Character Artist Research

Takeshi Obata

DOB: February 11th, 1969
Occupation: Manga artist, Game artist, Artist, Illustrator, Penciller, Inker
Nationality: Japanese
Famous Works: Death Note, Castlevania Judgement, Hikaro No Go

Michelangelo

DOB: March 6th, 1475

DOD: February 16th, 1564

Occupation: Sculpture, painting, architecture, and poetry

Nationality: Italian

Famous Works: the Pietà, David, The Last Judgement



Tite Kubo

DOB: June 26, 1977

Occupation: Manga Artist

Nationality: Japanese

Famous Works: Bleach, Zombiepowder

Mark Crilley

DOB: 21 May, 1966

Occupation: Artist, Illustrator, Cartoonist, Fiction Writer

Nationality: American

Famous Works: Miki Falls, Akiko, Brody's Ghost





Character Moodboard

Character moodboard from James-003

Character Biography

Character Biography

Basic Info

Name: Almeas

Age: N/A

Weight: 9.5 (Stone)

Size: 5.7 (feet)

Family: Almeas has a single brother, if Almeas is considered the dark side of Death, his brother is considered the light. His name is Almiech, in contrast to Almeas, Almiech is compassionate with the dearly deceased and guides them to the spiritual realm.

Species: Dark Angel

Characteristics & Assets

Origin: Almeas is an Inter-dimensional being, therefore his existence pre-dates the big bang, however his physical form was manifested upon the creation of life in the universe.

Motivation: To maintain balance between the living and spiritual realms.

Weapons/powers: Scythe, Long Sword, manipulation of space and time, a degree of control over objects and the minds of people in the physical realm.

Transport: N/A Almeas is an inter-dimensional being, therefore he can be anywhere at any time, however whilst manifested in his physical form, he may travel via the use of his wings.

Personality: Almeas has a stern personality, as an Angel of Death he bears no mercy towards his victims as he is certain his cause is the correct course of action. His mission is the reason for his existence and therefore he never strays from it. Until the last living soul has crossed over to the spiritual realm, he is not permitted to die.

Weaknesses: Even though Almeas is not permitted to die, he is still vulnerable to mortal injury whilst in his physical form. The simple answer to this would be to never take on his physical form, however in order to carry out his tasks within the physical realm, he must become part of the physical realm regardless of the danger it may impose.

Game Genre: Hack n’ Slash

Notes

In order to create Almeas, I took inspiration from a number of characters. The primary character is the Angel of Death. Many people have created their own depictions of this character, as a result there isn’t really something solid on this character to nail down besides the name and general role.

Other characters include, Castiel from Supernatural, Light Yagami and Ryuk from Death Note, Dark from D.N. Angel, Saya from Blood + and Raziel from Soul Reaver.

Raziel heavily influenced Almeas’ vulnerablilities, as Raziel is a Wraith and dwells within the spiritual realm, however despite being vulnerable within the material realm, he must materialise in order to proceed through the game.

Castiel played more of a role in terms of appearance rather than personality. I liked the style of clothing Castiel was portrayed in, therefore I based Almeas’ clothing on that.

Light Yagami certainly had an influence on Almeas’ personality. Despite the fact that this character took the lives of criminals via supernatural means, he truly believed it was the right thing to do for the world and would not be deterred from his course of action even if it meant giving up his soul and sanity in the process.

Ryuk is more of an influence in terms of his roles similarity across culture. Ryuk is a Shinigami or in English, a God of Death. While they both act for different reasons, they ultimately perform the same job.

Dark is more of an influence in terms of design. While I ultimately didn't take much from him, I did examine his angel wings quite a lot in order to better understand how to draw them.

Saya is another influence when it comes to personality, she is fixed on her goals and refuses to deter from them. She is much more compassionate than Almeas, but her fixation on achieving her goal is certainly something I would associate with Almeas.

Charos/Almeas Artwork

Initial Design of Almeas. At this point he was called Charos. I was undecided on how he should appear, so I experimented with a few different hair styles and facial expressions.

After deciding on a hair style, I decided to start drawing out his body. I was initially trying to draw out my first full body concept, but I stopped a quarter way through when I came up with a new idea which I really wanted to try out. "Suit with a hood?"

After deciding he would have this suit/hoodie style of clothing, I felt the need to re-design his face in general. I wanted to base this character on the Angel of Death, as I kinda consider him to be a universal anti-hero. When I did my research on this character, he was almost always depicted wearing a hood, in my opinion this gave off a sense of mystery about the character which I wanted to capture. This is also when I decided to change Charos' name to Almeas, which is an anagram of Samael, the angel of Death which I loosely based my character on.

I ultimately decided to maintain the visibility of my characters face, but have the hood obscure his eyes. For the sake of Almeas' face concept, I added the eyes in some of the main concepts on this occasion.

This is my first full body concept of Almeas, I added wings and a scythe. As this was my first time drawing him full body, I kept it all fairly simple. I experimented with the suit/hoodie but in this case, it looks closer to a hoodie over a dress shirt. For now I maintain this design.

In this design, I've become more confident in drawing Almeas full body, so as a result, I attempted to draw a more complex pose. I have maintained the same design as before.

Becoming even more confident in drawing Almeas, I did another full body concept of Almeas walking whilst wielding two weapons. A scythe just as before and now also a sword. I never really intended to add a sword to the design, and honestly I only added it as a counter balance to the scythe.

Either way, in this design I feel I am getting better at drawing out Almeas' wings, after researching imagery of angels online.

For my front, side and back view of Almeas, he undergoes his biggest design change since he was Charos. I have taken away his usual hoodie and replaced it with a trench coat with an attachable hood. I drew my inspiration for this design from a character called "Castiel" from the TV show "Supernatural"

In this show, Castiel is also an angel and  wears a dress shirt, tie, trousers and of course a trench coat.

Another thing of note is that the wings are missing, I always planned for Almeas to have the ability to retract the wings, but the main reason for their removal here is simply the fact that they were too big to add three times on the same page, as well as the fact that they would have completely obscured the back view.

This is Almeas in his final design. I shortened his trench coat slightly, but apart from that, the design remains exactly the same as before. Albeit drawn more confidently with more experience.

Almeas' final design in full colour, this was coloured digitally via the software GIMP 2.8. The design remains the same in this rendition, although I did add a glowing yellow eye from under the hood to gain a slightly more menacing appearance.

Here's a digitally coloured full body concept of the back of Almeas, I have removed the wings in this one too as they obscured his back.

I also drew out a concept for Almeas' brother, Almiech as part of a previous personal project. Almeas wasn't present in this project, so I saw this art project as a chance to expand upon an already existing cast of characters.

Almiech is a much more light hearted character than Almeas, which I feel is referenced in his overall design. Even though he is still dressed nicely, it is in a much less formal manner than the stern Almeas.. In regard to Almeas, he acts as the younger brother, even though they are of the same age, which would actually make them closer to twins.

Claymation - Research

Creature Comforts

Produced by: Nick Park, Aardman Animations

The Pirates! Band of Misfits

Produced by: Aardman Studios, Sony Animation Studios

The Infection Animation

Produced by: Alexsnowskate

Breakdance Claymation

Produced by: Mamshmam

The Demented Ambulance

Produced by: Guldies



Environment Concept Art - Presentation

Sketch Book - Photos

Doorway of Venice (Architecture):  This is a line art of a doorway in Venice, (In case the title didn’t clue you in) This was another one I enjoyed doing, there were various patterns and shapes to add in and it was another fun way to practice my architectural art skills. 8/10

Water Colour (Architecture): This was a fun and messy piece, I used pencil to create a line art, after that I used water colours and attempted to mix various colours in order to gain the correct tone for the stone of the building and it’s windows, I’ve used water colours before, but not to the point in which I am well versed in it’s use. I failed in some areas and succeeded in others and I have mixed reactions regarding this one. 7/10

Pen Drive/Rubber (Object): These pieces were done in ink, I never felt I got the technique of using ink down too well, I was consistently running out when I needed it and accidently added too much in areas where it should have been lighter. I used a cross hatching method of shading on the rubber and a simple line by line method on the pen drive. I could be much happier with these pieces and feel more practice with ink would aid me in improving my use of this method. 4/10

Set up (Architecture): This was a new kind of piece for me to work on, with all the different parts and pieces, it almost made me nauseous maintaining focus, it is a simple line art with very little shading and I used a pencil without the aid of a rubber or ruler. I feel it went well for me first try, but it could’ve been better. 6/10

Collection of Objects (Object): This piece is comprised of a variety of objects in line art form. I drew and shaded these objects with pencil, the shading was done in a blended manner. This was all done without the aid of a rubber or ruler, therefore some slight mistakes have been made in terms of size and proportion.  I’m fairly satisfied with this project. 7/10

Sharpener/fork (Object): For these objects, I used a biro pen. As with the previous piece, I did not have the aid of a ruler, thus some of the lines are a little shaky. I shaded them via the cross hatching method and also included a faint reflection of the object. Due to the shaky lines, I’m not as satisfied with these pieces as I could have been. 5/10

Water Fountain (Object): I enjoyed drawing this one, I used a pencil to create a line art with linear shading, despite not having a ruler or a rubber, I felt this piece went really well and it allowed me to practice size and proportion. 9/10

Random collection of Objects (Object): In this piece I was required to use coloured pens in order to create a piece containing various objects of random sizes and colours. I made simple line arts with light, linear shading. It wasn’t my favourite piece to work on, but it was something new and interesting and I felt I achieved my aim. 7/10

Gameboy/Tape Phone Case (Objects): This piece is aprt of our Objects project. This is a picture of my Gameboy Advance SP and Casette tape phone case, I used a fine-liner pen to draw this out without the use of a ruler. Therefore some of the line are a little wonky, but overall I think it came out pretty well. 7/10

Collage (Architecture): Again, this is an unpractised form of art for me, but it was something new and interesting to do. I found various pictures of architecture from within the Manchester area, I then placed them together and a white sheet of card. After I was happy with their placements, I glued them down. 7/10

College Canteen (College building): This is yet another line art, I used a pencil without the aid of a ruler or rubber, I feel it could have been much better with more time and therefore it is an unfinished piece. I felt this was going well, but as it remains unfinished, I could’ve been happier. 6/10

Student Area (College Building): Another Line art to go! I drew and shaded this one with pencil, this allowed me to practice perspective and went pretty well for the most part, although I did have difficulty gaining the correct perspective around the ceiling, not to mention without the aid of a ruler or rubber, some lines are shaky and some mistakes were left within the final piece. 7/10

Gargoyle’s in a row (Architecture): This is another architectural piece, this is a line art drawn with a pen. Without the aid of a ruler, many of the lines are shaky, but I did enjoy drawing those gargoyles, despite the fact they ended up looking different in each of my iterations. 6/10

City Outskirts (Enviroment): This piece is part of our Enviroment project. In this project our group designed a Medieval enviroment, this is a piece that I did in pencil of the outskirts of the city walls. I used a vanishing point to aid in achieving this perspective. 6/10

City Fort (Enviroment): This is a line art which I did with a fine-liner pen. This is a design I did for our enviroment project of a city fort during the Medieval age. 5/10

Three Towers of Artemis (Enviroment): This is another piece of artwork which I have done for the enviroment project. I did this based on an upside down coca-cola bottle as advised by a team membe in this project. I drew this with a pencil and then I went over it with a fine-liner pen. 7/10

Redorian City Street (Enviroment): This is a city street from the Enviroment project, I used vanish points to help create the sense of perspective, however I did this without a ruler, so it's still a little wonky.

I originally drew this out in pencil, but went over it afterwards with a fine-liner pen. 6/10

Headphones (Objects): This is from our objects project, I brought a pair of old headphones from home and drew them out free hand with a pencil. After this I went over it with a fine-liner pen. 6/10

More things from Home (Objects): Here are some more things that I brought from home for the Objects project. This picture consists of an old beanbag toy, a thick cuffed watch and a pair of keychains. I drew these out free hand with a pencil, after which I wnt over it with a fine-liner pen.

More things from Home, Now Bigger! (Objects): This is a picture that I did after finishing my original piece. he idea was to draw my objects bigger with more detail. In this one I also included my keys with the keychain. Once again I drew this out free hand with pencil and went over it with a fine-liner pen.

Jukebox Money Box (Objects): This is a picture I did of my old Jukebox/moneybox from home. I drew this out in pencil free handed. I would like to add shading to this picture, so I'll update this after the deed is done.

Twin Apartment Block (Architecture): I'm fairly satisfied with this piece, despite doing this free hand, I feel I managed to capture the symmetry pretty well. I lightly drew out some lines in pencil to follow before putting down anything solid. I didn't have a ruler for this, but I think it definitely helped with keeping everything decently symmetrical. 7/10

Modern Building (Architecture): This piece was drawn from a photograph. I initially drew it out free hand in pencil and then followed up with fine liner pen. I used a rubber to remove the pencil marks afterwards. 7/10

Castle Dungeon (Enviroment): This is a water painting of a dungeon for our enviroment project. I initially drew it out in pencil and then went over it in water coloured paint. This one didn't go too well and ultimately remained unfinished. 4/10

Toy Car (Objects): I drew this out as part of our objects project, I drew it out free handed in pencil, I also shaded it this way. This is one of the first things I drew in this project and I'm quite happy with it. 7/10

Cineworld Building (Architecture): This is a line art of the Cineworld cinema in Manchester. I drew it out in fine liner pen free handed. I'm a little dissapointed with this as I made a few mistakes proportion-wise, as a result I couldn't complete it. 3/10