Drawing for Concept Artists, Edited Blog Component

For the analytical portion of this ICA, I’ve focused my attention on the work I produced for the ‘Best of Times, Worst of Times’ brief.

I found this to be a visually engaging brief as I had to produce a concept design of a character at their ‘best’, and then contrast this with a design of the same character at their ‘worst’.  Trying to show this singular character (who’s face is covered) and trying to create an emotional reaction to their current state of mind, purely through visuals, is an interesting prospect.

The initial step was to create a series of life drawings from the 99^th Garrison (a company of Star Wars cosplayers).  Unfortunately, due to my commitments at work, I could not attend this session, so I had to find online references.  I found this slightly frustrating, as I prefer to draw life studies from observation, and not from my monitor (it also would have been quite fun to draw life models dressed as Star Wars characters!).  Unfortunately, I had no choice. 

I looked at a couple of different characters from the Star Wars universe, and my first design idea was to hone in one of the Storm Troopers.  The idea I had was to create a design of a very proud, battle ready trooper at his best, and then maybe mourning the loss of a comrade at his worst.  After developing some sketches however, I soon left this idea.

Sketches of Storm Troopers

I came across a character that, to be honest, I was slightly unfamiliar with.  Darth Nihilus.  The character’s design was slightly unusual and a little different from the rest.  I liked the fact the characters mask/face was based around a skull.  And I thought this could create good visuals around his emotional state, especially for the ‘worst of times’ design.

I proceed to generate some basic life drawing studies, using traditional media, to get a feel for the character and to understand the costume design.

Sketches of Darth Nihilus

Once I was happy with the sketches, I began to create a speed painting of the ‘Best of Times’ image using Photoshop.

First Photoshop Painting of Darth Nihilus

As the character is evil, on the dark side of the force etc., I thought his sense of best of times would to be a dominating figure of power.  Someone, or even a force, so powerful that had to reckoned with.  He couldn’t be touched.  Essentially, he would be the Grim Reaper or ‘Death’ of the Star Wars Universe.  So I tried to pose him with a slightly more dramatic, lower angle shot with very warm, destructive colours in the background contrasting his dark robes. 

Final Design of ‘The Best of Times’

Next, I needed to create the ‘Worst of Times’.  I wanted him to be crushed.  Devastated.  An awakening to all of the terrible things he has done, and lost, throughout his life, summed up in one terrible moment of clarity. 

As we cannot see the character’s face, I had to use visual techniques to incorporate the sense of mood I wanted.  He needed to be lonely, isolated.  Very dark with little lighting and a cold colour palette.  His posture needed to be different to before.  Slumped.  Tired.  Defeated.  The image should also be simple and ‘uncluttered’.  This way, by using a strong light on the face, all of the viewer’s attention would be focused on the emotional look on his face.

These were all things I was trying to consider when developing this design.

Final Design of ‘The Worst of Times’

Overall, for this portion of the ICA, I have mixed feelings on whether or not this had a successful conclusion or not.  In some regards, yes, I think it is a success.  I’m quite happy with my final design for the ‘Worst of Times’ image.  The layout, mood and lighting work well throughout and I was surprised by how quickly this particular image came together.

However, I’m not happy with the development sketches or the ‘Best of Times’ Final Design.  Due to poor time management on my part, I had quite tight time constraints to finish the work.  This resulted in the sketches being hurried and the ‘Best of Times’ image looking…underwhelming.  It’s very rushed and under developed.  This is incredibly infuriating for me as I know I can better than this. 

I could consider the work I have done as a ‘lapse’.  A wake up call that I need to apply myself better.  Move on and make sure I don’t repeat the same mistakes again.  But it has to be said; if I’m perfectly honest about not only this portion of the ICA but the entirety of the module as well, I’m ashamed of the work I have produced.

Link to online portfolio:  https://davidpagetdrawingforconceptartists.carbonmade.com