When I think of scifi, my mind head's straight to classics such as Alien and Blade Runner and modern masterpieces such as District 9. In terms of games I nearly always think of Halo. The guns were all recognisable in terms of silhouette and function.
Before coming up with my concepts I created a set of quick pen line drawings to figure out some shapes and silhouettes.
From that point onwards I conceived of a narrative: Where did these weapons come from? Who owns them and what are they used for? I decided that these would be the tools of a galactic bounty hunter, who crafts weapons based on the fauna and animals she encounters on new planets. She had recently visited earth and was blown away by the diversity of deadly creatures we house.
Initially I toyed with creating comedic/deadly guns that actually fired a miniturised version of the animal they were based on.That seemed a tad far-fetched.
Of these 4 concepts the one that really spoke to me was the Piranha looking gun. Its acid tipped shrapnel projectiles really emulated the famously ferocious appetite of the carnivorous fish. It also had a naturally organic feel to it. It felt both alien yet familiar - A key part of this exercise. Familiarity and grounding makes a concept, no matter how out there, seem real. This was the one I was going to press ahead with.
I decided to go with Feng Zhu's method of painting a silhouette. A design doesn't work unless it is unique in shadow and I loved toying with this technique last time. It lends itself well to painting creepy organics.
Upon reflection, I would love to have added some more obviously mechanical components to the gun. To give it a bit more weight and root it deep in the future it comes from. I'd also have spent some time designing some of the more comedic guns I envisioned. There would have been some elements I could probably have expanded upon in my final piece.
I'm particularly proud of the textures I managed to achieve in the end however.
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