Character Mood boards, blue sky silhouettes and idea generation
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This
week, I began to concept my future tribe’s character.
Mood board:
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My
initial thoughts when considering the brief were “what world ending event
caused this tribe to exist?” and “where would this tribe exist?”. From these 2
questions, I began thinking of northern Europe/Scandinavia, and about the Ragnarök
event from Norse mythology. I was also considering what other reference I could
use to inform my design, and the game “Horizon: Zero Dawn” and the TV show “Vikings”
were very useful for gathering reference.
·
The Ragnarök
story has an extended ending in some sources, where some Vikings believed that
a pair of humans called Lif (a man) and Lifthrasir (a woman) meaning “Life” and
“Striving after life” would be the only survivors along with some Norse gods,
as they would hide from the cataclysm in a place called the “Wood of Hoddmimir”,
and then would come out to repopulate the earth. This has some parallels to a
few Christian stories such as Adam and Eve, and even Noah’s ark when referring
to a giant world ending flood.
·
I thought
that the idea of creating a modern Viking tribe who survived Ragnarök would be
interesting, since I had not seen many, if any, modern Viking content. I also
thought it could really use the environmental aspects of Scandinavia being a
mostly forested region to its advantage, creating a hunter character or a character
in camouflage for example.
·
Some parts
of this mood board led me down some poor rabbit holes – such as the minimalist Scandinavian
furniture and house style (Thanks ikea) and most of the Scandinavian modern
fashion is very minimalist and commercialised – so they do not have many very
interesting design aspects other than layered coats.
·
Modern Viking
fashion is something that some people still attempt however – usually combining
furs with earthy coloured clothing with leather belts and accents.
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Hair was also
a crucial aspect with Vikings – they loved their braids, and their hair styles
are some very iconic designs that are easily recognisable.
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First Future Tribes Mood board |
More Specific Mood board:
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Once I
had my first theme mood board down, I began to refine down the actual elements
of the character in a way that I could refer to when doing my sketches later.
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I tried
to focus on modern day equivalencies to Vikings – such as punk rebellious fashion,
modern costuming of Vikings and modernised Viking fashion, and modern hunting
rifles used in Scandinavia.
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I also
decided at this point that out of Lif and Lifthrasir, I wanted to do Lif – Both
because the idea of making a powerful female leader seemed like a great idea to
me, and especially Vikings had this rare European angle where women were equal
and could be powerful warriors and high-ranking officials.
·
I
focussed on highlighting the edginess and the punk factor with Vikings – they were
rebellious, fierce people, and the closest comparison modern fashion wise to me
was punk, and more specifically Vivienne Westwood’s fashion.
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More specific Character Themes Moodboard |
Silhouettes:
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A
requirement of the brief was to do 50 Blue Sky Silhouettes so that they could
inform the final design.
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I started
out the designs doing a mix of both male and female designs at the time –
however I found myself leaning more into the female designs. I did not give
myself a single silhouette taking up the entire sheet either, which lead to
these designs taking a lot longer than I care to admit. I did this many, and
then wanted a small break so I followed a series of tutorials by Marc Brunet on
how he goes about making a full character illustration. It had its fair share
of anatomical problems, and the design did look very bland, so I mostly just
used this as an excuse to play with the colours.
·
I later
used these designs infused on my bigger sheet – which had a full 50 set of the
same silhouette. These silhouettes were built off a set of buzz words too, and
these had certain influences on the designs. I knew my character would both be
a leader and a hunter -so she needed a practical design which showed her
status. When watching one of the lectures, I remember it being mentioned that
antlers usually connoted status, so for a lot of these designs an antler crown
is implemented.
·
I also
included some smaller designs based off modern compound bows, since I thought
that my character would be better suited for a stealth than the loud hunting rifle.
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Initial set of silhouettes and trial illustration |
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50 Blue Sky Silhouettes |
Final Conclusions:
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After
constructing these designs, I received critique on what designs worked best. The
highlighted designs were believed to be most successful – and I thought that
number 50 was the best design individually.
· Next steps for this project would be transferring these basic silhouettes into a anatomically correct block out in ¾ angle.
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