Final Dragon layout

Keeping to the Illuminati layout, i have constructed the dragon layout to be the same, with the dragon logo at the back. I think like the uniformed compositions of the pages as it creates a series, which would look well balanced for my final presentation.
I am happy how this eventually turned out, as there's alot more details and the design have been refined so much more than how i started with.
The colors work well together as well, and is now more eye catching. I am quite happy with the result.

collecting ideas for Dragon

Dragon is the 3rd faction in The Secret World and they are described to be very mysterious, with no real clear motives nor does many of the members of the Dragon are clear what exactly are the real goal of the faction or what they stand for. They believe in the chaos theory, by intercepting and changing a small detail of an event can cause a revolution. Therefore unlike the Illuminati and Templar that fight out in the open, Dragon keep quiet and take advantage from the two factions when possible. They are faction based in Asia, but its said their base have been changed many times, and they do not have a fixed location for long. currently, their base is in Seoul.

Dragons are very secretive, hidden away from the world. Therefore they keep their base hidden and humble. The style of the faction is very Asian inspired. e.g Ninja styled clothing, hoods, jackets etc. which reflects the architecture of their base. These are all qualities i need to take into consideration when i start my designs. The color theme for the faction are earthy tones: Green, brown and gold.

I started collecting images that inspires me for the stealthy futuristic ninja aesthetic i am after:

  I want a body suit that hints the asian influenced aesthetic of a ninja warrior at the same time infused with hi-tech accents. Therefore i started pulling together some rough drafts.

For the Dragon models i will aim for an asian look, to compliment the essence of the faction.  I developed a draft version of the body suit look i am after (on the right). I added the scarf in to give the overall aesthetic a more interesting detail, and also to hint the ninja themed costume appearance.

Artist Research: Adrian Dadich

I came across Adrian Dadich's work as i was looking for visual inspirations for the Dragon faction design. Dadich's visual style resemble an influence from the Japanese anime aesthetic. The vibrant colors and exaggerated details are very eye catching, and pop art like. I was very attracted to some of the shapes and forms of outfits he have designed on the characters. They are very Cyber-punk styled, technology combined with mismatched clothing, with a hint of punk culture with the bright colored hair and makeup.
His designs hints a sense of cybernetic enhancement on human bodies, which is very visually fresh and interesting. Aesthetically to me Dadich's designs are very exciting to look at, as there are so many little details. there are areas that i am unsure what purpose they serve but still cool to look at and works well with the outfit.

Cybernetic space

I came across this documentary about the allures of virtual community. I wanted to explore further the concept behind how games can impact real life and how the visual aspects can play a role for people.

 Digital Ego explained that, “Every person who communicates in virtual and social environments owns a virtual identity, which sometimes may be identical to real identity. As mentioned before, our lives are a stage on which we are playing out roles that we have learnt from birth onwards. This virtual identity finds a way to express itself by existing on the internet. Transferring feelings, thoughts and links to online communities is important.” The attraction of becoming a completely different person visually is a large part of what drives the popularity of games in general. An documentary on this issue with online identity and cybernetic social space is: Wonderland: Virtual Adultery and Cyberspace Love. BBC. Where a wife and a mother of 3 had an affair online with another player in a online game chat room called “2^nd Life”. “It's about people who've cheated on their life partners and risked losing everything, for the promise of a life that's so far only been experienced in the pixels of a computer screen and the dream world of their own fantasies.” 

This is where ingame clothing and costuming plays a huge role in self expression. Clothing becomes a projection of your personality, or the personality you want others to believe in. You are free to choose the most unrealistic outfits that the game has to offer. As I found through researching game design concepts, each game would have a distinctive feel for their title and would have a particular style of costumes. This shows that game fashion feeds off the ideal fantasy of a what is believed a consequence free mentality of the cyberspace. Therefore inorder to attract players, I need to incorporate that unreal expectations or ingame clothing.

Refining the Dragon design

I have since my last post developed a male version of the outfit armor too. I feel that the colors were abit dull, with just green and black, and  i wanted to make it more interesting visually and also make the armor more intricate and streamline to fit in with the sci-fi look. i have reworked the leg armor to balance the armor plating on the armors as before it look alittle top heavy.
Additionally, i have added the Dragon logo with the gold backlight to fit in with the gold accents on the arms and waist. To make the design more balanced.
I also designed the outfits with a holographic like goggles as i thought it would compliment with the gold lights. I think i will keep it for the finals as it seem complete the set.

Artist research: Jessie Lam

I came across Jessie Lam's work and what interested me was the cyber-punk style to her works. I have seen her gallery and noticed she share some of the same games i play, such as Mass effect. Therefore i can see where she have got some of her inspirations from.
The piece that caught my eye was the one in the middle, the girl with the swords. I was immediately reminded of the the Dragon faction due to the katana words, which is symbolic of the asian samurai aesthetic.
I am very intrigued by Lam's style as i can't quite figure out how she does the texuring of the materials. Her drawings have a glossy glow to them, which is very eye catching. At the same time give the garments/armor more of an embossed, more 3 dimensional. Especially looking at the body suit at the bottom right, the transparent glass look amazing. Which i need to experiment on how to texture to achieve a more in depth look to an illustration.