Gumball Machine Base Blueprint...

Rocket Launch Pad Concept...

Meeting Room Chair Concept...

Gumball Laser Gun Concept...

Major Project Proposal...

Laser Gun Concept Development...

So i've been watching a fair few Bond films over the past few days, trying to get some ideas and inspiration for the design of my hideout. One of the cliche Bond and spy genre elements is the laser gun. Here i've taken images of gumball machines and pieced them together in a rather sloppy, but quite effective way, before using them to dderive a bold coloured concept. I still need to try out some more designs, and improve the quality of the designs, but here's the development of the gun concept so far.

Morethan.Art Sweet Themed Logo Development..

Here's a quick logo design for my latest project based on the American candy theme i've gone with.

Wonda Sweets...

Following the concept that the evil "witch", is actually the CEO of a major corporation making sweets that lure and entice children, i decided to come up with a company name and logo. Possibly the most famous sweet company, inventor and manufacturer, Wonka, has inspired my designs for both a company name and logo, which pays an obvious homage to the sweets company and film. Paying homage to companies is something that Dreamworks has been known to do, and i thought this would be a nice opportunity to continue the tradition. Below are some of the designs i came up with, incorporating the elements that portray the CEO as a witch.

Replacing the traditional witches broomstick seemed like an obvious choice, although it might be an idea to create a more child-friendly candy-cane inspired witch, instead of the traditional halloween witch.

I also tried out an Apple inspired logo...

Major Project Commission Brief...

Dreamworks have commissioned me to produce a full pre-production to post-production pipeline for an environment design for their latest animated featurette, with a twist. Their latest featurette takes the traditional Brothers Grimm fairy tale, Hansel and Gretel, and transforms into a modern age story in which the witch is now a bond villain-esque CEO of a major corporation that manufactures sweets created to entice children.

My Task:

I am required to create a 2 minute environment design animation that showcases the headquarters for Dreamworks' latest animated featurette.

Major Project Final Idea... Sweet + City Theme...

So i've finally decided to "commission" myself with the sweet themed city idea. I think there's a lot of room for some nice a creative designs, and i feel like the strong and bold shapes and colours would work well with my silhouette and slightly graphical design approach. I feel like a fairytale-style sweet city/kingdom could be quite magical, and i'm particularly interested in the possibility of creating a "good" and "evil" contrast within the city, much like a fairytale, by creating a more haunted themed section of the city, using dark and halloween themed sweets. My aim will be to create a series of different shots and camera movements within the environment in oppose to creating a "scaled model" of my city, which totals roughly 2 minutes in length.

Major Project... Hansel and Gretel...

Hansel and Gretel is a well-known fairy tale of German origin, recorded by the Brothers Grimm and published in 1812. Hansel and Gretel are a young brother and sister threatened by a cannibalistic hag living deep in the forest in a house constructed of cake and confectionery. The two children save their lives by outwitting her. My idea for an environment design inspired by the story, comes from an interesting piece of concept art by Donglu Yu. Donglu Yu takes the traditional concept of a gingerbread-style house and has created the concept for a vast enviroment hidden in the woods. Therefore, my idea would be to create an almost willy wonka-style, factory-like "kingdom" hidden in the woods that is used to entice the children to the wicked witch. I think it would only be right to stick to the traditional concept of sweets and food designs for the buildings and environment (however this could change after some more in-depth research), and this would give me a chance to get stuck in with some creative and quirky designs.

Morethan.Art Facebook Page...

http://www.facebook.com/ethan.clements#!/pages/MorethanArt/221446651279382?sk=wall

I recently created a Morethan.Art Facebook page to showcase some of the work i've been doing these past few years, feel free to check it out and like it. The link to the page is just above...

Major Project... Mise en Abyme Idea...

Mise en Abyme is something i touched upon when i was doing my soundscape project during the summer of 2010. Mise en in the realm of the creative arts and literary theory is a formal technique in which an image contains a smaller copy of itself, the sequence appearing to recur infinitely. This idea would see me design a seemingly perfect environment, in which the camera moves through and around the town/city. The fact that this seemingly perfect environment is abandoned and empty will create an uncanny feeling in the audience, as everything seems so quite and desolate. At the end of the animation, the camera would pull out of the environment to reveal it is actually an antique/souvenir hidden amongst rubble and dust of a destroyed version of the environment we've just seen. I imagine the souvenir/antique still being bright and in colour, whilst the surrounding destroyed environment is monotone and dull. My main concern for this idea is that it would hard to portray the sky as i wouldn't want to reveal that this is actually an environment within an environment until the very end.

Major Project... Levitating fishing village...

This concept involves an environment design for a levitating fishing village, in which the inhabitants literally catch flying fish. in a high altitude environment, surrounded by clouds, the levitating platform is built up from traditional fishing village huts, with wooden planked harbours, in which the fisherman use fishing rods to fish over the edge. The boats could possibly float through the clouds, propelled by some kind of airship style device. There's also an opportunity here to combine some of the windmill design features from my previous idea to the design of the fishing village, and the features of the windmill could also be the reason the island is able to levitate in the sky. I could also look into designing the flying fish which i imagine to have quite a magical and fantastical look to them. Here are some reference images i've gathered together to give a visual representation how the levitating fishing village might look...

Major Project... City Environment Ideas Cntd...

Whilst the first few ideas i've had utilise organic elements or environments to create my city, these next two ideas come from man-made structures. The first idea is a clockwork city in which the whole city runs based on a clockwork-based system. This is a self running town, with flying transport based on turning keys and conveyor beltors, and moving wires, and flying buildings almost like a giant factory all connected to one intricate clockwork system. This would be quite a wacky and surreal environment. below are some reference images to give an idea of the direction i would take this project in...

My second idea is a windmill city/town based on the designs of windmills. The location could be either a levitated platform due to the windmills keeping the city in the air, or an open plain maybe near a clifftop. Similar to the idea for a pirate town made from pirate ships and boats, each of the houses, shops and buildings in this environment will be based on the design of the windmill or match the kinds of materials used for the windmill. It would also make sense if the main energy source for the town came from the windmill. Below are some references images to give an idea of the direction i would take this project in...

Major Project... City Environment Ideas...

So i've been doing some research into a subject that i could splice together with my city, to create a distinct environment. Phil suggested a city suspended by hot air balloons or an insect city derived from organic sources like leaves. I like this idea as it gives me the opportunity to further develop my creative design skills, which is one of my main goals in this project to have a stronger pre-production pipeline.This will be the first thing any potential employer would see in my making of book, and therefore it must be bold and distinct, to create a good impression. Below are some of the ideas i've thought of so far...

My first idea is a city suspended by floating jellyfish. This idea would have a heavy sci-fi influence, and the mood and atmosphere would come from the depths of the sea and the use of fluorescent blues and purples within the vast city. The city would be built into and around the jellyfish, with the possibility of the jellyfish being used as an energy source to keep the city running, or even using the jellyfish as a protective shield/force. Here are some concepts that give a visual idea of the direction i could take this project in...

  

My second idea contemplates a city built around and amongst a giant spider's web. What intrigues me the most about this idea is creating some beautifully cinematic shots of the camera running along the strings of the web, with the possibility of modes of transport running along these wire-like lines into the city. I feel like this city would derive from an elegant style kingdom, much like Minas Tirith from the Lord of the Rings, utilising whites, greys and silvers as a colour palette to match the silk spider's web. I imagine the web to be suspended in the air amongst some rocks, but the location would obviously have to be further researched and developed. Here are some visual concepts that provide an insight into the direction i could take this porject in...

My third idea is based around a Mushroom City, in which the buildings and modes of transport are within the construct of vast giant mushrooms. There would be a hierarchy of living conditions, with the working class living amongst a swamp environment that surrounds the mushrooms, whilst the middleclass citizens would live in pods built up the stem of the mushrooms as houses, and within the "dome" of the mushrooms, there would be built-in structures where the upper class citizens would remain to oversee the whole city. Similar to the spider web idea, there would be intereconnecting wires between each of the mushrooms and bridge-like structures to pass from one to the other. Here are some concepts that demonstrate the kind of look and feel i might go for...

  

 

  

Major Project... Pirate Town Idea...

This idea would probably derive from a transcribed piece of text describing a pirate village or town. The final piece would be an environment design animation to compliment my Transcription and Minor project work in my DVD showreel, and it would undergo an extensive pre-production to post-production pipeline. I think there is a lovely opportunity for some bold concepts and designs deriving from pirate ships, and i feel that a night time scene could create a very moody atmosphere. It would be a slightly stylised environment design, and i would look to capitalise on some cinematic shots and compositions. I feel that this kind of project would also benefit the development of my pre-production skills further. There is also the possibility of this being a ghost town or abandoned pirate town/village. Below are some reference images that give a good idea of the direction i could take this project...