Graphics Programs Reference
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of creatures, whereas an alien who wants to communicate with our race, for good or bad ends, is a character.
This is important because it helps us understand what we need to communicate with the design. A character
(good or bad) needs some way for the audience to connect and empathize. This usually occurs in the eyes.
A creature only needs to appear to be a viable life-form that is suited to the task it is portrayed to undertake.
A beast of burden needs to appear to be bred to carry packs across the land, while a ferocious hunter beast
needs to look like a powerful, fast, and dangerous predator. When finding a point of reference for the viewer,
we have already said how familiar anatomical details can create a sense of veracity, but this won't help us
relate. I find the key to relating to a character is in the eyes ( Figure 1-5 ) . If you give your character deep eyes
with a sense of emotion or inner dialog, the audience will be drawn in and, hopefully, interested in what's
happening in the mind of the character. Consider creatures like E.T., Gollum, and the Na'vi: they all have
eyes that communicate. Creatures like those in Alien , Predator , and Jaws have eyes that are impossible to
relate to—they lack humanity and are therefore even more terrifying as a force of nature you cannot reason
with! We will take special care to look at techniques to paint realistic eyes on our characters that communic-
ate emotion.
Figure 1-5: The eyes will be a natural focal point for the viewer. Eyes that communicate humanity will in-
spire empathy, while eyes that veer away from human traits will inspire distrust or fear.
Visual Development in Thumbnails and Quicksketch
As you start working up ideas, try to avoid jumping right into the final sculpture. Allow yourself the time
and space to explore thumbnails and see where the design journey may lead. You will find your best ideas
come not in the first 10 or even 20 attempts. You may hit on ideas of great originality 30 or 40 ideas in.
You cannot do 40 finished ZBrush sculptings in a day so you must explore in thumbnails. This can be
accomplished as quick sketches in ZBrush, as we will do in Chapter 2, “The Character Portrait: Sculpting
the Alien Mystic” (see Figure 1-6 ) . Thumbnails don't need to be finished drawings; they can be messy
 
 
 
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