2.7 Bloody Jack 3D Modelling Stages and Final Character Design

Above is the new 3D model for Bloody Jack made by my Aeron Dela Cruz. This 3D model was made after my 2D illustration which can be seen in the third photo in this post. 

For the UV mapping and texturing, I teamed up with my friend Alex Raymundo. He worked on mapping in Maya then I did all the textures on Photoshop.

2.6 Assembling the Nightmare: Bloody Jack Design Studies

Bloody Jack is the main visual antagonist of Madman Diaries. He represents Finn's different negative emotions and memories when he was a kid. To achieve that perception, I went for a clown-esque villain with some design twists.

Above are character design studies done during pre-production stage.

And these last two were the initial designs for Bloody Jack when the character was assumed to be done in 2D during production. But major changes with the story boards happened and the film needed to push this character's design better which lead us to turn him into a 2D-rendered 3D character.

2.5 Finn Lee Final Character Design Model Sheets

After a long journey of finding the right look for Finn, I finally settled for these designs.

2.4 Crazy Clothing

In this section, we'll be exploring about how the design of Finn's character evolved throughout the pre-production process. The production's take on character design would be more on getting the right shape and composition of the characters while dressing them crazy but fashionable and catchy clothes. For the main protagonist Finn, pointy shapes and stick like figures were used for his design composition accompanied with asylum/goth inspired costumes. The mixture of eastern and western fashion also influenced his all-in-all look to emphasize him being a Korean-British descent.  

One of the early stages of Finn's character design. 

To further explore the boundaries of what can happen with Finn during his out-of-his-mind adventures, extreme costumes inspired from different media were also considered.

These designs may look closer to the final look of the character but it was decided then that  having too much stripes would be confusing to animate and that pushing the design with more non-symmetrical cuts would do more justice to the 'crazy' statement that Finn's clothing should sport. 

Finally, here are 4 animatable versions out of 12 character designs for Finn which were used in the film.

2.3 Secondary Characaters

These are the initial studies to the minor or secondary characters in Madman Diaries including the balloon vendor, Finn's mom, Nurse Tifanny and Jessica, the kid shown at the hospital. 

2.2 Finn and Nigel Lee: The Twins of Tragedy and Horror

          

             Nigel and Finn Lee Character Turn-arounds. 

 Nigellius "Nigel" Mark Lee (Wang Kyu Lee) left South Korea for good with his mother and twin brother months after the death of his father. In London, he spent most of his time with his twin brother, Finn whom he considers as his best friend. But then, an unfortunate event happened to Nigel which haunts Finn for almost 10 years living only with fear and guilt in his heart.  

2.1 Finn Lee Character 'Head' Design Studies

Designing Finn's face was one of he most difficult tasks I have done during my pre-production stage. From the first one I had, I came up with numerous studies for Finn's final head look. At first I tried out some cartoony stuff and mixed them with a creepy feel. But towards the end of designing this part, I realized that Finn needs a stronger facial design that could deliver his emotions which is one of the core factors of this story. Therefore, I came back to my original pegs which some were 'Corpse Bride' by Tim Burton and  Death Note's 'L' and came up with the final design of Finn.