Stevie Choo | A Medium for Imagination

GENESIX

As Earth gets destroyed by a nuclear war, a large group of scientists have no choice but to flee to Mars as a last resort. As time passes on Mars and resources start depleting, our protagonists find themselves struggling to be united as a group whilst battling other survivors on Mars. However, everything changed when a stranded ship crashes in to Mars' atmosphere. Desperate for even the slightest glint of hope, they set out on a journey to the crashed ship hoping to find supplies. Little did they know, they found something else in that ship that was much more valuable.

Genesix is a group project that I worked on during my 3rd year in The One Academy. We had the opportunity to experience working together as a team to create a concept that we were all excited to dive in to, and it was an experience that I really enjoyed. Throughout this project, I learned a lot on how I can use photobashing to create concepts and illustrations that are realistic looking. Below are the artworks I have contributed towards the project.

Tammy is a character that I mainly worked on during this project. While designing Tammy, I thought that giving her vitiligo would not only help her stand out more, but also metaphorically show her becoming a different person as she grew up. This is because growing up on the harsh environment of Mars has changed her a lot.

Keyarts and Environments

I had the opportunity to work on keyarts while working on GENESIX, and thats where I fell in love with painting keyarts and environments. I love crafting my illustrations to tell a story and convey emotions. It was a tough and complicated challenege at first, but seeing my imagination come to life on the canvas makes it all worth it! It really felt like I took a picture inside my imagination.

In some of these paintings, I used Blender to model out a rough base of my concept. This step helps me explore different compositions and lighting much quicker. After rendering a scene I'm satisfied with, I move it to Photoshop to refine and paint over it.

Leaving reality

As I progressed further and started finding out more about my identity as an artist, I found my love for creating stylized art. Drawing and exploring stylized concepts brings out another side of me that really helps me enjoy creating. It's almost liberating in a way. I came across this revelation when I worked on a solo project in The One Academy called Asphodel Meadows.

Asphodel Meadows

A Greek schoolboy got in to a car accident and found himself in the afterlife, also known as The Asphodel Meadows. There, he met an owl griffin that has decided to help him get back to his human world. 

I was inspired by Greek mythology and culture when making this concept, especially their concept of the afterlife. This project meant a lot to me as I found my love for stylized art while working on this project, and it remains as one of my proudest works.

This is the process that went in to designing Finn. Since I imagined Finn to be a really unstable and nervous character, I took inspiration from a spinning top's shape and tried to apply it back on to Finn's character.

Asphodel was inspired by Athena, The Goddess of Wisdom, whose symbol is also an owl. Asphodel is also the caretaker for The Asphodel Meadows and maintains the balance of nature in the afterlife, which is why I added plants and nature growing on his back.

A World Beyond

Vee and Cayde lives within a community of animals in a hole deep below the surface called Storia. Storia religiously believes that the hole was made by a God to shelter them from the world above, and everyone is forbidden to travel to the surface. One faithful day, Vee found a mysterious, thick notebook once belonging to an adventurer of the world above them, also known as The Above. Filled with wanderlust and curiosity, Vee and Cayde set out on an adventure to break out of Storia and explore the world that awaits them.

A World Beyond is my IP about a story concept that is still ongoing. I started this project around my final semester in The One Academy and dived at the opportunity to create an entirely new world, new characters and stories. I used this project to not only help me explore my identity in art, but to also enjoy doing what I love as much as I can.

An inner message I wanted to convey within the story is to be your true self and pursue your dreams as you grow up and approach adulthood. In an oppressing world filled with social constructs, it wont be an easy thing to do. But once you push through all the obstacles and achieve your dreams, it will be worth it.

Vee and Cayde have very different personalities, skills and backstories, but together they thrive in helping each other accomplish goals and push through obstacles. Therefore, I made sure to show that in their shape language. Vee is made up of more pointy and triangle shaped elements, while Cayde has a more rounded and curved shape language.

Of course, I couldn't give up the opportunity to make keyarts in this project! I wanted to show how different and vast the The Above is in my keyarts. I put a lot of thought in to developing the world and story while making thumbnails for this keyart, exploring the different scenarios Vee and Cayde could've been in throughout their journey. I plan on making more keyarts to further develop the story and introduce more characters. 

Other Arts and Stuffs!

These are other artworks that I've done, both personal and for school. They mainly consist of studies, concept arts and illustrations. 

As a medium for bringing my imagination to life, art is something I'm very passionate about and I strive to become better and to create more. Thanks for checking out my work and I hope you enjoyed it! :D