Preliminary comps for EA Games "Snow Queen" proposal. Its based off Hans Christian Anderson's fairy tale "The Snow Queen" with a dark twist. I drastically altered the plot to fit my aesthetic and developed three environments/characters that correspond to the script I drafted. The original story line can be read here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Snow_Queen
3 comments:
Hey Evan- can you remind me who the new (3rd) character is that you selected? And also let me know what these scenes are within the story you sent so I can make sure I'm reading into it correctly. Thanks!
Haha! Oh sorry, I meant to post the PDF of my plot and character list but I forgot. The three characters I drew were:
Gerde, Crow (Field Crow), and CJ (the Old Sorceress)
In turn, the three environments correspond to a specific character, and will be color-coded according to when they appear in the story (i.e. cool to COLD)
The first environment is CJ's squat (Sorceress's house and garden). She lives in an abandoned warehouse on the outskirts the city by Gerde's college where she harbors and distributes drugs. The room is large and dark, made of mostly concrete and drywall. Garbage and filth are abound and the room is sparsely furnished. [Cool colors]
The second environment is a grungy, inner city dive-bar called The Palace (Prince and Princess's Palace) that Crow frequents. The business is a front for the two owners to deal and transport Snow Queen throughout the city. A select few are allowed in the back rooms and the establishment is heavily guarded. It is dimly lit, dirty, and poorly maintained. [Cold colors]
The third environment is the section of the city nicknamed "The North Pole" (Snow Queen's Palace). It is a stretch of abandoned housing units in what has become the epicenter of the city's Snow Queen culture. Police have herded most repeat offenders there to consolidate trade and control public awareness. Garbage, bodies, barrel fires, and stripped cars litter the streets. This is where Gerde finds Kay at the end of the game. [COLD colors]
Hope that helps, I can post a copy of the plot draft if you think that would help more.
Thanks for the clarification. The characters are nice and believable, but consider how they will stand out in a crowd on the streets of your video game. Your new character appears just like anyone else, and perhaps you want her to be relatively nondescript, but use color or additional details to make those playing the game know she is someone specific and special.
Imagine someone from a video game company looking over these concepts. While I'm aware that you are going for a believable city streets look and know you certainly have the skills to render this out, I'd be looking for what it is that makes these characters and settings unique. You are showing that you can technically work for a game company, but what will you bring to them that someone who just documents a few settings and folks off the street cannot? Make sure you are viewed as a concept artist and not just a capable illustrator. Certainly your synopsis is excellent and intriguing, and uniquely you. These characters follow the script, but imagine what you may be able to do to make them as specific as possible and the same for the settings. Right now the buildings in your exterior shot look like generic city buildings. I would consider looking at a specific city and getting the details in so that it feels completely authentic, OR creating your own made up details so that it feels like your own designed gritty, dark fairy tale-ish world. Either approach can work, but my point is that these are currently lacking the specificity that companies get truly excited about.
Focus on creating something that only you can create. This may sound broad, but consider making your images as specific and thought out as your text. Consider films like Pan's Labyrinth, which blends some fairy tale into a real and specific world. Or the look of films like Sleepy Hollow or Gangs of New York, which manage to depict a specific time and place that is relatively accurate, but still capture a distinct flair in the characters and settings.
I am being hard on you because you are good, and can step it up even more I think. I know you only have a week, and times are busy, so continue this as you would, just keep these ideas in mind now and on future works!
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