them i received a couple of refrence images to go back to what Chris is looking for. As i designed the characters i had the mindset of not over complicating the design because if Chris takes design into the modelling stage the design might end up being too difficult to model, so i tried to keep to a basic design throughout the development.

With each of these first two images i wanted to create an armour for the character where they would protect key areas of the body and allow the character to maneuver. Having unique shapes to accustom the body shape of the areas they are protecting allowed for the character design to become unique. Underneath the armour, as Chris had stated would be a tough exterior of clothing that would protect the character as well as allow him to have a standard movement. The design of the helmet comes across from the shape of the head as well as the description that Chris had given of the character having a gas mask type design on the front of the face.

The last two designs i had designed from Chris' response of the Mass Effect 2 suits which are more block shaped, where as Chris wants a a design which wold fit the year that the game is set in where the designs would be smooth, sleek and would look a like a fitting of the body shape of the character. So i designed a more smooth spherical design of armour which forms around the shape of the character. The characters design as well as the previous two designs were done intentionally symmetrical so that if modelled the design wouldn't be needed to be done individually.

I am thinking practical yet with a hint of future design, so form fitting lightweight tough materials, knee/elbow pads.

Facially you will see I am thinking of Warren Christie from Alphas, good looking yet tough looking, hair you can play around with but shaved or like the Beckham is where I am thinking right now, keep the stubble beard and scar.

Colours black/white with the white being able too turn into camouflage so try to make it over the key areas.

Head wear I am not sure yet so hoping if a good design comes along it will settle it in my head, try some helmets and maybe a facial mask over the mouth, goggles/glasses that could incorporate some tech like navigation, night vision, thermal etc.

If it is possible I would like to see something by Monday for when I am in college next, to show too Annabeth, get more ideas.

Let me know if you need anymore information or to bounce ideas around."

Independent Practice Week3:Chris Character Design Part2

Finishing the insect mutated character designs i started to focus on the zombie character designs, first researching into zombies in general. I found having an image of the human skeleton was handy in designing the zombie characters if they have limbs that are so deeply damaged that the bones are shown. I looked at zombies with scars, limbs missing and then remembered the unique zombie characters that i had seen in the television production of The Walking Dead and researched into their designs finding that the zombies can look like zombies but still retain their human physical attributes.

Along with The Walking Dead research i went into researching zombies in games such as Dead Rising, the recently released Dead Island and seeing how the zombie character comes across within the game. Taking away from the research were that the zombies in general are classed majorly on their physical response with the way they walk and talk. But the visuals are showing the zombie aspect through injuries, rotting body parts, bones being visible, blood and hair loss.

I began to design the first zombie character to have distinct visuals which showcase him being classed as a zombie, with such things as a major injury, hair loss, limbs hanging off, shredded or torn clothing, bones being visible and scars. These little pieces of the design, all besides the right chunk of the stomach missing build together the visuals of a zombie as well showing the character was human from the clothing, body and face.

The second design i went with a more experienced zombie in the visuals of him looking like a zombie who had lasted a long time. This i feel is shown through the rough way the body is designed along with the very limited amount of clothing, with the clothing being torn and old in the design. The physical aspect of the design i felt i should make this design showing the fat and body being affected as it wears away along with the wounds of other zombies.

The third design i created the character being in the process of his body wearing away as you see the muscle. I kept the amount clothing visible on the zombie as well to further the realisation of the characters body wearing away. The clothing along with the body is showing visual afflictions as far as showing the characters leg featuring an injury so deep that the bones are visible.

I sent over the three designs for Chris of the zombie character designs and his response had been that i mistook the zombie design description as being literally zombies but instead he had wanted the character to act like zombie more or less being controlled by an insect.

His response had been, "for a 'zombie's I was thinking of a more normal looking human with maybe an insect attached too the top of the spine, sort of controlling the host. Maybe some scars or tears in the flesh from past attacks."

Chris had written that the character he wanted was one who was being controlled by an insect which has latched itself upon the back of the neck of the character and that the character should look like an everyday person but affected by this insect in the form of controlling the character. So i developed a simple design of a character wearing a shirt and trousers and the insects legs wrapped around the characters neck and because of the insect latching itself upon the character, small or large forms of mutation have grown on areas of the characters body.

Independent Practice Week3:Chris Character Design Part1

As i am doing research for my ship i was asked by fellow classmate Chris Rhodes if i could do some character designs for his project and the reason why i had agreed had been because as i do my own project i feel that taking some time away to design characters for Chris would give me a breath of fresh air. So Chris had sent me over the general overview of his project as well as what he wants from me, here is the email i had received-

The idea of game is that in the not too distant future the Earth is pretty messed up, no fuels, running out of room, pollution etc.
For the past 50-100years the main Government of Earth has being looking into space for possible new locations too set up a "New Earth", two were found and missions were sent there to test how it suited for us, oxygen/water/soil samples. The search was narrowed to two main planets but one of the scientists wasn't so sure about one of them, the samples seemed too good, had some anomalies but the Government looked over as nothing major and ,this as the planet was far larger than the other and closer.

This scientist was sacked after he started to cause trouble with the proposed planet move in the media and trying to get fellow scientists too agree.

Work started on the "New Earth" on building new cities, planting forests and jungles too get the planets oxygen level up to a better standard to meet our needs.

Every now and again a new group of people were brought up to help carry out work, scientists, builders etc.
The Planet has alot of Bio-Domes around, as outside of these the oxygen isn't very good so you have to wear mask, and when a major new piece of work is happening bombs go off around different parts of the planet, sending out waves of gas.

At first there is no real major sign of anything, but after a few months changes start to happen, the plant life start to grow larger, stronger, faster.

People become infect from the air supply and start too change, insect bites start to alter the genes of the people, they mutate and attack one another.
 
Contact with Earth is lost before any "major" changes are seen. The government get wary after the final report wasn't a very good indication of what's going on. They start to form a task force to go up and examine what actually happen.

One of the men on this team has a wife who is a scientist up on the planet and he is worried what has happened too her and her team.

......................................

So that's the general back story of the game.

The main character is your general good looking tough guy.
While the creatures I am thinking of a mixture of zombies and insect mutations!

So i understand that i am to create character designs for the main character, zombie and insect mutations. Having that as the goal and Chris telling me he didn't go into much detail but instead allow me enough room to design. I designed each of the character designs for Chris in the form of a T-Pose to allow, if chosen a simple transfer into modelling with the T-Pose as the basis.

I started off designing the characters for the insect mutations and began that design by researching specific types of insects that the audience will be able to know about. Looking at insects such as butterflies, grasshoppers, fireflies, ants i started to develop the characters by basing key limbs that make an insect, an insect. Wings, shape of the insect, the variation of the limbs these are the main parts of the insect i took into developing the characters. Using the key parts of the limb from the insects that i was using i started to develop the characters varying from the shape of the insects and the majority of the parts of the insect that are used.

The first design that i created i had taken the insect mutation aspect of the design as far as having only a few distinct areas of the body that show the human side. I designed the character to be affected much more by the insect mutation, showing that the legs of the character had bonded together, the arms being mutated further and wings being grown, insect limbs coming out and the stomach corroding to the point where the skin forms around the spine.

The second design went into 50/50 of the insect and human mutation as there were only a few areas of the body that mutated. This design was developed to show more of a human characterisation but used insect portions that were used to make the character unique and more of a weird look where the designs is not mirrored but instead have certain point of the body that stand out.

The third design that i had done was one which i took to the extremes and showing how the insect muattion had affected the character to the point where he could be a boss type enemy. As i had started creating the third character i previously sent over Chris the first two designs to which he replied stating to look at insects such as scorpions and beetles. So along with my previous research, i researched into these specific insects and used the scorpion in the development of the third character to where the design show what was left of the human as part of the tail of the giant scorpion and the character to have very limited amount of human bodyparts.

The final design i had come up with was again from the feedback i had received from Chris was that the insect mutated character having much more of a human aspect of the visuals. Using the design of a beetle i developed from that insect the character design to have a hard exterior across his left arm as well as the right leg and to have distinct insect areas added to the sides, shin and head. These type of design where the character retains much of his human side but certain areas are mutated to best suit its attacking and defensive duties.