Peer Review Post

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]

Week 11 & 12 - Reflective Journal

 This week I tried to play with the concepts for the sailor a bit more, and whilst I began to like the character, it felt like I'd already chosen the witch and was prepared to move ahead. However, I may come back to the sailor one day, as a personal project.

Early Sailor Concepts

Continuing with the witch, I took my favourite aspects of each design, as well as asking my peers for their opinions, to put together a final design. I picked the hat and hair to give a strong silhouette to the character, ad found my peers enjoyed the decals on the shirt and trousers. 

Choosing Favourite Aspects of Designs

Plotting Favourites

After sketching a rough version of the final design, I began working on details, starting with the poncho. I want to use motifs, shapes and symbols associated with witchcraft, as well as patterns seen on regular ponchos. I will also need to finalise designs on the shirt, boots, hat, belt, etc.

Starting Work on Ponchos

Hero Asset - Cowboy Witch Concepts

 

Week 10 - Reflective Journal

This week I continued gathering references and working on rough sketches for the characters I'm considering working on for this module. I broke down and arranged my references into specific sections, with the bulk of references relating to designs, and a few more relating to mood, the setting in which my character exists/works, and items they carry. The colours of the environments my characters exist in will also inform the colour scheme of my final design sheets, e.g.: the monarch would most likely have a deep red background to reflect a theatre curtain, the sailor would have a blend of blue and greens for the ocean floor, and the witch/cowboy a red and orange background for the desert.

Monarch and Sailor References

Quickly it became obvious that I was having an easier time finding references and inspiration for the witch + desert + guitar character, I think in part due to cowboys and witches having similarities in silhouette and some clothing styles; e.g.: large hats, capes and ponchos, pointed boots, etc. Patterns on clothing could be adapted to have symbols that are associated with witchcraft and the occult, and a banjo can be used to cast spells.

Witch/Cowboy References

I began with rough sketchbook drawings, mostly of faces and hats, as for two of the designs I was looking to combine a sou'wester fisherman's hat and cowboy hat with a traditional witch hat. I also looked at hats from games such as Bloodborne (2014), Dark Souls 3 (2016) and Elden Ring (2022), as not only did these games contain a plethora of wonderful hats that were similar in design to what I had in mind, but also a visual style I enjoy and was considering aiming for in my character sheets. 

Rough Sketches

I tried working on some silhouettes for my characters, but found that they looked very flat and didn't really convey anything about the character. Creating silhouettes is not a method I'm very familiar with, and was something I only briefly did in my first year as an undergraduate, mainly for projects focused on environment rather than character. 

Attempting Silhouettes

In order to help with this, I did some silhouette studies, picking poses and angles that kept the silhouette readable but also suggested the kind of the person the character might be. Stances that involved holding a weapon or other object helped a lot with readability and making a pose more dynamic. I decided it would help to work on a "bare" body silhouette, building clothing on top, instead of trying to incorporate the clothing into the silhouette shape.

Silhouette Studies

With this in mind, I began rough ideas for the monarch + theatre + hook character. While these designs are a good jumping off point, I think they need to be made to look more mismatched and damaged to suit the character I have in mind. The first two look more like period costumes, and the last is a little too flat. This may be a character I would need to explore silhouette with a lot more.

Monarch Sketches

 The witch was more successful, most likely thanks to having a lot more reference material to work with, and a better idea of where I wanted to take the design. My plan is to create a series of plain designs, before taking those forward and mixing and matching aspects to create more detailed and refined concepts.

Witch/Cowboy Sketches