Isaac Nykamp, Fall 2023

01.

STORMSEEKER Work selected to highlight character design, mattes, key art, props, ma and storyboard collections.

03

CONTENTS 02.

03.

STORYBOARDS

ASCENDANT Selections of splashart, mattes, locations, props, creature design and storyboards.

17

04.

05.

MOTION

MODELING

3D sculpts, props , procedurals and box models

Storyboards, props, animatics and machine concepts.

25

Motion graphics, procedurals, faux 2.5D, AE based designs

27

34

STORMSE In the land of Arta, cataclysmic storms have become the norm. While refuges in the above mountans remain, the floor is a death trap for caravans, outcasts, and anyone unlucky enough to not have a an ID card. Those who must brave the lands below should hire a stormseeker, a meticulously trained navigator versed in forecasting the rains.

Our story follows the plight of one such Seeker, passing into the Western Basin to investigate a folk tale. Caught between archaic religions, scheming cities and extradimensional fungus, Eko must learn what can really cure a wound.

This project spans numerous developmental practices including splashes, mattes, concepts, and animations in the upcoming pages.

EEKER

04

ARTA

ENVIRONMENTS

Phase 1 begins a design with thirds, values and compositions. Before any other fine details are layered in, the technical requirements are overlayed.

Phase 2 further defines the environment to better inform the foreground’s focus, just working with blocked out major shapes in perspective.

Above the floodplains, cities repose in solitude in frigid temperatures.

Most have been built around old human super structures rendered inert

by Carrington Events.

While they may be safe from the rains, the cold is equally unforgiving. Above, the old city sector of Ventia rises astride the redwood groves in a matte piece exploring weathered, fusion architecture.

Ostrich bears the farewell mark of Mars-bound colonists, with derelict launch pads, crumbling hypercomputers and industry parks rotting amid a tiny, tribal populace.

The town of ignorance strives to carry on the scientific legacy of their fathers while ignoring their smoldering citizens.This matte serves as a quick exploration key for the clean, empty streets of the mechanical metropolis.

Whereas the piece before took the approach of layering textures on light, Ostrich uses lighting atop of base materials. Each piece according to its needs.

EKO

CHARACTER CONCEPT Stormseekers are renowned for their ability to forecast more reliably than any technology, adhering to traditional customs to ply their trade for high rates.

The Graduation Band is a mark of a seasoned Seeker, meant to keep the neck exposed to best feel the wind at all times.

This particular one has come into the basin from the East to find a folk tale, said to cure any affliction. Bearing a fearsome lightning scar, she is not one for conversation and spends ungodly amounts of time surveying the skies.

Silhouette

Masked Variant

Color Palette

08

DAMARIS CHARACTER CONCEPT Something of a rebel without a cause, Damaris is a scrappy jack of all trades and a refugee of the former Tensaliki provinces. This trusted second mate of Unit 159 of the VWC has a knack for getting the best out of others.

Color Palette

Expression Sheet and Outfit Variants

10

VISUAL DEVELOPMENTS A selection of prop weaponry native to Arta.

With much of combat revolving around piercing and mobility, armor is a redundant commodity in favor of anti-kinesic fields.

The Trifinger is an exceptionally small clipped pistol, making it ideal for portability . A good pick for situations requiring quick thinking.

The Straightback features a sonic edge and reliably wear-resistant coating, making it a favorite catch-all for any veteran on the plains.

The YuTek LPR Gen 4 provides major upgrades over the Gen 3 family, now featuring a collapsible stock, enhanced cyclers and higher charge rates. A Light Personal Rail blends the punch of a railgun with the versatility of a handheld rifle with minimal tradeoff.

It does require pellet and battery cartridges, making it a pricey shot.

12

Splashes

The result of both project and personal work, backsplashes provide the fully rendered tone for both character and atmoshpere.

The essential building blocks of a good splash are establishing perspective, value and gravitas from the initial sketches and maintaining those scalar qualities to final polish. As compared to a turnaround or key, the splash serves to communicate scale and character in painful detail.

Value and perspective pass

Background and mattes pass

Epilogue This piece implemented a slightly more experimental style with more iterative focus on clothing, style and medium- small elements.

Building forms out of lit features in the typical studio light format.

16

Long ago, the power or powers that be bestowed upon their Earth a magnificent blade bearing the mark of the sky.

An inscription on the pedestal reads, “the ends of things are mine, choices yours.” Standing atop a pedestal in the center of the world, this graceful sword cleaves the earth in four, dictating the very nature of magic itself. Its purpose, to change and maintain, to destroy and create, to enact the will of a higher power through the hands of those below.

Before the age of 10, children of the world are taken on a pilgramge to the lake to see if they have been chosen as a Grandmaster, the agent by which balance is maintained.

For centuries, the blade has lain dormant. But as war rekindles across the land, two children are picked in the same day, of the near extinct races of elves and men. The only question though, if there is one blade, who is *really* destined to be the wielder?

18

SPLASH PROCESS Value Throws

Another personal work with the aim of streamlining the character splash with more iterative and industry friendly practices such as value passes and grayscale remaps. Additional elements serve the composition as a means of direct flow and dynamism, with lighting cross referencing the composition. The most difficult point of inflection in a personality driven splash is maintaining the attitude of the first sketch through passes.

Render and Foreground Fills

Step 1 Section

Text ends here

Foreground Mattes

Lineless flats, no Overpaints

Render and Overpaints

20

CHARACTER CONCEPTS The dueteragonists Marina and Ko’u remain under development as the Blade world is a playground for concepts and styles before anything else. The narrative hook between the two revolves around the dynamic of removing the idea of a main character from the story itself, leaving a cyclic loop of lancers.

The current state of concepting can illustrate how iterations revolve around a handful of motifs and ideas with space to coalesce into sharper concepting with time.

PROPS

Alongside this emphasis in iterating revised work at a conjunction between polish and speed is the blade itself, jumping between falchions, scimitars, katanas and more.

This project sought to provide some motivic styles in higher breadth than the concept originally entailed.

CREATURES

It’s not a high fantasy concept without goofy new creatures right? These examples sought to get some quick renders out of some sketched concepts to illustrate the magics and races of the world.

Need a horse that can lay eggs, poison people, and see using electricity?

Probably not, but having a steed just as comfortable swimming as galloping is useful, the Giant Platypus fits the bill.

Religious zealots, curious gearheads or simple fishermen, the young race of the Tora are full of airborne surprises.

24

VFX

VIsual style can be pushed through the use of stylized particles, something both enhnacing and unobtrusive. In a world dominated by magic, how might the elements appear?

Convexes of (left to right) fire, lightning, water, air, smoke, and Sewl, the finite energy source that fuels magical reactions. Exercises that produce internal flow are the focus of this stylized element study.

26

STORYBOARDS Required for both assignment and personal work, storyboards and revisions, keys, pre-concepts were completed for the enrichment of the Point Void Series. Depicting a small team investigating an abandoned facility for the location a distress beacon, the trio finds their imagination is just as dangerous as the cramped hallways.

Space Cruiser Thumbs

Character Turns+ Shapes

While the final version has scenes cut, the framework remains and can be watched on the reel site.

Completed using Storyboard Pro, Grease Pencil, Blender and After Effects,

Complete Space Cruiser

28

3D MODELING Box modeled objects for projects and assigments, using Blender and Maya with Substance Painter textures.

UVs provided when appropriate, as well as wireframes.

EXAGRYPH

Least known among the gods who stood together to depose the Titans is the Lady Hestia, reclusive goddess of the hearth, and one-time wielder of Exagryph, the Rail of Adamant; an artifact of metal and of flame so dreadful that the gods themselves abandoned it once their fell work was done.

The Rail has a form and function to befit one’s nightmares -while other weapons of the gods inspired mortal counterparts, I am relieved to say the Rail’s cruel design has not yet been discovered in a stroke of mortal inspiration, to conduct their wars.

-Hades Description

Zbrush sculpted dueteragonist for personal work, rigged with body and facials in Maya and Blender rendered.

Pieces designed for 3D modeling using Maxon Zbrush for organic 0r production based materials.

3D SCULPTING

The Alternate is a 16-bit sprite from an indie game, so for a personal endeavor and assignment I took creative liberties to provide some upscaled sculpts of a bust. Created in Zbrush, Blender ported.

To the left, the sculpted version of Eko the Seeker complete with rigging and facial animation, subsurface maps and cloth materials.

To the above, a 3D variant of Hyper Light Drifter’s Alternate.

MOTION GRAPHICS Selections consist of projects designed for clients and personal projects, as well as the GCU Athletics department for ESPN streaming and official school rollouts. For more details on animation, check out demo reel.

GCU HYPE BASEBALL A higher standard turnaround for the production team, team was shot on blackscreen allowing for simple keys. These promos are shown on the big screens before games as hype reels for the GCU motif and have a week or two average turnaround.

I provide augmentations atop the typical GCU approved template.

GCU LOPE NATION My first assignment with the production team, the Lope Nation Pass is a card allowing for a one-time payment for sports fans to all non-basketball events. Advertised on ESPN+.

I provided the final piece in accordance with template expectation including combined C4D elements and iterative formats for easy editing.

SOS: POINT VOID A larger scale animation assignment utilizing Grease Pencil and Blender backgrounds.

Set in the Point Void universe, the storyboard page explained a rough synopsis but the full scene can be watched here.

ABOUT

I recall having dreams of dying in a tornado.

Great, great opening sentence.

In my youth, tornado sirens on a dark afternoon in Kansas made me anxious, all the more when nobody would listen to me to go to the basement. Now, and I couldn’t tell you why, recalling those days is bittersweet. I miss feeling small and being afraid, more importantly the awe and presence you could feel with an obscured sky and the world bating its breath in the buildup to a storm. Adults spend their lives trying to be in control, the largest thing in the room, but something about art calls to the contrary– you can only understand beauty when you know its scale and volatility far outstrips your own.

I’m into animating for simple mechanical reasons, I like making things look cool, move cool, adding a layer of intent on simple communication. But it’s all an effort to make you appreciate what I’ve felt. Or maybe, that I would appreciate what you have.

@Isaacnykamp

@Isaac-Nykamp

@Isaacnykamp@gmail.com