Clay Practice

Working on building my characters in clay I have struggled to get the hair to look correctly so I have taken this week to practice modelling different hairstyles  that I designed.

These are a few photos of a model I have been practicing hair, wings and clothing on.

Research_Clay Models

Clay Modelling

As creating a fully detailed clay model of my characters is part of my final product for this project I have spent a great amount of time researching into the area. Having a little previous experience has helped me greatly in practicing little bits and pieces but there has been many techniques I could not remember.

Within industry clay figures or maquette's are quite popular to make, not only for fans of game characters but also for 3D representations of character concepts. These  provide a real visual to help aid the design process allowing the artists to  see what is working or maybe what they would change.

Research 

These are a few areas I have recently been looking into to help me improve with my clay skills.

• Materials- air drying clay, wet clay, Sculpey?
• Tuitorials
• Sculpting Tuitorials
• Industry work
• Pixar

Bibliography 

http://www.conceptart.org/forums/forumdisplay.php/10-3D-ART-SCULPTURE-ART-amp-TOY-ART

http://forums.cgsociety.org/archive/index.php/t-474502.html

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2012-12-11-fat-pebble-zynga-creative-control-claymation

http://www.pixar.com/behind_the_scenes/Sculpting#

https://www.stanwinstonschool.com/tutorials/sculpture-techniques-sculpting-humanoid-maquettes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8YFxaI_Db4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1jvo1ZfREM

Research_Character 2

Character 2 Kimi

Native American

For my second character I have decided to use Native Americans as a theme to build on. As I only know  little on this subject I have been researching into their lives, tribes, patterns and clothing.  

Looking at different tribes has been very interesting when it comes to clothing as each tribe used different materials depending on where in the country they lived. This has given me great information in designing the clothing for my character.

Tribes

Inuit

• The Inuit tribe came from Alaska, Canada, Siberia or Greenland. 
• Everything is based around the cold climate in which they lived
• They used animal skins and furs
• Thy used caribou and seal skin to make shirts, pants,hats, boots and jakets
• Polar bears, rabbits and foxes would be used to line their clothing to help keep warm
• They would wear soft boots known as kamik or mukluks
• Spirits play a big part in their culture
• Female Inuits would wear little masks on their fingers when dancing to attract the attention of spirits

Cherokee

• Cherokee Indians were one of the largest of the five Native American tribes
• Settled in the south east
• Highly religious and spiritual
• Warmer climate 
• The woman would wear wrap around skirts
• Poncho
• Poncho style blouses
• Clothing would be made from woven fiber or deer skin
• Bow and arrow used for hunting

These are the two tribes I have chosen to base my character around, using the clothing and materials to help aid my concept. After doing a little more research into the other tribes i found that other tribes such as Navajo and Apache learnt how to make clothing from weaving plants. This could also come in handy whilst creating the designs for the clothing.

Character

Looking at this research this is what i have come up with to use during my concept designs.

• Fur
• Feathers
• Patterns
• Spirits
• Wrap around clothing
• Bow and arrow ( Characters weapon ability)

Bibliography

http://www.bigorrin.org/cherokee_kids.htm

http://www.ducksters.com/history/native_american_clothing.php

http://www.ducksters.com/history/native_americans/inuit_peoples.php

https://jtwilliedesigns.com/The_Beadwork.php

http://nativeamericans.mrdonn.org/arctic/inuit.html

http://www.native-languages.org/rugs.htm

http://www.native-languages.org/weapons.htm

http://www.nmai.si.edu/searchcollections/home.aspx

Research_ Character 1

Character 1- Purah

The Grim Reaper

Whilst coming up with a concept for my first character Purah , I have been researching into many areas such as wings, the Grim Reaper and Fallen Angels.

The Grim Reaper has been a highly interesting subject to research  as different religions create a similar yet altered personification of death. Although the ways in which people meet the reaper are different the image is one of the most recognizable figures around, representing death with a long black hooded cloak ,wielding a scythe and usually male.

These are a few examples of things which are used to symbolize the Reaper.

• Black Cloak
• Skulls
• Skeleton
• Scythe
• Hourglass

As a result of this I am wanting to create my character based off the common representation and change it up to make it my own. Keeping the style of League of Legends and game play the main focus. 

Angel Of Death

As I am wanting my character Purah to represent death I have also been looking into the Angel of Death. Just like the Grim Reaper there are seveal different personifications of an Angel of Death but they all symbolizing the same thing.

For example in the Hebrew and Christianity Bibles they both talk about a destroying angel. Also Christianity has both a good Angel of Death and bad. Whilst looking into this it has come to thought, do I want my character to be good or bad? even if death is the main theme. Is death necessarily a bad thing?

After researching into both The Grim Reaper and Angels of Death this is what I have in mind of possible ideas to base my character around-

• Female character
• Double ended Scythe (used as characters ability/weapon)
• Face Paint? - Possible to add to the feeling of death to the character
• Cloak?
• Clothing- Elegant, Rips? , Goth style? 
• Wings
• 
  

Bibliography

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angel_of_Death

http://myths.e2bn.org/mythsandlegends/userstory11334-the-creation-of-the-grim-reaper.html

http://www.openbible.info/topics/the_angel_of_death

http://science.howstuffworks.com/science-vs-myth/strange-creatures/grim-reaper.htm

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Grim+Reaper

http://villains.wikia.com/wiki/Grim_Reaper_(folklore)