Digital Painting - Lesson 1...

This was my first attempt using a graphics tablet and at first i wasn't too sure about it, mainly because i didn't know what i was doing. But once Phil showed me some different techniques and tools to use, i started to get get used to it. I was just experimenting really, getting used to using the pen and trying out different brushes and sizes. In the end, after restarting my original attempt which was rubbish, i developed a fantasy scene using various colours which resembles a forest with a fire emerging. i wasn't expecting the most brilliant thing ever, but i was really impressed with what can be done using the graphics tablet and i feel it would be a grea investment to buy one, eneabling my to progress and develop my skills further.

H.G. Wells - The First Men in the Moon...

When I first got folder one and saw my source material, my instant reaction was WTF! i wasn't too sure what the book was about or the films, but for some reason it didn't seem like a great choice to have. Before I started reading my three excerpts, i decided i would look into the novel and films, so that i had a better idea about what i had to work with. Fortunately, in my BTEC we had done units where we had to work on projects that we usually wouldn't be interested in, so even if i wasn't happy with what i got, i already knew that i would just have to get on with it and make the most of what i got. Besides, Phil must has chosen these novels for a reason. Once i read into the story i was a bit happier with what i could produce. there were several different enviroments and landscapes that could be used and the text from the excerpts was quite descriptive, giving a great insight into how i could create my concepts. i also felt it was a benefit that there wasn't much concept art for my source material, because the films were quite old, compared to the likes of The Lost World and The Never Ending Story. This will give me more freedom of my imagination and means i won't be stuck following certain codes and conventions that have already been used. Overall, i am fairly happy with this project and i am really excited about designing the concept art and learning digital painting skills on the graphics tablets.

From Text to Maya...

Yesterday, Simon Holland gave us a great presentation on the design pipeline and how we should set about designing our concept art. Looking at his work was a great inspiration to see what can be produced when the graphics tablet is in the right hands. i particularly liked the way he showed us the processes he used to get 'from text to Maya.' it was a great insight into the process i should use to get to my final 3 concept designs. After seeing some of the work he has produced, i am really excited about using the graphics tablets to see what my work will look like, although i can't imagine they're that easy use.

Spaghetti on Toast...

Whilst watching Metropolis, i had the sudden urge for spaghetti on toast. unfortunately i had to wait til after the life drawing class was over. but once i got home, the beans on toast definitely lived up ton my expectations, more so than the film... YUMMY!!!

Metropolis...

It was clear to see how Metropolis influenced and layed out, the codes and conventions for the Sci-Fi genre, in film. it's got everything, the machines, futuristic setting and technology. But, the film itself didn't live up to my expectations, mainly because of all the hype around how groundbreaking it was. i found the narrative and storyline quite hard to follow in parts, and the pace was slowed down by the constant titles, which where also had inconsistent pace. some of the titles were on for too long, whilst others were way to quick to read. the one thing i did like was the mise-en-scene as a whole, a lot of the stuff you see on shot, for its time, was extremely high budget. i'm glad i finally got to see this film though, because i've never really got round to watchin it, but i love Sci-Fi films and have always wanted to see how influential this film was. It possibly would have been better if i had watched it when it was first made, because then i wouldn't have been comparing it to films that done things better.

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari...

I haven't seen many silent flms before, as they have never realy interested me. bt, i can accept that many of the codes and conventions we see in film today, have derived from these films. therefore, it is great to watch these films, because we owe it to them. I quite enjoyed this film, which was surprising, because it didn't think inwas going to. i liked the way it was quite surreal. although, the acting was pretty poor and some of the narrative was hard to follow, this may have been because we have become so used to sound telling us everything. Reading into the story behind the making of "Dr. Caligari" was interesting too, and showed how, not only was it influenticial as a horror film and film noir, but it was an earlier example of writers and painters, cameramen, actors, directors collaborating. this would create a new form of artistic expressionism. although, we can criticise and humour the film in our post-modern era, ruled by CGI and VFX, it is clear that these films were the cause of our much loved fims today, in terms of narrative and look.

Unit 2... Space...

I'm really excited about this unit because it's definitely something that has always interested me. i always like looking at pictures and finding out how films were made, so concept art is definitely my kind of thing. On my way back home, on Friday evening, i stopped in WH Smiths whilst waiting for the train. i decided to see if i could find any VFX or concept art magazines to get some names of artists from. i managed to find one VFX and concept art magazine, so i copied all of the names from the plastic cover onto my phone. once i got on the train, i began to check out some of these artists on my laptop. unfortunately, i found that mobile broadband isn't so mobile unless your in London. but, between losing connections and reconnecting all the way home, i was able to look at a few different artists. Two artists who particularly interested me were Stanley Lau and Andrew Jones. i will certainly be looking at a lot more artists this week, helping me preapare some ideas.

My Self-Portrait...

Overall, I was fairly pleased with my final self-portrait as the whole point was uniqueness, and I didn’t feel like anyone’s work was similar to mine. But, like I said in the presentation, I still think its major downfalls are that I got too sucked into the world of Augor and only I could interpret and comprehend the true meaning of the image, as its something personal. The parts I was particularly happy with were the cyborg lizard because I feel that it looks pretty cool. I also feel the composition and style fit the purpose of the portrait and follow the codes and conventions, I established in my research, well. I was also happy with the way I composited myself into the image, blending it into the shadows I created. Although, I think it was hard to tell that I was actually in the image, I didn’t see this as an issue because I knew I was in the image, but from a viewers point of view, this would need to be something that was changed so it was clearer to see. I’m not too sure what I would change to improve this self-portrait, thought, because I feel it fulfils its purpose, but I think I would start from scratch and create a whole new idea if I had to redo the unit. Although, this could result in an image that wasn’t as unique, which would contradict my original intentions and possibly wouldn’t reflect my personality as well.

Idea Development... The Robots...

These were the designs for my robots. originally i was going to create different creatures, but i stuck with a Sci-fi theme because it relates to me and it's somethin i'm really interested in. i was fairly happy with these designs but i think they could have looked a lot better had i spent a bit more time on them.

Life Drawing... Lesson 4

This week i really struggled, i don't know if it was boiling hot room or the fact that i feel like i'm at a dead end with this life drawing shizzle. but i felt like i was losing the wil to live. still, i need to keep at it if i'm going to get anything good from these lessons.

Life Drawing... Lesson 3

It was a little bit different drawing a man compared to the woman, but this didn't have much effect on my poor proportion and people drawing skills. although i feel i am improving slightly. but it's going to take a lot more than 6 weeks for me to get any good at it.

Life Drawing... Lesson 2

After learning some important skills in the previous week, i felt i had slightly improved but i think proportions and people are always going to be a sore point for me. i will continue to learn and develop throughout the 6 weeks, and the outcome should be a beneficial one.

Life Drawing... Lesson 1

This was my first attempt at life drawing as i had never done it before. but i already knew i was poor at drawing people and i've always struggled with proportion, so i felt it was a great opportunity to learn important skills.

Maya Tutorials... Detectives Desk... The Last one!!!

After getting into a spot of bother about whether or not i would finish the tutorials in time, i finally managed to complete all of them. it does feel good and i felt i have a learnt a lot suprisingly. even though some of them have been a bit of a chore, they have given me a great insight into Maya... thankyou Alan... keep em coming!

Idea Development... The Cyborg Lizard...

I used a few pages to design the rest of the body parts for the cyborg lizard. my idea was that it would be part lizard part robot, almost making it alien like. i started off by looking at the hands and how they would be positioned when wrapped around the buildings. it was important to consider the position of the hands so that i could figure out how i should draw them and which way they should be facing. i then developed a basic look for each hand (robotic and lizard) based on the positioning i had previously looked into. i added some colour to these designs and i was pretty pleased with the end result, so i decided to draw some bigger versions to scan into Photoshop. i then went onto the development of the arms. i started with a muscular structure for the lizard arm and a more metallc structure for the robotic arm. once i was happy with the basic structure of each arm, i formed an outline using a black graphics pen and then used the green and yellow for a lizard texture. i used a normal pencil for the robotic arm to shade it and create a shine. finaly, i went over he outline and made t thicker. i particularly liked the look of the lizard arm because i felt i resembled lizard skin well. the body for the lizard was something i struggled to design as i wasn't too sure how i wanted it to look. the design for the robotic plate was pretty simple, but the lizard part was proving a lot more trouble. i came up with a design in the end, usingusing the same colour pattern, but im still not particularly with the final design. overall, i was fairly happy with the design for my cyborg lizard, and with some good compositing it should provide a great visual aesthetic in Photoshop.

Maya Tutorials... Poker Chips...

The poker chips went fine, except, for some reason, the numbers didn't map onto them. the problems i though i waas going to have came out fine and overall i didn't really have any issues with this one.

Maya Tutorials... The Bottle...

I managed to complete this tutorial alright, although it was rather confusing and long to do. I didn't come across too many problems, just struggle to comprehend what was going on, but i got there eventually.

Maya Tutorials... Common Shaders...

This tutorial didn't take me too long to complete, and the texture were simple to do. but it was good to learn how to create common shaders so i know how to use them when i need them.

Maya Tutorials... The fan...

The fan... what can i say... an absolute nightmare, but i got there eventually. problem after problem after problem and a few crashes down the line, i got here and it feels good. this has by far been the most hardest and tormenting tutorial, but hopefully i will learn a lot of lessons from this one.

Maya Tutorials... Rocket In Space...

This tutorial was a lot quicker than the robot walk and i didn't come across any problems at all. These two animation tutorials were a great reminder of how to use keyframes.

Maya Tutorials... Robot Walk...

I found the robot walk fairly easy to complete, previous experience with Cinema 4D meant that i wasn't to baffled by keyframes. It is good to know these are pretty much the same, which means i'll hopefully be able to pick things up quicker.

Idea Development... Page 5...

This page shows the idea i had for my citycape. it came from an image i found on gogle images, where a robot was breaking through a city. i preferred this idea to my original basic design because i feel it will give the image more depth. i also feel it will be easier to composite the giant lizard with. i think the cityscape will look better if i created and filled the shapes in Photoshop. i feel different shades of grey with bright yellow and white windows will give it that comic book style. i will use the straight lines i created originally, with the yellow, orange and red fill, to create the effect of an explosion and destruction.

Idea Development... Page 4...

This page shows how i looked into different desins for my helicopter. i firstly looked at some carton-like images and tried drawing one. i found it too child-like for what i wanted, so went for somethng more realistic. the first attempt at a more realistic helicopter didn't go too well, but the second attempt was a lot better. although aded some detail to the helicopter, i feel it will suit the style of my self-portrait better if it was filled black.

Idea Development... Page 3...

This page shows how i looked into different facial expressions for the photography in my self-portrait. i felt this was important to consider because different facial expressions can make the self-portrait more effecve and meaningful. i particularly liked the idea of no facial expression, because it leaves the viewers to guess how the person feels. this idea came when i was doing the poses, and i felt it was hard to tell what each pose resembled, without any expression.

Idea Development... Page 2...

I then looked at the different poses i could use when doing the photography for my self-portrait. i wanted to create a look we could associate with a struggle. i started off by looking at different poses from google images, then i chose the most appropriate ones for what i wanted. Afterwards, i added three words, which gave a whole different, meaning to each pose. i feel that the point of each pose would change depending on the word i chose to put next to it. this is probably because there is no expressionand therefore, we struggle to comprehend the meaning of the pose.

Idea Development... Page 1...

I started off by drawing and doodling different ideas on one page. This helped me to develop the idea for my self-portrait. I originally started drawing a tail with some slime on it, but it looked more like a snakes eye. so, i worked on the creature and developed it into a lizards head, which was also half cyborg. I then drew some more creatures and gave them the colours that i felt best suited them. I also did a quick design for an idea of my cityscape. i wanted to make sure everything was from within the mind.

My Final Idea...

My final idea came from all of my research and previous brainstorms. The idea itself, was inspired by Augor’s work, along with the Kid Cudi and Master Shortie photo shoots. I like these creative ideas because they can show the personality well. My idea is to create a world from within my mind that can also represent the world we live in today. I will use a cityscape consumed by evil and destruction, whilst I will be struggling to cope with the evil. This will represent the struggle of the real world, but also show how the mind can often take control. I’m hoping that, although the self-portrait will seem quite creative and fun, you will still be able to see the deeper meaning behind the image. I think it will represent my personality extremely well as it shows a struggle but the image seems to be quite fun and not depressing in any way. This shows how I deal with my problems and worries. I will also make my self seem quite small and hidden, as though I am hiding from my problems. I hope that this self-portrait will present a different way of portraying someone, as I didn’t want to start using ideas that had already been done, I wanted to try something new. Although I have identified some of the deeper meaning within the self-portrait, I feel that even more ideas will arise to consume my identity within the image.

Marvel Research...

When I was looking for a certain style to adhere to, I immediately thought of the comic book style. I’ve always been fascinated by Marvel and DC comics, whether it was the comic books themselves or the TV series and films. I’ve always liked the way they represent the real world, but with the inclusion of unimaginable superheroes and villains. This gave me an insight into the type of style I was going for, as I wanted to create a separate environment in my mind, that wasn’t too dissimilar from the world we live. I feel comic books like Spiderman, Batman and Superman along with the rest of the well known superheroes, always portray a reasonable connection between reality and the comic book universe. Therefore, I wanted to incorporate the comic book style into my self-portrait. Analysing their, style was pretty simple as they all had the same commonalities, Thick black outlines, thinner lines in the middle and bright colours to make the characters stand out. The buildings were just basic block shapes, filled with different tones and shades. I liked the visual aesthetic of these designs because they were basic but clear to see. I also felt that the more important parts of an image had thicker outlines, causing them to stand out more. Using these ideas will be helpful during by character and environment design, as I will have certain conventions to cohere to.

Augor Research... one word... AMAZING!!!

I’ve been interested in Augor’s work ever since I saw the work he did with Kid Cudi for the Complex Magazine shoot. I’ve always been interested in the realm of street art and graffiti, especially the work of Banksy. But Augor seems to be doing something different, I particularly like the way his work is so cartoon like and completely imaginative. His illustration skills enable him to sketch and design ideas at a high level, along with a great skill for turning these ideas into actually graffiti. I’m particularly looking forward to his book, called “so called artist” due just before Christmas. Looking at his sketch book has been a great influence for me, as I really enjoy research and producing work, but I often find it hard during the idea development process. Looking at this type of work will continue to inspire, as it shows how he can draw from his imagination. This is something I often struggle with, as I prefer to draw from something I have seen and build it up. But this is definitely a skill I would like to develop.

Looking at some examples of work from his sketchbook, it’s clear to see that his thought process is unique. I like the way he crosses the boundaries of imagination to produce some surreal pieces of work. I can’t say that they make sense or even have a specific point to them, but the visual aesthetic alone is just amazing. He produces a lot of word art too, often producing graffiti and street art from the 5 letters of his name (Augor). This work is interesting too, but I prefer his artwork which portrays people and creatures from the surreal world within his mind. This is definitely an important part of concept design, in the industry, these days because there are so many great artists, that the industry needs new unique designers. It’s also really interesting to see how his sketchbook work reflects in his street art.

Check Him Out... http://www.augsdraws.com/