Online Greenlight Review

Secret Lairs
Online Greenlight Review document for Unit 2: Secret Lairs, on (BA Hons) CG Arts & Animation Jebb195 11/16/2012

Online Greenlight Review

Contents
Character Profile2-3 Overview Backstory Visual Concept Statement4 Influence Maps5-6 Secret Lair Hero Prop Concept Art7-8 Secret Lair Hero Prop Creative Partnership Archive.9-12 Sent Messages Received Messages Other Messages Other Project Work13 Film Reviews Life Drawing Tutorials Animation Tutorials Photoshop Tutorials Autodesk Maya Tutorials

Online Greenlight Review

Character Profile
Character
Solar Goddess

Overview
All through history there have been many interpretations of the Suns power being controlled by a deity, the majority being male, but there are also a great many solar goddesses, ranging from tales of beautiful women who bring life to earth through the light of the sun to those fleeing from misfortune, searching for safety. Though I find these tales inspiring, looking at the topic from a scientific point of view, the majority of the sun is formed of naturally occurring gases, mainly hydrogen and helium, which I believe would make an excellent location for the secret lair of a goddess, especially a solar goddess, but it has also influenced the design of the character, as I find it would be beneficial to have her composed of the same gases as the sun, imitating its power, but also allowing her personality to be visually represented by her appearance. As a fiery personality can have many representations, including passion and wrath, her personality should reflect the contradicting properties of fire and the sun, with its ability to create and sustain life, providing warmth and safety, but also the destructive powers, creating bush fires and the ability to destroy worlds in a supernova. There are also aspects of fire and the sun that, when combined with the ideals of a goddess, can enhance the connotations of beauty and power, such as the flickering of a flame and the magnificent spectacle of a solar flare. Due to the combination of these attributes, I decided to focus on the ideals of Feng Shui as the basis for my character, utilizing the five elements, wood, fire, water, metal and earth.

Backstory
Experiencing abuse from her grieving father, due to the loss of her mother, Solena, was often thrown into a dark, dank well as punishment from a young age. Taking pity on the girl, the four goddesses of the feng shui elements, wood, water, metal and earth, provided her with food, water, warmth and protection every time she was forced to undergo such an outrageous ordeal. This continued for many years until she reached 18, when the chief god, Hallendor, creator of all beings, appeared, in the form of a stranger, to aid Solena in

Online Greenlight Review escaping such a terrible existence. He offered a solution to her troubles, granting her freedom and great power, encased within a magical stone amulet, and providing her with a safe haven, a solar lair surrounded by the energy of the Sun.

Provided with great powers, she gradually becomes unruly, displaying great wrath, created by her past experiences, almost engulfing the world in destruction, but the compassion and life energy she provided before convinced Hallendor that her power is greatly needed, but should be controlled. Due to the need of control, he has Solena encased within a sculpture of herself, so that she may dwell in her minds paradise, diluting her wrath, which causes great solar flares and tremendous forest fires, that flows towards the Earth. It is said that if you peer into a naked flame as it flickers, you will see her dancing within her minds paradise.

Online Greenlight Review

Visual Concept
To gain a greater of my character, to aid in designing their lair, I researched into many aspects, including mythological gods and goddesses, science fiction films and the scientific qualities of the Sun, as the character is a solar goddess. The information I found was extremely helpful in pushing me into a specific direction for the style of the characters lair. I also researched Feng Shui, which has become the main inspiration of my work. I found many stories and examples of ancient sun gods and goddesses, including tales of beautiful deities and their effects on earth, but there are also others of beings fleeing to the sun for safety after terrible experiences. As I enjoyed the bizarre and sometimes dark stories, I was inspired to base the character on a traumatic event in her life that she would love to escape from. This conflict of interests is represented through her appearance, consisting entirely of fire, to reflect her personality after the experience she has gone through. This conflict and balance in the personality inspired me to look at feng shui, where I received the idea to use the five elements as the backdrop to the character, and four other goddesses. For the exterior of the lair, I researched a variety of aspects, including spaceships and footage of the sun, from science-fiction films, along with a tower which emits beams of light from the TV series Dinotopia (2002). The first images I produced for this project were a pair of digital paintings, of a similar design to the tower in Dinotopia, located in clouds to emphasise the religious god essence to the character, but I felt the images were too generic, deciding to scrap the idea for a more obscure lair, which is when I came up with the lair situated at the suns core. For the design of the lairs exterior, I researched orreries and solar flares, as orreries appear to incorporate elaborate rings around a central sphere, the sun, to represent the planets of the solar system, whereas the solar flares can create some rather unusual and interesting shapes on the sueface of the sun.

Online Greenlight Review

Influence Maps
Secret Lair

Online Greenlight Review

Hero Prop

Online Greenlight Review

Concept Art
Secret Lair

For clearer image, visit link: http://jbobbettblogit.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/concept-paintingsecrte-lair.html

Online Greenlight Review

Hero Prop

Online Greenlight Review

Creative Partnership Archive

Members
Akinbiyi Babarinde Emily Clarkson Jebb Bobbett Luke Scott Nadia Yadallee

Sent Messages
Message to Emily Clarkson
Date: 11/11/2012 Thanks for the comments, the images I am going to explore further are numbers #17, #19 and #27, I am also thinking of creating a quick concept painting of the character due to her unusual appearance.

Message to Akinbiyi Babarinde

Date: 15/11/2012 The thumbnails that best portray the character are images #a & #b. Image #a would make a great underground vault where the character could stash the stolen items, and image #b greatly portrays the cultural background, but with a little improvement, such as the placement of kung fu apparatus, it woukld enhance the kung fu aspect. Image #f has a great perspectuve, but it is unclear what the inttention of the image are.

Received Messages
Message from Emily Clarkson
Date: 09/11/2012 Hey Jebb. Reading that description of all fire and power immediately reminded me of my gaming past. Within 'TombRaider Anniversary' there is a character called Jacqueline Natla. She's essentially a God, of sorts, but also the key villain. The final battle sees her with a look that rather sounds like your description. I have no idea if this will be of any use to you but here's a youtube link to the cinematic in question (the pictures on google were too tiny :/) . Only watch the first 33 seconds though, the rest is the level walkthrough :D http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdPk2BhfYns

Online Greenlight Review

Message from Emily Clarkson

Date: 11/11/2012 I'm intrigued by drawings 13 and 14. Your Solar Goddess is definitly burning brightly and that Amulet necklace design looks both pretty and powerful at the same time. Which thumbnails do youlike best, or want to explore? :)

Other Messages
Message from Victoria Hatton
Date: 04/11/2012 Hello, Is your character going to be feminine or masculine? Broad and strong, or Slender and still powerful? You're thinking of a circular lair, too!? THAT would be cool... the exterior would be like one of those Maze games where you just spin the ball and the ball goes on a journey on the plastic within the ball. Yeah... that would be a really good idea. If not then, that's still cool. :D

Message to Victoria Hatton

Date: 04/11/2012 To answer your questions, I have decided that the character shall be entirely consisting of flame, but with a slender feminine physique held together by a magic amulet worn around her neck, created by the chief god, using the flame to represent life and power, yet a hint of destruction at the same time. I was thinking of having the character live in a circular lair, with many windows, located at the core of the sun, encased in fire, with another hero prop, a well with a glass dome on top, containing a pool of flames, that draws the flames around the lair. Thanks for the comments, how's your project coming along, and how was your presentation?

Message from Victoria Hatton

Date: 09/11/2012 I like the amulet idea - very cool. The lair idea sounds good, and the hero prop sounds like a gravity thing? I didn't present, but the project is done - finally. My Secret Lair stuff is going fun! Looking forward to doing loads more stuff to it! Too many ideas, not enough time! :/

Online Greenlight Review

Message from Tutorphil

Date: 12/11/2012 Evening Jebb, Okay - I've got some suggestions for you for maybe lending a bit more impact and wow to your thinking about this space. Right now - while the minimalism has a sense of grandeur about it - I can't help encouraging you to think a bit more speculatively about designing this space. For example, in terms of creating some amazing, circular sort of interior spaces, how about looking at orrerys for inspiration: http://urbandon.blogspot.co.uk/2008/11/from-junk-to-orrery.html http://hilobrow.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/wooden-orrery.jpg http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/48/Grand_orrery_in_Putnam_Gallery,_ 2009-11-24.jpg http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3120/2585757283_59bc22bd3b.jpg http://www.andyplant.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/Orrery-1.jpg You could also look at the arcs, shapes and curves described by actual solar flares as a means of creating some wonderful architectural elements in your lair - quite literally, tracing the curves and using them to build spaces, places and things... http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/162169main_Trace_solar_flare_lg.jpg http://solarflareark.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/solar-solar-flare-storm-spot-activity.jpg http://www.suntrek.org/images/TRACE_flare.jpg http://cse.ssl.berkeley.edu/segwayed/lessons/exploring_magnetism/in_Solar_Flares/in_Sol ar_Flares_images/fig_4p4.jpg and also, when looked at your thumbnails - all that glow and swirls, I couldn't help but think of the glass work of Dale Chihuly: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3248/2666040740_15f6ee29b9.jpg http://www.artcyclopedia.com/images/gophila-imgA029.jpg http://www.glassart.net/artists/chihuly/phoenix1.jpg Certainly, I'd think more about the architectural forms shaping and creating your interior, Jebb - take a look at those orrerys and sun flares for some inspiration - oh and look at geodesic structures too!

Message from Tutorphil

Date: 15/11/2012 great to see this on here, Jebb - stay ontop of your weekly tasks, get them archived on here secret to success on CGAA :)

Message from Jake Bryant

Date: 16/11/2012

Online Greenlight Review You have a nice design for your hero prop, and the final concept is decorous to your character. I like your idea, but I think maybe using an outer glow effect on the amulet along with the airbrush preset from Phill could provide you with a stronger light to show off your design in finer depth.

Online Greenlight Review

Other Project Work

Film Reviews
A link to the Film Review pages of my blog: http://jbobbettblogit.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Film%20Reviews

Life Drawing Tutorials

A link to the Life Drawing pages of my blog: http://jbobbettblogit.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Toolkit%20Drawing

Animation Tutorials
A link to the Animation pages of my blog: http://jbobbettblogit.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Toolkit%20Animation

Photoshop Tutorials
A link to the Digital Painting pages of my blog: http://jbobbettblogit.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Toolkit%20Photoshop

Autodesk Maya Tutorials

A link to the Maya pages of my blog: http://jbobbettblogit.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Toolkit%20Maya