Yeh it happens… =( but here are mood boards…
First board is key shots about who Nite Owl is in comics, film and various other whatnot and stuff he uses.
Second one is on ID stuff I found quite cool…
Next is some funky spaceships I found…
…and finally, some stuff from nature that was quite cool…
Now for some sketching… argh!!!!
What happens when final year project commitments conflict with transport… maybe it wasn’t such a good idea doing that and FYP at the same time… ack!! oh well…
In the meantime, a bit about my character, Nite Owl…
The character of “Nite Owl” was said to have been based on DC’s Batman. Originally, the “Watchmen” idea was to have been applied to the mainstream DC comics characters, but DC didn’t like the idea of killing lots of their lead characters off or changing their universe that much so the comic was written as a stand-alone.
The hero “Nite Owl” has an alter-ego, the retired and rather impotent Daniel Dreiberg (who was apparently based on a mid-life blow-out Bruce Wayne). During his prime, he used a swathe of technology to battle crime but since the Keene act (an act of government banning costumed vigilantism) he retired and lives a relatively normal life until the events of the comic unfold.
Whilst he was in his prime though, he used owl-themed gadgets and transportation. Often these would be of advanced designs that incorporated cutting-edge technologies to fight crime and take down criminals in any form. Although not featured in the film, the comic depicts various experimental suits and transportation devices that he would’ve worked on after the events of watchmen as it was strongly hinted in the ending that he hadn’t fully retired after Veidt’s monster appeared in New York (or the destruction of major cities were blamed on Dr. Manhattan, depending on if you believe the comic or the movies) which means he might have worked on other more advanced transportation.
Dreiberg liked birds and had a strong passion for owls in his childhood. As such, he incorporated owl motifs into his designs and even his technology is owl-themed. He also values entertainment and leisure as well as practicality, which is displayed when he and the second Silk Spectre rescued people from a burning building and then makes them coffee and entertains them with recorded renditions of “You’re my Thrill” by Billie Holiday. All this makes quite a good background for design.
That and incorporating missile turrets, flame throwers and various other comic-book gadgetry into it could be fun I guess… and now for the mood boards… ACK!! =(
The great thing about doing research on a comic book character is doing the market research, especially given the fact that I actually liked reading comic books…
Normally, this would present a problem as (unless I am a total marvel/DC geek… thankfully) the comic book universe upon which a character is based is so complex that it would take more than a few weeks to research and contemplate. Compounding this is the fact that there are often so many different iterations of characters (for example, ultimate spider-man, invincible spider-man, amazing spider-man, the list goes on) that it was difficult to actually define in more than 2 dimensions what sort of person the character is.
However, this wasn’t the case with a limited stand-alone graphic novel like Watchmen. There was one universe, several characters, all of which are portrayed in realistic fashion and none of them (except one who was re-arranged in a science experiment gone wrong) having superpowers. The characters are all three-dimensional, with their likes, personal life and even sexual identity described in detail.
About the World of Watchmen
To put the entire story in context, the graphic novel “Watchmen” is presented in an alternate 1985 where the only difference between it and the real timeline is the existence of costumed vigilantes known as super-heroes. It explores the impact that costumed vigilantism would have in the real world in realistic scenarios and takes world history down an alternate “what if” scenario.
Due to the intervention of Dr. Manhattan (the guy who got zapped in an experiment gone wrong and now exists as a quantum entity able to manipulate matter in a God-like manner and lives in quantum time… I don’t know what that means either but he’s the only dude with powers) the world has electric cars (due to him being able to synthesise critical battery components and work out stuff no normal human can work out) and “blimps” (due to his work on anti-gravity stuff) and America won the Vietnam War (due to his intervention). Interesting world to design for.
Here is Dr. Manhattan discussing electric cars with the first Nite Owl.
So… designing electric cars anyone?
Well… what do I write for the first blog? Ack!
it’s late, very late in fact and I don’t really know what I should do… what’s even worse is it’s a Sunday and I have to get mood boards and sketches up by Wednesday afternoon… I guess this could be rather bad…
This also means I have to pick a character/celebrity. ACK!!!
Okies, for those of us who aren’t initiated in transport design, apparently I have to design a transportation device for a celebrity or a character. Sounds easy? Probably not…
Just means i have to cry and flap my arms about until I find a character…
In the meantime, though, I shall pick… NITE OWL from the Watchmen… Archie could SERIOUSLY do with a stylish makeover…
