Week 13 + 14 - Reflective Journal

 For these two weeks I've focused on the design for the poncho and shirt, working out patterns and colours that suit the character and setting.

Shirt and Poncho References on Pureref Board

I gathered several references, including old photographs and screenshots/character sheets from the Red Dead Redemption series. 

Ponchos originate as an all-weather garment from South America (P, 2019) though are now associated with indigenous peoples of both North and South America, and considered a typical American garment. They are usually a single piece of fabric with a hole in the middle for the wearer's head, though the one i've designed is more similar in shape to the ruana, native to the Andes in Colombia and Venezuela, which is similar to a poncho but with a split down the middle.

I liked the idea of incorporating some death themed imagery, as well as moon phases and common patterns found on ponchos.

Ultimately, ponchos follow a woven pattern, meaning the design had to work as though made up of a series of straight lines. I took designs that both myself and my peers liked and made flat versions that would follow straight woven lines.

I took aspects of the combined designs to create a final draft, working out exactly what shapes I wanted to use. I also reworked the shape of the skull, as I found it too "cartoon-ish". Simplifying it and removing teeth and lower jaw details helped make the final version stronger.

Final Poncho Design

I next worked on colour concepts. Whilst I knew the character would be in majority dark clothing, I wanted some colour to break up the design a little. I took inspiration from my mood board, specifically the landscapes I'd chosen and the colour schemes within them.

Mood Board Draft

The orange represented desert sands, and purple the transition from day to night. These colours had a strong contrast, and were used in some of my initial ideas. I also liked the image of the dusk sky, that had both orange and purple, and inspired the idea of the witch appearing between high noon and the witching hour.

Very early on I settled on the dark purple as a base colour, but experimented with different colours to the orange, such as blue and green. I wanted to try the green primarily as it's a colour used a lot in association with witches, and is commonly seen with purple and orange for halloween.

The blue often felt too bright, but after some experimentation I found the dark green/teal was my favourite. 

Next I started working on shirt designs. Western shirts often have decorative yokes (shoulder area) on the front and back, which meant I could incorporate more symbols and motifs associated with witchcraft, whilst keeping the style of a traditional western shirt.

I looked at lots of different designs, noting common use of flowers and piping. In a few designs I drew cactus flowers to represent the desert, in others I used basic floral patterns, moon phases, and skulls.

Final Shirt Design

The final shirt design uses a floral pattern and skeletal hands reaching for each other. For colours I wanted to use similar tones from the poncho, with a dark base and solid colours embroidered on. Ultimately I think i'll use the black base with the purple hands and green florals.

References:

P, CJ. 2019. 'The Surprising Origin of Ponchos'. [online]. Red Ledge. Available at: https://www.redledge.com/blogs/news/the-surprising-origin-of-ponchos [Accessed on: 26/12/2022]