CHARACTER DESIGN

The picture below is the  final  character  of Don I have tweaked  in photoshop. I chose  this pose to  show  aggression and  a  sense of  freedom.  The  broken chain Don is holding symbolises freedom whilst the backdrop's dark tones signifies a sense  of loneliness and abandonment .A close look on my Don's picture shows that the character have horse like jaw line and  dog teeth. The reason is mainly based on the fact that I wanted  to create a creature that has  all  the attributes  of  different  animals  instead of an archetypal gorilla.

Below is the final marquette of Don  which I painted with acrylics,Though the picture serves  as  a reference  point in my armature  creation,I am still working on the  colouring and texturing as I try to come up  with a more or less 3d figure .

The final marquette, I still  feel  there is  more  to  be done on this marquette  for it to  be a  3 dimensional figure.

The  below picture is a partly done marquette of Don. I chose sculpey to build up this  character because I found it easier to mould into different shapes and texture. Also the fact that sculpey figures can be easily baked,textured and at the same time retaining shape and form as in comparison to most clays .

The above picture is the depiction of a  muscular toned Don .The tag around his neck symbolises captivity and a property of someone and the fact that the chain is broken in itself presents freedom . The  baring of the teeth shows a mixture of anger, joy and frustration and desperation .

Below is the clothing of the final armature that I will be using during my production.Its by no means the final puppet's costume  as I will  have to tweak it, colour it and texture it. Also I will make sure the outfit will be glued on to the armature's body to make sure there is no jerky movenments that will end up ruining camera shots.

Below are various  character designs  of Don,  I had to come up with different  facial poses ranging  from  sadness loneliness and  aggression. This was done in order to help push the narrative forward   .Not only that it also helped me visualise the different face replacement creations I will need for the lip syncing part of the production .

Various  poses depicting  Don's  inner and outer  struggle,various  emotions

ranging  from deep thoughts, abandonment, anguish and anger.

Don's  hand holding  the broken chain, a symbol  of  freedom and independence  achieved as well as the  beginning of a  new chapter in his life.

These are some of the referenced pictures I will pay  attention to during the film's production.

Mouth replacement examples
I will create these face replacement in urethane and to  add texture , I will create silicone or latex skins. My character will have a lot dialogue,so in  essence I will probably need to create about 5 to 10 replacement faces.These are  some of the examples I will refer to during the  production process,

GORILATOPUS

 Character  design

Since Don will get transformed into a hologram into a creature called Gorilatopus in the third act of the story,I have referred to some hologram pictures below  to help me define the overall end look of him as new creature.

These are some of the  pictures I have  found  from the Holocenter website which  can be accessed here  http://www.holocenter.org/

The below video clip  is  the  reference  video of  how the  Hologram  of Gorilatopus will sort of look like .

The  below diagram  shows the set up of   how I intent to  created  the hologram

b) Below are Gorilatopus’s character Design

These are some simple character designs have come up with of Gorilatopus. Gorilatopus as a whole is a character has reached its final stage, so there is no progression or any further metamorphose. However Gorilatopus will retain some of physical attributes of Don .I will create the armature of Don out of urethane resin and apply the rod and cable mechanism to simulate the character's movement, which will mirror that of an octopus or jellyfish. The below video will try to help me simulate Gorilatopus movement.

Pencil and charcoal illustrations of the Gorilatopus.

A rough simulation of the would be hologram. This creation was made without a laser beam and in the final creation I will employ a laser beam paying reference to the above set up.

Some of the  character designs of Gorilatopus showing different  facial  expressions.

This  is another rough character  design of Gorilatopus, mainly focusing on  how the creature  will be animated

 Partly done Marquettes of Gorilatopus

These are some  of  the final marquettes I  have created  of Gorilatopus.I have used  different colour  contrast in the story setting .

 An aerial  view of  Gorilatopus  showing a different planet below.

 Below are different poses showing loneliness and an an unforgiving and alien environment.I have also paid attention to  scene depth and composition.

I created  this  prop(kind  of flying sauce/spaceship)  as to  add  some miser-en scene into the  alien planet.This prop  will be animated  in stop motion.

The whole creation of Gorilatopus took me through many different routes.The whole visualisation  journey of how I was going to creature a creature without a blue print was a bit difficult for me. In the end it was a question of referencing from certain wildlife and animal pictures,watching varous wildlife programs and kids's television that  helped me visualise Gorilatopus.

 Below are some of the half done marquettes I have created which will serve as a reference point  during the production .

Below are some of the sound scores I will use  during the production