The idea of this project is to bring the Italian electro-dance music genre, Eurobeat, to western audiences. The reasoning for this is to widen the potential audience of the genre to allow more awareness of the genre's existence and allow the Eurobeat artists to gain more revenue for their work. 

The main source of inspiration for the project was a cult classic animated series "Initial D" that utilized the soundtrack in the fast-paced and high-energy mountain pass races. As the series grew in popularity, so did Eurobeat as later tracks like The Race of the Night by Dave Rogers or Speedy Speed Boy by Marko Polo introduced the theme of fast driving as a theme to the genre. Takumi by Neo even shows signs of Eurobeat artists being directly influenced by the series as it is named after and seemingly written about the protagonist Takumi Fujiwara who began the series delivering tofu for his father's tofu shop in the famous Toyota Sprinter Trueno GT-APEX 3door (AE86). 

The major animation draw that inspired me was the attempt to blend 3D motion graphics and environments with 2D traditionally animated assets in 1998. I wanted to experiment how this could be achieved now as a graduating student at Arizona State University's Ira A. Fulton School of Engineering under the Graphic Information Technology program. 

The initial ideation backed on the core ideas of Initial D and Eurobeat's musical approach; fast runs, high tempo, and extreme energy. It was decided to use the same car the protagonist used in the show due to it's iconic role in the show and in drift racing. 

To better begin modelling the iconic car, I began looking for digital representations and real life photographs of the car. I was lucky enough to find the car represented in Electronic Art's "Need For Speed Deluxe Edition" video game release. This allowed me a way to investigate the car from all angles without needing to locate a physical car take multiple reference images. I wanted a digital representation to see how professional 3D modelers understood the structure of the car and take note of any significant reflective surfaces. I also sought out a series of real photographs of the car to see the finer details that make up the car and get a better sense of the materials of the car under realistic conditions. 

The next thing to consider is what song to use to best give western audiences an understanding of eurobeat in today's market. Upon searching Spotify and YouTube for potential songs, I stubbled upon Futureland by Ace when driving home from ASU's main campus in Tempe. I was able to get a story arch imprinted in my mind as I drove down the highway. Understanding a current nostalgia for the 80s most of the market currently has, as commented on an episode of Netflix's "Inside Job" animated series.  

The story I had envisioned was someone running away from a dark city to the bright city of the titular Futureland. The driver races down city streets and drifts along corners until they finally make it to Futureland.  

This is pages from my actual sketchbook to further ideate assets that would potentially make it into the final version. This also contains trouble shooting sketches to safely come to a technical solution without potential destructive attempts to the save variants. This also contains sketches of potential motion paths to better understand the physics of drift races when drivers drift into a corner and come out of that same corner.