Initial ideas with the character design of Volan. As before: My initial thoughts for Volan is to be of a 'coming of age' male, reflective of a pioneering spirit. Originally a farmer, he had a variety of tools and equipment at his disposal to adapt to the flooded world. But now alone and isolated, he roams the skies in search for land and signs of any other survivors.
I've experimented with a range of different ideas to help determine the best direction to pursue. It's a bit tricky finding the right level of stylisation, as in some cases, it gives a strong youthful impression which will need to be balanced.
They are by no means final designs with their clothing or faces, but a manner of getting ideas down on paper and start determining elements that work. As such, I've picked out the ideas that seem to work the most. It feels that these ideas work better with their stylised proportions and various details with straps and pouches.
With this in mind, I will try to combine the successful elements of these initial ideas to progress with more resolved designs.
Some more development with Volan's home and island. These early sketches attempt to capture the idea that the home has been adapted and modified to expand the space of the house and power the flight of the island.
While the earlier idea of having a ring of propellers built into the island remains an interesting concept, I felt it would be too impractical to the island as a whole.
From the two more refined designs below, I am leaning towards the designs found in house B, with its practicality and overall form. A small number of gears protrude from the left side of the house to power the propeller below, where Volan can use the roof balcony to search the skies.
Applying the house design to the island below, the large balloons maintain the lift of the island where the propeller and rudders provide the forward momentum, turning and pitch capabilities respectively. The island is further shaped in an arch fashion so as to further amplify the force of wind through the propeller. Some ideas to items and props around the island include; an area for growing vegetables, fishing rods on the edge of the island, an array of buckets to collect rain water, as well as crates and barrels for storing food and materials.
To wrap up this post, a point of reference to the eccentric nature of the house and island is similar to the themes found in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968). Check out the video below with the opening scene of the house, and around the 3:30 mark with the variety of quirky contraptions.
Exploring initial ideas of Volan's home and island with some rough sketches. These early sketches experiment with the idea that Volan's home has been adapted and modified to expand the space of the house, as well as initial musings into the system of flight of the island.
Including ideas for the island, designs A - D (see image below) explore some initial ideas with propellers, hot air balloons and sails. In the case of design D, the island itself is shaped to work in more unison with the propellers, accommodating the blades below. Idea E uses the hot air balloons underneath the island to propel the island upwards, where idea F uses multiple levels of helicopter type rotation built into the island for flight.
One of the main challenges to solve is whether the house is a main component of flight i.e. literally accommodating a sail or hot air balloons in its design, or is rather a component that powers the system of flight being more apparent around the island. Essentially, it may be a case of treating the designs of the house and the island very closely together, or perhaps as one, in order to achieve a coherent design as a whole.
Been a long time coming, but I've finally uploaded some of the character designs I've been working on for the second project. Refer to my earlier post for the underlying narrative behind these designs.
I felt the need to create a second concept piece to better illustrate the ling zhi mushroom and its possible environment, as the previous felt a little hard to read in hindsight. While I want to maintain a dynamism in my animation, a shot like this may perhaps be necessary to establish the scene.
With a good range of concepts, I feel confident to move on with storyboarding next in order.
Basidiospores (the spores of the mushroom) concept piece
Continuing with the otherworldly theme with a visually engaging aesthetic, I've created the spores as if on a completely different world, with tentacle like spores growing from the underneath surface of the mushroom on a microscopic level. Additionally, I've used a bolder colour scheme to avoid the sterile x-ray monotone aesthetic when compared to the references, hopefully making for a much more stimulating effect.
Attempting the visualise the ling zhi mushroom with a dynamic angle placed at the base of the stem. While I want to maintain a degree of accuracy in respect to the subject material, the emphasis is in capturing a visually engaging aesthetic of a mystical otherworldly quality. As such, I've tried to be expressive in the range of colours to capture the mushroom itself in the act of releasing spores.
Once more, I have maintained the use of colour to provide a mystical tone, this time with definable parts of the mycelium. Similarly, the view is placed on microscopic level to illustrate what cannot be seen by the human eye alone with an unique visual approach.
With my aim to capture an unique and visually engaging aesthetic, I've used a range of complimentary colours and particle effect to provide an almost mystical tone to the piece as we delve into the microscopic depths of the vast network of mycelium.
