Supervisor Meeting 02

Meeting times have been changed since pitch week to the standard other lecturers use - once a week for half an hour. I feel this will push me more, but I did like having the bulk of work from two weeks to show as sometimes not much is done in one week. I started off this meeting with a few small questions about referencing, then went on to show my progress. I've decided to keep a separate sketchbook for just anatomy and life drawing practise, of both humans and animals, just to keep in practise as regularly as I can. I began with colour theory, using the wheel to create various complementary and analogous colour sets, as well as descriptors for the meaning of colours. I briefly sketched some basic perspective grids, then went on to shape theory and how it can be applied to characters in different ways. I did a study of the muscles and skeleton structure of the human torso as well as the face, thinking that knowing how the muscles form can help in proper placement and anatomical accuracy. I also briefly tried drawing by building on shapes from the book Ryan lent me, and found it interesting, so I'll go back to it eventually.

I started doing art style tests before the previous meeting, and I've continued doing these based on my research of artist inspiration. Ryan really liked these, and said they were all nice, the line work precise and clean. As I've stated before, I wanted to backtrack on my creature designs, and I've started with the Giant character, going back to my inspiration from deer, bears, trees and leaves. I started with his face, as it's a main focus point, and then worked on the right shape for his body, straightening him out from his slouched position. One thing that was pointed out again was that he wasn't being designed next to his partner, mostly because I just haven't got to her yet, but I need to keep away from developing in isolation.

This duo's role revolves around breaking conventions of archetypes and their expectations: the female leads instead of the male, and she's also smaller and is the fighter of the two - this is usually expected from the bigger, bulkier character. Ryan seemed to like their story, where the Giant is assigned to protect a mother tree seed and take it to another village whose own has been damaged, carrying the seed in his chest - this species grows seeds in their chests and then plant one from each gender to reproduce - and the female is his guard, from a sect of humans who act like liaisons for the Giants. He said it was a nice gender flip, and the Giant was almost like a pregnant man which was endearing and challenges common stereotypes, making the female's fighting more worth while as she's protecting such a big gentle creature. I had a few thoughts about the game concept, and Ryan warned not to get too caught up in it or too mechanical, but it was good I had a proper narrative context. I also picture the art style for this duo with black outlines, bright visuals within a colour scheme, and lightly textured, so it has an almost illustrative feel.

The other duos aren't as developed, but I want to redesign the Pet creature - change her mane and beak to something more like a muzzle, and check her body shape is actually capable of carry a human as I think her neck and head tips her balance too far forward. The Pet species usually has a rider partner, who are used as runners and on urgent missions. These two are thieves who got caught and went rogue, and the story is more like an RPG in that you can choose your morality, and just steal for selfish needs, or do it to better the city etc. They'll have a more realistic style in terms of texture, but their porportions will be a little exagerated.

For the co-op duo, the two species are mostly quite alike but dispute over certain things. The Humanoids are strict, formal, highly civilised, and don't like 'lower' races like the Giants, where the Mini species is much more optimistic and adventurous. The two meet and both have the same goal, so agree to work together, becoming frenemies. The Humanoid is a bit of a rebel and wants to have more fun, and essentially the Mini shows him other ways of thinking. It's an adventure platform game, with a more cartoon-based style with clean shading and shapes.

A major decision I've made since around the presentation is a change from the survey. My eight archetypes were mixed in that they were based on roles and relationships, and I want to concentrate on the roles and hierarchy as relationships can change or be applied to most roles. I've cut these down to three - Leader-Follower, Co-op, and PC-Pet, each with their own genre and art style. I'll develop the concept for each game, and do mock up screenshots along with marketing material. I felt this was better as it used more aspects from my research, and Ryan agreed.

Ryan said I've done great work and I present myself well. He has two issues; first, is to start designing and presenting duos in tandem; and secondly, to start to aim for that finished quality. My work so far has been healthy, and he has no complaints on quality or standar, but just wants to push me that much further. My project is really well directed, and I apparently speak strongly about it. We decided that I should keep the final piece open as it could change, but for now the showcase will feature a book on everything in my process, and posters will consist of development process, final duo designs, then marketing pieces of the game concept. Overall, it's about the process which Ryan has said has become so tight and well developed.

Action Points

• As I'm going home for a week I'll concentrate on theoretical and sketchbook work for now.
• Blog catch up.
• Anatomy sketches.