Project Brief
This was a group project, the prompt was drawn out of a hat at the beginning of the project, ours was:
Deep Sea Explorer, in the Style of Art Deco.
I was the Character Designer and Art Director for this project. There was another character designer for this project, so we decided I would design the Villains, and she would design the Player.
Art Deco
I did a lot of research into the Art Deco period, and compiled many pages of references for this project.
I had a look into the Bioshock 2 artbook. The lighting, use of colour and silhouettes are really interesting, as well as the painting style. I won't be using red as we're focusing on using more blues and greens, however the richness of the red is something I wanted to portray in my designs.
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The Premise
You play as a convict who’s been sent down to a Ruined deep-sea city to collect resources for the people in charge up on the surface. Nobody has have ever managed to work off their crime, most dying to the horrors of the deep or suicide, none from natural causes.
The game play would be similar to Subnautica but with a bit more structure. Missions in different underwater biomes and returning to send specimens to the surface in capsules
The game would start with the player character being sent down to the prison at the bottom of the sea. There will be some narrative elements for a general story, however the main gameplay will be; the player exploring the deep sea; collecting items for one of the four antagonists; upgrading the prison base; and possibly attempting to escape.
As well as collecting and exploring, there will also be occasional combat with smaller creatures, and hide and seek type escaping of leviathans. The narrative elements would be between the player and other convict NPCs, as well as between the antagonists, allowing the scenario the player has been put in to feel more real, and give their expeditions more purpose.
Silhouettes
The original goal was to design five villains, each relating to a different aspect of the game, however the project timeline got cut short so I focused on the Fashion Designer.
The others were (left to right): the Chef, the Scientist, the Antiquarian, and the Unit Technician. We wanted them to represent a different luxury that the player had to scavenge for.
Moodboards
This is a simplified moodboard of my ideas for the Fashion Designer.
I looked a lot into fur coats, as well as silk dresses that hug the figure. The contrast of these elements makes for a really interesting silhouette.
I also looked into finger waves, as they're one of my favorite hairstyles of the time period.
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Iterations
Using the base mannequin, layered different outfits on top of each. I used a slightly transparent grey to show lacey elements.
I loved the way the fur looked, as well as the cigarette in the long holder. I made a couple pages, as well as a few I haven't included with minor changes and adjustments, but I ended up really liking my 2nd design, which is the one I ended up taking forward.
Itterations
Process
Using the favourite colour iteration as a base, I drew the linework on top, treating the base as a guide.
I added in base colours, and layered different highlights and shadows on top of each other to get the desired look. I used a art deco pattern and liquified it onto eh dress to give it the print I was wanting.
I also did smaller, more detailed illustrations of her hairpin, shoes, and earrings, as they are very small and hard to see in the full body illustration.
The Lineup
I did the same process up to the colour iteration for each character, allowing me to see them all next to each other.
They compliment each other well, and are very easy to spot due them each having very different silhouettes to one another. If I had more time, I would have loved to finish them all, there would be much more texture and patterns in their final designs.
Final Designs
