That's a sound idea

Just dropping ice cubes into a glass. As each filled the glass a little more, each gave a lower tone, a falling chromatic (achromatic?) arpeggio of four notes.
Something about it sounded right for an intro. I'll have to dust off my field recorder and experiment.

'T' is for Titanic...?

Moving on with preparation for modelling, the ubiquitous T-pose is called into action. This is based on the silhouette explorations and comprises photo-bashed elements with over-painting and screen captures from Zbrush.

Combining as many elements as possible it also utilises the Taliesin palette and a touch of facial colour zoning. The t-shirt has been designed to be over-sized (a hand-me-down or memento) but the shape might need work. The material hangs too heavily. The "Bambi effect" has also been applied.

Why the Titanic reference?

Case of the Missing Hare

What to do, what to do? I've tried some basic sculpted hair, I've left others bald for now. Do I use hair cards (game style), sculpt with added "hero hairs" or go full XGen in Maya.

Much more investigation required here.

David in development

After a bit of head-scratching I've taken one step back to pin my protagonist's image. Starting (or restarting?) with a silhouette sheet I was looking for a portrayal of characteristics while balancing practical application in animation.    

Still aiming for childlike proportion, David would have a large head with slender body and limbs. This could be combined with larger extremities to support an ungainly appearance akin to a lamb or calf, perhaps a nod to the Bambi effect to evoke sympathy in the audience.

I'd first envisioned David's clothing as a simple hospital gown, oversized to emphasise his small frame and frailty.  With more thought on his backstory and support for the visual I started to look at function, source, age and colour.

What more could a worn, old t-shirt have to tell?

Psychiatric patients might only be allowed slip-on shoes but how much more could be discerned from shoes with laces removed or trousers that sag low for the lack of a belt?

Taking a Stax Records logo c.1961 I experimented with a t-shirt logo that might reference Harry Stack Sullivan. (Where could we have heard that name before?) Harking back to the origins of the story, the designs also use Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin palette.

I feel ready to work up the main character but I expect I'll be back to examine more references before we're good to go.

A Bit of Colour in the Cheeks

Working through the character set, I felt the need for a little distraction. These characters have been treated to a very quick poly-paint in ZBrush. The colouring is based on a zoning technique separating the major areas (forehead, cheeks, nose and chin) of the face.

Works in progress but the colour does breathe some life into the characters.

All require refinement but the cast is growing and the players are starting to display distinct character.

   

Jacques Choi writing for ArtStation's Vertex magazine takes us through some principles of colour zoning the face:

Jacques Choi writing in Vertex 1

(https://magazine.artstation.com/2015/10/vertex-3-free-ebook/, pp 214-215)

Finding a motherly form

Based on a series of portraits by Dorothea Lange, Asylum's mother character was proving hard to realise. The sources are images of a migrant worker and mother from California, 1936. These were hard times and it shows in her face.

In Nipomo, California, Lange came across Florence Owens Thompson and her children in a camp filled with field workers whose livelihoods were devastated by the failure of the pea crops. Recalling her encounter with Thompson years later, she said, “I saw and approached the hungry and desperate mother, as if drawn by a magnet. I do not remember how I explained my presence or my camera to her, but I do remember she asked me no questions. I made five exposures, working closer and closer from the same direction.”

 www.moma.org/learn/moma_learning/dorothea-lange-migrant-mother-nipomo-california-1936

Migrant Mother, Nipomo, California - Excerpts from series (Dorothea Lange, 1936)

If portraying the feminine form wasn't an enigma in itself, adding a layer of toughness and the world-weary is proving doubly so.

Mother - Initial sculpt

I'll add some facial furniture and see how this goes...

Struggles in style

Working through the character sculpts it's obvious that there are problems with consistency of style. While some are more caricatured, others do not display a consistent level of exaggeration. They're all pulling in different directions, some stronger than others. More work required. 

The Production Bible

I got a hard copy of the "production bible" printed for the assignment. It was an A3 and wire-bound on heavy paper. You can find an online flip-book version via the link below.

Flip-book link