SIMON ARDOIN
Beacon Character Designs (Summer 2021 - Fall 2021)
Survivor Face Exploration
Upon joining the Beacon team, one of my first jobs was to find a better face shape for The Survivor - the man character of the film who barely escapes disaster from the doomed Archimedes. The first image shows what my director, Drew Stadler, originally had for the design, with noses, facial hair, and ears being changed to create multiple version.
I was then asked to redesign the entire character's face, moving it away from the original concept. After experimenting with face shape and finding one we agreed on, I then launched into more nose, hair, and eye exploration. We eventually settled on number twelve on the left, though we switched which eye was damaged, took away from of the details in the hair, got rid of the bump on his nose, and gave his damaged eye a wrap, which can be seen in the turnaround below.
Art done in Paint Tool SAI.
Survivor Turnaround | Art done in Photoshop and Paint Tool SAI
Survivor Shape Breakdown
Survivor Angle Tests
Survivor Expressions
After getting the turnaround done, by next task was to complete an expression sheet for The Survivor. He tends to wear his emotions - and expressions - on his sleeve, and as such, he's a very expressive person. Due to the fact that the film is semi-realistic in style, I didn't make his emotions over-animated, instead choosing to push his expressions to the limits of what would be possible with an actual person's face.
The one caveat to that rule was that his pupil changes sizes based on his emotion, taking on the role of both a pupil and iris. This makes the design simpler for animation purposes while also using it as an advantage to create more interesting expressions.
Art done in Paint Tool SAI.
Survivor Poses
While most of the film consists of the Survivor simply walking or acting in one form or another, there are still plenty of shots where he takes on a much more action-packed role, and therefore, pose. This is especially true in the second half of the film, where he will be using the gun shown to protect himself from a wolf he knows nothing about.
Looking back on these poses, I think some of the arms and proportions could have been cleaned up a little better. Not to mention the gun itself, which seems to change sizes a little bit depending on which image you look at. At this point in time, though, we've already begun animating, so it's no big deal.
Art done in Paint Tool SAI.
Original Rescuer Concepts
Rescuer Color Explorations
After getting the Rescuer's design down and having it approved, I was then tasked with coming up with a color design for the character. Initially, I went with red as my first few tests, as my thought of "rescue" initially when to red and white. I tested out a couple other colors as well, but the team all agreed that red, white, black, and silver were the best ways to go.
Rescuer Turnaround
With the colors locked in, I finished the turnaround for the character, who would actually later be cut from the film in a later version. While this was the case, we're still utilizing the design for one of the scenes, though it will be from afar, meaning most details won't be seen. More than anything for this character, I wanted to emphasize that he's built more for defense and support than attack, as his oxygen tank has a removeable hose that he can give to patients in need, as well as a med pack on either hip. That being said, I also wanted him to have some things in common with the Survivor, hence the lines around the feet, knee pads, and a chest plate.
Illustrations done of the Beacon crew in the style of the film, which I might as well count as character design.
Quick sketch of "Frank" - an alien bird who was later picked up by Drew and given a new design before being cut.