Vehicle and Props Design - Project 1: Pre Production

23/9/2022 - 11/11/2022 ( Week 4- Week 11 )

Sasilvia Cheong Pei Hoong / 0345031 / Bachelors of Design in Creative Media

Vehicle and Props Design / Entertainment Design

Project 1: Pre Production

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INSTRUCTION

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Tasks

Week 4:

1. For project 1, select a theme, story, some silhouettes, mood boards, etc.… 

2. For silhouettes sketches do 5 each for air, land, and water

Week 5:

1. Continue with the silhouette sketches and finalize your mood board.

Week 6:

1. Pick out one of your favorite sketches of your chosen vehicle and continue with a progression sketch where new components can be added in or taken out. 

Week 7:

1. Continue exploring your sketches and describe the components and functions of how it is going to work. 

Week 8:

ILW no class.

Week 9:

1. Continue refining the vehicles draw them in 3/4 view.

2. Add on base colours on the vehicles.

3. Choose one vehicle to focus on and come up with 1 interior and 1 prop for it.

Week 10:

1. Continue with task from week 9 

Week 11:

1. Submission

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Project 1

World Building

We were first tasked to select a theme, story, and moodboards for our world building. I've always liked Victorian goth theme stuffs like vampires, demons, abandoned castles, etc... . However Victorian goth is not solid enough as a theme as there are very few references of it on the internet. Then I found steampunk really interesting so I decided to combine both of them together. The world that I have built is a world where vampires and demons coexist with humans in the Victorian era, where the location is set in London, England, United Kingdom.

Fig. 1.1  World building week 4 (30/9/2022)

Land Vehicle

My first idea for my land vehicle was to either do a carriage or train. But Mr. Kannan said a train would be a better option, so I went with it. I was initially inspired by Queen Sisi of Austria’s funeral carriage. The design was absolutely breathtaking and detailed. But since it would take me forever to draw the patterns and engravings I went with something more simple where I combined the ideas from both the air and water vehicle. The train would be operated by humans to transport cargo from one land to the other.

Fig. 2.1  Land vehicle moodboard week 4 (30/9/2022)

I did a variation of different sketches, after finishing the sketches I found that some of them looked like caterpillars XD.

Fig. 2.2  Land vehicle thumbnail sketches week 5 (6/10/2022)

I liked thumbnail sketch 4 the most so I did some refinements to improve the design.

Fig. 2.3 Land vehicle refinement sketches  #1 week 6 (13/10/2022)

After receiving feedback from Mr. Kannan, I combined sketch 6 and 7 into one and also make the stained-glass window into one circular shape at the front instead of two eye liked ones. 

Fig. 2.4  Land vehicle refinement sketches  #2 week 7 (27/10/2022)

I was told that my perspective looks off, so I readjusted it with the warp and distort tool in Procreate. 

Fig. 2.5  Land vehicle refinement sketches  #3 week 11 (11/11/2022)

After that I came up with a variety of colour options for the land vehicle. I know it says colour value there, I made a mistake ahahah. At first I picked number 2 but after some discussion with Mr. Kannan I went with number 3 instead. 

Fig. 2.6  Land vehicle colour variation week 11 (11/11/2022)

Below is the design breakdown of the land vehicle.

Fig. 2.7  Land vehicle design breakdown week 11 (11/11/2022)

We were also advised to add a human scale beside the vehicle to compare the size. 

Fig. 2.8 Land vehicle final design week 11 (11/11/2022)

Air Vehicle

When coming up with ideas for the air vehicle I first started with the thought of who will be operating this airship, and what kind of being are they. I went with vampires, and inspirations started splurging through my head, I wanted the airship to have a coffin-based structure since vampires are known to sleep in coffins and I wanted to incorporate bat wings and vampire fangs into the airship as well. The airship is transportation for all beings, that only moves at night as it is operated by vampires and travels from one city to the other.

Fig. 3.1  Air vehicle moodboard week 4 (30/9/2022)

I had the most ideas for the air vehicle, but it was hard to execute and draw them out since perspective is not my strong point. 

Fig. 3.2  Air vehicle thumbnail sketches week 5 (6/10/2022)

I decided to go with sketch number 4 from the thumbnail sketches, since the rest would not make much sense. Adding on the details for the refinement sketches was really fun as drawing details makes me really relax. 

Fig. 3.3  Air vehicle refinement sketches  #1 week 6 (13/10/2022)

After receiving feedback from Mr. Kannan, I added the rose-detailed arch at the bottom front of the vehicle to provide support since it looks too flimsy and might fall at any moment. Then I also added a propeller on the bottom of the airship to help boost it up. 

Fig. 3.4  Air vehicle refinement sketches  #2 week 7 (27/10/2022)

Mr. Kannan said my perspective was off again, so I had to redraw it in a 3/4 angle view. I was told that the chains on the top of the airship was too small and will be very hard to see, so I was advised to either make it bigger or leave it out. I left it out since it looked more cleaner without it. 

Fig. 3.5  Air vehicle refinement sketches  #3 week 11 (10/11/2022)

I started doing the colour variation and my mind was really set on the 3rd one since I liked the contrast of the colour. 

Fig. 3.6  Air vehicle colour variation week 11 (10/11/2022)

Below are the design breakdown and the vampire scale for the air vehicle.

Fig. 3.7  Air vehicle design breakdown week 11 (10/11/2022)

Fig. 3.8  Air vehicle final design week 11 (10/11/2022)

Water Vehicle

For the water vehicle, I decided to make it a hearse ship/boat where it is used to transport dead bodies for burial or cremation that is operated by undertakers which are the grim reapers. I wanted to incorporate skeleton-like structures as grim reapers are known to have skeletal figures.

Fig. 4.1  Water vehicle moodboard week 4 (30/9/2022)

I was extremely art-blocked when I did the water vehicle thumbnail sketches. I only had one idea set in mind so coming up with more sketches was tough. 

Fig. 4.2  Water vehicle thumbnail sketches week 5 (6/10/2022)

I decided to go with thumbnail sketch 5 because I find that it will be easier to add things on as I refine the sketch and I  wanted to keep the grim reaper boat style. 

Fig. 4.3  Water vehicle refinement sketches  #1 week 6 (13/10/2022)

After that I went with the 6th sketch to develop it further. Mr. Kannan told me to draw out the skeleton torso as well since the head looked tacky. 

Fig. 4.4  Water vehicle refinement sketches  #2 week 7 (27/10/2022)

I was told that the skeleton torso, the cockpit bones and the stairs had too many lines, so I had to reduce it. Then I also added worn-out ropes to give it more story and also added a base at the center of the exhaust pipe to give it more volume. 

Fig. 4.5  Water vehicle refinement sketches  #3 week 11 (11/11/2022)

I loved the colour variation 1 and the rest were just eh for me, especially the blue it hurt my eyes so much just staring at it.

Fig. 4.6  Water vehicle colour variation week 11 (11/11/2022)

Below are the design breakdown and the grim reaper scale for the air vehicle.

Fig. 4.7  Water vehicle design breakdown week 11 (11/11/2022)

Fig. 4.8  Water vehicle final design week 11 (11/11/2022)

Final

Fig. 5.1  Project 1: Pre Production(11/11/2022)

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FEEDBACK

Week 5 (30/9/2022)

Air Vehicle (Airship): The 3rd sketch looks nice, for support of the upper part of the vehicle you can look into how coffins have stands to hold them up, similar to how they have it for airplanes. 4th sketch is okay too, but there should be a support for the front part or else it will tip over, maybe an arch to hold it. 

Water Vehicle (Ship): The 5th sketch boat is a bit tiny considering that it will be a cargo ship for coffins, the size of the 2nd and 4th sketches are better. The shape of the 4th sketch is interesting and looks very grand while the 5th looks very normal like a typical slow boat that the grim reaper uses. 

Land Vehicle (Train): The train looks a bit flat, trains should have compartments like the 6th sketch. 

Week 6 (7/10/2022)

Air Vehicle (Airship): Airship is nice, however, there should be a propeller boosting the airship upwards, wings are needed on the side as well maybe can make them have fang shapes. The shape and perspective can be broader, look at paper planes and kites. 

Water Vehicle (Ship): For the boat, elaborate the skull further, maybe give it a spine and rib cage to make it look more menacing rather than just a normal cylinder which looks boring. Exaggerate certain compartments.  

Land Vehicle (Train): The hearts in the front can be explored further, the stained glass in sketch 6 looks nice, maybe instead of having two in the front change it to one. Right now the train looks a bit flat so add more components, maybe a combination of the 6th and 7th sketches, also the pointy parts in the 7th sketch are nice. 

Week 7 (14/10/2022)

General feedback: When there is a huge component, it will be better to break it into 3 sections. Do not straight away decide on the final sketch, explore more with it so that you will be able to add or take away components. 

Personal feedback: 

Air Vehicle (Airship): For the chains in the 3rd thumbnail sketch, the chains can be changed into something else, maybe a stand. In the refinement sketch, a hidden arch can be added to support the front of the airship, have a propeller to boost the airship upwards, wings need to be added on the side maybe a fang-like wing like a vampire's teeth. 

Water Vehicle (Ship): Elaborate the skull further in the refinement sketch add a spine and exaggerate certain compartments. Expand the ship to make it bigger as it is a cargo (coffins) ship it needs more space to place the cargo.   

Land Vehicle (Train): Number 6 is nice, a combination of 6 and 7 where the stained glass is one circle in the middle. 

Week 9 (28/10/2022) 

Air Vehicle (Airship): Put a character there to determine the scale of human and the vehicle, overall design is good, however be careful with the chains as they are very tiny and repetitive. Pay attention to perspective make sure it is in a 3/4 angle view.

Water Vehicle (Ship): Side view is cool, do 3/4 view, make the rope thicker , there are too much lines involved make them thicker. 

Land Vehicle (Train): Train is fine, use warping to change the perspective. 

Overall: Choose one vehicle as priority, choose the best and focus on that, the other two make do with it. All vehicles have to be done in a 3/4 view with their base colours. With your chosen vehicle, do all angles (front, back, side and 3/4), colour render, 1 interior and 1 prop.

Week 11 (11/11/2022) 

Air Vehicle (Airship): Airship is good, in project 2 further refinement can be done where the back wings can be drawn to add more volume, and the other solid elements can be done with more volume as well. For the colours, 3 is good, in the next project the colouring can be refined with rendering and also add glow onto the windows. 

Water Vehicle (Ship): Colour and design is good, the wings can be drawn with more volume and more ropes can be added for support make it look like it has a story to it . 

Land Vehicle (Train): Colour and design is good, just some warping on the perspective needs to be done. 

Overall: Place the human scale next to the vehicle so that it can determine how the human will look like inside of the vehicle. 

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REFLECTION

At the start of this project I was not doing so well because I had a massive artblock. I kept drawing for hours and hours but the vehicles would not turn out great at all. So I had to rest for a few days before jumping in to do the sketches for the thumbnails again. I also struggled a lot with perspective, I could not get it right even with perspective line guides I was so confused with them. Warping and distorting the vehicles was the only tools I was able to use to adjust the perspectives.