Secret Lair: Avian Dictator development

To be perfectly honest, I've slightly been dreading this. Mainly because I've been worried how on earth I'll be able to incorporate dictatorship without being ridiculously generic.

Where dictatorship is involved you tend to see very strict, open halls with banners sprawled everywhere with the emblem of the nation - a trope I nearly fell into before I spoke to Jordan this Monday. 

We discussed that I would need to incorporate these ideas without getting caught up in the typicalities of the trope - and also involve the avian aspect as well. 

So instead of creating an environment for humans with an bird-like touch, I went opposite. 

Below I painted the environment I suspect my avian dictator to live in (the location of the lair being in an underground cavern in which the giant tree's roots created/made a path to...which is currently being developed)

I tried to incorporate uniformality in the form of the identical birdhouses, and the source of power/leadership being focused at the tree in the center. 

No.1 is the original without any colour filters and messing around with the hue and saturation like in 2&3. 

After deciding on the type of environment my character will possibly be based in, I was able to design him a bit easier:

Seeing as their living in a woodland I decided on a more tribal/elder-look for my character. 

I will have thumbnails of the secret lair and hero prop ready for later. I would love to hear your views on this take of my avian dictator!

Secret Lair Thumbnails 5-31

Collection of thumbnails from pre-OGR and after.

These I messed around with the hue and saturation for different highlights, however this design has had lots of changes since.

CG Artists Toolkit Drawing: Master studies

I decided it would be worth to do a couple of master studies in between my work for the project. It was challenging but definitely useful. Will definitely do some more at another time.

Joaquin Ramirez 

Albert Bierstadt

Secret Lair: Avian Dictator Development 2

After speaking to Jordan regarding my previous idea, I realised that it brought a lot of limitations to what I'd be able to do for a Secret Lair. After discussing it a bit more his advice was to focus completely on the avian aspect, with a dictator touch to it.

My first thought for the type of bird was a crow, and as Jordan said as well they do look very malicious which was perfect.

To add the "dictator" touch to it we also discussed what could be used. They wouldn't be able to have banners but the use of red leaves or torn cloth from humans would be more than acceptable to use.

The idea of the secret lair for the leader of the murder is either its nest or the inside of the a tree. Here I want to use the characteristics of the crow (which is hoarding shiny things) and relate it to what the Nazis did during WWII by hoarding art work, so the between avian and dictator will still be apparent.

Journey to the Center of the Earth Scene 3

Journey to the Center of the Earth Scene 2

Journey to the Center of the Earth Scene 1

CG Artist Toolkit: Photoshop

Done in class today. Selected my 4 personal favourites from my first set of thumbnails and tried different colour variants. 

I also used Adobe Kuler to select the hues and complimentary colours (more noticeable in 1 (red/orange with slight green tints) and 2 (pink/purple with yellow).