Apr 10, 2009

Titan A.E. redesign project

The Titan A.E. redesign project
Group members:Heather Kahn, Kim Weiner, Magnolia Porter, and me.

Titan A.E. is a mediocre-to-awful animated sci-fi movie that had potential for interesting themes and issues, but failed to connect to audiences due to bad storytelling and generic character design. We attempted to craft more interesting and engaging characters with more potential for good storytelling.

Sorry about the crappy pictures, I just took some photos of our presentation board. I'll post the nice digital files eventually.

Main cast:
Cale - protagonist, 20-year-old space station mechanic
Group design, my drawing + ink, Magnolia color

Original.
We wanted Cale to look a little younger and more awkward, less like a male model.

Akima - female lead, Korso's pilot
Group design, my drawing + ink, Heather color

Original.
Made Akima's ethnic group more ambiguous, wanted to make her feel like a gypsy connected to Earth, but still a believable pilot.

Korso - Works to find the Titan with Cale, ex-military, working with Drej
Group design, my drawing + ink, Kim

Original.
Korso became a bitter Vietnam-style vet, decorated but scarred by his military experience. A believable "fallen hero".

Drej - pure energy, hivemind with queen figure, want to destroy humans
Kim's personal design + color

(Couldn't find an original that showed them very well.)
Wanted to make the Drej look less manufactured, focus more on the queen and hivemind aspect to make them creepy instead of just inanimate energy.

Supporting cast (crew of Korso's ship)
Gune - map-reader, scientist, comic relief; works with the protagonists
Heather's personal design + color

Original.
Made him less generic. Gave him more hands to work on multiple tasks at once, a long neck to extend up to peer into people's faces. Gave him a birdy face to allow for a more fidgity demeanor.

Preed - Korso's first mate, traitor
Magnolia's personal design + color

Original.
Added a transformative quality to him, making him appear nonthreatening until his point of turning traitor.

Stith - weapons and muscle; works with the protagonists
My personal design + color

Original.
Gave her more upper-body strength and a powerful, stout set of legs to keep her grounded. Turned her into more of a protective figure.

This was a great learning experience about working in groups--our group was great and I think we all played our strengths well, I'm proud of us.

2 comments:

  1. I liked the original art better.... The movie was fine, to be honest. None of your character models are as good as the original... They look more childish and outdated.

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  2. I realize this post is eight years old, but I was doing some research for my own blog post regarding this movie and I just had to agree to disagree with Gregory there.

    I love the fact that you three decided to do your own takes on the Titan A.E. character designs. Though I must admit I'm not a fan of the bird motif for Gune, your Stith, Preed, and Korso are much closer to revealing their true natures than the original designs! I realize I may never get an answer to this, but I'd love to know what made you guys decide to go with the more Asian-inspired design for the Drej?

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