Arboran

Visual development & Concept art

World Building

History & settings of Arboran

Long ago, the sea submerged all of the land, along with all civilizations. After a prolonged era, a giant white tree emerged from the depths of the sea. Its roots, like the arms of a giant, hoisted a land back into the sunlight. This tree became the fulcrum of life, bestowing new opportunities and vitality. On this reemerged land, new forms of life appeared. Wisdom and civilization thrived over countless ages. Different tribes reside in various regions, adapting to unique resources and environments.

I used Alex McDowell's Mandala model and star model to build this world. These two models have helped me consider and develop my fictional world from multiple perspectives, including environment, story, characters, society, ecosystem and other aspects.

← Here is the map that shows the vertical side view where I consider about the formation of the island: Firstly, when the roots of the giant tree break through, resulting in fragmentation and displacement. Over time, the surrounding landmasses spread outward along the shape of the roots, forming a tiered terrain with higher central areas and lower edges.

This giant tree that brings land back to the sea is inspired by a tree in Zoroastrian legend, the Harvisptokhm, which grows in the Vourukasha Sea and contains the seeds of all the plants in the world. The story of this tree is closely tied to the spread of life, seeds, and the birth of creatures and civilizations, adding depth and mystery to my worldbuilding. The tree's presence will be more than just a geographical feature, but a core element of culture, beliefs and ecosystems.

Layout

The terrain can be divided into three parts as the concept art shows below, there is a gently sloping plateau on the top, valleys and forests in the middle, and a lower section consisting of shallow shores along the edge. Additionally, there are some caves and underwater environments where the roots intersect beneath the sea ↓

According to the differences in the areas, tribes of different creatures also have corresponding habits, resources, and architecture ↓

Creatures

To adapt to the environment, the residents here possess amphibious traits with the unique appearance that combines elements of plants, insects, and marine life. They hold a deep reverence for the colossal white tree, considering it the source of life ↓

Using the models as a pre-visualization and development tool, the design of the logic of the world takes precedence over the storytelling process, laying the foundation for a coherent and immersive narrative experience. The world transcends a singular narrative, serving as a dynamic container capable of accommodating multiple storylines, characters, and thematic explorations.

Art Bible

By Xinru Liu Fog

Software: Publisher

Concept Art

By Xinru Liu Fog

Software: Photoshop

← Based on Stage 3 where the giant tree had already taken shape as stage three, I started drawing concept art for Stages 1 and 2.

The first stage will be the land before the flood period, when civilization still exists. The technology of this civilization is similar to that of a seaside village in the early medieval period of Earth 700-1000, so the houses are mostly built of wood and thatch. With the elements such as large cranes, decks and fishing nets to emphasize the harbor, fishing village atmosphere. In terms of topography, land, forests, mountains and rivers still exist →

← In the second stage, we have to show that the land has sunk into the sea. The former villages have been reduced to ruins by the erosion of the sea water, and huge aquatic plants have gradually replaced the original forests. In order to show the distance between land and water surface, I stretched the skybox in Stage 1 to represent the current water level.

← Returning to Stage 3, we realized that we could use the method of Stage 2 to show the underwater situation to more clearly express the development and structure of the giant tree. Therefore, I once again expanded the details of the underwater part of stage three and drew the broken land. It looked like it was entangled with the roots of the giant tree.

Later, for the sake of coordination, I expanded the skyboxes in the three stages to the same height. The following is the completed three stages of concept art ↓

Creatures (Stage 2)

Some creatures designs from the latter two stages to flesh out the world's diversity and realism. I used overlapping lines and pencil-based brushes to mimic the style of the illustrations in the biographies.

The key word in designing these creatures is environmental adaptation, which is the evolution of animals and plants in order to adapt to the drastically changed environment. For example, the creature in Stage 2, the prototype of this huge creature, comes from the concept drawing drawn by Mads, which combines the fins of a manta ray, the mouth of a manatee, and the characteristics of filter feeders. In addition, there are jellyfish with fungus structures, and a combination of Christmas tree worms and crayfish.

Creatures (Stage 3)

For the creature in Stage 3, I drew the creature shown in the picture below based on the shape of Marta's clay skull model. In terms of setting, due to the reappearance of land, some creatures have re-evolved limbs that can move on land. Referring to the characteristics of leaf sea dragons and horses, I drew lizard-like claws on the limbs to make them more amphibious.

Character

Software: Photoshop, Blender

I designed a fantasy creature inspired by moths and named it Mo. Their intelligence matches that of a human, while their life phases follow the path of a moth. This means that their memories are lost when transforming from a caterpillar into their final form.

The transformation of the Mo mean they gain a second life, where they need to find their place once again. Whether that means following their former selves or creating a new one →

3D Model

Software: Photoshop, Blender

Using these as a reference, I made a 3D model of Mo →

Then I made textures for Mo using texture painting↓

Week 44: Environment Design /Animation in Blender and UE

This week we aimed to create a virtual setting using assets, setting up narrative context and thinking about the action that takes place in it.

More detailed storyboard regarding camera angles ↓

Environment

Software: UE5, Blender

The village of Mo

Regarding the setting of Mo's village, it is located in a huge hollow tree. Here shows the village I built up in UE5 ↓

The Houses

The Mo live in houses formed by the remnants of their broken cocoons, by time these become more overgrown and blend in with the surroundings. The Mo are always excited to see the colour of a newly transformed Mo, since this differs from Mo to Mo

Here are some screenshots of the environment we created during the first week:

Week 45, 46: Motion Capture. Vertical slice in Unity or Short film in blender

Capturing the desired scenes utilizing Rokoko suits / gloves / etc, importing to the scene, and finishing to dress up, light, and set up the scene

Using Rokoko motion capture equipment to create interactive and narrative motion for Mo. Joe created the rigging for Mo and used Rokoko to connect to Blender and record the animations.

Joe in the Rokoko suit ↑

The animaions of Mo recording by mocap footage ↑

After that, I imported the animations into UE5 and recorded Mo’s movements in each storyboard. Joe and I then edited the video clips into the video below ↓

Mo Final.mp4

Here shows the screeshots from UE5 ↓

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