Concept Shrine Environment #01

Concept piece of the shrine environment which holds the human spirit that the wolves seek to control. The presence of the wolves agitate the flames evoking the spiritual nature of the environment as the ruins resonate from within.







Rather than literal representations of Native American structures, I opted for more abtract/suggestive representations of rock-like material. However, this may need to be further resolved to suggest a more significant shift to a man-made environment. After some discussion with Jolanta, we have some fresh ideas to try at this key environment.

Some initial designs of the shrine


References

Good Wolf Concept #02

Another concept piece for the good wolf and his effect on the environment.







Moving away from the initial idea that the wolf brings life to the environment with elements such as plants and trees, the environment is now more consistent with the evil wolf with neutral rock type cliffs. Where the evil wolf brings chaos to the environment, the presence of the good wolf allows the rocks to form back into whole forms awakening the Native American markings in the process. In this way, the logic and design is also more consistent with the setting of inner space with other worldly elements.

Good Wolf Concept #01

Initial concepts for the good wolf. In contrast to the evil wolf, the later restores life to the surroundings with light and colour.





Looking back at the piece, the current setting of a forest now feels distracting and perhaps underwhelming to the idea of inner space that the wolves are racing through. Needless to say, I will be experimenting with some more concepts to resolve this one.

Initial Environment/Character Designs

My initial musings for character and environments for The Wolves Within.

Playing around with some environment ideas with a few thumbnails. Mainly experimenting with the use of colour and effects of the good/evil wolf area, as well as the final goal of the human spirit.



Some initial sketches of wolf designs, contrasting the two wolves with different emphasis on the spine eg. tall and proud vs a hunching feral stance. They may be a little generic at the moment which I hope to resolve with further development.

Thumbnails

Some quick thumbnails envisioning the type of shots possible for my animated short. Namely, the figures will perform around a central idol made similarly from the junk, where there will be a main figure performing the majority of movements.

Environment Thumbnails

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.



More to come.

Initial Environments #1

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.

Carnival Concept #3 & 4

Still trying to nail down the shot for my scene, I went through some more thumbnails concepts on pen and paper to quickly identify a range of ideas. Ideally, I was aiming to achieve a more dynamic composition with more definite objects to provide an unsettling nature to the scene.



Taking these thumbnails into Photoshop, I began working with these digitally to further resolve the composition.


Carnival Concept #3
Initial shapes

Colour, lighting, refinements


While a bit rough on the edges, this concept begins to capture the sort of dramatic atmosphere I am aiming to achieve, off setting a typical carnival scene in an unhomely manner. I'm still not quite satisfied with the overall composition, where some more objects is perhaps necessary to populate the scene with more interest.


Carnival Concept #4
Initial composition

Tweaks, refinements

Lighting, colour adjustments


I am much more satisfied with the direction of this piece, creating a definite unsettling nature with the colours and lighting. The repeated array of lights help provide a sense of scale and depth throughout the piece, where the extreme foreground provides a more visually dynamic composition of a looming headbanner. Overall, the piece is still open to further refinments which I may come back to, though serves it purpose in providing a much more satisfiable direction for my scene to work from.

Thus, from my range of concepts so far, it seems apparent that objects such as a ferris wheel, tower slide, big round top tents and columns to bridge the lights will be in the forefront of my scene to model. Where the rest of the scene may fall into the hands of the digital painted background to complete the scene.

Any thoughts and feedback is most appreciated.

Thumbnail Concepts

Having looked at a range of ideas with reference imagery, I have started to take these to paper experimenting with some thumbnail composition ideas. Perhaps a bit rough and sketchy, these are some of the basic ideas in my head I've begun to delve in. I will most likely continue to experiment with these taking them further conceptually, and into digital realms as concept paintings to resolve their designs.





The idea of the carnival is growing on me, although I need to further experiment in compositions to best present this. Being aware that this will be my first self directed scene in Maya, I just hope I have ability to take this concept on without being too ambitious that I may lack the execution. I guess much trial and experimentation is necessary to ensure I am able to do this.

Any thoughts most welcome.

Thumbnail Concepts #2

Experimenting with some more compositions to work with and get ideas down on paper. I have a number of scenes running through my head, one amidst the depths of the forest, a scene capturing the entrance or scale of plateau and perhaps a wide landscape shot where the our Malone is able to take in the entire breadth of landscape having climbed atop a tree.



Will be taking some of these into photoshop to play with.

Thumbnail Concepts

Been trying my hand at some more thumbnail sketches to get ideas down for my concepts - using pen, pencil and some alcohol based markers. They may be a bit messy but it helps in visualising ideas quickly to be able to work with.





These focus mainly on a forest scene that have been untouched by man following the idea with overhanging vines, wild overgrowth and huge trees with elaborate roots. There are one or two thumbnails concerning a scene where the hero Malone climbs atop a tree to gaze across the landscape of the plateau, or Maple White Land as the characters decide to name it.

I will be referring to these for some later digital painting concepts, experimenting and refining the look, feel and composition.

Digital Painting Workshop

Been using my time in the digital painting workshops to experiment with some further concept designs.


With the second thumbnail on the left page, this piece follows a part of the novel where our adventurers use a canoe to traverse the Amazonian river, where the narrative conjures imagery of being watched and a sense of claustrophobia with the overbearing canopy of trees where only few rays of sunlight penetrate. Its a rough piece of work, where I feel the composition still needs adjusting.


This piece following the thumbnail also on the top left page, features the entrance of the plateau where the prehistoric animals dwell, where our heroes figure to use a tree as a bridge. I believe the more dynamic composition works much better in this piece, with a distinct layering of a foreground element. From some constructive criticism from Phil, I also started to begin to enlarge one side tree bridge to give the illusion that it fell at an angle for a more intriguing composition. Still a work in progress, I may come back to this at a later point.



From my thumbnails and initial concept paintings, I'm beginning to gather an idea of what I aim to achieve in respect to my subject material. Based in a specific natural environment with prehistoric dinosaurs, it seems unfit to change this entirely through a different genre such as a sci-fi setting. Instead, my initial plan of action is to really push this concept of a natural world seemingly untouched by modern man, and see where it will take me. Thus this way, I feel more confident in respect to the source material, although I wonder if this is a big enough step in producing unique concepts. I guess time will tell, with some more sketches and experimentations.

Sketchbook #2 + Quick Concepts

Some more pages from sketchbook doodling with sketches from life of random people during Short & Sweet, in my car with time to spare with boredom.. and some knight-ish armour thrown into the mix.





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Here are some sketches made inspired by my source material of the Lost World, playing with dinosaurs and some thumbnailing of more scenes found whilst reading the book.




The actual 'Lost World' were the prehistoric wildlife are present, is actually located on some form of plateau set above the main Amazonian forest and swamps. Half the challenge was in scaling such a formidable plateau, finally with Professor Challenger figuring to use a tree as a bridge. I will get designing and refining some more thumbnails in due time as I am still enjoying the last few chapters of the book - whilst juggling just about everything else!