Tezcatlipoca - Design/ development/ production

Aztec name: Tezcatlipoca  Ring Name: 'Rayas Negras'

Using the previous Luchador design process as a template, the development stages for the follow up 5 characters would be a lot more focused and (hopefully) less time consuming. The main design & production stages are shown below.

LuchaGod Squad branding...

Branding and packaging has always been in mind throughout the development of my LuchaGod characters, i just didn't really have a product that would require any real packaging to be made for it. However with the continued experimentation with wooden laser cut mask 'swingers' i felt they would need to be presented in some sort of packaging, which would ideally need to feature a logo for the product range. I wasn't going spend a whole heap of time making loads of different type treatments and variations - just something quick that would would suit the subject matter it was associated with, with a similar tone of voice.With all the other work i had on this was the least of my considerations, but i consideration none the less.

Up to this point id been working with the title of LuchaGods, which i was happy with - until it came to design a logo. It felt it was missing something,and didnt sit right - so the addition of squad to the brand has been made, as, they are a 6-man squad of Luchadors, based on Gods, and it also rolls off the tongue nicely. But again, i wasn't going to get too bogged down into concepts for this part of the project.

Examples of rebranded LuchaGod Squad type treaments

Final version. Distressing added to give the impression of cracked rock, 

caused by a powerful force (a God perhaps?) 

Also to give it an aged look, as if from the ancient Aztec times.

Bag topper/header design for a6/a5/a4 cello bags

Prototype 'swinger' bag with topper.

I'm still pretty undecided as to what exactly to called these wooden guys!? I know i've researched plenty into tangible art 'objects' that are just made to own, and don't have to serve any particular purpose - but i'm a bit worried that creating a product (with branding and packaging ) that doesn't know what it's supposed to be will be counted against me, even though i've added the leather 'hanger' to them so they can be hung/tied/nailed to things, if the customer so chooses.

Finished LuchaGod 'swinger' in bag, with addition of leather hanger.

So, if i've achieved nothing else by doing this, then at least there will be a consistent look to all the future LuchaGod Issu presentation board work!

Luchador name revisions...

My Spanish language expert (Emily) has pointed out that some of the male/female verbs translations for the Luchador ring names needed tweaking. As i have zero knowledge of Spanish i wasn't going to argue - but they weren't major changes that would cause too much disruption to my progress. Also at this point, rather than have a a literal english translation underneath the ring name, i've opted for having the original Aztec deity name that each character is based on.

HEELS

(Black Stripes)

(Lord of Death/Death Lord)

BABYFACES

(Dragon Bird)

(Seven Flowers)

TWEENERS

(Master of Fire/Fire Master)

(Lightning Bolt God)

The laser cutting experiments continue with the altered type in place.

'Getting lost in Laser Cut'..

As predicted, i've dived all the way in with this - everyone's gone home for xmas and the laser cutter room is dead, so i though it'd be a perfect time get some experimentation time under my belt without being rushed out of the room by other people wanting to use the machine. Despite it being a relatively simple process, as a rookie trying to work things out for himself and getting it exactly to my liking does end up taking a fair bit of time.

I had all the finished mask icon designs finshed, i just needed to decide on what form it would take when it came to laser cutting - so i played about with cut-out shapes and simple engraving onto 12x12cm plywood squares. 

As i discovered, the laser doesn't replicate gradient fades very well so i had to incorporate fades using halftone dots. Also engraving at different depths on different woods creates a number of outcomes, mainly a very, very scorched one. Thinner 4mm plywood was the ideal choice in the end,but it was still trial and error at this point

Obviously once i've left uni for xmas my laser cut playtime will have to end, so i'm making sure that whatever i want to with this medium it is done by then - as fun as it is, i know i've still got a whole load of essay writing to do sort out before Jan12th.

Tutorial 6/12/16 - Draft Essay feedback

The draft version of my essay was probably not 'fully- formed' as was required, and i knew i'd need a lot of re-working and structure work to be done, but the feedback was pretty encouraging in terms of what i had done  and my triangulation and critical referencing.However i need to be careful that i don't turn the paper into a chronology of wrestling, as much that's what i'd like to make!

The draft verison became less & less structured just after the half way point, and the points i'm trying to make become a bit unclear, as i found myself a bit lost as to what direction to take next.

Draft essay w/ annotated feedback

Tutorial feedback

During the one-to-one tutorial, upon talking through my practical progress ( involving a lot of laser cut design ideas) was urged to not to lose sight of the content, characters and masks rather than focusing too much on producing laser cut solutions. "Don't get lost in laser cut" were the wise words from Fred - and i can see wheres he's coming from. As much as i'm having fun learning about a new production processes, and coming up with various ways of using them - im not going to pick up more marks for getting really good at laser cutting, so i shouldnt spend too much of my time doing so. In the real world, someone would do the lasercutting part for me, id simply supply/propose the design - so thats what i should be doing now. 

I still have a few woodwork sessions booked up before i break up for xmas as i want to get more familiar with the process, and to actually make some 'finished' products out of wood - i'll just have to remember to reign it in and not to devote too much time to something that may not massively help me in the long run.

Practical development/ material considerations...

I've been trying to get my head around how i would need to prep the artwork if i did find myself able to laser etch on pre-painted wood ,like in the previous Hydro74 & 123KLAN examples. 

I'm envisioning them on 20x20cm wooden panels, that could just be hung like picture frames - or if the wood used was thin enough, it could possibly be placed inside a box frame? This is all hypothetical of course, and i'm probably getting carried away with this all. I'm thinking i should maybe save some of this hands-on practical creativity for my extended practice projects as i don't want to rush it all at once, OR use up all my best ideas too soon!

I had a play around with a few of the mini mask designs; making a mask out of the white areas of each design until i achieved the desired effect by cutting those white areas from the 'painted' black wooden surface. To find out whether this would work when it comes to actually laser etching the wood, i would need to consult the woodwork tutors to get their thoughts.In theory, this does appear to be how the artwork would be prepared.

With woodwork slots booked for Wednesday and Friday of this week it might be asking bit much to research and source the materials i need, apply them then getting them etched in time. If that's the case then ill just experiment without the black paint and see how the designs come out burnt into the various woods available to me (example below).

If the laser cutter rooms are open next week after we break up for xmas ill also try and get some time on them then. That will give me some time over the weekend to look into what sort of paints are recommended to use, plus any other info regarding how to prime and prep wood in general.Wish i'd paid more attention in my Woodwork classes at school now!

With all these new possibilities cropping up it'd be easy to forget the fact that I've still got 5 full character posters to design and produce...so easy that in fact i did briefly forget! But I'm still fully focused on achieving what I've set myself, even though i do have moments of panic about how much time i do actually have left to get it all done by. 

I have my print dungeon and laser cutting slots booked for January so have my final practical targets in place to keep me in check. Obviously if i can nip in for drop-in print sessions before those dates then i will - but i don't fancy my chances at this time of year.

Luchador 'Mini Mask' design/development/production…

With the submission of our draft essays all sorted, we now had the chance to forget about it for a week or so and could really get stuck into some more of the practical response - which, although I'm not looking too bad shape at the moment, I've got a lot to undertake still - plus I'm always thinking of new bits to add to it ,which doesn't always help my progress.


Before i could start any work on the full body character poster designs, i had to first design and develop, then eventually fully vector-up  the actual mask designs that my LuchaGods would each be wearing.

Que massive scamp session…(development and initial vector versions below)

I'd stated my intention to give the Luchadors more 'linguistically- friendly' ring names, as opposed to the tongue twisters they've all been given originally; i had a bit of a brainstorm with possible names, and thanks to Google english/spanish translator and my Lanazrote-born housemate ( who i enlisted for a second opinion on translations) i have now given these Gods new aliases.

These are the basic black & white versions (one with red) - i will be adding the odd bit of grey shades and black halftones to the final,final versions, to give them a bit more depth - and the bitmaps to make them a bit more visually interesting. 

With the mask designs all complete it's now a matter of ploughing on with the full body versions - though now I'm here, i would kind of like to spend more time experimenting with these versions rather than going off to and overcomplicating things where it really might not be necessary?

Must stick to my brief however! 

Practitioner research/inspiration…

I mentioned in an earlier post that i was driven to investigate and try out laser cutting my work on/into wood after seeing laser etched skateboard decks - they were done by Hydro74 a done few years back now.

Starting off with a skate deck painted with black gloss,they were then laser-etched, as a negative so that the black line work wasnt burnt away and the 'white' areas became exposed wood. 123KLAN also did a similar thing with their designs

These are what got me to thinking about possibly making an A3 image straight onto wood as opposed to a digital paper print. If the cutter is capable of replicating complex vector imagery like Hydro74, then it shouldn't have any problems with what I've got to throw at it. My style of work, with chunky vector line work is also more along the lines of 123KLAN's design, so i know whats achievable. I'd also had thoughts about painting the wood a colour before engraving that would correspond to each particular Luchador, but need to enquire about that with Michael and the Woodwork tutors.

If it turns out that colour isn't an option right now, then it'l still work as a straight-up engraving piece. For some time i've had visions of a wooden 'relief' piece, involving layers of cut out MDF shapes stuck on top of each other. I've recently come across a guy who goes by the name of Tougui, from France ( http://www.tougui.fr ), who annoyingly has already long since produced the sort of work i had in mind.(though i presume he wasn't the first to do this) His style in general isn't a million miles off of mine as it goes, he's just been more prolific with it.

Engraved wooden panel

The good thing about all the research i do is that i discover a whole new load of practitioners for the first time; the frustrating thing is that I've lost count of the amount of times I've come across stuff that i was planning on doing myself. So I'm stuck in two minds whether to pursue this line of production, as it looks like I've just gone on google and ripped someone else's idea off?!

Having said that, i thought i'd been following this guy on Instagram for years, but it turns out his work looks very similar to a guy called Ekiem, (http://ekiem.bigcartel.com) also from France who collabs with Tougui a lot. Guess it is ok to have a similar style as someone else then?

Tougui

Ekiem

Tougui x Ekiem collab deck

'LuchaGod' - character/product development

With the design, development, further development, revisions, more further development and final imagery production for the 1st in my range of LuchaGods now complete im able to take the whole process and apply it to the remaining 5 Luchador deities; but hopefully i'm able to cut down on the amount of 'further development' (faffing) i need to do for these ones.

As the majority of the Gods i'm basing these characters on have near unpronounceable names (to the unversed) i'm considering coming up with snappier, alternative ring names to give them all. This will also lend itself to the 'kayfabe', alter ego/superhero aspect of the wrestlers. 

Here are the design and development boards for Xiuhtecuhtli aka 'X-Fuego'.