Secret Lairs: Concept Art Finals - Hero Prop and Lair

These are my final concept art pieces for my secret lairs project before starting my final piece in Maya. Although these are complete, my model in Maya will not look exact as there are slight changes I will make when modelling  which are not so drastic that there is need to redo my paintings.

Final Concept Art for my Hero Prop - The Martian Alchemist's Alchemy Table

Final 16:9 Concept Art for my Secret Lair - The Martian Alchemist's Spaceship

Life Drawing Lesson 8 - 13/11/12

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Secret Lairs Thumbnails 27 - 44

I have been trying to picture my secret lair in such a way that the three key rooms are viewed in the scene but with the work station room with my hero prop in main focus. I have been doing some floor plans to help with this and get the overall shape of the space that I want and I think thumbnail 38 works best at the moment so I have sketched a full image using that floor plan as a guide.

I was also challenged by my tutor to swap the colours of my scene around and start blocking out a space straight on to a red background. I think it is possibly a bit too intense but it seems to be working in terms of making it more pulp fiction like. It is just the basis of the idea at the moment but I will work on this more until deciding to employ it into my final concept art.

Floor Plans

Floor Plans

Designing the ceiling using the symbol of gold as an architectural key but not just as a flat circle.

Hologram designs

43. Trying to get the full view of the design using one of the floor plans above.

44. Experimenting by blocking out aspects of my scene onto a red background again using the same floor plan above as a guide. I have imported my final hero prop concept art to show where it would be but the colours may need swapping around as well.

Secret Lairs Online Greenlight Review

Secret Lairs OGR

Secret Lairs Character Bible

Character Bible

Secret Lairs Thumbnails 1-26

Secret Lairs Character Name Ideas

The final piece of the puzzle for my chracter bible; the characters name and the planets name.

I have been trying to come up with a solid name for my character as well as his home planets name. Here I have taken names of famous Alchemists and simply reversed them to see what works best. I have recieved feedback from class mates saying that the reverse of Ramon Llull, Llull Nomar works well for my Martian Alchemists name. And the reverse of Artephius, Suihpetra but with the p and h swapped to make Suiphetra for possible planet name. Only using one word i.e first name or surname of the alchemists I think is best for the planets name.

Secret Lairs Idea Generation

I have come up with some scenarios as to why my Martian Alchemist is in his secret lair in the first place but I am having a hard time deciding which is best to use or perhaps use a mixture. Feedback would be greatly appreciated and any new suggestions and ideas are very welcome :)

Maya Tutorials: Digital Set Modelling

Scene Model

Lamp post model before bringing it into my scene.

Beginning of the crate model before UV mapping and texturing. (Will duplicate the panels when UV mapping and texturing).

More Influence Maps

I have decided to have my Martian's secret lair to be his spaceship. I think it will give me a big advantage to create a space with strange looking fantastical gadgets and equipment along with strange, unique lighting with luminous colours.

I thought looking at the actual exterior of the design would be a good starting point so I can get a sense of the actual shape represented on the inside.

Looking at different interiors of spaceships mainly at the way lighting is used to brighten the whole area with one or two colours. I also like the image in the top left corner with the pattern on the wall because I was thinking of doing something like this using alchemy symbols and patterns.

Photoshop Lesson - Tiles, Channels and Layer Masks

Tiles

Original Image

Image edited and duplicated

Using Channels

Original Image

The number from the image cut out using the channels

Using Layer Masks 

Layer mask of a texture on a shape with text over the front

Life Drawing Lesson 7 - 06/11/12

This was my first life drawing lesson in using ink. I found using ink very difficult and hard to control, but I hope to improve.

Long Drawing that went on until the end of the session.

Quick Drawings

Mise-en-scene Film Review

You Only Live Twice

Secret Lairs Influence Maps

I decided to do some Influence Maps to help me with specific things and aspects that would be involved in my secret lair of the Martain Alchemist.



I felt looking at the equipment of alchemy in traditional alchemy as well as chemical science from real life and different media would be vital as this is what will define the lair to being an Alchemist's the most.

 

I decided to look at the actual location of this Martian's lair. Straight away I thought it would be best to situate him in space or another distant planet as you cannot get any more secret than that. I really liked the idea of making it a space station/spaceship within an asteroid field. The face on this map is actually a face discovered on the planet Mars I thought it would put a nice spin on things and give it some real mystery if the face is actually the lair.

The appearance of the character I feel is an important aspect in order to shape the lair. I have been bouncing the two ideas of making the character a gruesome looking alien or actually making him in a human disguise which of course reflects on the character bible. I looked at sci-fi films and programs with aliens in them as well as possible alchemy related attire and appearances.

The Hero Prop - I have had many ideas about a possible hero prop/props.

1. an alchemy table which would be its main work station.

2. a teleporting device which he would use to teleport to other planets or solar systems to collect rare ingredients.

3. a ray gun type device that it is in the middle of building for a particular reason.

4. a seeing orb that it uses to view other planets and life forms.

5. Its wrecked spaceship if he were to be situated on Mars.

6. It's human disguise hanging up (it was hard to show this in the Influnce Map)





Secret Lairs Project Intro

For this project I have been asked to design a secret lair reflecting on a certain character and its characteristics. We got this description from a pick out of the mystery box. Within the lair there needs to be a 'hero prop' that defines the character or is what shapes its lair. I have to do a 16:9 concept art of my designed lair and hero prop. The final task is then to model the lair in Maya.

My two words that I have for this project are Martian and Alchemist.

Martian deifintion on dictionary.com -
1. Something relating to the planet mars
2. An inhabitant of Mars

Alchemist defintion on dictionary.com -
1. A person who is versed in or practices alchemy
Alchemy definition
1. A form of chemistry and speculative philosophy practiced in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance and concerned principally with discovering methods for transmuting baser metals into gold and with finding a universal solvent and an elixir of life.
2. Any magical power or process of transmuting a common substance, usually of little value, into a substance of great value.

In terms of the Martian side of things I am trying to reframe from the typical generic looking martian character with the big head etc and trying to design my own to get a feel of the type of enviroment it would reside in.

As for Alchemy there is lots of history behind it deriving from all sorts of different cultures from Ancient China, Medieval Europe, Western, Indian, Islamic, Eqyptian and more. When alchemy was a popular craft it was believed to be a form of magic. Today it is a dead art and is more reffered to as chemical science.

When it comes to the design of the lair itself it will probably be more prodominantly reflective on the alchemy side of things because it involves lots of equipment, chemicals, viles, symbols, materials, ingredients etc.

Maya Tutorials: Character Lighting and Rendering

Maya Tutorials: UV Mapped Textures

UV Mapped Blocks

Maya Tutorials: Common Shaders

Ceramic

Plastic

Silver

Chrome

Gold

Glass

Glow

Hidden Glow