Sketchbook: Hyveris

Hyveris

Everything in this sketchbook, both for this pet project and otherwise, I heartily welcome feedback, criticism and critique on. Feel free to post your thoughts.
I'd love to talk technique and build up some community. We can't get better without the truth.

Going to start of my sketchbook with working off of a pet project concept:

Between Robert C. O'Brien's 1971 children's novel Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH and the 1982 adaptation by Don Bluth Productions there are a variety of discrepancies and changes. Many of these were deemed necessary at the time as adjustments between the media of a book and a motion picture animation. In the years since, a great many children are still exposed to both.
In each plot, there is story before and behind the events that still begs to be told. As humans are visual creatures, and a movie once made leading viewers to books more often than the other way, it seemed reasonable to base a concept for a video game on a product with established and familiar visuals to ground it.
So without further ado, I'm going to try to visualize the characters and basic environments for a game that follows the escape of the rats and mice from the laboratories at NIMH as well as their initial adventures adjusting to their new lives.


As Nicodemus says in the movie, "We can no longer live as rats. We know too much."

Hyveris

It won't matter a great deal at the start, as most of the early work is going to be black and white, but I've pieced together a colour chart -





And the first considerations are given to character silhouettes. These need to convey the emergence from NIMH, the newness of their concept of clothing, decoration or shame, as well as the immediacy with which the rats wished to escape the experiments.

I'm starting with Jenner. He's eventually the antagonist/villain, and the one among the colony that falls the lowest into repeating the hubris and mistakes of mankind. As this is the start of his awareness, I want to convey some of his inherent aggression and more warlike nature than the rest of the rats. Later on in the development, designs with flap combinations became the favorite and a simple tie in in the 'uniforms' and unity of the colony members.

Hyveris

Moving forward, I put together some silhouettes for Mr. Ages. He;s the tinkerer/scientist of the group, and from the looks of his laboratory in the movie he's a collector and up-cycles things they come across. I've tried to incorporate the feel of carrying useful things. There's also hints of actual practices of science - the electrode plate on his skull, or audio experience inhibitors. It would be really easy, looking at laboratory lab rat references, for this to get too dark- living rats with objects sunk into their brains or bodies with iodine staining their fur around the opening to prevent infection.

It's important that Ages still be cute - a round, overweight silhouette and his pronounced whiskers kept visible even if he's meant to be younger than the events in the movie.

Hyveris

Moving on some more with Nicodemus. I'm trying to keep him looking somewhat regal, calm and leader-ish.

aaron2

Great job done!
Coloring looks pretty amazing:) loved it

Hyveris

Thanks for taking a look~

Hyveris

Justin in the beginning of the story needs to have an emphasis of youth, shadows of his occupation to be as captain of the guard, and feel more friendly and less aggressive than Jenner.

Hyveris

Only two mice survived the travel through the ducts - Mr. Ages and Johnathan. It was Johnathan who figured out to climb through the final barrier and how to open the grate. Like Ages he needs to appear intuitive, curious, friendly and generous. He doesn't know how to innovate with every object he picks up yet, but he's willing to pick up a lot of objects and figure them out.

Hyveris

Dragon is some years younger when the Rats first come to the farm. He's less bulky, sleeker muscled, and still fawned on by the lady of the house. Initially he is an object of fear, being an unknown enemy with untested cunning and strength. With their superior intelligence, though, the Rats come to workarounds to avoid the cat, and have some early successes in defeating him. It will be important to emphasize his menace through presence in frames and how shots are handled, as he doesn't have the humanized features and equipping that the Rats do. In addition, his collar can provide a trophy to Jenner or Justin later to be worn as a badge of honor. A hubris entertained until the loss of Johnathan that reminds and cements Dragon in the minds of the colony - not as book smart as they, but a perilously efficient hunter that should not be underestimated.

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Hyveris

Thanks for having a look~
I'll be uploading the chosen ones with their color paint overs ASAP.

indiePub

Really cool! I like your style a lot

Hyveris

Trying to have some sort of blue in there, as it's a thinking colour and a nice complement to his eyes. Varying levels of material from black nylon strapping, cotton cloth, leather or coloured electrical tape. His 'staff' is a large gauge dissection pin, as that is what they would have had access to.

Hyveris

Continuing the paint overs of of two chosen silhouettes for each character, three passes/materials studies for each character