Idea 2 Conclusion
I have come up with the idea of their being characters from the 1800s who have been cursed due to the crimes they have committed. I have already come up with four example characters I could do, each having their appearances physically changed due to their curse. For my outcome I originally wanted to just make digital concept art of the characters front and back. However after studying my Sideshow models this made me think I could go 3D and make a physical 1/6 sculpture of one of the characters I think is the best. The model could also come with props like Sideshow figures do and I could set out a scene to give away more clues behind the story of the character and how they got the curse. On top of that I thought I could make some concept art to go with it as Sideshow also do this as inside every figure box is an a4 sheet of concept art of that character. I was thinking of doing the concept art in the Guzzardi twins art style as its eye catching, realistic and yet not so overly detailed it will take too long to do.
I already have experience with making 3D models in the past. The 1/6 model I did last year took me two solid weeks to do so if I go ahead with this Idea I have to know this is defiantly the route I want to take as no time can be wasted or else I am unlikely to be able to finish it. If the model does take too long I can always scrap doing the concept art, but that would be a shame.
IDEA 2
IDEA 3
Idea 3 Conclusion
For my third idea I first started off wanting to create a large portrait painting of Blackbeard as I found his life extremely interesting and I found his death to be a sad one. I then researched into other famous pirates and found four other pirates who intrigued me just as much and I found their deaths to be equally fascinating. So then I wanted to create art pieces for all of them and draw detailed portraits of my own interpretation of them as none have any official photographs or illustrations of them. As well as this I wanted to showcase how they died and so I added a twist in my idea of their portraits having wounds/ symbolism in them to tell the story of their deaths. For example Francois L'Olonnais was eaten alive by a cannibal tribe, so I decided his portrait could show his face with bite makes across it and hands with tribal tattoos etc wrapping around his neck or scratching/ pulling off his ears which represent that. The justice system in them times was very unfair and lacking in organisation especially across seas judging by the stories of these pirates. This is a controversy I could study on, and the belief in retribution for example a life for a life etc. Maybe when I present my pieces I could have a title above my pieces questioning whether you agree with the punishment they got served.
IDEA 3
Sheridan Johns
Thinking about achieving a very high detailed/ photographic look for my portraits of these pirates I searched online to see how possible it was to achieve this for hand-drawn digital paintings. That’s when I saw Sheridan Johns work who achieves a similar style to how I would want my portraits to be like. She focuses on trying to make her art as photo realistic as possible. All her art is done digitally and on Photoshop and she even links the brushes she uses which is very handy as I can download them myself and use the same tools as her. Studying her artwork I can see the how she adds important details such as crinkles, freckles, pores and individual hair strands for facial hair and the hairline, which makes a huge difference in achieving that photographic look. I also notice her use of lighting and how she adds white lines representing areas where light hit strongly against such as on the end of hairs or on the side of the faces. I believe this is another very important detail in giving that realistic effect. Not only this but Johns even thinks about focus, for example with the piece with Robert de Nero you can see how the gun and his hand is blurred and appears out of focus whilst his face remains in perfect detail. This adds to the realism of how when you look at someone closely the human eye blurs everything but what you are focused on and this is a really clever effect to do to your own paintings to make it 3D. If I decide to go along with this idea then I should defiantly study more into Sheridan Johns work as she is incredibly talented and knows a lot of techniques for achieving realism in her artwork.
‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ is my favourite film series of all time and it is what started my obsession with the world of pirates. The fantasy twist the films have is really what makes the franchise so thrilling and enjoyable to watch for me. Bringing myths to life such as Davy Jones who turns out to be a man cross octopus that sails the ocean with his sea monster crew. Not forgetting his sea pet the kraken, another mythical legend. Captain Barossa is my favourite character who first started off as an immortal being, not being able to feel or experience taste and under the moonlight he and his crew would become undead skeletons all due to a curse that was placed on them for stealing Aztec gold.
To create my own set of concept designs of pirate theme characters would be a very fun idea that I would be very passionate about doing but my only worry is that it may not be adventurous enough or have enough depth behind it. However if I were to give these characters a magical/fantasy twist like Pirates of the Caribbean have done and give each character a curse with a unique story behind it, this will add more depth to their characterisation. I could come up with concept art for each of the characters in Photoshop with a full back, front and side view of them. However I feel as though this idea isn't complex enough and lacks meaning behind it. I still prefer my first idea in how it brings awareness to issues in the world today such as racism and has a moral behind it. I need to develop this idea further and think about how I could make this feel more ‘wider world’ and have a deeper meaning.
The costume designs in these films are really well designed and thought out. They are great examples to use as inspiration for my own characters in the future if I do go down this route.
IDEA 2
Davy Jones’s crew, transformed into sea monsters. Each character is unique and different in their design.
IDEA 3
Other Famous Pirates
I wanted to research more famous pirates other than Black Beard to see if any other pirates have lived such a thrilling life. When searching online I found the website historylist.com which had an article that listed the 10 Most Famous Pirates in World History. Each of the 10 pirates had a summary of their life and I researched into the most that most interested me.
William Kidd
A stylish Scotsman who had been a leading citizen of New York City, actively involved in the building of Trinity Church, Captain Kidd began his career as a privateer, originally commissioned to rid the seas of pirates. Only reluctantly, did he cross bounds into piracy (having been elected pirate captain by his crew), although his piracy itself may be questionable as his exploits may have been sensationalized. His greatest misfortune was attacking an East India Company vessel. When he learned that he was hunted for that deed, he buried some of his treasure on Gardiners Island, anticipating its usefulness as a bargaining tool. But, captured in Boston along with his wife, William Kidd was eventually sent to England for trial. He was sentenced to death, some said unjustly, and suffered a wretched execution - the noose by which he was hung broke twice, and after he was killed on the third hanging his body was doused in tar and hung by chains along the Thames River.
Bartholomew Roberts "Black Bart"
Roberts’ crew admired his adventurist courage, calling him “pistol proof” - though he had been forced into piracy, having once been an officer on board a ship that was captured by the pirate Howell Davis. After taking over, Roberts’ navigational skills, charisma, and bravado painted him golden the eyes of his men. He plundered over 400 ships, a grandiose record to be sure, and captained well-armored ships in every endeavor. He died in a vigorous battle against British Captain Chaloner Ogle; his death left many of his faithful followers and admirers reeling. Even the Royal Navy itself was stunned.
Francois l'Olonnais
l’Olonnais humbly began as a poor man, working on a plantation in America as an indentured servant. After he turned to piracy, the Frenchman was known for the viciousness he showed to his vanquished, as well as his success in raiding many towns (he was one of the most successful pirates on land attacks) and capturing many ships. Amongst his most successful plunders was the town of Maracaibo, Venezuela, where he ravaged and stole his way into historical infamy, gaining some 200,000 Spanish dollars. His sadistic, bloodthirsty streak was predominant in his career, for he is said to have eaten a Spanish soldier’s heart during one of his many attacks. His own death, however, was equally as gruesome. l’Olonnais and his crew lodged their ship on a sandbar off the coast of Panama and weren’t able to break free. Upon venturing onto land in search of food, they were captured by the local tribe and devoured.
Developing Idea...
I find all these pirates equally fascinating. I chose these pirates out of the others as unlike like them they all die in an incredible fashion. For example, Fancois L'Olonnais was a nasty piece of work, having raped and tortured his victims to even eating a man heart, he got away with all his crimes till one day he got marooned on an island where he was ripped apart limb by limb and eaten alive by cannibals. It seems Karma really does come for everyone in the end.
I originally wanted to do a very detailed portrait of Black Beard however after reading about these pirates I now want to create an art piece about them too. That's when I thought I could do portraits of all these pirates as none of them have any official photos or drawings of themselves so their actual appearance is unknown so this means I can create my own interpretations of them. However as I want to showcase their deaths I could edit their faces to show off their injuries and add symbolism to give out clues to how they died. For example with Francois L'Olonnais I could draw a close up portrait of his face with tribal hands wrapped round his neck and bite marks on his face, this represents how he was eaten by a tribe. He could be baring his teeth which have blood stains on them and blood dripping out of his mouth which refers to how he is a cannibal himself as he once ate a man’s raw heart. Each piece could be done really detailed and very realistic on a large scale.
IDEA 2
The true definition of Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence at sea. Those who engage in acts of piracy are considered Pirates. Pirates were sort of dying out now in the 1800s but they still existed and they were one of the main reasons why I wanted to research into this theme. The true golden ages of Pirates were around late 1600s to early 1700s.
Sideshow Collectibles
I was looking at my sideshow model of the Joker and this inspired me for the type of outcome I will produce for my cursed pirate’s idea. I could make a 1/6th scale model of one of the character designs I choose to do. I could have little props to go with the figure as well. As I already have many of sideshow figures in my home, I can use them as a great reference for my own 1/6 scale figure.
As well as this the box the sideshow figures come with has concept art of the characters on the back. If I had enough time I could do this as well and have concept art in an addition to my model.
To make the actual model I would likely use super sculpey as I already have experience with it when I used it last year to make my voodoo model and a 1/6 scale figure of a character I designed for a horror film. I already know the process and I was really pleased with my 1/6 figure last year however I know I have improved even more since then so hopefully this time I can get it looking really awesome and have the anatomy of the figure a lot more on point.
IDEA 2
You can see to the right all the different props that come with the model as well as changable hands, heads and outfits.
To the right is the concept art of the characters which comes with the figures. They are all very detailed and realistic.
Above are photos of the figures I have at home, you can see how detailed they are and all of them are incredibly posable. It's cool how you can make them interact with the props such as maing them hold them.
Curses
I was thinking more about my other idea of creating concept art of pirate characters with a fantasy twist, where they were cursed and this affected their physical appearance. My problem was that I felt there wasn’t enough meaning behind it or moral. However I now realise that the actual reason for how they got the curse in the first place is the moral. For example the character could have stolen an important treasure that had a cursed placed on it and that whoever removes it from its place will be cursed until the thief returns it to its original spot. Therefore the user is punished for committing an evil dead. However adding more meaning behind it, the curse could cause a deformity that is related to the actual crime the victim committed. For example if the pirate had stolen then this means his hands could become deformed or he loses all feeling in his fingers, this means he is prevented from stealing again. Another example is say one of the characters is manipulative and on the outside he acts polite yet on the inside he aims to make personal gains at others expense, then he could get caught by a curse which makes him look ugly and diseased on the outside as it reveals his inner ugliness that he keeps so well hidden. To increase variety in my character creations they don’t actually have to be pirates, they could be characters set in the 1800s era, so this gives me a lot more range to explore and come up with unique situations.
When I thought about creating a character where the ugliness on the inside shows on the outside I thought the character would try and cover up his diseased self with overdone makeup, this made me think of Cheville from Pirates of the Caribbean. His makeup is purposely styled to show he is obviously wearing it as his face is painted solid white and he has strong circular rosy cheeks. Was this the trend for posh people them days?
Another idea is if say a character is a merciless killer, he shows no remorse or sympathy towards anyone, this would make him "cold blooded". To show this, the curse could give him reptilian like features and cause his skin to grow scales. He could even struggle to eat normal food and becomes known for eating insects, ew.
IDEA 2
Being a fearsome pirate and sailing across the sea hijacking ships and killing all on-board to gather loot, this character could have a curse which when water touches him, it burns him like fire would. The curse will scare him from going on sea again, however he could rebel and wear very protective gear but what if even when he sweats or cries this would make his skin burn?
This character could rob graves making him one of the worst kinds of thieves. When robbing a certain grave of a famous man who supposedly had buried himself with all his riches this character dug it up finding nothing but a curse which turned him into one of the undead. His body now decays and the more treasure he returns to their rightful owners the more he slows the process and returns his youth.
Nicky Barkla
Nicky Barkla is a self-taught artist based in Australia who has an unmistakable style when it comes to portraying pop culture icons, giving them a whole new persona. Making use of a variety of mixed media and techniques the colour spectrum is challenged to produce bleeding, Technicolor creations giving a very trippy psychedelic effect. Unbelievably all her art work is done traditionally yet they all looks so smooth and her brush marks are hardly noticeable, I wonder if this is because she maybe touches up her works in Photoshop afterwards or she really just is that skilled to get all her pieces so perfect.
Barkla's work of Frankenstein (shown to right) and a similar piece she did of Keith Richards inspired me the most as unlike her other paintings she seems to have merged two photos into one. For example with her Frankenstein piece she drew his main facial features such as eyes, nose, and mouth so his face can be recognised and then for the rest of his silhouette it is a galaxy image and the two merge beautifully.
I could do a portrait of my interpretation of Black Beard however, like her portrait of Frankenstein, merge his face with other images that tell his story. For example, at the top of his silhouette could be drawings of the pursuit of Manyward on his tail with the ocean being a large part of the background. Then it will progress to Black Beard climbing on-board Manywards ship and then the intense battle between them. The overall background could be just the ocean so it doesn’t become too confusing with all the colours and the multiple images blend together smoothly. I wander if for the portrait it could be of black beards head and neck with a roped tied round his neck or something attached to the top to show how the final outcome of the story was his head being strung up. This means at first glance you see the ending of the story and are intrigued and confused but then when looking closely at his face you can see the story flowing across his face explaining the meaning behind it and suddenly hit with the realisation of the ending outcome when looking back at the image overall.
Black Beard
Edward Teach or Edward Thatch, better known as Blackbeard, was a notorious English pirate who operated around the West Indies and the eastern coast of the American colonies. Teach captured a French merchant vessel, renamed her Queen Anne's Revenge, and equipped her with 40 guns. He became a renowned pirate, his nickname derived from his thick black beard and fearsome appearance. He was reported to have tied lit fuses under his hat to frighten his enemies. He formed an alliance of pirates and blockaded the port of Charleston, South Carolina. After successfully ransoming its inhabitants, he ran Queen Anne's Revenge aground on a sandbar near Beaufort, North Carolina. He parted company with Bonnet and settled in Bath Town, where he accepted a royal pardon. But he was soon back at sea, where he attracted the attention of Alexander Spotswood, the Governor of Virginia. Spotswood arranged for a party of soldiers and sailors to try to capture the pirate.
Maynard found the pirates anchored on the inner side of Ocracoke Island. Next mourning he perused Teach across the ocean and they battled against another until eventually the battle concluded with their two vessels pulling up beside each other to engage in close combat. Teach commanded is crew to go aboard Manywards ship. As the Adventure's (Teach's crew) grappling hooks hit their target and several grenades, made from powder and shot-filled bottles and ignited by fuses, broke across the sloop's deck they swung on board. As the smoke cleared, Teach and his crew were bewildered at the sight of Maynard's apparently empty ship apart from a small group formed by the lieutenant and his men at the stern who they killed.
Suddenly the rest of Maynard's men then burst from the hold, shouting and firing. The plan to surprise Teach and his crew worked; the pirates were apparently taken aback at the assault. Teach rallied his men and the two groups fought across the deck, which was already slick with blood from those killed or injured by Teach's broadside. Maynard and Teach fired their flintlocks at each other, then threw them away. Teach drew his cutlass and managed to break Maynard's sword. Against superior training and a slight advantage in numbers, the pirates were pushed back toward the bow, allowing Manywards crew to surround Teach, who was by then completely isolated. As Maynard drew back to fire once again, Teach moved in to attack him, but was slashed across the neck by one of Maynard's men. Badly wounded, he was then attacked and killed by several more of Maynard's crew. The remaining pirates quickly surrendered. Those left on the Adventure were captured by the Ranger's crew, including one who planned to set fire to the powder room and blow up the ship. Teach's corpse was thrown into the inlet while his head was suspended from the bowsprit of Maynard's sloop (so the reward could be collected).
When reading Black Beards' back story I was in complete awe and fascination on how thrilling and actually quite sad his past was. How the battle of his death is described, it's like something out of a film! To think he actually lived that life, is incredible, no wonder he became the inspiration for pirate-themed works. When reading his tale I was actually quite saddened at the fact he died such a brutal death. Apparently Teach spurned the use of force, relying instead on his fearsome image to elicit the response he desired from those he robbed. Contrary to the modern-day picture of the traditional tyrannical pirate, he commanded his vessels with the permission of their crews and there is no known account of this ever having harmed or murdered those he held captive. Suddenly my image of Black Beard being a terrifying merciless pirate was only half true. I'm not saying he was a good man, but he wasn't some savage murderer either and actually opposed the use of violence. To then hear he was murdered especially after he was pardoned and retired, I felt was an unfair punishment. However what really bit the bud was how after his death they cut off his head and strung it up like some trophy, I find that to be ridiculously brutal and humiliating. It was an act committed on a man who would have never have done the same. His tale is a sad yet glorious one and I wonder if I would be able to showcase his story as an art piece for my final outcome. There are no true illustrations or life drawings of black beards and so his appearance is never truly determined, this means I would have free creation to create concept art of my own depiction of black beard. He already has very unique and interesting character description such as the lit flints under his hat and a thick black beard as well as his overall appearance being apparently so fearsome enough that he could simply take over ships with no questions asked or violence involved. It will be challenging to create my own concept piece of Black Beard that lives up to his description but a challenge I would very much enjoy. I want to create a character concept art of his character but as well as that I would love to showcase his story as I am deeply enthralled by it. I feel as though a comic is too basic however and too literal in telling his dramatic story. I will research more into other artists and see if I can find any clever techniques to use that will help develop this idea further.
Concept art of Black Beard in the Assassins Creed: Black Flag game. As you can see they instead switched it so that Black Beard lit flints in his beard which is much more intimidating on the outside but also not very practial.
Black Beard in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. The appearance of Black beard is very close to his actual description however a fantasy twist was placed on his character that he had an enchanted sword which can control his ships direction and even the ropes and other objects on deck which he uses at one point to hang is crew up by their arms and legs in mid-air to put a stop to their uprising.
Black Beard in the recent film Pan. A very Falmboyant take on him looking very stylish. His beard changed to be a pointed moustache. He also wears a wig to hide his baldness, which im sure is a comedy effect as Pan is a film aimed for a young audience.
IDEA 3
The Black Spot
Wanting to research more into curses I looked up the Black Spot which at first I thought was a real curse where pirates would wake up to find a black spot on their hand which marked death was on its way. The mystery of who placed it there was unknown until the day they decide to come for you.
Instead I found that the black spot was fictional curse first invented in by Robert Louis Stevenson for his novel Treasure Island. In the book, pirates are presented with a "black spot" to officially pronounce a verdict of guilt or judgment. It consists of a circular piece of paper or card, with one side blackened while the other side bears a message and placed in the hand of the accused. It was a source of great fear because it meant the pirate was to be deposed as leader, by force if necessary and killed outright. In Treasure Island, Billy Bones is much frightened by it but remains determined to outwit his enemies. However he suffers a stroke caused by the overconsumption of liquor and dies. Later Long John Silver receives the spot, but is calm enough to notice that it has been torn out from a Bible and warns his associates of the ill luck this will bring upon them. The origin of Stevenson's Black Spot might be in the historical tradition of Caribbean pirates of showing an Ace of Spades to a person condemned as traitor or informer.
The idea of the black spot was used in the Pirates of the Caribbean film series where the victim is marked literally by a diseased black spot which grows on the hand and curses the victim to be doomed to Davy Jones' locker. Any pirate that gains it will be followed by Davy Jones's pet, the Kraken, and pursued to the ends of the Earth until killed and brought back to work on Davy Jones ship as an undead sea monster.
The gruesome black spot appearing on Jack Sparrows hand to mark his inevitable doom to Davy Jones Locker. (Pirates of the Caribbean films)
An artists depiction of Pirates setting up the black spot which will later be handed to their victim.
A ritual pirates do that they believe will protect them from being cursed with the black spot.
IDEA 2
Guzzardi Twins
Shenae and Mel Guzzardi are twins in Australia who collaborate their artwork together and upload it to a shared DeviantArt Account called 'Guzzardi'. I have followed these artists for a long time especially as their lives are so similar to mine as they both are twins wanting to get into video game industry doing concept art and are both at university right now doing a games design cause which is the exact path I am following with my twin.
Their art style is how I would want mine to be as all their artwork is drawn realistic with a beautiful sense of colour scheme. I especially like her ones where she over does the lighting and the saturation is very high making the pieces overly colourful which is very appealing to the eye. My favourite technique about their art is how they look hand painted as you can see all the brush marks. All their pieces are done in Photoshop and so they must use a brush with that traditional paintbrush effect. I was thinking that this would be a good art style to achieve for my concept art of the cursed pirates as it’s not an overdone detailed piece so it won’t take forever to do but it still holds enough detail to get that realistic effect.
IDEA 2
