Machines of Mana: Book 3 Concepts

Environments

Machines of Mana: Book 3 introduces us to the Forbidden Forest.

I began with an environment concept brief based on overgrown forests in Europe and the atmospheric ambience found in Hayao Miyazaki’s film Princess Mononoke.

I then modeled, textured, and added lighting and cameras to a mockup of the environments in Blender. These environments included an island with a single magical tree where our character has been slowly reclaimed by nature, as well as a long-forgotten laboratory and portal hidden in a clearing within the forest.

After setting the cameras, posing a rigged character model, and rendering multiple passes, I composited the layers together in Photoshop to begin the inking and paint-over process.

Machines of Mana: Book 3 Concepts

Characters

I was privileged to create the character concept for Kat, a new main character introduced in Book 3. Again, I was provided with a design brief and reference photos which I used to inform the shape and feel of Kat’s final look. Careful consideration was given to the turnaround and overall design so that it was highly accurate and easily readable for the 3D modeler & Rigging artist to build in Blender.

* Character Concept by Taylea Stepp
* 3D Model by Colton Organ

Machines of Mana: Book 3

Storyboards

With environment and character development established, I am provided a script which contains the shot list, scene descriptions, and dialogue. This is my favorite part of the process! I am free to tell the story visually and express emotions through each panel. Sometimes interpreting the script can be tricky, but there is nothing like the feeling of unlocking that cinematic part of my brain and watching the story come to life in front of me.

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Machines of Mana: Book 3

3D Renders & Inks

It’s finally time for some comic book eye candy!

Now that storyboards are complete, each panel is recreated in Blender and rendered with preliminary colors. I add comic style inks by hand in Photoshop, along with additional background painting and notes on VFX/Lighting. Lastly, speech bubbles are added to their approximate locations, and then the file is handed off to the VFX animator for final touches.

The Final Look!