For my next animation, the script requires a deprivation tank. For those of you who don't know what that is, see the movie Altered States! It's basically a huge tank a person floats in, where all 5 senses are put on pause. Anyway, I did a few designs, but I felt that they were looking too much like the pods in the Matrix. This tank also has to double as a machine character in the story, so it has to look interesting as well as intimidating. I stopped tying to sketch it because everything reminded me of something else I'd seen; then the inspiration hit me after marveling over my wife’s 6-month pregnant belly the other day.

Now I’m on a new mission; I made a grid on a nice piece of plywood, and took a piece from a gun I made for another project. I was about to sculpt, but then I thought; why not design it in Photoshop first!? I grabbed the camera, threw in the character that will be in the tank, and shot some photos of my crude armature. After about 1 hour of playing in Photoshop I came up with this. The character will slide out the center of the machine, and interact with the round object at the end of the tube. We actually only see the front of the tank here, and when it's closed it will look like a pregnant belly. I still have a bit of work to do on the sculpture, but it's coming along rather nicely.