Character Concept: Taiwanese Warrior [part 2]

Hey guys, I thought I'd share my initial developments for my Taiwanese Tribal Warrior.

I have collected a selection of inspirational images to help with the development of my character, looking at both Asian tribal apparel and weapons, as well as cyberpunk items and weapons.

Because the concept is set in the future, I am looking into ways of marrying traditional Taiwanese and Far Eastern elements with Cyberpunk settings and technologies.

Below is a selection of images that served as inspiration to the tradition Asian elements of the character.

 As seen here I have looked at samurai armour and weapons, as well as modern clothing that has been influenced by ancient and traditional oriental designs. The reason I have been looking at Japanese inspired designs is because not only is Japan a major influential power today, but also ruled Taiwan from the feudal eras until the end of World War 2, when as part of Japanese surrender, Taiwan was given "Administrative Rule" by China.

Another major influence to my character design is the Taiwanese Heavy Metal band Chthonic. Both their stage outfits and music combine modern Heavy Metal and the Heavy Metal Subculture with Traditional Taiwanese culture and music. The band is also political in nature, strongly supporting Taiwanese independence from Chinese rule, regarding the oppression Taiwan has suffered throughout its history at the hands of Chinese and Japanese oppressors.

 These are my three initial drawing of my character. The one on the left was my very first drawing of her, whilst the one on the right is a slightly more recent and more detailed version. The centre drawing is a brainstorm of ideas for the equipment she will most likely be using. I was originally considering giving her shoulder pads, but as she is an archer, these would only be restrictive, both when using the bow, and in hand to hand combat with the knife and sword. One aspect of her armour I will keep is the plates on her waist that also acts as a tool belt. The plates are based on samurai plate armour and give an obvious traditional oriental element to the character, as does the loose fabric sleeveless shirt she wears.

Character Design: Post Apocalyptic Nomadic Farmer [part 1]

What's up Wastelanders? Another Character concept from me, this time the Post Apocalyptic Nomadic Farmer.

As a fan of the Fallout and Terminator series, post apocalyptic settings are highly fascinating to me. But what interests me the most is how people would adapt to survive the harsh conditions of the post-apocalyptic world. After all the most important things to bare in mind are fresh food and clean water, so it hit me, an ideal character concept would be a farmer. They can use the animals for food and furs, and perhaps even train and use them to find water and edible plants.

In the post apocalyptic wasteland it is vital to protect the animals from the harsh conditions of wasteland life, modified versions of horse armour could be useful in this protection, and may also be useful for adding a pack to the animals to allow them to carry equipment.

The horse armour could be modified to fit any animal in the Nomadic Famer's herd, and may be outfitted to allow the attachment of gas-masks when needed.

 

The farmers would also need suitable weapons to defend their herd, such as this hunting shotgun above, and world war one era rifle below. These weapons would need to be durable and have a low rate of ammo consumption, as ammunition would be a valuable resource in the wasteland.

Equally vital to the Nomadic Farmer would be durable carry bags, usually made from leather hide due to it's durability and weather resistance. These bags would carry all manner of needed equipment, ranging from food to camping supplies.

And finally, I also went out a took some pictures of the abandoned school next to where I'm living. The school has a gloomy feel to it, and would not look out of place in an apocalyptic environment.

Concept Artist: Jerad Marantz

Hey People! As part of my research for my character concepts I have been looking at existing concept artists, finding an invaluable resource in http://fuckyeahconceptart.tumblr.com/ which contains a vast ammount of concept art by a large variety of different artists.

Anyways, after recently seeing the film Sucker Punch, I have gained an interest in the work of Jerad Marantz who came up with concept designs for the dream battles within the film, the Trenches sequence having a particularly Retrofuturistic theme.

As you can see here, the Reanimated Steam powered German Infantrymen have a strong Retrofuturistic feel, combining old technologies and German uniforms from both world wars with a futuristic idea of cyborgs. The three German Reanimated Foot Soldiers all contain varying degrees of futuristic and retro elements. The one on the right looking like a zombie version of a World War era German Infantryman, the one on the left looking slightly more futuristic, with the cybernetic arm and gasmask, using a belt fed world war era rifle. The soldier in the centre image is the most futuristic, carrying a large machine gun that almost looks out of place in the first world war setting of the dream sequence, as well as having a chest plate with various pipes and dials across it.

I think that Jerad Marantz' works will be a massive influence on my Retrofuristic Aircraft Pilot concepts,  and I'm looking forward to showing the work I will produce for this concept.

Character Design: Futuristic Taiwanese Tribal Warrior [part 1]

Hey guys, for this post I will be looking at yet another of my Character Concepts, this time the Futuristic Taiwanese Tribal Warrior.

Now I here you ask, why Taiwanese? Well, the thing is, I love oriental culture and history, particularly far eastern culture. Taiwan has a very rich and interesting tribal history, as well as a long history of outside oppression from China and Japan, dating as far back as the Chinese Dynasties, which still continues with Taiwan under the control of The People's Republic of China, being officially named the Republic of China.

I've chosen to work with a futuristic theme for this character concept because it allows me to incorporate many aspects of Taiwanese history into the character's back story which will in turn influence the character's personality.

As part of my research for this character concept I have been to the royal armouries in Leeds, which has a rather impressive Oriental exhibit. Not only did the armouries allow me to find a selection of weapons, but I also managed to get some environmental photographs.

This type of building would work as the home for the character, and will be a focal point of the main environment.The stone garden below in conjunction with the building above would make an excellent environment for the character to inhabit.

Below are a selection of weapons I feel that are appropriate for a Taiwanese Tribal theme.

These daggers would be the most basic weapons available to the character.

These swords would also likely be used by the character, perhaps used together with the dagger.

The oriental styled bow would be the most commonly available ranged weapon to the character. In a futuristic setting, the bow would contain targeting systems that show the user where their arrow will land. The arrows may also contain a variety of extras, such as explosive arrowheads.

A sword styled like the Japanese katana, may be an elite weapon used by the character that shows great swordsmanship.

Character Design Concepts: Retro-Futuristic Aircraft Pilot [Part-1]

Hey guys, as part of my character design research I have recently visited the Leeds City Museum and the Leeds Royal Armouries, and taken many pictures of objects relating where possible to my five character design concepts.

In this post I'm gonna look at the Retro-Futuristic Aircraft Pilot. Now Retro-Futurism is an umbrella term for anachronistic science-fiction genres that combine elements of the past, e.g Victorian technologies/fashions, with futuristic and modern ideas, such as space travel and robotics. The two most prevalent Retro-Futuristic genres are Steampunk and Dieselpunk, Steampunk incorporating 1800's stylings, with Dieselpunk incorporating elements from 1914-1950, with a prominent example being the film Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow.

The theme of Retro-Futuristic Aircraft Pilot actually allows for a broad range of different characters with the two main themes being Military and Pirate, which in turn allows for a range of archetypes.

Some of the possible archetypes include:

Military Protagonist: The Military Protagonist would often be stylised on the Allied Powers of world war one and world war two, particularly in old U.S.A.F or R.A.F fatigues.

This WW1 army surplus duffel-bag is likely to be found on board the craft being used my the Military Protagonist or the Ex military pirate.













Military Antagonist: An Antagonistic Pilot in a Retro-Futuristic setting would often be styled after Prussian and Nazi forces, particularly the Luftwaffen, but may also be modelled after Soviet forces.

Ex-military Pirate: An ex-military pirate would often wear heavily modified military issue equipment, but with pirate insignia instead of their military insignia.

Swashbuckling Airship Pirates: The Swashbuckling Airship Pirates theme is a combination of traditional 18th century pirates and Steampunk fashions.

 Flint/Matchlock pistols and revolvers easily fit a retro-futuristic themed character, and the look may be added to futuristic weapons such as laser or plasma weapons, or even ray-guns.

A Victorian duelling revolver may also be used by my other character concept, the Steampunk Freelance Courier.

Character Design Concepts

Hey y'all, I have been set the task to design a character for a computer game. In the next few posts I will be looking at established concept artists, and undertaking research to help with the design and development of my own characters.

I will start out with 5 basic concepts and work from there in order to develop at least one of my ideas into a fully fledged character.

The 5 ideas are as follows:

Freelance Victorian Courier,

Futuristic Taiwanese Tribal Warrior

Wasteland Nomadic Farmer

Futuristic Rusted Combat Racer

Retrofuturistic Aircraft Pilot

I will also be looking at some concept artists to help me further develop my ideas, a selection of these artists are:
Ian Mcque

Nacho Yague

Noah Bradley

Jerad Marantz

Arnold Tsang

Mikael Widegren

Kim hyung-tae

Keun ju-kim

hethe srodawa

raita honjo

Eva Widermann

So I'm here

Hey Everyone!

So, this is my new and first blog. The purpose of this blog is to showcase my work for my Digital Film, Games and Animation course I will be undertaking over the next 3 years. 

Over time I'll be showing my ideas, inspiration, work in progress and finished projects.

Don't have a pic to show at the minute, but I'll upload one later.