KW
Creature Designers
Jordu Schell
Jordu Schell is a world renown creature concept designer, he has pushed the boundaries for the designs of various creatures. He has created many designs for creatures that have appeared in films such as Avatar, Men in Black 3, The thing, Planet of the Apes and Hell Boy to name a few. His work has inspired me in many aspects of my work for many years and I feel like it is suitable to note some pieces of his work that I haev found particularly inspirational for this current project. Makeup Artist Magazine recently completed an article on Schell which I have displayed below, they have detailed the progression of his career and some of his works. I have also taken soe images from his website which have certain features which I think would be applicable to this project. There are certain characteristics which I have drawn inspiration from and have helped me through the development of this project.
Shannon.S. (2014) Unmasking Jordu Schell, Makeup Artist Magazine, No. 109 August/September, Pg 30-38
Debreceni.T. (2008) Special Makeup Effects for Stage and Screen: Making and Applying Prosthetics. Amsterdam: Focal Press
Constantine Sekeris
Norman Cabrera
Nazzaro.J (2012-13) Confessions of a Creature Creator, Makeup Artist Magazine, No. 99 December/January, Pg 64-68
Nazzaro.J, Norman Caberera: Making Monsters for Fun and Profit (2015) pg 66-72 February/March
Andrew Baker
Andrew Baker was one of the designers working on the film The Hobbit, he has created many of the characters found within the film, he has done so by digitally drawing them. There is a small segment about him and his work on the Weta Workshop website, it details him beginning to work at the company in 2007 and became a digital sculptor and creature and character designer in 2008. He works with pencil, charcoal and oil paints, with a degree in design and creature and character pipelines in 3D. Baker worked on the films The adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicornand was the lead creautre designer for The Hobbit Trilogy. Andrew has also worked on games and entertainment media. Baker has created some tutorials on the use of the digital programme Z brush. I really like a lot of his work as it has a very unique and powerful effect. The designs of the characters he has created all have elements which make them completely different to anything I have seen before and produce a very effective result. Below I have taken a selection of designs from his work and detailed why I believe each will be inspiring or useful in terms of creating a final design that is effective as a character and a makeup.
WetaWorkshop, Andrew Baker (2009) [Online] Available From: https://www.wetanz.com/andrew-baker/ Date Accessed:11/04/2015
Baker.A, All Images are Designs by Baker [Online Image] Available From: https://www.wetanz.com/andrew-baker/ Date Accessed: 11/04/2015
Jordu Schell 'Masks' (n.d.) [Online Image] Available From: https://www.schellstudio.com/masks.html Date Accessed: 14/04/2015
In Todd Debreceni's book Special Makeup Effects there is a small segment on Jordu Schell. The article gives a brief description of Schell's life and some of the films that he has worked on.. It is not a particularly in depth article on the man, however it gives a general overview and displays some good examples of his work from which I can draw insiration to create the original design for my folklore character.
These images of his work are particularly helpful in terms of form and inspiration for the creation of my Japanese folklore creature. Schell has created busts of his own designs to allow perception of 3D forms. This gives me a clearer understanding of how the structures work together and produce an effective, realistic and believeable character. I particularly like the forms of the nose on both characters and the wrinkling that appears on the brow and eye areas. The colouration is also interesting, I think both could be applicable to the character design before he is turned to rock. I also like the form of the horns on the second design. The way that they fit into the head and there is a large wrinkle below the ear showing the compression of the skin, from the horn through the skin. I will look at the forms of the winkles most to determine how they might fall on my character and the way that they would be turned to stone.
Norman Cabrera is a character designer who has made many designs which have been trandformed into makeups and portrayed on screen. Some of his designs are incredible, they are completely original with interesting structures and colouration. Makeup Artist Magazine has completed an article on Cabrera detailing his work and some of the designs he has transformed into physical creations. I am very inspired by this creature designer as hes use a lot completely unique structures and shapes. His use of colour scheme is also one to note as it completes the makeup design. He is also a very talented sculptor as displayed in these photographs. These images of the sculpts have given me inspiration for the processes and techniques to impliment on my sculpt. Cabrera has worked on many films creating iconic characters such as Kill Bill, X-Men, Hellboy and The X-Files. Reading this article has shown me a lot more depth into Cabreras work with better insight into his work. I think that it is important to get an understanding of professional artist's work to know how they have progressed in their work and to see the routes through the industry. It is also helpful to see their work which has been used in productions in order to understand the level of detail and qualilty of work that must be created for the professional industry. The finished results emplore the neccessity for an effective colour scheme to be used on the character, thus meaning that I must experiment with the colour a I know that this is one of my weaknesses and must be improved upon. Overall looking at Cabrera's work has proved incredibly inspiring and influencial in my progression as a makeup artist.
I think the colouration of this character is interesting as it could be applied to a rock creature, that was once originally a flesh based creature. I also like the way that the character has opposing elements yet the work well together, such as the fat body with very thin arms. This an interesting element to consider when designing my character.
This is one of my favourite designs by Baker, I really like the form of the character as well as the colouration. It works really well together to produce a cohesive result. The slight range in tones has a powerfull effect on the whole look. This is a good consideration when designing the character , to ensure that the overall colouration works well as an overall character. The shilouette is also worth considering as it hasa very strong form I will try to include a powerful shape into my makeup to produce a strong character.
This series of digital designs show the 3D elements of the character. It shows the importance of looking at a design from different angles as it provides an overall look at the character. Where one side may not portray the design effectively looking at it from all the angles shows more indepth proportions and allows for a better understanding of the character. This suggests that creating a 3d digital copy of the character would allow for a much more comprehensive design. It would also allow one to create a 3D print of th character creating a maquette.
All of the images below are from the Hobbit Triology. There are many designs from the goblins to smaug. Baker's designs are fully comprehensve, with indepth detailing. They display different angles and expressions. The designs have all been digitally created with complete colour schemes. I find all of these images quite interesting to look at as the provide interesting structures and forms that could be translated into my character design. I really like the way that the colours compliment each other to create a powerful effect, they work on a singular scheme that makes a believeable character design. Showing the importance of taking he colours into account to produce a professional and successful character.
This image displays a 3d digital design, I am interested in this concept as the horns remind me of the barbirusa pig that I have mentioned on another page. This is the inspiration for the horn on my character, I took careful note of the way in which the horn grow out from the skull. I also like the way the face has been broken up by the wrinkles creating an interesing effect that echoes the effect that I will try to create in my character design.
This article details the work of Constantine Seken. He is a creature designer that has made many icon characters, and designed for very popular films such as Xmen, Hellboy, The Incredible Hulk, Where the Wild Things Are and Star Trek into Darkness among others. His work is predoinantly digitally created showing the extent to which a character can be visualised on a computer program. I find the way in which he is able to alter the human form to create a horrifying creature that would still work as a physical makeup. He plays around with structures which I think is the key to create an original character that stands out from other previous characters. Reading these articles in Makeup Artist Magazine prove extremely interesting as they have details concerning the progression of their careers and skills. It is inspiring to see their tips and comments that lead others to strive to be as sucessful.