The PMA Canopy

 These last few days I've been working on a concept for a Canopy-like structure positioned in the middle of the PMA compound. The initial idea came when I was creating an initial batch of thumbnails depicting key aspects of the compound, which I shared in a previous post. As a reminder, here's what the canopy idea looked like at that stage:

As soon as I thought of the concept I was drawn to the idea of a towering and intimidating structure that was visible from beyond the compound. However, as I mentioned in the earlier post, we agreed in a discussion at the studio that the structure looked too neat and well constructed for the setting. I was advised to explore a more chaotic, jumbled appearance that would make it feel suitably apocalyptic. I decided that I would try to incorporate the design ideas of worlds such as that of Mad Max and Rage, which differ greatly from TLOU's. The idea was to create a contrast that would make the structure stick out like some kind of abomination, going against the surrounding beauty of the world's reclamation by nature. I jumped straight in, drafting a set of (very) rough thumbnails.

Overall, these were pretty bad if you ask me. I was really into the idea of using old construction equipment such as an excavator as part of the structure, but struggled to find a way of doing so without it feeling too forced. The idea of a crane making up one of the towers and the bridge also appealed, but a whole crane is usually just too big for the scale I had in mind, so later I ended up pulling this idea back to just part of a crane rather than the whole thing. The one idea to come out of this spread that I was really happy with was the idea of using heaps of vehicle scrap as a structural  foundation, and as you'll see this ended up making it into the final design. I definitely learnt my lesson here regarding the value of doing a quick bit of research to collect reference images rather than jumping straight into designing, so I pumped the brakes and gathered up images of various of post apocalyptic watchtowers and other structures before continuing with thumbnails.

I found that even the act of scrolling through google images searching for good reference points helped in getting my creativity going. My second go at thumbnails felt a lot more productive.

I split the design into towers and bridges so that I develop my ideas for each component further. Ideas such as the cargo crate stack and the vehicle scrap foundation returned from the first round, but are much more refined here, I feel. Entirely new were the more irregular, heaped structures (towers 3 & 6). They were very fun to design and definitely convey the abomination construction idea nicely, but in the end I felt they strayed further from the established look of the series than I was looking for. These two concepts might have looked more at home in a setting such as that of the Borderlands series. Of the tower shapes, I much preferred the two that fanned out like trees at the top (1 & 4) as they were more visually interesting than the blocky, regular shapes of 2 and 5. I also like the idea that this manufactured abomination would resemble the forms of its natural counterpart in trees, making the contrast more direct. 

For the bridge drafts I went with two fairly grounded concepts in the crane jib and pipe structures, with the other two being more outlandish. I imagine a massive truck suspended high in the air would be visually striking to the player on initial discovery, and would make for a powerful statement by the PMA, but found no other practical reason as to why a truck would be used as the bridge, given how much more difficult it would be to get it up there, and how much more dangerous it would probably be. 

With this round of thumbnails, I had a pretty clear image in my head of how I wanted the overall structure to look, so I went into final concept work, which I completed pretty quickly.

I didn't render it as fully as I did for the Armoury concept, because I was mainly focused on establishing its general form and aura. As you can see I went with the vehicle scrap pile foundation idea, as it felt more 'abominable' than more traditional structures such as the bunker-like foundation idea (4). I feel it also evokes a similar repulsive, eyesore reaction to modern day scrap heaps and landfill sites, which was ideal for the kind of emotion I hoped to hit on with this concept. Not to mention, the streets of TLOU' universe are absolutely littered with abandoned, broken down vehicles, making this construction logical from a resource availability standpoint. For the bridge, I ended up going with a length of crane jib as the main frame, as this seemed the most logical availability-wise, while seeming the easiest and most durable solution. The overall structure is also noticeably 'rougher' than my initial concept, which I think adds to its imposing, unnatural aura. A combination of beams, poles, tarp, corrugated iron and ropes is used for improvised solutions to structural compromises, and helps bring to life the uneven, jutting aesthetic.

I initially planned to have a large PMA banner hanging from the bridge in the centre, but in the end I wasn't happy with its impact on the visual form of the structure, so I opted to go for an assortment of hanging bodies instead, to create a sense of dread and threat without disrupting the form. I decided the banners hanging from the HQ building and Gates were sufficient.

In the background, the foggy silhouette of the HQ building is also visible, with its collection of rooftop wind turbines. I'm really pleased with how the wind turbines add to the unsettling aura of this concept. The inspiration for the fogged-out turbines' twisted forms actually came from concept art of the ghostly, floating BTs from Death Stranding's official Artbook, which I purchased earlier this week, alongside those of the first Last of Us and 2018's God of War. Books like these contain some of the most amazing, industry leading art and concepts, and I'm glad to see how rapidly they have provided me inspiration in my own work.

After I finished up on the Canopy concept I decided not to begin on another main concept, as this four week project ends later this week and I've decided to call it here and begin researching my upcoming project. This will hence be my last post on my Preston survivor settlement project aside from a reflective writeup, which I'll be posting before the weekend arrives. I did however spend a quick hour today doing a quick exploration of some more apocalyptic wind turbine concepts, as I said I wanted to in a previous post, so I'll leave that here.

Thanks for Reading!