Minor/Major Project: Further Modelling Progress

Bukavac head:

I've started on the bukavac's head, but have realised I will need to add orthographs showing what's going on inside the mouth and how the lips overlap.

Wendigo Body:

It took a little while to attach the ribs to the body, and the sides probably need a little more work to sort out the geometry there. I will be working on the arms and legs next, making the sure the geometry flows correctly to show muscle and sinew.

Wendigo head:

I'm trying to start work around the wendigo's eyes so I can move on to the gums and teeth. Again there is still some geometry that could use a little more smoothing out, especially under the jaw and neck.

Minor/Major Project: Wendigo Head Modelling Progress

Still working out a few things as I go, and have made some progress modelling the bukavac's body, but I like how the head is progressing so far. 

Minor/Major Project: Wendigo Modelling Progress

After speaking to Alan on Tuesday, he advised me on a better method of modelling that would allow me to capture the details (wrinkles, skin folds) of the wendigo that involves extruding planes. This method is arguably more time consuming at the moment, but should result in a more accurate model.

 There's been a lot of going back and forth with the face so far, mainly due to some inaccuracies between the front and side views in my orthographs, but I now have the beginnings of a brow and chin.

I've used the same method to create the ribs on the body. They still need some work but overall look better than they did on the first attempt.

Minor/Major Project: Bukavac Orthographs

Body orthograph.

Head orthograph.

Feet.

Height comparison.

Minor/Major Project: Wendigo Body Modelling Progress

Minor/Major Project: Wendigo Head Modelling Progress

Minor/Major Project: Wendigo Orthographs

Body orthograph.

Face orthograph.

Red lines showing extra wrinkle details that will be added with textures.

Height comparison.

Minor/Major Project: Bukavac - Eyes, Teeth and Skin

Eyes and teeth options.

Skin patterns/textures.

Minor/Major Project: Bukavac - Final Body Design

Minor/Major Project: Bukavac Development - Faces - Feedback Please!

I want the bukavac to have both lizard and fish-like qualities, with a fearsome face to match its personality. Any comments suggesting combinations, other things to add, or people's chosen favourites from the above would be greatly appreciated!

Minor/Major Project: Wendigo - Face and Body Development

Face sketches incorporating mouth design 4.

Nearest to final design.

Working out the wendigo's body.

Minor/Major Project: Bukavac - Further Body Development - Feedback Please!

Further body concepts.

Body shape sketches.

Minor/Major Project: Bukavac - Final Horns Design and Body Sketches

The bukavac's gnarled horns.

Body shapes.

Minor/Major Project: Bukavac - Sound Inspiration

For the bukavac, I've chosen to look at 3 animals for inspiration: the Australian raven, alligators and geese. 

The Australian raven has a sound similar to that of a human baby crying, something the bukavac could use to entice its victims. However, I would also like to test out how the raven sounds with a deeper tone.

The guttural noises alligators make would fit the bukavac perfectly. I can imagine the low rumble echoing throughout its roar, and being heard across the lakes and streams it lives in.

I'm curious how combining the sound of the geese with the raven's would work. I think geese make a very unpleasant noise that can be further manipulated into becoming somewhat fear inducing.

Minor/Major Project: Man-eating Tree - Initial Sketches - Feedback Welcome!

Man-eating tree influence map.

Initial sketches and ideas for the tree.

Some quick concepts.

Minor/Major Project: Bukavac - Movement on Six Legs

Finding references for animals with 6 legs will usually bring up pictures of insects, which move in a way that I feel don't fit a creature like the bukavac. Luckily, many people have drawn run cycles of animals with 6 legs, that may help me with the bukavac's design and eventual animation.

The above gifs are the closest to how I imagine the bukavac to move, with the middle legs hitting the floor while the front and hind legs are raised. The middle legs resemble the front  legs in shape, but are often slightly longer and would allow the beast to move faster.

Because the bukavac strangles its victims, the front legs would need to have long fingers to wrap around the throats of the unfortunate beings it takes for food. The feet on the middle and back of the body may have webbed feet to aid swimming, unless they lie against the body (like a crocodile) as the bukavac moves through the water, meaning it would need a tail shaped for swimming.

Minor/Major Project: Bukavac - Further Development

If the bukavac's front limbs are for choking and strangling victims, it seems right that it's middle 2 legs should specifically be for running on land while it's back legs have webbed feet for moving through water. I will sketch up more body design later.

The bukavac is described as having "gnarled horns", so I sketched a few possible horn shapes. Any feedback on these would be helpful!

Interim Crit 24/11/17 - Reflective Statement

In many ways, I was worried about how this crit would go, as I still had several creatures left in need of designs that I hadn't drawn anything for yet. However, the crit went quite well and I received positive feedback that I can use to spur me further into the project. 

I was advised to focus on the creatures that I will be modelling as it is more important to get those finished and begin building them in 3D as soon as possible. The designs for the other creatures will be quicker and can be done in my free time over Christmas, as I can get feedback on them via my blog. I can also use this time to write Adelaide's journal entries and begin planning the book.

Some things I need to consider:

• Whether or not I should have coloured designs for my creatures, even though they will appear in black and white/sepia in the book (I was planning on Adelaide using watercolours for more elaborately coloured creatures, e.g. the river mumma).
• Whether the animations should show the creatures in enclosures built for them by Adelaide and her team, or just an empty space.
• If creating enclosures, how much interaction the creatures should have with things within it (e.g. the man-eating tree seedling eating a mouse, the bukavac emerging from a pool, etc.).
• Characters Adelaide will meet on her travels.
• Researching travel times and methods of travel in different parts of the world during the late 1800s/early 1900s.

Overall I'm excited to dive further into this project, and produce a successful outcome. 

The Memoirs of Adelaide Rodriques - Interim Crit 24/11/2017

Minor/Major Project: Adelaide - Hair and Outfits

Possible outfits for Adelaide to wear on her travels.

Finalising Adelaide's hair.

Minor/Major Project: Wendigo - Movement

In order to better design the wendigo, I feel I need to understand how the creature would move. In order to do this I've looked at various horror films and games that feature humanoid creatures with similarities to the wendigo.

Javier Botet - An actor with Marfan Syndrome whose hypermobility, thin build, and towering height has earned him roles in several horror films (e.g. Mama (2013) and It (2017)).

Javier in  [•REC] (2007)

Mama (2013) movement tests.

Moving on All Fours:

People attempting to run on all fours.

Humans are not built to walk around on all fours, the way we are built does not allow us to comfortably so without some practice. The wendigo in my story, however, has morphed in such a way that allows it to. Looking at this gif from the film Mama, we see the monster using its feet and knees to move, its head moved forward in a way that would be uncomfortable for a person. Below that, in a gif from Legion, the monster moves on its feet and hands, its forearms and shins having taken on a more vigorous elongation than the rest of its body. 

Mama (2013).

The Ice Cream Man from Legion (2010).

The Ice Cream Man doesn't crouch down as far as far as Mama does, moving more like a gorilla instead. The video below, showing a part of the game Until Dawn in which multiple wendigos attack the protagonists, they crouch down as low as Mama, but don't use their knees. The wendigos in this tend to walk upright, but go down on all fours to move faster.

Wendigo's in Until Dawn (2015)

They also have very spider-like movements, moving across large gaps quickly and scaling walls. Their arms still appear to be shorter than their legs, so they would need to have some hypermobility that allows them to crawl so low to the ground and have their heads facing completely forward. The wendigos in my story I want to make more deformed, though would have some similarities to the ones in Until Dawn.