Buzz vs Alien

Buzz vs Alien

Moving on from the previous post with a similar theme I created this idea of Buzz Lightyear meeting an Alien. Again I was thinking of a more gritty image trying to bring Buzz into the world of Alien, maybe landing on the planet and discovering the species himself.

There's not enough energy in this initial sketch, I wanted the alien to be thrashing while pinned to the floor by Buzz's foot. He's logging the information on his communication device and covering the alien with his laser weapon. In the background is the alien ship can be seen.

The composition needs some work but as an initial sketch it gave me ideas to take it forward... Thanks for viewing...

Emperor Zurg Idea

Emperor Zurg Idea

Back again... bit of a break from posting as I've been busy, however I thought I'd post this old idea of Zurg from Toy Story. I wanted the sketch of Zurg to be a scary version of the movie character. It was an interesting idea because I tried to use the key elements of Zurg and try to push a little realism into them.

The left side of the image shows the original sketch which certainly had a menacing look with those teeth, but the next version on the right (3D) didn't really capture what I was looking for. I think the reason for this was because I tried to jump into a 3D sketch model too soon.

So my plan here is to take it back a step, work on the sketch and then take it into 3D-Coat for voxel sculpting. I want the final to be a 3D model that I can texture, the aim being to mix organic elements with hard surface modelling. The over-riding idea being a scary version of Emperor Zurg - a kind of what happens if you mix Gigers Alien with Pixar approach. Thanks for viewing...

BEDOUIN TRACKER HELMET DETAIL

Helmet Detail

An important element of the sketch was trying to make the character look more alien or at least not from our planet. I set about working on the helmet design focusing on the shapes, the idea here was to make the helmet itself a sensing device, filtering the air and sampling changes in temperature, light etc.

This was created in Photoshop using my own custom brushes, I then painted in the details from the generated shapes. The green visor was added at the end to give the helmet a tech feel. Nasal sensors and an oral filtration unit were added over the mouth to taste the air, as well as listening probes mounted high on head frame.

Although I imply the character wears a high tech body suit, the main emphasis was the helmet in terms of tracking ability. Whether the character is to be biological or a robot is something I'm still thinking about. However having this high tech character wrapped in the flowing desert cloth does work well and is something I'll keep in the final piece.

I think what needs to be addressed is the composition and the pose of the character, I lost something in the translation from initial thumbnail sketch to the current version in terms of pose. The hand holding the sand  has no gesture and you don't feel the character is examining the sand, which is important. Another element that needs to improve is the story behind the artwork, it should be easy to read the artwork and the events within the scene. This will be addressed in the further revisions. Thanks for viewing...

Bedouin Tracker Concept

The left image shows the original sketches, which started the whole idea. Very simple but enough to start the trail of thinking mentioned in previous post. I actually liked the black figure more as the pose implied a character with more energy. I opted for the other because the character seemed a more seasoned, experienced hunter.

The image on the right shows a later development sketch of the costume. I liked the flowing tails on the costume and kept this in, but I wanted the design to be more alien or at least not like something of our planet. All sketching was done in Photoshop, some custom brushes were used to give more texture. The left hand was originally intended to hold a spear like the black & white sketch. This changed later to the idea of a sand storm shield. The right hand also lacks the interesting hand pose of the sketch when the character examines the sand... next post...

Bedouin Tracker

Bedouin Tracker

This sketch was result of a few influences such as the movies Lawrence of Arabia, Pitch Black and Dune. One of the aspects of the movie Dune, which I really liked was the Stillsuit worn by the Freeman.  This design concept in the movie itself was really well executed and I wanted to combine this idea of a special suit with the more traditional clothes worn by those seen in Lawrence of Arabia. The long flowing clothes gives a sense drama and helps to identify with the harsh environment of our own deserts here on earth.

In the movie Pitch Black the characters crash land on a planet that was really interesting in terms of lighting, the intense lighting used in the movie gave a sense of how another world could possibly look. With these things in mind I set about designing a costume for the main character.

The initial thoughts for the sketch was the idea of a ship crash landing on a desolate planet and the occupants survived. Wandering off into the desert, little did they know that they were being tracked.
The Bedouin is seen scanning the sand and holding what was originally intended as a sandstorm shield. I decided later to change this into a piece of wreckage from the ship - this needs improving to read better as wreckage.

I tried to make the planet look alien by creating some strange rock formations also including the twin suns and large distant planet. This all needs working on. The main focus which again needs improving was the head gear, costume design and how the costume flows in the sand storm. The wreckage distracts the viewer at the moment and the whole composition is flat needing more depth and attention to what I want the viewer to see first, second etc... Thats all for now... thanks for viewing.