Week 9 - Sketch Drill Assignment

In week 9 the tutor ran a drill which involved the whole class sketching three images, which the tutor had chosen, within 30 minutes.

Below are the sketches I made and the reference images:

Image sketch 1

Image sketch 2

Image sketch 3

With each of these image sketches (the two buildings and the portraits) I began by shaping in the image; using basic shapes allow me to get a feel for the flow of the image. I then go through an define the lines, slowly creating the shape before adding any final detail. Unfortunately on all the images I did run out of time and I felt rushed to get a fair bit done on each sketch. 

However, performing these types of exercises really do help me in practicing my drawing skills. 

Blogged by Adam Place on 26th November 2013

Inspirational Model Update - The Profile Sketch

As stated in my Inspirational model schedule here are my profile sketches of my model.

These sketches will really help me when I come to model the inspiration piece as I have a front piece and a side piece. Both sketches will allow me to create the correct shape and design of the character; however the side profile sketch will allow me to model the correct proportions and thickness of the character.

When I started the profile sketch of the character I began by roughing in the general shape (as seen above). I used images from Google of the character 'sack boy' and a little figurine I have to create an accurate sketch.

Once I had done this, I then went back over the sketch, drawing in the detail of the character. Sack boy has a unique texture to him; as the has a fabric/ stitched together look. Looking at the image below will help to illustrate my point :

Here (below) is my more detailed sketch of this character:

As you can see, with the detail I have tried to create the fabric look. I have also drawn in the stitches that hold the different parts of the character together. Whilst drawing in the detail, rather than having the character plain with no expression; I added in 'mean' looking eyebrows. To emulate eyebrows on the sack boy the whole forehead of the character folds and moves; the images below help to visualize the description.

Blogged By Adam Place on 25th November 2013

Week 8 - Inspirational model schedule

In this weeks session we were instructed to create a schedule for the creation process of our inspirational model. This will allow us to keep on track with the product and organise our workflows in order to produce a better, more professional standard final model.

Below are the dates and a brief description of what exactly I am planning on doing:

Tuesday 26th November
Week 1 - Sketches

Here I will have a number of sketches for my inspirational model. The sketches will include different variation or the design and positions of the character. 

All the sketches will be scanned into the computer and posted on this blog, so I can further explain my designs and reasons for why I have chosen that design.

These sketches of the character will allow my to study the shape and layout for when I come to model it. By sketching a complete profile (minimum including the front and side) it will make it easier for me to gain the correct proportions.

Tuesday 3rd December
Week 2 - The Model of the body

By this week I will have the main section of the character modeled; which is the head, neck and body.
The method I am going to use is to start out with a plane and extrude downwards, adding extra edge loops and polys to create the smooth shape

Tuesday 10th December 
Week 3 - Modelling the legs

Here I will have modeled the legs of the character, this section is the section I believe will cause me the most trouble as the little ledge at the bottom of the foot needs to be just right for the toes.
To begin with I will create a basic primitive box, align it up, so that it is in the correct place with reference to the character's body. From this I will then add extra edges and polys which will then allow me to shape the box to form the shape of the leg.

Tuesday 17th December 
Week 4 - Modelling the arms

This week I will begin working on the model for the character's arms. I will use the same process as I used to create the legs for this section. The arm of the 'Sack boy' character follows a very similar design as the Lego characters; where their hands are generally in a fixed 'C' shape.

Week 7.2 - Character sketches 1

To improve our drawing skills and abilities and understand more about how character design works, the tutor recommended doing random character sketches as this will help to analyse a character and gain a better feeling of how to sketch our own characters for future purposes.

Below are my two sketches:

Unfortunately after I scanned my images in and tried to upload them to this blog page the quality was very poor and all the black lines were extremely faded; to fix this problem I loaded the files into Photoshop, applied an adjustment to darken the lines and then I saved them as a JPEG file.

This is the character 'R2D2' .

Whilst I was sat down starting my character sketches, I had Star Wars: Return of the Jedi on in the back ground; whist I was sat there I noticed that this character had a very interesting design.

Whilst studying the character on the telly I managed to create this sketch.












This is the character K-9 from the series 'Doctor Who'

This character was inspired by the 'R2D2' character drawn earlier.

After finishing the star wars character sketch, I though it would be good to sketch another mechanical character.





Blogged by Adam Place on 25th November 2013

Week 7.1 - Building sketch exercise

In the last session with the tutor, he set a little sketching assignment, which involved studying buildings and making a quick sketch to capture their design and structure.

Below are my sketches:

Unfortunately after I scanned my images in and tried to upload them to this blog page the quality was very poor and all the black lines were extremely faded; to fix this problem I loaded the files into Photoshop, applied an adjustment to darken the lines and then I saved them as a JPEG file.

When sketching these buildings I decided to do a bit of research into the building's origins. I did this because I really enjoyed analysing the buildings and looks at their curves and shapes.

For the future, if I see an interesting building I will defiantly consider making a quick street sketch and the research more into it.

This exercise defiantly has sparked my interest in buildings and their designs.

Blogged by Adam Place on 25th November 2013

Week 6 - Photoshop image manipulation drill

Within the week 6 lesson of Visual Studies (for video games) our tutor conducted a drill.
This drill was a miniature assessment so the tutor could assess our skills within the software 'Photoshop' and whether or not we had watched the tutorials he had given us.

This drill consisted of finding an image on the internet and manipulating it to look different, with affected assets. The tutorial that was set to prepare us for this drill was the 'Photoshop homework task' that was set last week; and was also blogged and spoken about last week.

He gave us one hour, within lesson, to complete this task.

Below is my manipulated image that I created in this drill:

These are the raw images that I used to create my fantasy manipulated environment.

This, above, is the main city that I had chosen to manipulate; I chose this because I loved the colours and how the buildings were placed, I believed that I would be able to change the sky for a more futuristic atmospheric effect, and also add extra buildings and objects. 

This image above is the planet that was used to create the futuristic sky; the reason why I was drawn to this planet was because I though the rich redness would stick out when applied to the sky of the main city. This would then allow me to introduce some red sky into the scene. 

This image above is the flying ship that is seen within my scene. As I was editing the image of the city, it started to look like an alien planet with a mysterious feel to it. During this process I noticed the sky looked fairly plain, so my idea was to cut the ship out and use it within my scene. This adds to the effect that the planet's city is alien and futuristic at the same time.

This ship stood out to me because it looks alien but yet low in technology, it doesn't look like something that would be seen in a year 5000 city because it looks basic and organic. I though the ship really suited and flowed with the city's image.

The image below is my final produced image:

I felt relatively happy with the result and believed it had a professional finish; although there are sections that can be improved or changed but I believe that will come with more practice.

Below I have also re added the original city image so that you can see the effects and changed assets I produced during the drill. 

Main city (original image)

This is my manipulated image from the one hour drill.

Blogged by Adam Place on 05th November 2013

Week 5 - Homework task - Photoshop

Within week 5 our tutor set us a homework task to follow a Photoshop tutorial, and try to produce something similar and at a near professional finish.

Below is the link to the tutorial that we have to use for reference:

http://psd.tutsplus.com/tutorials/photo-effects-tutorials/fantasy-city/

Below is a JPEG image of my final piece:

Overall I am fairly pleased with the quality of work, seen as how I don't really have any past Photoshop experience. 

I felt a little unprepared and that the homework task was to difficult for me as I, really, have no talent within Photoshop. However, after spending some time working through, researching and watching tutorials in Photoshop I was able to finish the homework task to a fairly decent level. 

This task has helped me learn, and begin to understand more about Photoshop's editing tools; also this task has helped me learn a new skill inside of Photoshop... 'Layer masks' ... these allow you to edit an image locally; rather than it affecting the whole image. 

Blogged By Adam Place on 2no November 2013