Character design

From the start of the project, I had an idea of what I wanted to make, but I felt that the idea could be worked more interestingly than a lizard man. I wanted to keep the claw aspect of what I was thinking of and came up with instead of hands, the demon had blades.

These were the first set of sketches I did of the blades. The rightmost image has the blade and the bone fused together.

I thought that this idea would be impractical because, although the demon doesn't need to eat, how would it open doors and things?

I went to the drawing board and wrote a full backstory to the character and the use of the character (film). The use of scalpels in his life in prison made me think, the blades should be implemented in a similar way. I immediately thought of a Mantis, which gave the character a working title of Man-tis.

I had to think of how the character would activate his blades, but didn't want it to be a standard "Wolverine" style. Then, whilst looking through some comics, I came across my Marvel Zombies book (written by Robert Kirkman), and remembered a panel where... Wolverine... had an accident.

Wolverine's blades burst out of his arm. That is PERFECT for what I need. I reversed how the blades popped out.

They pop from the wrist/hand and give the image of a Mantis. I made the blades larger scalpels instead of samurai swords. The blade is attached into the Carpel bones.

This image shows the blades coming from the character's arms. I wasn't fully decided on the face. He needs to have more electric chair execution equipment.

The demonised face coloured in Photoshop.

Heavily inspired by the Deadites from Evil Dead, but with elements of Tony Scoleri from Ghostbusters 2

A mask worn for electric chair execution, but with a hole cut in for the character to see. His demonic eye is a form of psychological offense, the milky white eye with no pupils is very creepy.

A deathmask/bag is placed on his head, with the electric skullcap. The awkward arms are to show the details of his elongated skeletal/demonic hands and the scarring which the blades burst through. Electric surges through his body and along his blades making him even more lethal.

The first sketch of the character was slightly too human. This was before I opted for the hands and blades rather than just blades.

And the lizardman variant that I was first toying with.

Mood Boarding Characters

To get the visual of a demon/ghost I looked at Tony Scoleri from Ghostbusters 2, one of the ghosts in the courtroom scene. The angular face also made me think of the Deadites from the Evil Dead series. The Deadites are perfect for the Demonic look that I want to convey.

Tony Scoleri went through three stages of development. The first stage involved using a full-sized puppet with an articulated head. Mark Wilson built the prototype and video tests were promising but Dennis Muren believed the rotoscope load required would hamper the production schedule. Tony was redesigned to be portrayed by Jim Fye. Tony's head was attached to a skullcap positioned in front of and on top of Fye's head. The collarbone was lowered to elongate the neck and add to the emaciated torso design. Oversized shoes, extra lengths of cloth strips, droopy pants, and finger extensions were added to complete the skeletal look.

Tony Scoleri's development is something to keep in mind for my character

Character Development Mood Board

My Character is a US county jail inmate who was executed in the 1950s by Electric Chair. he would regularly insert blades, scalpels into his wrists and hands and attack other inmates in brutal and often deadly attacks. He wrote down various incantations to summon demons in his own blood, which was then stowed away in his cell, behind a vent.

In 2015, a documentary was to be recorded by a group of students researching the American Judicial system and capital punishment. The prison is long out of official use, and now is used as a tourist location. The students discover the book and read the incantations aloud. The lights begin to flicker and screaming is heard from the execution chamber. They go to investigate the sounds. A spectral image of a man strapped into a floating electric chair, then the lights explode and the screaming stops. The room is scorched and the man is nowhere to be seen.

The inspiration of the floating chair, Ghostbusters 2 - Scoleri Brothers

The group then encounter the man from the chamber. Blades burst from his forearm in a mimic of how he would attack inmates in his lifetime. Electric surges around his blades, taking in electricity from the surrounding area. What ensues is a night of pure terror with the demon picking off the group one-by-one. 

In demon form, with blades extended, I want the character to resemble a sort of Mantis (as depicted on the character's tattoo on his arm). The ends of the arms are how I want the blades to appear, bursting from the forearm.

(Thankfully, this is a painted model, but my god, this is amazing!)

Scyther, from Pokémon

Photoshop 3D elements

Using Photoshop CS6's 3D elements, I created a Tron style 3D text image. The light effects are a mixture of 3D world lighting, Inner glows and Outer glows.

The font was downloaded from www.dafont.com and a texture was used. I Google Searched "Scratched Glass Texture" and found a photograph of scratched glass. It was used as a bump map on the text/bevel.

A couple pieces to keep in mind for Vis Effects project.

http://www.sidefx.com/index.php?task=view&id=1822&Itemid=68

Scott Pilgrim - Houdini sections (Mr. X and Double Negative used Houdini at various sections)

http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1645800/scott-pilgrim-inside-creation-six-fights.jhtml

Interview/breakdown with Frazer Churchill, Visual Effects Supervisor on Scott Pilgrim

http://www.fxguide.com/featured/Scott_Pilgrim_and_VFX_Against_the_World/

Gives a breakdown of the effects used in the fight scenes

New Pokémon Series!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=_Lyi2RSVxqg

Above is the trailer of Pokémon: The Origins. More in line with the original Pokémon games on Gameboy (Red, Blue and Green - US and JAP had this instead of Blue).
And with my current fun project of Pokémon: HARDCORE, in which Pokémon are pitted against each other in brutal combat which can result in death or maiming (leading to Bionic limbs in a strange kind of evolution), and inspired by (of all things) Battle Royale, Pokémon Origins could be a great watch, providing they do an English Dub or subtitle version!

(VERY) early visual effects!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8aoUXjSfsI

Just found this on Youtube and it has some interesting early visual effects and compositing techniques which were used right up into the 80s, before digital compositing was used. Plus some multiple exposure techniques used at the beginning of film making and into the Golden Age of Hollywood! Interesting watching!