Concepts - Week 6

 

Steam trains are the base of steam powered vehicles, therefore I thought they'd be a suitable example to study and gather ideas of the system and how they work for my later concepts.

This is mood board based on the Victorian Chinese as their fashion encouraged the Steampunk style.

This research I gathered from http://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/1644/what-are-common-attributes-of-the-steampunk-genre, generalizes steampunk as a romantic sub genre of sci-fi and fantasy. It states how around the era of steampunk people saw "nothing wrong with imposing their civilisation on others" and that they were "confident" and their "optimism was high". They later use "Howl's Moving Castle" as an example for steampunk with "straight fantasy".

With the influence from my previous research I decided to look into Howl's Moving Castle's take on the steam punk theme.

This image shows other vehicles based from the past era which steam punk is based in. You see a lot of steam throughout the atmosphere which is coming from steam powered vehicles, also linking to the theme.

The model of Howl's "Moving Castle"; It includes pipes, metal scraps, is steam powered and generally based the past era, perhaps 18/1900s.

My second musician mood board. It gives me reference for poses and ways they stand which makes their musician trait clear. For instance most musicians don't stand and perform with neutral body language, they use it to show their passion and emotion.

This is my second steampunk mood board which gives me more ideas on outfits and features I could take influence from. From my research it seems that most characters following the steam punk theme, stand with confidence. I'm not sure why this is but I can take note on it when designing my concepts.



This is my third steampunk mood board which focusses mainly on features included when following this theme. Such as cogs, keys, feathers, goggles, clocks, belt straps and basically anything mechanical and old fashioned (specifically from the 1800s as I know from previous research during week 1).

Concepts





Line of action on basic poses

Focusing on fears of clowns, animals/beasts/dogs, nurses/doctors/hospitals and spiders.

Taking influence off The Ring (center picture), zombies  and Frankenstein's Monster. Also taking cultural influence with religion and wild cultures.

The Ring - Popular horror movie I will base a concept on

Most common fears I can base my concepts on:

1. Fear of flying
2. Fear of heights
3. Fear of the dark
4. Fear of death/dying
5. Fear of failure
6. Fear of spiders
7. Fear of dogs
8. Fear of dentists
9. Fear of snakes
10. Fear of needles
11. Fear of being alone
12. Fear of Gods
13. Fear of clowns

http://www.selfhelpcollective.com/most-common-fears.html

Themes:

1. Horror
2. Leader

Rules:

1. Must have a powerful looking stance- I think that a good way of getting the 'leader' theme instantly across is to create a powerful stance. A character with a strong pose immediately shows self confidence.
2. Must be based around various fears- Horror is often based on people's fears such as clowns, spiders and the darkness. Therefore I think using my research I can base several concepts on common themes to get the horror theme across.
3. Must have concepts for humans and creatures- Having a variation throughout my concepts explores ideas and stops me from being restricted. 

Research

Films/TV shows that are horror based:

American Horror Story:

AHS is a good example for my themes as not only is it based on horror but it includes leaders that fit in with the horror theme. The show generally plays on various fears and themes within horror such as human monsters, clowns, witches and witchcraft etc. The characters are also varied and unique, fitting in with those themes, here are some examples of horror themed leaders from the show. I like the way they all carry a fearsome vibe yet some are clearer than others. Such as Twisty the clown who is obvious in presenting his theme yet the top character is human with a slight visual twist. Some characters (like in the bottom picture) have a disguised/unknown and not shown face to the let the viewers mind play on what the visuals could be.

This is my leader moodboard, it includes only character designs as I think that this theme only really can show through a character itself. These images give me good influence for my concepts especially some of the structures and poses which will come in handy as this week is based around poses.

This is my horror moodboard, it includes a mixture of characters (concepts) and environments which I can later reference too and gather inspiration from.

Themes:

1. Spaceship
2. Witch

Rules:

1. To have some concepts which aren't based on the stereotypical witch - realistically, witches didn't look how we see them now, so I will attempt to create some concepts which aren't focused on the stereotype.
2. Use the idea of helmets- Considering this weeks concepts are head figures only and one of my themes are spaceship, I think an interesting yet clear way to get that theme across would be to include spaceship/sci-fi type helmets as they are very futuristic and recognizable as well as being suitable for various designs and layouts.
3. To also have concept which are based on the stereotypical witch- The typical witch features such as sharp features, pointed hat and a broomstick, are instantly recognizable therefore I think considering the difficulty of combining the two themes, I should experiment using these features as it gets the witch theme across clearly and easily.

This piece of information says how witches don't have to just be female, therefore I think I should experiment designing from both genders, even though witches are strongly recognized as female.
http://mentalfloss.com/article/53438/10-weird-facts-about-witches

This information states not all witches are evil, this inspires me to create some concepts avoiding the stereotypical witch.
http://mentalfloss.com/article/53438/10-weird-facts-about-witches

Week 4

These helmet silhouettes will be helpful when designing the concepts for helmets and other head gear. They'll also be helpful if I do a few silhouettes during this week. Considering this weeks concepts are focusing on heads, I'll be designing head gear from a mixture of the two themes: spaceship and witch.

Spaceship/Sci-Fi moodboard

Witch moodboard

Shopkeeper Research

This is one of the merchants from The Legend Of Zelda, his build is hunched and with an almost aggressive stance and emotion. The design proves the typical unwelcoming appearance of shopkeepers/merchants that many concepts tend to follow, to make them look serious about their trade.

Week 3

Two themes:

1. Underwater
2. Shopkeeper

Three rules:

1. Must be wearing an apron - I think this feature would make the shopkeeper element of my concepts, very obvious. My research provided me with this idea as I noticed that shopkeepers have a theme of typically wearing aprons.
2. Has to include under water creature type features such as fish tails and tentacles - Like wise to the previous rule, I think if my concepts have features of underwater creatures, the theme will instantly be recognizable.
3. Must explore various types of shopkeepers - There are all sorts of different kinds of shopkeepers and I think this can really effect the appearance. Such as, you would imagine a black smith to be of a big, strong build, or perhaps a comic store keeper could appear lazy and of a more relaxed build. 

                      Underwater Research

Bootstrap Bill Turner

Pirates Of The Caribbean is good example for underwater themed characters. It involves several characters which are based underwater or from that relevance, such as Bootstrap Bill Turner and Davy Jones and his crew and the mermaids. The concept theme for these characters was obviously pirates and underwater, however I think I could take great influence from the features of these characters such as the tentacles and underwater growth on them. I think their ideas and designs are really interesting, clever and clear because it gets the theme across instantly and each character is so unique and extremely detailed.

Davy Jones