Creature Prison: Warden Gorman

I've had a bit of a break from this project as I was completing some freelance work for a studio, but now I'm back and ready to work.  I developed a new character design based on the list of characters provided to us on the brief.

The Warden is described as someone young, inexperienced and in way over his (or her) head.

With my project being based around a dinosaur zoo/them park/science experiment gone wrong, I altered the Warden idea to a head scientist (or even vet) of the park.  Brilliant in his field, and a young genius, he gets hired.  He soon discovers the genetic mutations that are taking place and is forced to work against his will, despite his objections.  He's young and scared and easily manipulated.  He hides and has survived the events of the last year on the island.

I wanted the Warden to be one of the earlier characters Chloe (the player) meets in the game.  He'd be the guy with the 'plan', helps out with information, tells the player what to do, how to attack and avoid the varying species of dinosaurs etc etc.  So, to stop him from wondering around with the player during the game (survival in numbers and all that)...I broke his leg during a recent dinosaur attack, immobilizing him.  That'll slow him down.

I also named him Warden Gorman after the wonderfully inexperienced and in over his head Lt. Gorman from Aliens :)

Here's some of the early design work, leading up to the final piece:

Aw goddammit!

Well this just pissed all over my ideas

Creature Prison: Prison Exterior

I've started working on how the exterior of the prison may look now.  The prison would look less 'prison-like' and a bit more of a research facility, however I wanted to create a strong industrial feel to the overall look.  I just had this idea of a monstrous, industrial shit hole in the heart of a dense jungle.  The idea being it would look radically different to the exotic, well maintained holiday resort/theme park on the other side of the island and very different from public perceptions.  Two faced, evil corporations and all that.

Since my idea take place on an isolated island, obviously there would be no direct power sources for the prison/facility to run from.  So this also fueled the industrial idea.


This is the thumbnail design that I liked and thought would be a useful basis for this design.

The next job was to track down some research.  And I found pretty good references based around concrete mixing facilities, nuclear plants, dams etc etc.

Combining the thumbnail and my research, I set about doing a couple of black and white paintings to get the basic look.

Happy with the general look of this image, I also created a couple of rough colour studies

Now I need to finish the damn thing...