Juan Alvarez Proffesional concept art / preproduction portfolio second edition
By Juan Alvarez
This portfolio contains all the best artistic works done from 2022 to 2024 in order to proof the capacities in the preproduction stage. The compilation comes from academic projects set on a production pipeline, sketches for practice and exploration, and also personal works with a more radical mindset, so as a disclaimer, there is some mature and suggestive content coming up.
Este portafolio consta de todos los mejores trabajos hechos desde el año 2022 a 2024 para probar mis capacidades en la etapa de preproducción. La recopilación viene de proyectos universitarios puestos en un pipeline de producción, bocetos para practica y exploración, y tambien incluye trabajos personales con un pensamiento mas radical, asi que como una aclaración, se presentará contenido adulto y sugerente a continuación.
email: jm.alvarezr@outlook.com LinkedIn: Juan Ma Alvarez Rubio
PROP DESIGNS 2
Incorporeo (2022)
The cyberpunk setting of this project allowed us as a team to develop many ideas in order to solidify the world building, establishing an ambience with varied technology such as spider minions or humanoids with interchangeable heads with a specific role. Right here, we began to understand what the props are not only existing but also we have to know how they work that is where we must become more technical at the moment of their creation
Project tabletop (WIP)
The board game was made with the vision of an ancient artifact, rustic colors, the dice have unusual marks, the path of the players to follow was not intended to be friendly. It needed to feel like it was, indeed, a cursed game whose only winning move is not to play.
Project supremacy (WIP)
In this personal project I searcched that everything could become more than a simple First Person Shooter proposal, so I decided to create weapons that could work in unique andunexpected ways, speaking in mechanisms and the process to recharge a weapon, for example.
Abducción instantanea (2022)
The short film's aesthetic appeals to the urban culture in Mexico city, so it was established that a convenience store (the same type as the nationwide known "oxxo") should be the main site.
The designs in the props got to have a simple and round style with a vibrant color palette. Besides, some of them were done with theintention to have a unique aspect, going towards a more adcanced technology.
CHARACTER DESIGNS
Missionaires of Amber (2023)
The design and shape for Tzalmehk, the first character shown in this page,apart from keeping simplicity so his animation process gets easy and quick, it was needed that the individual's personality (quiet, noble and brave) was notorious, that is why his colors should have discretion and brightness that could show this spark of inspiration on him (the third palette became the definitive option), his lineart supports that idea with its softness and firmness coexisting.
New characters were created also to be also the main protagonists, but in their own plot. They were designed with different shapes to appeal their personality. Their color palettes were done to resemble their archetype in this story and the position they are in.
Project tabletop (WIP)
This personal horror animated project is set in the year 2006, so each character got to have an outfit appealing to that context, but respectingthe personality of each one.
The art style chosen was abstract and simple, something similar to many 2000s animated shows, so it all started with choosing the shape of their torsos.
The cast had two proposals, both going to different appeals according to how much detail in their design was needed.
Incorporeo (2022)
Each member of the team project had to give an idea of the design for each main character. I thought in ageometrical and mechanical style for the clothings mixed with technological parts, generating with that a pretty detailed proposal.
Talking about the characters of this project, each one should have a distinctive style in their designs. It was needed that each one had a unique characteristic. Also, the color palettes were an important complement to show their attitudes.
Project Supremacy (WIP)
STORYBOARDS 7
Missionaires of Amber (2023)
The story of this project was about a simple action of no more than 26 seconds, so only four shots were fair enough. Obviously, these angles had so much movement; by consequence, I've had to show step by step, almost as an instruction manual, the process that each shot had to follow.
Incorporeo (2022)
The first scene of our project didn't need much time, given that it was about a quick introduction. But, it was necessary to bring context to the ambience and setting in our world, that is why various shots were included.
This storyboard was done in collaboration of Maria Jose Alvarado, Minerva Zamudio, Diana Eunice and Sara Sofia Hernandez
CONCEPT ART/ENVIRONMENT DESIGNS 8
Project Supremacy (WIP)
The environments of this project were highly inspired by the minimalistic and industrial architecture alongside modern cities with a touch of sci-fi. First of all, an early concept was done to see how the characters would interact in this kind of places, and then a couple of concepts were made to give a look at how the game would look.
Incorporeo (2022)
It was fundamental to know the look of the environments in different perspectives in this project.
I did create some visual proposals of the city and also and abandoned hospital. The most remarkable in both works must be the light game and detailing to upgrade the representation of the enormous dystopia in this world without too much saturation.
Missionaires of Amber (2023)
The short film's backgrounds needed to give the impressión that it was a post-apocalyptic world, so masks above each layer were needed to cool down the colors in the environment to give that desolate feel.
About the landscapes, themixture between the baroque and greek architecture in the city was always taken in mind alongside the fantasy aspect that shows the great inmensity of the world this projec is placed. The major challenge, of course, was the rendering and sometimes the perspective, giving me the task to retouch several times in order to get the desired result congruently.
Encolpium fanzine issue 9:"Cuidemos el planeta" (2022)
The work shown at the left needed to give a sensation of a malicious silence, because the story talked about a scenario where the world ening horror became calm again. The environment needed to transmit that fear for the uncertain.
Abducción instantanea (2022)
I was assigned to work in the color script and key of scene 4. My proposal was that there should be a sunset-like lighting after the protagonist woke up from her nightmare. the biggest challenge was to give depth and volume without outlines, the shading right here had an important role to make this work as best as possible.
Encolpium Fanzine issue 10: "Tiempo" (2023) Both works needed another type of mindset to be developed. Time was a surreal and complex concept.
The first work talks about how a single second feels. The other one is based in an assigned short tale which represents time as a lethal disease capable of killing every single living being, slowly.
Fanzine express: "Generación de cristal" (2023)
This project comes from an academic work between a small group of people. The generation topic had to be taken neutrally, I decided to portrait with satire how public tends to make themselves feel superior and generate conflict with others only because the disagreements.
Project tabletop (WIP)
Liminality and uneasyness in the scenes were the main focus to develop the environment in this world. I wanted to make a strange but familiar ambience where it can be easy to feel petrified for what could be in these places.
That is why in the hallway I set this details of volume, to make it feel it was not from human creation, even though it looks like it. And for the park, I needed to make it feel unnatural for us, but neither altered by man. I wanted to make both feel like a labyrinth.
Project reunion (WIP)
This personal sci-fi fantasy short film is about two worlds. Each one with its own environment, colors, culture and lifestyle. The approach I want to go with was the greatness of each planet, how big the buildings and mountains are, mainly. Both concepts were done to tell the story on their own, independently from the other, the intention is to tell the narrative and visual differences.
PROJECT SKETCHES
Generally, the sketches done need not only become a base, but also the establishment of the intended feeling to transmit.
That is the reason why the line of actión, expressions, angle, perspectives, and more are supervised carefullyfor the lineart to speak the same language and brings the same feeling.
The curves during sketching are a key element to define their action being fixed or representing movement.
Some sketches for the storybeats of Incorporeo (2022).
Each one of these must tell a story, so there should be a good organisation in the shot, being simple or complex.
Base coloring of the backgrounds of Missionaires of Amber (2023), a 3D model was utilised as a reference to build the ruined city, the model was developed according to the storyboards of the short film.
PERSONAL WORKS
These artworks we I have done with personal and emotional intentions also had a process to follow and make sure there is a certain order and level of presentation and professionality.
Anyway, each image was done to experiment with perspective, colors, technicques and composition to reach radical results.
Various from these works presented must be distinguished from each other. All of them should carry a different angle, feeling and narrative, being with similar or different topics.
Sometimes the drawings can have oversaturation in information purposedly, that is to go far and see how chaotic can a scene be.
Other times, the works are simple, showing a character posing or a simple background, and here it must revoke in a good way what is represents. Everything is in the color palette, silhouette and line that shows the texture and personality.
