Hey folks ! Haven't post anything in a while, this time I want to share with you my entry for a recent competition - the double happy creature challenge.
Once I've saw the challenge I couldn't resist to take part in it, it sounded like so much fun and it was.The task was to concept either an Oolark or a Shyala. The brief was fun and challenging too, but one thing was sure from the beginning, I wanted to represent how I imagine a typical Oolark. Here is my final entry:
Process:
The first things I started with is writing down some notes and messing with shapes and silhouettes:
I really liked the ninja idea from the above image( thumbnail number 5), and decided to go with it.
The Oolark are warriors right , so I thought wouldn't it be cool if I throw in some traditional Japanese motives from ninjas or samurais. I knew that I'll make my life harder, because now I should not only show this, but as well I must give hints to the fact they use steam and electricity for their gadgets ( ninja steam-punk , lol! ).
I also explored some heads quickly and came up with the idea that they have this weird almost like hat extension to their heads that serves as a way to regulate their body temperature. They are cold-blooded lizards so they need a lot of warm and light to get active. It is the same principle as the back extension of a dimetrodont.
You can see some slight variations and things I was thinking in the slide below - a more athletic ninja type and a bulky well fed samurai type.
Decided to go with the ninja/assassin oolark, although the well fed "samurai" type was also cool. If there was more time, I could definitely work a whole family of these guys! About their anatomy, nothing too bizarre here, only that I gave them weird tentacles on their heads (the ponytail) and a rudimentary back fins that gives a hint that maybe their predecessors came out of the water. Important detail here is that they have three fingers on their foots, which makes them perfect for some ninja flip-flops. I'm kidding, but now that I said it, it's not so bad idea
I jumped in zbrush and decided to continue the character development in 3d. The thumbnail images below shows an idea I have about their weapons. The fat and bigger oolark (the samurai type) may have a glitzer bug powered canon, while the lean and fit one (the ninja type, the one on this render) may have more of a melee type of weapon.
Final Entry:
Many things were put together in the final minute.I definitely wanted to bring some Japanese feel to the weapons and the gadgets of this warrior, but also needed to fulfill the brief which said that their weapons are powered by electic "glitzer" bugs.The first part was easy, throw in some dragons or snakes in the design, or why not both? What I came up with for his weapon is a special staff that can have up to 2 glitzer bugs attached on its ends. The thumbnails below illustrates that when the weapon hits an enemy it makes an electric charge. The hat is actually a glitzer powered nightvision. I kept imagining how a ninja could hide in the darkness and the only thing their victims see before they passed away is the glowing red eyes. This is very popular thing in the gaming world and it helps the player to recognise targets quickly and know they are enemies.
I had really great time while working on this and I wanted to show a couple more thumbnails explaining possible fighting animations and typical oolark behavior and stuff, but the deadline was approaching fast and I ran out of time. In fact I almost had missed it because my internet was gone till 30 min before the deadline and I hurried to post my final entry before my internet connection died again. Anyway, make sure to check the
challenge thread and look the other great entries.
Cheers!
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