BA3a Task 2 Summary

Task 2 Brief

Survival Weaponry

An epidemic has broken out in Chicago leaving a section of the city cordoned off, under quarantine, and those stuck on the inside fighting for their lives. With limited supplies and an increase in crime, you are left to forge your own weaponry from everyday items to protect yourself.

For Concept Artists

Design a weapon sheet that can be used as reference by 3D Artists

My Idea

What I want to create is a fist weapon and am excited to design one that isn't fantasy related. This fist weapon would also be made up from modern everyday items in the 21st century.

Characters with Fist Weapons:

Crossbones (Marvel Captain America Civil War)

One image that really inspired me was this shoulder armour that was created from pieces of a tyre. I believe this would make a great base for the gauntlet of my fist weapon as I consider a car to be an everyday item which people use.

Everyday Item Ideas to Use....

Knife Blades, Blender Blades, Insulation tape, Car Tyres, Garden Tools, Scythe, Rake, Sickle, Leather Straps/Belt, Garden Gloves, Hand Blenders, Hose, Hand Shears, Thimble, Nerf Guns (Discs/Bottlecaps), Chicken Wire, Superglue, Deodorant, Lighter, Shoelaces, Trowel, Stapel Gun, Stapel Remover, Wire Brush, Nail Gun, Saw, Sawblade, Cogwheel, Rolling Pin, Sharpened Wood

Motif Ideas

Since the brief states that the location of the epidemic is set is Chicago, I want to try and show that on my weapon in the form of motifs. For example, tourist attraction items like stickers/badges/pins which say Chicago on that I can utilise within my design.

I also found out that a famous hockey team, the 'Chicago Blackhawks' would also be a recognisable logo and design which would link the weapon to Chicago, so I will definitely be implementing it within my final asset sheet.

Iteration

Because we have three weeks to complete this project with our final outcome being a design sheet that can be given to a 3D artist, I believe that we have a lot of time to focus on the iterative stages. With this in mind, I will be heavily doing iteration for two and a half weeks while leaving the end of the last to complete my final design sheet.

Light Weapon Designs

For my light weapon designs I have used a gardeners glove and bandages as a base for covering the arm. On top of this I have added a belt bucked around the wrists and cut pieces of tyre for armoured protection, which is placed in either two ways. The first being parts that are supported with leather straps (from a belt) attaching them to the front, and the second being tyre pieces (notably from bicycle or motorbike) actually wrapped around the arm itself (over the bandages).

Second Row: Because these were meant to be light weapon ideas, I wanted to use relatively small objects that could be used when attached to it. These included blades from a knife and gardening scythe, a small rake and rounded trowel.

Third Row: These designs include a possible hidden blade, a sharp gear, gardening fork spikes, a sharp trowel and the sharp base of curve brushes (which I found on the ScrewFix website).

Heavy Weapon Designs

For my heavy weapon designs I have also used a gardeners glove and bandages as a base for covering the arm, like the previous light weapons. I feel that it was important to still keep this base since it would be efficient in combat as no skin would be exposed while the fist weapon was equipped. Above the lower part of the arm would be a small metal bin, which sounds slightly bizarre however you can acquire metal bins in all shapes and sizes, which is why a small one (around 20cm) would provide some good protection with the bottom part cut off. For the hands area I thought that pieces of metal could be attached directly onto the glove with superglue, as well as smaller cut pieces for each joint around the fingers. On the tip of the fingers themselves, a cool idea I thought of would be to use thimbles to protect them. Especially since they are found in most small sewing boxes and an object you would find easily in a home or craft store.

In addition to this main second base, I have added different parts above this on the first row. One idea I had was how the bin itself would be covered in various parts of scrap metal found in a garage, which would be for additional protection as well as being a possible weapon because it would definitely hurt if you were to bash someone with it! An alternative to this would be chicken wire wrapped around the bin and parts of the metal, attached with superglue and insulation tape around the back and inside top. Of course there's always the idea of even both together, which I have drawn on the last design of the first row. On the second row I have also used the tyre idea which would wrap around the bin for additional protection.

As for the hands and which objects I could use, for some I have added spikes above the fingers and where the main upper part of the hand is. I imagine that these spikes would be carved from wood, which could be anything from the bark on a tree to a rolling pin, the base of an object like a hairbrush, the opposite end of a knife or a larger wooden kitchen apparatus. On the second row, most of the objects I have used for the main weapon are knife blades. The third variation of that row has rings that contain small blades above them, which was inspired from a ring photo in one of the moodboards I created above.