The Mahjong Mix-1

This is a concept study I made for an original idea I had some time ago, named "The Mahjong Mix". The Mahjong is a secret guild that pretend to anihilate humanity cause they consider humans have being ruining the world for too long.

IThe society of the Mahjong is composed by the twelve animals of the chinese horoscope. I choose six of them to made my line up. I searched for a dynamic and stylised silhouette in all of them, and try to make every animal very different and recognisible since the first second the audience sees them. 

I also draw two of the scenes from the script of my story, to experiment with the characters and prove they work correctly on a enviroment. 

The first one is when Tiger Lilly visits the sanctuary of the deceased empress Dharma, and receives her ancestral weapon, the Tiger Bite. Here I looked for a mystical ambience, that reinforces the mistery of the ghost of Dharma, and the importance of the gift she is giving to Tiger Lilly. I used the water and a ethereal light for give the sanctuary a more relaxing and sacred athmosphere. Water and blue are associated with calm and good vibrations, so I tried to give that vibe to this concrete scene.

Second picture focuses on the characters of Mr. Mono and Mr. Rabbit, a pair who works as hitmen for the Mahjong society. I ltry to reflex on her poses and acting the personality of both of them, Mono being funny and craked, and Rabbit being serious and centered.

The scene is very dramatic and shoking with the money burning and the animals in the background surrounded by fire and fume. I used a shot with a very angular perspective to reinforce the dynamism of the act.

As a study of the characters, I made the six model sheets for Lady dragon, Tiger Lilly, Mr. Mono, Mr. Rabbit, the Rooster and Ox. In every expression and pose my intention was to show the personality of the character, like the crazyness and joyful mood of Mono, or the angry but funy presence of the Rooster.

I drew more than 200 sketches for the characters before I decided for a final form in each of them. Here I let some of the drafts for the Mahjong animals.

And I also did the design sheet for two of the props, the ancestral weapon, Tiger Bite, and a statue of Ganesha, the indian god, that appears in the sanctuary of Dharma. 

I looked for a functional but beautiful design for the Tiger Bite, that can be used as a scepter, but when the petals of the head open, the terrible power of the weapon is unleashed. Regarding Ganesha, I tried several versions of the creature until I found a style inspired by the anime that gave the animal a cute and interesting look.