Done and done,
Graduated ... Job hunting time.
It's good to have free-time now to get back on the forums. I've been visualizing the book "DUNE" for my thesis, as if to prove how well/timelessly it could be put into a film production of today's standards.
Trying to give justice to Herbert's classic, at the same time trying to figure out elements to build on or take away for a production. My professors were of great help, with their expertise in ID they were able to help me gear the designs to many markets and demographics, including toys and games.
It was a short quarter (only 9 weeks) and I had an extra class so I still plan to keep working away at this project before I finish and move onto Ender's Game. I still have some designs I'd like to tackle in my summer-time and just keep doodlin' away.
I actually based my criteria for the designs off the main governing elements of toy-design. Developing them towards a methodology I could use:
1-Fun: the initial impact visually of the design ~ the aesthetic appeal that speaks to an outgoing audience.
2-Engaging: The interaction with the designs' universe ~ The realism and convincing nature communicated to an enchanted audience.
3-Challenge: The presence of a sequential working articulation ~ The functionality to reward an observant audience.
I'll start with the ornithopter, which I considered a very important design since it's the main transportation unit. I really wanted to get away from the "science-fantasy" portrayals of the book to a more science-fiction feel... the least cheesy-sci-fi I could actually... It should reflect/drive the design of Arrakis, a very industrial spice-processing mecha (the painting's in the works). So I got a chance to go to the local JVC plant and get a tour of their industrial machinery, get some reference and pamphlets of hydraulic systems. It was also presented that the Ornithopter was not a machine unique to Arrakis, that it was on other planets as well. There were many times they discussed how the intakes weren't optimized for combating Arrakien dusts. I worked at it 'till I came up with this very utilitarian design.
Also the definition of ornithopter: A machine shaped like an aircraft that is held aloft and propelled by wing movements.
It's clear that Herbert created the ornithopter to be like many of those failed 'flappy' aircrafts from the 1950's we see in old videos blowing up : D
It's obvious that an audience of today's intelligence would have a hard time buying a ship that flaps (after seeing how they failed so many times)... but I still wanted articulate wings so I developed it's hovering propulsion wings. This way it could still skid to a landing and fold it's wings up like in the book.
some thumbnails that carried me into the freeze.
and a very early more incorrect design...
EWWWW!
The harvester is more specialized. along with the carryall (still designing it) it would've been machinery designed completely/solely for arrakis... So it needed to look like more Harkonnen $ was pumped into its creation to combat the elements of the planet.... But the Harkonnens are still cheap, They would probably only use the basic manufacturing-technologies needed to keep this thing supported in the desert.
It was described in the book as a giant 'beetle'.... but It should be something more in subtle ways. I designed it to be this huge beast that would be dropped off by the carryall and penetrate and rape the earth with its enormous phallic probe. In an hour or two, when done, the carryall would pick it up... quick and dirty.
a few of the main thumbnails...
and a very old crappy design
and some old carryall designs... SHEESH!!
not gonna' cut it...
I was eating at a restaurant and my waiter picked up on what I was drawing and was very excited. Turns out he was studying to become a film student and it was his dream to do DUNE, he was finishing up the last book in the series when I met him. He helped me a ton with the navigator design.
The navigators are humans warped by the spice gasses, they have intelligence beyond our comprehension and are capable of warping space. Aside from their more grotesque and vaginal design elements they should look very intelligent ... and very gluttonous from spice spoils.
Inspired by so many stories of people staring into the eyes of a blue-whale and seeing the whale look right back... seeing that intelligence... that's what I would want these creatures to convey.
some early drawings and thumbs...
and a painting of a school of navigators entering from a spice chamber preparing to warp space. Quick and based off a block model this was a chance to get to justify my designs in a scene-paint.
YAY!!! THE FUCKIN' SANDWORM! really needs no introduction.
The fucker needed to make an impact... granted he gets to jump out of the sand, he gets to actually sink the damn harvester, and he needs to be the testosterone of the desert.
A very grotesque, phallic, and disturbing form to stick in peoples' brains.
the early design really told me how hard I needed to work with this guy...everything was 'tremors this... tremors that' ... yea, only so much you can do with a worm right?
He's really base very much off planarians/tapeworms since there was so much mention in the book of it being able to regenerate from any segment. But I worked some of the silhouettes found in more venomous snakes in.
In both the films there was no real explanation, through dialogue or action that the worms rotate. When the fremen ride them the split their skin exposing softer skin to the sand, the worm rolls up and the fremen mount it. The design needed to explain this... So I came up with a more dorsal stance when it's docile to a more aggressive horizontal stance when it's mounted.
some of the thumbnails that went into its creation...
and the old shitty tremmors design.
and this one's for Smellybug, my first sculpy model to support the worm's design ... was a blast to do, I gotta get me more sculpy.
My girlfriend (on the forums as lupicani) was a huge help with the still-suit design... I basically worked with her and rendered what she had to say.
What was missed in other interpretations of Herbert's book was how much of a deep culture the fremen were. The suit should show that this man has had his suit since manhood, that it's worn, tattered, repaired, and sunbleached. Many personalized and decorative elements apply to the design and can change accordingly to the character... this way unique designs could communicate the character visually and we still have face coverings to mask the people. I worked in a lot of 'worm-mounting' harnesses into the still-suit, very based on many of the harnesses created to aid in the 9-11 incident. Also the decorative shoulder brace and neck-piece was made to reflect the silhouette of the worm's head and beak to show how the fremen worshiped them as their gods.
and some early designs more reflective of civil-war culture, and a little too sci-fi than I wanted to go.
... ok ... done, more to come peeps : D
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