Colour Tests

An exploration of colour palette and mood within the final designs:

Completed Character Concepts

Atlantean Female

Atlantean Male

Explorer Female

Explorer Male

Sea Creature

Explorer Race Development

A description of the Explorer race can be found here.

 Mood-board created from gathered reference to inform unified character designs

Sketches generation by sketching over existing silhouettes and using the above mood-board as inspiration

A work-in-process preview of the the sketching over silhouette process that utilises layers in Photoshop.
Previous blog entry covering the silhouette technique found here.

Atlantean Race Development

In order to effectively collate and identify the most inspirational information to refer to when sketching my designs, I created mood-boards from collected images. This was an incredibly useful process that ensured a clear and cohesive approach to the designs, the influence of which is evident within the work:

 Mood-board created for the development of the Atlantean race designs
(description of races found here)

Resulting sketches, created using existing silhouettes and mood-board reference

Silhouette Generation

Self generated character ideation using the silhouette technique and Photoshop. These thumbnails are a combination of Atlantean, Explorer and Creature concepts will form the basis of further character design development. I feel that the attempt at communicating gesture as well as tribal, technical and animal-esque qualities was surprisingly successful despite the current simplicity of the designs.

More on the silhouette technique can be found on my previous blog entry.

Mayan and Egyptian Influences

From further research into the subject of Atlantis, I discovered many interesting claims that The Atlanteans may have had influence over Mayan and Egyptian culture.

It is believed by some that Atlantis may be the common link between Mayan and Egyptian Architecture and culture

This excerpt can be found on http://www.crystalskullmaya.com;

Steeped in mystery the Mayans themselves tell the story of how they existed in Atlantis and were dispersed when the continent was destroyed.  They believe their homeland was named Aztlan. Many legends claim the inhabitants of Atlantis escaped and colonized in different cultures.The legend of Atlantis started with Plato somewhere around 350 B.C.E.  This legend was also revealed by famous prophet Edgar Cayce. In fact while in a trance state he saw that the breaking up of Atlantis caused many of the survivors to go to Peru, the Yucatan and Egypt. The three cultures developed advanced Hieroglyphic writing styles and built massive pyramids.

Nineteen century scholar, Charles Etienne Brasseur de Bourborg rediscovered the Maya’s Popal Vuh-translated as the book of community. This book’s  insights includes such subjects as the story of creation, ancestry, history and cosmology. After studying this sacred book this scholar became convinced the ancient Maya culture could be traced to the lost continent of Atlantis.

It is certainly intriguing to consider the roots of the Mayans to be  the survivors of Atlantis. As more information is researched in their Sacred books, perhaps more interpretation of the sacred codices will offer more clues. Atlantis survivors and Mayans add another add another dimension to the mystery of the crystal skulls.

This discovery has prompted further visual research into the aesthetics of both ancient Mayan and Egyptian culture with which to inform my Atlantean designs.

Silhouettes

Silhouettes are becoming more integral in an a concept artists process because they generate original ideas quickly. They allow the artist to ignore detail and focus on a strong cohesion of shapes to represent the subject. Even if an artist does not create silhouettes as part of their process they still have to consider the strength of the shape they have created which is much harder to consider when sketching for example because the artists focus is drawn to line weight, proportions and value. 

Creating silhouettes allows the designer to produce distinctive shapes that stand out from others. When considering game design this is key because often a player will need to make a decision whether the character is a threat or not. In games such as Gears of War the enemies have iconic body shapes so there is no confusion for the player. 

'The Skilful Huntsman' is an art book created to show a concept artists process from start to finish. The pages below focus on how the artist creates several quick silhouettes to represent a basic idea quickly. 

Sketches that create a distinctive silhouette that inspire the artist will be developed further, evident in the image below.