Concept Art

Purpose:  Concept art is the various ideas and designs which leapt through the heads of the creative team behind Ninja Gaiden 2:  The Dragon Born.  Concept art is one of the most important parts of the pre-production process:  It gives the animator(s) a good idea of what to expect, it helps mold the designs into easier-to-handle and more-fluid designs for both future animation and visual streamlining, gives the creative team a better insight as to how the planned sequences might turn out, and is key in developing a strong directorial vision for the onscreen action.  The pre-production crew tackles this task through whatever art forms are present, be it 3d Movie Maker itself or a sheet of lined college-ruled notebook paper.  It is helpful to keep in mind that the 3DMM Ninja Gaiden universe is now over 2 years old, and many of the original conceptual designs have been lost or discarded with old school papers and such.  What will be shown here are the more important sketches and designs used to finalize the character appearance, and many both important and non-important designs fill the many gaps in these visual timelines.  I hope you enjoy them, and I am sure that more and more will be found as the future drives on.

-Jason "Gorosaurus" Meckes

Ryu:

Ryu started out as a typical ninja, and the inspiration for his design was nearly entirely based on videogames and movies starring his now-clichéd profession.  To be perfectly honest, Ninja Gaiden (1) started out as a series of animation tests, the product of a bored day and a new computer.  Ever-intrigued by the Super Nintendo-style direction of most 2d action games, I decided to try the genre out for myself.  What came about was a fluid 2-directional 2D camera pan which would find it's inclusion towards the start of the movie itself. 

While I had the back of a ninja completed and fully animated (In an obviously Spider-man influenced nature), I decided to take on the front of the ninja next.  At this point in my life, I had no experience drawing the human form, and the face was the pinnacle of my frustration.  Enamored with Bob the Ninja's "Apparent Lack of a Sniper" movie, I took the idea of using a often just a simple white sphere to represent the character's entire face. 

The actual face of Ryu was just the bare necessities needed to create as much emotion as I was used to evoking in cartoon characters, and still retain the same simplicity as I needed to maintain sanity throughout the project.  In the end, Ryu's face in Ninja Gaiden ended up being a toss-up between a default character with edited features, and a handmade ninja with blue eyes and pale skin.

However, in Ninja Gaiden 2:  The Dragon Born, as well as in the videogame series itself, Ryu's appearance becomes much more distinct.  While the face is still quite covered when suited up, the suit itself takes on a much more non-spandex life.

The most notable difference is the jutted forehead; it's application in 3DMM has not yet been properly figured out as of this time.  Other fabric features (Wrist or hand-band) are still being considered.

Beyond this point, concept sketches basically turn into finalized products.  Ryu's design, while basic, remains fairly constant from this point on forward.  Just as the jutted forehead is often toggled in finished pictures, it's use in the movie is uncertain.

Aedrax:

Aedrax, up to this point, was only known as 'The Millennia Beast,' but in The Dragon Born, his entire history and relationship with the characters throughout the Ninja Gaiden universe is explored.  His true design is often considered to be the 'Final' stage he shows in Ninja Gaiden, however whether or not that identity was stolen from another is unknown (It's similarity to other family members hints largely that it is).  For his design, I decided to stray away from the typical human form, but still retain the anthropomorphic anatomy which allows familiar movement.  I found a lot of inspiration through the popular Nintendo character Samus Aran of Metroid fame. 

The arms were largely inspired by Adrian Pikios' classic works, notably the white blood cells in Bodily Functions and the Myth-Squirrel.  To match with the rest of the body's bulk, the arms themselves were fairly spherical and rotund.

After Ninja Gaiden's completion, I decided a more contemporary approach to Aedrax would be best.  The distinct features that made him who he was had to stay, but his overall physique needed a bit of a rehaul.  This is where concept art really begins to shine.

I really liked this start, but the 'awe' I was hoping to give with this fiend would need a little more work.  His body is fairly abstract there, almost stick-like.  I decided to see how Aedrax would work as a more humanoid character.

I really liked this design:  The form was very human (Familiar), he would have a much better ability for movement than the original design, and the massive arms still give off the monstrous look I wanted.  However, this form was a little too humanoid I thought; it'd be too much of a change from the original (Though less-so than the first redesign).  As of this point I had no real reason to bother changing or playing with it further.  No edits in design would be made until I began designing Kulrohen, his sibling.  My first edit is what I felt was perfect, and very little revision would be needed for the final version.

From this point on, Aedrax's design remained fairly consistent.  It's design is so similar to the original and his brother's that testing in 3DMM isn't necessary at all.

Kulrohen:

Kulrohen is a figure yet unknown to the Ninja Gaiden universe.  In The Dragon Born he will be introduced as Aedrax's sibling, and the figure who bears the movie's title.  From descriptions by Ninja Gaiden 2 story-smith Matt Burkett, I was told to focus on creating a creature extremely intrusive and menacing.  Matt alluded to a likeness comparable to the Friday the 13 series' Jason Voorhees.  I, having not seen the movies, got to work from what that mental image gave me.

Here we see Ryu sporting a rather nifty tattoo, as well as an Aedrax caught between re-design stages 1 and 2.  The Dragon Born stars as a rather imposing background on this dry-erase board.  Closer resembling a steroid-infused Casey Jones of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fame than a being of several millennia, let alone a sibling to Aedrax.  Even holding a (Cut off) axe of doom, Kulrohen here is highly concept-based, but incredibly impractical and non-pleasing to the eyes.  For those of you paying close attention, Ryu is caught between stages as well, with a semi-imposing forehead, actual fabric designs, and added character to the eyes.  It's a shame he's madly out-of-proportion in areas, and in the wrong perspective for others.

Later on, Mr. Burkett informed me more deeply in regards to Kulrohen's personality.  Sure, he might be the toughest sunnuvagun this side of the Mason-Dixon line, but due to a few too many thousand years here or there, or simply just being one fry short of a Happy Meal, Kulrohen is a character in every regard.  The comic relief of the movie, The Dragon Born has duel roles to play:  Comedian and warlord.  Matt provided this concept image of Kulrohen, which he made in 3DMM.

With that basic design in mind, I went to work creating a more warlord-esque design for the character.

While I was happy with this design, it would still be a long time until I find a good design that fits the character well.  Cue many following months of paper and pencil work.

Here I toggled with various sizes of the chest, as well as the basic designs of his minion zombie characters.  The background design, while pleasing to the eye, was as unobtrusive as can be.  The foreground design only furthers these problems, but gives a very good view of how the limbs should flow.  To the right of the picture is an attempt to add mass to that design, but I'm afraid the Staypuft Marshmallow Man isn't very intimidating either.  The zombies are rather blocky, and the coloring is off.  Testing two different forms of legs, I found that the Kulrohen-esque style would work best.

The legs themselves were influenced largely from the Megaman universe.  This influence also had leaked into the forearms as well.

Further refining of the design landed a nearly ape-like physique to Kulrohen. 

Here we see The Dragon Born with a zombie minion, as well as Lock 'n Load 2's Ashtar and Hench.  The black spot on Kulrohen's chest is very unappealing and frankly distracting, and the arms are much, much too long.  The shoulders have grown much closer to Aedrax's, and the shoulder spikes now show a third dimension.  However, if made a silhouette, this design would largely resemble the finished product.  Even the arms and legs, though elongated, are strikingly similar to what would become the final design.  The zombie is much more streamlined here, and this would be it's final design.  I had practiced some with the designs of the zombies in 3D Movie Maker by this point.

I further pound the figure into a usable form.

This is very close to what would become the final form of Kulrohen.  The general shape of all the body parts is down pat, and the shoulder spikes have taken on a more rounded appearance (To aid movement), though this feature would be largely ignored in the actual 3DMM design.  I simply needed to bulk up this design a bit more, and tweak various parts.  Kulrohen would soon finally reach his final design for warlord mode.

Ninjas beware.