My life as a crappy artist - Sahrvin Demon variants #3

Back in July I shared with you my work on the Sahrvin Demon for the Angel series. I mentioned that I had originally created several designs mostly for myself since I was not on the design team for the initial push for this demon. Those designs were eventually submitted to production but were all rejected. Today I have for you the third and final rejected design, if you missed the others, you can see the first rejected design here and the second rejected design here.

For the third design I was just getting wacky. I knew full well that it was almost an impossibility that completely covering the mouth would make it past production. It was something I really wanted to flesh out and it could have been really cool. If this was a desert demon maybe it employed some sort of technology or arcane construct to make life more bearable. Or maybe it was a translation devise... who knows, it's a demon! It could be anything... but what it really was... REJECTED...

RAWR! I am one of the many rejected designs...

© 2003 Almost Human

I think this piece suffers for all the same reasons that all my work of this time period suffers. The forms are not informed or influenced by anything and they remain rather simple and uninteresting, to me at least. The asymmetrical top of the head is nice though. The neck collar would have been such a cool thing to see in real life and would have made the demon really stand out. But it is what it is... I had some free time in the last couple months to revisit my original designs and I came up with something newer...

Taking the third unused Sahrvin Demon concepts back!

© 2012 Christopher Burdett

The original version was not very threatening and this redesign continues that. Hopefully the demon and the breathing collar feel more unified, I always felt the original seemed like two very separate forms and were not really connected... or at least felt like it could really function with any usefulness. I hope that it is overall more interesting to look at as well... but that is ultimately in the realm of the viewer. I at least find it more interesting and more successful then the original. The leaking mouth fluids down the front of the collar are what really make it a success for me...

This concludes all my work on the Sahrvin demon, hope you have enjoyed it!

That is all for today, see you back here on Wednesday! Until then...

For more samples of my work or to contact me regarding my availability head over to my website: www.christopherburdett.com

My life as a crappy artist - Sahrvin Demon variants #2

Back in July I shared with you my work on the Sahrvin Demon for the Angel series. I mentioned that I had originally created several designs mostly for myself since I was not on the design team for the initial push for this demon. Those designs were eventually submitted to production but were all rejected. Last week I share the first of those reject design, I have a second one for you today.

For my second concept of the Sahrvin Demons I went with something a little more straight forward with a big toothy growler. I always have like big bulky creatures and I tried time and again to get more made and in following with most of my attempts it was rejected. I thought it would be cool to have all the dangling waddles and armored plates hanging and shaking... but those sorts of things were frowned upon a lot of the time. Throwing in an impractical mouth also is a sure fire way for the design to never get any further then my pencil...

 

RAWR! I am yet another rejected design...

© 2003 Almost Human

Of the three variant designs that I produced for the Sahrvin Demon I think this is my least favorite. There really nothing really wrong with it per say,  just that it is really straight forward and old. The forms are a little uninspired and could have used a little more texture and detail overall. But it is what it is... I had some free time in the last couple months to revisit my original designs and I came up with something newer...

Taking a second unused Sahrvin Demon concepts back!

© 2012 Christopher Burdett

Since the original design was my least favorite I think this redesign is also my least favorite of the three. If they didn't like the first they certainly would not be digging this new version. Pretty sure the actor would not have been able to talk in my original makeup and I imagine that any actor taking in this new version would sound like they are talking into a tin can... in another room... in a thunderstorm... in the house next door. My goal with this design was to take my original and just make it more interesting and fleshed out. I think I at least accomplished that much. I feel it will be more successful in producing a satisfying, "RAWR!"

That is all for another exciting Monday on the blog, see you back here on Wednesday! Until then...

For more samples of my work or to contact me regarding my availability head over to my website: www.christopherburdett.com

My life as a crappy artist - Sahrvin Demon variants #1

Back in July I shared with you my work on the Sahrvin Demon for the Angel series. I mentioned that I had originally created several designs mostly for myself since I was not on the design team for the initial push for this demon. Those designs were eventually submitted to production but were all rejected. Today I have for you one of the designs that I liked the idea of a lot.

Even though the Sahrvin Demons were desert demons I imagined them maybe not so suited for such a rugged environment. What if they were a little squishy and had to wear protective gear? What if the part that was not covered was a little more suited for the desert climate? What if a demon had to wear a super cool zip up the front suit that had goggles built into the front so that there could be a super cool reveal of the demon? What if indeed...

RAWR! I was unwanted and deemed unpractical...

© 2003 Almost Human

As I mentioned, I really liked the idea of this design and thought it made for something a little more interesting. At the time I might not have been able to express those ideas well... what with the weird higher left shoulder area... the weird lean of everything to the left... and general muddy darkness to everything. I had some free time in the last couple months to revisit my original designs and I came up with something newer...

Taking one of the unused Sahrvin Demon concepts back!

© 2012 Christopher Burdett

The big complaint that always seemed to comeback to us is that the demon needed to be able to talk... that the actors needed to be able to speak in the makeups. Talking is over rated... they are demons, it is all about the RAWR. With this newer version I went with a more usable mouth and gill like squishy stuff on the sides rather than the original horror show of a 'mouth' area in front there. Tried to make the wardrobe a lot more interesting and believable with this new version as well. I am really happy with how this new version turned out, I find it pleasing as an image and design.

That is all for another exciting Monday on the blog, see you back here for an exciting Wednesday! Until then...

For more samples of my work or to contact me regarding my availability head over to my website: www.christopherburdett.com

My life as a crappy artist - Sahrvin Demon

You of course remember the Sahrvin Demons from episode 9, Harm's Way, from season 5 of Angel, right? Any good Angel fan would, right? I barely recall the dang thing and I was on the design team for it. So that everyone is on the same page, this is a Sahrvin Demon...

The Sahrvin Demon is on the left the one on the right we will address another day since I am solely responsible that that visual atrocity...

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 Sahrvin Demon was the lucky winner. Here is my original design for the Sahrvin Demon from 2003...

 

RAWR! I am a demon of the desert so I of course have a head wrap and bad skin.... and quills... desert things have quills, right? RAWR! MY, look at that impressive signature... you must be a really good artist....
© 2003 Almost Human

Okay... so they wanted two desert demon clans,  one male and one female and they were going to be feuding or something. Fair enough... My art director at the time did a really cool design of a demon in a very large head wrap, goggles, and more wrapping around the neck so you could just see this horrible mouth. Production loved it and approved it... they just wanted us to loose the wrapping and goggles......... AND so begun a really protracted redesign of the demon with production disliking everything that was sent to them. They obviously already approved a design and we were being dumb and difficult be giving them the wrong stuff........ JUST TAKE THE GOGGLES AND WRAPS OFF! Fun fact, I was not originally on the design team for the demon but I really wanted to be. So I did a bunch of designs on my own time and brought them in to try to convince my boss that I could do more then just photo composite in photoshop. Eventually, I was brought on this demon and that is when I created the above image. This and one by another of our artist is what finally got approved.  All things aside, here is something... newer, for the design of the Sahrvin Demon...

 

Taking the Sahrvin Demon back! 

© 2012 Christopher Burdett 

The motivation to go ahead and do this redesign was I thought it would be a good way to test out doing a time lapse video. If you missed it, you can see it HERE! I wanted to do a desert demon creature, but I wanted it to feel a little more natural and realistic, instead of a generic demon with a vague head wrap. I got some reference and thought about desert animals so this thing ended up with a reptile / bird deak face. Not sure if it is really scary, but I like it better and it was fun to draw... and made for a good time lapse test. And the turban thing is a lot better designed and thought out! 

I painted a LOT of Sahrvin Demon makeups. Not only were there a bunch in the episode, but they popped back up later in the season. One of my tasks was to paint the armies of makeups that were often called for. Multiples, repeaters, and anything were there was to be more then one makeup artist applying a makeup. Here are some additional images from set and the shop of the Sahrvin Demon army. RAWR!

 This is why you do not use a flash when photographing a makeup... YIKES!

 Complete turnaround of a Sahrvin Demon makeup in all its glory.

The Sahrvin Demon army is ready to deploy to set with face pieces, cowls, hand appliances, and teeth (in the turquoise container). Everything you need for a demon invasion!

That is all for another exciting week on the blog, see you back here on Monday! Until then...

For more samples of my work or to contact me regarding my availability head over to my website: www.christopherburdett.com