Digital Art

 IDEA :  

A Shipwrecked traveller stumbles across a dilapidated cabin, seeking refuge. They get to know the strange inhabitants but slowly realise something is really wrong. As they unlock each room they realise they need to escape immediately. We want the player to experience tension, curiostity, and unsettled.. Aim of this project is to create a coihesive narrative and have all of the characters  and locations link and work well together. The protagonist / player got here because their boat was wrecked and they were saved by the fisherman who was coincidentally nearby (a little too coincidental). The protagonist is here to pay back for having their life saved from the fisherman and pay back by helping around the cabin whilst any remains of their boat is washing up on the riverbank.

Radio for news not music. really scratchy voices because the connection is poor. This fisherman takes us to different locations across the bog. He is a calm personality type and covers up so he doesn't get bitten by mosquitos. Maybe he has fishbones and scales on his skin and back to mask the smell so that the fish and creatures in the lake can't sense that he is there?

 SETTINGS, THEME AND LOCATION :  

 PROJECT PURPOSE :  

I want the player to experience:

A sense of exploration and wonder (This is vitally important because it is our chosen theme for this project). A desire to explore and find out who the characters are and why they act the way they do. What is in the swamp and what is the history of this cabin and it's inhabitants?

 VISUAL DEVELOPMENT :  

Character Stylization:

Here are references of some of SOM characters to identify key traits and characteristics of their style.

 CHARACTER : The Fisherman 

Character Archetype - (Week 21) :

The mysterious elder who has lived a lot of stories - mostly questionable stories -

 the Fisherman prefers to be known only by their profession. This reveals the character's tendency of staying away from much interaction. He likes remaining ambiguous and just as a figure... besides, there aren't many others who do what he does especially with what lies in the waters...

Character details :

Wearing green, blue, and purple are colours that make you more difficult to see which can 'repel' mosquitoes.

Since it is a modern world, he probably heard of ways to prevent mosquitos - and lavender is something mosquitos hate, so he buys bags and bags FULL of lavender. There is little that annoys or unnerves him but mosquitos ain't one of them, he would rather a crocodile bite his foot off, at least that's less skin for those blood suckers to get him at. Citronella Candles also prevent mosquitos. Perhaps he can have those in his dock? he would be less of a freak about it and more for the sake of 

There should be visible signs of persistence in his environment which would show he is not used to if he is from afar. Mosquitos tend to effect foreigners far more than locals, Stagnant water means LOTS of mosquitos. Also he would probably have tan lines and maybe even burns depending on how dense the trees in this swamp is - Rainforests would often have quite a lot of coverage meaning not that much light would even reach the ground or where he resides. Clothing should show whether he cares about covering up to reduce mosquito bites or weather he is ok with revealing all that flesh and blood for the sake of saving himself from overheating. his hair would either be super frizzy due to the humid or plastered across his forehead from the sweating. perhaps a mix of both which makes room for some crazy hairstyles. Also what kind of person would chose to go to such a horrific place by choice? and what leads him to not be afraid of the sea monster in the swamp or other predators around these spaces? would he have crocodile skin / leather or other reptiles / creature / fish materials on his clothing which shows his lack of empathy and horror towards them? 

 INSPIRATION IN MEDIA

[ Group 1 ]

 REFERENCE AND RESEARCH :  

BLOG TASK - Archetypes

Archetypes

The Fisherman would fit the 'Outlaw' archetype because he is the only character who isn't from the shack. He has ulterior motives..  helping the protagonist with the boat while secretly hindering them, allowing the witch doctor time to work. His motivations are self-serving & manipulating in some way, and he’s not outright hostile but is playing into the witch doctor’s plan for his own reasons. fisherman isn’t the main villain (the witch doctor is), but he is helping the enemy for his own reasons while keeping the protagonist unaware. 

SILHOUETTES

These are my preferred designs which I wish to explore and push further for The Fisherman's design. I believe it explores a body type and shape language that aligns with the other cast of characters in the game but also unique enough to .. Lecturer liked fisherman's hat & bushy eyebrows + Large beard & sunken eyes

FACE EXPLORATION

Sketched a variety of heads using a blend of references and imagination

FEEDBACK & REFINING IDEAS

COLOUR ITTERATIONS

Fabrics & Material Callouts

TEXTILE TYPES | Research

When it comes to character design, a deep understanding of clothing, it's historical significance, materials, and styling are very important. it helps to take a bare bones fictional human, and give them personality, significance, and appeal. it does loads in helping to tell that character's story, so why wouldn't a designer spend the time to fully understand and research ways they can imbue the clothing their character's wear with significance to share part of that story with their audience in subtle way?

Since material callouts are encouraged in concept art, it's really important to know what kind of materials you are referencing. If, for example, you are designing a medieval character, you wouldn't want to have Nylon as on of the materials being called out for their clothing as they wouldn't even have the technology or resources to create it. 

MY MATERIAL CALLOUTS

Since our game is set in an alternate modern day, far removed from the mainstream of technological advancements, the materials that our characters would use would mostly be a blend of Natural fabrics, synthetic fabrics, and maybe a little bit of Hybrid fabrics. Their garments would be reused, upcycled, and highly worn down, gritty, tactile, and fit for their hot and humid environment. 

The fisherman would most likely wear a Hemp T-Shirt, a mixture of rubberized fabric and waxed canvas cotton for his apron...

DETAILS

I always end up skimming past details such as these which enrich a design due to trying to finish the project as fast as possible so I want to make sure I have the references I can easily access and will more likely implement them.

3/4 + 1/4 Views

SUBMISSION RENDERS

designing from imagination is challenging because the answers aren't simply infront of you like when creating studies in traditional art ; drawing from life. When concepting, even if you have a pose reference, you have to change things in a way that not only is believable, but also visually appealing, and unique to that character's body type - especially when it comes to stylised characters with enhanced proportions. the character has larger upper body than what is seen in real life and so this has to be changed...

FORMATIVE FEEDBACK NOTES

Visual Development Portfolio

GROUP POWERPOINT