A Break-through Of Sorts

Though the idea of mythology and folklore has danced around my project without having gone into much depth with it, I have suddenly realised that it is the key lynch-pin for the whole thing! When it comes down to it, all modern imaginary creatures are decended in one way or another from those monsters of old.

To this end, I have come up with a new project title that is still a bit of a work in progress, but never the less is closer than ever to what I've been scrambling around in the dark for:

The adaptation and interpretation of creatures through mythology and folklore.

Now, I might want to re-phrase that to talk more about the fact that I'm looking at modern creatures more, with a historical basis in mythology and folklore. I have also come up with a sort of vision statement too, one that could act as the starting point for the abstract of my project:

Creatures are rife within the mythology and folklore of all cultures throughout history, and remain prevalant within modern media as a tool for story telling. Though modernised creatures may not directly link to those within mythology and folklore, their very existance is due to such tales and it is therefor important to recognise the deep roots that permeate the culture of the creature. This project looks at these roots and provides a practical response to the modern media that has arisen from them.

I'm really pleased with that short paragraph there, as I feel it does sum up exactly what it is I want to talk about within my project and dissertation. Now, I've been reading a lot of the book 'Imaginary Animals - The Monstrous, the Wondrous and the Human by Boria Sax and it has given me a lot of things to think about and delves deeply into the history part of the project that I want to carry out. From my reading, I have created a sort of diagram that should help show and explain everything that my project will look at and explore:

As you can see, down the left and middle paths, I show the research that I will/have conduct(ed), showing the origins of imaginary creatures and discussing their existance in modern media. The right hand path shows the practical responses that I have been/will be working on. As you can see, the practical works all link in well with the lynch-pin of the project that is the mythology and folklore. Going way back to when I was dessigning dragons from Harry Potter, I believe that I want to return to this and look into it far more heavily, making it a crucial part of the project. I will be looking at dragons and how modern media represents them, taking a step away from personal qualms over dragons/wyverns/wyrms and simply looking at the newer innovative designs that we see through games, films and television. It will be good to compare and contrast the modern looking designs with those that aim to keep the traditional 'dragon' look. This will be a good opportunity to discuss things like Smaug from the Hobbit and the dragons in games like Monster Hunter, Skyrim and even Pokemon. Through this, I will be able to bring forward my practical responses of the Harry Potter dragons, but perhaps be more adventurous with the designs this time, mixing and matching between the 'true dragon' image and more modern concepts. I would also like to create realistic versions of some of the dragon type Pokemon, as many of those are highly stylised and do not resemble a 'normal' dragon at all. 

Also! Looking into the Warhammer universe, there are many creatures featured there that are taken directly from mythology and folklore, such as unicorns, dragons, chimeras, manticores etc., but also unique races and creatures, so it will be interesting to take these images from the world and design them in my own style, but stay in-keeping with the IP as given by Games Workshop.

So! Plenty to think about and get on with, but it looks like I'm much more on track now after that break-through, and what's more, dragons are back on the menu! I don't think I'll ever truly stop drawing them . . .  

Progress Presentation 3

I had my third progress presentation on February 5th, been meaning to document it for a while now but have finally got round to it. So as with the others, I shall go through my slides, followed by a review of the feedback I got from it.

I began with the usual brief intro to my project and then advanced upon this by discussing what I had been up to since the previous presentation. I explained how I had felt like the theoretical research was hampering me a lot and I had moved on to using practical research instead. I went on to describe the practical research process that I was undertaking: deconstructing key media examples from which I could gain qualitative data and then create a practical response based on the data gathered. I also explained that my main focus of this practical research had so far been on the game 'Evolve', but there were other avenues I wished to go down as part of my research (adaptation and interpretation in mythology and folklore and seeking an artistic style through looking at the IP of the company Games Workshop, Warhammer.

From there I delved deeper into my practical research and began this by describing my main focus, 'Evolve', assuming that my audience didn't know what the game was; I figured it would be safer this way, rather than not explaining things and running the risk of unnecessary confusion. My explanation of the game is more or less written on the slide below, so you can just read it off of that. Mind you, if you've been upkeeping with my blog, you'll know all about 'Evolve' anyway!

I was then able to go into the practical research I had conducted, starting with the deconstruction of the monsters from 'Evolve'. I explained that I had based a monster's success or failure on: the correlation between it's appearance and it's abilities; and if it was clear the role it played just through it's appearance. As you can see from the slide below, I gave each of the monsters a rating based on the criteria I had set out.

From the monster ratings, I was able to go on to expand further on my qualitative data that I gathered and sum up what, to me and according to my criteria, made for a successful/unsuccessful design in relation to the monsters' purpose in 'Evolve'. The data is shown in the slide below, so I won't bother typing it out again as it can be read from there.

With the qualitative data explained, I moved on to discussing my practical response to what I had found out: the Shepherd. The Shepherd was to be my monster creation, seeking to create a monster that would not only fit in with the other monsters style-wise, but also manage to tick all the right boxes and be a successful design. My description of the Shepherd and his abilities are on the slide below, so read there for the lo-down.

From the description to the actual practical work, I walked through my process of designing the Shepherd, starting with the silhouettes I had produced. Here I also explained that I like working with such a technique as it means it's very easy to distinguish which designs are working from those that are not.

From the silhouettes, I went on to explain the woes I had had trying to find images of the Carrion Birds from 'Evolve', instead having to resort to watching videos of people playing as the monster to take screenshots whenever they were on screen. From these shots I was then able to sketch out what I believed them to look like and with this information I could design the Shepherd in more detail.

My final slide on discussing the Shepherd shows the sketched designs I created based on the silhouettes I had done, as well as the Carrion Bird research to help influence them. I explained that each monster in 'Evolve' was part simian, part animal and I wanted to reflect this through my own designs. I went on to say that I had a particular preference for the designs on the right, but there were parts of the left hand designs that I was rather fond of and would be taking forward into my final designs.

Last, but not least, my very final slide discussed what my plans were with regards to continuing the project. All the information is, again, on the image below, so it can just be read from there. It;s interesting looking back at this list now and realising that I have indeed been working on these things. I have neglected the mythology and folklore section however, so this is something I would like to rectify and feel that I will be able to tie in with both the Games Workshop portfolio and looking way back at the designing of the dragons from the world of Harry Potter.

Reflection time! The feedback I received from the lecturers present at the presentation was, in general, very positive. My process of practical research was complimented, as was the practical work I had done. A couple of things I was given to think about were that my work might not include enough digital content as it stands; this I countered with explaining that my process would involve digital images and finalising traditional pieces by touching them up in Photoshop would be the end result. Another slight issue was the language that was being used, in that I should learn the more appropriate terminology for methods etc. to better communicate to my audience as to what it is I am aiming to achieve. This I feel I can mitigate by the fact that I will be spending plenty of time working out the creases of my wording in both my dissertation and my final presentation, so will be able to use the correct terminology there when it is most crucial. All in all, another successful presentation I feel and one that has given me a few things to ponder. Reflecting over it has also been useful in helping me clarify ideas in my head as to where I am going with the project. One more presentation before the final one, so hopefully i should have a decent amount of progression to show between this presentation and that one.

Warhammer Creatures: Skaven

The world of Warhammer Fantasy and futuristic universe of Warhammer 40,000, created by the company Games Workshop, are table-top strategy games using highly detailed miniatures. Warhammer spans a wide range of other media, mainly in the form of books, but also films and games. With such a vast range of races and creatures, Warhammer makes for an ideal source to try applying my personal style unto established designs. The reasoning for this is that the notable artists who produce work for Games Workshop each have a distinctive, instantly recognizable style. This is an important point in general when seeking a job in the artistic field, so it makes sense to explore such an avenue in this project.

The first concepts I have produced are based on the Warhammer Fantasy race known as Skaven; insidious rat-men whose society is a constant bloody torrent of civil war, bribery and assassinations. Looking at the images of the Skaven within the books, it has become apparent that each artist has a different appearance for the rat-men, though all follow the notion of them being corrupt, vile creatures with an interest in only themselves. From artists such as Adrian Smith, Alex Boyd and Paul Dainton, below are some examples of the different visuals they portray.

The Skaven concepts I have drawn first seek to emulate the official artwork, to better understand the anatomical differences used by each of the artists to create their own style, before moving on to using them as inspiration to develop a personal style. This is also the first time I am using the Copic markers on normal paper as opposed to the disappointing Copic marker pad discussed in the previous post regarding the Evolve creature design.

Though this is only one race from the whole Warhammer Fantasy world, I know that I wish to be creating more concepts for the other races and creatures to play a part in my final portfolio. Whilst drawing the Skaven, I noticed that there is a blend of both character and creature design. It got me wondering where and if the line is drawn between the two, or if they merge and flow as one. Just a thought as to whether it's appropriate to call the project one based around creature design, when there are also character design elements. I believe it is, as the project does indeed focus on creature anatomy and other factors, as opposed to character design. Though as I have stated, I think they're two concepts that merge often and you can get a lot of creatures with characters and characters that happen to be creatures (most commonly seen in humanoids). It's not something that is important or concerning to the project as a whole; it's just an interesting thought that when I have the time I might ponder over more and research further into.

Copic markers are an interesting material to work with; very quickly you become accustomed to what colours work well and which ones suit your personal style. Though I have a long way to go with them, it is clear to me that they are an excellent method to render images and I have already learned a few techniques via trial and error; such as using a translucent blue colour to add extra tone to the skin of creatures, but it also works on most materials such as metal to give it more depth.

Evolve - Practical Response

The Shepherd comes!

I have started the design process of the Shepherd by detailing out his 4 unique abilities that should help give form to the creature in my head. It should be kept in mind however that I am not a game designer and will not have the opportunity to test such abilities to see their effectiveness etc. but all the same, the aim is for an interesting design:

Call of the Wild: The Shepherd can summon wildlife in to aid him in his fight, with stage 1 giving access to small creatures, stage 2 moving to large wildlife and stage 3 unleashing another monster (which would be stage 1). These creatures/monsters would follow the Shepherd until in a fight, where they will stay till either they or the hunters are dead.
Wolf in Sheep's Clothing: The Shepherd can disguise itself as a type of large wildlife for a limited time period. Each stage would lengthen the time in which the monster could disguise itself.
Shepherd's Crook: The Shepherd can use it's large hooked claws to pick up hunters and throw them a great distance, damaging them in the process. Each stage increases the range and damage of this attack.
Carrion Swarm: The Shepherd has a swarm of Carrion Birds flying around it's form, protecting it from incoming damage and acting as it's armour; it can send a flock of these Carrion Birds to attack the hunters, damaging them and obscuring their view, whilst draining some of it's own armour. Each stage increases the range and damage of the attack as well as reducing the armour depletion rate.  

Using the technique of silhouettes to try to flesh out as many ideas as possible and be able to quickly scrap things that aren't working, I have started the practical work on the monster. I have this sort of image in my head of a hunch-backed creature that stalks slowly and can glide from high places to get from a to b faster. I would like to try to include some sort of hood on my monster, as well as reflecting the Carrion Birds that protect the Shepherd in it's design.

Here at first I was just aiming for a variety of designs to leave my options open. You can see the Carrion Birds flying about the monster designs, but I feel that this makes for a rather clustered page and detracts from the important part; the monster designs.

I began to refine some of my preferred designs, changing some quite radically. Still got those birds going on though.

Further refining of the designs started to show 2 clear designs: low and hunched; tall and spindly. I still haven't quite settled on a design for the Shepherd's Crook claws.

The last of the silhouettes where I have focused down the preferred route of the low and hunched creature due to it suiting the monster's abilities better. I think it's time to start sketching now as the designs are getting very close to where I want them to be and I would just be floundering around if I kept going.

From these silhouettes, I decided that I would need to get decent images of the Carrion Birds from 'Evolve' as reference before I could start to sketch out ideas, as I knew they would play a role in the design of the creature. This became a rather major stumbling block however, as I could find no images of these 'Birds' anywhere! I therefor took to Youtube and watched various videos of players running around as the monster to hope to get some screenshots from that. This, in itself, was a challenge also, as the 'Birds' are only on-screen for a few seconds at the most and the models/textures for them are incredibly low resolution, meaning I ended up with no better than an outline shape to work from and a bit of patterning on the skin. Here are the fruits of my labours:

 

 As you can clearly see, these 'Birds' closer resemble bats with bladed heads and long forked tails. This threw me somewhat, as my plan during the silhouette stage of designing the monster was to make feathers a recurring theme. This would of course need to be changed, so I have sketched out my interpretation of the 'Carrion Birds' from the images I captured so that I can take pointers from their design into the Shepherd.

I'm rather pleased with how the plan view image of the 'Carrion Bird' came out, as it gives me distinct shapes and motifs with which to work. The one thing I wasn't too clear on was the head blades, as in my reference photos, the blades are to the side in the first image, but pointing forwards in the later ones; I figure I can just use my creative licence with this sort of thing at any rate.

And so without further ado, I could move on to doing the sketches of the Shepherd monster, based off of my silhouettes and the 'Carrion Birds'.

As you can see, I have given each rendition of the Shepherd an animal-based title as each of the existing monster designs for 'Evolve' are influenced by animal anatomy; in this way, I feel like I can be closer in-keeping with the other designs and allow for my monster to fit in with them. Whilst drawing, at first I did find I was somewhat struggling to make Shepherd look the part, but as the designs went on, I found that they were getting not only closer to the other 'Evolve' monsters, but also to what I wanted the Shepherd to look like. So far, the Bat Shepherd is my favourite, though I am slightly worried he looks too much like the Wraith 'Evolve' monster. I do really like other parts on the monsters and I like the Crocodile design in particular, but still feel that Bat is the best basis for my design. From now I can take the designs I have and create a more final version from which I can then proceed to iterate. I might actually take a second design forward just to see where it goes.

I decided to create some sketchier sketches to quickly churn out some ideas for the Shepherd. The head is proving somewhat difficult to realise, with my designs looking far more 'Pacific Rim' than 'Evolve'.

I then decided that this project has dragged on far too long and I realise that I am now losing interest, so it's best to save it whilst I have the relevant materials. So I have therefor created a more final version of the Shepherd, based on the crocodile design in particular. I also added the Carrion Birds around it to give an idea of scale. I like the idea that every time the Shepherd disguises itself, it sheds it's skin and the Carrion Birds surrounding it swoop down and eat it; so their defending the Shepherd is payed off by a free meal. I imagine the Shepherd would have, like the other Evolve monsters, dark skin, but when it sheds it's fresh skin is very pale for a short time.

Now that's an under-bite!

I'm really pleased with a lot of this design, but the head is still not right, so I have therefor focused my efforts on designing a head that I feel fits in with what I am aiming for. The main problem is getting the design to fit in with the other existing 'Evolve' monsters. It's hard not to design conventional monsters and go down a more alien route, especially when it's difficult to spot patterns in the existing Evolve monsters' designs.

Playing about with the under-bite, seeing what can be done with it.

Focusing on the 'hood' aspect I want the Shepherd to have; somewhat reminiscent of the Alien Queen from Aliens.

Getting there, but haven't nailed the 'hood' design yet.

The problem I was having was the design looking too much like the Wraith, but with the 'drapes' of the 'hood', this design looks very different, whilst still fitting in.

Taking the very last head design and adding the bladed horns/mandibles of the top design on the same page, I used photoshop to splice it onto the body of the original final design. I then took this rough version and, using layout paper, created a clean version that would be suitable for working colours into.

Final design - rough

Final design - clean

 With a clean version, I could then print out these onto paper taken from my Copic Marker pad, as I believed it would be best suited for the job at hand, seen as the pad was indeed designed for the exact markers I have. The results were, however, less than satisfactory: the colours came out blotchy; blending colours was a near impossibility when the next colour you would put on would take away the one beneath it (best way I could describe it is to imagine a palette knife scraping paint off a tile).

I have just uploaded these images without any Photoshop enhancement or clean-up so you can see the problems I was describing as I see them. Fortunately, I have used my Copic markers on other paper and though it leaks through unlike on the Marker Pad, I don't have any of the quality problems i was having. I even looked up reviews on the pad afterwards to find other people had had the same problem, and yet some people seem to love it. Go figure!