Character design

Welcome to the design page of the blog!
 

When being given the brief for the final assessment what was highly important was finding a model which would be reliable and suitable for the desired character design. This is due to the prosthetic piece being cast, moulded and sculpted to specifically fit the individuals face.  Because of this I chose to use my brother in law Alan, although originally wanting a girl as a model, I could not find one which could attend both sessions.

When initially given the brief 7 themes were given to choose from; 

# Ancient one 

# Demonic nightmare 

# Strange beauty 

# Industrial oddity 

# Weird beast 

# Metamorphosis 

# The future 

Firstly being given then brief I decided on the theme 'strange beauty', however now the model choice has changed I have adapted the design to suit. The theme I have decided upon is 'the future', I plan to create film inspired alien character. 

Design ideas

 

Throughout the scientific research into life in space and the possibility that in the future science might develop the resources to journey into space to find such creatures. I would like to adapt on this idea, I would like to create a futuristic creature which has survived on another planet. I want to create a creature which hasn't fully adapted into a human yet, the characteristic will be similar however areas of the body and face are different. 

One of the most well known character in film with characteristics such as these has to be Voldermort from the Harry potter films. Voldermort is a character which slowly through the films takes the form of a human. I would like to use and adapt on this very famous makeup design for my prosthetic character. The skin colour, texture and level of translucency to the skin is how I would like my character to appear. The image below taken from http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Tom_Riddle on the 14th of march 2014.  The visible veils and paleness to the skin gives the makeup the alien type feel. Although the nose has been created through CGI the rest of the make was created using hand painting and airbrushing.

Another piece of current inspiration has been the film 'The amazing spider-man 2', the villain 'Electro'. Although the character is made of pure electrical energy, having being attacked by dangerous electrical eels. The translucently of the skin and whitening of the eyes are what I initially wanting the create. I have mainly focused upon the forehead area for inspiration on my piece. I like the use of the colour on the head and will use this for my final piece. The image below has been taken from: http://amazingspiderman.wikia.com/wiki/Electro?file=Electro.png.

 

As I wanted the character to originate from an uninhabited planted, I began to reach skin which has not adapts to sun light. Research into unborn babies, if a baby was to be born at 18 weeks the skin would still be translucent and fragile to sunlight as pigment would have not been fully developed yet in the mothers womb. The following website gives the week by week stages of an unborn babies progress within the womb http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-living/pregnancy-week-by-week/in-depth/fetal-development/art-20046151?footprints=mine.

Extensive research into skin which has not adapted to natural sunlight was undertaken due to images of an unborn babies not being easily accessible. Images of creatures which live in the deepest sea will also be used as reference for there transiency. Due to the creatures being vulnerable to direct sun light the skin has not adapted the cells within the skin/ scales pigmentations which creates colour. Although this makes for a very interesting appearing creature, the skin is incredibly fragile and would not survive if it was to be under sunlight. Because of the creatures habitat the skin has not needed to develop pigment due to adapting to the dark surroundings and camouflage from predators. Seven examples of translucent creatures can be found at http://oddstuffmagazine.com/7-amazing-transparent-animals-%E2%80%93-wonders-of-nature.html. I will use this methodology when manipulating the characters skin design, much like these creatures the character has not adapted to sun light as the plant was dark and uninhibited.
 

The following images are makeup designs which have been developed using the translucent methodology. The designs have been created by one of my favourite American makeup artists Frank Ippolito who's career flourished after appearing in season five of 'face off'. Ippolito is know for his amazing special effects and prosthetic work, seen in films like pirates of the Caribbean - dead mans chest and the latest film with Vin Diesel The Chronicles of Riddick. However the makeup which I will be using for inspiration are recent 'quick' makeup demonstrations created by the artist at the crown brush makeup show and also the European body art makeup show. All three of the makeups have been hand painted using alcohol activated pallets.

Final image will be the main use of inspiration for the design, as I would also like to use a fogged contact lenses as part of the final design. The contact lenses adds depth to the  makeup and due to this develops a believable character. Using fogged contact lenses links to the specifics into the science of the pigment adaption, the eye pigment would have not adapted much like the skin, therefore a colourless glazed is appropriate.

All of the images have been taken from Ippolito's Instagram page http://instagram.com/frankippolito on the 14th of march 2014.

 

 Additional research into veins was undertaken as this is a key aspect in the design for the final piece. Veins appear more prominent as the skin becomes thin, this can be due to the aging process. Veins receive the blood from the capillaries after the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide has taken place. Therefore, the veins transport waste-rich blood back to the lungs and heart. More information on veins and blood vessels can be found at http://www.fi.edu/learn/heart/vessels/veins.html.

 

The reason why veins appears blue under the skin is commonly misunderstood, the reason is due to lights penetrating through the skin to illuminate them. Blue and red wavelengths penetrate light with different levels of success. the colour which successfully makes it back to the eye is blue.

 

 

Another main focus to the makeup will be the removal of the mouth, this will be incorporated into the sculpt. As part of the sculpt the mouth will firstly be masked with clay and blended to give the appearance that the mouth is not yet formed. Then using the following image for inspiration created by Rhonda Morley Causton (this prosthetic piece has been made from gelatine). I would like to create a design which incorporates a mouth like this, the simple however very striking feature will create a much more original design. Also this will also link to the idea that the creature is still adapting and developing into a human, therefore the mouth has not fully formed.

 

As well as this I will adapt on the raw pinkness on the colouring of the prosthetic, also connect this into the makeup around the eyes. As the creature would not have been exposed to natural sunlight before, the skin and eyes would be red and raw looking as the skin slowly adapted to the exposure.

Although the mouth will be covered the prosthetic will be incredibly thin, this will then allow small slits in the gaps of the mouth to be cut enabling the model to breath.

 

The character

 

The following face chart design has been created for the final assessment, incorporating all aspects of the research  images and information for the character design.  The face chart has been painted with a contemporary theme, inspired by one of my favourite current portrait artists 'Andrew Salgado'. Examples of Salgado's work can be found at http://www.andrewsalgado.com/work/2014, my favourite and main use of inspiration is the painting '20 years'. I felt the contemporary theme was needed for the design as it was difficult to highlight where exactly I wanted the detail to would be due to the amount of veins being created. 

 

 

 

Although not my usual painting style and there are areas which I would improve, I feel the face chart draws together all of the different aspects of the research ideas. The painting as allowed my ideas and the story created through the research development to come alive.  I am now able to see potentially what the character will eventually look like and this gives me something to work towards when designing and making the prosthetic piece.

 

The story behind the character

 

 Due to the evaluations of technology scientists are now able  to travel to uninhabited plants, where they have discovered other life forms. The character is based around the initial experiment by scientist transporting the life forms to earth. Due to the atmosphere on the uninhabited plant, the 'Aliens' has not needed to adapt to sunlight. Because of this the skin is translucent, the ears, eye colour  and  mouth have not yet developed. For the assessment I have based the makeup and prosthetic design on the idea that the life form is starting to adapt into a human.

 

The intricacies of the design can be found under the 'finer detail' page of the blog.