Exploratory sketches- 3 Below Bountyhunters (Dreamworks Television)
This is some of the artwork i created in 2016 after being asked by Guillermo to make a trio of bountyhunter bad guys for 3 Below! He asked for something that was fully my style, wearing masks and at first wanted them to be brothers. I worked with him and Rodrigo Blaas to refine these characters into the final designs. Working with them was a dream!
The show is out on December 21st on Netflix!
My first idea was to have the brothers be made of ( or clothed in) an amorphous armor that allowed them to unite and split at will. I thought having this element of surprise would be a useful thing for a bountyhunter!
I explored a slight spaghetti western look , Guillermo wanted cool cloaks! I thought about the purpose of a bountyhunter: to catch! So i had a lot of hooks and lanky forms for snatching and snagging!
My first idea was to have the brothers be made of ( or clothed in) an amorphous armor that allowed them to unite and split at will. I thought having this element of surprise would be a useful thing for a bountyhunter!
Guillermo had also asked specifically for them to be wearing masks so I explored a lot of those looks.
Continuing the amorphous caped bird hunter idea with simple silhouettes
Another idea for the element of surprise! A dazzling display complete with eye spots and stunning patterns that could buy just that half second needed to get the upper hand when snagging a bounty!
We were still working with the idea that the hunters should be brothers so I made some different but related critters here. This bro got chopped up pretty bad at some point but got fitted with some nice hardware. A floating rocket punch hand too!
This is the big bro, your standard muscle. He probably bakes cookies in his spare time. I feel like a borrowed a little from Thomas Perkins work here in the face! Check out that nub tail.
The baby bro sniper- could be a sis, too? Long and lanky, patient and cold. Has a cool visor that lets them see farther and line up shots more precisely. The feathery bits are part of their light bending camo gear.
A little more of the lanky bird idea. I thought it would be cool for it's mask to behave like a cuttlefish's chromatophores, communicating to other hunters using pattern language.
Some simple bare bones shapes, this look was asked to be explored more.
More exploration of the anubis-like inky black character.
More detailed exploration of inky anubis guy. I wanted his actual skin to read as pure black a la Attack The Block's aliens, but with more of a viscous liquid feel.
Inky Anubis is being dialed in more here. Getting close to the final look! The dots around his face could swirl in/out of his form like he's holding his shape together but barely- communicating a potentially chaotic and unstable character.
Another character that was asked to be finalized more. Guillermo asked for me to follow this sketch but beef them up a bit in the next round of drawings....
This is Alpha, my favorite of the final characters! I wanted him to be a ruthless bastard but a total mama's boy, always trying to impress his infamous space pirate mother. He's even got a secret tattoo of her!
This is Alpha, my favorite of the final characters! I wanted him to be a ruthless bastard but a total mama's boy, always trying to impress his infamous space pirate mother. He's even got a secret tattoo of her!
The owl hunter! This is before the decision was made to make the hunters different species instead of brothers so the faces above match Alpha's unmasked look.
Guillermo asked for the owl hunter to get beefed up a bit, make them huge! The idea of having them be brothers was scrapped and i asked if this one could be a girl. I didn't want her size played for laughs, nobody bats an eye when it's revealed.
This is my design of what owl hunter's species looks like. This is based on my own gentle giant, an Argentine Black and White tegu named Delilah who i have kept for about 6 years! I wanted the character to be actually a bit kind/shy outside of her job.
This is the third character i designed and was unused. Guillermo liked the mask but felt that the silhouette wasn't strong and it wasn't "Melita" enough. I agreed, i think i had been trying too hard to make what i think they wanted , trying too hard.
We kept the mask and i went a little more weird with this one. I wanted them to be the fussy brains of the group, more engineer than warrior. Still deadly! This one made it to final design though i didn't get a chance to design the face under the mask.
Here is a little line up of the character sizing, mostly to show the size of owl hunter!
Cool cloaks were asked for from the beginning! Calling in a cool, western wasteland sort of feel.
Cool cloaks were asked for from the beginning! Calling in a cool, western wasteland sort of feel.