Tuesday, 18 January 2011

Brief:

This brief is the same as the last brief but with character designs instead of environments. I am to create 100 thumbnail sketches of superheroes , these can be the same silhouette but altered or even just stances, costume designs, additional items, cosmetics ect...

I will not be linking this with my current Game Design Document (Droplets) due to the fact that I would like to branch out more. I would like to be more experimental with my drawings and ideas so have decided on superheroes.

I plan to make two or three final sketches of a single character, one in an environment to show his or her mood and another to show the different aspects of the character. Also a character sheet may be necessary to show different angles of the character. I will research into how superheroes are created and use famous illustrations for inspiration.

Monday, 17 January 2011

Research 1:

I have looked at several websites depicting comic book superheroes, some from graphic novels and others from movies and/or tv series. Below are some of the illustrations that stand out to me:

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8-Nvi1EXz11IxUIdc1a5j6yRNPIxuCQ3DkBO6TnTtzxFiSnuxgJv-_y9zwcPTVPKMhTgpGEW4M4QW0H9AXN7j0XZKPfYbW6Gx4NnGTD2KiwJSEaMaec37I_7Qj8v-QiWs37RCtPnybQI/s1600/marvel_superheroes_poster_2.jpg

Marvel comics has been in publication since 1939 and has had plenty of famous superheroes such as Spiderman, Hulk, Wolverine, Fantastic Four and Captain America. This poster shows a whole array of superheroes in comic book form, the reason I found this poster inspirational is due to the heroes stances. Even though they are all together each one has its own individual stance which depicts that character.

http://blogs.coventrytelegraph.net/thegeekfiles/dccomics1.jpg

Dc comics has been in publication since 1934 and has had just as many, if not more, note worthy superheroes as Marvel. Examples like Superman, Batman, Flash, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Aquaman and Green Arrow to name a few. This poster shows me some of the most successful characters in comic book history, I will use this as a reference into how my hero will look and feel.

Sunday, 16 January 2011

Thumbnails

I have created four pages of different thumbnails, the first is stereotypical superhero poses which will be quickly drawn with stickmen to just show the difference in stances. The second is progressing from the stances of stick men to well known superheroes and their poses, this will help me see where they have been successful in the past. The third is of samurai culture to show the poses of when they are fighting, I feel this will give me a better understanding of the movement during combat. The fourth is different designs or mask, mostly my own but I am sure I will most likely end up with similar designs to well known superheroes, I have left the fifth thumbnail page for creative steps and quick ides.

Friday, 14 January 2011

Thumbnails

These are extremely simple stick men just to show some popular stances, poses or scenes that happen with Superheroes, this only took around 5 minutes. The harder part was thinking of more stances as one you have around 15 there aren't a lot more iconic poses. This gave me a better understanding in to how I should situate my character to give them the same feel.
The first half of these thumbnails was a quick attempt and drawing a simple outline of a body with weapon and then progressing that further and then into movement. I feel that this helped me understand how to situate my character in a hostile environment if needed. I quickly changed into drawing faces or not faces as with superheroes they tend to hide their identity.
Here I decided to do a couple quick drawings with Batman as the main inspiration, the reason behind this is that I want my character to have the same depth as Batman, more of a vigilante than a hero. Again I progressed on by outlining a pose of how a superhero tends to look when investigating a dark area. I started with a quick outline of the pose then progressed onto outlining into a template,
Here I used the final image of the last set of thumbnails to create a template to use with mask designs. Before I knew it I had a feature set of masks but felt that out of all of these none felt right for my character, I wanted something on the characters face to give him not only separation from the general public but a dark feel, as if he was hiding something, whether that is scars, something to do with his abilities or just to hide his abilities.



Thursday, 13 January 2011

Attempt 1

I attempted to begin drawing a stereotypical superhero, with over proportioned muscles and defining body. I was happy with he progress but the more I progressed the further away my inspiration went. this was not what I wanted my character to portray. It was then I decided that my character would not be the normal all action superhero but the more timid quiet one, a new kind of hero.

Wednesday, 12 January 2011

Thumbnails Colour

I decided to take the mask designs and add some colour to them to see if this helped with my design issue:
I still feel the same about the masks, although I like alot of their designs they just do not fit the character that is in my head, after this I decided to do some research and before I knew it I had my idea and ti was infront of me all along...