Its just like being back in Uni...
I've been back in Middlesbrough since Monday for the annual
Animex Festival for the lectures and workshops from a whole bunch of really cool people who've made and worked on really cool stuff. From the art directors of Epic Games, Ninja Theory and Atomhawk to artists from other companies like Doublefine, Valve, to technicians and VFX specialist studios such as Framestore, The Mill and Method Studios...It's been a busy week!
One of the best things about the week is that its incredibly inspiring, especially just after maybe becoming a little unproductive due to the holiday spirit and the new years festivities. I have no real professional interest in becoming a matte painter or a cgi/VFX/3D animation artist but its very interesting to see how they achieved various effects, problems they encountered and how they overcame them.
Four days of this week have been solidly packed (9.30am -5pm) with talks on a wide range of topics such as filming a documentary on Dota, rigging a semi-realistic 3D Paddington Bear model for the recent film, the art of Ninja Theory's Alesandro Taini, an overview on methods for a Producer on a Videogame team, how to give and receive efficient artistic feedback, how Groot was animated for Guardians of the Galaxy, how to create a character's personality though writing before approaching the appearance, Character visual design on Big Hero 6, and practical game design through the creation of Alien: Isolation, creating the sets and the step by step creation of each frame in Studio Laika's Coraline, Paranorman and Boxtrolls, Also the concept art and aesthetic direction of Guardians of the Galaxy from Atomhawk. (To name just a few!)
A delicious side effect of being asked to sit in one space for several hours at a time, was that I could draw in my sketchbook while listening to (often incomprehensible) terms and attempted explanations about motion tracking and facial rigging. 20 pages of sketches which I will scan and upload when I get home next week, though for now here are some low quality photos from my phone.
On Wednesday morning I attended a workshop in creating concept art environments from Dave Paget, I learned a new workflow for early thumbnail generation which I am very grateful for! I didn't resolve the image during the class, as it was only a half day and most of the class was the explanation and demo.
The lower one is just quickly carved out with the lasso tool, and top is painted over a little for more detail. I still like the bottom one more though.
The evenings saw us taking to the bar in the student's union for networking and portfolio reviews with all of the speakers from that day. The response to my work was pretty positive, but I did get some excellent criticism also, due to the various expectations and requirements of the people who I asked.
But I love walking simulators! :D
I was able to think a bit about a plan that I have for a possible personal project, where I teach myself enough script writing in Unity and Blender to create a 3D environment based on my sketchbook and print style. I'm currently playing with a lot of ideas, though I'm almost certainly thinking far too complicated for my current skillset;
- initially black & white with simple exploration as the only real objective
- First person 3D environment, mouse controlled camera, perhaps a webplayer unity or dl
- Graphical style evolution as you explore - Evoland but with art process- start with sketchbook, end up in a rendered painting environment
- Subtle narrative expressed through the atmosphere and key colours/music, perhaps ingame text
- Swords & Sworcery kind of exposition - less words more imagination
- Similar kind of experience to non-games/walking simulators Dear Esther, Gone Home, The Stanley Parable, Leviathan,
- environment develops as you explore, or maybe through a collectible/chest?
- feels like keaton henson/Mogwai/Explosions in the Sky - bleak/contemplative/
- the line drawing AE test should be how it starts - black screen, white screen, lines draw themselves onto the level shape from the camera starting position and transition quietly into the actual game with no indication that it has begun,
- It could be quite interesting to create the textures through printing, scan them and apply them digitally for a papery look
Now as cool as much of that sounds to me, I don't have any game making experience, I don't know how long it will take me, I can't texture or model (yet) and I don't have any money to fund it (though, if I do it all myself it'll be free right? haha who knows!)
Printmaking catch-up
Now for a print update, since while this blog has remained un-updated, I've been quite busy at the print workshop in Belfast.
I drew, etched and created a 10 print edition of the Captain Marvel lithograph and then painted over in watercolor to create a varied edition. Its kind of annoying that you can't get very much cool merch for Carol like you can for the other Avengers :( But if you'd like one of these prints for your own, they're available on my
Etsy!
I've drawn and printed my 2nd Lithograph, Vigil (the design from the previous post) and unfortunately, I was unable to edition it as I left too much white spirits on the surface and I lost a section of the design. So I had a bit of fun with bleeds and washes on the 3 "error" prints.
Digital scrapbook - This year so far in Photoshop
Guild Wars 2 fanart
illustration idea
Self portrait
more Guild Wars 2 fanart (paintover)
And a bunch more things from my tumblr scribble tag!
Thanks for reading this far, and if anyone reading this has any suggestions for resources to learn C++/C# (or even recommendations on where I should get started on the whole coding thing, I would appreciate it!)
-Sam
