Nicolas Flamel: The Original AlchemistNicolas Flamel is fabled one of the world's first and most famous alchemists and heralded as the creator of the Philosopher's Stone and the discoverer of the Elixir of Life. In history, however, he was a 14th century French scribe and manuscript salesman.
In many works of historical fiction, Nicolas Flamel is the world's greatest alchemist - a man so talented he has brewed the Elixir of Life to grant himself, and his wife Perenelle, immortality. Since his fabled life, no other alchemists have been able to overshadow this legendary scientist and scholar. |
Research into The Alchemist:
Literary Research
Nicolas Flamel being the most famous alchemist in history and literature is by far the easiest to come across in many strains of literature. He has been featured in both fiction and nonfiction, fantasy and historical fiction. The most notable among his fictitious representations are his alluded role in the Harry Potter series, and the historical fiction series The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel.
While he is not depicted physically in the Harry Potter series, he is described as being the creator of the Sorcerer's Stone, a play off of the Philosopher's Stone. While they change the stone's properties, stating that it gives him life instead of the Elixir, the base principle is the same. However, they also reference him as being a wizard friend of Dumbledore's, so they have clearly changed some of his lore to fit their narrative. The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel is a much more historically representational depiction of Flamel. He is rooted in his origins in 14th century France as a scribe, and the lore for the series evolves from there, weaving its way through other historically accurate places, events, and people. This series states that Flamel, while working as a manuscript salesman, came across the Codex, the fabled tome created by Abraham the Mage containing all of the knowledge in the universe in just 7 pages. The Codex gave him the knowledge to create the Philosopher's Stone and the Elixir of Life. From there, his life expands through the centuries, interweaving his narrative with that of other immortal figures from history and various theologies. |
Online Reference Imagery
14th Century Men's WardrobeDrawing from Flamel's origins in paramount in the design of his character.
SymbologyThe symbology of alchemy is extraordinarily important. The symbols of alchemy were more than just representations of elements and minerals, but also ideas of astronomy and spirituality.
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Art Deco Men's WardrobeAs Flamel is immortal, he has lived through every phase of design and fashion since the 14th century, including Art Deco.
Hero PropEvery great story can be told through the use of a hero's prop. In many cases, the prop is a symbol for the character themselves, and becomes bigger than just an accessory piece.
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Color Palette
The color palette of Art Deco, as well as that of the 14th century aristocracy, focused on primary colors, and colors of much vibrance.
The Alchemist's clothes will be primarily black and charcoal with accents of red, purple, and gold. His walking cane will be walnut and brass.
The Alchemist's clothes will be primarily black and charcoal with accents of red, purple, and gold. His walking cane will be walnut and brass.
Primary Color Palette
Secondary Color Palette
Sketches and Ideation
Thumbnail Sketches
Rough Character Sketches
The beginning stages of roughing out the final character's design and overall look.
Character Renderings
These are the final renderings of how the character will look in various test poses.
Greybox Renderings
These are the initial 3D renderings used to get a sense of proportion, silhouette, and possible framings of the character on a base.
Additional Element: Animal
The inclusion of an additional element, in this case an animal, is a good way to test your designs and push them a little further. To experiment with the things you've already done and see how you can take them further by incorporating an element you had not initially planned on.
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Lantern - Technique Test
This lantern was created with the purpose of learning the edge loop techniques utilized in ZBrush. This is the technique I will use to create the astral projection as seen in the Character Renderings.
First Pass Scene Rendering
This was my first full attempt at putting the final scene together. This includes the Alchemist figure, his clothes, and his props, the table with alchemy bottles and books, the cat, and the astral projection. I feel that what is here is a great start, but I was having a lot of difficulty in creating alchemy bottles that looked good, and even moreso to create the jacket that billows behind him. This was particularly difficult for me. I have yet to add the details to the shirt and vest, but I thought it was more important to get all of the base items in first.
Anatomy
With the first pass completed, it was time to begin focusing on the anatomy for a while. That is, the anatomy and structure of the head and face. As of the first pass, the head is still just a place-holder from the ZSphere build. It was time to begin adding in the details.
Anatomy is complicated. Layers of bone, muscle, fat, and tissue. So naturally, to ensure a good, realistic looking sculpt, we had to build these layers up from the bottom. The first layer, then, was the skull.
Anatomy is complicated. Layers of bone, muscle, fat, and tissue. So naturally, to ensure a good, realistic looking sculpt, we had to build these layers up from the bottom. The first layer, then, was the skull.
The next step of course was building the musculature and the facial features. This took much more time than the skull. Once I had a relative understanding of the face musculature, I attempted to adapt them to a person to make the features more organic and realistic. Of course, for this, I chose Gary Oldman as my model.
After the anatomy of the head and face, the next step was the body. Not only getting it anatomically correct, but also getting it posed was a challenge.
The Final Product
After roughly 25 itterations and countless little fixes, file resizing, rendering, and more, it all came together to create this final piece. The goal is to 3D print this model, and then lazer etch the astral projection (not seen here) onto a piece of plexi glass which will then attach to the base. The fully colored version of the 3D model will come later. For now, it will be painted by hand.
I'm always looking to improve. If you have a minute to leave some feedback, I'd greatly appreciate it.
© 2018 Parker James Bradford