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Fig. 1. Sussie from K-Pop Demon Hunters |
VEHICLE & PROP DESIGN: EXERCISES & PROJECTS
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23/09/2025 - 09/01/2026 (Week 1 - Week 15)
Irdhina
binti Mazli Sham (0366894)
Vehicle and Prop Design - Bachelor of Design
in Creative Media - Taylors University
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
- Exercises
- Projects
- Project 1: Pre Production
- Project 2: Production
- Final Project: Post Production & Profiling
- Feedback
- Reflection
EXERCISES
- Deconstructing and constructing vehicles from references ( 5 x 3 types = 15 thumbnail sketches)
- Form and Function ( Pick 1 type X 10 thumbnails)
- Perspective (Pick 1 type X 5 sketches min )
- Line Weight ( Pick 1 and add line weights to the perspective drawing done)
- Applying Colours ( Pick 1 and apply varieties to obtain appealing colours)
- Texturing (pick 1 and test with materials and texture bashing)
PROJECTS
Project 1: Pre-Production
For Project 1, we were required to design a vehicle of our own, no matter if it is an actual realistic car or something completely imaginative as long as it can be explained and be functional.
I decided to go with the idea of a vehicle that mimics the look of an animal and is at least partially made of its skin or shell.
Story Premise:
The world is set where a village is built around the story of a scary flying monster looking to hunt their ancestors. To hide from the monster(s), the ancestors built shelter under rooted floating islands that eventually developed into an actual village. As time goes on, more monsters/predators pop up, mainly soaring through the sky or swimming in the sea. To protect themselves and the village they built, vehicles that mimic the surrounding animals were made.
This specific vehicle would be used to collect fish from deep underwater and take the form/function that is similar to a shellfish.
Moodboard:
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I started out with silhouettes as instructed by Mr Kannan. He did note that if we were struggling to come up with something for silhouette (which I was...), we could draw the vehicle first and block it out to expand.
Once I got the idea for what vehicle I'm going for, I expanded more on that design. Looking back, the silhouette isn't really as strong as the other designs.
One of the main features of this vehicle is how tall it can get on its legs. Halfway through, I thought of removing the feature altogether but Mr Kannan advised me not to.
To give it a slightly hostile look, I initially made the 'elbows' sharp but with Mr Kannan's feedback, I removed that feature as it would obscure its movement. He also suggested I added a windshield to better illustrate the cockpit position as well as move the tube from the front of its head upwards to not block the driver's view.
Once the design was approved, I moved on to choosing the colours. I gave my colour studies to Mr Kannan and he approved of the bottom two designs as they stood out the most. He also gave me further refinement ideas with references for colours.
I decided to combine the two approved designs alongside references given to get the final result.
I refined the design further based on Mr Kannan's feedbacks to be submitted for the final project.
Final Outcome:
Project 2: Production
Moodboard:
Rather than designing the cockpit, which is the front of the body, I tried designing the middle part which also contained the main tube leading to the container for fish to get sucked to.
After going for feedback, Mr Kannan suggested I go with either composition one or three, with the better being three but only if I can manage to pull it off. In the end, I did go with composition three as the final submission.
Once I finished the lineart, I did the values and colours followed by the props.
Mr Kannan suggested I expanded the composition to show the floor and readjust the colours because it looked too orange. This was later submitted for final project.
Final Outcome:
Final Project: Post-Production & Profiling
I started out with a blockout initially on Blender but then redo on Zbrush.
Then I continued on with the model. Mr Kannan suggested I use the Polish tool to further define the shapes as well as Mirror to avoid doing double the work.
Once the model was completed, I exported it as a document for paintover. This was done to further refine the model as well as stylise it to my own shading style.
Alongside the 3D model, I also refined the exterior and interior as well as added details to additional props and a final poster artwork with the 3D vehicle.
FEEDBACK
Week 2: Expand more on silhouettes, don't just play it safe
Week 3: Some of the designs are accepted and can be used but some look too cartoonish to execute based on your style guide.
Week 4: The ideas are there but you need to communicate it along with sketches.
Week 5: The idea is interesting, can be developed further – try to develop how the vehicle would catch different sizes of fish.
Week 6: The legs look too flimsy, it might topple off or crash with its weight.
Week 7: The body is accepted, need to work on the legs. Look up crabs and how they move for references.
Week 8: Do the colours on its 3/4 view, not enough contrast. Consider the surroundings, try not to make it blend into the background so much.
Week 9: No consultation.
Week 10: Go with colours 1 but refine some more to include patterns on the globe. For Project 2, if you can manage, go with composition 3 but if cannot, go with composition 2.
Week 11: The blockout is there, use mirroring when blocking out the legs. Expand the interior to include what the floor looks like and have people figures to scale the size.
Week 12: The colours are still too orange. Fix the colours but don't make it rainbow.
Week 13: No consultation (Christmas break)
Week 14: The model is there. Use the polish tool to smooth out and define the edges/planes and use DStandard tool to create creases.
REFLECTION
Experience: This module was honestly very fun for me since I somewhat treated the vehicle as its own character and since I like drawing fantasy creatures, making my vehicle partly being that definitely helped in making this module as fun as it was despite the issues I faced with the leg stability and how modelling the design became a bit of a pain in the neck but I am generally satisfied with the outcome. I really wanted to incorporate some of the other ideas but nevermind, you win some you lose some. This semester in general was one of the most tiring ones I've had so far, though, most likely because I made the dumb decision of cramming the heavier modules together by taking vehicle alongside environment design and interactive design, both of which required a lot of attention and work. This caused me many late nights, as expected, but it is finally over and now I can just wait for Character Design and Anatomy modules, which honestly should've been taken this semester because I could have saved myself the pain of not having a clue on how Zbrush and having to spend days just watching video tutorials and asking my friend as well as Mr Kannan (who I really appreciate for answering my numerous questions and giving motivation to continue drawing in general) how this or that works....
Observation: I admire Mr. Kannan for how patient he is in giving us feedback to the point of actually drawing something out for each student despite constantly saying he's tired. I do hope things go well for him and he knows that a lot of his students, including myself, do appreciate his efforts in trying to keep us afloat and helping us improve our art skills. With his class and guidance, I can definitely see an improvement in my art skills from before and after this semester.
Findings: Whenever I look for references, I'm always intimidated by how detailed they look. While now, yes it is still somewhat daunting, I learned to look closer and realise complicated designs are really made of smaller simpler shapes and lines that come together to form this complex illustration. This becomes even more obvious when you compare the foreground and background, where the details get lesser and lesser as you go further, which is interesting and makes sense to the human eye.
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