I felt a redesign for the Chief character was in order as in hindsight; I'm not quite satisfied with the previous design perhaps feeling too comical. The new design hopefully rectifies this being less restrictive with the use of real world objects for more freedom to create a more interesting design.
He now adorns a battle body plate with shoulder guards refitted from scrap materials, as well as wielding a former garden tool re-purposed as an intimidating weapon. I kept the use of a cape aesthetic (perhaps once originally a curtain material) to maintain his higher sense of stature and social status, along with the boots despite being well worn and full of holes, as the surviving humans exist in a world where footwear has become a precious commodity.
For the female of the group, I imagined a matriarchal type woman who would lead in the spiritual ritual as shown by the soundscape.
As such, she adorns a mystical hood while wielding some foreboding ritual items. She also collects materials of the world which has formed the many ribbons and layers of her dress.
Experimenting with a portrait composition this time, capturing the wreckage of a plane wing entangled in the midst of a great hulking tree. With its dominating presence and size, this could be the main place of worship as driven by the original soundscape.
The remnants of a bridge spanning across a lake. Was experimenting with a cooler palette with the piece, while giving a sort of mystical quality with fireflies dancing throughout the night. Once more, it suggests the deteriorating presence mankind has left in the land with nature reclaiming all in its wake.
This piece turned out quite differently than I originally intended with a dusty desert of a dried up lake below. I wasn't quite satisfied with the general composition and the direction the piece was taking at this early stage, so I repainted the piece with the results above.
Concept piece depicting the ruins of a large freighter type boat. The fact that a boat would lie in such a strange location further suggests the extreme changes the world has undertaken, as well as the conditions the band of humans must co-exist in.
Started with some rough thumbnails with this one, before quickly resolving colour and adding some finer details.
A character concept of a sort of tech guy amongst the band of humans, one who is recognised to understand more of the old objects and artefacts they come across.
His clothes are well-worn and overused, with shoes in disrepair and overalls only kept together with an array patches taken from various clothing. Some objects include a collection of goggles he uses to analyse objects, a hammer tied to a cable which can be swung at great force, and an assortment of other objects he keeps in his pouch.
A concept piece depicting one of the possible shelters of the band of humans, developed from some of my earlier thumbnails.
I initially started with a rounder caravan similar to that of a 1950s aesthetic, but later decided to mix it up with a more square metallic version to create a further contrast to the surrounding nature.
Here, I've taken some of my previous character thumbnails to develop further. I imagine the band of humans would naturally adopt a leader, perhaps something similar to that of a Chief type figure.
As the small band of humans discover objects of their forgotten past with a certain naivety, they begin to use what we consider everyday objects for a variety of different purposes. Here, I've made the Chief character use a lampshade as a hat, keys and coins as jewellery with watches worn on the legs, an umbrella as an ornate staff and a rug wrapped around as a cape. He also keeps a weapon and a cracked mirror which is considered precious to be able see ones' own reflection.
My main difficulty is in finding the right balance with the use of objects to make the character seem capable, and not completely ridiculous. They simply do not know what the objects are or what they were originally intended for, and thus use them differently. As such, its also fun yet challenging in finding these new perspectives of everyday objects.
Let me know what you think. Feedback most appreciated.
With the last few projects, I've only taken a relatively few steps into character design and so it is something I want to explore and improve upon. These quick sketches help experiment with a range of themes and styles, as well as to help determine the general direction of the characters of this world I aim to create.
I've primarily focused on the design of possible clothing and attire, with things such as realism and proportion coming secondary. I've also begun to explore use of some real world objects for different purposes such as a lampshade being used as a hat or shoulder ornament, as the band of humans will adopt objects for a variety of different purposes.
Environment design is definitely something I want to improve upon with this project, so I've been checking out some tutorials and drawing techniques of late to help me refine this area. Here are some more thumbnails in developing further environments.
Here are some initial thumbnails to begin realising the environment of my idea. I will most likely come back to some of these to explore further.
Taking one of my initial thumbnails to develop, here the artefact of a plane wreckage becomes a symbol of worship, where the luggage strewn about may lead to suggest the natives contact with objects of humanities past.
With my idea, nature has asserted its dominance once more in a world where the presence of mankind is notably lacking. As such, some imagery that I have been researching involves nature in a wild almost feral state with trees of roots similar to that of the strangler fig tree.
I don't intend to depict a full scale apocalyptic city, but rather some ruins and remnants of one where nature has grown in abundance. The documentary, 'Life After People', provides a fascinating insight in what life could be like if humans were to disappear. As such, the imagery and ideas explored are pretty relevant to my idea, where I was keen to observe the effects of what would happen to remaining human civilisations and structures, particularly over a vast period of time.
This part of the documentary explores 1,000 - 10,000 years after the disappearance of humankind.
I know I've been slow to update of late, which I hope to remedy soon enough. Just need to get back into the swing of things and bring up the pace.
