Concept Designs for BBC Childrens Sci-Fi Comdey show - "HOUNDED"

**Indianna500** · July 5th, 2010, 05:41 AM

Hi,

I was fortunate enough to get the gig for designing around a dozen elements for a childrens show in the U.K.

It was a lot of fun and I manage to produce some fairly memoranle and unique designs over the three month period I worked on the show.

I am primarily a 3D Artist, I did study traditional design to degree level but since entering the CGI Industry 15 years ago my drawing skills have suffered and I now find it easier and quicker to concept directly in 3D. I had roughly 4 working days on each design and needed to get a placeholder model done asap for the VFX guys to do animatics hence the lack of beautiful digtal illustrations! ;-)

A bit of background on the show;

Rufus Hound (realname) is a TV presenter on a kids science show and each day he gets beamed into an alternate reality where he must face his nemesis , Dr. Muhahaha, and foil his regular plans to destroy/invade Earth using some fairly unconventional weapons. every time Rufus succeeds however Mu just hits his red button and time re-winds forcing Rufus to live the day all over again. Bizarre?, just a bit but the kids seem to be loving it over here and it`s a great feeling to have people come up to me at my kids school and say how much they are enjoying my designs.

The following are promotional renders of the elements I created for the BBC.

The Starsheep Enterprise.
The original name for this was "The Wool ship" and they just wanted a ball of wool. Once the settled on the name the rest seemed obvious to me

Scissor Ships
Fast ships that chase after the wool ship

Mu Force One
I had to put the fist on it....they made me ;-)

Suk-O-Matic 3000
Mu s` first mega-weapon.

**emikochan** · July 6th, 2010, 05:49 PM

Ah cute ^^ When is it airing ?

**Indianna500** · July 7th, 2010, 02:24 AM

Its actually on Episode 6 this Friday. Trouble is it it`s only viewable in the UK. even IPlayer (the BBCs Netplayer) wont work overseas. I am hoping it will get syndicated but you can never tell with these kind of shows.

Thanks for the comments. ;-)

**Indianna500** · July 7th, 2010, 02:31 AM

Here`s the `S.S. - Solar One` from last Fridays Ep. Yes, it looks a bit like "that ship" but the plan was not to get sued!....;-)

**village idiot** · July 8th, 2010, 05:15 AM

Good stuff - I think the scissor ships are particularly clever in design. I am amazed the Beeb got away with the SS_Solar One though, I know it doesn't look like 'that' ship but I bet there is one that looks pretty damn similiar in the trek universe. I thought Rufus Hound was a filth monster as well.

**Indianna500** · July 8th, 2010, 11:28 AM

LOL, he was a decent enough guy when i met him on set. It`s a shame I couldn`t use some of the original Solar One designs....way too Trek to be honest. I think thats what worried them!

Still heres the last one for a while........ THE DEATH PIZZA!!

I knew I wanted the job when the first task the mentioned was a "death star like pizza". I originally had the fist ship as just one slice of this; it would have been fun to see it assemble itself out of a dozen ships like star destroyers but covered in "cheese and pepperoni" ;-)

Next update will be in a month when my final asset airs, or sooner if I feel lucky.

**village idiot** · July 8th, 2010, 05:08 PM

I've just watched an episode and it is surprisingly entertaining, although I don't think I am their core demographic! The Mu Force One looks great in action by the way

**Kiung Yoo** · July 8th, 2010, 05:18 PM

LOL. those are definitely comedic sci fi space ships. well done

**Indianna500** · July 9th, 2010, 02:43 AM

Cheers!m thanks for the kudos. So nice to get feedback like this.
@ village idiot I was really surprised at how appealling to adults the finished product was. i expected something a bit more infantile but feel the actors have really got the most out of the scripts and the writers did a good job giving me some really original briefs to deliver on.

REALLY pleased it has moved over onto BBC1 and re-starts its run today Friday at 4.15pm....means we can actually get the ratings this time, fingers crossed for a second series ;-)

**DimMak** · July 9th, 2010, 04:29 PM

HAHA! very cool stuff. that pizza ship had me cracking up!

your designs look really awesome. great work! I really enjoy the lighting, textures and technical details that add a believable but also playful look to them. I do feel though that the first design (sheep design) is the weakest one. I can't stop seeing the enterprise when i look at the SS Solar One. It's too iconic of a design to reference without it conjuring that image.

great stuff though!

**Indianna500** · July 11th, 2010, 08:50 AM

@DimMakm thanks for your comments nice to know I hit the mark on what I wanted to do.

I think it`s a personal preference thing regarding which one was best. I like the Starsheep, it`s one of my faves, as a design for a kids show it has all the right elements and I think it has a healthy homage to Nick Parks style which I love. As for the S.S. Solar one the brief was get us as close to a Star Trek ship without getting us into serious trouble, so judging by your comments It`s a win/win on that one as well. ;-). It`s a shame that the show is`nt viewable outsid eof the U.K. as you would probably see why things were done the way they were to fit into the other design elements . the sets were built well before I got onboard to concept so I had to have a certain look and feel to my stuff to blend with the live action.well, blend as well as you can on the budget we had...;-)

Thanks for your comments it`s always interesting hearing peoples opinions on the designs I did.

**Hoa the Artist** · July 14th, 2010, 02:17 AM

Love it! Especially the pizza ship

They're really fun, fullfill the sci-fi cool tech factor but remain realy fun and original.

It was humor like that, that I loved in my favorite cartoons in grade school (Darkwing Duck ,Ren & Stimpy etc) that you didn't see as much as things got grittier after the late 90s. Excellent work bringing a sense of good humor back into the broody dark 7 year old demographic!

**Erick Willand** · July 14th, 2010, 10:43 PM

oh.. the pizza ship rocks dude. cool work and congrats on actually getting work.

**Indianna500** · July 27th, 2010, 08:41 AM

Thanks to all posters!, I really appreciate the positive feedback from you all.

Thank You

**Indianna500** · August 18th, 2010, 10:56 AM

Hello again!

As promised here is the final concept I did for the series.

It was one of the first briefs I was given and was simply - " high above the Planet Nod a space-station shaped like a four poster bed is in orbit."

Ladies and Gents - The Planet Nod Dream-Station........