Animal Circus

[KChen]

Since Halloween is coming up, I thought this might be a appropriate post.
Here is another old school project from Entertainment Design Class. The goal was to design an animal costume (we randomly gets the animal that we have to work with) and have to build and wear it to class for the final. JoeWatson (Cricket) and Feng (Frog) was also in the class. Hopefully they can post up their sketches and costume photos too :)

Here are some initial crocodile studies so I can learn how to draw a crocodile and some character studies:
http://www.imagewiz.net/images/kchen/imagewiz65563.jpg
http://www.imagewiz.net/images/kchen/imagewiz65564.jpg
http://www.imagewiz.net/images/kchen/imagewiz65566.jpg

Here is the life size sketch and the wireframe of the suit. The frame is made out of drip pipes and duct tape. The flesh wobbles, the mouth opens, the eye ball tracks, and the eye brows can moves up & down:
http://www.imagewiz.net/images/kchen/imagewiz65561.jpg

Some photos from the wacky presentation :)
http://www.imagewiz.net/images/kchen/imagewiz65562.jpg

Enjoy!!

[Lono]

That looks like so much fun...

i absolutely love building crap..

your studies rip.

you are the man...

[ScribbleHEAD]

fucking brilliant :D

[killing.people]

i am gonna make a pigeon suit! j/k - i dont .. kn..
awesome to see from you again kchen!
art center right? must be! that is crazy that three big artists were in the same class shooting the peverbial shit everyday! just crazy.

-killing.crocs

[McNallyism]

Once again, beautiful sketches. I know I'm gonna be kicking myself for asking this, but exactly how old were you when you did this? and also, how did you make the flesh for the costume? carved foam, molded foam? Latex?

-Sean

[Blind]

Awesome sketches, Ken. I really love the way they come out on that toned paper along with the white highlights. It makes them jump right off the page, just like your Gargoyle stuff. Got any more of these gems around?

Cool costume too. Looks like you guys had a blast doing it :cool:

[jrr]

ok, this rocks. i just realize my school sucked monkey balls.

[Smeagol71]

Looks like everyone else is with me on this one...wishing they could have as much fun as you had with this design and production! Wow, really amazing.

Your gargoyle sketches are pages that I've revisited many times since you posted them and it looks like these animal sketches will be no different. You're an inspiration KChen, keep up the great work!

[jester]

These drawings are so funny and way cool. You must have had a great time when doing this project!

Just love it!

Jester

[Deth Jester]

LOL I love it!!!!

I so want to make up a costume for halloween... *has motivation* Since im learning 3d maybe Ill model it out after concepts... :)

peace.

[Lukias]

Your ability to depict vastly different chars with one animal is utter insanity.

My keyboard swims in drool.

[AmadorL]

what school was this project for and where is it located thanks!
Amador
________
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[mtw]

Wow! Those are amazing.

[nardfrog]

Wow, Im really impressed with the concept work - very proffesional. Top notch stuff, so keep posting damnit!

[morphine]

Whoa, friggin' cool, eh?
/me makes Mortal Kombat voice: Impressive.

What's that skin made of anyway?

[jaymz]

Excellent stuff, Kchen...I'm sure you're familiar Heinrich Kley's ink sketches. The way you're personalizing animals into humans...I can't help but bring up his work. Thanks for the posts...

-Jaymz

[Avetice]

damn you, im stuck here at ccs learning product design while you get to have all the fun working with the figure in entertainment design!
Great job, i like the feature drawings, sure as hell have quite a bit more in each of your feature pages than anything i've done in product design.
hmmmm maybe i should transfer :D ....ok maybe not, im not rich

[AfroLaxMan]

i really appreciate the fact you show us your development in a project. it shows me how many steps you go through. thanks for the inspiration.

:afro2:

[JoshuaTheJames]

real style real dynamics real artist


thanks for sharing chen,

-Joshua

[davi]

This is the coolest thing i've ever seen!

[TJ Verhagen]

god.. that rules!
great artwork... and that suit is just hillarious! gj

[negativespace]

Cool class. How long does it take to construct something like this? Was it expensive to get all the materials?

[KChen]

Thanks, glad you like them. It definately was a fun project.

When the instructor first announced the project, almost half of the class dropped out because of the cost and they just don't want a costume for their portfolio.

As it turns out, everyone that did stick through the class did a excellent job and had a lot of fun making it.

It's kind of funny that it end up to be the portfolio piece that people tend to remember from my portfolio. I guess you don't see a life size home made croc costume everyday :)

It was done in 97, when I was 21. The skin is made out of 1/4 in. foam sheets and was made very similiarly to fabric puppets by cutting out patterns.

The class is called Entertainment Design taught by Norm Schurman & Phil Hettama (mispelled) at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, CA. The assignment changes every semester. The Captain Nemo stuff I posted earlier are from the same class.

The materials of the costume costed around $500 ~ $650.

We had 1 week to make a mock up structure where most of us failed miserably (falling apart, too heavy, etc) then we have 6 more weeks to complete it. Most of us end up remaking our frame after trading info on what materials to use.

For inspiration, I did check out Fantasia and Henrich Kley's sketches. Great stuff!!

One of the guys in class even have speakers in their costume so he can have circus music where every he goes.

Here is two images of other costumes from the class:
http://www.imagewiz.net/images/kchen/imagewiz66292.jpg
http://www.imagewiz.net/images/kchen/imagewiz66293.jpg
Joggling Cricket by Joseph Watson. I can't remember the name of the person who did the handstanding elephant. You can find both of these at ACCD web site.

You can find some of Feng's frog studies for the same project at his site:

http://www.artbyfeng.com/crea_11.htm
http://www.artbyfeng.com/crea_12.htm

[jwatson]

Hey Kevin. I remember this project very well. I believe that the guy who did the elephant costume is Scott. Where did you find the photo of my crickett costume? Thanks for posting it. Thanks for inspiring me as well. I'll be postin again really soon!

[bOne]

There is so much life in your drawings, it's amazing !
waht a great style and imagination :)

[SamusNeo]

This is cool stuff. Are you familiar with the drawings of Heinrich Kley? This guy drew a lot of pictures with aligators and crocodiles dancing, iceskating , ect...he's worth a look. Anyway, very nice work. The figures are very fluid and have a lot of expression.