ILLUS6040: An Exquisitely Beautiful Corpse R&D

Somehow or another I got to third year so let's go!! 

For this project we had been set 4 random characters and given the glorious challenge of creating an illustration for each one based off the descriptions provided. I knew for each character I would have to do individual research but I also had an overall vibe I wanted to go for based off a game I've been playing way too much lately

The Warioware franchise: Warioware is a spinoff game of Super Mario of all things, the main character designs are by Ko Takeuchi who's art style is kind of wacky and very goofy and works well with this kind of idea of character design and tropes. 

John Senior, JR.

Profession: 1950s Madison Avenue Advertising Executive
Notes: Sharp dresser and Ladies man. Very opinionated!

For John Senior JR I wanted to create a similar piece as 1950s men's fashion illustrations. The image of the ideal man of the great 50s America. The long weirdly baggy pants, the tight shirts, the ties, oh and the pipes and cigars. Oh, what a time to be alive (if you're a man that is.) To do this I started by working on paper to create a similar ish lining style as those seen in older drawings

So my eventual conclusion was to combine an analogue and digital drawing to create something unique but as usual I think I suck pretty bad at drawing on paper a lot of the time (where's my CTRL+Z??? how do i cope??? i can't?? flip the canvas?? AAA??) But I think I'm happy with the drawing I came out with, it looks very nice with it tidied up a little.

For the background I took some images found on Googley of Madison Avenue and edited them to look like an early comic print of sorts to fit with the time period that John Senior is set in, I think the perspective of the buildings makes the final outcome look bigger than he probably actually is. If you're American, you gotta be big or nothin'. 

FINAL OUTCOME:

B@77Y

Profession: Robot
Notes: The Worlds First 'house' bot. Has the ability to clean, wash, vacuum and undertake DIY duties.

I've always loved a good Henry vacuum cleaner, he's so personable, he's got a cheeky grin, he definitely does cocaine on the side I mean look at that nose. That doesn't happen naturally, I tell you. So my first port of call was definitely looking at Henry's and how I could turn that into a robot called Batty without just blatantly ripping off the iconic Henry design. 

I also didn't exactly want Batty to be a normal looking robot, I mean, she's called Batty, there's got to be something off about her, a bit, batty you might say. So I so coincidentally decided to rewatch my favourite Disney film Treasure Planet where I was reintroduced to one of my favourite robot characters across media; B.E.N or just, Ben. He's an old navigation robot who was left behind by a pirate crew with his memory literally ripped out to stop him from spilling secrets of treasure. I love his weird personality and his steampunk design. I also really liked the idea that he could crouch to his 'knees' and wheels would start rolling. So I took some inspiration from his design to form Batty.

I dont know if its obvious from my insane doodling but I love Batty, she has to have been my favourite character to design out of them all. She has a lot of personality and my story for her is that even though she's the first by the time the illustration I created for her she's been reduced to a bargain bin grab and doesn't quite function as well as some of the other cleaning robots (listen I know the price is high but you gotta consider inflation, one day 4 grand will be cheap lol)
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Here are some more images that I took inspiration from, I wanted to create a maid like character who was slightly insane with a mix of a vacuum for limbs, a mop for a skirt, a steam cleaner for a hand and some more attachments and cleaning utensils which I'm still not 100% sure how she uses by herself but it's not all about functionality, sometimes you just have to do what you think will look cool. 

FINAL OUTCOME

Bum Phillips

Profession: NFL Quarterback
Notes: Sporting cowboy boots and hats, Bum Phillips became the face of the "Luv Ya Blue" Houston Oilers in the 1970s.

I will be honest I'm not a big football guy, I'm not a sports guy in general. Have you seen me? If you haven't, I definitely don't look like a sports type of person. Multicoloured hair in a bob cut and a body that hasn't been to the gym ever in their life is definitely not a sporty persona. So basically I had no idea what I was doing, however I do like to make a few cheeky jokes. 

I took a look at different uniforms from the 70s and the general vibe that was going on. I don't like sports but I do love big Americans thinking they're bigger than they actually are. I also really loved the sideburns look as well as the big cowboy vibe. I took a look at different examples of the cowboy hat or in this case the 10 gallon hat and their extreme examples. 

FINAL OUTCOME