Benjamin's Clocktower Slide
The assignment was to design a themepark ride for the Efteling based on a fairytale, in my case The Wolf and the Seven Little Goats. The target audience was 15-20 year-olds.
Brainstorming
Idea generation
I came up with a few different ideas, such as a steeplechase coaster, a drop tower, or a themed café. I chose the drop tower initially, but later on I ended up slightly changing that idea into a big slide.
Moodboard
Since I was going to be making a clock, I thought it would be cool to do a steampunk theme.
Sketches
I thought of several different options of what I could make for this assignment, such as a 3D cardboard model, a detailed concept art painting, or a series of smaller illustrations. I ended up not picking any of these options, and made a layered paper artwork instead. I sketched out a rough design for the clock, and then I started thinking about how I wanted to build up the layers of paper.
Paper art inspiration board
Styleboard
Process photos
Layered paper art test
Before going out to buy suitable paper, I wanted to do a small test to see how this medium would work. I'd never made something like this before, so this was just a tryout. I also tested how different kinds of foregrounds would look.
Colour tests
Before wasting any valuable paper, I made a series of quick pencil sketches to see what colour paper might be nice to use for what part of the artwork.
As the next step, I also did a series of tests with the actual paper. I found that using the gold paper on the innermost part works really well to highlight the centerpiece. Especially going from dark to light really brings the attention to the clock.
Work in progress
Starting on the final piece, I first cut out a general clock-shape , and then started working on the framing parts. I sketched out some steampunk-like designs on the borders, and meticulously carved everything out.
Clock colour tests
I did some colour tests for the details of the clock as well. No background behind the clock felt empty, and the black background felt too dark against the dark brown background, although I thought it worked well with the gold. I liked the light brown on the dark brown background, but I thought the contrast with the gold was too low. So I opted for the last option, which uses both the black and the light brown.
So far everything was still separate and I hadn't stuck anything together yet. However, I did keep wanting to see how everything would look together, and I tried to emulate the layering that I wanted to go for in the end.
Designing the inside of the clock
I sketched out some designs for the inside of the clock before cutting them out using the coloured paper.
Benjamin's design
I did the same thing for Benjamin the little goat; I came up with three poses and several different expressions before cutting him out of the real paper.
Testing and adding details
Here I laid everything out and had a look at what it still needed. I thought the bottom part of the clock needed some more detailing, and I also added some highlights in the top part of the clock. I also added the slide. I first tried it with silver paper, but I felt it was blending in with the background too much. I tried again with the copper paper and I liked that much more.
Putting the clock together
I used double-sided tape to stick everything together, starting with the details of the clock.
I also wanted to create some depth inside the clock, so I used some cardboard scraps to create some distance between the back of the clock, the front cogwheels, Benjamin the little goat, and the front of the clock.
Building up the frame
I needed quite some layering to create enough depth for the foreground, as the clock was already built up of multiple layers of cardboard.
The final result
