Sequential Art Senior Project Phase I and II

It is the end of midterm week at SCAD. Being the usual busy bee, I am taking two senior project courses for my sequential art and animation majors. For the sequential art project, I am working on 2 character, 2 vehicles, 2 props, 2 environment, 2 final concept illustrations, along with a 200 panel storyboard, and a written treatment for my video game concept.

"Think Fast" is the name of my senior project; it is about Chevy Ford Carter, a private investigator from Buckysville who is disgruntled about his boring job until he picks up a case on a killer beatnik robot. The story aesthetics are influenced by the 1950s and features dark humor with science fiction elements of the Fall Out series while retaining a quirkiness found in the Sci-Fy channel series Eureka.

So far I have completed 10 thumbnail sketches for each character/vehicle, 3 value studies for each character/vehicle, and 1 full color concept illustrations for each character/vehicle. Enjoy!

From this silhouette study, I felt that the ones where Chevy's shoulders are sagging with an unbuttoned coat were strongest at portraying an unkempt and unhappy fellow.

The value study portion. I noticed that my design did not look sci fi enough, in fact the character looked almost stereotypical.

Final Protagonist Character Concept for Chevy Ford Carter

Jack Nick has to look human so all the wacky designs with bulbous looking robots are out. In here, I started adding in clothing to give the robot a more interesting silhouette design. I focused primarily on the sunglasses and the V shape it created. I liked the silhouettes where Jack Nick looks tough and has strong arms to contrast with the thin arms. My influence for the clothing was Bob Dylan.

I thought the ones with the curved shapes were too feminine and not masculine enough. The one I selected repeated that V shape over and over and over.

Final Antagonist Character Concept for Beatnik Nick the Robot

The Ford Nucleon was also designed by the robot's creator. It is the only civilian flying car since law forbids average citizens from having one due to potential traffic hazards. The historical Nucleons were supposed to have a nuclear reactor as its power source. Obvious concerns over radiation poisoning and other hazards caused it to be scrapped. had a lot of fun designing the Nucleon. It had to sleek, fast, and agile. The first couple of designs were not my favorites because they looked too much like muscle cars. The final design actually had a shape that contrasts well with the police car.

I liked the one that had chromium covering the entire chassis. However, it did not seem like such an appealing design because it would be really bland. The Ford Nucleon has to be edgy with bright colors.

Final Nucleon Vehicle Concept

Police cars from the 1950s had a charm to it because of the way the passenger compartment rides closely to the back. The police cars have to contrast sharply with the nucleon in that it has to be imposing, strong, and powerful. Some of the silhouettes looked like taxi cabs and others were too futuristic. The most successful one has a powerful front and the back features a propulsion system seen only in a sci fi world.

I played around mostly with the front and back design for the police car. I liked the more stable and reliable look of having two fins in the back. I also added in one of those sirens from the 1950s which had to be placed outside to be heard.

Police Car Vehicle Concept