2D Character Assignment

For this assignment we were given the choice of either taking a 2D, 3D or Jack of All Trades brief, for our own personal project. I have chosen to go down the 2D route as I feel this is where my strongest abilities lie and also where I have the most interest.

Once reviewing the brief I then began to think about what sort of concept set I would create for this project, I decided on going with character/creature as I am already doing a set of concepts for the group project. I then began to look into character concepts to start coming up with a rough theme for my own set of concepts. After much research I finally decided on creating a robotic character/creature  as I this will give me the most freedom in my concepts and really allow me to go wild with silhouette style and colours to bring the concepts to life.

I firstly began the project by creating a visual reference board of robotic character/creature concepts already out there to start getting some inspiration for my own project. From my visual board I have decided on the idea of creating a more creature style concepts and vary away from the human form as I believe this will give me the most creative freedom to play around with shapes and colours. The next stage is to begin planning the back story of the character before moving onto initial sketches.

Robot Visual Board

I then started on creating a one sheet for my character concept. After referring back to my visual board I decided I liked the top right three the best and decided to base my own character on the small robot style. I firstly began by thinking about the purpose of the small robot and this helped me create the backstory of belonging to a child, hence the link to being small. I then began by thinking about the personality, likes, dislikes etc to help bring the character idea to life. I then decided on a name thinking about technical objects and terms and decided on the final name of 'Gigabit'. I also included some reference images of small robot concepts on this rough draft of the one sheet, which will later be replaced with my own sketches of the character. Overall I am really pleased with this idea for my character and am really excited to begin concepting the character. 

Gigabit One Sheet

Robot Studies

The next stage in the project was to start getting down some rough silhouettes for 'Gigabit' to start getting a feel for what I wanted my robot to look like. I firstly began by trying out a sheet of a variety of different silhouettes for the character and then took three forward and duplicated them, trying out variations of each silhouette, by making small changes to try and come up with a final design. After creating this sheet I am still not happy with any of my silhouette designs, so I'm going to continue creating silhouettes until I find one that will be interesting enough to work up. After revisiting my silhouette pages, I decided I liked the head on the silhouette (Last, Top Row. Variations Page) but did not like the rest of the body, after trying to combine different parts of silhouettes together and still not liking the outcome, I then began to think about the head I liked and what each part could be. I decided on the idea of using the points as big ears to account for the ability of super hearing, and then came up with the idea of using a fennec fox and dropping the character onto 4 legs and creating a fennec fox robotic style character. I will now begin creating a page of silhouettes for this character and then take this forward to start working up.

Silhouettes Page One

Silhouettes Variations

Combining Parts of Silhouettes

Fennec Fox Visual Board

Fennec Fox Silhouettes

Fennec Fox Silhouette Workups

Fennec Fox Rough Sketches

After creating some rough sketches and deciding on my overall design for 'Gigabit', I then decided the best course of action would be to model a low poly version of him and then z-brush this before taking screenshots and then painting over these for the model sheet, as for me this will be the quickest and most effective way to produce proportionate drawings. To start this process I first started by getting together some low poly model references, to start looking at meshes and structure.

Low Poly Model References



After consulting the lectures I decided the low poly method for my fox would not work and I also needed to complete some anatomy studies before progressing forwards to better understand how the joints work on the fox and how the design needed to change slightly to allow movement. I firstly started by gathering together some images of both foxes and other animals and then copied and completed some anatomy studies from these before moving onto creating my own fennec fox study from basic movement structure to full skeleton and muscle structure and then my re-designed fox on top of this. By completing this set of exercises it allowed me to understand how the animal works and moves and how my original design was flawed and would not work practically with basic movement. I am now much happier with my new design and will move forward to the modelling stage to help with the final modelling sheet. 

Anatomy Visual Board

Anatomy Studies

Fennec Fox Build up Studies

After completing my reworked design I then began the modelling process, again after consulting lectures, I decided the best method would be to create my fennec fox in parts and model each part simply in Maya and then take these parts in z-brush, add detail and put together to create my final model before taking screenshots back into Photoshop to work up for the final model sheet and posed concept. However after trying this method I found it easier to model a skeleton in Maya and then build parts and duplicate across whilst scaling and rotating to cover the skeleton and create the final model. I then took this model into ZBrush and added details such as screws and wires to bring the fox to life and then took screenshots ready for the model sheet paint overs and the posed paint over.

Fox Skeleton - Backbone

Fox Skeleton - Ribs Added

Fox Skeleton - Hind Leg Added

Fox Skeleton - Hind Legs in Place

Fox Skeleton - All Legs Added

Fox Skeleton - Final Base

Fox Skeleton - Basic Plating Added

Fox Skeleton - Back Plates Added

Fox Skeleton - Ears to Finish

Fox Work up - Front View

Fox Work up - Side View

Fox Work up - Posed View

The next stage in the process now I have a lit and worked up model is to take these screenshots into Photoshop and use the paint over method to create both my model sheet and my posed view of the final character. In this stage I will add colours and final textures to really bring the character to life and create my final model sheet and posed views.

Final Fox Render - Front View

Final Fox Render - Side View

Final Fox Render - Model Sheet

Final Fox Render - Posed View

Final Fox Render - Posed With Background

Overall I have found this project both challenging and interesting. Coming up with my own concept and having free reign to concept whatever I wanted was fun and gave me creative freedom to make something unique. I found the modelling part of the project challenging as the concept was both hard surface and organic modelling which was a challenge, however I am very pleased with the final outcome and by doing the modelling side of the project it made the model sheet and posed view much easier to complete. If I had more time on the project I would have created some more development work and played around with the character a bit more and probably have designed some inner workings for him, however overall I am very pleased with the final outcome. 

Group Game - Eden

For the spring term we have been set the assignment of creating another group game. However the difference with this term we were given the opportunity to chose our own groups and set our own brief. For this assignment I am working within a team of four including: myself, Ryan, Chris and Maciek and I have been assigned the role of Team Leader/Concept Artist. Within the group I am working alongside Maciek to create concepts and sharing the workload whilst Ryan and Chris work together on the 3D side creating models and textures.

After brainstorming through ideas our group came up with the idea of creating a 3D walking simulator style game with a realistic art style, as none of us want to do solid coding. Within this walking simulator we have decided on the idea of creating a time period based game using time travel methods, in which the player will spawn in a main hub room and then complete a task consisting of making a choice, in each room which will each individually be based on a period of history. We have chosen to make a caveman room, Roman room, world war room, futuristic room and the main hub room, along with both a positive and negative outcome for the final game. Within the game we decided to use the idea of the player not knowing what choices they are making, and depending on the choices made these will affect the final outcome of the environment. We also decided that as a visual indicator throughout we would use the idea of a bonsai tree within the hub room which would be affected by the choices made throughout the game, an example is: if a positive choice is made the bonsai tree will start to bloom and grow and if a negative choice is made the bonsai tree will wilt and begin to die.

The first stage in the group project after deciding on the game idea and group roles was to start working up a rough one sheet to present our game idea. The next step was then for all members of the group to create visual boards for each room to start getting some rough ideas for the look of the game. Below is a rough mock up of the one sheet in the first stages and also visual boards for rooms.

Game Idea Planning

Game Idea Planning

Game Idea Planning

Rough One Sheet

'Apocalypse' Ending Visual Board

Cave Man Room Visual Board

'Eden' Ending Visual Board

Futuristic Room Visual Board

Main Hub Room Visual Board

Roman Room Visual Board

World War Room Visual Board

After we had presented the idea and had the go ahead by the lecturers we then went away and produced individual rough work, consisting of myself and Maciek creating rough concepts and floor plans for the various rooms within the game and then Ryan and Chris creating rough grey box models of these concepts. Below is some of my first rough sketches and floor plans for the cave man room, futuristic room and the good and bad ending in the game.

Hub Room Rough Sketches

Apocalypse Ending Rough Sketches

Apocalypse Ending Rough Sketches

Eden Ending Rough Sketches

                             

Negative 'Apocalypse' Ending Rough Concept

Cave Man Room Rough Concept

Positive 'Eden' Ending Rough Concept

Positive 'Eden' Ending Rough Concept Colour

Futuristic Room Rough Concept

Futuristic Room Floor Plan

HAB Floor Plan

After bringing back these images to the group and reviewing everyone's work and deciding on the general direction the game was heading towards, I then went away and began working up some of these rough concepts using the grey box models and using a combination of the paint over and photo bashing techniques. The first room I started with was the cave man room, I firstly began by taking some screenshots from the rough grey box models and then taking this into Photoshop creating rough line work over the top and then started by picking and choosing photographs and taking these into Photoshop and using the photo bashing technique to create two different viewpoints of the cave man room. Overall for the first set of worked up concepts I am really pleased with these concepts as they convey the sense of space in the room and the general gist of it being inside a cave with a camp fire and cave paintings to create a typical 'caveman' style scene. After looking back over my cave man concepts and reviewing with lectures, I then revisited the concepts and played around with some colour layers to better present the lighting within the room. I will now continue working up my other concepts using the same techniques to create the futuristic room, and both the 'Eden' ending and the 'Apocalypse' ending.

Cave Man Room Worked Up Concept ( View point one)

Cave Man Room Worked Up Concept ( View point two)

Cave Man Room Work Up Lighting (View point one)

Cave Man Room Work Up Lighting (View point two)

Futuristic Room Work Up (View point one)

Futuristic Room Work Up (View point two)

Futuristic Room Basic Work up

Futuristic Room Revised Work up (View One)

Futuristic Room Revised Work up (View Two)

Futuristic Room Corridor Work Up

Eden Ending Work up

Apocolypse Ending Work up

After working up my initial concepts into finished pieces using the method stated above I then also began working on additional documentation, sound design and other art documents needed for the group. The next stage in the group project is to help with texturing to expand my skills and work for the project along with helping with the overall art design of the game. I also worked on creating a menu design for the final game and after coming up with three rough thumbnails and using a vote system within the group to decide on the final one, I went with the second design, using the idea of a hologram overlay, over the game. The button design is based on a 'honeycomb' shape and matches the same colour as the other holograms in the game and also portrays a futuristic look to match the rest of the game. Also by using this shape the buttons can be linked together in multiple structures to create interesting menu designs. 

Colour Palettes for each room

Hologram Grid 

Team Logo for Documentation

Rough Menu Thumbnail Designs

Final Menu Designs

Overall I am really pleased with my work within this group project as I feel as though I have successfully lead the team and art direction of the final game to create an unique concept. My concept work has also played a big part in defining the overall look for the game and I am really pleased with the final game outcome.