It’s the first of the three 3d projects we’ve got this semester. I’ve been posting so much about visual design that it seems strange to be writing about game production. This project was where we were given a piece of concept art and were to build a model from it. This was the painting we were given:
And this is a render of my model:
I tried to keep things similar to how the concept looked, even though we were allowed to change things. The legs were the trickiest things to do, as they are a fiddly shape. I’m not 100% happy with the texturing though, I think I could have unwrapped the model better and packed the UVWs more efficiently. I also made a little environment, a cave, to put my finished chest in.
After this project, the next one is the trash project. I’m going to try to build this one quickly, so I have time to build the most difficult model, the self portrait.
This week we were off to Bradgate park. We’ve been there the previous years, and it’s always been cold, but this time it was alright weather wise. I got a taxi over, but it was expensive, the driver got lost and I got there late. Had to run up the hill to catch up with everyone else (not a good way to start a Monday morning). So it was the bus back and I’ll get the bus again in the future.
Sketch wise, I could have got a little more. I have the twelve thumbnails, but we spent a lot of time walking around the park and the nearby woods. There was some impressive old slate quarries in these woods, but unfortunately they were extensively fenced off, razor wire and everything. It’s a shame because this cut off the view and I would have liked to have drawn these areas.
The day was a little dull lighting wise, but it got more interesting as they day went on. Some people were down there earlier and saw the sunrise, which must have looked fantastic. We’re allowed to change stuff around in this project, which I probably will do in my final piece so I might mess with the lighting (I’ll post it up after its painted)
Concept artist. Lots of people when they start this course, myself guilty included, wanted this to be their job. But not many people understand the job fully. They see the wonderful paintings that are produced by these artists and want to do the same without realising the process that goes on behind it. The finished products are only usually the things on display, without the mountains of research and planning being viewable to the public.
Concept art is used to show an idea through a visual medium. It needs to convey the right message to the viewer. This is especially difficult; a good piece of concept art shows for example a characters personality or the mood of the scene just by the way they have been painted. Subtle things such as pose, composition, lighting, ad colour help give an impression of what a person or place is like without even saying a word. Good art can tell a story to the viewer.
Behind the finished product, a concept artist has to put in a lot of planning. Skipping out this stage is fatal; lots of people (again guilty) start of a large scale painting without much thought. They just start painting then wonder why it doesn’t turn out right. A key thing to remember is that just because you have spent a lot of time on a painting doesn’t necessarily mean it will be good. This is why planning is important, as you need to sort out tricky things like composition to make a drawing work before you start painting in the detail. This is also why we do prep sketches in visual design, to get us used to planning out our work. The early stages in developing a painting are the most important.
Bringing up composition again, it’s very important to make it strong. Even the most interesting subject can look bland if the painting is composed poorly. In year one we did not spend that much time on composition, we pretty much drew what was in front of us. This year we need to produce drawings that are more dynamic. A good composition leads the eye to the points of interest in the painting. For example this site has lots of examples of compositional rules that work.
For example, the rules of thirds. This is where, if the drawing is split into thirds horizontally and vertically, where the lines meet are the points of interest in the painting. Placing the focal points on these intersections will make the painting more interesting. There are also other rules, but I find this one the easiest to use.
Getting this right is key for producing effective concept art. A concept artist will spend a good amount of time drawing lots of quick sketches to work this out before refining the image. Things such as colour and value are also important in a painting. The eye is usually drawn to the part of the image with the highest contrast. Colour is important for setting the mood of a piece and giving it atmosphere.
Time management is key for getting all these sketches done. For my own time management, I don’t think I’m too bad, although I do waste a bit of time on the internet or just generally faffing around. This year I am trying to invest a lot more time into my work, this year is really key in preparation for the third year.
This week in visual design we went to the New wark Museum to draw the dinosaur bones. This was meant to be a task that we did in year one, but the exhibition was closed last year. I didn’t realise the museum was so big, otherwise I would have liked to have gone before in my own time.
However, it was busy (with lots of kids in so maybe it was half term). This made it difficult to draw, as there was not a lot of room, and there were a lot of us. I managed to stay in the dinosaur exhibition long enough to get my twelve sketches, and I also drew some of the stuffed deer in the animal exhibit. I’m going to have to go back there to draw more of the animals if I get the time.
For the sketches, I painted them with ink, as I liked how this turned out in the last task. I enjoyed doing this task, the bones where fun to draw and it made a change being in out of the cold. As with last week’s task, I’ll post the final piece up once it’s done, until then, here are my sketches
In this task, we were off to Loughborough to draw the old station. I caught the train to their more modern station, and then walked across. For more information on the Central station, here is their website: http://www.gcrailway.co.uk/
The old station was very pretty and was decorated in an old fashioned style. However, there was also another part of the station, were the trains were restored, which I found more interesting. It was less clean, more textured and more industrial. I thought this would make a better painting.
I drew quite lot thumbnails, unlike Abbey Park, as I wanted to do lots of quick little sketches. This was to work for the final piece. I used inks and pens as I like the effect and it’s good for quickly blocking in values.
I started off painting my final piece, but then decided the composition was not very strong. I’m going to post up more info soon, as the computer breakage has put me a little behind on visual design work. I’ve got an old computer on loan from my home, but my tablet won’t work because it doesn’t have the correct drivers installed. I should have this sorted out soon. Also I will start coming to the films and writing about them once this is fixed, I just feel a bit too pressed for time to make them these last weeks.
First week back and our first task in Visual Design was colour studies in Abbey Park. Day one I forgot my watercolours, so I have watercolour and pencil sketches. My final piece is a digital painting. This painting took me a while, as my computer had broken down (and is still broken) and so I was unable to paint my final piece while the labs were closed. Hopefully I’ll be able to catch up on work soon, this has been really annoying and I don’t want to get behind so early on in the year. Anyway, rant over, here are my drawings for this task
