Minimal Decay

Minimal Decay 

Minimal Decay is a passion project of mine that I developed during my studies to focus and develop my skills. When inspired heavily by the environments of the Last of Us games and the mechanics of films like Epic and even the Borrowers, came a world years on from the endangerment of humans. In the absence of people, other species thrived and adjusted to a less discreet way of living in the empty world left behind. Unlike most media that explores this concept in American settings, I wanted to focus on the environment and wildlife I was familiar with in the UK! 

The current concepts and designs I have been working on focus on forest dwellers no taller than a 30cm ruler. Too small for horses, they have bred and trained unlikely mounts for purpose whether that be sturdy badgers for border patrol or quick and agile foxes for inter-village deliveries. 

The Badger Riders 

A solemn, stoic group of scouts each as wise and weathered as the badgers they ride. These characters venture around and beyond familiar territory to both protect and avoid their communities. I wanted them to hold an air of authority and intimidation while piquing intrigue, through the design process I kept the words 'moody high elves' at the front of my mind to stay on target. 

The Badgers are tasked with exploring and maintaining the forests around the villages, keeping creeping fungi and their infectious decay at bay, and in rare cases, escorting Foxes on more demanding deliveries. Due to the required skill and demand of their work, Badger Riders and their mounts command respect amongst the villages, although some more than others. Traditionally, Badgers ride in pairs however, due to temperament and past troubles,  some remain alone unless forced otherwise.

The Fox Riders

Fiery and somewhat unpredictable, the fox riders focus on speed and terrestrial agility to make deliveries between villages throughout the forest. These characters had to embody the famous attributes of the rural fox whether sly and cautious or bouncy and somewhat chaotic. The Foxes show their personalities on their sleeves so it was important to me that their designs showed that in the way that they dress, stand, as well as their colour palettes, particularly when held against the Badgers. With the foxes is where I found myself having more fun with the designs and how they interact with each other on the line up.

The Foxes specialise in fast delivery of various items, sundries, medicines and in cases, information. Through their careers the riders will master routes through the forests and for most, will be able to do solo trips lasting several days long. These delivery drivers carry a loveable energy about that in stark contrast to the formidable presence of the Badgers, this can lead them to expect a certain level of hospitality when completing their runs.  However their inexperience in the land outside of the villages and off of the beaten path paint them as immature in the eyes of others.

The Den Masters

The den masters are the brains behind the breeding and training of the mounts for the forest villages. Carved out of years of experience, these four are a selection of the higher levels of the Den Management. With a group of characters who's designs don't particularly rely on the colours of their clothes, I was able to use them as a way to hone in some lining practice and focus on keeping the looseness and energy that I find comes with the initial sketches. 

The Den Masters are dedicated workers who spend almost all of their time in the underground complex that is the dens. Here the mounts are bred, raised, and trained before being paired with a rider and moving into the accommodation pods deeper below. The work in the dens is high demand and high reward all in hopes of raising equally dedicated animals that experience just as much reward for their efforts. Some workers take the demands in their stride as they always have, some have more lessons to learn.  

The Human Bridge

The human bridge was a staple in the world building in the journey through to The High Tower, the route demands passage of the bridge or extensive diversion around. The base concept was always a decaying rope and plank bridge over a shadowy crevice. The main aspect of the bridge was the tired wood and missing slats, unknowingly too big for a Badger to hop over when assessed from the end. 

With a relatively simple brief I found myself able to explore a few different angles and get into the flow of sketching out the thumbnails and through to a couple more detailed sketches. From the start of this piece I knew I wanted to utilise various brushes and tools to create a looser and more painterly style.

The Rats and The Bridge Pit

These thumbnails and the idea behind them are the biggest inspiration to the project as a whole. I wanted to explore the idea of an injured hero fighting off a group of savage rats, the inspiration for the rest of the world came second. An important aspect to this shot was that the rats were of equal size of the character. To add more interest to the shot I slotted this scene underneath The Human Bridge, the fall having injured the Badger rider in focus. 

Above: A lasso tool exercise used to explore various shapes and conditions of the decaying rats

The City and The High Tower

The High Tower was always going to be the destination, a distant community offering different aspects of the world and ways of living to be explored in the future. At the beginning I didn't have a solid picture of what exactly the 'Tower' was going to be.  

Originally, the destination was going to be a series of tall buildings referred to as The High Towers with the idea that these would be something similar to a block of flats or a town house - tall man-made buildings that were intimidating to the more rural, forest dwelling communities. 

While looking through town and city images for references I was gravitating towards smaller English towns and streets, specifically, areas in Bristol. Exploring more Bristol-centric references I discovered Cabot Tower which then heavily influenced a change in direction of The High Tower.

The Back Garden

After exploring concepts of the larger scale areas, it was becoming harder to visualise the world as it needed to be seen; 30 centimetres off of the ground! 

To keep myself in touch with the perspective of the riders I took several photos from around my own back garden with the camera low to the ground.  Along side the personal photos, I found and watched several videos from the perspective of roaming cats. Not only was this incredibly entertaining but it helped give insight on how animals of that size traverse around this kind of environment and help gauge what kind of images to collect around the garden. 

I wanted to focus on the log piles throughout the garden as these were constant inspirations with the potential for natural overgrowth that matched the theme.