Finalizing Concepts

Because I know what my focus is going to be I have been trying to steer myself a little more in that direction as much as I can, that is the direction of concept art and development of game ideas. I took a little time out of my busy schedule to draw some more art on what an idea for the space/airship we are designing might include and look like. Mainly what inspired me to draw this though was some art in black and cream that I saw in a book in the library (which I have also blogged about) and thought I might be able to replicate the style in my own ideas and designs, I think I managed this quite well and am happy with this finished piece and will be handing it in at the end of the module with the rest of my work. 

And just as a little more in depth as to what it actually is a piece of concept art about, it is of a character in maybe a bio suit in a recreational garden where members of the ship can go for a walk and see organic life as opposed to the usual interior of a ship that are used to, it might also be where the oxygen for the ship is produced, and it is on the outside of the ship with a giant see through dome above so someone in this garden can look up into space if that want to and just generally overall get a feel of space and freedom when they need it.

Soldier Guard Character Sheet

There is not much to write about in this post, I decided to do a character sheet for the main character in the machinima we are working on because we as a group decided that I would be modelling and designing the guard character so it is always a good idea to do a character sheet. It just adds a little depth to a character you as the viewer do not know much about. Also the fact that you never see that characters face means he is a little more unknown than someone without would normally be, the fact that there is only a minute to represent the character as well means that viewers will not understand anything into the background of him, which is all the more reason to write this sheet up. Anyway here it is and if it at all seems a little generic, think clone soldiers from star wars and it might make everything make a little more sense.

PPP2 Research

When we where asked to look in the library for PPP inspiration and things to blog about, I found this magazine. It is called ImagineFX and features some really cool concept art and detailed processes on how to create work like this. the thing I like about the concept art in this book is how it done quite simply but still gives the impression of detail, shown in the image below and to the left there are a few very simple steps to creating a multi layered environment concept art, I will look into this type of working in the future and see how I can add the processes and maybe some of the style into my own work. Below also is a few artist statistics, it is sometimes nice to put faces and names to the work I am always seeing online that impresses me, it is also good that a magazine is featuring the artists as well as their work and seems a good way to market yourself. This is what PPP2 this year for me is all about, I will be looking for more things like this and maybe soon even trying to get myself featured in magazines as these people do and trying to market myself in the big open world.

I tried this style for myself and found it was quite easy and nice to do, It is especially good for concepts as they are quick and get the rough point across easily.

Lecture 2 The Gaze and the Media

These are the lecture notes from the second Lecture in the OUDF501 Module I attended.

lecture 1 Psychoanalysis

These are the lecture notes from the first Lecture in the OUDF501 Module I attended.

Additional Poses And Designs

This is a page of design work I have done to show what the Bomb and Guard character might look like when I create them in Maya. I have added a few colour schemes to compare and think that this may be a little ambitious for me to create model-wise as the most complex things I have ever created in maya were a toy car with not much attention to detail on it, and the inside of a tavern, which to be honest did take a LOT of time for me to make. But I have never created anything representing a character or person and think that it will be challenging at the least to make something based on a human form, which is why I have though about making a cartoony machinima but ended up deciding against it.

The above image is sort of a mix between concept art and technical representations of my character, I wanted to get a more 3D feel to him and see how wide or thick I would make his armour and body muscle, all the time thinking about time management and how complex and time consuming it would be to create and if I would manage to reach my goal of creating him or not. I in the end decided not to model a gun as I know how long it takes to to create, concept art, model and UV map and texture my work. So creating new models and going through all the processes again I realised was just too much work, also the implications it would have trying to attach to objects together at different times in maya and unity would have been too great an obstacle to overcome before our shorter than I at first thought deadline.

This final picture is of my finished T pose that I will be using to create my model on. I took a lot of time on this to get it right and am happy with the finished result. The colour scheme is also something I particularly liked in this picture as it has been commented on a lot as being interesting and different and I think I will stick with it even thought I liked the darker blue of the character on the right. But with more discussion in my group we decided on having the scene in a whale like ship and so the greens and browny reds on the original coloured guards armour would fit better in the environment.

Maya 2

The image to the right is from the film Prometheus and is what I think my guard models will end up looking like.

The small image above is my work and my first attempt at rigging. I have to say it did not all go to plan like I had hoped, I think I will try harder when it comes to my own actual model and will think more about how the rig should work and where all the joints should be if the model wants to move realistically or cartoony way.

And finally this last image is of a character I found online and is just looking at the amount of polygons that go in to making a nice piece of geometry. I will aim for this level of detail in my own work.

Enter a Competition, Join Twitter, and Instagram

I have decided that it would be in my best interests to join twitter and instagram to forward my personal and professional career. I have already found the value in joining as many competitions as I can because there are no real downsides to it apart from the cost of time, but on the matter of social networks like twitter and instagram I have found that it is quite easy to get in contact with fairly unreachable and famous people, twitter is a great way to get (even if it is one sentance) feedback and at least get a foot in the door when it comes to talking to and getting in contact with people and industries that you already know are out there.

I have followed games industries like Bungie, Bethesda and Demonware. This is good because there are sometimes competitions posted by the sites that sometimes you could miss as it is a big internet out there. I was reluctant to join twitter at first because of the initial shallow celebrity culture it had about it before but if you play it carefully and just avoid all that crap, then it turns out it can be useful (mostly in making contacts) to your own personal advancement.

And Instagram I found to be good because taking a good picture fast and adding all the filters and effects with the touch of a button is useful in the way that the more time I save using this easy way to create semi decent pictures then the more time I can use further advancing my own skills and career development.

For example some stuff I recently found on twitter that helps me better understand the gaming industry and companies, also some stuff on instagram I have made and saved time doing :) (Instagram is only on Apps but it has saved me lots of time :))

http://www.elderscrollsonline.com/en/news/post/2012/11/26/ask-us-anything-ebonheart-pact-part-2

Moving Forward With Machinima

After we presented our ideas, moodboards, concept art and everything else me Andy and Joel have done as a team, we were given feedback from the rest of the class about how we could improve upon our work and what other ideas we could do or follow. Surprisingly we didnt have much critisism about our storyboard or general animation idea at all and so all we were really told to do was more concept art following what we have focused on the most, this being the airship concept. Since I have done quite a few pieces of concept art showing other ideas I had at the start of this project, we as a group dont need to catch up on any of that or go back and change or explain how we got to where we are with our ideas, so all there is to do is move forward.

    

I moved forward with this piece of concept art, it is of what the inside of the air/spaceship our scene is set in could look like. I am quite happy with the piece because it was also a test of perspective that I feel I have done quite well and it feels good to know I (at least I feel I am) improving.

Machinima Moodboard

So I decided that it would be a good idea to create my own storyboard and show it to the rest of my group to show what, in my head the project is to me. These pictures show the kind of theme and atmosphere that I want to show and get across to the audience in this project and think if we play this right, then we have the opportunity to showcase all of our skills in this creative industry and get our techniques right.

I was going to draw up a storyboard but with the tight schedule we are on with this project we decided to divide all of what needed to be done in to equal portions. I normally like doing storyboards but with the time it would have taken me to create an up to scratch standard one I could do a lot more of a different aspect of the project. This is showing the better time and group management there is in the second year of this course, and really makes you appreciate the value of having a good team and direction in the group.

SWOT Analysis

This is the SWOT analysis I was asked to fill out about, well SWOT. Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats. From the more I am learning about getting work in the industry I want to work in. I think that your own Strengths and Weaknesses can be constantly worked upon to improve in what you need to but the biggest Threats are not taking every Opportunity that comes your way.

I filled out the form and think it did actually give a little insight into what my direction is and what I need to do about where I want to get to. This was quite useful for me.

Alien Model - Back To Maya!

Maya! I have enjoyed a whole summer without maya and quite enjoyed it, dont get me wrong I enjoy Maya when it works but this year have been a whole new level of 'how the hell do I do this'. Anyway I will talk about the processes and methods used to create the alien model and rigging that we will be creating as part of this machinima project.

Firstly the refresher stuff that we had learned last year. We had a quick refresher on modelling techniques and ways of creating geometry, we also had to get used to the new log on system the college has implemented this year, it means we have to remember what settings and preferences we want to use in Maya and the mouse settings, it was tricky to start with but now I think we are all used to it and it is not a problem anymore, it was worth a mention though.

We started by modelling half of the alien and then duplicating it and merging the geometry, then we smoothed the alien and changed the geometry in non smooth mode because this is the way we have been taught to do things. We then jumped back into UV texture editing which I ended up being quite good at last year if I remember rightly. It was very time consuming making a nice mesh to work with but worth it if you wanted a nicely modelled character with no texture rips or messy tile mapping.

This is what the aliens texture started at (above) and then this is what it progressed to (below) the front UV of the entire character, what is needed next is splitting up the different parts of the aliens body parts and mapping them so that the tubes are then flat, which makes it easier to texture.

This is the finished UV texture map, it is very clean and very easy to use and understand, I think the actual model of the character I am creating for the machinima project will be a lot more complicated than this one and will take a little more time to UV map but if I manage to do it right it will be worth it. On a quick note I also learnt about a button which turns on UV colour mapping which means all outward faces will show up as blue but all back faces will show up as red, this makes the UV texture editor very easy to understand and would have been a help if I had known about this tool last year.

Prometheus Study

I watched Prometheus over the few days we had off this week and thought that it applied directly to the idea of the project we are working on, the idea of airships and soldiers and space all are shown in this film. I chose these specific pictures to talk about because they have elements of some of the concept art me and my team have already created, the airship is a very nice and intricate design (which would be good to replicate) and has a very futuristic look about it. I have done some concept art of airships in different styles and designs all of which I would like to be as good as the Prometheus ships design.

This middle picture I have included because I have done a few pieces of artwork with touch screen panels and futuristic holograms, Prometheus has quite a few of these throughout the film and I have studied this because I am trying to get the best visual idea of lighting and reflection that I can to add to my own compositions.

 

This final picture is just another view of the Prometheus spaceship because most of my concept artwork on this project has been to do with airships I thought including this would add to the overall theme of what I am studying in relation to how much work I have done around this single idea.

 

The actual film I really enjoyed, one can learn a lot from the techniques used in films in relation to creating good techniques in games and in digital artwork, for example the camera angles used in Prometheus are the best that money in todays industry can buy so drawing a picture with camera angles and shots from the film prometheus, there would be no need to try and think of your own compositions or shots because the best that can be done has already been done for you. What I am saying is that taking reference from a film to work with in different aspects of the creative game industry is a good method to use and one which I have been doing more and more of lately.

Machinima Study

Since this is a Machinima project I decided to look at some Machinima that I used to watch when I was younger, at the time I didnt have as much of an insight into the subject as I have now and just thought it was an entertaining waste of time but over the years have come to realize that it can also be considered a profitable and quite interesting, if not a little goofy, subject.

Halo Machinima is one of the most common types of in game movie making as the game has a very wide customizable library of maps, game types and recording software built in which makes it very easy to make and record your own videos as everything is set out neatly in a little sandbox mode for you. The films made are most of the time about Halo and Spartan related things as it may be hard to imagine any other story plot when all the characters are wearing the signature armour of Halo, but there has been a few other characters and themes incorporated into this kind of Machinima. For example there have been voices from other games added over the image of the Spartans talking which if you understand what games the voices are from and have played a little of both games can be found very funny.

This makes me think about how a lot of people do not understand Machinima and think it is childish and internet humour, I must agree that Machinima is a form of younger generation humour than it is older generation, this is because of the boom of the internet and the increasingly easy and quick ways there are of creating videos and uploading them.



The thing I found interesting about this video is the camera angles and the story to it, it is obviously a fan made piece and shows how an amateur can make something half decent with a game sandbox, six actors and a bit of direction, and to get this much attention as well.

I think Machinima used to be frowned upon by the games industry because it brings into question the copyright factor, and games didnt like people using their property to be gaining fame and renown for themselves but more recently like in this Machinima the game has a built in recording program so it is obviously more encouraged and games developers have turned this problem around and made it work to their advantage and consider it to be a sort of free marketing scheme.

Website Study Idrawgirls

I have recently been told about a really good concept artist website and thought that because I have spent so much time studying the tutorials on it that I should blog about it since it is a source of personal study outside of Uni hours, the Idrawgirls website is run by the former guildwars artist Xia Tapara who has had a series of other commissions and work in the digital games industry. The thing I like about this concept artist is how honest he is, he always says things how they are and tries to get the most clear message that he can across, when it comes to tutorials and feedback that is, this is not a common thing I have found in the concept art industry, artists always try to stay one step ahead of their competition by keeping their methods and practices to themselves, this is why I find Idrawgirls so useful because he shares his method to the best of his ability and seems like he actually cares about improving others' drawing skills.

This is one of the videos I have been following closely, it has a paid for version which shows the full method of how he created this piece of artwork, I am very much thinking about paying for one of these tutorials so that I can see fully how he works and what his work flow is like. I normally do not pay for anything online but think that how genuine and skilled this person is that I wouldnt mind splashing out this once and buying one of his online tutorials.

The tutorial is of how to draw a Dark Warlord styled character, I absolutely love the rendering and armour styles done in the painting and how he creates his work with texture brushes rather than applying layer textures to it, I want to get good at both these ways of working so that I have a better all round knowledge of how to create awsome concept and character artwork.

Kekai Kotaki Artist Study

This is the amazing work of Kekai Kotaki, he is one of my favorite conceptual/Digital artists of all time, every piece of work he does is as outstanding as these pieces here, here is his blogger introduction. 

Born and raised on the Big Island of Hawaii, moved to Seattle Washington in 2000 to go to school and pursue a career in art. I was Concept Art Lead at ArenaNet working on Guild Wars 2. Also I do illustrations on the side.

Kekai has been known to be very secretive about how he creates his artwork, he never puts up any tutorials that I know of and he doesn't really talk much about how he creates his artwork, a man after my own heart, I also prefer this way of working even though it has its downsides, I prefer to focus on what needs to be done and better time management which seems to be how Kekai himself works, I highly respect this artist because he has worked as the lead artist for the Arenanet game Guild Wars 2 (Which I play might I add) and which again is a similar position to the role I want to work in as a future job.

I have added Kekais' blogger link at the top of my page under the useful links section, I find looking at amazing artwork when there is a lack of inspiration can encourage me to do better and give me good ideas.

Another of Kekai Kotakis works that he has done and made in to a GIF image, this is not common of Kekai as he does not normally show people how he creates his work which is why I have kept this to study and work with.

I have decided to blog about this artist in relation to my machinima module as what I have focused on in this project is creating concept art, dont get me wrong I have done plenty of all the practises which come with this module but I have tried to keep my main focus and primary workload based on concept art production and development. This is where Kekai come in, his focus in the industry is concept art, he does all the artwork for the games he works on which is what I have done in this project, he leads the artistic direction of the project as did I and he creates work with which the animators create their animations and environments. In many ways in this module I have had the same role which Kekai has in his industry, and I will continue to do so.

Starting Character Refining

These are most of my character design sketches for my airship guard concept, I like the colour scheme in these first ones the most as it gives the suit the character is wearing a skin tight latex look (which to me looks futuristic) a bit like the Mass Effect costumes. I did a few different designs and colour schemes for the initial design, which I am happy with, and a few weapon designs that the character could use. I think this is most in the direction of the character design I want to go in, all the other sketches below are just leading up to this more rendered design, so I will continue with more rendered designs in this idea.

I did some early character concept designs for different environments because I felt in the mood to draw figures (which is rare for me), so I ended up with these designs, they are of what the guard on the airship environment might look like, I like the second design more as it looks more complex and less alien than the first one.

One of my favourite ideas which ive always wanted to pursue is the viking theme, I decided to do some artwork based on this design because I felt like it, I found when I was finished that it wouldn't really fit too well with everything else that I am doing but that I could incorporate the design of the viking longboat and or the viking longhouse into the airship design, and maybe mix the two together.