FMP - Character Design: General Richter

I did the first design for this character a while ago, but I redesigned him today after not being happy with the original concept.
I wanted General Richter to be a towering statue of a man who's both physically imposing and also tough looking, which I think the first design didn't portray very well.
Here's both the designs, the old one first and the new one second.

The first concept I did; I'm not entirely happy with his look and think it was an 'on the spot' thing as I needed a sixth villain quickly for my poster draft.
He looked a bit goofy and small to be the character I envisioned, so this design is a piece of developmental work.

General Richter MK II; This design was done today and I took my time with it.
Taking inspiration from big villains like Bane from Batman and military types from various media, I created a new look for the General, making him tall and imposing, but also giving him some anatomy unlike his rather ugly first design.
I also changed his attire, giving him a mercenary vest over his old ISR jacket, changing his 'earthquake fists' into normal hands with one arm robotic.

I really like this new design, it's quite imposing and militant, whilst also looking more intimidating than before.

FMP - Experimentation: Logo Design

I created a logo to use with this project, settling on the name OMICRON: VILLAINS .INC for the final project name.
I also thought after the project is finished, I could extend this project outside of college by creating a comic or even doing another story called OMICRON: BAND OF HEROES, which would be a prequel.
This is the logo I settled on; I wanted a logo that looked like a 70's-80's Sci-Fi themed show/film, so having a big gold plated logo helped to convey that.

I also did a variation for a prequel story that'd be done outside of the FMP.

FMP - Experimentation: Action Figure Packaging Mock-up.

I attempted to make an action figures packaging to tie in with the research I did into ReSaurus.
For the inspiration, I looked at the boxed action figures I owned and also looked at a few via the internet.
While the outcome is a tad plain and is very much a W.I.P, I could see it being sold on shelfs.
If I have the chance, I will do the back of the packaging too.

FMP - Research: Kenneth Lilly's ReSaurus Action Figure Development

Research: Kenneth Lilly. (Action Figure designer for ReSaurus.)

ReSaurus was a prominent action figure company from the early 90's till early 2000's, creating action figures for Sonic the Hedgehog, Resident Evil, Quake, Gex (Which unfortunately were never released.) and the one I'm mainly focusing on in this post, Crash Bandicoot.

One of Kenneth's portfolio pages, showcasing the figures he helped design and also some of the model sheets he did.
I own several of these figures, and they all have superb sculpting, paint application and look strikingly similar to the original drawings.

Kenneth Lilly worked as a figure designer during the heyday of ReSaurus, creating the initial designs for Crash Bandicoot and Sonic the Hedgehog figures.
He also helped create a line of figures for Quake and Gex. (Which never got released.)

Another portfolio page for Crash Bandicoot.

The thing I like about the design work for these figures is the model sheets could be also used for a video game, animation and comic design.
Infact, one of the action figure sheets, Dr N.Gin, was used for the next game in the series.

Dr. N.Gin's figure sheet, the arrows signify where the figures articulation is.

The in-game model that was made using the action figures design.
Yeah...it kinda looks like shit, like the rest of the characters in Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex,
but it still shows that the action figure designs could be used for multiple things.

I really like the look of these model sheets, they're really well made and easily portray how the figures would work. Plus, they could be used for anything, so added bonus.
I'd like to try doing something like this, which I could do by adding hinges and articulation points to my existing model sheets.

Here's a few more pieces from Kenneth Lilly.

Dr N.Brio's figure sheet. The figure was never made, but the design survived.

Koala Kong. The figure was never made, but the design survived.

Dingodile. This figure was made available in the second wave of figures.
Again, I like the articulation points and detail.

Accessories. Every action figure needs accessories.

Amy Rose from the Sonic the Hedgehog Line of figures.

Dr Eggman from the Sonic the Hedgehog figures.

Kenneth's portfolio page for his work on the Sonic the Hedgehog figures.
These figures were made for the release of Sonic Adventure, and even though they have good build quality, most of them kinda looked awful, atleast in my opinion.

Kenneth's portfolio page for a line of Gex figures. (Gex was a game series on the PS1 and N64.)
These figures were prototyped but never released, which is a shame since the figures look really well made, but now we'll never know.  Atleast some of the development work for them still exists.

FMP - Reflective Pratice (Kinda): Open-ended Project? Yep.

One thing I've aimed for with this project is keeping it very open ended.
Is this project a video game? Maybe.
Is this project a comic? Could be.
Is this Project a TV show/Movie? Why not?
Is this project a set of action figures? The skys the limit.

The pieces I've done so far, mainly the character model sheets and the designs could be interpretted in multiple ways.
Video games, animation, comics and action figures all use character sheets, and because of this, the art I'm doing could be used in many different ways.

I'm trying to fill all four types of output, which so far, I've done an animation for the TV Show/Movie outcome, and for the video game outcome, I could revamp the poster I'm making into a game cover.
For the comic outcome, I could do a front cover for a first issue, and for the action figure outcome, I could design a backing card (The cardboard part of an action figures packaging, which usually has a lot of information on it.) for the figures, and do both the front and back.

FMP - Research: Milton Knight's Robotnik

Research: Milton Knight's Dr. Robotnik from Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog.
(NOTE: I don't know what happened to the text on this post, sorry.)

Dr. Robotnik is the main antagonist of the Sonic the Hedgehog series, and in recent years, he's been called
Dr. Eggman, but back in 1993, DIC was commissioned for a US Sonic the Hedgehog TV show.

The design of Dr. Robotnik in the games during the early 90's.
Agruably, it's a very simple design, round in look and with very little cartoon to him.

What we got was a very western cartoon called Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, and whilst most of the designs mimicked the games or just said 'get f*$&"ked' to the source material, one of the designs that sticks out is Dr. Robotnik, who had a large makeover and was made into a very emotive, interesting character.

The model sheet for Dr. Robotnik, I really like Milton Knight's comments on how to create the character.

 

The second sheet, focusing on his rotund body.
Once again, I get a chuckle out of Knight's comments and guides to drawing the character.

The character was meant to be a thing of ridicule in the show, an overly obese dictator who constantly loses to Sonic the Hedgehog, and in the show, his body is always stretched to breaking point with oversized features, expressions, poses etc.

The character was rarely restricted to the round shape of his default pose, his body could be stretched into interesting poses and looks, but usually bounced straight back to fat afterwards.

Although an object of ridicule, Robotnik still acts and speaks like a serious villain at times, often intimidating his minions and victims, but usually looking like a fool after long.
Dr. Doomcough is similar to this in my project, as he's also a ridiculed figure for his height, but still strikes fear into certain people.

Red Baron Robotnik, just something to leave you with.
Plus I like the look of him here, kinda like Doomcough.

FMP - Research: Doug TenNapel

Research - Doug TenNapel (Artist: Comics, video games and TV/Movies.)

Doug TenNapel is a comic, video game and TV/Movie artist and one of my idols and inspirations.
He created Earthworm Jim, The Neverhood, and more recently Armikrog.He is one of my idols for the way he see's his work. His catchphrase and reason for his career is "I like to Draw.", and personally, I agree that could be the only thing that can explain someones art.
He always carries a sketchbook around with him that he fills with ideas, and he's filled hundreds of sketchbooks over the years.  Whilst not every idea is used, some of his most famous creations, such as Earthworm Jim and The Neverhood started as small sketches in his books, and eventually he would develop further ideas for these creations in these sketchbooks.

One of Dougs most famous creations, Earthworm Jim.
He started out as a simple doodle in one of Doug's sketchbooks, and would go on to be one of the most iconic gaming, TV show and action figure characters of the 1990s.
(This image isn't his first sketch, it's one of his more recent images, created with sumi ink.)

His favored medium is either black sumi ink, which he uses in almost every comic and piece he creates, or clay, as he used in The Neverhood and more recently, Armikrog.
He's said to like using sumi ink as it's both controlled and crisp, but can also be really erratic, but not to the point of being bad. (He once used digital as a way of inking his comics, but said he 'felt like he was cheating on a lover', and quickly returned to sumi ink.)
When inking a comic, if the brush had excess ink on it, he'd use it to fill in the frame of the comic, making thick, black lines, and when the ink had ran thin, he'd return to the finer parts of the image.

The Neverhood, arguably Doug TenNapel's second most popular series.
The characters and world were made entirely of clay.