VISUAL DEVELOPMENT
PORTFOLIO 2019 NICOLETTA BEA
Civitas Solis is a short animated movie based on Paolo Soleri’s theories of archology and Tommaso Campanella’s utopia. It deals with issues such as climate change, human society and roots. The story is set in a distopic future where a group of people decide to boycott civilation and democracy in order to find a new balance with environment.
The goal of the solars is to find a way to have a positive impact on earth. To do this, they go back to a sort of primitive life and form two groups within their community: the hunters and the architects. Solars face the direct consequences of pollution and wrong choices and confront with the open question: is there a positive way to live on earth for humankind?
The island of Civitas Solis has a clear moon shape. It conveys an idea of violence of nature, but also warmth and protection. It features a layered soil that changes according to the season: during the humid La Niña the water rises and the vegetation grows wild, whereas during the El Niño temperature rises and vegetation dries out. On the island there is a thick rainforest in which most of the hunters live, a cove protected by some rocks where the architects built an eco village, some small mountains and a big cliff that is the result of the action of the sea eroding the rocks during the humid season.
KEYWORDS • VIOLENT HOME • MICRO WITHIN MACRO (and viceversa) • HAPPINESS vs ISOLATION • SOFTNESS
visual development / NICOLETTA BEA • bea.nico@gmail.com
THE STRUCTURE OF THE ISLAND
GROUND FIRST LAYER (limestone rock) OF GRASS
during La Niña
RAINFOREST (broccoli-like structure)
GENERAL STRUCTURE: SHAVED HAIR
SECOND LAYER OF LUSH AND MOSS (changes according to season)
rainforest on top
forest gradually thins out
during El Niño
architect village in the cave dwelling of the cove
steep rocks
empty/full cove according to season
thick & sof t vegetation
cliff
visual development / NICOLETTA BEA • bea.nico@gmail.com
The rocks of the cliff are generally sandstone and limestone, they gradually change going down to the sea. This change is caused by the erosion of the water and the wind.
1. UPPER SECTION sandstone rough texture
ROCKS STRUCTURE: THE CLIFF
2. MIDDLE SECTION sandstone smooth texture + moss
beginning of the rainforest (view from the cliff side) EMERGENT LAYER (towering trees - taller and stronger)
CANOPY LAYER + UNDERSTORY (smaller trees + trees that form a thick layer)
3. LOWER SECTION lower rocks + fossils
HERB LAYER (grass, fern, wildflowers) sea level (La Niña)
sea level (El Niño)
FOREST FLOOR (moss, fungi, decaying leaves)
visual development / NICOLETTA BEA • bea.nico@gmail.com
THE ARCHITECTS’ VILLAGE
The village is the base of all architects, children and old people unable to leave in the wilderness like the hunters. It is build in a strategic cave dwelling, protected from the violent tsunami and flows during La Niña season. It is designed to develop new forms of community and it is constantly rebuilt as it is made with organic materials.
different kinds of stairs connect every floor
no closed doors
minicultures of medicinal plants and vegetables
fountains and water basins
CAVE DWELLINGS
house lines on a terraced structure
energy containers
visual development / NICOLETTA BEA • bea.nico@gmail.com
INTERIOR DESIGN: THE ARCHITECTS CAVE HOUSES OUTSIDE VIEW
The houses of the village are carved in the stone of the cave dwelling in a labyrinthic structure that gets everyone connected. The architects live there with children and old people, their main activity is farming, studying, collecting energy from the containers for the community. all rooms are connected
lego structure
many different spaces to think and study
INTERIOR VIEW
every house is painted and designed by the people living in it
labyrinthic structure in the interior KEYWORDS • MINIMIZE WASTE AND SPACE • RESONANCE & INTERDIPENDENCE • MODULARITY (LEGO STRUCTURE) • CREATIVE RANDOM SPACE • CAVE EVOLUTION
visual development / NICOLETTA BEA • bea.nico@gmail.com
Solars have to deal with only two seasons on the island: El Niño, dry and hot, and La Niña, wet and humid. Both are challenging in a different way for the hunters that have to live outdoors: during El Niño they have to struggle with the high temperatures, while during La Niña the problem is mainly the violent storms and the wind. Each season shapes the island in a different way and the whole environment adapt to the change accordingly.
La Niña thumbnails (sunset)
CLIFF TOP COLOR EXPLORATIONS
El Niño thumbnails (night and day)
visual development / NICOLETTA BEA • bea.nico@gmail.com
visual development / NICOLETTA BEA • bea.nico@gmail.com
visual development / NICOLETTA BEA • bea.nico@gmail.com
La Niña keywords: • HUMID & WET • RICHNESS • LIFEFULL • VARIETY
VEGETATION DIFFERENCES El Niño keywords: • DRY • DESOLATION • BRIGHTNESS • MONOCROMATIC
visual development / NICOLETTA BEA • bea.nico@gmail.com
RAINFOREST ATMOSPHERE STUDIES
visual development / NICOLETTA BEA • bea.nico@gmail.com
double haircut: short & long
rasta hair
MAIN CHARACTER TURNAROUND & EXPRESSIONS
hunters’ symbol is a double triangle with a dot in the middle (human+environment+sun) waist beltbag to collect berryes and things in the forest kneepads
The main character of the story is a 14-yearold girl, J., which is the name she gave to herself,.She is the only child of an old architect, bored of the life in the village. Growing up protected and spoiled, she develops a very strong personality. She decides to leave the community in the village to become the youngest hunter living in the wilderness. All hunters all living like nomads, in constant search of food and safety. While the architect are always looking for new solutions in order to live peacefully with nature, hunters look for an answer going back to their primitive state, trying to explore their senses and their own limits.
GETS MAD WHEN SHE DOESN’T GET WHAT SHE WANTS STRONG & INDIPENDENT UNIBROW (every solar has it) visual development / NICOLETTA BEA • bea.nico@gmail.com
J. COLOR STUDIES
HUNTERS SKETCHES visual development / NICOLETTA BEA • bea.nico@gmail.com
TATAMI-MAT
STORING, EATING & COOKING
TENT STRUCTURE & HUNTER PROPS
TENT WRAPPED & STRUCTURE
KNIFE & AXE
CLOTHES SLEEPING BAG BAGPACK OPEN
CLIMBING ROPES
WAISTBAG
tent shape (hexagon)
inside the tent
visual development / NICOLETTA BEA • bea.nico@gmail.com
JOURNEYS These backgrounds are color and values studies for different projects. The first three represent the same scene under different weather conditions. They express three different feelings: hope, rage and relief. The other backgrounds and thumbnails are explorations for a videogame set in Japan.
NICOLETTA BEA • bea.nico@gmail.com
JOURNE Y S
visual development / journeys NICOLETTA BEA • bea.nico@gmail.com
JOURNE Y S
visual development / journeys NICOLETTA BEA • bea.nico@gmail.com
illustrations & sketches
illustrations & sketches
visual development / journeys NICOLETTA BEA • bea.nico@gmail.com
illustrations & sketches Character design for the development of an RPG board game: an high rank hortodox priest and his bear.
GESTURE/DRAPERY STUDIES
character design / illustrations & sketches NICOLETTA BEA • bea.nico@gmail.com
illustrations & sketches
INTERIOR STUDIES
environments / illustrations & sketches NICOLETTA BEA • bea.nico@gmail.com
illustrations & sketches
BAR PROPS
Studies for “Kicked out!”, a work in progress about a goofy writer always looking for a quiet place to write her book. props / illustrations & sketches NICOLETTA BEA • bea.nico@gmail.com
illustrations & sketches BACKGROUND DESIGN
environments / illustrations & sketches NICOLETTA BEA • bea.nico@gmail.com
NICOLETTA BEA VISUAL DEVELOPMENT ARTIST
bea.nico@gmail.com
ABOUT ME
SKILLS
Date of birth: 1st Dec 1984
Photoshop Illustrator Indesign After Effects Toon Boom (Storyboard Pro &Harmony) Procreate
Nationality: Italian
+33 6 50 28 00 37
WORK EXPERIENCES
Paris, France
since Apr 2019 - Prop Designer at Caribara Animation (Ollie & Moon) Aug 2018 to present - Concept Artist at Elk Studios and Freelance Editorial Illustrator 2015 to 2017- Illustrator and Story Artist at Mole Collective (molecollective.com) 2012 to 2017 - Freelance Illustrator at NBB interior design
LANGUAGES Italian English French German Japanese
INTERESTS EDUCATION 2017-2018 Idea Academy (Rome) Visual Development Master May 2016 Maad! Fastweb Digital Academy (Milan) Digital Storyboarding Workshop Nov 2012 Central Saint Martins University of the Arts London Mixed Media Printimaking Workshop 2004-2011 La Sapienza UniversitĂ di Roma (Rome) Literature and Languages Master degree (German and Japanese) 2000-2003 SRF (Scuola Romana dei Fumetti - Rome) Three-year-Diploma in Drawing & Comics
Literature, comics, travel, cinema, cycling, music