Most Collector’s Editions of movies and video games have several sections of concept art for fans to view, which usually amounts to early drawings of finished characters or scenes. What they don’t tell you is that these sketches are probably image #10 of dozens of drawings. This is especially true when the writer comes up with a scene, character, or object that is completely new. The original Starship Enterprise, for example, had over 50 drafts before a final version was settled upon.
We’ve created several new machines and weapons that haven’t been seen anywhere in the entire franchise. Among these is a new vehicle type which you’ll be seeing in Episode 1. The writers thought out its uses, when Skynet would employ it, etc, then we gave this description to one of our concept artists to sketch:
“The thing is a very large wheeled vehicle with metal plate, as big as a large supply truck or more. Should be at least 2-3 humans in height, big, bulky. Think a large cargo container on wheels. Back end should have a loading ramp.”
We also mentioned that it’s an automated vehicle. There is no pilot. So Blob, one of our concept artists, came back with this drawing:
Our first APC image by Blob
Now, this isn’t the end product by any means. It was the very first image and something we posted previously. And while we all thought it looked good we also spotted a few problems. The big one here was the wheel size (much too small to be an all terrain vehicle), and there was a visible cockpit area. We didn’t want that, we wanted this thing to be its own machine, in keeping with the autonomous HK aerial vehicles and tanks.
So it was back to the drawing board for Blob. And when he finished another sketch, we had a few criticisms for that too. So he redid it, came back with a third drawing, and the cycle continued. Until we ended up with a version the writers liked:
Finished concept art by Blob
This drawing is now the basis of our APC model. One of our CGI staff is already working on it and has already produced a draft version. So yes, the process is repeating itself a bit, but it’s a lot easier to tell a sketch artist to “make the wheels bigger” than it is to make a CGI modeler change a lot of details. The artist can draw whatever he/she wants on paper, but the modeler has to worry about polygon count, shape, texture, etc. Simply put, the CGI staff’s job is a lot easier from a modeling and animation perspective if they have a visual image to look at instead of the (sometimes wild) ramblings of the writing staff.
Now on to the News: First, we’re still looking for concept artists. A few of our members have become swamped with other projects and we need someone who can sketch artwork and also draw storyboard sequences. Nothing too complicated, we need black and white sketches. The finished APC sketch has also been added to our Media section, so feel free to drool over it if you want. We’re still looking for another John Connor, and a few minor roles as well. And, as always, we need all the CGI help we can get for this project, so if you think you can model or texture, feel free to contact us at tcc.no.fate.productions@gmail.com
Also, we’d like to introduce several new members to our group. The Sentinel and Speed87 have joined us as full time character modelers. Adamkhuevrr will be voicing several roles for the production (some of which I can’t reveal because they would be SPOILERY).
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