SummerProject - Create a Post Apocalyptic Character

Research -

There are lots of different versions of what the apocalypse is.

Divine Rapture - This is basically the bibles answer to the end of the world. This is where the four horsemen of the apocalypse arrive to wipe the world clean.
It is then that the good are taken to heaven, the bad are taken to hell and the people in between are taken to purgatory.

Nuclear Holocaust - This is when a number of bombs would be set off and would kill the entire population of the world, only a few might survive, if why are lucky.

Contagion/ Zombies - This is where an outbreak happens and it spreads like wildfire all over the world, where bodies litter the streets, and animals may carry the disease. People are not safe and can only live in fear that what has happened to other people is only a matter of time until it happens to them.

Over population and ecological collapse - When there are to many people for the planet to handle resources will disappear the the biosphere will collapse leading to mass extinctions and also people being left with few choices, that may intern turn them to cannibalism.

Collision with a celestial body - This would be if say a meteor or another planet collided with earth, so basically the situation with the extinction with dinosaurs would happen to us, dust would rise to encircle the earth in a could of dust. This would make it so that plants would not be able to grow as well and the biggest animals would die out first.

Catastrophic global warming - This could go in a number of ways, this could be that the polar icecaps have melt and the world becomes submerged in water. Or it could be that the planets heat keeps rising and it makes it basically a barren land, all sandy and desert like.

Technology failure - This would be if all technology stopped working at once. People would have to go back to basics, since nothing would be automated, and there is no way to work back technology. People would live in little camps and they would have to help each other because people would not be able to do everything on there own.

Technology overload - If robots were to take over, the human race would live in fear of it, this is something that people of today and the last century were afraid of. This is because of how powerful a computer/machine can be, and they are pretty capable. If machines were to rise and be as powerful as people always imagine them to be, we would have no real hope of taking it back.

Media that shows the apocalypse:

Games
WasteLand & WasteLand 2
Fallout
Left 4 Dead
The Last of Us

Books
The Last Man by Mary Shelley
The Scarlet Plague by Jack London

Television and film
Zombieland
Revolution
Survivors
12 Monkeys
The Terminator films
Adventure Time
The Matrix

Comics
The Walking Dead
Crossed
Y: The Last Man

These are to name but a few different mediums that have used post apocalyptic themes. Some of these people would know, either from watching it or just due to it been a very popular and have heard it from other people or just though looking on the internet.

Silhouettes  -

To start off this project I did some basic silhouettes of characters in different styles.
But I started off with a basic female form to start.

Base Female Form

I then got a basic male form.

Base Male Form

Then using these basic forms I went over them with the magnetic lasso tool, so that I could make some simple silhouettes quickly to see what design I liked the best. When doing these images, I had no solid idea what it was that was going to be my end goal. So I had to think though lots of different looks for characters, so that I had a range. After this, I got a light blue colour and outlined some of the details on the characters.

Ideas 1, 2, 3

Ideas 1, 2, 3

For the ideas above these are more for if the world has had an effect happen to it were people have to live off the land again, rather than just getting at ease. 1 - is more of a forest dweller. 2. is someone that would be a hunter. 3. is a leader. These are just quick ideas that I came up with while looking at the designs.

Ideas 4, 5, 6

Ideas 4, 5, 6

4. Is a collector of technology. 5. Is a wanderer. 6. is a mutated human.

Ideas 7, 8, 9

Ideas 7, 8, 9

7. A man of wealth. 8. I wizened old man. 9. A man that lives within the wilds of Africa.

Ideas 10, 11, 12

Ideas 10, 11, 12

10. Cyborg. 11. Futuristic technology. 12. Tribal warrior.

For these characters I decided to do a peer review type selection, where I would ask people which 3 of these characters they found most appealing.
The consensus was that the most commonly liked was character 3, 5 and 1, this is in the order of the top to bottom.

Since I did not want to do all three, I looked into making just the characters 3 and 5.

Colour Concepts for two Characters - 

PonchoGirl 1

PonchoGirl 2

The first one that I worked on was character 5, which I nicknamed PonchoGirl. As you can see from PG1 the colours are warms and look more like they are from dry areas. PG2 is in cooler colours looking like she is from cooler, colder climates. This is just from a simple colour change.
However when drawing an coloring this character I felt very disinterested in the creation of this character.

Queeny 1

Queeny 2

Queeny 3

This is a character that I nicknamed Queeny, mostly due to her crown. Q1 was a colour pallet that I was looking into as variations of the same colour throughout. I chose green to show that she was someone that was using things available to here, but as can be seen, the colour scheme looks rather plain and flat. Q2 was something that was inspired other characters that come though desperation of wanted to be noticed (Harly Quinn - Batman), this is a colour scheme that really captured my interest, and makes me truly look at the character. Q3 is a character that I tried a different variation on the character previous with more contrasting characters, however there was something about it that just seemed not right and it made the character look unbelievable to me.

Profile of Chosen Character and Colour -

Queeny Profile

As you can see this character has been given a weapon, this is because even if she just uses it as more of a prop than an actual weapon is, it is better to give her something that can be identified as hers rather than just just an ordinary sword.

Action Shot of Chosen Character and Colour - 






































As can be seen from both this picture and the one above is that the character has some cosmetics added to her person.
One is that there is now golden tribal trim on most, if not all of the dark metal on her person and weapon.
Another is that the crown as changed from a gold traditional type crown, to that of skull, bones and vines.
The other cosmetic difference is the brown belt that hangs loosely on her hips. this is also decorated with bones, but there is also an unusual feather attached to it.
Something simple that was added to the cloth was a simple pattern that makes the fabric look slightly laced, this is to just add more believe-ability about the character, because it would be be odd to just have everything that she is clothed in to be just one singular colour, with no other texture at all.

Back Story for Chosen Character - 

This was something that I found the hardest to do out of all the bits of the makings of the character.

Personality:

Flirtatious
Cunning
Harsh
Considerate
Sarcastic
Witty
Secretly kind
Easily angered
Strong willed
Resourceful
Intelligent
Fearless
Vengeful

Back-story:

Type of Apocalypse: Technology Failure (30 years previous)

Name: Pandora (Meaning: All Gifted)

Age: 19

Story: Born and raised to be leader Pandora grew much quickly than others within the same encampment.
Trained from a young age to be able to protect herself and also the people in which she now leads, Pandora has become a master in many forms of fighting, but also in using her weapon like an extension of herself.
As a custom within her (now) tribe, the defeater must retain bones of enemies slain by them self, this is to show others that may challenge them that they are no easy prey for others within the area, trying to either just get rid of them, or take over their territory.
The character that I am creating is a strong willed serious person, due to the life that the people now have, in having to survive again and getting back to the basics, it's pretty hard to be jovial and happy. People have become selfish and now in the time of need when people need to be at their most selfless and help those around them, so that they intern can be helped, they do not want to do that.

Area: The area is a run down city and the tribes are basically gangs, but without guns, because people quickly used up the ammunition and some people do have guns, but they are people that manufacture their own ammo, so these people are more feared.
Weapons in this time are pretty basic there is nothing that is really automatic, due to there not being any trade across the world, except on rare occasions.
People learn at a young age how to handle a blade.