CONCEPT ART FOR ENGINES OF GOD
- ED SAVAGE
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ENGINES OF GOD - PROJECT OVERVIEW I read the source text for this project a few years ago, and whilst the characters and the plot had long since been forgotten, something of the novels imagery had stuck in the back of mind. Essentially ‘Time Team’ set in space, the novel focused on pilot Priscilla Hutchins, who works for an academic research insitution based on earth in the year 2202. Hutchins travels around several locations, helping discover and interpret ancient ruins and monuments. These range from icey statues on the moon Iapetus, to Ancient radar dishes in far flung solar systems. I approached this unit from a concept art perspective. this is a discipline of illustration which I have danced around for a while, and it was nice to finally commit to it. I feel that it’s been fruitful enough - I would like to carry on in my final major project. For the hand-in, I’m presenting 10 final images, with developmental work. The idea is that these images would be shown to an art director, who would request alerations and accept/deny the representations developed. In future projects I think I need to make sure that this process involves someone other than myself and I; this would ground any developments a bit more. Concept Artists do not work in an isolated fashion. As to how I feel about the work I’m submitting, I think it’s a good first step into the discipline. I’d do a number of things differently, given the time again. In particular, I’d try and be more experimental with initial designs, rather than refining the first idea I’m happy with, and I’d like to cover more ground with the source material. My workflow generally improved over the course of the unit, with a few bumps and bruises along the way (mostly caused by self-defeating self-doubt), and I’m keen to see this pattern continue. Technically, I feel that I’ve made substantial progress with digital painting. I’d never before attempted any full figure illustrations, and I think I’ve managed to integrate textures and new brushes into my process succesfully. Hopefully I can continue to make gainful strides - I feel like I’ve made significant steps towards having a stronger base to work from.
INITIAL IMAGERY These drawings took place before I found my source text - I think they were half-remembered images from the book. Attempts at developing depictions of large structures and geography. Creating compositions which helped suggest a sense of scale was an important part of this project, and some of my earliest drawings were attempts at solving this issue. A reliable solution seemed to be the placement of miniture humanoid figures, as a unit of reference. Final submissions, like the statues and the Knothic tower used this solution.
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THE KNOTHIC TOWER It took me a few attempts to work out a succesful approach to the Knothic tower and it’s dock - although I enjoyed the roughness of the top image, it proved a nightmare to develop any further - balancing the textures and the need for a clear depiction of the subject (as required by much concept art) was proving insanely difficult. The lower left image was far stylised in composition with the later images, I felt that I managed to depict a more natural environment that was more honest to the original vbook.
EARLY ALIEN DESIGN The principal alien race of the novel is a species of itinerant, monument making sculptors. A self portrait of these creatures, in the form of a statue, is discovered on the moon of Iapetus. Before I designed the statue, I needed the creatures themselves, all flesh and blood and bone. I approached this task with the methodology of deforming and making slightly grotesque versions of recognisable anatomy - within the book, the species is desribed as humanoid, imposing, and subtly frightening. (I believe the fairly conventional nature of alien species within the text is a reflection of the idea, true or not, that the humanoid form is one of the most efficient shapes that evolution can create, regarding dominance of a natural habitat. Therefore, the basic shape would be repeated wherever intelligent life is found).
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MONUMENT MAKERS After some truly terrible efforts (bottom left), I experimented with zbrush for the 1st time ( middle: a 3d model, painted over) and then with a form featuring an extended brow and flattened facial features. The final design lowered the extension to the cheekbones, and humanised the face a little more - to make the creatures more relatably humanoid. The ridged chest would later return for the statue at Iapetus. The final Costume designs were an attempt to meld together their anatomy and classical references (roman armour, etc.) I felt that this theme fitted with the idea of an ancient, sprawling monument building empire, and granted the creatues a certain dignity. A constellation pattern is present on the lower skirt.
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3D MODELLING Definitely a personal 1st, I used the 3d modelling program zbrush to create a model for the Knossi Colossus - This allowed me to position a highly detailed model into my composition, and solved many issues regarding lighting and perspective. An interesting approach that I found very useful... Google’s architectural model program, sketchup, was also used to create the antenna structure for the Tindle Array.
RENDERING One major point of progress for me this unit has been my approach to rendering. For a long time I’ve been in the habit of spending endless hours on digital paintings, tightening and smoothing the ‘paint’ until any residue of the actual process of creating the image is smothered out of existence. Throughout this unit, I feel like I’ve been able to create more of a balance, and, to a degree, stopped over-rendering. This was very useful early on, when it enabled me to concentrate more on the feeling of a design than it’s concrete specifics. Letting textures from photoshop’s brushes remain seems to have the effect of suggesting details that would easily have been ‘cleaned’ away. The more painterly effects are also, frankly, more enjoyable to create. Which helps.