Castle Trip, Studying Animals

I chose to cross A mountain goat with a gibbon, It made for quite a weird mix.

Samus Aran (Metroid)

Samus Aran (Metroid)

Doctor Gordon Freeman (half-life)

 Doctor Gordon Freeman (half-life)

 The original concept below is pretty hilarious and thankfully was changed.

Gordon went on to have his head based of multiple valve employees to get that real geek chic look.

Bibliography

·      http://www.empireonline.com/features/50-greatest-video-game-characters/default.asp?film=1

·      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_Freeman

·      http://www.valvesoftware.com/games/hl2.html

·      http://orange.half-life2.com/hl2.html

·      http://half-life.wikia.com/wiki/Half-Life

http://half-life.wikia.com/wiki/Gordon_Freeman

Evolution of The Kraken Castle

 I started of with some very rough sketch's in pencil of what an underwater octopus castle may look like.

Here I played around on Alchemy to come up with some ideas. I think its going to be more of a squid as I like the point to its head.

Jackpot! Below came out of Alchemy quite randomly but gave me the idea of having the Kraken holding towers/ buildings. It also gave me the idea of the shape and to have a door in the Krakens mouth.

Heres my final concept for my Kraken castle, Im very pleased with it. I like having the incorporation of stained glass in the main part of the Krakens head. The tentacles and body are going to be plates of metal and I think it would be nice to incorporate more natural elements such as coral and mother of pearl.

Zoomorphic Architecture

In an attempt to learn more about animal based architecture I went to the Library where I found this book, and learnt that its called Zoomorphic architecture. Inside where many examples of buildings that had been designed with something natural as its basis. Shells stingrays and fish had been done before, but nowhere either in the book or on the internet could I find an octopus/ squid based building. This spurred me on to do this idea even more, I like doing original ideas as there are so few left.

Another source I found full of examples is on this old V&A web page, http://www.vam.ac.uk/vastatic/microsites/1269_zoomorphic/homepage.htm

Zoomorphic presents a startling new trend in architecture – buildings that look like animals. Animal resemblances arise for various reasons. An architect may wish to create a symbol, as architects have always done. Or, there may be a functional explanation for why a building comes to share elements of its design with that of some living creature.

Nature In Architecture/ Kraken: King of The Sea

Here is Disney's Little Mermaids Atlantis, to me it appears to be based on the environment around it, which is a coral reef. The surrounding habitat is incorporated into the architecture of the castle, weather or not the tops of the towers are actual shells or just made to look like them is anyones guess. Either way I like how the architecture uses natural shapes that are to do with the sea such as shells and coral like shapes.

As you can see above a lot of modern architects look to nature for inspiration, If i go and do an Atlantean castle it will be based on sea life/ or have sea life incorporated.

The image above instantly reminded me of an octopus, Im not sure what the whole building looks like but it reminds of the eyes of an Octopus. I love Octopi and Squids!!! (aka cephalopod molluscs) They're very mysterious and are often very beautiful and are well known for inhabiting sunken ships as they are famous for there ability to squash themselves through key holes and the like.

Squids and Octopi have been the basis of myth and legends for thousands of years eg the Octopus vase is, Minoan, c. 1500 BCE, 28cm, from Palaikastro (Knossos Palace), Crete. Across the globe throughout time there has been reports of giant tentacled creatures attacking and sinking ships, the most known name for this mythical beast is the Kraken, which I believe must be based of sitings of the rare but real Giant Squid.
If atlantis were real I think Atlantean's would consider like me the Kraken/ Giant Squid to be king of the Sea, and would respect them perhaps even worship them like the Egyptians did cats. For this reason if doing an atlantean castle I would incorporate cephalopod elements into the architecture. 

 I thought that I may use these Diatoms in my design as they are so interesting, nature is so beautiful close up. There composition are very mathematical and most often designed to be strong, perfect for use in building architecture. I do go on to use the top circular blue one and the shape of the triangular one in my castle design.

Gothic Style Study

 Here are a few gothic  bits and bobs that I tried doing in a stylised way, a style similar to that of Tim Burtons. Im very happy with them I really enjoy the style, I imagine doing the style in maya may be tricky as it involves a lot of warping and distorting.

Here are two quick gothic bridge concepts one the left done in pencil, the right one in photoshop. I like the idea of a long bridge supported only by thin supports that stretch down into the darkness of a chasm, one that has a sense of danger. The other two sketch's are just two gargoyle/ guardian ideas.