If you follow me on twitter you've probably seen this already, but I thought I might as well post it here too:
Ever since I started working on 'Steam Railway Stories' I wanted to try and at least break away from the Thomas aesthetic. Not just by having the series set in its own universe (which a number of outsiders tend to overlook) but also with the way the character faces looked. In other words: 'Try something different". The idea for this style came from many different sources.
1. I remember seeing many images of Stepney from the Bluebell Railway where his face had been painted on the smoke box door with the hinges and smoke box dart still showing through. This was very likely before they started painting sheets of round metal (don't know what material they actually used) and making casts that would hook onto the front of the smokebox for Day Out with Thomas events. The take away from this being it gave the effect the face looked like it was 'meshed' into the smoke box door and the face was the door.
2. I also came across images of engines where their smokebox doors were the same colour as their liveries. Example blue engine with a blue smokebox door and green engine with a green smokebox door. There were some that had smokebox doors that were even painted grey like the faces in Thomas. Again that impressed me.
However, I've felt held back by what audiences would be use to seeing. In this case, grey faces with noses as per normal. True there are many other talking train shows that have their own design and look for faces. Heck even in TUGS the design of the faces make it stand out a bit more by having the faces flesh coloured and their eyes look like windows. But it seems the way the faces in Thomas look does seem to be the definitive look for sentient locomotives. But despite that, I want to know your opinions on this design.
TankEngine97
If you follow me on twitter you've probably seen this already, but I thought I might as well post it here too:
Ever since I started working on 'Steam Railway Stories' I wanted to try and at least break away from the Thomas aesthetic. Not just by having the series set in its own universe (which a number of outsiders tend to overlook) but also with the way the character faces looked. In other words: 'Try something different". The idea for this style came from many different sources.
1. I remember seeing many images of Stepney from the Bluebell Railway where his face had been painted on the smoke box door with the hinges and smoke box dart still showing through. This was very likely before they started painting sheets of round metal (don't know what material they actually used) and making casts that would hook onto the front of the smokebox for Day Out with Thomas events. The take away from this being it gave the effect the face looked like it was 'meshed' into the smoke box door and the face was the door.
2. I also came across images of engines where their smokebox doors were the same colour as their liveries. Example blue engine with a blue smokebox door and green engine with a green smokebox door. There were some that had smokebox doors that were even painted grey like the faces in Thomas. Again that impressed me.
However, I've felt held back by what audiences would be use to seeing. In this case, grey faces with noses as per normal. True there are many other talking train shows that have their own design and look for faces. Heck even in TUGS the design of the faces make it stand out a bit more by having the faces flesh coloured and their eyes look like windows. But it seems the way the faces in Thomas look does seem to be the definitive look for sentient locomotives. But despite that, I want to know your opinions on this design.
2 weeks ago | [YT] | 64