For this project I pulled a few cards with a theme on them. Out of these three cards I had to pick one, I chose the card with the theme ''madness''. The theme that follows is derived from that card. The scene had to be 20x20 meters. This behance page shows my process.
Story Summary
A psychiatric hospital is using its patients to materialize hallucinations. These are medicinally induced hallucinations, however they do experience visual hallucinations without the use of medication. It is required that these delusions are rather extreme.
This hospital is placed deep in the mountains where no one can witness these experiments besides the patients and employees. Therefore, the place isn’t well-funded and is falling apart. The only people keeping it going are the few in charge of the experiments. Some parts in the facility are already abandoned.
It is set in the Victorian era (1837 - 1901).
A hallucination did end up magically materializing. It is a nonviolent creature and it carries hope through the room. The contrast between hope and decay is at the forefront.
Research
For this project I did some research about the treatment of mentally ill individuals in England during the 1800s. One of the things I've found in my research that I find interesting is the usage of casebooks.
Documentation on medical history was uncommon in the beginning of the 18th century, but it began to be more common during the mid 18th century. For this, medical professionals used casebooks. Typewriters were introduced in the 1860s, so before that, people wrote in casebooks themselves.
These casebooks followed a narrative structure rather than a scientific one, which made retrieving information rather difficult. I think these casebooks would fit well into the scene. I put this in the tower where the lights are flickering and there is a doorlike window open, inviting the viewer in.
Moodboard & Styleboard:
Below are my compact moodboard(left) and styleboard(right), to see the full boards, click the links.
https://nl.pinterest.com/Suushiletsgo/cubeworld-moodboard/ & https://nl.pinterest.com/Suushiletsgo/cubeworld-styleboard/
Workflow
I knew I wanted my style to take inspiration from the ''Fran Bow'' art style (see top right image on styleboard). Fran Bow is a video game and has an eerie and more traditional look. I feel like the moths in particular reflect that style nicely.
2D
After finishing the research for this project, I quickly started brainstorming. Since the materialized hallucination had to carry hope, I figured it would be nice for the hallucinations to carry light with them.
In my moodboard I saw a pair of moths carrying lanterns and decided it would be a good to include them, but in Fran Bow style. I made a few variations because I wanted there to be quite a few of these moths flying around. Since the moths are not ''real'', I gave them a foggy outline to give them a surreal look. The light they carry respresents hope.
2D
Above this text you can see some more environmental drawings. These are not the focal point but their purpose is to blend reality and hallucinations in one. This is also to sell the eeriness and decay of the setting. Plus, I feel like the style of ''Fran Bow'' is all about eerie, more traditional illustrations/paintings.
3D
Here you can see the start of the 3D aspect of this project. I already a clear direction I wanted to go in, however the exact visualization wasn't exactly clear. So here I tried a few things to see which would fit.
In the first picture I mainly focussed on the interior. Even though the first is my least favorite, I took what I did like about the first one and placed in the second one, thereafter I did the same with the third.
Feedback
After making a few concepts, I asked for feedback. Here are some of the things the feedback called for:
-More mountainous terrain
-Moths carrying a lighter/blue color
-Clearer signs of decay and ruin.
Below you can see that I worked the feedback from the text above into my scene. These changes are highlighted by the arrows. I added quite a few more things into me scene, such as ''Dynamic Light'', which is similar to adding a skybox. This addition makes the moths with the lights stand out more.
Feedback
Down here you can see the illustrations I've added, again, these are not supposed to be the focal point, but rather details that sell the atmosphere. They're, well, sufficiently creepy.
Beauty Shots
Below you can see the beauty shots of my scene. Some of them have the lights on and some off, for variation. I'm pleased with the result.
Animations
Below you can see the animations I've added to my scene. I think the lights flickering adds the most to the atmosphere. I've added:
-Flickering lights
-Moths flying
-Swinging light bulb
Swinging Light Bulb
Flickering Lights
Flying Moths
Sketchfab
My Sketchfab scene is embedded below.
