Concept Art - 2023

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Website: Adamsprott.com
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Email: [email protected]
Artstation: https://www.artstation.com/adamsprott

Barbillac

(Baby-yak)

This is the start of a personal project that I started recently, following a trip home where I had the chance to visit family in the Correze/Dordogne (South Central France). This brought back a lot of memories which I wanted to imbue into a project. 

Theme/Story Brief:

On top of this I wanted a theme to be the outline of my project. I decided to draw upon more of my background for inspiration; in the balance of being Swiss, Canadian and French. In Switzerland we have an expression -  "Röstigraben" - which describes the cultural boundaries or "ditch" between our multiple cultures (French, German, Italian). In essence, it reflects the differences of these cultures, and yet how they historically remain woven together as one to face all opposition, whether military, religious, or political. As such we have a union of three cultures (the origin tale of William Tell) uniting together to face a formidable threat. This created my brief:

- 3 Cultures, "tribes" each different and identifiable as its own.

- Each carrying its own motif.

- Facing a larger threat together.

Genre: Fantasy

Rules of Universe: 70% grounded, 30% fantastical. Construction is solid, based on real physics, nature has more leniency. Materials based on wood and stone. Time period: 1600-1800

Environments

Production Drawings:

Starting with our fishing village nestled in the rock cliffs, I wanted to show the contrast that despite being hardened sea farers, living in the cold nooks of rock, they were soft and warm hearted people.  For this I packed their interiors with wooden furniture, an abundance of items that speak hominess and a few plants seeking the little light of the windows. This contrasts the cold hard surface stone. To show their tight sense of community, the spaces are compact, limited to few rooms in which all assemble. The principle room is both the kitchen and dining room which welcomes guests. The only other room is the hearthroom (in which the dwellers sleep with an amended mezzanine) which is connected by an open archway, no doors.

At the center of the town is a monument, depicting the culture, beliefs, history and bg of its people. I just got started on throwing down some really rough sketches just to get my ideas on paper. I wasn't sure if I wanted a special religious icon, or perhaps a historical wall that pays homage to the lost at sea.

Props:

While the heart of the home is the kitchen, the heart of the kitchen is the stove. It is here that people gather together to warm themselves, enjoy company, participate in household chores and build up a sense of family.
As such I needed a strong stove that reflected the cultures motifs. The hard cast iron build with square features reflects the toughness of the people, the rock and the sea. The touches of colour, more delicately worked drawers engraves with their motifs accents their warmth and stewardship. I started with a more traditional stove build, then explored  a more open build and a less symmetrical one. I found that this final version struck a balance of the two, and being more open allowed more placement versatility when building up the environment.

I then tackled a few traditional seaman props; fishing knife, pipe and instrument. While exploring knives I found one variation which I quite enjoyed that used an empty shell as an adornment/reinforced decoration. I then went on to explore this combination more, and liking the outcome applied it to the other props. 

For the instrument I narrowed them down to three candidates, a small guitar, ocarina, and a mbira. I found that the mbira was the best fit, being not too delicate and complex for sea life, yet having a balance of soft shell and hard metal fixtures that seemed to identify best with the culture. This followed the general flow of other props and their environments which were generally only 10-20% man made adaptations to a majority naturally built part. Perhaps the dangers of the seas gave them a greater understanding of their reliance on nature.

Practice Project

An Explorer on a lost island. Here I was trying to integrate new techniques into my process. As my character was moving through the space of a map the goal was to keep the mood and lighting consistent.

Diluvium

A world flooded in water, I was exploring how the survivors would adapt what was left in order to survive. This project is also a work in progress.

At the city center, people have gathered together to survive. Outside their perimeter the city is filled with bandits who have settled in empty buildings, under water in air pockets and so forth.

Sketches: