Secret Agent Entry: Adrian Migliazza

[Migly]

http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18302/18302_1245820041_medium.jpg (http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18302/18302_1245820041_medium.jpg)

Hi All...First time entering a cgsociety competition and I'm pretty stoked about it. I'm coming in a bit late, but it took a while for an idea to form! The original thought I had was inspired by the old Mad magazine "Spy vs Spy" series.

I thought the idea of two agents facing off against each other provided a good premise to build on. The old series had enemy spies, one clad in white, the other in black and the style of the agents was very sharp and pointed.

I wanted to preserve the black/white contrast and some of the pointy shape language, but obviously wanted to do something original with the idea.

So I thought it might be interesting to set this spy vs spy confrontation in old Venice...this gave me the opportunity to put masks on the agents and maintain that really signature pointed "spy" faces as seen in the original series.

So on that note, here's the first quick take on what one of the masks might look like.

[Migly]

http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18302/18302_1245820585_medium.jpg (http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18302/18302_1245820585_medium.jpg)

Since I had a pretty strong idea of how I wanted to stage this confrontation of the two agents, I jumped into blocking out the scene pretty quickly.

This first setup has the black agent on one side of the wall, loaded with old iron bombs/grenades. The white agent on the other side will have flintlocks.
The crazy pointy faces will eventually be Venetian style masks...

Originally I was going to have the object of the black agents attentions on the table in the foreground - I figure he's a sabateour of sorts and whatever was on that table was his target.

I'm scaling back from this original idea though as I just don't think I'll have the time to flesh out the background and foreground elements (the room and the table) to the degree I'd like, so I'll get the camera in tighter on the two agents.

[Migly]

http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18302/18302_1245820975_medium.jpg (http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18302/18302_1245820975_medium.jpg)

So this is a tighter composition with a lot less focus on the background and completely eliminating the foreground element.

The idea of the black/white spy and the two figures on the opposing sides of this wall present some pretty cool opportunites for lighting, especially with the black clad agent who will be locally illuminated by the bombs in his hands and partially silhouetted by the moonlight spilling through the doorway behind him.

The tighter shot on the two agents will really let me focus on the fine detail in their masks and costumes, which is what had me jazzed about the idea in the first place.

Not sure at this stage that I need to maintain the severly pointed masks to preserve the whole "spy vs spy" intention. I just don't think they are really working out so I'm going to throw more traditional venetian masks on them and see how that goes.

[Migly]

http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18302/18302_1245821242_medium.jpg (http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18302/18302_1245821242_medium.jpg)

Ok...so I've gone with the more traditional and recognizable venetian masks and I think it's working out a little better. There's a little more character to them and they don't dominate the scene like the old ones did.

So now that I've got the blocking done in 3d and I'm fairly confident it's going to workout, it's time to return to the sketchbook and flesh out designs and concepts for the clothing, weapons, backgrounds, lighting, etc.

Hopefully I'll get to those sketches this week and have some more to post in a day or so.

Thanks for looking guys - any feedback/crits welcome. Good luck!

[obux]

Hi Adrian - at least one coming up with such a famous setting - please finish this one I like it already. A little more drama in the angle could help.


Good luck
oBux

[Migly]

Thanks for the comments obux.

I agree with you that the angle could be a bit more dramatic - I'll probably reframe this a few more times before I settle. Part of the reason for the angle is to reduce the man-hour overhead on the image...I'm just not sure how much time I'll have to devote to this. And I'm an environment artist by trade, so I'll have my hands full doing the character work which is totally new to me!

[warpv]

Wow! Very awesome idea, I love it! :D Can't wait to see how this one turns out! Best of luck!

[Migly]

http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18302/18302_1245904273_medium.jpg (http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18302/18302_1245904273_medium.jpg)

Still blocking out this shot...changed the angle a bit, threw in some painted bits like the sparks and a very quick nightsky in the window just to see how it'll read.

Still need to figure out what I'm doing with their clothing...need to do some research on period Venetian costumes and hit the sketchbook

[warpv]

Looking good! Can't wait to see those costumes! What will you be doing for the background? You'll have period costumes in what seems to be a modern room? Keep us updated!

[Migly]

http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18302/18302_1246236241_medium.jpg (http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18302/18302_1246236241_medium.jpg)

Inital clothing pass on the "black" agent...no detail yet, just blocking out volumes and rough forms. I'm thinking I'll add more gadgets, knives, etc. to the belts and put a few bombs in the bag nearest the camera...

[Migly]

Warpv, thanks for the comments...the room did look pretty modern, didn't it? lol...

This pass at the background takes a different angle...I'm keeping the window, but I'm leaning towards staging this in an abandoned and run down "villa"...perhaps the villa hides the entrance to a secret lair? I'll have to find a way to get more story "clues" into the bg.


Looking good! Can't wait to see those costumes! What will you be doing for the background? You'll have period costumes in what seems to be a modern room? Keep us updated!

[warpv]

Looking good! I like the idea of an old abandonned villa or palazzo or something, can't wait to see how it turns out! Keep it up! :wip:

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