Vehicle and Props Design | Project 1: Pre Production

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5/4/2023 - 12/5/2023 | Week 1 - Week 6
Shofwa Alyadiena | 0350019
Vehicle and Props Design | Bachelor of Design in Creative Media
Pre Production

Lecture Notes 

Week 3 - Silhouettes

The first step after creating a mood board and collecting references is to start drawing a bunch of silhouettes. We also learned this in character design, where we attempt multiple silhouettes and consider the negative spaces to generate a constant flow of ideas.


Week 4 - Mood Board and Proposal

A mood board is a compilation of your references representing the IP we've chosen.

We started with a briefing on how to utilise the mood board:
1. Get your inspiration from the mood board, and categorize it by the rendering style, the colouring style, and the sketching style.
2. Plan on what we will collect within the theme of the sci-fi based on intellectual property (for example Star Wars). 

The Proposal for our project 1 is necessary to be completed. It's a mood board that categorizes into air, land, water, or other big types of archetypes, then proceed onto the class such as the defender, fighter, or transport vehicle. We're extracting the design language from it such as the shape, motifs, textures, and more.

Once we have the design and idea, go in and write down the land vehicle.


Week 5 - Functionality and Design

Get inspiration. When we look at references (Artstation, Behance, pinterest, DeviantArt) the point is to extract the information. It should inspire us to consider the colour, the design, and the general idea.

The functionality is important as an idea for the design's space and shape, but for us isn't directly prioritized as we're creating to tell a story through the aesthetic of the vehicle.

Going over what we've discussed before, it's preferred to look at an existing world and take elements from that rather than starting from scratch.


Week 6 - Inspiration

Drag and drop inspiration. put it into PureRef. We are lacking in our research and visual exploration. The most important part is expanding our visual library at this stage.  A way to guide the idea in a simple form. 

The first thing to create is the overview, which is the style, tone, and manner. The look and feel from the inspiration. Second, the breakdowns- which is our components. To break it down will be a more concentrated approach where it's more focused on the functions. 

Silhouettes are the base to give away the readability and distinction of the design. The values over the silhouette give us the contrast, then ambience given makes it so that the overall vibe and mood matches. Then, the colours come in for a more aesthetically pleasing look; combined with the line that gives us the refinement, break downs, and the depth of the vehicle as a whole. Shading comes in to further enhance the values, while giving material texture. Shading will most likely follow the values; that gives us the focus areas. 



Instructions 



Process

Mood Board and Style Guide.

Following the steps taken in Digital Matte Painting, the mood board is split into categories to dive deeper into the idea. 

1. Story
2. Era
3. Theme
4. Type

Research.

To try getting the actual look and feel of Steampunk, I referred to general searching and a little more from this website. It appears visually that these are the elements most used in the Steampunk aesthetic:

1. Gears.
2. Clocks.
3. Pipes.
4. Steam.
5. Based on the Victorian era
6. Materials from wood, brass/copper, and leather.
7. Colouring is usually a little 'dirty' with brown, green, reds, and golds.
8. Less electric lighting and more on lanterns.


Feedback

1. Since the world is created by me, it's best to use an existing IP as a base reference to extract information from.
2. Always number your sketches. 


Air-Type Vehicle

Silhouettes.

Fig. 1.1.a Sihouettes (25/4/2023)

Fig. 1.1.b Silhouettes 2 (8/5/2023)


For pre-production, we start off by creating the three types of silhouettes, thumbnails, and so on. I brought the rough ideas from the exercises and developed them further to fit with the direction in my mood board. The idea is that the world created is built on a civilization that revolves around the sun and stars, thus the vehicles are shaped after animals that like sunbathing.


Thumbnail Sketches. 

Fig. 1.2 Thumbnails Progress (1/5/2023)
Fig. 1.3 Thumbnails Progress 2 (1/5/2023)

I worked on the first few thumbnails, using the original silhouettes as a spark of ideas. The wings and general shape were based on butterflies mainly, taking inspiration from one of the fantasy vehicles in the mood board.

Fig. 1.4 Thumbnails Sheet (2/5/2023)

Moving on with the rest of the thumbnails, I also took inspiration from the shape of blackbirds, another animal with a preference for the sun. 

Fig. 1.5 Senech Colour 1 (15/5/2023)

Fig. 1.6 Senech Colour 2  (15/5/2023)
Fig. 1.7 Senech Colour 3 (15/5/2023)
Fig. 1.8 Persei Colour 1 (15/5/2023)
Fig. 1.9 Persei Colour 2 (15/5/2023)
Fig. 1.10 Persei Colour 3 (15/5/2023)

After the feedback session, I was advised to proceed with Persei Colour 1 (figure 1.8)


Feedback

1. It's about how creative you can implement the inspiration into the design.
2. Always have fun!!!
3. Vehicles always get inspired by something. 
4. Start to explore and explain what the functions are. 
5. Functionality is the key.
6. Silhouettes can be done by adding a flat colour to the thumbnails. Move the silhouettes that I've done as an 'inspiration' into more of a 'rough silhouette'.

Next week make sure there's already one that's chosen. This week, explore properly all types and then choose one to proceed with the rest of the projects. 




Land-Type Vehicle

Process.

After the air vehicles were taken care of, I moved onto land vehicles. The first thumbnails were based on garter snakes and painted turtles. I tried to implement the head shape onto the front bit of the car.

Fig. 2.1 Land Vehicle Thumbnails (5/8/2023)
Fig. 2.2 Land Vehicle Silhouettes (5/8/2023)

Again, I focused on trying to get a clear silhouette without any details- it helps me spark ideas better than if there are details given. The downside though is that I have to draw it at an orthographic angle to really grasp what's going on.


Fig. 2.1 Ceniok Colour 1 (15/5/2023)
Fig. 2.1 Ceniok Colour 1 (15/5/2023)
Fig. 2.1 Ceniok Colour 1 (15/5/2023)

Finishing up the main pieces with the colours for the land vehicles, I realize it's far from being my strength. I think I hate land vehicles now.


Feedback

1. I can do better.


Water-Type Vehicle

Process.

Lastly, the water vehicles! I was most excited to try drawing ships and created 5 for on-watercrafts and underwater crafts. They were inspired by old submarines and the usual sailships. I really liked the fifth one in Figure 3.1 (later drawn as number 1 in Figure 3.2), but was immediately advised not to use that one. Instead, it was recommended to proceed with 3 and 5 (Figure 3.3-3.4). The submarines were hardly usable.

Fig. 3.1 Water Silhouettes Sheet (15/5/2023)

Fig. 3.2 Water-Type Silhouettes 1 (15/5/2023)
Fig. 3.4 Water-Type Silhouettes 2 (15/5/2023)

Fig. 3.5 Water-Type Silhouettes 3 (15/5/2023)
Fig. 3.6 Water-Type Silhouettes 4 (15/5/2023)
Fig. 3.7 Water-Type Silhouettes 5 (15/5/2023)

Once the silhouette discussion was over, I focused on finalizing number 5 (Figure 3.5) and created an entirely new submarine based on number 9 (Figure 3.7).

Fig. 3.8 Hydrae  Colour 1 (15/5/2023)
Fig. 3.9 Hydrae  Colour 2 (15/5/2023)
Fig. 3.10 Hydrae Colour 3  (15/5/2023)
Fig. 3.11 Cygnus Colour 1   (15/5/2023) 
Fig. 3.12 Cygnus  Colour 2 (15/5/2023)
Fig. 3.13 Cygnus Colour 3  (15/5/2023)


Submission 


Fig. 4.1 Final Presentation (29/5/2023)

Reflection: 

Experience 

For the first project, I was mostly focused on not focusing on the land vehicle. I really hated it. I do not like land vehicles. However, It's mostly because it's outshined by the air and water vehicles as I have a certain interest in water vehicles. They are awesome. During this time as well was when I was getting used to a new drawing device, so it was a little difficult to adapt. In the end, I was pretty satisfied with the hot air balloon, mostly. I do understand that it needed an extended version that shows a better view of what the sides will look like and was lacking functionality overall.

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