Saturday, 24 January 2015
16 // Warming Up the Stylus
Just a quick post to share some of the digi sketches I've been playing with, getting back into the swing of character art. Soon it'll be time to start creating some character designs specifically for this project.
Monday, 19 January 2015
15 // Building My Own Brief - part 1
Over the weekend I had a good think about how to elaborate on my previous post regarding my plan for this term's project. I've already mentioned that I'd like to focus on character design and develop my own visual style along the way, but I didn't go into too much detail about the genre/setting of the world I'll be building upon. This post should pose and answer a few questions relating to that side of things.
First of all, I'll tackle the genre: dark fantasy. Nice. The setting? Post-apocalyptic fantasy universe, where magic-channelling technology, cities and artefacts, once commonplace, are either destroyed or lay scattered throughout the land. While this power-source was once controlled by technology, a catastrophic event of some sort occurred and now it has seeped out, distorting and perverting nature's laws, creating abominations and distorting the geography.
World population has dropped dramatically as a result of the catastrophe; the great cities have crumbled and are now nothing more than ruins that nature has reclaimed. Remnants of the past technology remain, but are often useless, their resources having been depleted.
Some humans still remain, wandering the land and seeking solace - the quest for safe, untainted land, free from this purgatory. Therefore, this project will tell the story of scavenger/travellers; a monster-hunting/looting kind of deal. The rare magi-tech finds are extremely valuable in this setting; the travellers will be skilled enough to be able to dismantle, alter and create weapons, defenses etc from their finds. Magi-tech weaponry can be extremely powerful in this world, capable of allowing the character to face-off against some of the mightier foes.
Also in this world, I want there to be a cult of wizards/necromancers/dark mages who devote themselves to a higher being/demon of some kind. Maybe they were responsible for the catastrophe? Perhaps it was organised, or maybe something went wrong - they were used and betrayed by the devil/deity they worshipped, who maybe sought escape from some imprisonment and used the wizards/dark mages to suit it's own nefarious plan?
That might be a pretty vague and messy pre-vis summary, but I'm still juggling a lot of ideas around in my head at the moment, trying to imagine the characters that might inhabit this world, so as I figure it out a bit more I'll add to this.
My default art style is quite comic-book-y; bold linework; bright colours; exaggerated and stylised characters; special effects etc. This style of output will likely steer the direction of my designs along the way, which is no bad thing as it will keep me happy with the quantity of work I'll be able to produce.
While I'll be sticking to this style for the majority of my exploratory and illustrative work, one of my intents is to explore some alternative visual styles along the way. For instance, I might adopt more of a Manga approach to some illustrations, or go with digital painting techniques further down the line, if I find myself with enough time to learn some more techniques.
To summarise, this post has definitely created more questions than I thought it might, but I'll have fun trying to figure out some answers to them and continue to evolve this story. In the meantime, I still need to decide what output the story will benefit mostly from; at the moment I'm thinking videogame, but comic book illustration might also be an option.
First of all, I'll tackle the genre: dark fantasy. Nice. The setting? Post-apocalyptic fantasy universe, where magic-channelling technology, cities and artefacts, once commonplace, are either destroyed or lay scattered throughout the land. While this power-source was once controlled by technology, a catastrophic event of some sort occurred and now it has seeped out, distorting and perverting nature's laws, creating abominations and distorting the geography.
World population has dropped dramatically as a result of the catastrophe; the great cities have crumbled and are now nothing more than ruins that nature has reclaimed. Remnants of the past technology remain, but are often useless, their resources having been depleted.
Some humans still remain, wandering the land and seeking solace - the quest for safe, untainted land, free from this purgatory. Therefore, this project will tell the story of scavenger/travellers; a monster-hunting/looting kind of deal. The rare magi-tech finds are extremely valuable in this setting; the travellers will be skilled enough to be able to dismantle, alter and create weapons, defenses etc from their finds. Magi-tech weaponry can be extremely powerful in this world, capable of allowing the character to face-off against some of the mightier foes.
Also in this world, I want there to be a cult of wizards/necromancers/dark mages who devote themselves to a higher being/demon of some kind. Maybe they were responsible for the catastrophe? Perhaps it was organised, or maybe something went wrong - they were used and betrayed by the devil/deity they worshipped, who maybe sought escape from some imprisonment and used the wizards/dark mages to suit it's own nefarious plan?
That might be a pretty vague and messy pre-vis summary, but I'm still juggling a lot of ideas around in my head at the moment, trying to imagine the characters that might inhabit this world, so as I figure it out a bit more I'll add to this.
My default art style is quite comic-book-y; bold linework; bright colours; exaggerated and stylised characters; special effects etc. This style of output will likely steer the direction of my designs along the way, which is no bad thing as it will keep me happy with the quantity of work I'll be able to produce.
While I'll be sticking to this style for the majority of my exploratory and illustrative work, one of my intents is to explore some alternative visual styles along the way. For instance, I might adopt more of a Manga approach to some illustrations, or go with digital painting techniques further down the line, if I find myself with enough time to learn some more techniques.
To summarise, this post has definitely created more questions than I thought it might, but I'll have fun trying to figure out some answers to them and continue to evolve this story. In the meantime, I still need to decide what output the story will benefit mostly from; at the moment I'm thinking videogame, but comic book illustration might also be an option.
Thursday, 15 January 2015
14 // Latest Inspirations
Here are some images from a few of my favourite artists of late; I've always been more interested in linework driven artwork, and it has been more comfortable for me to get to grips with throughout my education, so I'll be sticking with that for this project.
The following artists all make great use of linework within their art, yet have different styles overall. For the meantime, this will be the benchmark for my own illustrative work.
The following artists all make great use of linework within their art, yet have different styles overall. For the meantime, this will be the benchmark for my own illustrative work.
Tim McBurnie
Jakub Rebelka
Matt Rockefeller
13 // 2nd Term...
For this term's project I plan on focusing on 2D Character Design, with character-based illustrations throughout. I decided on this area as I feel it to be more of a comfort-zone for me; last term I put myself out of my comfort zone by choosing to produce environment art and my grades suffered, so I've got a bit of catch-up to play now.
I'll be sticking to my own style of artwork for this project - which can be seen in the following images - and developing it further throughout the term. There are some aspects of my own style that I enjoy, but feel could definitely benefit from refinement, so that'll be a focus for this project.
In regards to evolving my style, I'll also draw attention to the artists that have inspired me most lately.
As far as genre is concerned, I've yet to decide on that. I'll also come up with world lore, back-story, etc. in order to assist and influence the design process.
Along the way I'll also be continuously studying anatomy and developing my figure drawing skills in order to produce the best drawings I can. I'll also be asking for feedback at regular intervals - seeking advice from Ryan, class members and any communities I'm involved with - to hopefully gain further understanding of my strengths/weaknesses, should I become confused and/or lose my way at all.
I'll be sticking to my own style of artwork for this project - which can be seen in the following images - and developing it further throughout the term. There are some aspects of my own style that I enjoy, but feel could definitely benefit from refinement, so that'll be a focus for this project.
In regards to evolving my style, I'll also draw attention to the artists that have inspired me most lately.
As far as genre is concerned, I've yet to decide on that. I'll also come up with world lore, back-story, etc. in order to assist and influence the design process.
Along the way I'll also be continuously studying anatomy and developing my figure drawing skills in order to produce the best drawings I can. I'll also be asking for feedback at regular intervals - seeking advice from Ryan, class members and any communities I'm involved with - to hopefully gain further understanding of my strengths/weaknesses, should I become confused and/or lose my way at all.
Sunday, 7 December 2014
12 // Exterior Environment - The Land of Smoking Skies
Here's the final paintover of the greyscale environment I had previously selected to represent the Land of Smoking Skies environment.
Unfortunately, I was unable to get anywhere near as much time as I would have liked to have spent studying the necessary techniques to produce a high-level, detailed illustration, so I opted to resort to what techniques I knew in order to get this piece to some kind of completion.
I'm not entirely happy with the end result, but it will have to do for now.
Unfortunately, I was unable to get anywhere near as much time as I would have liked to have spent studying the necessary techniques to produce a high-level, detailed illustration, so I opted to resort to what techniques I knew in order to get this piece to some kind of completion.
I'm not entirely happy with the end result, but it will have to do for now.
11 // Interior Set Design
For the second part of the project assignment - interior set design - I planned on producing a design for the bath house scene, where the character Robin is washed by her captors.
The bath house is located within Bahaara's Temple of Dreams, the location of the bad guy's stronghold.
In the Death Dealer book there isn't too much of a description for this environment, so I figured I had a bit of free reign here. My initial research came from a quick Google search of temples and church interiors. After a glimpse of some of the resulting images, I set to designing my own environment, choosing to not rely on reference for this one. Rather, I tried to let my visual memory guide my design.
Although the brief states that this part of the project should be a line drawing, I decided to go ahead and use Google SketchUp to produce this image. In hindsight, this may have been the wrong choice to make as I might be marked down for not following the brief accurately. On the other hand, time was a deciding factor on my decision; although I could have drawn an image such as this - with some difficulty - I wanted to present as detailed a design as possible with the resources and time available to me.
My focus was on creating a relatively simple design for the set, focusing on bold shapes and atmospheric lighting potential.
After rendering out the final image, I sketched in the 3 characters who would be present within the scene, to show their general placement on set.
The bath house is located within Bahaara's Temple of Dreams, the location of the bad guy's stronghold.
In the Death Dealer book there isn't too much of a description for this environment, so I figured I had a bit of free reign here. My initial research came from a quick Google search of temples and church interiors. After a glimpse of some of the resulting images, I set to designing my own environment, choosing to not rely on reference for this one. Rather, I tried to let my visual memory guide my design.
Although the brief states that this part of the project should be a line drawing, I decided to go ahead and use Google SketchUp to produce this image. In hindsight, this may have been the wrong choice to make as I might be marked down for not following the brief accurately. On the other hand, time was a deciding factor on my decision; although I could have drawn an image such as this - with some difficulty - I wanted to present as detailed a design as possible with the resources and time available to me.
My focus was on creating a relatively simple design for the set, focusing on bold shapes and atmospheric lighting potential.
After rendering out the final image, I sketched in the 3 characters who would be present within the scene, to show their general placement on set.
Wednesday, 3 December 2014
10 // Camera Pan
Skipping ahead to part 3 of the project brief - "Design
a scene which changes over three frames. This can be an arbitrary movement, a
dramatic or action orientated scene, a camera movement, a mood change, etc." - I've chosen to present a 3-stage shot focusing on Gath (Death Dealer) stalking through his homeland, The Shades; a densely overgrown, dark forest full of danger and threat.
It was my intent to have the camera initially situated high in the trees, spotting Gath as he walks through the forest, partially masked by overhanging vines and leaves in the FG. From there, the camera will swoop down from the tree and skim along the forest floor before coming to rest at Gath's feet, looking up at him, silhouetted by the moonlight streaming in through the branches behind and overhead.
I chose to use plenty of strong foreground elements as silhouettes throughout each stage so as to emphasise the busy feel of this setting, both on the ground and within the treeline. I think I was fairly successful in this approach, and I feel it helps to add a claustrophobic, oppressive atmosphere.
I chose this kind of shot as a way to bring the viewer into the setting, presenting the environment and the character in one swoop.
The perspective of each shot is important to achieve this effect; the first shot is 3-point perspective, with focus on catching a glimpse of Gath from above, with just a tease of the environment; the 2nd shot opens up the area for the viewer to see the depth of the forest by pulling them from the high tree and pulling them into the undergrowth, to sit level with the floor and see Gath a little closer in 1-point perspective; shot 3 is the final stage of the transition, by which point the camera has ended its swoop along the forest floor and now looks up to Gath's silhouette, slightly backlit for imposing purposes. The 3-point perspective of the 3rd shot mirrors that of the first in that the camera now looks up rather than down; this variation allows the viewer to see the forest from yet another angle - for variety - and also lets them know that Gath is a powerful figure.
My colour palette for this stage is relatively simple as it is a night-time scene, so plenty of blues are used for the cold shadows, with some green lights bringing a little colour variation.
It's worth noting that my inspiration for this shot came from a mood/inspiration/reference board I compiled, full of screengrabs from the original Predator movie.
It was my intent to have the camera initially situated high in the trees, spotting Gath as he walks through the forest, partially masked by overhanging vines and leaves in the FG. From there, the camera will swoop down from the tree and skim along the forest floor before coming to rest at Gath's feet, looking up at him, silhouetted by the moonlight streaming in through the branches behind and overhead.
I chose to use plenty of strong foreground elements as silhouettes throughout each stage so as to emphasise the busy feel of this setting, both on the ground and within the treeline. I think I was fairly successful in this approach, and I feel it helps to add a claustrophobic, oppressive atmosphere.
I chose this kind of shot as a way to bring the viewer into the setting, presenting the environment and the character in one swoop.
The perspective of each shot is important to achieve this effect; the first shot is 3-point perspective, with focus on catching a glimpse of Gath from above, with just a tease of the environment; the 2nd shot opens up the area for the viewer to see the depth of the forest by pulling them from the high tree and pulling them into the undergrowth, to sit level with the floor and see Gath a little closer in 1-point perspective; shot 3 is the final stage of the transition, by which point the camera has ended its swoop along the forest floor and now looks up to Gath's silhouette, slightly backlit for imposing purposes. The 3-point perspective of the 3rd shot mirrors that of the first in that the camera now looks up rather than down; this variation allows the viewer to see the forest from yet another angle - for variety - and also lets them know that Gath is a powerful figure.
My colour palette for this stage is relatively simple as it is a night-time scene, so plenty of blues are used for the cold shadows, with some green lights bringing a little colour variation.
It's worth noting that my inspiration for this shot came from a mood/inspiration/reference board I compiled, full of screengrabs from the original Predator movie.
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