Over the summer, a fellow classmate, Matt, had asked me to help him with some design ideas for his upcoming short film featuring the Sandman. He originally had a tall, thin bearded man, but wanted to change it up a little from the"Merlin" look. Here are some of the concept doodles (and one finished version) that I did up for him.
I tried doing a stout, rounder old man and based the designs off ideas from various legends, myths, and characters of various cultures, as well as just animals linked to dreams and the moon.
My first few designs still used concepts from his initial design, mainly the use of cloaks and robes. I was basing the character off an owl, mainly because of their nocturnal nature and the fact I really thought the robe would be cool to animate in the shape of flapping wings. My main basis was the Great Horned Owl and I drew his hair and beard to resemble the Great Horned Owl's head.
The Great Horned Owl design was eventually scrapped when Matt said he would prefer to stay away from the robes/cloak. He really wanted to stray away from the Merlin/Gandalf/Dumbledore look, so I suggested dressing him in an outfit more fitted to the time period his film took place in. Originally, it was going to be either set in Paris or London, but I didn't really have a time period. So, I decided to go to my default clothing choice for most characters: suits.
This second design was also shifted to the base of a rabbit. I felt the loss of the robes also made the owl concept a bit harder to pull off. The rabbit also has a more solid connection to the moon, as the rabbit is seen in the moon in most Asian myths.
In the end, I came up with the last drawing as my "final" design. It was the last one I did up for Matt over the summer, though initially the old man concept was completely scrapped. Still it was fun to work with and I am rather fond of the final design of this Sandman.
