20 000 Leagues under the sea

Here is a school project. It is an adaptation of Jules Verne's famous novel “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea”. I chose to design the four main characters, in a contemporary universe: Captain Nemo, Professor  Aronnax and his faithful companion whom I chose to imagine as a woman who is also his bodyguard, and finally the unruly Nedland.

As a second step, I chose to recreate an illustration echoing a mythical scene from the 1954 film, based on a 3D blocking made on Blender software. According to the book, the Nautilus works with very advanced technology, only possessed by Nemo. That's why I imagined a futuristic Nautilus in a contemporary world. 

It's Captain Nemo, commander of the Nautilus. Being a person constantly living in the abyssal depths, I chose to portray him as pale and skinny. Nemo is smart and charismatic. He seems very distant, solitary, misanthropic, ironic about the fate of humanity.

He survived pirates and slavers, which is why I imagined him wearing a blindfold to hide his blind eye.

Professor Aronnax is generous, respectful and totally amazed by Nemo's way of life. His love for nature drives him to document every encounter with sea creatures. He is humble, modest, curious, sometimes dreamy, caught up in reality by his sidekick Conseil.

In the book, professor Aronnax is constantly followed by his sidekick and servant Conseil. However, a servant is not exactly appropriate for our contemporary world. I have chosen to design Conseil as a strong woman which is the bodyguard of Aronnax.

Miss Lee Conseil is wearing a suit with a belt remaining a karate kimono. Her clothes aspect are almost metallic, to adding more rigidity to the character.

Ned Land is rebellious, unruly, charming. I chose to imagine him as a former soldier, discharged from the army because of his lack of discipline. he is sneaky, laid back, untrustworthy, boastful. I wanted his design reflects his personality.

Here you will find my research and 3D blocking made in Blender which constitute the scene of my final illustration. The image was flipped for readability during production: in the conventional European sense of reading, from left to right, the character tends to look ahead. We better understanding the composition of the the final image.

Here is my process from my 3D blocking to the final realization of the illustration on photoshop software, to repaint and add life to my image.