Presentation notes

Slide one: For this project I will be working with Jak again as we found it worked out well in the last project. In our game idea you play as a commander of one of three races all struggling for power over a planet. I will be focusing on the character design for the project. I will be creating an iterative design document showing the development of the three different races within our game idea. This will include character sheets, silhouettes and a concept piece for each of the three races.

Slide 2-3:

·      As it is not my job within the project to come up with the game idea itself all I know is that there are 3 races each one having arrived on a uninhabited planet after a disaster struck the home world. They are all fighting for control of this new world.

·      The three races are humans, a race based off of Japanese mythology and a race based on Native American and Shamanistic influences. Jak told me the base ideas he had for them and then I went away to do some research and brainstorm some ideas.

·      For the humans I didn’t want to go with the generic space soldier look, I wanted to include old style military uniform in there. Mixing the old with the new, old military uniform, but modern weapons and equipment. I wanted them to be different than what you would expect from a science fiction type setting.

·      

    For the shamanistic race I have been looking at human like people but with animal features, more like beast men. The Native Americans always dressed up like animals to do rituals and dances claiming they were calling the animal spirits into themselves. In some beliefs Shaman can change their shape, or send their own spirit into animals. I wanted to capture this with my designs, so I thought about giving them a second form that could be accessed by certain members of the people this would be seen as a very impressive thing among them and would be revered. I chose the wolf as a starting point as they are a symbol of freedom, and are protective of their territory.

·      The Japanese inspired race are meant to be a race that came to earth a long time ago and were the ones that inspired Japanese mythology, they are the real thing that inspired all the demons and monsters. With these creatures I looked at Japanese monsters for inspiration however the plan is to change them to look like they might be the origin of some of them, not necessarily what the Japanese themselves might have seen them as. 

Progress

So far I have looked into possible roles within the industry and what is needed to do them. My area of specialism is 2D character and concept art which is quite a specific role, I have learned that you need to be the best at what you do and stand out from others in order to get where you want. Although you will start at the bottom and might not be doing exactly what you want at first, if you work your way up you might have more of a chance to do something you really enjoy. It was a harsh realisation but in order to get what you want out of life you have to work for it.

I have also been looking at card games, comics and graphic novels for inspiration and have considered them as alternative roles I might like to take up in the future. I was particularly impressed by the artwork on the Magic the Gathering cards and artwork in Tabletop role-play game books. I follow the artwork of some people who produce artwork for Fantasy Flight Games, a company that produces tabletop games and board games, the company hire freelance artist to draw illustrations for their guidebooks.

For project one I have decided to work with Jak Moore again as the setup seemed to work well last time and I was happy with the outcome we produced. This partnership worked well for each of us as we both got the opportunity to focus on our strengths. Our idea is a third person action-strategy-RPG for the home console where the player takes control of one of the commanding officers of one of three different races in a three way war for control of a planet due to an ominous presence threatening their home worlds. It is my job to design the three different races, which we decided would be based off of different cultures so they stood out against each other and were easily distinguishable.

We wanted one of the races to be human with western influences; one of the main inspirations was the, 2002 Science Fiction, TV series Firefly created by Joss Whedon. The show is based far into the future when humans have migrated to a new star system because numbers on earth were too large for the planet to support. They have spread to a series of planets and moons that have been “terra formed” to enable human population, so a lot of the planets have very little technology available to them so they live quite simply making do with what they have, on the other hand other planets have quite advanced technology. The program is a mix of Science Fiction and an old western, a strange combination but works very well. I decided I wanted them to be quite advanced but not all polished and shiny like in the movies, I want them to more realistic, a bit grungy and bashed around. I thought they have just laded on this planet with nothing but what was on their ships and they would have had to make do with what they had, so I want my designs to reflect that.

The other race we wanted to be based off of Edo period Japan, but not humans like the others. We wanted to base them off of the Japanese Oni (demons) some of which are quite monstrous in appearance, as inspiration I also looked at Kabuki theatre particularly the costume and masks they wear. In Kabuki Theatre the actors play out stories about demons and folktales, they wear scary mask, elaborate clothes and brightly coloured makeup. There will be two different sub species in this race, one will be quite feral like the monsters in Japanese mythology while the other will be more refined and elegant as some others are portrayed.

For the third faction in the game we were a bit stuck, neither of us new what we wanted it to be, so Jak set me on the task. During my brainstorming I came up with the idea of having a shamanistic, Native American like race, which are very in tune with nature. I have been looking at creating a race with animal like qualities and abilities, the strongest and most experienced of which can access a beast form changing their bodies to become more powerful. There will be warrior types, rangers, and shaman within this race. The Rangers will act as the armies long-range attackers, using bows and arrows, the Shaman will be the magic users and the warriors will be the hard hitters using melee weapons as their form of attack. All of the races will have a similar layout; there will be different roles to choose from. 

Inspiration

Tetsuya Nomura

Tetsuya Nomura was the first video game artist that I was interested in and was what started my love of concept art. He is one of the lead artists involved in the famous Final Fantasy series; he works mainly on the main titles or numbered titles rather than the spin off games. He also led the art team on the Disney, SquareEnix cross over series Kingdom Hearts.

Final fantasy VIII was the first JRPG I was in contact with, shortly followed by the others in the series. It was Tetsuya Nomura’s characters that I fell in love with and them that got me playing more video games. It is the characters and narrative behind them that draw me to games.

(Squall FFVIII Image from www.creativeuncut.com)

He uses a mixture of traditional and digital media, using final fantasy VIII as an example again, he draws the image in pencil on paper then transfers it to a computer to clean up and colour digitally. This reflects my own work, as I prefer to draw things in pencil before colouring as I find I have more control over a pencil than drawing directly onto a computer using a graphics tablet. This is something that I am practicing and is a skill that I want to be able to do well. However I do like the affect that pencil outline gives to a drawing, I really like the sketchy feel to it.

Tetsuya has two main distinctive styles, his original style is more realistic, that he generally uses for the Final Fantasy titles, but he also has a much more stylised and cartoonlike style that seemed to be developed for Kingdom Hearts, another SquareEnix title. This style was then used again in the Nintendo DS game called The World Ends With You.

(Image sourced at www.creativeuncut.com )

This is and example of a design for Dissidia Final Fantasy, with his designs for this game the proportions are normal and the character is quite detailed. She has quite elaborate clothes and it is gently shaded.

In comparison this is a character from The world Ends With You (2007), this character is a lot more stylised. The outlines are very thick and the colouring is block colour with cell shading. The whole look is a lot more cartoonlike.

Looking at Nomura’s work has made me realise that it is good to have your own distinctive style, as it is what makes you a memorable artist, but also to be able to adapt your artwork to fit other genres and requirements.

(Image sourced from http://twewy.wikia.com/wiki/Shiki_Misaki )

Kimihiko Fujisaka

The first time I saw Fujisaka’s work was when I found a game on the shelf that I liked the look of. As I have said before I am drawn to games by their artwork and while browsing new releases in a small game shop I came across Drakengard 2. Rather than a 3D render of the character in the game, a piece of 2D concept art had been put on the cover, I loved the characters design and decided to give it a go.

When I was in college and specifically started looking into game artwork more seriously and focussing on certain artists I was interested in, it was then came back to Fujisaka’s work and looked at more of his work. 

This is the main character of Drakengard 2, his stance shows that he is a strong character and isn’t afraid to fight.

Nowe from Drakengard 2 image from (www.creativeuncut.com ) 

Kimihiko’s work has improved over the years as shown in his latest title The Last Story (2011). His characters have a lot more detail to their design however some features are very similar. Most of his designs have over sized strange shaped swords and large armour pieces that are generally only on one side or limb.

You can see the similarities in the designs looking specifically at the facial features and clothing designs. However you can clearly see that there is a lot more detail especially in the armour. I like the soft shading used when colouring the characters, this is something I would like to try with my own artwork, as I am not that confident with digital painting yet and tend to stick with quite simple shading. By working more on the shading it will give my work a more polished and professional finish.

Zael/ Elza from The Last Story image from (www.creativeuncut.com )

Magic the gathering

I have only recently been introduced to Magic the Gathering (Wizards of the coast), as card games have never interested me that much. However recently I have had more exposure to it and have began to collect and play on a small scale. The artwork on the cards is beautiful and diverse, as the creatures have found a wide range of talented fantasy artists to create card designs for them.

I have picked a few artist to research that have done artwork that is relevant, and good reference for one of the designs I’m working on for my project.

Mike Sass

This card is from one of the new set of Magic the Gathering cards. It is a double-sided card that flips when curtain situations are met during the game.

    

Mondronen Shaman (http://www.magicspoiler.com/dark-ascension-art/) 

I really like the lighting in this piece, the fire creating light from behind her makes the character stand out, and gives the picture and overall dramatic feel. 

Tovelar’s Magehunter (http://www.magicspoiler.com/dark-ascension-art/) 

I really like how the two cards tie in together as you can see the same building in the background signifying that she has just transformed.

I have chosen to look at werewolves in particular because one of the races within the game idea are quite in tune with nature and shamanistic. I came up with an idea that the warrior class of this race’s would be able to tap into a beast form making them stronger and faster. Wolves are quite often used in shamanistic or druidic beliefs and are seen as a symbol for wilderness and nature. 

David Palumbo

I chose this card and artist, again, because of the lighting. The moon is obviously a key feature in this card shown by how he is looking over his shoulder at the moon and his one side is brightly lit up by it. A lot of the detail on the character is only visible because of the highlights that outline it in white.

Afflicted Deserter (http://www.magicspoiler.com/dark-ascension-art/)

Werewolf Ransacker (http://www.magicspoiler.com/dark-ascension-art/)

With the cards flip side the brightness of the moon is almost blinding in comparison to the light coming from the fire. The werewolf in the foreground is practically a silhouette standing out well against the light background, because the figure itself is so dark the glowing eyes really draw your attention. 


Lighting is something that i want to work on with my own work as it adds dynamic and emotion to a piece of artwork. 

Industry Roles

2D concept artist.

Concept artist have to work closely with other members of a team. This team could include other concept artists working on different sections of the artwork such as environments, 3D artists etc. They also have to work with the art director and the storywriters for direction for their work. They create drawings from the base idea and overall design of the film or game, which has been set by the production team and art directors. Concept artists have to produce high quality images quickly to meet short deadlines, they are also expected to create a series of quick sketches to show the team, this is to show them that what was discussed has been used. At this stage if anything is wrong or needs to be changed it won’t affect any work they might have already done, they simply have to go back to the drawing board and produce another series of sketches to the new specifications set. It is their job to pad out the visuals for the project to show a clear example of what the final concept for a game. Article, entitled ‘Getting a job as a games artist’ sourced from (www.cybergooch.com/tutorials/pages/gamejob/getting_a_games_art_job.htm )