Reality

I wanted to make reality a place that the populace would like to escape from into The Picture. As people spend more and more time in virtual reality, so their cities are slowly overtaken by vines, creepers and other growth. There's no hope for the young people who grow up here.

Reality

Inspiration came in part from this grim old tobacco warehouse at the Stanley Dock in Liverpool:

The Black Market

Key scene featuring The Light Brigade in The Black Market, the criminal underworld of The Picture:

Shine

Shine is the mysterious figure who assigns The Light Brigade their missions against the criminals of The Picture.

Key scene: In the deepest, most secret roots of The Picture, Shine informs Sweet Thing that she has been chosen to be the leader of The Light Brigade.

mk 1

adjustments to the composition were made after feedback. Sweet Thing now hovers closer to Shine

Design process for for The Light Brigade logo

Process from top to bottom. The logo would be used on the costumes/accessories of the protagonists from The Light Brigade, as well as being a recognisable emblem for the franchise/film

Picturing the Picture

An avatar manifests in The Picture

based on feedback, adjustments were made to make the figure in the image more understandable

Avatar final designs

Progress so far...

Sweet Thing's avatar

The Skully's Avatar:

The Captain's Avatar:

Character avatars

the Brat's Avatar

The Brat is a child, yet in The Picture he chooses to appear like the creator of The Picture, the man from whom he was cloned. He still wants to look as tough as an action figure though!

pencil studies

Sweet Thing

Sweet Thing is a 16 year old with a mysterious past. She's got a style of her own and is an object of envy and desire of her peers. Her alter ego in The Picture becomes the leader of The Light Brigade.

mood board for Sweet Thing

final character iterations

Entering "The Picture"

In order to enter into "the Picture", the virtual reality in which The Light Brigade exist, some method of interfacing with the technology must be conceived. In the comics the characters plug themselves in via a socket in their arms, like an injection.  I am exploring this and other methods.

Headgear concepts:

Project Title: Reimagining 'The Light Brigade'

Reimagining 'The Light Brigade' for a live action film.

Characters of The Light Brigade on the cover of Trident Magazine

The Light Brigade is a comic series produced by Neil Gaiman and Nigel Kitching and published in Trident magazine in the late 1980's. 

Based in the year 2027, the story revolves around four children who have formed a renegade justice team to police the increasingly powerful 'Black Market' activities of an immersive online world called 'The Picture'. Anyone can plug into The Picture and enter a second world where possibilities are endless, for business and pleasure both. The children's real world identities remain a mystery to each other and to the authorities who seek to put an end to their interference; unlike the other users of The Picture their appearances do not reflect their real life appearances. They are able to manipulate The Picture instinctively, guided by an incredibly powerful entity known as Shine, who guides them to their next challenges. This character is even more elusive than the four warriors and his/her objectives are unknown even to the team.

The children are each motivated differently by the difficulties and limitations they face in their real world lives. Though their Picture avatars are powerful, in the real world they are as vulnerable as any other children. Big Business, organised crime, Law and Order, remnants of world governments - all are waiting to take over when The Black Market subsumes The Picture, so all have a vested interest in discovering - and putting an end to - the people behind The Light Brigade warriors.

Character 1 - "The Brat"

8 years old, the youngest of the warriors. He is a genetically engineered clone of the creator of The Picture, one of 500 who live together in a compound.

Real World Appearance:

Sketches to decide on face and uniform

uniform iterations

Character 2: "The Captain"

14 years old, the first one to meet Shine, she likes to think of herself as the leader of The Light Brigade (although the others may not agree). She isn't the best looking teenager. Entering The Picture is her way of becoming the strong, confident woman she longs to be seen as.

face, body and clothing sketches

style iterations

Character 3: "The Skully"