Game Art Design Year 2 - Concept Devlopment

Was at this point struggling for ideas inwhich to take my robot design further, So I was just searching the internet one day checking out some games that were gonna be released before christmas, and I remembered the game Donkey Kong country returns which was to be a released soon. Im a huge fan of the Donkey Kong country franchise and I just thought the idea of interpreting the monkey into the robot was a good idea, as I believed would apeal to all ages and could make the robot act like a monkey and be very light hearted, humerous and imature which could be a good apeal to all ages. I also like the game setting of having a monkey kind of robot in the jungle which could be a great contrast, and potentially camouflage him, I think one of the next steps forward is to create a storyline which could influence the aesthetics of my character.



Around the same time I watched the trailer for the new film Megamind, and one of the characters stuck out for me was this robot that was been controled by this fish in a bowl as you see below. It then influenced me to come up with an idea of maybe a monkey, potentially conroling the robot through some source as to which im not sure. Maybay having the monkey ride somewhere on the robot been able to control it or been able to control it though brain signals.



My previous point of having the monkey controling the robot also lead me onto th idea of something similar to Wallace and Gromit The Wrong trousers, which im sure everyone is aware of, but having a similar concept of maybe the monkey controling the robot through a remote.



I was then told to come up with a storyline for the character as that would help me design the aesthertics, so I came up with this rougth outline that this kind of crazy monkey got fed up of not been able to find enougth bannanas on the island, which was inhabited with other monkeys. So he came up with this idea of designing a robot in his hideout, which is like a secret labartory hidden in the jungle and he uses his inventioon to collect all the bannanas and the other monkeys are out to stop him. Not the most creative stroyline but its easy to understand and would apeal to the target audience.

Heres a Side,front and back view of my character design.



Heres the design for my character which Im quite pleased with, Ill just talk to you a bit about the design. Firstly I gave the robot really large shoes for two reasons, one is to decrease the potential for falling over in the jungle, as its a very folliage place and easy to trip over vines so this should prevent the chance of that happening. The other reason is that I have equipped him with a Jet pack for obviously reaching those bannan's which are high up in the top of the trees, and he can control the flight through is shoes aswell to help with steering. I purposely gave it a kind of safe like body / chest area as I thought that would be great place to keep the banana's rhich are collected on the island, and could be a great thing to interact with for the second part of the brief. Ive mentioned a bit about the jetpack which will be located on his back. The purpose of the hands is so when the robot is in mid air, the hands will expand to collect the banana's from the tree. The texturing of a good proportion of the robot will be in camouflaged, to hide away from the rest of the inhabits on the islands. There a few of the main features on the robot. Overal im very pleased with my idea and think its a great concept to take forward on to maya.



Heres some finished concept art which I did using adobe illustator, I also included the monkey in this concept, I just wanted it to be a normal looking monkey and look no different to the rest on the island, obviously his intelectual powers are superior but apart from that he just looks like an average monkey, Im really pleased with the way the finished concept art looked.

Game Art Design Year 2 - Research

As we have to model the character and to be honest Maya is not a strong area of mine, I have a feel that alot of the characters I designed previously would be too advanced for me to create on Maya thats why It would be advised for me to stick to more simplar shapes, thats why Ive been looking at a robot / futaristic chracter as as you can see from the images, alot of the shapes of organic and simplified which would allow easier construction in maya and thes designs fit the crieria im heading down.



Really like this design, and as you can tell its conrtucted by using very simple shapes which should make live alot easier on maya, for example the head is a square and the body is a stretched oval shape,I also think that the younger audience can relate to a character such as this as through the use of simple shapes and not too much detail. However I believe the character would look great as a modelled character aswell. The concept art is also very interesting and looks great with the choice of colours they've used as they've gone for a kind of cardboarad cut out look which looks really impressive and I believe would relate to my target audience well.



This is concept art from the game machinarium which I have focused on before on a previous project, whilst this is a little bit more complex than the previous robot and would be a lot harder to construct, I really like the overal design and uses simple shapes aswell but in a more advanced way as it includes more joints. I reallty love the concept art whilst its not something im aiming for as its a little too sinister and not the feel I want for my character it certainly stands out and is beautifully toned and painted.



Heres one of my favorite peices of concept art I found whilst researching, I love the design of the robot and the shapes used, Im definalty looking at something with a similar feel and charisma to this however I dont want to copy into it too much. i really like th feel of the concept art and would apeal to my target audeience very well.

Heres a good website I found with plenty of more designs which I can take influence by.

http://naldzgraphics.net/inspirations/40-beautiful-robot-characters-illustration/


While searching on the web I came across this very interesting blog of a whole variety of very interesting characters based around the word freak. What I really like about these characters is the way they have been combined with every day items for example such as A mobile phone and a vending machine. How this can influence my designs potentially is im wanting my robot to stand out and be fun so maybe I could combine my design, with for example a every item such as calculator maybe, or another animal mabe like the penguin I drew previously.





The Bog can be found here http://freakmutantmonster.blogspot.com/2009_02_01_archive.html

Game Art Design Year 2 - Timesplitters

After looking at my drawings, for some reason some of the characters reminded me of those included within the game Timesplitters which I thought would be a great position in which to start my reasearch, another reason is that Im going for a kind of crazy idea and Timpesplitters features many great concept designs such as the snowman and the duck for example and is designed in a light hearted feel and very humours which is the kind of attributes I'd like my character to contain, also Timesplitters features some great level designs which could come as great research for when I have to build an environment for the character to live in.




Here is a great video on youtube I found containing all the chracters in the game, as you can tell there are many unique designs such as mentioned before the duck and the snowman which you dont see in many other first person shooters, Im looking for something different for my character. I'm mainly concentrating on the robot chacracter featured within the game as thats the route im deciding on heading down. So the idea is to gain some ideas to potentiall improve my concept designs to create a robot im happy with.

I Really like the robot at 2.08 in the video and the way it is modelled through the use of simple shapes and would like to take influence from this design as its a kind of similar feel im looking at, the shapes are used really well and I like the way it has a kind of synful feel but is taken as light hearten and something that is suitable for ages which is something I want. Overall there is some great charcters included and I could potentially take influence from another charcater as im not wanting a basic robot design, Im looking for something more whacky and humerous as I want my design to be fun and stand out upon the many robots included in media. whether that be having a kind of fire demon robot or even a zombie robot, these are routes I could experiment in, overal this have been a great reference of research.








Heres just a few example OF Timesplitters charcter concept art I found while searching on the internet, while my designs wont really be influenced by these examples, its nice to look at some concept art and get ideas on how to present mine and its good to look at the posses, overall I really like the art and choice of media they've used.

Game Art Design Year 2 - Quick sketches

Heres a few quick designs I did, I just felt like doing a few drawings with no aim in mind to experiment and see if I could gain any direction from my drawings. I liked this method as I came up with some intereing drawings and ideas which I could take further, towards this point I did not research at all so did not have anything in mind. One thing I definatly found out is that alot of my drawings I produced were based around shapes similar to robots, which is a potential area I could develop into as robots are very poular characters and can be combined with different genres for example steam punk, similar to the big daddy of Bioshock, and even combine different abilities such as a robot that fires ice or lightning, which I like the idea of.



Top left - Quite like this design as its made out of simple shapes and I would imagine be easier to construct on Maya which is something I have to think about,Story behind this design is its quite a old abandoned robot, which purpose is to go around fixing other broken robots which are in combat, only issue I have is it reminds me too much of Bender from Futurama but the oringinal concept I like.

Top Middle - Not as keen on this concept, to be honest im not actually sure what it is, I tried to draw some kind of human creature like with wings but I dont like the idea at all and I struggled to draw what I imagined in my head so I think I'll stay away from this idea.

Top Right - Just thought about going crazy about this design, I just thought about one of my favorie animals which is a Penguine and decided to turn him into a robot, and I gave him video game controllers as hands where he can use a variety of his special abilities to those im not yet sure on, Overall I like the idea and could explore this with a variety of different animals.

Bottom Left - This design is a crab like huminoid, I turned him into a very powerful like creature with very large pinsars, I also porvided him with a jetpack and parachute for the quick get away. Really like the concept though could image be a challenge modeling on maya, hence why I might have to simplify the model though is definatly a idea I may consider.

Bottom Middle - This is my favorite concept so far, it reminds me of somthing though as to which Im not sure, I really like the organic smooth feel to the character and should be easier than most of my other designs to model in Maya, Idea for this design is its a combat robot that is controlled by an animal, as to which Im not sure about, cause im going for a kind of younger audience handrawn feel with my characters, and through its arms it can fire a variety of substances as to which im not decided, on, though I definatly like this concept

Bottom Right - Not too keen on this idea, I just though about putting a kind of sheet over his head, but it turned out looking too much like the ghosts of pacman for my liking, I think ill avoid this idea.



Left - The idea behind this design is its an ancient ninja warrior that has been revived be accident, and lives in the ruins, quite like the concept and the story behind it, with it been ancient it has mangled skin and not in the best condition but is very deadly and near impossible to assinate.

Middle - Not too keen on the illustation at all but that can be modified. I like the idea behind the character though, its an evil robot that wants to take over the word basically, its main atributes it has a very sharp spinning blade in its mouth which can be used to terrible destruction, and is also eqipeed with loads of rockets which can shott from a variety of places, meaning its very hard to survive its deadly attack. If I went with this concept I'd have to clean up the charcater but the idea is there.

Right - For this design I came up with a futuristic like Cowboy.similar to my previos drawing I really like the idea but the illustartion could be improved, not sure as to the story behind the character at the moment though. The character would have similar attributes.

Overall I beleiebe I came up with some good ideas and storylines to go with the characters, though I think my best is to go with a robot influenced design as thinking ahead it would be easier to modify in maya and when it came to animating the walk cycle it wouldnt have to be as realistic as say a human walk, therefor would be easier hopefully.

Game Art Design Year 2 - Introduction

We have just recieved the brief for this module inwhich the basic outline is we have to design a humonoid character from scratch then model the character in maya then bring the character to life by animating them for a short sequence which could be anying from a jump to a crawl, However we have to think about the environment the character will be placeed in as for the second part of the brief we have to design the environment. At this date I have very little idea as to where to head with the project both in concept or research however I feel like just drawing freehand and get some potential ideas on paper, then see where, If I can gain influence from the illustrations.

Digital Film Year 2 - Evaluation

For my Film Title Sequence I am very happy with my results and what I have achieved within the brief, and I believe I have explored different styles of media which I have enjoyed and learned new skills on Software such as After Effects which I can take forward and improve on and use these skills learned onto new projects and improve my knowledge further.

What I liked about my project was the style I went for as I believe it complements my chosen novel brilliantly by the use of silhouettes as that was a great style of media to go for and I really like majority of the imagery used. And I believe my choice of research was excellent and provided with me with many great ideas and styles in which to develop my sequence which lead me to some great results. I believe I have some great effects included such as the blood going along the shadow line which is really good and original and compliments my style well, I really like and the car scene in which the cars stop in mid air is one of my favourite moments from my sequence. I’m really happy with the font I selected and go so well with the style I choose and look really effective with the blood splatters. I really like the colour theme of my project in going for a 3 colour choice for majority which looked really effective among the silhouette focus of media.

I really enjoyed the experimentation part and playing around with different styles of media as its good to get away from computers and explore new materials and find new techniques and methods in which to play with and create interesting images and ideas in which you can use for future projects. Okay not all experimentation was successful but I learned that some forms of media aren’t appropriate for some projects. I also enjoyed using software such as Illustrator and Photoshop and building into your images and experimenting with different ideas and watching your development come to life which is the most exciting part of the project. I also enjoyed getting feedback off other pupils as it gives you new ideas which you haven’t thought off in which you can you to improve the quality of your work and can help you out on areas your struggling at which is always beneficial . I also enjoyed the amount of freedom we were given within the project in which you could concentrate your ideas onto your strengths and interests which improves the quality of your work when u can focus on an area you enjoy.

Things I didn’t enjoy during the project was actually picking a novel in the first place as I took too long making the decision and that was potential time lost on the project, I also found moments on After Effects very frustrating obviously with been new to the software it took time to adapt but eventually I got the required basics in which to complete the brief. And I also struggled to keep to the storyline as during the process I got so many new ideas in which to develop my sequence further and the more I developed the further I got from my original storyboard.
Things I would improve about my project is id probably have more camera action like when a shot finished, Id experiment with moving the camera as my project is a little static, or even zooming in the camera at times, just to add that little more dimension. I’d also probably include a little more animation for example having the character animated to hold up the gun. I would also clean up a few areas for example on the car scene the cars don’t curve as effectively as Id like which I could improve by using the graph editor. I’d also really like to improve the music as its pretty terrible and out of sync that’s something I plan to go back into after the deadline as well as other areas I may choose to improve on. I would also try to stick to my storyboard as much as possible though sometimes you have better ideas to improve on your originals. I would also manage my time better

Digital Film Year 2 - Music

One of the most frustrating parts of the project, I knew what kind of sound I was looking for, a kind of soft jazz aproach, similar to the music in Catch Me If You however looking for a more sinister feel, was looking at piano sounds as there really effective for creating emotion and can be played to a fast and slow tempo which could work well. I also thought of the idea of having gun shot noises but decided against as I felt that would ruin the atmosphere of the music.we were told to look on free music archive however I couldnt find anything that I was reall looking for, so I settled for the best I could find which. I choose apiano track by Cooper More entitled I NY Piano but unfortunatly I cant provide a link and not sure how bo post a mp3 on here. Howver I tried to sync the music to the film as best as possibl using final cut but this is not a strong point for me, and im not pleased about the music but plan to go other it in the future and improveand find a more apropiate song.