Fighter Kites - Progress Check No. 1

Over the break, before beginning the first Production I class, I had a bit of an epiphany. I was struggling to visually imagine our short and its overall aesthetic. It's easy to sketch up concepts and 2D ideas, but I was really struggling to see the picture in 3D. I needed a quick solution and remembered a professor mention Midjourney. By only using this as a tool, I spent some time (with the free trial hehe) imagining our short and its visual possibilities in 3D. This was the starting point.

Before, I had a vague idea of what a final product could look like, but immediately seeing it in front of me was a different story. Of course, these images are not what any of the final models will look like, but the mere idea of seeing something that could be was a game changer. I had a new spark of energy for this project and felt more comfortable diving in. The idea of being scared to start something is very prominent, but you just have to start scared.

The Roc, a giant mythical bird, is a major character in our short, and I used my zoology interests to apply different species of birds and see what kind of scary/majestic creature could come out of it. Bearded vultures, Shoebills, and Harpy Eagles were my main focus due to their unique and memorable features. I also wanted a focus on textiles and materials that made it feel like you could touch the bird. The idea of the bird being an imagined 'thing' in a child's mind is important to convey, so that is something we will be focusing on when developing this character.

With the Midjourney bot, I wanted to see all the main aspects of our short. These images represent the starting point of our conceptual progress, and I think it's important to include them to see how far we've come. I was not happy with how the fighter jet, environment, and secondary main character turned out.

I thought our main character, however, turned out well and almost exactly as I imagined. This way, I felt comfortable turning to my team and confidently showing them a possibility of what we could be working with. Feel free to scroll and take a look at some of the iterations.

From here, we could move onto the next stage of character development which was our own interpretations of this character. With a 3D version in mind, I sketched out variations of the main character, keeping in mind future modeling and rigging.

This character is still under development, we're thinking of changing her hair to one braid considering her age (age 10+ girls usually wear hair single-braided). Clothing is another important factor to consider. What will we be rigging?