Final Project Concept Example

Here is my example of the final project concept setup. The more complete this concept package is, the easier it will be to implement the maquette and better your final maquette is going to appear.

• My concept came about by a dream that I had several months ago. I dreamt that I was in a land where there was desperation and famine. As I was going through town after town (it was something you might expect in a typical American city and the outlying suburbs and towns) I saw waste and devastation. Everyone was hungry and the region was a desolate achromatic environment with strong winds and decomposing buildings (dust devils and a hazy sun). The people I came across were all emaciated - either dying or already dead. This was a typical post-apocalyptic environment as we understand in our contemporary visual culture.

• As I went through the various towns, the people who were able to move were all running from something that I knew must be the source of the devastation. Eventually, I saw what I thought might be the thing that was so scary to everyone- but from the distance, it just looked like a large fat man in the haze. As I got closer, I saw that he (the beast thing) was about three times my height. It was constructed in such a way that the upper half was a very very fat man resting in a nest like structure of dead branches, and the lower half was dead tree branches (legs) leading up to the nest like structure.

• Every step this beast took, I could see the life and color leave the area around its step and sort of rush up the dead tree-branched legs to the fat upper man body. I knew (as we tend to know stuff in dreams) that this beast was taking life and filling itself up to the point where it would eventually burst --- and I was like, "ahhh, this is famine, and he is fattening himself up with everything he touches, but once he is full, he will bust and all that stuff inside will fertilize the lands for the future". This knowledge did not make him any less spooky to me.

• It did not seem to notice me, as it walked past in the devastated city streets with super quiet steps that sucked in sound just like it sucked in color and life, and even though I knew it was not paying attention to me, it was both terrifying and exciting- something so monumental and lethal.

• I woke up right after it passed in my dream and I rushed to my computer to make a rough sketch of what it looked like before I forgot.

Initial sketch

john hammer © all rights reserved

I used the initial sketch as the starting point. Rather than using the tightly bunched/wrapped horns, I chose to stretch them and expand out. I also chose to make some things that I "knew" in my dream into symbolic objects and details, such as the cornucopia of death and the jewel encrusted horns. The gesture of the left hand was a choice made for further aesthetics, design, and understanding of the character.

john hammer © all rights reserved

The Story to go with the design concept:

Famine is a beast which brings about shortage and deficiency by absorbing all fertility and life out of the land into the body of itself. Every step it takes depletes the abundance of the land.

Once the gluttonous beast is full, it will eventually burst, spreading all the stolen lands fertility back to the earth, along with sending out its own seed to the wind.

It will repeat this cycle on any land where its seeds are deposited and manage to take root.

Its horns are jeweled with the riches it steals from nations. It has no ears and is thus unresponsive to the cries of desperation that it leaves in the wake of its path, not that it would matter, as famine’s only drive is to suck up every possible sign of life to the point of its own explosion.

It carries in one arm the cornucopia of drought, disease, and death, along with the fruits that will once again go back to the lands.

The other hand displays the sign of peace and tranquility, creating a mirage to effectively bring about the complacency of neighboring populaces – it relies on this to achieve its goal. Ironically, this hand gesture also hints of the eventual outcome of fertility being regained and the balance all things must have.

john hammer © all rights reserved

REMINDER:

Once again, the better fleshed out your initial concept, the better and the easier the execution of your concept will be.

Look at your fellow classmates- there are a couple who are very well prepared and had most all aspects of their character fleshed out and designed on paper. Their progress in class shows the ease that such preparation provides --- the guess work is gone because there is a strong game plan in place.

Take the time NOW to put your thoughts and concepts on paper so that the clay is a vehicle to achieve the concept, not necessarily the tool to work out the problems with the idea or design.

You have two more class periods and all the days in between to work on this. The execution in clay will be much faster and much better the more your plan is in place before hand. Use your time well.

Check my ealier post on what you need to have in place for submission on week 11.