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

Timepiece Model Sheet

Again due to the way I choose to light and shade this piece, though giving a nice effect, was far too arduous especially when trying to line parts perfectly. Getting the proportions of a cylindrical detailed shape was difficult but I was able to bypass some of this by cutting out the side of the original iteration image and pasting it onto the side on view and then altering the shape and perspective until it a aligned with the new angle of view. This effect works as it keeps the accuracy of the original drawing but can be manipulated to be viewed from a different view instead of having to completely redraw the whole thing again.

Timepiece Iterations

Combining all the segments together then adding a few additions like the longer, rounded wings and the 'horns' on the top to make it feel larger. The skull's jaw is also made wider to accommodate a heat source to activate it.

A lot of line shading and texture work in both of the above pieces which made them fairly tedious to complete. I have been trying find a brush that will serve as a good alternative to using a low brush size and repeated lines that would allow me to show contours and round shapes faster and possibly better.

Timepiece Brief and Silhouettes

For Task two I have been set a brief of a Timepiece. An object, structure or image that can show, tell or affect time. Main examples given as watches, clocks, clock towers and such but these are more real world examples that can be put into any creative medium and are not really specific to games, whereas I would like to do something that is more directly linked to certain game mechanics.

Sleeping or meditating mechanics in games allow fast passage of time, basically allowing the player to change the time of day to their preference. But instead of accelerating time what if you could have a mechanic that allows the player to stop or reverse time. I was thinking that some sort of ancient mystical device could do that and I thought it would resemble and obelisk or something along those lines.

Something along the lines of the Places of Power in the Witcher or the Standing Stones in Skyrim in terms of overall size and shape but serving a different purpose.

As most obelisks or totems are symmetrical, as are watches too, using Alchemy made generating lots of detailed silhouettes quick and easy.

Insect Final Piece

For my final piece I chose to adapt my previous images further and place them into a background of a swamp.

The biggest challenge here was rendering the lighting properly and shading in equal measure. This was difficult because of the angle the light casts at causes a huge contrast between parts of the insect that are bathed in sunlight and areas in shadow. Because of this I had to remove a fair amount of detail from the original insect image in order to achieve this but would lesson the effect of the overall image.

Here is the original image I used for the background which I modified for my uses.

Deep Swamp 2 Michel Rondberg on March 24, 2012

Insect Character Sheet

Combining the best aspects of the various iterations to create a more finalized image in colour (top right). The bottom left image shows the insect walking/prowling, as well as showing its stance while walking normally as apposed to its alternative stance (bottom-right) where, similar to a bear, would rear up to make itself appear larger or to reach high up things. Unlike a bear though the insect could walk around while upright as the middle legs extend and move forward to support its weight.

Insect Iterations

First page of iterations for overall shape and proportions. After experimenting with these designs i decided I wanted something more bulky, implying a greater size and power.

Using my silhouette of the 'bear-insect' I developed the idea of a large, bulky alpha predator bug that would behave like a bear when hunting and could rear up on its hind legs in a similar fashion to bears to reach for high objects or become more intimidating.

Reference Images:
 http://www.all-about-moose.com/wolf-photos.htm 
A Wolf walking through snow, Wolf Photo by Chris Muiden November 2006

http://www.vancouversun.com/technology/Photos+Devastating+grizzly+attacks+over+years+warning+graphic/7280805/story.html?__lsa=2b20-5e2e

Photograph by: DANI POZO 2010 photo.

Composition in Films

Above is a still from Mad Max: Fury Road taken during one of the films lengthy and frenetic chase scenes. In it a suicidal Warboy is jumping onto an enemy vehicle with the intent of destroying it with explosive-headed poles called Thundersticks. In almost every shot of the film the main focal point of the scene is centre frame or having movement directed to the centre. Here the centre of the shot being the targeted vehicle behind Max strapped to the front of another vehicle. Using iconic composition guidelines you can see the director set up the scene so all the moving parts pointed towards the centre. The jumping Warboy is directly on the diagonal line to the centre, clearly moving in that direction. Slit, the other Warboy on the back of the car is also preparing to throw his Thunderstick at the car and falls exactly on the horizontal line. These points of action direct the viewers attention to the centre.

Above are two images from a still in The Happening where an unknown viral infection is causing people to commit suicide (in unintentionally ridiculous fashion) and in this instance walking off a building. Not only is the film universally panned, the cinematography is diabolical, often cutting actors out of frame or too close up.
Here I tried using different composition methods but none really worked with the focal points (the falling bodies). Using the rule of thirds method (top), only one of the bodies lined up with the points, the other two did not even align with the lines. Trying another method proved not to be helpful either (bottom), although the furthest left body lined up almost perfectly, the other two did not. This results in an uninteresting frame that fails to draw the viewers attention to the right focal points.

Insect Silhouettes Based Off Modern Day Predators

All the above silhouettes I made my taking photos of a Tiger, a Bear, an Eagle and a Wolf, lowering their opacity and drawing over then to make them appear more insect like. The idea behind this was if giant insects had lived to this time would they have evolved in similar shapes to modern day mammals and birds.
The one I feel drawn to the most at the moment is the bear design because of the way the animal is posed and I want to see how an insect of that size would look and move.

Bibliography:
http://www.arkive.org/polar-bear/ursus-maritimus/
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/bf/7e/d0/bf7ed044dbefc82248b553d0ce8dc5c6.jpg
http://animalia-life.com/image.php?pic=/data_images/eagles/eagles9.jpg
http://rivertonradio.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Gray-wolf-walking-in-snow.jpg

Research on Insect Concept

360-300 Million years ago the Earth's oxygen levels were incredibly higher than they are today due to the relatively recent evolution of trees and plant life. This period in time is called the Carboniferous Period and is significant in Palaeontology due to the type of wildlife that thrived in this period. Because Arthropods (Exo-Skeletal creatures) have different lungs to vertebrates, they cannot grow large because their lungs cannot take in enough oxygen to survive, but because in the Carboniferous Period oxygen was so much more abundant, Arthropods(a genus including insects) could grow to incredible sizes.

 



Creatures like Arthropleura, a 2m long centipede and Meganeura, a dragonfly the size of an eagle, were common place alongside giant scorpions, spiders and large predatory amphibians.

These reason these huge insects died off was because of the higher oxygen levels, any kind of ignition, lightning for example, would create forest fires that would spread incredibly quickly. As most of the Earth at the time was covered in dense forest, having forest fires that would spread far quicker and last longer than present day forest fires created a gradual extinction event. As fires became more frequent forests started to recede and with it the giant insects. 
The foundation for my insect design will be in a parallel universe in which the Carboniferous extinction never occurred allowing insects to evolve into bigger and stranger creatures.

Further insect silhouette concepts. 

First drafts of silhouettes, watercolour on paper converted in photoshop.

Just basic ideas, experimenting with typical and unusual insect shapes.