My evaluation

How I felt BA6 went overall



Below I have put what I wrote for my 500 evaluation of BA6.

For BA6 I decided to focus on the different positive and negative future situations that mankind could face through the use of character concept art. I wanted my designs to specifically focus on how the humans of earth would look in certain circumstances that could take place in around fifty to hundred years’ time. The deeper meaning behind my project is that fact that the future is something that everybody thinks about in one way or another whether it’s a trivial thought or something much more philosophical and so this means that my designs can connect to anyone who looks at them and hopefully provoke an emotional response from the viewer. Over the course of this project it was my initial goal to produce a large amount of different character designs but I then started to narrow down my thoughts and focus my attention on one type of future events that mankind really wants to strive for and one that they would want to avoid. This concept lead me to deciding to create only two final designs so that I could have characters who will be very rather different from each other and will cause completely different reactions from the viewer.

I knew that for BA6 one of my goals was to create and large amount of design work in the programme Photoshop as it is far more professional than the one I am producing work in at the moment and it is necessary to learn how to use it if I want to create design work in the games industry. Along with this element I wanted to experiment with a slightly different artist style from the one I find myself using at the moment in order to help me try and improve how I draw characters in general and get a little  more creative experimentation instead of sticking to drawing cartoon/anime inspired pieces. Overall this is the element of BA6 I am most proud of and positive about as I feel like my art style has been able to involve and grow just by trying out different some experimentation with software and artistic techniques. It has motivated to stick with using Photoshop as I am now determined to learn more about how the software works and can be enabled to create strong pieces character art. 

As for the more negative side of this project I feel disappointed in myself that I wasn’t able to improve on my time management since BA5 as this caused me not to be able to create a lot of the work that I had planned out in the early stages of my project. I think I let a large amount of negative thinking slow down my design process which is unfortunate but that doesn’t mean I cannot change this. I feel that as BA7 will be spread out over a very large amount of time I will be able to spend a few days planning out exactly what I want to do so that I will be far more prepared then I was this time around. 

Finishing off my design work

My final piece 

So after completing my clothing and colour iterations for my two future character designs I knew it was time to start thinking about the final pieces I wanted to produce. Unfortunately due to running out of time on this project I knew I was only going to be able to produce one rough design instead of two fairly polished ones like I had planned for which is really disappointing but I just had to work with what time I had. So as our project is all about the deeper meaning behind the work we have produced and how is effects the viewer I decided to choose the design that I know is going to have more of a emotional response for people which was the young flood survivor. The reason for this was yes the cybernetic girl may show a really advanced and cool future that mankind wants to head towards but I think that people also need to realise that this future may not even happen is global warming takes place and it is something that we need to focus on right now before it gets out of hand so I believed that focusing on this character as a final piece would have the best results and certainly show the link the the meaning behind my project work.  

I decided that I needed to keep working in Photoshop throughout this project and even though I am not very comfortable with the software yet I wanted to press forward with it as I know I am slowly improving with each piece I complete with it. So I decided to go to the whole hog as it were as start with actually sketching straight into Photoshop which is something that has never had very good results for me before but I wanted to give it another go this time around. Luckily, from looking at a reference for the pose I was able to create a quick sketch of my character, which I am actually pretty proud of because sometime I struggle drawing dynamic poses and then I was able to think about basic things such as where he would be and what the environment would look like around him. Admittedly building up the image's line art and them moving into colour took a very long time, longer than it probably should have because I am still getting used to the layout and tools in Photoshop but hopefully If I just keep practising with it in the future I will slowly improve. 

Usually I don't include backgrounds in my work so getting the geometry and perspective right for the building was a little difficult but I think it worked out well in the end and helped set the scene a little better. I am really disappointed that I wasn't able to add any shading, lighting effects or details on the buildings or water in this piece but I simply ran out of time by the end of so there wasn't a lot else I could do but to be fair overall I am pretty happy with it considering it is my first Photoshop piece. 

The final image can be seen below 

Running out of time

Having to get another extension on my work


So about a week ago I thought that my project was going well, I felt like I was on the right track with my work and was making some good progress but unfortunately as I got into my last week of BA6 I finally started to realise that I had fallen behind on my work yet again and I wasn't going to be able to meet my deadline which was so embarrassing to admit to myself that this has happened for a second time this term. I really didn't want to hand in a half finished project so I tried pulling two all nighters in a row to get back up to date and managed to exhaust myself and feel emotionally ill due to the amount of pressure I was forcing myself to go under in such a short amount of time which made me have a little bit of a break down. Luckily after speaking to my tutor Mark he was kind enough give me an extension just for my contextual studies work which means I am really going to have to push hard with my studio work but I may not be able to complete two final character pieces like I had hoped too at the beginning which is really disappointing and I am frustrated with myself that I has gotten to this stage again. I REALLY need to buck up my ideas for the third year and make sure that I am dedicating large amount of my time and concentration to my project work so that this kind of thing doesn't happen at as I feel like it is negatively draining me and effecting how I see myself as an artist which really isn't good.

My design process

Character clothing and clothing iterations 

So after completing my character design pages for my two future situations, picking out which sketches were my favourite and then completing more image research to give my inspiration of clothing designs and I knew it was time for me to move onto my actual drawings. I made sure before I started to draw anything  though that I had some good pose references so that I would be able to reference back to them for anatomical corrections to my work. I think that it is always important to look at different posing before drawing anything to make sure that you are getting the proportions right for the character you are creating and also so that you can give them some personality just from the he way they stand.

So I began by sketching out the young male flood survivor in pencil in my sketch book first as I knew I am not very used to drawing children for character designs so I really wanted to focus on getting the proportions right to make sure he did look like a pre pubescent teenager but also with elements added in with him being particularly skinny and also looking quite forlorn. This wasn't as much as a challenge as I thought it would be and I actually really enjoyed designing a character the didn't look pristine and perfect and had a lot of emotion to them. Once I had completed this sketch I moved onto the female cyborg who again I really liked drawing as she was able to have a much more confident pose and I could think about all the aspects of her cybernetic parts as I was drawing her. The two finished sketches that were done on paper can be seen below. 

So after I completed my two sketches in pencil I scanned them into the computer and then thought about how I was going to go about outlining them. Now usually I used a programme called Manga studio to complete all my pieces of art work with as it is what I am most comfortable using but I knew it was about high time that I moved away from this basic software and used a programme that is expected of artists to know how to use in the industry, which is Photoshop. Now I have used bits of Photoshop before so I knew my way around it but have never actually completed any final drawings in it is this was a first for me. The thing I love about Manga Studio is the fact that is had a specific line tool that allows you to draw and curve a straight line and bend it into the shape you want to you can easily create a crisp outline but I knew this tool wasn't available in Photoshop so I would have to hand draw my outline. This took me a little while to do and get used to but once I had completed my outline for the flood survivor sketch I did start getting the hang of it and overall once it was done I really liked it's more sketchy looking result. I was able to complete my second outline at a much quicker pace as I had gotten more used to the brush and tools I was using. The two outlined pieces can be seen in the photos below. 

After completing the outlines for each of my characters I thought it would be a good idea just to have a little experiment with the different colour palettes I could use for my designs. I knew that I didn't want anything to be too bright epically for my flood survivor piece so I kept my chosen colours fairly saturated and just had a play around to see what would work with what. This was very much a case of just colouring within my outlines so I really didn't struggle with this and actually just found it quite relaxing. I think at this stage by just adding a little colour the personalities and 'story' or my two characters began to become far more clear and I was pleased with the result they were showing so far. My two coloured outlined pieces can be seen below. 

The next part of the process was the bit I was really looking forward too and always enjoy doing which was the clothing iterations for my two characters. I think it is just because this part is really creative and you able to set a mood and feel from your character just from the items of clothing they wear so there is a lot to consider when design them. When I was in the process of creating these different designs I was able to look at the mood boards on futuristic and post apolitical clothing I had created a little while ago In order to get some creative inspiration and they were both really helpful to reference to when I was drawing. I found it a little tricky getting used to using the different layer in Photoshop so that I could draw the different items of clothing on top of my original art work but I got there in the end and overall I was pretty pleased with both the multiple results for each of the characters. 

So once I had completed all my different clothing designs I posted my pieces up on the Games art and design Facebook group and also sent them to my friends via messenger so that I would be able to get multiple opinions on which designs people liked the most. From this I planned to tot up the results and see which one was the most common answer and then use this design as my final one. Interestingly for both my cyborg and survivor characters the most common result for each of them was one of the designs that I didn't particularly think was the best myself. But I know in the indsutry that artists very rarely get they way with completing a design that they personally like the most and it is usually up to some else to pick so I went with this concept and stuck with the clothing design that my peers had chosen. The most popular result for my survivor was design number 5 and for the cyborg it was number 2.

I went along the lines of using the clothing designs that my peers and friends picked out and then moved quickly onto the stage of completing different colour variations of this particular design. As far as the clothing for the pair of futuristic characters went I stuck to the colour scheme which was constantly recurring in a large amount of my image research I did which was black, white and lots of different shades of grey. This colour scheme worked perfectly for both my designs as the greys on the survivor made him look quite bleak and plain which was the effect I was aiming for for him whereas on the cyborg they made her look sleek and smart so overall the results were how I wanted them to be from the beginning. After that I just fiddled around with different colours for little things such as the hair and eyes and other smaller details to make sure they completed the colours I had already picked 

and then I completed the same process of posting my designs up online and got my peers to choose which was their favourite for each character. This time around the the survivor it was colour iteration number 3 and from the cyborg it was number 2.  

Their stories 

So now that I have my two final character designs with their chosen colour scheme I knew it was time to move onto creating my final pieces but before I did that I wanted to just quickly write about the story of these two character as I feel like it really makes them who they are and define the differences between them. I have kept their back stories in mind whilst going through the creation process and they have been a big part of why I designed them how I did so I think it is important to mention it. 

Survivor 

The flood survivor is a prepubescent boy who is learning to adapt and live in his modern home town which has become severally flooded and effected by the rising sea levels. He became separated from this family when his town was devastated by the racing water and became isolated due to the government deciding to shut out the people suffering in the flooded cities due to over population in the dry land the young boy has been surviving within a commune of other refugees who all play their part in keeping the group alive. His job, due to him being small and nimble is to slip into hard to reach places and scoop out supplies for the struggling community. On one of his scouting exhibitions he picked up a nasty virus that was lurking in the stagnant water which cause him to developed a potent rash that caused him to lose his vision in his right eye. 

Traits: Timid, quiet, strong willed, determined, sensible.  

Cyborg 

The female cyborg is a young girl who is in her early twenties and lives in a large city far inland and away from the flooding. She lives a comfortable cushy life in a time where humans are now upgrading themselves with bionic parts for aesthetic purposes or to enhance their natural abilities but all of this development comes a expensive cost. As she comes from a wealthy family and is an incredibly spoilt daughter who always seems to get everything she wants she has been able to get many sophisticated cybernetic upgrades that lye low under her skin and can be seen through the transparent covered circular gaps where the electrical parts shine a strong aqua blue.   

Traits: Confident, athletic, powerful, superficial, brash, impulsive.  

Below is an example of the height difference between the two characters

Thinking about different design aspects

Focusing on clothing 

Now that I have completed my sketch pages of a variety of different characters for my two future circumstances it is time for me to move on and start drawing the full body version of the two characters I have picked to design. I have a lot of different design ideas tumbling about in my head but I knew it would be important for me to get some image research beforehand so that I can solidify my creative ideas and get some good clothing sketches down later on in the process. 

So I started off with finding some image of existing or photo manipulated pictures of clothing that have a futuristic, modern and almost sci-fi feel to them so that I would have some inspiration for my female cyborg. A lot of the image I found are actually clothes that are found on the cat walk which are always a little eccentric but I thought they would work nicely in this situation. Also one of the things I loved about some of the designs were the simple patterns on them which I am sure is something I can include in my own sketches. The second thing I looked at was the style of clothing that would be worn in a post apocalyptic environment as it is the closest I could think of to what I have envisioned my flood survivor boy to be wearing. Obviously the clothing will be a little similar to that of what the female cyborg is wearing as it is in a close time range so I must bare this in mind when I am working out design concepts. Now that I have completed this basic image research into futuristic clothing I am now able to move on and begin drawing out my character designs in full body and detail.   

Character design pages

Cyborgs and survivors 

After doing a large sum of image research to help influence my design ideas and reading through some art books to see the process that character artists took for different video games such as 'Mass Effect' and 'Borderlands' I felt confident enough to begin with designing my cyborg and flood survivor characters. I wanted to start off with just drawing the faces of different characters as things such as clothing and accessories are a design aspect I want to complete later on in the process after I have gotten more image research. So I began with just jotting down some rough sketches of different faces and then, once I had filled the space I went back over them to add in more little bits of detail to make each person more unique and, by doing this it helped me build up a little story for each of them in my mind as I thought about what their different design elements could mean. 

Now that this is complete I will take two of the character designs, one from each page and then expand on these two character by doing variations of clothing and hair ect to help give them more depth. I have chosen to fully design the 22 year old female android in the centre of the first page and the 11 year old male flood survivor in the centre of the second page. The reason behind this is that based on little bit of back story I have given them both, which I will expand on when I create my final pieces, I think they are a big contrast to each other and fit the genres of a future mankind does want and doesn't. So now that I have completed these initial design pages it it time for me to move on and create more design variations of my two chosen characters. 

Influence for my design process

Looking at some different art books


Now that I had written down my ideas for each of the future situations I was focusing on and had created mood boards on each theme for research purposes and to help influence my work I knew it was time to move onto actually creating my art work but before I could get started I needed to think about the type of work I was going to make. I knew it would going to be doing character art but I needed to think about the different types of designs that entails, facial expressions, clothing concepts, different hairstyles ect, this one job covers a lot of ground so I needed to make sure I was thinking about including a piece of each of these in my project in order to get a good idea of what the work flow is like for a 2D character artist.

But before I started to get my own designs down I thought it would be good to look at some examples of professional character art to make sure what I was going to be doing would be on the right track. My classmate luckily owns a lot of different art books such as the one for the 'Borderlands' game and the movie 'The Hobbit' and they kindly let me have a read through them for some creative inspiration. Each book had a different stylised interpretation of character art so I was able to see some good variety in the design process and also see some really nice art styles. One of my favourite art styles I saw from their collection of books was from the 'Mass Effect' concept art book which was packed full of really nice character sketches and paintings. I scanned in one of the pages, which can be seen below, as I really liked how the characters expressions were drawn and I thought it would be some good art inspiration and something I could try to replicate in my own designs

A page from the 'Mass Effect' concept art book

Starting on the creative side of the project

Making mood boards 

So after I thought about and decided what design ideas I would like to focus on for each of the future situations I am looking into for BA6 I knew it was time for me to begin moving into the more creative side of my project and to start thinking about the character concepts I am going to be working on. But I knew before I started to get any sketch work done I would need to do some image research in order to get my concepts flowing and have some influences to work from.

The first thing I looked at for image research was locations that have been effected by sever flooding and what the aftermath of this was. I looked into certain events such as the Tsunami that occurred in Haiti in 2004 and the more recent Tsunami that hit Japan due to a large earthquake in 2011. All of the photographs I found and looked at where very haunting to look and made me a quite emotional. It was frighting to see what a horrible effect nature can have on mankind and how it effects peoples lives once the destructive event has been and gone. After looking at this I also went on to do some image research into cyborg concept designs and finding some photographs of real life bionic limbs. I found a lot of really interesting designs and images which I am sure will help to influence a lot of more design and sketch work when I am coming up with character concepts.

Design ideas based on cyborgs

Human adapting themselves with the use of technology 


After completing my research into the present technology of cybernetic modification which is used in today society and then taking this research further to look at how this may be modified and improved in the near and far future I starting having a think about what kinda ideas I could used going off of this topic. I knew I certainly wanted to avoid Artificial Intelligence as I was looking for a positive effect on mankind whereas AI is apparently going to lead to our demise so I knew I should focus more on the human side of things instead of robot technology. Out of the research I did on this topic there a section from the Wikipedia page I read about Cyborgs that really interested me and I have posted it below.


A cyborg (short for "cybernetic organism") is a theoretical or fictional being with both organic and biomechatronic parts. The term cyborg is not the same thing as biotic and often applied to an organism that has restored function or enhanced abilities due to the integration of some artificial component or technology that relies on some sort of feedback. It is hypothesized that cyborg technology will form a part of the future human evolution.


It says that cybernetic technology will possibly be something that helps to step up the speed of human evolution as as technology will most likely be far more advanced and accessible in the future then it is possible that people will be able to fitted with bionic piece of technology even if they don't have a disability of amputation of any kind.




My design idea


Compared to my story concept for the first future situation I focused on which was Climate Change, this is going to be a lot more simple and easy to explain as there are no added theories or facts and figures to take into mind. Basically I want to focus on a future that is roughly about 50 years into the future where mankind's economy has boomed and technology has now become extremely advanced. This includes things such as gadgets, electronic devices, hospital equipment and bionic and cybernetic technology.

This area of technology that is linked to bionic equipment and the engineering of robots has boomed as mankind's knowledge on the area has become so advanced and extensive meaning that they have now extended past just using cybernetic equipment on people who are disabled or are amputees and have started to incorporate technology into people who have nothing wrong with them what so ever. It is simply something that people can have done to enhance their bodies natural abilities and is a approved thing to do as people see it as a way to speed up the process of human evolution. But due to this being such a advanced procedure with a large amount of electronic technology involved it means that some of cheapest prices to get something done can be the cost of what some expensive plastic surgery procedures can be today which means that it is only accessible for people who can afford it. But for people who are soldiers for example get these 'upgrades' for free due to the fact that they could easily help a person fighting and survival skills and will turn them into stronger recruits.

So overall I am going to be drawing designs of cyborg characters who have been able to either afford or get these bionic parts for free. I will be focusing on the difference between a military upgrades which will be a bit more clunky but will also posses technology which will help improve things such as running and muscle strength, and a cosmetic upgrade which will be far more sleek and subtle looking. Now that I have my idea down it is important that I start doing some image research so I will be able to get some good creative design sketches down.

Focusing on the second future situation

Progression of technology 


After I had completed a large amount of research to do with the first future situation I will be creating designs for for BA6, which was Climate change and coming up with a concept that I can focus my character sketches on, I knew it was time for me to do the same with the second area I had chosen to look at which was the progression of technology in the future and artificial intelligence. Now the only knowledge I really have on this topic come from an extensive history of watching sci-fi movie and tv shows so I don't actually know any solid realistic knowledge on the future of technology so this is something I really need to look into if I want my designs to be effective.

I got my idea for looking into this topic from the TV show I watched, 'End of the world night' about 2 months ago but this was focusing more on how Artificial intelligence was going to destroy mankind which was initially what I wanted to focus on but now my ideas have shifted. I have decided to work on only two future situations and have one which portrays the kind of future mankind would like to see and the other will show one they want to avoid. I have already done Climate change as the one humans certainly want not to happen which makes my second choice the 'positive' one. And as Professor Stephen Hawking said himself that "I think the development of full artificial intelligence would spell the end of the human race" it is now a area of the future of technology that I want to avoid in this project.

What do want to focus on however is the prospect of humans interrogating themselves with technology in the future in order to adapt themselves, so essentially I will be looking into the possibility of cyborgs. Seeing that this is a subject that is probably going to have a lot of complicated science involved in it I am only going to do as much research as I think I need to get down a good few ideas. Also I wont have to do as much compared to when I looked at Global Warming as I really needed to look into the facts and numbers of that to make sure that my concept was going to be realistic where as with this I know that there are already cyborgs living in the world today so I know that my concept is do able. So I thought a good place to start, using the same idea I used to start my Climate Change research, would be to get a simple description of what a cyborg actually is from Wikipedia. I have posted the first few paragraphs from the webpage as it will be easier for me to refer to this way as it has some good suggested resources I can look at when it comes to cybernetics.




Wikipedia description found from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyborg


A cyborg (short for "cybernetic organism") is a theoretical or fictional being with both organic and biomechatronic parts. The term cyborg is not the same thing as biotic and often applied to an organism that has restored function or enhanced abilities due to the integration of some artificial component or technology that relies on some sort of feedback. While cyborgs are commonly thought of as mammals, they might also conceivably be any kind of organism and the term "Cybernetic organism" has been applied to networks, such as road systems, corporations and governments, which have been classed as such. The term can also apply to micro-organisms which are modified to perform at higher levels than their unmodified counterparts. It is hypothesized that cyborg technology will form a part of the future human evolution. In popular culture, some cyborgs may be represented as visibly mechanical (e.g. the Cybermen in the Doctor Who franchise or The Borg from Star Trek or Darth Vader from Star Wars); or as almost indistinguishable from humans (e.g. the Terminators from the Terminator films, the "Human" Cylons from the re-imagining of Battlestar Galactica etc.) The 1970s television series The six million dollar man featured one of the most famous fictional cyborgs, referred to as a bionic man; the series was based upon a novel by Martin Caidin titled Cyborg. Cyborgs in fiction often play up a human contempt for over-dependence on technology, particularly when used for war, and when used in ways that seem to threaten freewill. Cyborgs are also often portrayed with physical or mental abilities far exceeding a human counterpart (military forms may have inbuilt weapons, among other things).


The summary above really helps to just simply explain what a cyborg actually is and how they could become a part of the future for mankind. As a large amount of the information about resources about cyborgs gets very technical I won't delve into too much research about it otherwise I will just end up confusing myself. I also will keep it short and sweet research wise due to the fact the information tends to get a bit gory as they go into the surgical side of things and it makes me feel really sick just even thinking about it so I am trying to avoid that side of the researching. Overall I think everyone has vague idea of what a cyborg actually looks like as it is a design that is becoming incorporated more and more, as technology progresses, into things such as adverts and games and films. It is a concept that people have coined onto as they know it could be the future of mankind. Some examples of this can be seen below.

An artistic interpretation of a futuristic cyborg 

http://fightpunch.deviantart.com/art/Cyborg-359725974

An advertisement showing a creative version of the 
progression of technology and cybernetics. 

The 2013 video game 'Remember Me' that 
features a female cyborg protagonist

The 2015 film 'Terminator Genisys' that 
features a male cyborg protagonist

By why are people so interested and keen on the idea cyborgs? What is making them become more of an iconic and recognisable design as we seep further into the future? It is because they are highly plausible thing that could happen to the human in the future and the evolution of this is beginning right now. People who either have a severe disability or are amputees are beginning to regain back what they have lost due to the improvement in technology or the last ten years or so. There are been more and more cases of people becoming 'cyborgs' to be able to over come their disabilities and help get back to have they used to be and as technology advances this process if becoming more and more efficient and helping so many people who are willing to have this kind of treatment.

A photograph of the amputees Jesse Sullivan and Claudia Mitchell 

who were both fitted with bionic arms in 2005.

Below are a couple of videos that I watched to helped me getting a better understand of what cybernetic technology is being used today. The first video focuses on people of the 21st century who have cybernetic parts attached to their bodies for mainly medical reasons and to help enhance what they have lost which is really fascinating as there are a lots of different variations of technology being use that are helping these people to survive. The second video looks into what the future of cybernetic technology could be and will the human race soon turn to this type of technology to help improve our natural abilities and speed up our evolution and if so what is the dangers of this process taking place? Each of these videos were really interesting as they gave me a good base concept of what bionic technology looks now and could possibly lead to in the near future.

So now that I feel like I have done enough research looking into the progression of cybernetic technology from when it began to present day and how this technology could possibly expand as we progress into the future, so far the humans may even begin uses this knowledge to simply adapt themselves into 'better humans' it it time for me to move onto and to starting thinking about what design or creative concept story I can make to fit around this topic. 

Thinking about my end result

Having to limit how much work I am doing 


Recently I have been thinking about the amount of work I am planning to do over the course of this project and I started to realise that I think I have set myself far too much to do. Originally I wanted to focus my attention of three future situations which were Climate Change, Advancement in technology and Natural Pandemics but I have decided to limit my designs to just two of these two of these topics instead. This because I think working on three separate design topics and creating separate work for each one is just going to over stress me and end up being too much for me to do and will end up with me not being able to finish a large amount of it so I would rather limit my work load and create good quality work instead of piling on another theme for me to focus on and possibly worrying myself over it.

So I have decided that the two areas I still want to focus on are Climate Change and Advancements in technology because they are both very different areas of the future that mankind could face. Humans really want to technology to keep improving so we can all new types of gadgets and pieces of equipment where as global warming is something that humans would really like not to happen so it's like focusing on two polar opposites of what the human race want their future to be like.

Whilst thinking this over I was also able to sort out in my head what I would like to be able to produce for BA6 overall as I was a little bit muddled with ideas to begin with. I am going to be keeping in mind what my tutor mentioned to me that character concept art is rough drawings, not completely polished pieces so the work I will be producing will consist of mainly sketch work. I have made a little of the design I want to do for each future situation below. I feel a little more settled sorting out in my head what I want to be creating for this project and now that I have sorted it all out I will be able to keep pressing on up until deadline.



1. A collections of character sketches for each design topic. 
2. Picking out one design from the sketches that I like. 
3. Design variations of that one specific character. 
4. A final sketch. 

Design ideas based on climate change

How the rising sea levels will affect mankind 


So after I had completed my research into the effect of climate change and decided on a area I would like to focus my character ideas on, I started thinking about what designs or story could I make revolving around the rise in sea levels. There was a lot of different areas in this topic alone that I could aim my design focus towards which means there is a lot from me to choose from. But there was a piece of information I had found whilst researching Climate Change and The Greenhouse Effect that really stood out for me and actually helped spark a lot of ideas in my head once I read it over. I have pasted the information I am referring to below.

When large storms hit land, higher sea levels mean bigger, more powerful storm surges that can strip away everything in their path. In addition, hundreds of millions of people live in areas that will become increasingly vulnerable to flooding. Higher sea levels would force them to abandon their homes and relocate. Low-lying islands could be submerged completely. Most predictions say the warming of the planet will continue and likely will accelerate. Oceans will likely continue to rise as well, but predicting the amount is an inexact science. A recent study says we can expect the oceans to rise between 2.5 and 6.5 feet (0.8 and 2 meters) by 2100, enough to swamp many of the cities along the U.S. East Coast. More dire estimates, including a complete meltdown of the Greenland ice sheet, push sea level rise to 23 feet (7 meters), enough to submerge London.


Reading about the predicted situation of what the rising sea levels could do to affect the Earth, especially the time frame in which large cities like London could be submerged under sea level helped to spark an creative story idea in my head that could lead to a series of different designs revolving around the idea of flooded towns and cities. 




My design idea 


Basically I want to focus on my idea of a future around 100 or so years from now that has been horribly effected by the Earth's drastic climate change. It all starts with the people of Earth in the 21st century just continually believing that Global Warming is some sort of myth and that it really doesn't need to be worried about. So there are no pre cautions taken to try and keep it at bay or even stop it from happening for years and years after the initial warnings. So as years have passed and the polar ice caps have melted due to The Green House Effect the sea level has risen by a dangerous amount, causing towns and cities along the coastlines have become completely submerged and areas further inland to be flooded.

Due to this being a gradual event for many years, people who knew they were going to lose their homes travelled in land to find a new place to live but with so many different towns and cities becoming submerged and many people entering new countries to seek refuge it starting to take a strain on inland cities due to the fact that over population is already an issue in most places and this is just tipping the problem over the edge. As the sea levels rise year by year, the risk of tsunami's and storms become more and more probable which only helps to increases the amount of damage and land lost.

After a particularly bad storm hits the Earth the rate that the sea level rises increased dramatically and speeds up the flooding process leaving a large amount of people unable to escape their homes in time and becoming stuck in their flooded towns. It is after this event that the government decided that they cannot risk any more people coming to live inland where it is safe from flooding. This is due to the fact that it will de pleat food stocks, which are already at all time low due to the Earth heating up and killing a large amount of crops and animals and the fact that it will become to massively over populated to cope. So the government decides to make a sacrifice by using pure force to keep the homeless travellers from coming into the dry land and by building 100 foot walls in order to keep anything from the wetlands, the water and the people, from entering.

I will be drawing character designs of the people who have been shut out of the dry land and now have to try find ways to survive in their flooded towns, I think I will be able to get some really interesting designs using this in my concepts and I already have a few ideas in mind of what kind of thing I want to draw going off of this idea.