The Oculus Circus

The Oculus Circus was a group project done in 2020 for Gator TPED's Concept Design Team. Our team was tasked with designing a full themed land for a theme park and came up with a 1920's-style mysterious magical circus full of show-stopping entertainment and hidden dark secrets for guests to uncover.

Overall Design

Click through slides showcasing our entire land concept. The rest of this page showcases art that I worked on specifically.

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Ringmaster Costume Design

For this project, I got to experiment with costume design and create outfits for the Oculus's ringmaster, Oliver Ocular. The story behind the land involved him having a magical top hat that corrupted him and created an evil alter ego, seen in the second half of the circus show and the All Eyes On You dark ride.

Circus Show Theater

The Oculus Circus Show was one of the two main attractions in the park. Guests would enjoy a show full of magical circus entertainment, and then the ringmaster would take the stage to do a magic trick and the show would take a dark turn. Lights and projections would change the tone of the room and the audience seats would begin to rotate slowly around the ring until the ringmaster's apprentice is able to stop him and the show could continue as normal.

Apprentice Costume Design & Ride Poster

The ringmaster's apprentice is a character that appears in both the circus show and the dark ride, working to stop the ringmaster's evil plans and guide the guests to safety. On the left is the costume I envisioned for them, and on the right is one of the posters scattered throughout the land leading to the dark ride.

All Eyes On You Dark Ride

The other featured attraction of the land is a dark ride where guests are invited backstage to join the circus. They go on a tour that gets taken over by the ringmaster's apprentice, who tells them the real story of the ringmaster's hat and its curse on the circus. Changing paintings like these ones are used in this part of the ride to illustrate the story and provide a foreboding atmosphere.

Meeting the Ringmaster

In the finale of the dark ride, guests come face-to-face with the ringmaster himself. Upon discovering his secret, he tries to use his dark magic on them as he levitates and red eyes begin to glow all around. At this point, a door opens up beneath him and the ride turns into an indoor roller coaster as he chases riders through the building until the apprentice is able to get them to safety.