Group Shot

So its taken a long time for me to finally wrap up designing the main characters. Now that that's finally over with, I wanted to get away from the monotony of creating character models. So here's this. The BG still isn't where I want it to be, but I'll get there eventually.

Finally...

I've been wrestling with this design for a while, but I think I'm done with it finally. This wraps up the character designs for the main characters. More info to come soon.

Another Pass

So here's another pass at one of the main character designs for the Mars concept. So far I feel like this approach is working the best out of every other attempt. There are two more to go before I have the main cast of characters completed. This step has been a long haul, but I'm getting there.  - NOTE I'm just noticing that his Breather Unit doesn't look like its properly fitted. For now, it's not a huge issue, his design is essentially complete, but I do want the fitting of the Breather Units to be consistent. I'll pay more attention to it from here on.

Final?

So I think I've found a final look for the characters. I've applied it to the main character, and I will do so with the rest. Hopefully having the style worked out will allow me to move forward more quickly from now on. We'll see.

 I started a new job recently so my posts have slowed down for the past couple weeks,  but I'm getting back into gear.  I've been reworking the look of the characters for The Martian Revolution as well as the Breather Units that they will all be wearing. Character design has never been my strong point, so its been taking me a while to work them out. Getting there though.

Lloyd The Rock'n Unicorn Opening!

Here's the opening theme I came up with for Lloyd. I might animate a short pilot. Maybe.

It's Lloyd the Rock'n Unicorn!

Lloyd got sick of living in Enchantus and defending the Enchanted Forest. So he moved to the real world to get away from that crap.

Autonomous Conflict Resolver Sketches

 So a few weeks ago I started thinking about the the drones that will be sent to Mars to attack and kill the rebelling colonists. I don't have any final designs yet, but I thought I would post some of the ideas I came up with.

Following the declaration of sovereignty by the Unified Colonies of Mars, all outgoing mineral shipments to Earth were halted. This action resulted in a sudden drop in revenue for the Consortium Off-World Mining Corporation. With their stock value plummeting, the board of directors enlisted the aid of Shlemmer-Hanoi, the Earth's leading autonomous weapons manufacturer to provide a quick, cost effective solution to the rebellion on Mars. Since ferrying enough troops to Mars would be far too expensive, Shlemmer-Hanoi's AUTONOMOUS CONFLICT RESOLVER (A.C.R.) was a practical choice. 500,000 A.C.R.'s were quickly dispatched to Mars to discreetly eliminate each  of the 100,000 colonists, (See correction below.) making way for a fully automated mining system to be implemented shortly after. Consortium Off-World Mining's board of directors expects a full rebound of stock value following the operation.


--Correction -Targets (Shlemmer-Hanoi prefers the term targets. Referring to Targets as "colonists", or "people" is generally bad for P.R.)

Still workin on it.

Another attempt at this character's design. I think I'm getting there.

Sketch

So I'm taking a break from exclusively drawing with my tablet, and got back to doing some drawing on paper. Here's a recent drawing of a character I'm working on for the Mars concept. I think her shoes are too big. Eh.

Martian Colonial Neighborhood

The last thing that I wanted to do when I imagined the modern colonies on Mars was to make them dark, confined, and dingy places where people scrapped by to maintain their livelyhoods on a cold, dry planet. This story will take place in a transitional phase of the planet's terraformation. A phase where one can go outside without a space suit, and in areas inside the colonial zones, breathe the air outside thanks to localized photosynthesizers and modified plants, suited to the Martian climate. I want life in the colonies to be similar to that of frontier life in North America, but with a futuristic spin. Life for the 3rd generation colonists is challenging, but not a constant struggle for survival.

BG Study

Another little background study. Trying to nail down a technique and style.

Flash Reel

Now shorter and leaner.

My Reel.

So there haven't been any posts for a while. Just letting the one, or two people on the planet that occasionally view my blog know that I will be posting again soon. The Mars concept isn't dead and buried, I'm just trying to use my limited free time to do some more Flash animation for a reel I'm putting together. So in about two weeks I think I'll have some more material up.

Rough Character Sketch

One of the main character's friends. Looks a little too old, but I'll work on it.

Another one of the cast of characters in my Mars story. I've been bouncing around the idea of creating an ethnicity that's unique to the people born and raised on Mars. Since they have lived their wholes lives in the Martian climate, and eaten foods grown from Marian soil, perhaps that could have some effect on their outward appearance. So I'm trying something along the lines of dark reddish skin, and light hair. Maybe it'll work, maybe not. Anyways, names and descriptions will come later...

Working on the cast of characters. I dunno, I worry that the look leans too far towards anime.

BG Style Test

Over the past couple days I've been working on painting a pretty large background to establish the type of setting that the Martian Revolution story takes place in. I decided to take a break from that effort last night to do a smaller, simpler color study. I think what I got done is a decent start. I plan to take what I've figured out here and apply it to the rest of the backgrounds.

Early Photosynthesizer Design

Originally I pictured the Atmosphere Photosynthesizers as these massive stationary machines. But this has been done already in a lot of Sci Fi movies, shows, books, etc, and this design ended up reminding me too much of the Atmosphere Processors in "Aliens" (Which is an awesome movie.) But it wasn't the kind of thing I'm going for in my "Martian Revolution" concept. Its too big, and too complex. Early colonists couldn't build something on this scale, and shipping the components for it from Earth would be too difficult to even bother. So I decided to go with the floating, blimp like Photosynthesizers in this design: Atmosphere Photosynthesizer These self sustaining machines are mostly made up of large inflatable housings that suspend the atmosphere converting machinery in the air. They are easily deployed and are mass produced on Mars.

And Another...

Another Character Style Test

The main characters of the Martian Revolution story are going to be kids who grew up in the colonies, so I thought I would take another crack a style test. Still working out the final style, but I'm slowly getting somewhere.

Regolith Crawler

During the rush to mine the Earth's moon, large trucks known as Regolith Crawlers were commonplace on the lunar surface.

Character Style Test

Still working toward a final style for the characters and over all look of the Martian Revolution concept. I want a look that's a good mix of realism and cartoonishness with clean, thin line work, and limited line mileage.

Hauler

Basically what it sounds like. The valuable materials are removed from the asteroids by miners and Asteroid Cutters, then placed in the modular containers of Haulers to be delivered to processors.

-A note about the spacecraft design that I'm going for. Often times in science fiction, spacecraft are designed to be sleek and aerodynamic, but space is a vacuum, and this is unnecessary. Ive decided to go with a clunky, modular look for the spacecraft in this concept, that's centered around the function of the ship. I'm trying to go for a look that resembles the International Space Station, but arrange that look into interesting shapes that still look futuristic. Unless the ship is designed to enter an atmosphere, it doesn't need to look sleek and pretty. Just functional..... and cool.

Asteroid Cutter

In order to quickly get to valuable minerals buried deep inside larger asteroids, ships called Asteroid Cutters use their powerful lasers to break up the asteroids into smaller, manageable pieces. Manipulator arms with more precise cutting tools harvest the iron and nickel, minimizing the need for miners to engage in dangerous extra-vehicular work.

Asteroid Miner Suit

After every inch of the Moon's surface is claimed by mining corporations, new prospects are staked out in the Asteroid Belt. There, hundreds of miners work in zero gravity.

Sky Crane

Before the colonies became self sufficient, cargo ships called Sky Cranes delivered supplies, equipment, and habitation to the surface of Mars. The Sky Cranes carry a chain of cargo cylinders to martian orbit. Once in orbit, an inflatable aero-shield is deployed to protect the cargo and the ship as it enters the atmosphere. Following this, the aero shield is detached, and the three main engines of the Sky Crane slow the ship to a hover above the planet's surface. This allows each cargo cylinder to be lowered to the ground one after the other.  Once each cylinder is on the ground, the Sky Crane lands so it can be refueled.

ABOVE- The first rendering shows the Sky Crane without any cargo cylinders. The second rendering shows the Sky Crane with cargo cylinders and the aero shield deployed for atmospheric entry. The third rendering shows the Sky Crane in its resting position on the ground.

Martian Revolution

Planetary colonization has always been an interest of mine. Lately I've been focusing on a story that revolves around a colonial revolt on the planet Mars. I know its a pretty played out idea (Colonies on Mars, Terraforming, etc.) in science fiction, but I think I've got something new to add to the theme. For the moment, I'm going to post some early random designs relating to the Martian Revolution concept. Over time, my posts will take on a narrative form, describing the formation of the colonies, and the origin of the conflict. The main focus of the story will take place after those points, and will focus around a set of characters that make a discovery that will become the catalyst for the revolt.

ABOVE- (This is an early design, I'm still working out the final look of the concept.)
Two of hundreds of free floating, self sustaining Atmosphere Photosynthesizers operate around the clock, converting the thin, mostly CO2 atmosphere to a safe breathable air. A colonist observes them, breathing with the aid of a backpack Breather Unit. At this point, colonists can go outside freely without a space suit to protect them from decompression.