Week Summary

On Monday, I did not have any sessions at university. In the morning, I did have someone from DSA come to my home and do some specialist training with me with my new equipment for my dyslexia, this is convenient as I learnt how to use the equipment with a lot more efficiency. Also on Monday I did do some silhouette drawings of my Roman sci-fi character, some of the silhouettes are better than other designs but I am still trying to find a solid idea. I’ve been looking at different pieces of similar themed character art for research to convey more of a finalised concept for my character. With my silhouettes, I have started to do block out iterations directing me to a final design idea.

On Tuesday, I had my waxwork model making session. In this session, I finished the rib cage, I made a pelvis for my model, and the head and the feet in which have all been completed. In my next session, I will need to finish the model with legs, arms and hands. With this done it will bring the model to completion. I also did some very rough silhouette designs for my character. 

 My wax work model so far.

These are very rough silhouettes I do not really like any of these designs but I wanted to post them for development purposes.

On the Wednesday, I did not have a session, I was unable to do any work related to my project on Wednesday due to being back at home for an appointment and family outings.

On Thursday, I could not attend the session in the afternoon. I knew of a task that was to be completed for the weekend, I attempted this in the evening. The task was a character task in which you had to produce either a goblin or a dwarf with specific elements. I chose to go with the goblin character. I used a method of photo bashing and digital painting. I attempted to give the character some expression and personality as the character is foolish and young. To do this piece at first, I went into the ‘Alchemy’ programme and created a few simple silhouette designs this was to give me an idea what body shape would be suitable for my character. After I was happy with my silhouettes I picked one which I thought would work the best, I put the silhouette into photoshop and drew on top of the silhouette a rough design. I then went into Google images to get some suitable PNG images of appropriate clothing in which would fit the theme. I went for ragged clothing as the character is based in a prison so I found this would be reasonable. As soon as I found the images I played around in Photoshop giving the body form with the images provided and edited them to suit using transform tools. As soon as the body had form and structure I drew the final design and gave the character expression and colour. Overall, I was happy with the outcome for a small task and did not think the photo bashing part of this piece was too bad, it came out well I believe this would be useful in the future with character design to get a quick effective finalised idea. 

Above are the character tables that we had to go from brief A or B.

These are the Goblin silhouettes that I created in 'Alchemy' I went for a more generic goblin form.

This is my final design. The drawing may of flown better if there was no line work but overall I like the art style and feel of this piece. I would like to practice more without using line work in my pieces, I aim to do this for my current project.

On Friday in the afternoon I had a trip to the UEA University to visit the library and the Sainsbury Centre. The library at the UEA is a lot bigger than the one in NUA. I will visit this library again as I found it will help with sources and research for my dissertation subject which is based on a dystopian world, scarcity, life after disaster, hauntology in environments. They did not have any books based on the games I was looking for which is the Fallout franchise and dishonoured, but overall, I did find some books that may be useful to me. I have started to look into the books and sources I found at the library some more useful than others, I will look into these sources in more depth soon to see if they will be of any use in my dissertation. I am yet to find the film ‘Stalker’ on DVD to watch as this has been recommended. Also on Friday/weekend I managed to put together a final silhouette design of my Roman sci-fi character. Next week I aim to start some detail using line work on top of the chosen silhouette and more iterations pieces. Also, I have made a simple 3D sculpt in Z brush of the human body using Z spheres. I wanted to do this as I want to become more familiar with using Z spheres as when it comes to the 3D aspect of my project I think this would help me greatly as I am still not overly confident with the technical side of 3D sculpting, and this worries me that I may have struggles later in this project. so, I would like to familiarise myself with certain aspects of the programme, as when it comes to that part I will be more aware of how to correct mistakes or have a more broader idea. Next week I will sculpt on this model. 

 The above images show some of the sources that I found or can look into in more depth.

This is the final design that I like the most, I will rework this image into something with more detail.

Week summary

On Monday, I did not have any sessions at university. During the Day, I went over my slideshow for Tuesday, I was happy with the final outcomes of my slideshow and felt confident in what I wanted to portray. On Tuesday morning, I had my first model making waxwork session in which I put together a copper wire frame of a figure that will then be added with wax to mould a human structure. In this first session, we built all the frame and added a rib cage to the piece. This session was mainly shown by a demonstration of what we needed to complete then we had to try it for ourselves.  I find that these sessions will be very helpful in understanding in more detail of the human body and I look forward to building a full structure of the human body. It was nice to do a task that was hands-on in a session it made a change.

 This image shows my final model from the first session, I will continue with this model next session.

 This image shows the final outcomes of my tutors wax models.

In the afternoon, I presented my pitch in front of my group, the pitch went well and I did not have really any negative feedback I look forward to starting my project in more depth as I’ve got the go-ahead. I still feel unconfident slightly in the 3D aspect of this project and how the best method would be to achieve the final model piece but it would be good to do something out of my comfort zone and learn new skills. The tutors found my idea of a sci-fi Roman a cool idea but I was told to consider which part of Roman history I wanted to do, I gave this much thought when I got home and have decided that I will base the theme on a Roman gladiator character that will be posed and textured as if it looks like stone, not coloured. The characters story is that he is a hero/legend and this a statue of the character in all glory. I found that doing this pitch put into perspective on what I wanted to achieve for this project, it was also interesting to see what other people’s ideas were for their project.

 Above are images of my 2 minute slideshow pitch.

These characters images above are examples of the type of Roman theme I would like to aim for in my design.

On Wednesday, I started to do my character silhouettes at this moment of time I have not yet found any finalised silhouettes that I like. I will continue to do silhouettes till next week hopefully by then I will find more of a solid idea. For my dissertation, I wrote down notes and words that relate to my theme on sticky notes, I am still stuck on an actual question for my dissertation I will need to do further research. I have been told in feedback before I finished second year to look for a film called ‘Stalker’ which is a 1979 film this should relate somewhat to my dissertation theme, I will look in the library for this DVD. In the evening, I watched some video tutorials on 3D modelling in Z brush and Maya this was to give me a clearer idea on how to achieve my model and to give me tips on the best methods, I will continue this throughout my project.

These are some very rough silhouettes the first ones I have attempted, I am still not sure where I am going with the whole form yet.

 

These are the same silhouettes but worked into a little more to give me more of a idea for a design.

 This was a form I quite liked I have added to each one.

I wanted to get some line work down to see if that would give a clearer idea on what I want to achieve, i'm not there yet with the design.

I added some silhouettes ideas for a weapon for the character, like the idea of a mace like weapon to mix it up instead of a sword, but I will come back to this later when I have found a form I like for my character.

 This is a image of the sticky notes that I did for my dissertation. Still have to add to this.

On Thursday, I had a photoshop session in which I had a task to complete. In this session, we learnt how to use clipping masks to achieve a finalised photo bash concept piece. At first, we used a software piece called ‘Alchemy’ which I have used in year one this was good get a rough base for an environment piece, I then put this into photoshop and work from the Alchemy piece.  This was a very useful session as I learnt how to correctly use clipping masks as I had not known this before.

This is my photo bash piece I decided to go with a beach scene.

This image shows my final photo bash piece. For a first attempt, I don’t think this is too bad but I still need a lot of improvement. I will continue to learn photo bashing as it will be useful in my project as I would like to attempt a character photo bashing piece I think this may produce quicker results in some areas of the project. 

On Friday, I had a group afternoon meet session, the session consisted of talking about our dissertation theme to the person sitting next to us. With the person sitting next to us we had to discuss what our theme for our dissertation was and to tell them what we enjoyed about the theme that is chosen. This was a useful session as I got a different perspective about my dissertation theme from somebody else and what they thought could help me in finding a question etc… It was also good to hear about someone else’s idea in depth and where they are going with their dissertation. I am still not fully sure on my question for this dissertation I will do further research and watch the film ‘Stalker’ that I’ve been recommended to watch.

Week Summary

This is the first week of year 3, it is good to be back after a long break, I'm looking forward to starting the last year and to make the most of this final year. On Monday we had our first briefing with a tutor. The project is to do anything of your choice that being a 3D model, making a game or concept piece, but we need to present a 2 minute and 2 slide only slideshow for next week stating what we want to produce in project 1 that will carry on till next January. Project 1 and our dissertation also will need to be completed by January 2018.

on Monday afternoon I did have a talk with a tutor about project 1. When I spoke to my tutor I told them that I would like to create a dystopian  themed character from 2D to 3D using Z brush. I have now changed the theme to a roman themed character with a Sci-fi element to the design. In this project I would start with researching designs related to my theme and then to start silhouettes and iterations which will finally lead to my final concept design in which I will draw a front and back view of the final character. When the final character is drawn and finalize I will sculpt a 3D model in Z brush adding high details and place the model in a pose. I will texture the model in substance painter that I still need to learn from, I will give this programme ago very soon. I chose to do a 3D model as I have not really done a lot of 3D work and really want to gain more skills and knowledge. I would like to give myself a challenge.

On Tuesday we had our welcome talk. I have started to do my research on my theme with mood boards to get familiar with my project. I have also started to watch YouTube tutorial videos on Z Brush about character modeling and how to pose a character. I will continue to look at more videos as these will help me during my project.

On Wednesday I did not have any sessions at university but I did finish a 3D model. In the summer term I modeled a modern bar stool in Maya to get familiar with the programme again but I never did texture it, I thought I would place my 3D model into Substance painter. The process of texturing the model was similar to Photoshop in a way. It was enjoyable to use I can see myself using Substance painter from now on with texturing models.

I wanted to use many different types of brushes in Substance painter and play around with them, this is why the stool is well worn I wanted to give as much detail as needed. 



On Thursday I had a session with my group. In this session I used Photoshop to learn how to blend and not use line work with sketching, as I haven't been doing digital painting no longer than 2/3 years I have stuck with an art style that uses line I do enjoy this style but it would be good to experiment with other styles. I aim not to rely on line to much in this next project.

 This image shows the blend practice that I did in session. I will continue to learn this technique.

On Friday we had a contextual studies lecture with a different tutor from last year. In the lecture we were told helpful tips for how to find correct sources for our dissertation and other helpful tips that will help me in the next coming weeks. In the next coming weeks I plan to get a draft of at least 1000/2000 word done for my dissertation,