lyd-jms-lwrs

[lyd-jms-lwrs]

A short introduction

Hello! I am Lydia and I am a 21 year old studying animation at Sheffield Hallam University after taking a year out and taking part in a art foundation. I spent my year out figuring out what I wanted to do and where I wanted to take my art. I concluded that I want to become an animator and storyteller. I am fascinated by the combination of static drawings and interactivity. During my art foundation course at Sheffield College, I learnt a lot about myself and had the pleasure of meeting lovely people who are also passionate. I managed to bring this dream a little but closer with my distinction level final project “Heads and Three Tales”

When people asked me what I want to do in the future, I did not used to be able to give them a straight answer. I can now confidently say that I know in which direction I'm heading: I would like to make animatics, short animations, and my ultimate goal is creating my own webcomic with animated panels. In addition, I am interested in interactive trails and installations. Digital format and interactivity are here to stay and it is my ambition to explore and develop formats in which incorporate artist expressions - classic, activistic and popular - with digital formats.

Please use the tags to navigate and thank you.

[lyd-jms-lwrs]

underground information department, 2022

digital

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the trio, 2022

digital drawings made into cardboard cutouts

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title cards, 2022

Heads and Three Tales

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Heads and Three Tales - Foundation Art and Design Final Project 2022

Closing Comments

This is it. This was the story of my journey through this project. I hope I kept it interesting enough for you. I have learned a lot about myself and a lot about my views on art as a whole. Somethings have not changed though, I still like being dramatic and not fitting into the white cube. However, I have a feeling that I can break out of the white cube with more sophistication than before this project. The project I had done before this one was also an interactive project, but it was all conceptual. I never actually made anything physically. To go some just saying “this is what I would like to do” to “here I have made what I was saying I was going to make” was a big step for someone like me.

I am happy that I did it though. I feel like if I had done anything differently I would not have been happy. I found some old notes of mine when I was looking through my notebook and it was my first plan for this project. Baring in mind that I had planned this out before Christmas when I was not happy at all with anything and I believe that if I took the easy way out and followed this original plan, it would have been a disaster. This was the way to go for me. I am certain of it.

I said at the start was I was testing myself – seeing if I can create something that people will enjoy and want more of. I can’t say with confidence that I have since it has not been exhibition night yet. But for the first time in my life, I can say with full confidence that I am exciting to show people my art.

UPDATE:

This project was rewarded a Distinction level

[lyd-jms-lwrs]

Heads and Three Tales - Foundation Art and Design Final Project 2022

Notes from my borderline chaotic notebook

[lyd-jms-lwrs]

Heads and Three Tales - Foundation Art and Design Final Project 2022

The Sketchbook

I wanted to create a making of book along with the book because I thought it would give an interesting insight on how I created these characters. Also, as I have mentioned before I wanted to have comments from the trio themselves to bring them more to life. Instead of just sticking to designs from the stories, I drew pictures of the characters interacting with each other even though they never do in the stories. This was inspired by one of my prized possessions which is my Complete Illustration Book of Haikyū which is a book filled with drawings from my favourite manga and anime. The book contains drawings that can be found in the volumes of the manga but also extra drawings that the author did not use. One that stood out the most to me was a double page spread of every character in the series all hanging out. You see characters that technically never meet in the story chatting to each other. This is what heavily inspired my making of book. I wanted to add these elements to make it all a bit more magical. I realised that when I went back to reading the manga and I saw a character, in my head I said things like “Aha! I know that you are friends with this person even though I never see you two interact in the main books!”. It adds more character and I felt like I got closer to these characters.

Furthermore, I have said that I do not want to abandon this trio I have come to love during this project. I think it would be such a shame if I just forgot about them. I am planning to keep them in my life and in my art. One of my favourite manga authors Kiyohiko Azuma has a series about five highschool girls and the stories are one strip, about five panels, since it was printed in a monthly magazine. During this project I have come up with many small stories for these three and I will probably take this approach more but who knows. The future is exciting and terrifying.

Something that brought me lots of frustration during this project was the fact that I could not keep a consistent art style. Now that I think about it, it was more of a blessing and the curse I thought it was. It shows development. It shows growth. And I think I have learned a lot from this project. I have learned that maybe I should just take the leap. I was worried I was walking on a tightrope over a pit of spikes when I first came up with the idea. I’ll be honest, there have been some times where I have nearly fallen off of the tightrope and there have been times I have wanted to throw myself into this pit. But I did not. I made it to the other side and my reward is confidence. Before this, I never showed my art to anyone out of fear of being judged. I only showed it to my closest of friends on a private Instagram account only they followed. But as I started creating pieces I was truly, truly proud of, I would post them on my public Instagram where many of my old classmates and family members would see it.

That might sound insignificant, but I feel like we underestimate this step. I have always been afraid of not being good enough. My brother and sister have also done art foundations and I was in their shadows for a long time. But, I feel like now I have managed to create a name for myself with my style of interactivity and have earned the chance to stand next to them (or even overtaken them, I am the youngest so it is in my nature to be a bit competitive).

[lyd-jms-lwrs]

Heads and Three Tales - Foundation Art and Design Final Project 2022

I make TikToks. Usually they are about gender or sexuality or Glamrock Freddy from Five Nights at Freddy’s: Security Breach. You might be thinking “ok, what is the relevance of this?”. Cast your mind back to when I said that I started posting my art on my main Instagram account instead of my private Instagram account that only my close friends follow because I was feeling more confident. My main Instagram account only has about 500 followers. That sounds like quite a lot. Well, my TikTok nearly 70 thousand followers. And I decided to make this TikTok because I was so happy with my cardboard cutouts. If you told me a few months ago that I would feel confident and happy enough with my art to post it to a platform with a lot of people on it, I would have told you to stop lying. The video did well and people liked it. I really did embrace this whole “let’s start doing my dream career right now instead of waiting”. I surprised myself.

[lyd-jms-lwrs]

Heads and Three Tales - Foundation Art and Design Final Project 2022

MAKING OF: Lux

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Heads and Three Tales - Foundation Art and Design Final Project 2022

MAKING OF: Grey

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Heads and Three Tales - Foundation Art and Design Final Project 2022

MAKING OF: Box

[lyd-jms-lwrs]

Heads and Three Tales - Foundation Art and Design Final Project 2022

The Cardboard Cutouts

The idea for the cardboard cutouts were, if I am honest, incredibly last minute. My teacher had mentioned that he had seen an artist that had reminded him of my work - they designed characters and turned them into real cutouts and placed them in public places, took some pictures and then left them there. When he told me about this artist, I instantly knew that I wanted to do a similar thing. I had thought about it for a few minutes and it made perfect sense to me – I was already trying to make these characters come to life, what is better than actually creating them in real life for people to actually meet.

I have had some past experience with making cardboard cutouts, I had made an accurate lifesize cut out of an anime character my friend liked for her birthday a few years ago. My only problem was that I did not have enough cardboard. I have a little bit lying around from a past personal project but not enough to make three cut outs. So, I did some digging and realised that we were actually running out of cat food AND my mother had an event with her students so she needed to get food and drinks. So, I took this opportunity to propose that we go to Costco since we needed to anyway. The last time I needed a lot of cardboard, I had asked someone working at Costco if I could have some cardboard because they through it all away and they did not mind at all. I did the same thing again, I told the worker that I am an art student who needs it for a project and they were more than happy to give me some. Furthermore, some of my family members went to IKEA and had also asked them for some cardboard.

I was fully set on making these cutouts.

Box’s cutout was the first one I made since her picture was already digitised and ready to be printed. Box was a lot of A4 sheets and I was a bit intimidated on how to approach this. I did not fully remember how I had made the cardboard cutout for my friend because it was about two years ago. I trimmed the white border left and started sticking the panels together – this was a mistake. Well, no. I would not say mistake. Mistake is a harsh word. It’s not like Box looks any different to the other two. It just made the process harder. I thought by having all of my panels already perfectly arranged, it would be easy to stick down. I was wrong. The mistake was that I had just made it more difficult for myself.

To get the cardboard to not bend and flop over, I used a piece of bamboo that you would usually use to help prevent plants from flopping over. For the stand I just used some more cardboard that I had lying around (I was drowning in cardboard).

Unfortunately, I could not get Box to be her canonical height of 6’3 but she is still taller than me (5’6) and is the tallest out of the trio.

For Grey, I had tried a new method. I was also looking forward to creating Grey’s cut out since they were a lot shorter than Box. I managed to get Grey’s height to be more accurate the Box – the service I was using was free up to a certain size so I had to work around it. Instead of sticking all of the panels together first, I assembled them as I stuck them down. This was a lot easier and also faster since I did not have to go through the process of sticking everything down individually. In fact, this whole process was a lot faster because Grey is the smallest cut out. This method also used a lot less glue. I was running low on PVA but I am also running low on money so I was determined to finish this all with the limited amount of glue that I had left. Grey’s canonical height is 4’11 but I believe the cut out is actually taller.

Again, to make sure that the cardboard does not flop, I used a piece of bamboo again.

The process of creating Lux was nearly identical to Grey’s process, except this time I used the cardboard I got from IKEA which was in one big sheet and a lot more fragile and thin than the other pieces of cardboard. That was not a problem though because of my bamboo method. Lux’s canonical height is also 6’3 but this cut out is short than Box - again I would have had to pay to get to be extra but their heights are irrelevant. It is just something I came up with to give them more life.

I wanted to add the personalities into the project title card along with the playfulness of the characters. That’s why I let them draw and doodle and write all over it. I thought it would make it more appealing to look at and to see all of the comments that they have written.

One last point I want to make on these characters and why I made the design choices that I did. As previously seen, the pictures that these were made from were originally pencil drawings. I had never coloured them in before. The only thing I was certain of when it came to colour was the colour of Box’s dress since it is based off of a dress I own in real life. So when it came to colouring them in, I decided to turn off my brain and not overthink it. I just did what came naturally.

I avoided being specific about as much as I could – gender, sexuality, race etc. I wanted everything to be ambiguous and for the reader to decide what they want.

The character who is probably the least ambiguous than the other two is Grey – their pronouns are he/they and in the making of book Box has drawn hearts in the colours of the nonbinary flag. Furthermore, in the summer photo, you can see top surgery scars peeking out of Grey’s shirt. But that is mostly it. Grey was there to make sure everyone can feel included in this experience. Race and sexuality is all up to the reader to decide. I, of course, have my own opinions on them and my friends and family have other opinions on what they are.

As for Box. She looks very feminine – small waist, big breasts, long hair etc. Some people might view this as slightly sexist, her appearance is very stereotypical. Think Barbie back when she was first created in 1959. Yes, she looks very feminine. But that does not mean she is any less pathetic. In Box’s story, her appearance is only commented on once. Throughout the story, the reader keeps seeing how strong she is and that her appearance has nothing to do with her ability to fight. I re-claimed the hyperfeminine look by having Box be strong and aggressive. I was fighting this idea that hyperfeminine people are fragile. That is just not true.

Lux is interesting. Lux was meant to be very masculine but as time went by he just evolved into what he is today. I think Lux is very feminine as well but that does not make him any less of a man. He is just a guy who also enjoys makeup (makeup is not gendered anyway, ANYONE can enjoy makeup) and has heart tattoos. That does not make him any less of a man. I think subconsciously, I created someone who I would deem as the “perfect image of masculinity”. Someone who is clearly very comfortable with their gender and sexuality that they can just be themselves. Lux likes having big muscles but does not like being called an ‘alpha male’ since alpha males are often part of a misogynistic culture and Lux does not agree with that at all.

Let’s talk about ‘alpha males’ for a second. ‘Alpha males’ in today’s culture are seen as these extremely masculine men who are rich and get loads of women – let’s not lie here, so called ‘alpha males’ are sexist bullies who hate women. What makes this even more bizarre, is that the term and idea comes from the animal kingdom - mostly apes and wolves. The ‘alphas’ in the animal kingdoms are usually the leaders but only because they are the caretakers of the pack as spoken about in Start the Week on BBC Radio 4. In regards to wolves, the alpha is the parent and in regards to apes, they are the one who looks after the whole group. Lux is more of the correct version of an ‘alpha male’ – when you meet Lux in the story, Lux immediately starts to look after you and makes sure you’re ok and wants to spend time with you. That’s what makes you an ‘alpha male’ but Lux still hates the term.

[lyd-jms-lwrs]

Heads and Three Tales - Foundation Art and Design Final Project 2022

The Title cards: Brainstorming and process

I knew I wanted to add title cards or at least something to indicate the start of a new story. It would make it easier to separate the three sections. In the original plan, I was going to have the three items in a simple style but it was lacking. I do like this graphic a lot but decided it would serve a better purpose as a title card for the whole book.

I wanted something more dramatic. Everything up until now has been somewhat tame – my designs and (some) of the choices in the stories. I wanted something to really pop. Something that would leave an impression on the reader along with the stories. But I did not want to give anything away. These pictures were meant to complement the stories and not spoiler anything. So, it had to be subtle. I also wanted it to include something to keep the reader coming back to look at the image. I needed to add something subtle but interesting enough to get the reader to want to read the stories. This is what I came up with.

You might be thinking, “Well there is nothing subtle here! I know that this is the zombie apocalypse!” Yes! You’re right. But you’re also wrong. You should have acknowledged the human looking hand in the picture as well – whose hand is that?

That’s the subtly. It’s Box! Since she is the only character that has a chance of not appearing at all. Compared to Lux and Grey, two characters you meet at the very start and who are with you till the very end, Box is someone who you only meet if you make the right choices. If people decide to full stick to the group, they will never meet Box. They will only hear about her.

I did make the decision to remove the figure who was going to stand in the palm of Box’s hand because I felt like it made it appear that Box was in control of you when actually YOU are the one in control of her.

What I believe stands out the most in Grey’s story is how much is dependent on if you are kind or mean. Even though it is a bit cliché, I wanted to incorporate a skull and a love heart to symbolise this. And to make it a bit more dramatic, I used the vapour.

To hint at Grey’s health condition, I added bruising to the hand (which, it turns out, I really enjoy painting). Easy bruising is a common symptom of haemophilia so I wanted to add this in as well. To tell the reader a little bit about the person they are about to encounter.

The positioning of the hand is actually inspired by the way some hold playing cards – nonchalantly but with the bruising and the vapour turning into a heart or a skull, it should still make the reader a bit weary of what can happen. They should themselves not go into this relaxed, because like in games like poker, this is a gamble. Make the right choices.

This was the third one I did and it was an experience. Prior to this project, I avoided drawing hands. But something called for me to draw hands for this project. I was intimidated but after the first the drawing, I started really enjoying it and I did not find it too difficult – it was a fun challenge.

This is one is not as subtle as the others since it shows part of a major event that takes place in the story. I feel like fire is usually interpreted as good – like reaching towards the light. I usually see it as destruction and I am sure that there are many people who also view it like that. I want to the first impression to be “oh no, I would not be reaching for something wrapped up in caution tape” but then after the story has been read, I want people to think

“He’s reaching for freedom in the sweet destruction,”

This was the biggest challenge of them all – two big hands, three figures and interesting lighting. I had some work to do. And I had so much fun drawing it. The first idea for the cover, was to have the trio but as silhouettes looking over with locations from the stories (like the forests and you could see the outskirts of Lux’s town). But it was not working. It just seemed, simply, stupid. It made sense but it was lacking significantly. I wanted to capture what this actually was – this is a game. The people reading it are playing. They are in control. So why not fully show that on the cover. You are the one in control that’s why I went for a point-of-view shot of the hands. I only used two hands because most humans only have two hands. Lux and Grey are the ones being played with since they are characters that you encounter at the the start of the stories and since there is a chance you never even meet Box, she is slumped on the ground. Box is also not wearing her iconic head, Grey doesn’t have their jacket and Lux does not have his bandana. This was to show that they are vulnerable even though they appear to not be in the stories. Ultimately, they are defenseless against you.

[lyd-jms-lwrs]

Heads and Three Tales - Foundation Art and Design Final Project 2022

The Stories: How they came to be and how they changed

I had the most ‘love-hate’ relationship with these stories and nearly all of them have changed since when I first started brainstorming for this project.The one that mostly stayed the same is Box’s story but her’s is also the most simple one. When I first began, I noticed that all three were practically the same only they featured different characters and instead of there being zombies, there was a nuclear war or a plague. “It doesn’t matter too much,” I thought to myself and began working on Box’s story.

When I finished Box’s story I was happy with it. It needed a couple tweaks and some spelling checking but other than that, it was a story that was interesting and it worked. I had asked my brother to test it out to see if I had missed anything – I had missed two numbers but that was all. Then, he would announce every time he died (little did he know that there was no way to survive in Box’s story).

I think the reason I found Box’s story so easy to write was because it followed a much more classic choose-your-own-adventure format. There were two options that followed two separate stories that take place in the same universe. It is the most common format. But it is also the most bland one. I knew that I would have to step up my game if I wanted to make this stand out from the average choose-your-own-adventure.

If there is something that I love and have spent a lot of time on, it is playing video games. I play many different types of videos games but one that has solidified its place as one of my favourites, it is Red Dead Redemption 2. I will not go into detail on how good the graphics, story and characters are because that is not that relevant. What is extremely relevant is that in Red Dead Redemption 2 there is a feature which is called the ‘Honour System’ – this means that if you interact positively with the NPCs (non playable characters) in the story, for example helping them out with tasks or even saving people, everyone in the game will acknowledge you as someone not to fear and as someone who can be trusted. This is what inspired the change for Grey’s story.

As I have said before, Grey’s character and story had to undergo a big change because I was not satisfied with it. I wanted to also incorporate this element of the honour system into a written piece of work – saying it is a lot easier than actually writing it. One of the main features of Grey’s story is that depending on how to the reader decided to act towards Grey, you will get a different outcome. Sounds simple, right? Wrong! So very, very wrong. My first attempt was fine, it shows what I wanted to bring across enough – you are mean to Grey, they will not like you. You are kind to Grey, they will like you. However, when my sister did a test run of Grey’s story, we noticed that there some odd parts where even if you weren’t terrible to Grey, you still got the bad ending. My sister told me that she was as nice as she could possibly be to Grey, but made one wrong choice and failed. Grey needed to be worked on a lot, so that is what we did.

This was the start of the longest two days of my life. I felt like I was being toyed with. Everytime I thought the end was so near that I could practically taste it, the finish line kept being moved further and further away. It was horrible, a borderline nightmare. It just wouldn’t end. I could not fix it. There were points where I thought I had done it, but then a new problem would come up and the cycle would start all over again.

Then it happened. I had cracked it. I had figured it out (with some assistance from my sister because I am terrible with numbers and it was making my brain hurt). We managed to create a written story that had a working honour system. The story did triple in word length but most of the words are the same with occasional changes to show if you were being mean, amoral or kind. I had to write a new ending which I did not mind doing because I had a lot of fun writing an ending where Grey beats the life out of you (spoilers).

Last came Lux. Actually Lux came second because I was procrastinating writing Grey’s story. Lux was an interesting one. Since he has the biggest character change, you would think that I would need to redo almost everything to do with Lux. No, not really. Since I already had no idea what to do with Lux when I first started redesigning him, it made the whole process a lot easier – it was a blank slate, I could do what I want.

I knew that I wanted Lux to be nice to you. He would follow the same format as Box, as in you encounter them and they are nice to you no matter what choices you make. The choices in their stories does no effect their character. But with Lux I wanted to change it up again. Instead of making it more complicated (and difficult for myself) like I did with Grey, I decided to do the complete opposite – I wanted to remove the choices all together. The story was about being trapped in a quarantined seaside town as you wait for your final days to be over. If this was real, you would not really have a choice. You would not be able to do anything. You trapped. So, I wanted to show this in the story. I disguised a linear story where you do not actually have any choice. When you read Lux’s story, you will notice that there are options – I did not remove the options. I just made sure they did not lead to anything. The ending is the same no matter what you pick. This was done to reflect this feeling of helplessness – your options are limited when you are quarantined and dying, but you can help someone else.

[lyd-jms-lwrs]

Heads and Three Tales - Foundation Art and Design Final Project 2022

Next Steps

So why this? Why create characters? When I had first presented my idea to my older sister, she was confused because she thought that the reader was going to be the character (e.g YOU are BOX etc). I was surprised by that because I thought it was obvious that these characters were going to be people you encounter. It made me think back to when I was trying to figure out why creators of shows, movies, books etc always make the sidekick character, the main character’s best friend, a thousand times more interesting and better than the main character. It annoyed me because the side characters always get killed off (if it is one of those shoes) and that I would prefer it is the main character died instead because they are usually much blander and just disappointing.

The reason creators make their main characters a bit less interesting is not because they can’t write good characters, it’s because I am supposed to project myself onto the main character. The main character is just a stand in for ME. Which is interesting. So, I wanted to take the same route but instead of making the reader project onto Lux or Grey, I made them people you encounter and can talk to. I was determined to bring these characters fully to life.

My determination made me flourish with ideas. I decided to add a sketchbook to my exhibition and the only purpose of this book was to try and make people feel more connected to these characters – to try and get to know them better. So I gave them likes, dislikes, pronouns and sexualities. I would go to sleep thinking about these characters even more and giving them full personalities that I would love to show the world someday, for example, Box has a impressive plushie collection, Grey can’t keep their room tidy and they always steal all of the tea mugs and Lux is an incredible flirt and often has ‘guests’ over. They all live together in an apartment and they have a cat called “Binks”, an tortoise shell. But I digress.

I made it look like these characters were annotating on the other pages as if they had written all of this themselves – this can be seen relatively well when looking at Grey’s introduction page as Box and Lux have both called them short as a joke. Pink is Box, green is Lux and red is Grey.

I was not satisfied. I needed more. A couple doodles and notes in a book was not good enough for me. So, I took it a step further. One thing this trio had in common was that they all has a significant figure was that prominent in their stories – Box’s box head, Grey’s gas mask and Lux’s sledgehammer. Aha! Now there is an idea! I could make this objects in real life!

That is exactly what I did. I created all three objects out of cardboard that I has lying around from a previous project. The cardboard is from COSTCO where I asked if I could take some since I knew that it was just going to get thrown away anyway so I might as well put it to good use.

Now that I had the items from each story, I still felt like something was missing. I wanted to add more and not just to my designated area – I wanted to use the whole building. And what is something you can hang around the building with bothering most people: posters! This would make sense as well, it is mentioned in Box’s story (provided that you choose the right options) that there are wanted posters of her. Easy. That’s one done. Now for the others, I needed to think a bit harder. What was a key feature in Grey’s story – people can’t breathe air and had to wear gas masks if they decide to leave the Underground. I know! Posters reminding people to always have their masks on hand just in case. That’s the second one done. Then I thought about Lux’s story. What is a key feature in that? You’ve been quarantined off into a seaside town. Perfect! I’ll make the welcome sign of the town but show that it has been turned into a quarantine zone for infected people to go die. It was as if it was meant to be. I got to work.

Unfortunately, I was STILL not satisfied. I had an insatiable desire. I needed more. So, I brainstormed a bit and had a chat with one of my teachers. Sometimes it is good to take someone else’s perspective and ask what they would do. And together we came up with what I believe was the missing piece – life-size cardboard cutouts.

There it was. The last thing to wrap this whole project together. One significant thing I noticed while doing this course is that I want people to take part. I did not like the idea of my exhibition going along the lines of “Hey look at MY work. Look at what I have done. LOOK AT IT!” I am not saying that there is anything inherently wrong with that. Of course there isn’t. If you want to present your work that way, go for it! I will support you. It just does not suit me and it does not suit this project at all. I am willing to provide everything, but I am going to make you work a little bit for it.

We already know the personalities of these characters and I had already come up with canonical heights one night when I was struggling to fall asleep: Box and Lux are both about 6’3 and Grey is 4’11. So, I might as well just fully bring them to live. Plus, I would love to see people taking selfies with them. That’s what they are there for. Furthermore, instead of placing them near my setup, I wanted to spread them out around the building, like a scavenger hunt to add to that interactivity.

[lyd-jms-lwrs]

Heads and Three Tales - Foundation Art and Design Final Project 2022

SUBJECT THREE: LUX APOCALYPSE: NUCLEAR

Lux was the hardest to design and I don’t really have an answer for why that was. He is also the one character I was debating giving up numerous times when I thought I could not complete this project in the way that I wanted to. I am glad that I didn’t have to cut him out though since I really like the way he turned out. Back in the beginning there were going to be five apocalypses, but that was too much. The options were:

● Imaginative ● Climate ● Medical ● Natural

● Man-made

As you can see, some of those are practically the same thing so I could cut the number down easily. Lux had the biggest character change, even more than Grey. Lux’s original plan was to be an old general who was dying and you were going to be one of his troops. I was put off the idea because I personally do not like war themed media like movies. They scare me. I was not happy with Lux’s idea and this was the start of the PROCRASTINATION ERA. I was so put off doing Lux’s design that I designed Grey and Box fully with stories planned and personalities before I even tried with Lux.

Eventually, I was forced into a corner meaning I had to FINALLY start working on Lux...and I loved it. I scrapped everything. I went back in with a blank slate. All I knew was that the story was going to be set in world destroyed by nuclear war. I thought back to the two previous stories and noticed both had a running theme of violence. I could have done a third keeping with the theme but that bored me. So, I decided to make the Lux story calmer, with less of a focus on violence and more on trying to enjoy the most of life before it gets taken away from you. Lux went from a rugged, aggressive army general, to a gentle giant who likes apple flavoured sweets and who carries around a sledgehammer, not to hurt people but as a device he can use so that he can take out his anger safely without hurting anyone.

Fun fact, Lux is the only one with a date of birth specified. Which was a mistake! But I only realised that a few days after I had finished his profile. I decided to keep it though. I’m going to assume most people thought at this was set in the far future, but no. I never say what year this apocalypse takes place. It could be the far future, but looking at more recent times, it is scary that maybe it could be closer than we think. But, hopefully, this scenario will NEVER happen.

Lux’s appearance and design is probably my favourite one, because I had so much fun creating it. I knew I wanted him to wear a bandana around his lower face and to have a eyepatch, but what if I added small details to make him seem more human, for example Lux has a tongue piercing and a lazy eye. As for his tattoos, I thought skulls or fire would be cliche since he is already quite a masculine looking guy (which he doesn’t like according to his profile), so I went with less stereotypical designs like plants and a butterfly on his upper right arm. As for his heart face tattoos, they were a happy accident. I had smudged some pencil and it looked like a heart and I instantly knew that I had to keep it.

I wanted Lux to appear a lot softer than in the original design. When I think back to my first plan for him, I groan because old Lux would have been the WORST to spend the rest of your dying days with. That’s why I turned him into a gentle giant. I also thought by making the reader kill Lux in the end would hit harder. That ending was of course inspired by John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men

Similar to Box, I kept a lot of the original details in Lux’s final design – that being the bandana and the eyepatch. I did remove his hoodie and changed his hair style from a middle part to a half shaved head.

[lyd-jms-lwrs]

Heads and Three Tales - Foundation Art and Design Final Project 2022

SUBJECT TWO: GREY APOCALYPSE: PLAGUE

Grey is probably the most realistic character and their story is quite interesting because it is based off of something I saw happening to myself and to other people in real life. Think back to March 2020 — lockdown. I noticed with myself that I was finding joy in things that I had not thought about for years. I thought it was only me, but when I went online, like TikTok or Instagram for example, I saw that it was happening to loads of people. Fast forward to March 2022 — there was a TikTok trend in which you had to show a picture of yourself from lockdown and one from now, to show people how much you have changed. It was a really interesting trend to look at. I saw many people discovering things about themselves — gender and sexuality wise. Many people (including myself) learnt a lot about themselves during lockdown and that is what inspired Grey. As stated in Grey’s profile, when society rebuilds they want to rebuild it in a way which lets everyone be themselves without feeling prejudice towards them. I wanted to make sure anyone who may have experience this change too during lockdown or even those who didn’t, could feel included while doing this story.

Grey’s character and design has changed quite a bit since when I first started working on them. At first, they were going to be a double leather wearing bad boy who was cold towards you and pretended he (before I changed their pronouns to ‘he/they’) did not care. But that is not the Grey we see right now. They still wear a leather jacket, but I traded in the second leather jacket for a frog t-shirt and replaced the man bun with a messy mullet. They wear baggy jeans and big boots. Their personality also changed a lot along with their health. They are still cold, but they don’t mean to be, their face just rests like that (they’re working on it). Probably the most significant change to Grey is the fact I made them haemophilic and have asthma.

I decided on this change because I wanted the force the player to think. Grey’s story is very different to what the original plan was going to be. They were meant to be there to accompany you, like a leader. But, I noticed that it was very similar to how Lux behaved in his story, which i had written before Grey’s. So, I wanted to add something new. Something that would decide how the story goes. Grey never does anything inherently wrong — they just want to feel included. It all depends on how YOU decided to treat them. If you decide to be kind, you are more likely to have a happy ending. But, if you act cold towards Grey then you run a risk of failing.

Grey’s design was the easiest – I got it first try. I immediately knew I had gotten the design right. The only change that Grey has gone through is that the length of their leather and their hair has had a bit of reshaping but Grey has mostly stayed the same.

I was not going to make Grey nonbinary when I was first planning. It just sort of happened. I drew this picture and instantly knew that they were a ‘he/they’ but preferred being referred to as ‘they’. Maybe there is a more subconscious reason - me and Grey have similar hairstyles and I identify as nonbinary so maybe that’s why. I don’t regret it though. The Protagonist for my last project was gender neutral so that the people could project themselves onto them. I want everyone of all identities to feel included.

These are the original concept drawings for Grey before I changed their gender and story. I will be honest, I took these pictures and then never looked at them again. It does not feel like I am looking at Grey when I see these pictures. It so funny how something can change so much gradually that you don’t even recognise the source.