Level 2 Final Major Project (FMP) Steam Punk Character Concept

Action plan

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What Is Steampunk

From my research I have found that the term "Steampunk" originated in the 1980's when a letter to Locus Magazine from science fiction author K. W. Jeter. Jeter was trying to find an accurate description of works by himself (Morlock Night), Tim Powers (The Anubis Gates), and James Blaylock (Homunculus). While Jeter coined the word, it was William Gibson and Bruce Sterling that brought the genre attention with the book The Difference Engine (1992).

 Over the years, steampunk has evolved into more than just a sub-genre of Science Fiction and Fantasy. Steampunk now extends into fashion, engineering, music, and for some, a lifestyle. With Victorian British Empire or American wild west as the backdrop, steampunk projects are a challenge of making something elegant out of random objects that anyone has access to.

Some examples of steampunk, genre, artists and origins are:

Take place in the Victorian era but include advanced machines based on 19th century technology (e.g. The Difference Engine by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling);

Include the supernatural as well (e.g. The Parasol Protectorate by Gail Carriger);

Include the supernatural and forgo the technology (e.g. The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers, one of the works that inspired the term ‘steampunk’);

Include the advanced machines, but take place later than the Victorian period, thereby assuming that the invention of electricity and petroleum never happens (e.g. The Peshawar Lancers by S. M. Stirling); or

Take place in an another world altogether, but featuring Victorian-like technology (e.g. Mainspring by Jay Lake).

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Steampunk in other medias

Movies:

Captain Nemo and the Underwater City

Wild Wild West

Hugo

Golden Compass

Games;

Final Fantasy VI

BioShock

The Clockwork Man

The Order of 1886

Books;

Against the Day by Thomas Pynchon – 2006

Agatha H and the Airship City by Phil & Kaja Foglio – 2011

Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld – 2009

Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve – 2001

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Mood board/ Mind Map

This image is taken from a movie called Annie Hall and the female casually wearing what could be assumed as male clothes is one of the most important influences for my design and idea, which without this I might not have decided to do what I am creating.
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Head drawing practise

For this exercise we were given a template of 9 head outlines and told to practise drawing in the faces.

This is practise drawing heads from a different angle
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Concept art

 This is a concept for the idea of a monster in steampunk style

This is an adaption to an earlier idea of mine from a game I made called BB Rescue

This design is fora cross dressing pirate, a combination of other earlier ideas of a cross dressing female and a pirate. The pole in their hand is their peg leg that, per steampunk technological capabilities, doubles as a telescope. They also have a hook hand that is interchangeable with the blade and crossbow on the belt.

This is a reference as to the kind of clothes that pirates wore.

This is a design for a steampunk sports player of a fictional sport I call Puffball

This is a fireman with a steampunk style gas mask, a hose attached to a supply of water and a tank of oxygen

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This is a selection of references to help with my final project, gender neutral hair, steampunk pirates male and female. This will all serve as inspiration.

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Project Proposal

UAL Awarding Body - Level 2 Diploma

Candidate Name	Shea Clarke
Candidate Number	BMC151646331
Pathway	UAL Level 2 Diploma in Art and Design (Game Design)
Project Title	Unisex Pirate

UNIT 8 - Project Proposal

Review

This project was mostly influenced by the clothes worn by steam punk characters and their almost predetermined clothing styles as well as the unisex clothing that most pirates wear. This will be different than any other project I have worked on previously because it will consist of fashion and characters as well as be based on humans instead of monsters, such as demons based on a painting and animal type monsters, though because of these projects I have developed such skills like blending, shading as well as contextual designs for my characters. I have learnt that when designing and developing your character you must pay attention to their back story/surroundings to give your character depth which I hope to use in my project. Though by the end of this project I hope to have improved my skill at drawing humanoid figures, and I also wish to develop my understanding of proportions.

Project Concept

By the end of this project I hope to create a female character dressed as a man, steampunk elements include a mechanical peg leg that doubles as a telescope, with an interchangeable hook as well as fashion designs based on steampunk to prove a point that there are truly no gender boundaries, proving that whatever men can do women can just as well. This game will fit into an open world/adventure, with bright colours and designs from across the world, type game where you can become good or evil, where you can go through the game in whatever order you want. I am going to accomplish this with sketching, blending skills as well as observational drawings. The back story that I have created for my character is that when she was young her Idol in life was pirates, mostly Gearbeard (a steampunk parody on Blackbeard) and like them desired to be respected and be well known everywhere by everyone. Though while researching the most well-known people throughout history she saw that, good or evil, the majority were males, and upon further research into the world currently she came to the conclusion that women are still not being recorded as making impacts on society like men, so she is determined to do something mainly attributed to men, take over the world dressed as a man then once that is done reveal herself as a woman to show how capable females are and to become as famous as, and surpass, her Idol Gearbeard.

Evaluation

I plan to be able to review and keep track of my work by keeping it on my blog as well as regularly update it so that I am able to analyse my decisions, and look back on any problems that I have had, to help me update my action plan so I can keep up to date. When I create my action plan I am going to complete the more important work in the first few weeks and take care of the details in the last 2-3 weeks so I have an acceptable amount of time to work on my project.

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Designs

This is practise clothing I drew as practise since I don't draw clothes very often, though I have kept in theme for my final design by tracing and adapting pirate style clothing.

This is a piece of clothing inspired by my previous attempt at drawing clothes in steampunk colours, brown, gold, white and black. The grey background is to help see white trousers.

This is an attempt to create some hair texture.

This is an update of my hair experiment that I created using three different shades of orange, in a round brush to make the shape of the head and the shadow effect of the hairs casting a shadow, then using a custom brush I added the orange stripes to make orange hair

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Texture practice

This is my attempt to create a leather like texture by using different shades of brown at a low opacity then using a custom brush, in a multiple lines pattern, at a low white opacity to create the worn  texture.

This is a metal bronze texture that I made by using a mid range opacity/colour to colour in the sides then using a low opacity bright colour in the middle, going over it a few times. Then I used a low opacity black around the edges because that is where the light is the lowest.

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Proportions Practise

This is my attempt at drawing a female body with set proportions.

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Life Drawing Practise

• This exercise serves as life drawing  practise from a secondary source, specifically WWW.line-of-action.com. A site where you are shown pictures, making it a secondary source, of people in different poses.

All of these drawings are done using the Riley Method ind different Dynamic Poses as opposed to the standing straight stance.

 This is practise drawing models using the Riley method with first hand life models in different poses.

These two drawings are developments of some of my Riley method drawings

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Colour experiments

Red is a very emotionally intense colour. It enhances human metabolism, increases respiration rate, and raises blood pressure. It has very high visibility, which is why stop signs, stoplights, and fire equipment are usually painted red.

It is used as an accent colour to stimulate people to make quick decisions; it is a perfect colour for 'Buy Now' or 'Click Here' buttons on Internet banners and websites. Red is widely used to indicate danger (high voltage signs, traffic lights). This colour is also commonly associated with energy, so you can use it when promoting energy drinks, games, cars, items related to sports and high physical activity.

Light red represents joy, passion, sensitivity, and love.
Pink signifies romance, love, and friendship. It denotes feminine qualities and passiveness.
Dark red is associated with vigour, willpower, rage, anger, leadership, courage, longing, malice, and wrath.
Brown suggests stability and denotes masculine qualities.
Reddish-brown is associated with harvest and fall.

Orange is not as aggressive as red. Orange increases oxygen supply to the brain, produces an invigorating effect, and stimulates mental activity. As a citrus colour, orange is associated with healthy food and stimulates appetite. Orange is the colour of fall and harvest.

Orange has very high visibility, so you can use it to catch attention and highlight the most important elements of your design. Orange is very effective for promoting food products and toys.

Dark orange can mean deceit and distrust.
Red-orange corresponds to desire, sexual passion, pleasure, domination, aggression, and thirst for action.
Gold evokes the feeling of prestige. The meaning of gold is illumination, wisdom, and wealth. Gold often symbolises high quality.

Yellow produces a warming effect, arouses cheerfulness, stimulates mental activity, and generates muscle energy. Yellow is often associated with food. Yellow is seen before other colours when placed against black; this combination is often used to issue a warning. Later the meaning of yellow was connected with cowardice.

Yellow is very effective for attracting attention, so use it to highlight the most important elements of your design. Men usually perceive yellow as a very lighthearted, 'childish' colour, so it is not recommended to use yellow when selling prestigious, expensive products to men – nobody will buy a yellow business suit or a yellow Mercedes. Yellow is an unstable and spontaneous colour, so avoid using yellow if you want to suggest stability and safety. Shades of yellow are visually unappealing because they loose cheerfulness and become dingy.

Dull (dingy) yellow represents caution, decay, sickness, and jealousy.
Light yellow is associated with intellect, freshness, and joy.

Green has great healing power. Green suggests stability and endurance. Sometimes green denotes lack of experience; for example, a 'greenhorn' is a novice. Green, as opposed to red, means safety; it is the colour of free passage in road traffic.

Use green to indicate safety when advertising drugs and medical products. Green is directly related to nature, so you can use it to promote 'green' products. Dull, darker green is commonly associated with money, the financial world, banking, and Wall Street.

Dark green is associated with ambition, greed, and jealousy.

Yellow-green can indicate sickness, cowardice, discord, and jealousy.

Aqua is associated with emotional healing and protection.

Olive green is the traditional colour of peace.

It slows human metabolism and produces a calming effect. Blue is strongly associated with tranquillity and calmness. In heraldry, blue is used to symbolise piety and sincerity.

As opposed to emotionally warm colours like red, orange, and yellow; blue is linked to consciousness and intellect.

Blue is a masculine colour; according to studies, it is highly accepted among males. Dark blue is associated with depth, expertise, and stability; it is a preferred colour for corporate America.

Light blue is associated with health, healing, tranquillity, understanding, and softness.
Dark blue represents knowledge, power, integrity, and seriousness.

According to surveys, almost 75 percent of teens prefer purple to all other colours. Purple is a very rare colour in nature; some people consider it to be artificial.

Light purple is a good choice for a feminine design. You can use bright purple when promoting children's products.

Light purple evokes romantic and nostalgic feelings.
Dark purple evokes gloom and sad feelings. It can cause frustration.

White means safety, purity, and cleanliness. As opposed to black, white usually has a positive connotation. White can represent a successful beginning.

In advertising, white is associated with coolness and cleanliness because it's the colour of snow. You can use white to suggest simplicity in high-tech products. White is an appropriate colour for charitable organisations; angels are usually imagined wearing white clothes. White is associated with hospitals, doctors, and sterility, so you can use white to suggest safety when promoting medical products. 

Black is a mysterious colour associated with fear and the unknown (black holes). It usually has a negative connotation (blacklist, black humour, 'black death'). Black denotes strength and authority; it is considered to be a very formal, elegant, and prestigious colour (black tie, black Mercedes).

Black gives the feeling of perspective and depth, but a black background diminishes readability. A black suit or dress can make you look thinner. When designing for a gallery of art or photography, you can use a black or grey background to make the other colours stand out. Black contrasts well with bright colours. Combined with red or orange – other very powerful colours – black gives a very aggressive colour scheme.

The colours I have chosen to use in my character are Red, a symbol of danger as a pirate and outlaw, Blue, as she is a stable character and wants to be trusted and admired, Black, as a pirate captain she will need a representation of power, Green(maybe), to symbolise her growth from scared child to pirate captain, and Orange to represent succession and determination.

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Practise

This is my first attempt at drawing my characters outline though the proportions are off, the square torso is on purpose as my characters figure will resemble the body type and figure of a Hepathlete 

This is my more developed anatomy practise with more defined curves and structure, though I still don't like the look or proportions as in my mind she looks a bit pregnant

This part is when I drew my character a face and a hairline, the long stick is her prosthetic leg that doubles as a telescope.

Hair colour, tiger/gold

The clothes are from an earlier practise model that I reshaped to fit her body type, though it is not 100% how I want it

This is an experiment of mine where I am trying to draw good quality hands 

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Artist research

These pictures are of different Olympic body types taken by Howard Schatz 

From these pictures I have concluded that my will be of hep-athlete build, as I feel that a pirate will need to be a physical jack of all trades, being able to do many physical activities that require strong legs and arms

Frank Miller

A piece of graphic art that inspired me is Frank Millers graphic comic book Batman: The Dark Knight Returns. Mostly the shading work and the unusual pose aspect have influenced how I drew my character.

Marjane Satrapi has influenced my characters simple face and features present in works like this showing that even plain can stand out.

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Shapes

Using shape dynamic research I have concluded that my character will be made mostly of circles and squares showing that she is kind and reliable, and because of this I have not used triangle as I am not going to make her a mean individual. 

This is how I will lay out shapes in my work, the squares are for the ship because pirate ships are meant to keep their crew and passengers safe and to be strong and sturdy. The square outside the circle is the clothes, the circle is the main character a female represented by mainly circular objects and the square is the clothes which will be square to represent how she is hiding her femininity. 

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Artists Interpretation 

This interpretation was an attempt to get an overall pirate like feel with just a rough outline and I think I have achieved this, though I don't have all of the details and the colour is a bit different

This artist interpretation has influenced my characters clothes and how they should be positioned. How they should look while in the wind and pose have also been influenced.

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Final

These 10 poses are poses that I am considering for my characters final design 

These are the referent pictures I have used so far. Most are for the side view character.

I have decided to go with a graphic style drawing because of the monochromatic colours and the ability to use more prominent black lines and shadows are simplified and highly contrasted.

This is my work so far on my character from the front and side, I chose to develop the 9th pose i created, I drew the hands on their own and added them on 

This is the stage I am currently at with my design. I have attempted to draw my character in a side view with help from a reference picture(all of which I will put on a separate document)

In this step I am going to try to design sideways clothes.

I have begun to add colour, I have started with the hands and eyes as well as all visible skin, with a preliminary colour scheme.

I have decided that my character will be a Graphic design style character, because that will allow me to give it a more cartoon like appearance with more monochromatic style, saturated colours, black lines and simplified shadows.

While trying to create a rope for my character I decided the fastest way was to create a brush, and that is what I have done and to add texture I used the same method I used when I created the metal leg but with different colours at different angles.

This is the colour scheme I am going for, with textures, I have also tried to make a rope with a rope texture.

An asset I am developing for my project is something I call the legescope, a telescope that doubles my characters leg. It has a wood texture, the darker lines are grooves for it to slide in and out of and in the middle of them are nuts (like nuts and bolts) that keep it extended. When not in use it slides into the metal stump after being lowered.

This is where I am at now with my current design, I have completed adding in all of the assets to my side view character and have coloured him in. Some problems while developing it included the rope and telescope being over the hands layer, I fixed this by solidifying my hands colours and erasing the sections where the rope or telescope didn't need to overlap with the hand e.g. the fingers.

I have now finished the front, side and back view of my character, all I have to do now is clean up the lines.

This is what my character when I have cleaned up the lines, added shading and re-sized the bottom two to be the same.

This is my attempt at doing a better job of shading and adding shoulder blades.

This is my final design, turned sideways with a background.

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Evaluation

My project is a Cross-dressing Female Pirate. I got the idea while searching for a topic and noticing that the male and female characters that were drawn in steampunk style were separated by their gender specific clothes so I thought it could be an interesting idea to create a cross-dressing character especially since you don't see many characters cross-dress. What gives her the steampunk look and feel is mostly concentrated in the detachable telescope/leg, I even included the rope that she is holding so she can stay upright and because it is a famous pirate pose. My character is in the mindset that a woman can do anything a male can in a male dominated society, and the plot that is happening is that she will become the worlds most famous pirate and gain control of a huge position of power and in the and reveal her female origins, because of all this I think I have created a female character, that unlike most female  role models, such as Lara Croft from Tomb Raider and Aloy from Horizon Zero Dawn, that just try to do these things anyway, is not just as capable as males but smarter than most as her plan involves a long term plan and misdirection. My influences for her character is the scientific fact that women are typically physically weaker than males so instead uses her brain rather than brawn.

My influences for her design, a medium build, average height female with ginger hair and a basic pirate wardrobe of a simple long leather jacket, boots and fabric trousers, is the also rather simple design and look of unprofessional artist Jason Smith that I found while researching different small time artists. The art style however was inspired by graphic artist characters and designs such as comic book characters, whose outlines and shading are more exaggerated than a realistic drawing but more human than a cartoon character, though this did create some problems as to the thickness of the lines and how the shading should look as I have not created human characters nor graphic design characters before so I was uneasy about adding them to my own character. To help with the look for my character I decided to research first the build so I researched the body of a hep-athlete as they do multiple Olympic events and I imagine a pirate would be a "jack of all trades" type of build, then I researched how the clothes should look until I found Jason Smith. I did all of my work in Photoshop where the main tools I used were the brush, eraser, pen tools, though I did use the brush In a lot of different ways with different techniques including creating my own brushes to create different textures and using different shades and opacity colours to create a metal texture, because of the variety of colours and textures that Photoshop was very effective for this task and the tools were appropriate, though I did run onto a few problems in the form losing track of what was on what layer and low opacity colours being basically invisible on some layers so the background looked messy, to solve this I used the select tool on auto select, to select the things I wanted to clean up, and go straight to the layer. Something that I needed to research for my character is different poses and body positions which I did through second person research of practising drawing pictures of people in different positions to give me some ideas of positions my character could be in which prove to be incredibly useful and necessary for my works completion.

I do like how my project came out particularly the textures I did for my clothes, metal leg and peg leg, being leather, copper and wood. I also like how the hands look as well as the hair, mostly the amount of detail I put into both of them. On the other hand I wish that I was able to give the clothes more detail as well as make the skin look more 3d because I think that her face doesn't look like it has much life in it, as well as have much better proportions. Something I could have developed further is the accessories on the clothes, buckles, buttons etc. Something that could have made the creative process easier is if I had more relative clothe references so I didn't have to make it up from an earlier example and test also different facial expressions would have allowed me to continue working without worrying that the face could look better. I believe that I have managed time quite well though I will admit that I don't think I experimented or researched on different options for clothing styles or facial expressions enough.

In conclusion I feel that my project turned out for the better and is definitely the best work I could have done at my current skill level. If I were to do it again I would work more on the clothes accessories and the facial features, though I believe both are good enough.

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Business card

This is the business card that I am going to use.