RAWR! I am the Keeper of the Name! My MOUF is full of sharp TEEF and it is sewed up so I don't tell SECRETS!I was able to find some time to take a fresh pass at another monster that I designed while working on Joss Whedon's Angel series. This time around the Keeper of the Name was the lucky winner. Here are some of my better original designs for the Keeper of the Name from 2003...
I have done some bad drawings in my day... but seriously, this one takes the cake.OUCH! This one hurts to look at, can't believe I am showing this off.
© 2003 Almost Human
I must of had my eyes closed when drawing the above design. Apparently, getting a head form that was even remotely symmetrical was beyond me eight years ago. After completing this design I was openly mocked, ridiculed, and otherwise belittled by my supervisors so I attempted a second pass at the design...
RAWR! I am a little better and a little more interesting!© 2003 Almost Human
The whole idea behind the Keeper of the Name was that it knew and held the name of the Woman (I will talk about her another day). The Woman's true name was her only weakness and would expose the horror that she truly was. To insure that the name was safe it was only known by one creature... you guessed it, the Keeper of the Name. Keeper was a big strong fighting monster that had its mouth sewed, bolted and otherwise locked shut to help with keeping the name secret (how did it eat?). If that was not enough, this guy was in another deminsion and you had to get past an army of Centaur Bugs (I will talk about them another day) and a High Priest (I will talk about him another day). Once defeated the Keeper's head and Angel returned to do the whole Clash of the Titans reveal and let the Woman's true name be heard by all. All that aside, here is something... newer, for the design of the Keeper of the Name...
Taking the Keeper of the Name back!© 2011 Christopher Burdett
RAWR! I am a more believable form! Anyway... With this new pass I thought it would be interesting if to try to keep the mouth closed that some of its larger horns had been driven through the the front of the skull and out through below the chin. Also, who would use cords and leather straps? USE METAL to keep the mouth shut! If it is so important make sure you really gotta work to get that thing open. I liked the two big rings on either side of the jaw so I kept those. Not sure how much better of design it is, but it is sure as heck a better drawing compared to my first attempt. On to the next art albatross that I carry around my neck...
But that is not all for the Keeper of the Name! I have some production photos I can share with you and a little more story of the misadventures of the Keeper of the Name...
Here we see the Keeper of the Name in his MC Hammer pants along with the High Priest (I will talk about him another day) on set next to a statue of a Centaur Bugs (I will talk about them another day) with the head of the Woman (I will talk about her another day). This was a really fun set to be on and there was lots of stuff you could accidentally break if you were not careful.
This is the severed Keeper of the Name head I had to make. It was really fun and I still really liked how it came out. It is sitting in a bucket in the makeup trailer on the studio lot. I had to do some last minute paint work on it before it was shot because the paint job on the monster was changing before it was shot as well. I had to take care of the suit repaint work too. ...much to long and uninteresting of a story to get into.
RAWR! I am now a sad turtle! Sad turtles are not scary...After all the deign work, sculpting, molding, casting, fabrication, paint work, AND that it was film and done... the powers that be decided they didn't like the mouth and that they wanted something easier to cut open so weeks later we had to redo everything with a new monster face. So a new make up and new severed head was made and all close up and reveal shots were all reshot... with a sad turtle...
That is all for an exciting day on the blog, see you back here on Friday! Until then...
For more samples of my work or to contact me regarding my availability head over to my website: www.christopherburdett.com
Always appreciate you showing off how clunky your art was back then. At some point I'd like to do the same when I feel more confident that I've really taken steps forward.
ReplyDeleteThanks again for reminding us that if we just keep at it we'll get better too!
My pleasure! Sometimes it is easy to forget that it is an ongoing process of growth and development and it takes time and effort. It is nice to remember what I use to draw like to keep my ego in check and to appreciate my hard work. I think it is also good to show that if you stick to your goals you can obtain them.
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