Here are some concept pencil sketches for the exterior of the ride, the jury room and the graveyard.
These are items for the outside of the enclosed area of the ride, or for just inside of the fence. Normal, everyday items that you find in restricted areas. These help to identify further that the ride is deserted and abandoned. I thought it would be cool ,if as the children got closer to the ride, the abandoned objects became older and more decrepid, such as a child's china doll, or a hoop, returning to the Victorian theme, as though the ride is magic and has slipped the net of time.
I had a group meeting with the others the other day, and we discussed our concerns that the ride at the moment was just in a sealed off area and that there was nothing in the environment to give it context or to suggest that anything existed away from the ride. We decided that instead of having just the lone ride, there would be ruins of other rides, wrecked and overgrown with nature. We also decided that away from the ride, nature would be in full force, over-grown and wild, but surrounding the ride, everything was dead, as though nothing can ever really harm the ride, unless it wants them to.
An old sweet stall.
The first sketch of the outside of the ride, in order to get a general feel for it. I haven't included the sign on the top of the main body and below the windmill, as I haven't decided on that design yet and will need to get the groups opinions. There are eyes carved into the wood, and on the bunting, subtle images to help boost the overall feel that the ride is alive and watching the children.
Tree designs for the environment around the ride. I wanted the trees to be stylised to enhance the general mystical feel around the ride. I drew silhouettes of the trees as well , because when the children exit the ride, the sun will be setting and I wanted to be certain that the shapes of the trees would be just as effective silhouetted.
More tree designs. This time when I was focusing on the main trees I drew them as though they were pointing towards the ride, surrounding it, trying to get at it perhaps, but never able to reach it. It also provides more of an intimidating feel as though the children are being shepherded towards the ride without even realising it. I also practised stylising a few weeds.
More silhouette tests.
Some rough designs for the rides name sign. I will make further tests, placing each sign on my sketch of the ride in 'Photoshop'. Hopefully, one will work and the others will like it too.
Little sketches. Dan Ryan made a rough thumbnail of a cart in his sketchbook which we all really liked, so I cleaned it up a little and enlarged it. An example of some bunting, complete with eyeball. I looked at ventriloquist dummies that would be hanging on the outside of our ride. From the reference images that I found for my moodboard, I noticed that they all seemed to have the same head shape and features. I thought it would be funny to try and make a dummy each, that looked like members of the group, but it didn't really work. From left to right we have Dan R, Dan C, Jake and me (who looks so much like a man in drag!) Ha, I might keep them, they make me laugh and they are definitely creepy! I've also drawn some patterns that I found on my moodboard on the carousel that I thought could be nice to decorate the walls with (I'll do colour tests in 'Photoshop'). Lastly, I made a very rough sketch of where the music usually comes from on a carousel. I thought that if we used that idea, the pipes could make a sound like breath and steam come from them as the ride wakes up as though it were alive.
Designs for the clown puppets in the jury room. Although originally we talked about the clown in the mechanical fortune teller box looking identical to the other clowns, I thought it would make more sense if this clown were dressed as a judge, as he is the one who judges the children and sends them on a bad ride, and it fits into the court room scenario better.
The original sketch of the fortune teller box.
A concept for the graveyard. The grass nearest the children is cutout but the further away from the children the background gets, the more realistic it looks, with real grass etc as though they have actually been transported to a completely different environment all together. I'm going to talk to my group tomorrow- I'm not sure about the furthest background, whether to show the walls of the ride or to make it appear as though they really have been transported to a completely new environment away from the ride for the time being.
A little sketch for the mausoleum that the giant zombie hand smashes out out in the final finale. If there is fire outside of it, it could look quite effective against the gloom and make the building appear more spooky and intimidating.
