Opps been a while...

This must be one of the longest spells I've gone without uploading anything. So I've been working a lot on the sort of additional details for the world. I think detail is important as it will make the series more beliveable. These are billboard designs. I still need to design billboards to mount them onto and I'm toying with the idea of having them on separate planets as well as (or instead of) on top of buildings. Its been fun coming up with futuristic product ideas as well as researching ad campaigns from the '50's. I think they have that sort of vintage look while seeming futuristic. I think the content juxtaposes with the style. Also, these are still fairly rough in places. I need clean vector style robots in two of them.

Power Planet

I have been working on some specialised individual planets that could provide services to the people in the spacey suburb. I have designs for a farming planet, a city planet, a park planet and this one. I had the idea that a whole planet could act as a generator. I liked the idea of using a circuit board design so it feels mechanical and the rusty metal texture helps this. The glow on the line makes the planet seem nuclear.

Adding some depth

I tried a slightly more close up background. I still want to try putting characters in in as well. I added a blur to sections towards the front and some at the very back to add a bit of depth.

First proper kinda background

I altered the cut out or copic marker work on photoshop on. In the second image i changed the hues slightly to give a deeper colour and a slightly more space age colour pallet.

I drew a few pieces for a garden scene. I wanted something completely different to this. Wanted a more close up background of the garden that I could put the characters into. However i like this one as it gives a broad overview of the possible environment which is useful to have.

Cyber women!

Heres some colour tests. The scanner in uni is acting up as ever so theses are the only ones I can post for now. I kept drawing the cyber goth character with goggles on her head as it seems to be a staple part of that look. I'm not sure they are actually practical but I thought I should try and see how they would look on the face. I have mixed feelings about this sketch as. I think putting the goggles on the face and obscuring the eyes takes a lot away from the character, but its nice to have the option for some in situs. I also tried different ways of putting line on the characters other than the thick black I usually use. I have experimented with mixing inks with copic markers. I quite like the more subtle result.

Character Design

I heve sheets and sheets of the stuff now. I can't upload all of them but I think these give an idea of where the characters are going. I focused on the beginning of the project on the robot/mother character because I thought that was a quirky idea for the show so I wanted to get visuals for that idea as soon as possibles so people could see where I wanted the project to go. I started work on the other charcters. There is a dad, twins (one girls and a boy)and their older sister who acts like a baby sitter. The kids are fairly boisterous and have a lot of energy so I need designs to reflect that and also they have the ability to be very endearing, which is what gets them out of trouble a lot. The dad is a fairly typical middle aged man whos tired and run down by work. The last character is the oldest daughter, a sullen teenager. Like most teenagers she has a style that reflects a teenage fad. In this case Cyber goth. I picked this as a point of reference as it is a futuristic style that already exists and so I can study it. Coloured examples coming soon :)

Lollipop Schools

I haven't posted on the blog for a few days. I've been up super late tonight working on character designs. Hopefully I can have some of them scanned in uni tomorrow and posted too. In the mean time I remembered the school designs I made last week. I was basing them on lollipop and bubble gum machines because I wanted them to feel quite childish and fun, one of the ways they get kids exited about going to school in the future, I guess its a form of subliminal messaging. One of them resembles a female body shape when turned upside down (the light pink pencil sketch) I like the idea of this being the basis for the shopping mall.