Reflective Evaluation

When starting out on this course I felt a bit in the dark where it came to what we'd be actually doing. I had never used Photoshop, I hadn't done any digital painting and I had never used a graphics tablet before so it did take me a little while to get used to this new way of creating art. Once I started seeing the benefits of how Photoshop worked, being able to modify and change my work on the fly, and just having the ability to cut and paste drawings made concept building so much easier than any similar work I had done previously. While I have got to grips with the program I have a long way to go before I can get the best out the software and myself. Even with this ease of access I still struggle to get down initial ideas and shapes, especially when drawing people, a subject which I have always had problems with artistically.

I also learned some business practice that artists in the gaming industry use to quicken concept time; building on pre-existing images from other sources, be it photos or other artwork streamlines the creative flow of the designer because, for me at least, it is easier to build on some pre-existing and make it your own then to try and visualize something original from nothing.

While I have been very intrigued by how the games industry works, my time management has been very poor as sometimes I have and have not been able to meet soft deadlines set and thus my projects overlapped a lot. That and my blog entries have not been consistent, it is clear that what will benefit me most in the upcoming projects will be organising a better schedule for learning, working and recording, so that I don’t fall behind again.

Tinderbox Final Piece

For my final piece I decided to create a scene where the soldier is hiding in cover from a potential threat, or it could be him discovering one of the large eyed dog's in the story for the first time. Whatever it is he proceeds with caution. I decided to use the silhouette of my insect as the creature/dog as it has a menacing shape and adds to the whole composition of the image.

Reference:

http://jinqiaojs.com/snowy-forest-hd-wallpaper-desktop-0i1 Jinqiaojs.com No listed photographer or artist 2014-2015

Tinderbox Character sheet

Took a bunch of photos and screenshots of games like Assassin's Creed 3 and Red Dead Redemption and a picture of someone tracking. Then I painted over the design for my soldier to show his movements and how his clothing interacts and deforms with his movements.

References:

http://www.cinemablend.com/games/Assassin-Creed-3-Screenshots-Travel-Across-Colonies-47284.html# Ubisoft 2012

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=467461 Ubisoft 03-22-2012

http://www.gamedynamo.com/article/showarticle/1847/en/first_screenshots_for_red_dead_redemption_myths_and_mavericks_dlc Rockstar Games 09/07/2011

http://www.thunderboltmountain.com/products/2006-eastern-woodland-indian-aiming-musket Thunderbolt Mountain 2015

https://www.hunter-ed.com/montana/studyGuide/Stalking/201027_700048315 Montana Hunter's Ed Course 2015

Tinderbox Model Sheet

For the Model Sheet I emphasized and deepened the colour scheme of the soldiers outfit and kept the almost comic baggy trousers from the early design because I liked the aesthetic of it, and while this would keep ankles and legs warm in winter months but would be fairly impractical to move around in.

I did use a template for the general form which I found online.

Black Panther Anatonmy reference from http://www.thepostgameshow.com/?p=1233%3D1 but is not the artist October 31st, 2010

Tinderbox Iterations

Moving throughout the design I really wanted to emphasize the character of a fur trapper, in how much fur and leather they wore, how they would wear trophies of memorable kills or encounters, hence the white fox hide draped around the shoulders. I also wanted to show the survivalist part of the character by giving him a large hunting knife on his belt and a recently caught rabbit carcass also on his belt.   

Character Design Brief And Silhouettes

For my final task for this project, the brief is to design a character from Hans Christian Andersen's "The Tinderbox", a German fairy tale about a soldier who meets a witch who promises wealth in return for a favour

The Tinderbox (http://pinkmonkey.com/dl/library1/tale114.pdf).

Everyone on the course is also given a randomly assigned time and place for their character and I got 1800's America. I immediately was pleased with this because I had recently seen a few trailers for The Revenant, a film by Alejandro G. Iñárritu, starring Leonardo DiCaprio as Hugh Glass, an early 1800's fur trapper who is left for dead after a bear attack. The idea of the soldier from the Tinderbox being a fur trapper interested me. Fur trappers at the time were party the American army that were tasked with exploring past the rocky mountains, and hence also became known as 'Mountain Men'. These weren't typical soldiers either as they had to know how to hunt for rare fur and skins and attempt trading with native American tribes in the region, many of which were very hostile to outsiders.

 I found it very difficult to get the human form right in these silhouettes as I never have been particularly good at it anyway so this project should prove challenging. 

Timepiece Final Piece

Creating an isometric view of the totem pole was not easy as I was working predominantly face on or side on drawings from my model sheet. But by combining the two and extensive use of the skew tool I was able to create a version of my design that I could use in a theoretical 3D space. The tone was much lighter here than in my previous so I had to lighten the tone of the image as it was far to contrasting with the environment to begin with, and while I'm still not sure if I have the perspective just right I am happy with how this one turned out.

Background image is and edited version of a screenshot from in-engine test footage for PAZE by Epic Games Community Forum Users, Analdin and Independentsoul 2-26-2011