Inspiring Artz: 10 week Concept animation

A new Beginning
Concept animation by Lance bishop

So i look into science fiction and Fantasy ........

Science Fiction and fantasy are both genres which look at impossible happenings for a person living now.

The main difference between the two is that science fiction shows a way of life that could be believable and possible in future years to come, whereas Fantasy shows impossibilities and circumstances we can only dream of.
To help me understand the differance i look at films from the two genre's.....

Examples of the Fantasy Genre.....

Harry potter, we would alll love to be wizard but we know its never going to happen.

Narnia, we know lions are never going to talk and thawns and goblins arnt real.

Examples of the Science Fiction Genre are...

Riddick, in future years to come their possibly could be an appocoliptic future with galactic fighting.

Planet of the Apes, science could evolve apes very quickly and force an alternative Future.

I-Robot, robots are fast developing in japan and one day eveybody could have their own personal robot.

In order for me to get the best out of my charecters , a tight story line is needed .....

This is a Science Fiction Story:

1000 years in the future (year 3000), Science has dramatically evolved and humans have increased their anaerobic respiration efficiency so they do not need to breathe as much air to stay alive.

year 3001, a dome is placed on the moon in order for a colony of scientists to begin intense research on the planet.

While exploring the planet surface , they find trace of life. And after a few weeks of searching they find creatures on the moonthe creatures they find are took back to the

colony and placed in quarantine, but the scientists are fascinated and want to take them back to earth.

so the animals they have are placed in a similar habitat to earth.

the creatures start to eat the grass and leaves, they start to change and evolve.

man has created a monster.

So my first Charecter will have to be the Scientist......

Name

: the scientists ( general term to these characters as they will all look identical)

Age

: nobody knows

Character background:

They have successfully helped the human race to evolve and now look to take a huge step and create a colony on the moon.

Mood

: faces are covered so unable to tell

Special skills

: they are extremely clever, but with this comes over confidence.

Identifiable

Features: masked, white? Orange maybe?

Known associates:
only trust each other

I then Research into what scientists looked like and i gathered a wide variety of differant "looks".

this white suit nuclear scientist comes across ite scary with the gas-mask on.

these look a little more like surgeons than scientists.

In order to get a recognisable scientist charecter i asked around my flat to see what they thought of when i said scientist. These were the results.....

Designed and Drawn By Lance Bishop.

It is always so much better getting actual information from the people that will look at work from a neutral point of view.

mad scientist, in a cartoon aproach.

now create initial sketches of ideas i could possibly develop...

simple but effective design, this would allow me to develop and improve easily.

This design looks far too much like a astronaught, and would push towards the fantasy genre.

this crazy scientist is far too generic, although i could include a vial as a prop?
I choose my favorite design and sketch it out in other positions...

this looks too much like its wearing a head robe, i should make it more solid and maybe include more detail.

these action sketches will help me when creating a 3ds rigg.

The Idea as this point for this charecter was too simple so i researched into the film "Evolution" looking for more inspiration....

the film has scientists dressed in these orange suits which i quite like , i think it makes the situation look ore serious.

And my Final Design looks like this ...
.

I created the Science charected keeping the overcoat , but incorporating the helmet, as i tryed to stray away from the generic looks i had researched into.

I also created a walk cycle fro the Scientist Charecter , i wanted the legs to drag a little and the upper body to stay straight, also i want to portray them to always be on the look out so i had the head looking around... see the link below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cvl3Vfg8K8Q&context=C3b02265ADOEgsToPDskIH5AamvBGIFTy58sf5YtqD

In the story the Scientist Charecter catch's the small creature so i drew props in which would help him todo that.

I incorporated a Net laucher into this Gun, which each of the scientists would have walked around with.

The buggy i took inspiration from a hummer, changed its form a little, added glass doors and extended the windscreen, im very happy with the outcome.

I then havto create my small creature that is to be found by the scientists...
ZIPTILE, Creature 2....

Name

: ziptiles (scientists named them this when they found them due to the noise they make when they communicate.

Age

: unknown to man

Mood

: very gentle creatures

Special skills

: they communicate to one another by rubbing together their antenna like strings on their head, also a very heavy

I research into animals that are pefect for a base of my creature, i particually like the style of the lizard but the stance of the owl.

I create Simple sketch's and i actually have a large range of ideas, the bird was the sketch in which took my fancy, i like the legs and the shape of the body but i feel like i should look into the head ALOT more.

I really like the hawks head so look at a range of pictures of it from differant angles, and would like to incorporate the eyes and overall shape.

i started with the head i first designed and changed little bits as i went along making it look more like a hawks head, i incorporated the shape of the head and eyes , i decided as i kept editing little bits that i wanted to make it look more reptilian, so i changed the mouth and nasal areas.

and continued changing the face unitll i was happy, as ringed in blue below.

untill i got to the point were i was happy with a design, but when reflecting on this design, i decided id wasted too much space , not using enough detail etc.

I look back over the key components in my Character Brief:
Special skills

: they communicate to one another by rubbing together their antenna like strings on their he

Identifiable

Features: cute, an interesting design over there body.The way I visualise it moving is something like this:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZM7HlrXFK8..... Next was my bad first attempt…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4vrO8qmPmw&context=C3648dc2ADOEgsToPDskIH5AamvBGIFTy58sf5YtqD ….. This one was better…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78_7Zf_Ux9o&context=C308d8e4ADOEgsToPDskIt95IzieN-MBzeEvLIzbC-

Final Design of Small Ziptile Creature

I was Really happy with how this design went and dont think i could have produced it any better at a higher standard, this was exackly what i had in my head.

I changed the legs so they didnt look like sticks, and also incorporated fethers on the wings.

Next was a design of the environment where the small creature would be put... it is here it would be surrounded by an earthly environment that it would start to eat and mutate....

I looked very hard at the garden of eden and private and mostly well kept gardens. i left the door in the background so you can clearly see its an experimental environment.

Creature Stars to Mutate......

I remembered watching "The Thing " the origional version and always being facinated by the way the creature transformed, so when i created my story and knew i would be mutating my creature, this is the way i wanted it to be done.

you can clearly see a link between my final design and the things mutation, i wanted it to be very vague and not clear enough to see what it is, i did add the hand creeping from within this cacoon which does look good.

The Actual Mutated Creature.....
This has to be realistic and quite vicious.......

Name

: maw serpent

Age

: unknown

Mood

: angry ,raging , bothered by everything

Special skills

: eats everything, has great eye sight, quick and nimble on its feet.

Identifiable

Features: four legs, muscular body, terrifying face, maybe long arms?

Initial Designs....

these designs again all had a simular look , i particually wanted to take the muscular figure on all fours into my final design.

and this is my final design of the mutated creature, i kept the muscular structure with a scaley design over , i looked at planet of the apes for the stance, as i found it amazingley intresting the way they move. I wanted it to have an agressive long face with beedy eyes. the open mouth with huge teeth really sets the mood of the picture. The top right picture was created on 3ds max, this rig was put in the paticular position.

My Action Boards.....

1000 years in the future (year 3000), Science has dramatically evolved and humans have increased their anaerobic respiration efficiency so they do not need to breathe as much air to stay alive

the scientist looking through a telescope.

the creatures they find are took back to the colony and placed in quarantine, but the scientists are fascinated and want to take them back to earth.

This picture clearly showed the animals in quarintine boxs going into the dome, i used one point perspective.
Developing The Quarantine Box prop.......

I researched through the three different types of quarantine symbols and decided the most used is the circular symbol.