Cúchulainn Concept Art: Mach One

So I'm doing some concept work for this game idea my friends have, based on the Irish legend of Cúchulainn. For the first time since I nearly destroyed myself making my final animation piece for my degree last year, I have done some really creative stuff, and it's the sort of thing I'm more than happy to show off on the internet.

So, let's just get straight on to the good stuff, shall we? ;)

(Apologies for the rubbish scans, by the way...)


So. Here we have our friend Cúchulainn, a your typical haggard resident of Ulster, and progeny of the Sun god Lugh the Long Armed.

This is just me trying to figure out a style; we're going for strong pre-Christian Celtic style with lots of jagged edges. If that makes any sense at all...







Yeah, this is just more of the same.

Okay, so now we have the same guy, but... what's happening here? He's going a bit batshit crazy!

Basically Cúchulainn is really good at the whole fighting thing, up to the point that he goes a bit mad when at war. Here's a quote from Wikipedia, who sums this up better than I can:

"Cúchulainn was almost undefeatable in battle due to his spear named the Gáe Bulg (which sang for the blood of its enemies) and his warrior frenzy, comparable to that of the Norse berserkers. It is described in Thomas Kinsella's translation of The Táin this way:

The Warp-Spasm overtook him: it seemed each hair was hammered into his head, so sharply they shot upright. You would swear a fire-speck tipped each hair. He squeezed one eye narrower than the eye of a needle; he opened the other wider than the mouth of a goblet. He bared his jaws to the ear; he peeled back his lips to the eye-teeth till his gullet showed. The hero-halo rose up from the crown of his head.

—Thomas Kinsella (translator), The Táin

This frenzy caused him to turn about in his skin; his sinews bulged with knots the size of a baby's head; a poisonous black mist rose above his head; and he snapped his jaw shut with enough force to kill a lion, showering sparks. In this fearsome state he could not tell friend from foe, killing in front and behind alike."

Fun stuff :D!

So here's some more development on this guys frenzied or "warped" state:

Left picture, clockwise from top right: A little bit weird; starting to go mad; off the freaking charts. :)

Below picture: an earlier design of the Warped state. It was fun to draw. ;D
















Here's one I did last night of the same thing. Seriously, this has to be one of the best drawings I've done in a long time; I'm so proud of it. ^^; It's come out so delightfully Scarfian and it's just the sort of thing both I and my comrades were envisioning. :D










Now we have some designs for him as a kid. During this time he is known as Setanta. This is just me trying to figure out his look. The animation in the game itself is going to be in the style of "cutout" animation, like (dare I say) South Park, or Terry Gilliam - except it's on computer. We decided that the limbs would connect via points, to make it easier on our programmer, Simon. ;)










This is where little Setanta discovers he's actually pretty good at the whole fighting lark... basically it's his first "warped" state.













And that's that for now! I will try to post more as I draw, scan and upload them ^^;