Visual Storytelling- Teaser Ads

For the Visual Storytelling module one of the task we had to create some Teaser Ads, below are the notes we were given before we started. 

"Take the concepts you have created for the Excelsior brief in 'Character and Environment Design'.

Develop ideas and images for a 'teaser campagne' to run for three weeks designed to promote the game/film/animation.

These will be half page ads either landscape of portrait.

The first ad should be intriguing - designed to get the attention of the public but not give very much away.

The second should have more content but still leave the viewer with questions.

The third is the 'pay off' with an image that gives a clear impression of the game/film/animation

Things to remember:

The images should be a set. When somebody sees the second image in the series they should know instantly that it relates to the first.

Know who your intended audience is and make your design appropriate.

Do your research - I've decided that you can find your own examples rather than me doing it for you."

Below are my first sketches for my teaser ads, I tried to stick to rough, quick sketches to get my ideas down quickly. 

Below are the designs that I liked and took further with development or drawing them out neater so it was easier to get feedback on them. 

Beauty and the Beast Final

After making the changes suggested to me, below is my finished version of the Dreamworks brief-Beauty and the Beast.

Beauty and the Beast Coloured in

Here is the coloured in version, I received some feedback which included:

• changing the colour of the Beast's underpants- it is too similar to the background colour
• the background is too dark, looks too similar to the skin colour of the Beast
• the dreadlocks are too straight
• the fur on the Beast's face is too "drippy" looking, it needs to look more pointy to look like fur
• the "cigarette" is maybe facing the wrong way, it doesn't quite look right
• maybe add a strap onto the watch
• there should be more of a shadow under the face on the shirt
• there is something not quite right with the left ear on the Beast
• change the shape of the shadow below the Beauty character

Beauty and the Beast- First Drafts

After doing lots of research, lots of unnecessary sketches that didn't help me; I knew it was time to just dive in and draw some characters and make changes if I didn't like them. I had wasted enough time and hadn't had any breakthroughs so just decided to try come up with my final designs. I could always make changes to them after. 

I decided to draw out the "Beast" character when he was human so that I could try make the transition as realistic as possible. 

I did draw him out in a Beast like form that didn't quite work out. It looked like I was trying too hard to keep it looking relate-able to the human version. So then I just decided to go all out and over exaggerate him.  

Beauty and the Beast- Development

I had created my idea; a rapper who smokes a lot of weed and isn't nice to his adoring fans was rude to his dealer. His dealer had had enough of being treat that way so gave his customer some bad weed. This bad weed turned the rapper into a beast! The beauty character in this story is a young, teenage "fangirl" who is heavily influenced by her idols. One of which happens to be the rapper. The only way the beast can undo the effects of the bad weed is to change his ways and realise how influential he is and how damaging that can be if he carries on acting and treating people in a bad way. 

I then tried to think of what makes a fangirl a fangirl. I tried doing some research and all I found was screaming, crying teenage girls reaching out towards their idol. So since that was not new information I tried to think of what the typical teenage girl looks like these days. Short skirts, crop tops, lots of skin showing; these were all attributes of a teenage girl. 

So the next step I took was to do some sketches of possible outfits that my "beauty" character could wear. 

Beauty and the Beast Brief- Sketches and Research

I started off sketching some body shapes and sizes, mainly for the Beast character. I tried to think of different variations in size and build that could best represent him being "beastly".

I then focused more on them separately. 

I settled on these designs for the outline of my characters. 

After showing my lecturer these sketches they pointed out I had wasted a lot of time doing these sketches and was no further forward and still had no idea of what my background story was for these characters. 

I had already done enough research and from watching the Disney version while growing up, I knew the story like the back of my hand. So I needed to just think solely about the characters and what made them the way they are. 

It was suggested to me that I look into influential singers or "pop stars" these days that are very influential to young minds but not in a positive way. I researched into Justin Bieber but really don't like him so had a think about someone else I could use as influence. 

I chose to look into Wiz Khalifa. He is a "rapper" who smokes a lot of weed, covered in tattoos and could be seen a bit of a bad boy. I personally know how much a pop singer or rapper can influence teenagers so thought this would be an excellent story for my characters. 

Dreamworks Brief

As part of our Concept Art Practice module we had a visit from Shelly Page from Dreamworks who gave us a brief to work on. She gave us a list of different characters to choose from and our job was to pick on and redesign that character in a different time period or setting. I chose Beauty and the Beast. 

I looked a lot online for visual references but kept going back to Disney's version of the story for a lot of my reference. 

I did try to think of a clever and different way to tell the story but failed. I was struggling to come up with ideas because I was missing the point of the story and was looking for an ugly character and a beautiful character rather than a beautiful person trapped in an ugly persons body. I was looking at examples like Shrek and Fiona (when she was human) and Quasimodo and Esmerelda. After having this pointed out to me I realised I had too many ideas or references and needed to narrow my searches. 

That is why I settled on the Disney version as my main reference.