Medieval Knight Designs - Group Project

As part of one of my modules at university, I've been working with a 3rd year, Jessica Mckay, to create medieval knights for her project, Knight Dragon. I was required to create concept art for two knights to be used in the film, and then create turnarounds of the two of them to be eventually created in 3D. As usual, I made numerous designs in Adobe Photoshop to see which ones Jess liked.

My first designs were very dragon-like in nature, and were almost fantasy themed in look. In the story, the knights worship a dragon that resides near to their village, so felt it was important to reflect the knights trust and respect of the dragon they worship within their armour. I created one design, then duplicated it and edited each one with different aesthetics. I liked these designs quite a lot, as they had a unique silhouette to them and looked quite imposing. Unfortunately, they weren't what Jess was looking for, as she was wanting designs that looked slightly more traditional. This meant I had to go back to the drawing board and rethink my designs.

The next few were a lot more traditional in design, but  I wanted to have my own personal flair in the design. Thankfully, I had visited Leeds Armouries Museum a few years ago, and took many photos of the armour there. This acted as my main inspiration for these designs. However, I also wanted to keep the dragon element intact, so I added things like 'scales' to the armour as well. Jess liked these a lot more, and once she chose two, I got to work on the turnarounds so they can be created in 3D.

This first design was designed with many ridges to almost look like scales. I also knew that the colour red is important in establishing power and dominance, so I included it in his cape. He was the first one I designed, and I'm pretty happy with his design. I purposely created the knights in a t shape so that Jess' 3D modeller could easily replicate them in Maya. It was also important for me to avoid making the character too complex in design to make sure the rigging did not take too much time out of the production schedule.

This one is a slightly more bulky version of the first. I think this design helps in maintaining the consistency between the characters, while also giving him a slightly more unique look, particularly in the shoulder padding and the cape.

I am happy with the way these two characters turned out, and would be happy for Jess to use them in her project. I can only hope that the 3D modeller can successfully replicate these designs and in turn enhance them to truly represent my vision of powerful, dominant knights.

Gromit Unleashed Submission

My design for the Gromit Unleashed project. I've always wanted to get back into creating aboriginal art, and felt that this was the perfect project to do it. Aardman Animations are looking for someone to put their design on 60 Gromit sculptures, and the best ones will be presented around Bristol.

As usual I experimented to see which design was best, and it was a toss up between the hot air balloon and aboriginal designs. I then realised that the hot air balloons would be a common choice by contestants, so I chose the aboriginal design instead.

Here's a link to the website, the deadline is closed but there's lots of interesting news about the project:

www.gromit-unleashed.org.uk

3D Marco

Here's a 3D model of Marco I'm currently working on. I'm proud of it so far, but I just need to iron out some of the bumps in the mesh which I shall do soon.

I'm also int the process of rigging it, which is taking a bit of time. Hopefully I'll have it ready to animate for the project deadline.

Polar Opposite Characters No. 5

Here's my final polar opposite characters, for this project anyway. The aim for these two characters was to sample two different positions of authority. Lionheart is supposed to represent an order of control and order, passed down to him by his commanding officer.

Here we have Typhoon, a character meant to represent pure power. I created him mainly as a plot twist to represent Storm's alter-ego when he gets angry or stressed, which he rarely ever does. He is also different to Lionheart in that he is not bound by limits or restrictions. I particularly liked the cape as it represents authority.

Here's the final design. I'm not quite sure what to make o him to be honest, as he was created due to time limitations. I also think it may limit Storm's emotions and could be out of character for him. I might replace Typhoon with a different character, but for now he's being shelved for possible future use. 

Polar Opposite Characters No. 4

Next up, the birds. This time I want to focus on the differences within a family. I decided to focus on a son and mother relationship, as I currently don't have any characters that focus on the differences between a boy and a girl.

Here we have Birdbrain, the mad scientist of the crew. After investigating with his design numerous times, I realised his first design was fine as it was. Apart from a thin neck, his design didn't change at all when completed.

Here's Birdbrain's overbearing mother, Featherbrain. Unlike the other girls who looked somewhat tough, Featherbrain had to look sweet and innocent. Her design also had to look like a housewife and fairly traditional, unlike the other characters who looked futuristic. I think I succeeded, and overall I'm happy with her design.

Polar Opposite Characters No. 3

Time for the girls to shine this time. This time I'm starting with the enemy, Princess. My aim with this character was to put an emphasis on her ugliness, despite her name suggesting otherwise. I gave her some slight cleavage in areas to suggest her vanity. I was originally a bit unsure about the breasts, but I decided that they added to the humour of the character.

Not much changed during her final design. She was given a bit more flab in areas and slightly bigger high heels, that's really about it.

Next we have Storm's love interest, Roxie. Unlike Storm which looked more funny and dumb, Roxie had to look more mature and cooler. After much investigation, I decided that the circled design looked best as I liked the spiky hair. However, I felt that her current design wasn't feminine enough, so I knew I wanted to change her final design.

I experimented with her design, and fell in love with it (not in a weird bestial way). Unlike Storm and Marco who's eye shapes were more cartoony, I made Roxie's look more cat-like to suggest her maturity. I made her hands and feet more smaller to make her look less manly.

Polar Opposites no.1 Turnaround Sheets

Well, here's my first two polar opposites in preparation for uni. I took the original images and traced over the lines using the pen tool. Once done, I exported the images to Photoshop to colour underneath the lines. I've measured out the characters proportions using invisible lines, and they're pretty much spot on. I might try and do more turnarounds if I have the time, but for now these will do just fine.

I'm really happy with the way Storm has turned out, and is perhaps my favourite character of them all. I added a gun to his belt just to give him a bit more of a cool factor (even though he wouldn't know how to use it lol). I'm still not sure whether to make him speak or not. I added the S logo to his belt and gun as heroes like to shamelessly promote themselves.

Here we have Blade, the badass fox. I like all the visual suggestions I've added to his uniform and body. My intention was to leave people guessing about his persona and background, which I think comes off pretty well. My only concern is if he's perhaps too detailed to be animated, but I'll solve that dilemma soon.

I should have more character turnarounds up soon, stay tuned! :)