Weekly Summary

This week we did not have a lecture on the Monday so on Tuesday we had a Z brush session. Last week I had trouble with mirroring the Z sphere because my first Z sphere that I placed down was not centered, this then cause the symmetry method to not work properly as it did not mirror and cause deformations in my model. This week I did managed to add Zspheres without any problems. I did get my base model down and started to create form to my creature model in the session, which I was happy with, as I do not feel like I am behind from last week now.

The design is getting there slowly, I would like to change a few things such as the neck area it will need to be a lot longer and the upper front legs look to chunky, this I will need to change in the next session. To achieved the detail that I have put down so far I used the clay build up brush and the move brush.

In contextual studies this week we looked at games as social spaces. The lecture was very useful as it was a topic that would relate to my essay. The lecture consisted of using online gaming as a social place. Because my essay will be themed on AR I did notice that the lecture did mention a game called 'Majestic' which was one of the first AR games to be released by EA in 2000/2001, This will be really good to use as one of my games in my essay as it will relate well to my AR topic.

The seminar was about last week contextual studies lecture that I could not attend on narrative in video games, Even though I did not deliver much in the conversion this week in the seminar because I could not attend last week contextual studies session I did not fully understand the topic as well as the group but I did listen to the groups discussions about narrative.

Also this week we had guest speakers,  Dan and Greg from the popular YouTube channel Did you know gaming? they spoke about networking and what they did in the past before Youtube. They used there skills in pixel art and editing that they learnt in university and spoke about how that help them with the success of their Youtube channel. It was a fun talk.

In anatomy this week we looked at the arm, elbow, wrist and fingers. I was very happy about learning this part of the body as it is an area of the body that I do struggle with drawing the hands.

At the end of the week in my session I drew some studies on hands, noses and mouths, as I felt I need to improve in this area, this was part of my development project.

The Christmas break begins.

Development project

 These are some hand studies that I have done in the week, hands are something that I really struggle with I hope to get better at them. I will plan to do more studies from now on. (The dark lined sketches are mine on the right side).

 These are some sketches of lips with expressions as I never really do expressions sketches. I really enjoyed doing these.

Another area of the body I don't draw often as I am not very confidence in drawing noses. (The dark lined are mine). Overall I think I did well with this study.

These are some rough mask designs for my tribal character.

The two above images are very rough silhouettes designs for the tribal warrior and samurai warrior.

 These are more detailed designs of what my 3 characters designs could include, or gather information on, to bring a final design to light.

I wanted to do some quick composition studies also to familiarize myself again.

This is my final design for my tribal warrior, I wanted to give her a sci fi look with the mask but the rest of her I wanted her to look like she hasn't got the technology like other warriors would have in a sci fi setting, and from being in a tribal area she would not have the luxury of advance technology or weapons. For my first final piece for this project I think it went well. As I am now starting to use Photoshop more regularly now because of this project I don't think I did too bad. I like that in Photoshop I could add different brush effects to the drawings, the tattoos for example, giving this painting a added finish. I'm still inexperienced with adding backgrounds, I hope to improve in this area.

Weekly summary

This week we first had a Games industry talk with "Steven Huckle" The talk was about the art side of the games industry which was really good to hear as previous talks we have been too have been about other areas in the industry. He spoke about his jobs roles and what he had worked on in the past and showing us some examples of what he had done in the industry. He also spoke about other game roles within the industry such as coder, audio, lead artists just to name a few. After the talk we were then given our next briefing for our next project which is our specialism. (Concept Art). For my specialism I have been given a development project to do with two choices that we can base them off, these are:

1. Product design - Vehicle,weapon etc...
2. Applied anatomy - Human bodies etc...

I chose the applied anatomy because if I was to work in the games industry I would like to be a character designer so I thought this would be the best option for me, it would be great to become better at this as I feel I need a lot of improvement. I have 3 weeks to produce more than two final pieces of work, the character or characters that I design needs to be in a scene of some sorts, this could be a character fighting in a battle or a character walking through a woodlands there is loads of possibly. I decided to go with a sci fi themed, I will aim to produce at least three final painting of three different characters and If I can I will try and do a Z brush sculpt of a human face with muscles showing like a ecorche piece. I am not confidence with poses so this should be interesting to see how I get on. The three characters that I will draw were first going to be a solider, a fighter pilot and a nurse which were going to be very sci fi like for example like the game "Destiny". I have now changed my mind I will still be creating three characters but all the characters will be warriors but with a sci fi theme and a cultural style, such as:

1. Tribal African woman
2. Samurai man
3. Eskimo man

In Z brush this week we were given a task, the task involves to create a creature in the next coming weeks to completion this will need to be textured/coloured creature. The theme of the creature is based from a swamp location, the aim is to design a swamp creature that is able to have a rider to sit atop of it and ride it through a swamp. There are lots of possibility's for this project. For most of the session I did some research on what animals live in the swamp lands. I have decided to go with a crocodile like creature which will have some likeness of a alligator snapping turtle. I was thinking of having a creature that has more likeness to a crocodile but with a turtle like shell and is designed for both water and land movement. In the session I did attempt to use the Z sphere to put down a rough shape for my creature but for some reason I had trouble with the mirror tool and it caused my model to become unequal and it made it difficult to work with, so by the end of the session I decided I would start again in my next Z brush session.

jorge cervera hauser, (2013), jorge cervera hauser- Croc [ONLINE]. Available at: http://yourshot.nationalgeographic.com/u/ss/fQYSUbVfts-T7pS2VP2wnKyN8wxywmXtY0-Fwsgxpi6uzxLEby-n2lMQMrcyOHkXthr9ToaReeVmArKRc3-R/ [Accessed 10 December 2016].

www.pinterest.com, (2014), kaprosuchus saharicus [ONLINE]. Available at: http://s53.photobucket.com/user/TigerQuoll/media/dinosaur/article-1229250-074774C1000005DC-94.jpg.html [Accessed 10 December 2016].

Tony Mackrill, (2014), man eating nile crocodile [ONLINE]. Available at: http://yourshot.nationalgeographic.com/u/ss/fQYSUbVfts-T7pS2VP2wnKyN8wxywmXtY0-FwsgxpiZv_E9ZfPsNV5B0ER8-bOdruvNfMD5EbP4SznWz4PYn/ [Accessed 10 December 2016].

Complex01, WikimediaCommons, (2015), giant alligator snapping turtle [ONLINE]. Available at: http://images.mentalfloss.com/sites/default/files/styles/insert_main_wide_image/public/alligator_snapping_turtle.jpg [Accessed 10 December 2016].

Above are some images of examples of what I am aiming for and of a crocodile and alligator snapping turtle.

Contextual studies this week I could not attend as I had a doctors appointment, but I believe the lecture was about narrative in video games. I will look into this lecture on the VLE.

In anatomy this week we looked at the shoulder in more detail and how it connects to the body. Also we looked at the upper body such as the rib cage and shoulder movements.

Later in the week I had a tutorial with my contextual studies tutor, we spoke about a few different topics one being the essay, he gave me some ideas and useful sources I could use to help me as I am still feeling a little lost on what my main subject will be on. We also spoke about my development project and my ideas for this task, it was good to get a tutors option on my development project. In my Friday session I continued to do research on character design for my chosen theme. And some ecorche studies.

This week we were also given a task to find a 5 artist's portfolios that we like and to analysis them on our likes and dislikes, as well as looking into different job roles within the games industry that I would be interested in.  

Job roles


1. Character artist - To be a character artist you will need to have knowledge of anatomy and architecture. Be able to draw from life, be able to work from a style guide, have good communication skills and be imaginative and creative just to name a few.

2. QA tester - To be a QA tester you will need to have good communication skills, to have a good knowledge of game titles on the market, paying close attention to detail and not only know how to identify and record a problem (Bug) but also be able to work out what is causing the problem. I know that QA testing is a different route to the creative side of the games industry but I have heard that it can be a good way of getting onto the industry and to make connections.

3. User interface (UI) Artist - To be a UI artist in the game industry you will need to have strong 2D sketching skills, have strong communication skills and to work well in a team, have current knowledge of game engines such as UE4, Unity, Cry engine, and to have a keen eye for composition and usability.

5 artist portfolios


1. Sergi Brosa- (https://www.artstation.com/artist/sergibrosa)  is one of my favourite artist in the last few years, seeing his work in a art magazine I was a fan instantly of his work, I really like the style of his work with it's cartoon like appearance, I find that some of my piece of work that I have done have some similar characteristics because of using line work within our art.

As you can see in the images of Sergi Brosa work, you can see the very cartoonist style, and the line work, even though I do find his line work isn't as solid as mine it still reminds me of some of my own work style. I like how he shades the characters and assets in his work, it is of a cell shaded finish. His character designs are very strong and well detailed. I attain the feeling that he does not place many of his characters in environment pieces, it would be nice to see more of this.

2. Cedric Peyravernay- ( https://www.artstation.com/artist/cedricpeyravernay) Has worked on the video game title 'Dishonor'. The reason I love his work is because it is very traditional and that he uses very textured brush stokes that give his paintings life.

I chose these two paintings of his because it show differences between both of them. The first painting shows neat brush strokes with less texture within the painting, this painting also shows good light source, it also shows here that his art style can be changed slightly and done with confidence. In the second painting of the woman you can see the textured brush strokes very clearly here, I like how he has merged the background to her skin giving it the illusion that she has a piece of clothing on.

3. Edouard Caplain - (https://www.artstation.com/artist/edouardcaplain) Edouard Caplain has worked as an artist for the game ' Life is Strange' This is a reason I chose him as one of my chosen artist, because I really enjoy the game and it's expressive art style.

The two paintings above are very different in style but the reason I chose this two paintings of his is because I think they show how the artist can mold his style to the theme of the video game. The first image is from Life is strange with very bold brush strokes and colours giving this piece a moody demeanour. Where in this second piece from the game 'Alien Isolation' the mannerism is very distant because of how he has used the line work, it is in a cell shaded approach.

4. Stephen Bliss - ( http://www.stephenbliss.com/) The first time I noticed his work was when I was younger and played the video game 'Grand theft auto 3'. I remember seeing the game case and liking the style, but when 'Grand theft auto Vice City' was released and with a added poster inside the game case was when I really appreciated the style of art work. The cell shading of the promo art is really effective with the theme of the setting of GTA Vice City, and I believe without using this style of promo art the game wouldn't be as recognisable as it is today, he really set the scene with his art.

In these two paintings both are differ in technique, the first as a more realistic painting and the second with cartoon like traits. Rock star have released more games since GTA Vice City but as the player you do notice the similarly in each piece of promo art from the old to new titles. I personally prefer the cartoon like pieces more than the realistic pieces, because it is a style I prefer.

5. Emrah Elmasli - (http://emrahelmasli.tumblr.com/) Has worked on videos games such as ' Fable 3' Fable is one of my favorite art styles in a video games especially it's character designs.

The first two painting you see are classic Fable style pieces, but the last is a very changed take from the fable games. I like this painting, but if I was to see this without knowing the artist I wouldn't of guessed it was Emrah work. The character design painting is one of my favourite pieces. I have in the past given it ago on my own take of Emrah Elmasli style.

Development work

This was a moodboard that I did before I changed my idea.

Here are some thumbnails just to give me more of an idea of where I was going to go with the character pose or action in a scene.

This are some quick designs for one of my sci fi characters. I no longer worked with these designs as I did change my idea to a cultural themed warrior instead.

The drawings above are some encroe studies that I wanted to do, I did them to get a better understanding of where the muscles would be placed. I really did enjoy doing these and I do feel like I have gain some knowledge of muscle placement, I will remember this for my future anatomy drawings.

Weekly Summary

First a recap the last week of term starting from 14th November till Wednesday the 16th (Last day before term).

Monday (14th November) We had a guest lecturer come in to talk to us "Get in the game" talk by "Aardvark Swift". The talk was mainly about what the games industry is looking for and tips on how to apply and what your portfolio should look like. The talk had some great tips on the employment process and how a CV should be produced. It was an interesting talk and I did learn a few things that I didn't know before especially about the CV and what should and should not be written on it. On the Wednesday (16th) I had my mid unit review. This was a good chance to play other peoples games so far. It was great to go through my game with a tutor as I now know on what things I can add and improve on, the feedback wasn't bad I seem to be on track. It was nice for others to play and see what they also thought of my game.

I also got some feedback from my game by other students below are images showing the results. Overall not bad feedback, mostly it shows  things that I have been told that I could add or change.

 

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This is the first week back to university since we broke up from term.  This week me and my group have been very busy with our Game jam. On Monday we had a talk from "John Allen" who works for "Splash damage" they are the creators of the very popular video game "Gears of War" series. The talk mainly was about how Josh works in UX and UI design. To be honest I didn't know much about UX and UI design but have found that it is a very interesting subject It has made me think of looking into it a lot more, it is a option. He also gave us some good tips on what company's are looking for and the Dos and Don't on how to apply for jobs within the industry.

After the talk we were given our brief for the game jam that consisted this week the theme for our game was 'boiling point'. We had to get into a group of 5 and make a game on UE4 with the knowledge of what we know so far, we had a few days to do this. We used Monday evening to go over some ideas with my group, we then met up on Tuesday to go over our solid idea and we started from there. We had till Friday morning to get it completed fully. We decided to go with a 2D space invader theme platform game, We went with a 2D game because we were all 2D artist not really 3D. Although this was a downfall we still managed to do well with our game and produce a fully working game with 4/5levels. Our game idea is a humor themed game were you play as a boy called "Jimmy" who has upset a load of internet stereotypes. A herd of them come to attack you and you need to destroy them by shooting them while they fall towards you. The further you progress you will then face a boss at the end of each level that will shoot back at you. The style of the game we were going for was 8 bit, we added 8 bit music and sound effects. The levels had different stereotypes from the internet to defeat, them being:
 1. Bronys/Nerds.
 2. Politics, characters such as "Trump and Hillary".
 3. Furry's (Did not appear in game through a problem, not enough time to fix).
 4. Internet memes such as "Pink guy, Grumpy cat" and others. 
 5.Vegan enthusiast/ Gym guys/Girls.

We called our group "Factory reset"  and our game was called "Jimmy and the keyboard warriors".
In the group Me, Hannah and Grace done the art work, from character designs to title screens and lasers, and then Will and Olivia Put the game together on UE4 doing the mechanics and blueprints. It was a very busy week but was also very fun, we didn't win but we did get mentioned in the talk after our game jam which was a bonus, we were all happy by the result. We were told that our game was a little hard to get through to the next levels, knowing this we did go and change this and made it a little easier for the players after the talk, in doing so people did enjoy the game a lot more. It felt good for people to play our game and enjoy it, by doing this game jam I felt it gave me a better understanding of how the industry maybe especially when it comes to working as a team. The game jam also helped me practice Photoshop in more depth and produce work a little quicker. If I get to do another game jam in the future I will remember what I learnt this week and will look forward to the next one.

This is a screenshot of what our game looked liked. As you can see we where going with the retro look with our game play,

 These are some of the character stereotypes that I drew for the game jam.

Game progress


(This is my game progress from my term week)

I took in what my tutor had said in the mid unit review and added the odd few changes to my game as much as I can. I would say my game is complete now. In the term I finished with placing assets and inspecting objects and making the home more realistic I did this with lighting and assets that I downloaded. I added all the sound cues in my game now. I was told to change the location of some of my interaction keys such as the opening of the door and inventory keys. I have now change this as the keys were to far away as this can be difficult for the player. I was told that the objects are a little to hard to find within the game and it can a bit confusing on what the player can and can't collect so on the inspecting of objects (The objects that you pick up and can rotate but can not collect) I decided to place text above them objects this makes it easier for the player. I also was told to add a cross hair to my view port so the player can clearly see where they are aiming when collecting and inspecting objects etc...,I chose a simple none intrusive marker. Also I had my brother play my game when I was home for term he suggested that I make the outside area (Where the game ends) bigger as he says it like walking into another room.  I made it bigger with added assets and lighting, Even though it still looks like a room it does feels more open and outside like.

This image shows the crosshair as you can see it is very faint, but in game it does still show well enough to guide the player.

These three images show the before and after of the inspecting object, the first shows the object in it first position and then the second shows the object being inspected (Rotated/lifted) and the 3rd image shows the text with its instruction which is newly added. And it also shows the newly added crosshair.

This image shows the sound cue blueprints.


Image shows my game scene from a top down prospective. This shows how I have created the outside areas, as you can see it is bigger.

These two images show some rendered shots of my game.

Throughout my game the 3D models that I did use for this project were from such websites:
https://www.cgtrader.com
http://tf3dm.com
http://archive3d.net
https://www.turbosquid.com/Search/3D-Models/free
http://www.sweethome3d.com/freeModels.jsp