Final Evaluation

Since starting my 3rd year last September/October my main focus has been my main project which was a project of our choosing. As my specialisms is in character development I wanted to continue this and create a Roman Sci-fi sculpture piece. I chose the theme of sci-fi because it is a theme that I enjoy, I like the visuals that go into sci-fi design. It is also a popular theme through most medias especially in films and games, This theme would look good in my portfolio. At first I was going to focus the model on a dystopian era through a human character which themed well with my dissertation subject. I decided to change the theme of my idea as I may do a dystopian character for my final major project at the end of the course instead and I like the idea of forming roman (ancient) with new such sci-fi. I thought it would cool as I have not seen many designs like this before. I knew I wanted to do a roman theme character but at first wasn't sure on what type and era of roman history. By doing research on types of gladiators the Murmillo gladiators caught my attention the most. I thought I could implement the sci-fi element well in the helmet design. Throughout my university degree so far I have stuck to concept art as a safe place and haven't really branched out of my comfort zone, this is why I wanted to do a Zbrush model of a character and I have always wanted to gain more knowledge of the programme and produce a high detailed character. It is beneficial if I develop 3D skills also.

The other focus of this term was to write my 5000 word dissertation. At first the thought of the dissertation worried me, I'm not the strongest at academic writing due to my dyslexia but I have not let this hold me back. To be honest, at the start the though of writing it was daunting and analysing the relevant resources, but once it was all organised and had the guidance on how to structure the report it became clearer to me and I found to actually enjoy writing about how narrative is framed within the environments of Fallout 4 and Dishonored 1/2 and comparing the two to the film Stalker by 'Andrei Tarkovsky which hold similarities within its environment and events to my chosen games. I believe by using the support given such as attending tutorials, lectures and seeing my specialist tutor I have gain the knowledge and developed a better understanding of writing a piece like this which I'm pleased about. 

Throughout the term there have been other projects such as tasks each week from my concept piece sessions and my anatomy sessions which I have to produce a wax model of the human anatomy showing muscles and all. Within the anatomy sessions it has been great to physically create a model piece by hand. I have learnt a lot already and hope to continue this project soon and to get back on track. By studying the anatomy of the human body this will help me improve my anatomy drawing. This will help in my next project. By doing the weekly tasks in my concept art sessions I have seen improvement in my photo bashing techniques. In first year I attempted to do a photo bash once for the first project and its did not come out too bad for a first attempt, but since doing them on a more regular basis I can see a definite improvement since my first attempt in first year and my second attempt a few months ago. It has been rewarding to be given tasks such as the environment pieces to develop which also had to be completed in a short time period. By doing this I have learnt new skills in Photoshop through its elements, I did not understand areas such as the layer masks. With this I will continue to enhance these skills to develop stronger pieces of work in the future. 

Overall by producing my roman sci- fi character in ZBrush, I have learnt so much already and still have so much more to learn. By doing this project it has given me the confidence to carry on these skills and to develop another model in the near future. Not all was successful, there where times when the model would not go to plan such as the posing method of the model due to not understanding the fundamentals of posing on a high poly model. With help from tutors I overcame these problems, though not perfect it worked. I was still able to pose my model but not to the ability I would of liked. This is something I will remember in my next model piece. Overall I think the model was still a success and for my first attempt at a character piece it came out better than I hoped. I believe the theme flows well within my model which has had good feedback from other in how detailed my model is. 

Throughout doing these projects I have notice the lack of digital artwork produced especially in my main character project. I would of liked to of developed higher quality drawings for my character piece but found that it became difficult due to the time spent on the 3D aspect of this project. I am glad that I had the concept sessions each week as this gave me something different to focus on even if it was for a day or two. In my next project I would like to go back and improve my drawing skills as I feel I have lacked in my ability slightly. Overall I feel this has been a successful few months and learnt a lot from it all from developing a 3d model to writing a 5000 word academic piece, I look forward to my next project.