This artist has done some very useful posing sketches and characterisation analisis. I think these are something I will consider on my turn around.
Ideas to think on; ‘How far can I push this?’
research
Modern and Historical Research (Icarus)
The story of icarus is an old tale, commonly known as a story of not over exerting yourself or straying too far from the right path. A Greek myth, Icarus is the son of the master craftsman Daedalus. In the common myth, Icarus attempts to escape from Crete by flying on wings crafted by his father from wax and feathers. His father gave him strict instructions not to fly too close to the sun, which he ignored. This caused the wax to melt from his wings and him to fall into the sea where he died by drowning.
(Icarus via Adama Telus Community)
(The Downfall of Icarus)
It seems to vary in his design wether his wings are strapped to his arms or chest, but most fesibly for the ability to fly to be realistic it would seem his wings would be attached tohis arms, alowing him to flap like a bird without mechanisms.
Modern and Historical Research (Thor)
Thor is a god from Norse mythology. He wields a magical hammer that only he is able to lift from the ground. He is often associated with thunder, lightning, storms, oak trees, strength, the protection of mankind, healing and fertility.
(Thor’s Battle Against the Jotnar (1872) by Marten Eskil Winge)
In Germanic mythology and paganism he was known in old English as Thor, and is a prominantly mentioned god in the Viking Age. Thor is the origin of the name for the day of the week Thursday, coming from Thorsday (old english Thunresdaeg)
In Norse mythology, largely recorded in inceland many tales are told of thor. In these tales, Thor is married to the godess Sif, is lovers of the Jotunn Jarnsaxa and is generally described as fierce-eyed, red-haired and bearded. Thor is described as the son of the God Odin, and bears at least fourteen names.
Thor wields the mountain-crushing hammer, Mjolnir, wears the belt Megingjoro and the iron gloves Jarngreipr. Of the many foes thor has, the one most protrayed is the great snake Jormungander. Their deaths during the time of Ragnarok are recorded though Norse mythology.
(a traditionally inspired Thor illustration)
Thor in more modern interpretations was taken up by Mavel comics as a godlike character from another planet. He and his brother Loki became very popular in modern society and have had many comics and movies all inspired by Mavels re-imagination of this well known character.
(Original comic illustration of Thor by Marvel comics)
This character is much more youth friendly and has been made more commercially attractive for audiences of youths. His beard is rarely shown in the comic, probably to do with hollywood style ideas of attractiveness as well as making expression easier to read in the illustrations. He however keeps the iconic character pieces like his flowing hair, helmet, Hammer, and cape. He is shown to be very physically strong, large muscles and a strong jaw, making him instantly look godlike and over powered.
(Thor in the latest movie interpretation of the comic book character)
The cape and hammer here are particularly noticeable, but his costume here becomes much more modern looking and conventionally something that looks attractive. he looks very strong but has more of a kind face than the original content, again, leading to his popularity with younger audiences.
Modern and Historical Research (Hercules)
Hercules (The Roman name for the Greek Hero Heracles) the son of the Zeus. He is half god and is known for his strength. The Roman name became more popular due to more modern popular culture, such as disney, using the Roman name in their work on the character.
As a historical character Hercules has been shown to have many contradictory characteristics so artists often pick and choose his characteristics, depending on what they need from the character for the story they are wishing to pursue.
(Hercules and the Hydra (1475) by Antonio Del Pollaiuolo)
An iconic item that is commonly used to show that an illustration is of Hercules would be that of the lion skin shown in his many older illustrations. This was shown even in the disney movie, as at one point he is shown wearing the skin of another disney character Scar (The Lion King) as a joke reference but also a nod to his original design work.
(Disney image of him wearing the skin)
When disney took on Hercules on they had to change a lot of things, one of the main ones being costume. They needed their character to be much less threatening as he’s directed at children, so he has a much softer face, more clothing and less facial hair, allowing him to have more of the ‘pretty boy’ styling.
The things that are constant in most of his illustrations though are the body, that of an almost triangular shape, with big strong arms and legs and chest, with a small waist and large chin. This is an iconicity manly body, showing strength and power. However when he’s younger he is shown as very week and frail. This relates well to the idea of energising that we are working on for our campaign.
Research (28/01/2014) (2)
‘Red Bull Gives you Wings’ – Campaign
(Image from the campaign)
Red Bull’s ‘Red Bull gives you wings’ is probably the most famous energy drink campaign to date. The images and TV advertisements they went forward with often showed iconic and recognisable characters or ideas, twisted with the modern addission of the character always drinking a can of red bull to get them out of a tough situation. This campaign ran for many years and now the modern advertisements still feature a lot of the same ideas from the original campaign). Red Bull developed a distinct and original animation style in the tv adverts, using wobbling line animation and very cartoony characters to direct their advertisements at a young adult audience.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K31dg86OmuM
(Example of their old Advertisements for TV)
This style however now has become slightly outdated and has less of an effect on a younger audience.
(Example of the animation style used in their Tv Adverts)
Summery; The Red Bull campaign ran for many years and is still well loved, the iconic characters and charming animation style mixed with comedy worked well but it could use a revamp to be more affective towards a younger, more modern audience.
TD; Decide on which client we will be working on and start on our character ideas and research.
Research (28/01/2014)
‘Heineken Refreshes the Parts Other Beers Cannot Reach’ Campaign
(Image from the campaign)
This campaign focussed on the idea that beer was not just to get you drunk, but also refreshes and rejuvenates the body and soul. This campaign showed famous people and objects being refreshed (indirectly by Heineken as they are rarely shown actually drinking it). People responded very positively to this campaign, most likely because of the interesting and abstract style as well as the familiar and famous characters.
(The Spock poster was one of the more iconic characters featured)
The person behind the ‘refreshes the Parts…’ Campaign was Frank Lowe, who presented his idea to Anothony Simonds-Goodling while the pair were on a flight to St Petersburg. He had written it on a sick bag.
The campaign supposedly came to life so quickly (in an attempt to be the first to use the idea) that some images ran to the public before client approval. Bad but effective advertising and practice as many companies since have used the idea in other ways but few as effectively.
Heineken, being of Dutch origin wanted to connect easily with Europeans when the campaign ran first there in the 80s. This lead to the employment of comedian Victor Borge for their voice overs. This struck as slightly odd, as Borge was Danish.
In summery; Heineken’s advertisements worked very well due to their surrealism, iconic characters and interesting new ideas. If we were to pursue this client project, we would need to channel these things into our character designs.
TD; Research and analyse “RedBull Gives you Wings’ Campaign.
jaredkennedy 