Sky Gradient

This is the gradient that we are going to use for our environment. We tested it in photoshop. We compared it with the sky that Josh originally had, and we realised it should be just a little bit darker. We selected the lighter part of the gradient to mimic the sun dropping down behind the mountains keeping the darker part of the sky at the top.

The Fresh Prince Has Returned...

I was thinking about the idea of using cell shaded graphics in our final movie. In my opinion if we are not care full it could look a bit pants. However, when we were at the Eurogamer Exbo, I got to play the new Prince or Persia and loved the art style. I think shooting for something like this should be our goal. Try and make it like a living illustration!

Yankee Flesh Eaters

Josh drew a zombie cowboy, today Sam drew a zombie cowboy so I thought "Screw it I'll draw a zombie cowboy too!". So here it is...a zombie cowboy. The perspectives a little funny on the legs.

Rough Storyboard

Here is a rough storyboard that I drew. It is a collection of quick ink sketches that illustrate ideas for shots for our fly through. These drawings are really basic, quite embarrassingly so, but I wanted to just get a rough idea down. They could be a little clearer, I might do a neater version later.

old sketch

This is an old sketch from a week ago that I did. It is a quick design of the main mountain (which I knick-named Turd Mountain) and the entrance to the mine. In our formative, Jared told me to analyse my work more. So here I thought that I could have worked on the perspective more and the pencil work is not that great. But my main aim was to get a quick design for the mountain down.

This is an old rail switch captured near the old railway station in leuenberg (germany / brandenburg)

Pumpkin Hill Sonic Adventure 2

A reference to use for the mood of our environment. I like the sunset sky coupled with the dark shadows and such. If we can get a similar image like this, it would be a real achievement.

OMV's Schwechat refinery in Vienna, Austria

A refernce pic, of a refinery since it seems we are having one in our final design.

Colour Environment Concept

As promised here is my colour concept. I tried to incorporate the colour scheme from Sam's mood board. I've put two versions of the concept one with a grainy layer on top of it, I thought that maybe we could use this effect in the style of the final film.

Mine/Graveyard Concept

Hey guys, here's a concept that I drew for the opening to the mine. I thought that we could turn it into a sort of graveyard due to all the deaths related to the mine. This is also a style experimentation, it's definitely up for debate so tell me what you think. I have another colour design coming up but photoshop is not doing what it's told.

Cool fly through

Hey guys here is a cool moody flythrough, it's the opening from Nightmare Before Christmas. It's got a really cool mood to the opening which I think, could be incorperated into the movie (except we won't rape Tim Burton's style like every other animation student on the planet!)

An idea on the look of the Mining Village.

We could use this as an example, a 2D background, with a 3D character or the other way around. Or have it fully 3D or 2D, I personally think we should have a 2D character with a 3D background or the Other way around. Just as long as it has an element of 2D in it. This movie was done by Daryl Taylor, Lewis got the dragonball Z SFX just in case you're wandering.

Intro idea for our horror/ western intro.

Remember when I said that I wanted the whole thing to be like a ride? Well the very begining of this opening where the camera pans out and goes through the city and then stops at the title Soul Eater, is what I had in mind. What do you think?

Shake it like a polaroid picture!

Hey guys, some interesting photos you might want to look at. More on my blog page. Very inspirational and could provide us with good references. Notice the textures and construction of the buildings with many levels.

Zorro!

Hey this clip was a suggestion from my sister. I saw the clip and realised that the movie has a very cool design for a mining area. It is very tall and speratic!

Nevada Smith

Hey guys, I've been watching some old westerns and this one is pretty cool. It's called Nevada Smith and it stars Steve Mcqueen as a mixed race native american. Yeah I still find that part pretty unbelievable. It's about a boy who, after his parents are murdered by bandits, sets out on an all out kill-fest in revenge. He pretty much goes through the entire movie kicking the crap out of anyone he remotly resembles a cowboy, unfortunatly due to the limited wardrobe of the movie, that means that most of the cast gets an ass whopping. The reason I mentioned this film is because the area where he lives is a mining village. Unfortunately I couldn't find a clip so instead i posted the movie's title sequence! :)

Batman

Now I know what you guys are thinking, "Why the Hell has Lewis put Batman on the blog page, when we are doing a western theme?". Well, after giving you a sharp slap to the forehead, I would say "let me explain myself". The reason why I have posted a clip from Batman is because of one thing...style. The Batman animated TV show had a fantastic simple, blockey style. To me it stands out with lots of character. This clip in particular shows off such environments. Simple and punchy is what I, personally, am after in this project.

Mining Village Concept

Here's a concept that I drew for the mining village. Here I have drawn the entrance to the mine embedded into a deep canyon. I decided to have the idead that the actual village is build into the rockface, rather than have it built on the ground as I thought it was more interesting. I thought that the poeple who lived near the mine would leave the groung level for the workiers and live above the labour on the rocks.

A shack drawing

A simple shack drawing. What do you guys think, should I do a coloured version?

Mining Village concept

Here's my concept picture ^__^

And another thing!

With Neil's post about bridges I thought about Goron City, from Zelda Ocarina of Time. The central part of the city has crossing ropes and is very sunbaked!

Possible Thought

With what Josh mentioned about the level in Oddworld, I got to thinking about smoggy, desolate areas. What came into my mind was the story about a mining village called Centralia which had to be evacuated. This town was the inspiration for the game Silent Hill. If you watch the documentary you will see pipes sticking out of the road...I quite like this idea.

Concept art

I found this on an old website of Lionhead studios.

Mining Test

Here's a sketch of a mountain side with a few abandonned buildings next to it!

Red Dead Revolver

Here's another scene from Red Dead Revolver. It's a classic shoot out in an abandoned town!

Red Dead Revolver

Here's a mountainous scene from Red Dead Revolver... I thought it would be of some use!

Hey Guys. I was thinking of our project and my mind turned to Big Thunder Mountain at Disney Land. It's got some pretty cool shapes and interesting pieces of machinery on it so take a look.

Here's a sketch of a windmill dude's, the perspective's a bit messed up but its just quick.

Another area busy eh?

I like this busy, compact look of this. The steel towers and the concrete poles aslo draw my interest. Ha reminds me of the opening scene in The Running Man.

Wooden Bridge

Anyone remember Indiana Jones? I thought about adding some these bridges to.

Shack or bungalow inspiration? I dunno.

When I say shack I mean something small and short like this. Maybe this will help if you had any in your designs. If you'd like to know where I got this here's the link: http://gallery.undying-heroism.net/index.php?cat=3&lang=korean

If not a house with a watermill why not on on it's own?

Another house

Another house or shack to consider, I like the watermill on the side too.

Yo I found this image that I really like. Particularly this old, termite infested look that it has, plus the texture, seems like it has this sort of wet or brittle look. For my future designs I'm going to use this, as basis for the small shacks I have in mind.

Mining Village layout

Hey Guys I thought this pic would make a very good possibilty to consider the layout of the village.

Hey Guys her's a quick design for the mountains in our backgrounds, it's pretty rough!