Worklog #1 - 30/09/2013

Breaking Ben
So, it's been a few weeks now, and the course is coming along quite interestingly. The first drawing exercise I did was to practice sketching basic shapes of the human face. We gradually built up to being tasked to spend as long as we liked on a portrait. I chose Bryan Cranston, as Walter White (Breaking Bad). This is as far as I got with ~2.5 hours. The shape of the head is way off (top-right), and the beard looks too neat, with many hairs going in the same direction. However, it is striking at first glance (light/dark contrast), so I'm happy with that.

After this, we moved on to practice perspective. Starting with 1 and 2 point (later moving on to "2.5" point). This was an enjoyable exercise for me, as it has been a while since I've drawn something accurately in perspective. I realise now that it's a technique I should be practising much more often, as it will help greatly with transferring concepts in to a 3D space.
I also greatly enjoyed working with the felt markers, to recreate a horror-themed bathroom. My goal was to work as quickly as I could - as I have a habit of taking a lot time on my work, as a result of caring too much as to where my next line goes -, giving a much more fluid and natural feel to the piece. (No picture as of yet, I intend to retrieve it for the blog).

I feel as though I'm having trouble tapping in to my creativity, during lessons with Ben, I need to free up my mind a little. However, I think that it is quite restricted by my inexperience with Maya, as most of the things that I like to create are biological and organic.

Photoshopping
Our first Photoshop lesson was interesting. We were left to our own devices, with the only direction being, "grab some images and manipulate them". I ended up with this (Right).
The week after, things got even more fun. The tablets were unleashed upon the class, clearly over-loved - covered in bruises and scratches. My task that lesson was to use the mouse to draw something for 1 hour, then to use the tablet to draw something for another hour. I decided to pick something that made picking out differences between the two tools easy to spot; a sphere. I spent a full hour, drawing a sphere with the mouse. It came out okay, kinda rugged, not well shaded. However, to come out with a better result with the tablet, it took around 15-20 minutes. So, for the rest of the lesson, I doodled some other things, like portraits, eyeballs... y'know, guy stuff.


Maya and Me (and Simon)

Throughout our lessons with Simon, we've been learning new techniques in Maya. Extrusion was a big one, in our first real task, which was creating a chair (accurately, from reference). Now that we've been given our first grand project of designing Sci-Fi assets to a game, I'm now working on coming up with concepts, leading to authographics of said concepts, and then finally, the 3D model.
My first concept of a weapon (Left). This design was critiqued by Ben and he, thankfully, pointed out that it was just too close to my reference (Crescent Moon, RWBY). When the base sniper-rifle image was my own (Right), the concept and shape of the scythe attached to it were too similar. I argued that the shape of a scythe isn't going to really change, but it couldn't be disputed, and the idea is being altered. Currently going for a more "blunt" approach. Other than this weapon, I have ideas of sticking with a law enforcement (or just enforcement) theme. Steampunk shackles/hand-cuffs have been doodled, a sci-fi whip (likely to drop this), and also a steampunk cane - because gentlemanly law enforcement is the future, Sir.


Drewday Tuesdays
Sitting at the front of the class, with the teacher chatting away about art history sounds like a bore. Not with Drew. So far, the most dreaded part of the course, has been sufficiently stimulating, and quite enjoyable. Powerful PPPs from Drew on some of the most iconic art, and relevant artistic movements, have led me to seek out some of my own enlightenment. I sat, and I watched Blade Runner. Throughout the film, I could see how so much influence has come from it - I was nearly lulled in to re-installing Deus Ex. Some of the scenes were truly awesome. I particularly liked J.F. Sebastian's house; creepy.
I digress. Drew has set us on a quest to forge an art gallery, to step in to the curator's shoes. We formed groups - Myself, Chris and Chad - and picked a decade from the last century (the 80s, for us). We split the research up between us. I took music, Chris looked at general disasters/tragedies/historic events, and Chad looked at films and games. Through my research, I've discovered extensive amounts of British New Wave music, and Rock 'n' Roll. However, a track by David Bowie called Time Will Crawl has struck me most, as it's based on the Chernobyl incident, which was a huge tragedy in the 80s. Thus, linking historical events, and music together. Showing how it can influence art.

Worklog-Bot will see you in a week or two!

Bzzzzzt-bye!~

3D Modelling

3D Modelling

3D models have been around in our games and films for decades, slowly evolving, growing more and more polygons. Until we get to the incredibly detailed, hard-to-determine-if-real-or-not 3D work that we have today.

In a game, set in an interactive world, such as the Elder Scrolls games from Bethesda, 3D models are brought to life with animation. Unlike animation in a film, where it's all scripted and the animator knows exactly what his model needs to do. The animator for the game would have to take in to account all of the inputs that a player has at their disposal, and give many animations to one model that flow together, ready to be performed in any random sequence that the player desires. In turn, this makes it tougher to create an immersive universe in a game, rather than in a film.

Geologists will sometimes create 3D renders of land. Here you see a landscape split in to tiers, so to aid their study of it. Earthquakes can be simulated, so that the scientists know better of the destructive capabilities, if an earthquake were to hit the land they were studying. 3D modelling, entertaining and protecting us. Unlike modelling in a creative field, scientists must remain accurate and precise with their work, so to create reliable findings. So, the modeller must stay true to the geography of the land. If a mistake were made, that makes the results far less reliable. However, if an artist were to make a mistake on a film or game, they would only lose the audience's belief.

Architects have been using 3D models to demonstrate to their clients how their design would look when it's complete. The 3D render also allows the client to see it from any angle desired, giving a much more accurate representation of the complete design. Unlike a modeller in the games industry, an architect doesn't need to animate his design, nor do they need to create a fully fleshed out universe to envelope their design. Only a partial look at the surrounding architecture would be required, in order for the client to have an idea of what their building would look like in it's real space.

3D modelling in the film industry is different to most, in the way that the models (in many cases) must be thrown in to a real world, our world, and still look like they exist there. Whereas in games, the models are all built around each other, creating a believable space. A modeller in a game can create his own light sources, bend and manipulate how his scene looks with no restriction. In film, there are restrictions. For example, this screenshot from Cloverfield is set at night, and so most of the light that will bounce off of the monster will come from the street, where the lamps are on. There will be some light from explosions, and lastly the spotlights from the helicopters over head. If the artists didn't take in to account all of the light sources on the set, the monster would look out of place, and wouldn't scare anyone.

Of course, there are other films that are completely comprised of CGI, for example, Avatar. An entire world designed as a film set.

A Fleshy Moodboard

Sci-fi, to me, means slippery, mutated limbs. All of these images have a common theme of organic tissue. Sci-fi can craft evolution, whether in the future, or in an alternate universe. I think it's great because biology isn't very restrictitve. As long as you can loosely justify a creature, and make it look as though it functions (proportion, movement etc), you basically have free reign over it's design. On the contrary, metal panels and pulsing lights of Sci-fi ships/buildings can only be arranged in so many ways to fit a purpose.

Curation

My group (Myself, Chris and Chad) have decided to look at the 80s. We have decided to split up the task force in to seperate research groups. Chris has taken the liberty of looking at disasters in the 80s, such as Chernobyl. Chad was looking at film/media. And I researched music in particular. I concluded that there was a lot of hair in the 80s. Soon we will pool together our research and spot the links and messages that rippled through the 80s.

Art Movements

The Gothic Period

The looming spires of the Cathedrals, inspired by Gothic design, give a real sense of power and fear. They give more meaning to the term "God fearing Christian". Similarly how the giant arches one must walk under in order to enter "the house of God" compell you to believe that something much bigger than mere man walks through them. The vast detail on each face, window and arch is awe inspiring. Yet, also shows how far too much money is thrown at out-dated ideas and imaginings, and how willing people are to contradict their own teachings.

The Gothic era is heavily apparent in games such as Assassin's Creed, where cityscapes are littered with Gothic style religious and political buildings. The vast detailings and sculptures smartly disguise the game's parkour mechanic. Colossal bell towers become a playground, along with pidgeon droppings and bales of hay.

Have you found JC yet?

Justin Currie is a Canadian artist whose artwork has struck me in the past week. His most recent pieces have been roboticising comic book characters, such as Batman, or TMNT. There are obvious steampunk influences in characters such as Joker, with corkscrews, nuts and bolts. But what yanked at my attention the most was how clear his brush strokes were. You could see the direction of his hand, giving a big sense of motion, even on a static image (in a static pose). Harsh, jagged lines create sharp edges that portray a real sense of evil and hatred, which of course is what the Joker character embodies.

Jen Zee dwells in the US, working with Supergiant Games on their upcoming title Transistor. However, Ms Zee caught my eye when she developed the stunning art of Bastion. Her concepts of The Kid were also riddled with steampunky references (the musket and bellows). The cold colours of the piece reinforce the world of loneliness that The Kid is thrown in to.