CAP - Death Dealer Project Research

Before I dive into concepting character ideas, I feel it is particularly important with this project to build up a suitable catalogue of appropriate research. This is due to the brief clearly stating the two main influences for the piece: Frank Frazetta's 'Death Dealer' and the 2008 'Prince of Persia' game.

I will also add a few of my own artistic influences, as I feel it will help add a touch more variety to my research, given the limitations of just the two areas of reference asked for in the brief.

To begin, I will first of all have a more in depth look at the works of Frank Frazetta. Mainly his 'Death Dealer' series, but also his other works will act as good sources of inspiration.

Here is a link to a website that has catalogued his works:
http://frankfrazetta.net/index.html




Frank Frazetta's 'Death Dealer' series in order:

Other Frank Frazetta pieces that I find inspiring:

Against the Gods

Barbarian

Eternal Champion

Moonmaid

Seven Romans

Silver Warrior

Sun Goddess

Two things in particular stand out for me in Frazetta's work:

1 - A masterful knowledge and application of anatomy.

2 - A dramatic sense of scale and epicness.

I hope to emulate both of these things in my character design and final pieces.


Now that I have a variety of Frazetta's work, I shall now document the work on the 2008 rendition of the classic game 'Prince of Persia.'

The artwork in the 'Prince of Persia' game is very stylised, combining realistic proportions with a look almost reminicent of the rotoscoping used in the film 'A Scanner Darkly,' as shown below:

I believe that Frazetta's style, combined with that of Prince of Persia 2008 will make for an interesting result that I believe will work to produce suitably epic characters.

However, even with both these areas of reference, I believe it's important to also look at other similar concepts for research for a slightly broader view on the spectrum.


The 'Prince of Persia' artwork also reminds me of that which is in the game 'Shank':

Though 'Shank' is much more stylised, I feel it is good reference for the potential direction in which the reimagining of 'The Death Dealer' could go.


There is then one of my favourite artists, Adrian Smith, whose work I believe to be somewhat similar to Frazetta's. The main difference, and an important one I think, is that while Frazetta's works are exclusively traditional, many of Smith's works are digital, though he still produces a multitude of traditional pieces to the same outstanding quality. This, to me, shows that traditional or digital, the same quality of work can be produced, along with portraying your own style through both mediums. Hence why I seek that one of my final pieces shall be traditional, the other digital so as to show I can apply the theories I have learned to both.

Here is a link to Adrian Smith's website:

http://www.adriansmith.co.uk/

Furthermore, here are a number of his works that I find particularly compelling:

The last piece and the third piece from the top are, in particular, relevant to this project, as they feature warriors reminicent of 'The Death Dealer' and they easily portray Frazetta's ability to create 'epic' paintings.

From here, I shall move onto producing character concepts, as I feel I have a decent catalogue of research from which I can work from. I will of course add more reference images if I stumble across/think of something that could be of use in this project.





I was in the mood to listen to the band Manowar and I realised that their album art is clearly inspired in some way by that of Frank Frazetta's. I think that they too can be of use as inspiration to me.

I also recently purchased both the 'Darksiders' games and noticed that the second one in particular is very much like a cross between Frazetta's work and the style of the 2008 'Prince of Persia'. Again, I think this could be suitable research for redesigning the 'Death Dealer' character. Rather aptly, you actually play as Death in 'Darksiders 2'.

I have decided that I will redesign 'The Death Dealer' character as if he were to be a boss in a game, taking great influence from the bosses of the 2008 'Prince of Persia' game. The game features 5 bosses:

The Alchemist - Artwork

The Alchemist - in game

The Concubine - Artwork

The Concubine - in game

The Hunter - Artwork

The Hunter - in game

The Mourning King - Artwork

The Mourning King - in game

The Warrior - Artwork

The Warrior - in game

I feel that making 'The Death Dealer' a boss character will allow me to make him look suitably 'epic', following in the footsteps of Frazetta's works, as bosses tend to be powerful and fully exemplify the role they play.

For instance, 'The Death Dealer' is clearly a warrior character and I should play on the this to the extremes.

Given also that 2 character images are required, I think it would be a good idea to design regular 'The Death Dealer' boss and a powered up version, as it is often common place for bosses to become more powerful the more damage they recieve.


The defining features of 'The Death Dealer', to me, are as follows:

- Male
- Muscle-bound
- Warrior
- Large Axe
- Shrouded Face
- Horned Helmet

Now with the research stage complete to a stage where I can begin actually concepting the character, I shall begin the process with silhouettes in a new post.

Semester 1 - Death Dealer

For Computer Arts Practice, hence forth dubbed CAP, we have been given a wide selection of briefs to choose from in semester 1, so that we can each individually focus on which area of expertise we'd like to traverse down. 

I myself have gone down the concept art route and thus picked the following brief as it appeals to me due to being character based and I find the referenced artists work pleasing:

Game: Character design for ‘Death Dealer project’

The game based on the unnamed project ‘The Death Dealer' is also being developed. Your task is to develop 2 professional quality character re-design concepts (complete with model sheets and accessory break-downs).The developers have stated they feel the existing work on the series, while influential, is a bit ‘out of date’ for reaching the wide audience they desire and have requested you to explore a style that is more universally appealing. They want you to re-design these characters with 2008’s ‘Prince Of Persia’ in mind as well as Frazetta’s style. 

These are some examples of Frank Frazetta's work for the Death Dealer project:

The brief also mentions that the Prince of Persia 2008 game has to be used as reference. I really like the style of the game, with it's hard black edge and almost vector graphic appearance, it seems a hybrid between cartoon and reality.

Project Aim

My aim for this project is to produce 2 high quality character concepts based on Frank Frazetta's 'Death Dealer' character and the style of the 2008 'Prince of Persia' game. Through this project, I seek to improve my character designing skills, as well as my digital painting skills. I feel this will be helped by being restricted somewhat in the character I am aiming to design, along with utilizing a style that I have never used in my art. I find both the character reference and the style reference to be very pleasing to the eye and so I feel that I will be able to play to my strengths in this project whilst developing my already existing skills. I shall need to research into the 'wide audience' that the brief speaks of and see what is popular today and thereby in which way the Death Dealer character should develop.


Other in class tasks:

During class times, we were given a number of techincal tasks which we were then to evaluate ourselves on later.

Our first task was set up somewhere on campus with a sketchbook and draw part of the building in perspective.

 I felt I really struggled with this task and I just didn't know where to start. I find perspective to be a really confusing aspect of creating art and feel that I just can't seem to get my mind around the concept. I also find environments, and in particular architecture, to be a real challenge, as it is not something that flows easily from my pencil, unlike characters or creatures. Even when instructed on the idea of perspective, as I was in school, I never really understood it and got it wrong often even with clear rules and guidelines. It's something I know is a weakness but am unsure as to how to deal with it, as it just perplexes me completely.


The next task was a bit of still life drawing which I hadn't encountered in a long long time.

 I found this to be quite a difficult task, especially the disco ball in the middle of the piece. I had no idea what to do about the disco ball and spent a lot of time just looking at it, considering how I would go about the complex pattern and light. I found myself just getting frustrated at the seeming impossibility of the task and as such failed to complete it. I still have no idea how to go about such a thing, so I just have to hope that no disco balls crop up in my future as an artist!


We were then set the task of 'live' drawing, not to be confused with 'life' drawing. The aim of this task was to quickly sketch people on the go, something which I find quite enjoyable.

I find these quick 30 secondish sketches helpful in that they prevent being too precious about the piece. it's all about suggestion and character. I feel I did reasonably well in this task and think that it is something I shall continue to do, as it is quick, easy and builds up observational skills that are important when drawing characters.



There have also been additional life drawing classes this semester, though they are incerdibly popular, so I have not been able to attend every week, so as to allow others the chance to go, but I have thoroughly enjoyed the times I have been there so far. I enjoy how the evening is set out with a few 5 minute poses and a number of 20 minute poses. I feel this maximises productivity, without spending ages over a single piece that I would otherwise be getting bored with and constantly tinkering with.

I was pleasantly surprised with how well I took to returning to life drawing as I had not done it in a considerable time and expected my skills to have plummeted. I find the relaxed atmosphere of the class helps a lot and lets me focus on my own work, rather than worrying it's not 'up to par.' I will continue to post up the work as it goes on.

More life drawing:

More life drawing: