Thursday, November 14, 2013

http://www.pinterest.com/m1a1hunter/star-wars-concept-art/  Research


Rationale

Pitch
Coruscant concept art

Scene 1 Street.
The street in the art is based on the second movies scenes which take place in the darker parts of Coruscant, the alleyway is set deep bellow the industrial mega structures of the glossy city above. down here tucked in amongst the myriad pipes and reactors are little dive bars, strip clubs and places that sell almost anything that is smuggled onto the planet. The hero characters could be down here to investigate a smuggler known to the Jedi council who could be seeking refuge in this area, or maybe they are just in need of a stiff drink.

Scene 1 Reactor room
The reactor room is set deep within of the mega structures of the planet wide city, with its large sweeping walkways and massive amounts of textures, vents, ducts , pipes and hanging cables, the room could be the scene for a epic showdown between a Jedi Knight and a bounty hunter with stolen Jedi technology. The lighting is dark and moody, the intense glow from the reactor core fills the room with vivid dancing shadows that trick the eye and ensnare the imagination.


Overall the mood I wanted to set for this area of Coruscant was one of darkness, and fear, in the streets the feels like the buildings are closing in, in the buildings they feel like a labyrinth 








INT Breakdown







EXT Breakdown

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Rational

The overall design for the creature was based on the water realm of the gloaming, after looking at the pre established world I noted all of the myths that had been used to drive the characters and how the designs were not the traditional little girls fictional characters, they all seemed real, and looked like they could be a exotic part of our animal kingdom.

The myth I picked was that of the Merrow  from Irish mythology, a guardian of the water. The vast majority of the Merrow stories talked about the allure of the Merrow and how they their appearance would lure men and woman to the water's edge.
In most of the traditional art works and Celtic designs the Merrow appears as a beautiful naked woman, for my concept I looked at the gloaming as a whole and settled on the idea of a merperson that was believable and had a stunning skin that would be revered amongst the other gloaming folk.

The environment for the creature is the rivers and lakes of the gloaming.
The design for the Merrow was based on a number of real world creatures with the tail of a eel, an amazingly fast river swimmer, the upper body of a man and the fins of a Fighting fish and a flying fish. This gives the Merrow speed, manual dexterity and the ability to skim across the water's surface for short periods of time, allowing the Merrow to traverse the rocky water ways of the Gloaming.

For the first colour styles I started out looking at tropical fish, however after it was pointed out to me that the river and lakes was the home I had chosen for the creature and how that didn't suit the tropical theme, I began looking at river fish, salmon and trout, with the trout standing out the most to me with its rainbow scales and subtle pinks and orange hues. The final is a reflection on that development and research.

Overall I am Happy with the final outcome of the design, Sculpt and final paintings and have enjoyed putting my zbrush skills the test and developing new skills and pushing my concepting as a designer. 

Things I forgot

Hair/Fin styles





Finished Posters

Anatomy Poster

Zbrush Model and paint over poster

Front and side paintings

 Side of my character
Front painting

Third times a charm...

Third try at rendering my character, after having a thing about my character and its environment it dawned on me that a tropical colored fish wouldn't fit in a river and lake scene which is after all where my myth originates from. So after studying many examples of river fish and in particular Trout, I settled on the spotted green and purple scheme derived from the rivers natural greenery, and dark black to purple rocks.


The Myth....

"Merrow (from Gaelic murúch) or Murrough (Galloway) is the Scottish and Irish Gaelic equivalent of the mermaid and mermen of other cultures. There are other names pertaining to them in Gaelic: Muir-gheilt,SamhghubhaMuidhuachán, and Suire. They would seem to have been around for millennia because according to the bardic chroniclers, when the Milesians first landed on Irish shores the Suire, or sea-nymphs, played around them on their passage." Wiki......


Merrows themselves are extremely beautiful and are promiscuous in their relations with mortals. As members of the sidhe, or Irish fairy world, the inhabitants of Tir fo Thoinn the Land beneath the Waves, have a natural antipathy towards humans.

First try at painting over my Sculpt

First try ( Ok followed what Ben Mauro did....)

Second try (color fail)

WIP Merrow sculpt






Working files from the sculpting process