Maya Tutorial part 4: Head Model

Yesterday I have followed the Maya head tutorial to help me sculpt one of my groups characters the Army General. It really help a lot on shaping the basic shape of the head(first image) and improving it. I have also followed the tutorials that shows how to make a nose, eyelid, mouth and hair. I made the mustache and eyebrows by myself. The only only thing left to make is the neck, but other than that I am more or less done on the general's head.

Postmodernism part 10: Shaun of the Dead

The final film we watched for our Postmodernism lecture is Shaun of the Dead(2004)



The film is about the world being infected by Zombies and our hero Shaun has to save the people he cares about and take them to the pub for safety until the whole zombie situation calms down.
This film is considered postmodern for taking a complete twist on the Zombie genre, instead of having cool looking characters we have an average man who works at a electronic shop and his freeloading buddy who's a slob going their way to save the people they care about. The main characters even planned on how the two of them will pull off the big rescue and take everyone to a safe place, but it all blew up in their faces. The people slowly died one by one and they had to destroy the pub which they thought was safe, and all of this happened in one day.
This movie is also a pastiche of classic Zombie horror films by referencing quotes from past Zombie films to how the the Zombies act and how to kill them. However even though there was a lot of chaos in the movie, the main characters still had fun with it, like killing the zombies, running them over to actually acting like them.
Funnily enough this movie is considered a romantic comedy even though there weren't many elements of romance, there were a lot of comedy and horror, I guess you can see Shaun saving his girl friend as part of the romance side but not much.
This movie is a complete parody of Zombie movies and a good one, has all the stuff a parody of the genre would have and much more.

Narrative Lecture part 8: Mars Attacks (1996)

The film we watched for our narrative lecture is Tim Burton's 'Mars Attacks'



The plot of Mars Attack is that Earth is invaded by Martians, who the humans thought were peaceful, but it turns out they want to take over the world.
This film is an adaptation of a card game that was based on the sci-fi films of the 1950's. With crazy over acting people and budget like clothes for the Martians. I believe this film really captured the 1950's feel with it's story and setting but also added some recent technology to it to show that the film your watching is dated but recent at the same time. With the use of camera movement by actually going close to the actors as well as the actions that were taking place in the film. It is also a very daring film by killing off big named actors at the time who you would think that they will survive at the end of the movie. However where it really shines is it's use of CG, the visual effects is stunning. Actually believing that some of the events that happened in the film could be possible, that there could be aliens with big heads, lazer guns that can incinerate people to their bones and giant robots that rampage across the city. Even though the CG at the time was dated it is still impressive and it also help delivering a satisfying 1950's sci-fi film.

Character design part 20: Scenery

For the final lesson of Character design we had to make a scenery based on the theme that was given to us, mine was hazardous forest.
I first made some small rough drafts of my own image of a hazardous forest and then I made bigger versions of them.



The first image is a forest with Ivy's that act like tentacles with a wastlandic appearance. I don't know what I was going for in this picture but I like how it has an uncanny feel of something familiar and unknown at the same time like you are on a different planet.


The second image resembles more of a hunted forest look, I had talk to some of my class mates and they said I should of put more dangerous stuff in it like bear traps, bumps broken logs and such, but I like how unwelcome it looks.

Character Design part 19: Ulysses(Sidekick) Finished Design

Here is the last character Ulysses the sidekick, like the rest of the other characters he has a main outfit and an alternate one.
His alternate outfit is his alien space clothes I think this works for him because it gives him an out-worldly feel.



His main outfit is his Victorian clothes which is meant to help him to be hard find for Mordecai(Villain).


I have made his body construction as well to show the type of shapes used to make him.


Finally I have made all of Ulysses' expression sheets ranging from him being happy to sad to pulling a puppy dog face to get what he wants when Felix(Hero )said no.

Character Design part 18: Mordecai(Villain) Finish Design

Last week I have finished making the final design for my Villain Mordecai.
I wanted to give him a very high sophisticated appearance but still look evil and scary. In his Turnaround sheet I have also made the back of his head without the ponytail to show where all the tubes are connected.


I have made the construction sheet for Mordecai to show the type of shapes used in creating him.


The last sheet I have made is his expression sheet, showing his main expressions he will use most of the time. I am pleased on how his angry and rage expressions came out especially when it changes from sparks flying from the eye to electricity violently moving.

Character Design part 17: Mordecai's Armour Design

The next part I was designing was the rest of my Villain's Armour, the purpose of the armour is to give the villain, Mordecai, an increase to his power. Designing the arms gave me the most trouble because I gave it a lot of detail for a more steampunk appearance by adding bolts, tube, a support to help the Villain to lift his arms, adding a circle in the palm and finger details. It was all worth it in the end though an I think it really brings out a sense of fear or coolness to the armour.
I was also design the power pack which is the main source of the armour's energy, at first I was going to merge it to the armour but I thought that was not interesting so I decided to make it a separate piece of the main armour that just get fitted to the suit and it works.