Friday 18 April 2014

Showcase Ideas Update

Ryan has sent us some images of last years showcase which are different from the ones on Blackboard. What I love about these layouts is the cut out window effect of Nikita's, and the nice paper texture on Eilis'. I've also had a complete redesign for mine as the project has changed in scope. Okay, so now that I have three duo sets I want to show off their design process. This will be done by a diagram of the three main hierarchy archetypes I've modelled my characters after, following down into a promotional image, then below I could possibly have explorations of the designs like turnarounds, poses, mechanics etc. Definitely need to think on it more.






Monday 7 April 2014

Supervisor Meeting 07

I started this meeting off by informing Ryan my wrist ganglion has been getting worse - it's near doubled in size and is hurting more often. I'm guessing my Doctor would do treatment now given how big it's gotten, but the warning she gave me last time of risk of infection, or the numbing agent having a lasting effect makes me want to wait until after uni in finished. In the off chance I get the surgery option, risks are even higher, and so close to hand-ins I'm not going to chance it.

I asked a few questions about the group seminar we have soon, and checked it's just going to be on the dissertation. I'm not sure how I'll format this, as I don't think I'll have enough substantial data to be printed and read clearly, so I think I'll just take my notes and talk through it. I also inquired about the Masters degree, knowing Ryan has done it himself. I like the idea of continuing uni, and the group work will be a great experience. However, I'm not sure how big teams are, and how much art is going to depend on me. I'm not confident in too many areas so I'm worried I'll let the team down or not contribute enough. Funding is another matter. I know tuition fees are in place at a limit, but given I'd have to take another loan out just for living costs (unless I miraculously find a job), I don't think it's worth it at the moment. I've been in college then uni for six years, straight out of high school, and I'd like to take a short break from it all to be honest. But just hearing about it helped make the decision.

So, the Leader from the Leader-Follower is finished in detail, now including face and head designs. I've also done an experiment with her and the Giant together, evaluating their size ratio and what's best. The Follower-Leader has progressed too: the Leader human is finished too, both in refining the line art and colour, as well as face and head designs. The Pet is loosely designed, again with an experiment on the colour and size ratio for this duo - this is more important here as the male human is going to ride the Pet like a horse, and she needs to be able to carry his weight. I just need to design the saddle, tidy things up, and apply the right art style.

What I want to do besides the final images for posters for the showcase, are character turnarounds. This is a common method used in the industry pipeline, both in 2D and 3D, so it's quite important to include. Usually, there's also experiments with facial expressions, emotions, poses, body language etc, but I'm not sure how much time I'll have to do all this. I asked Ryan how I should go about this in order - if I should concentrate on finishing one duo completely before going to the next, or finish each stage first. I figure I'll finish the Leader-Follower fully first, as they're the most developed, and then catch up with the others.

I've also been working on my dissertation in response to this group seminar coming up. I've expanded the research I collected for the Research Proposal, taking quotes and theories from more authors and sources. I've also been gathering the relevant images I'm going to use to illustrate my points. Crunch time is approaching, so I'll focus on getting the dissertation finished first after feedback from the first draft, as it's easy for me to continue with that rather than switch tasks. I also want to ensure I get it printed early enough. I should note that this is the last Supervisor Meeting, unless organised at a later date.

Action Points
  • Finish art style for Follower-Leader.
  • Refine Leader-Leader.
  • Dissertation Draft 1 to finish.
  • Game concepts & stories to finish.
  • Blog updates.