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.
I've taken a bit of a break since the last hand ins two weeks ago, taking time to relax and hopefully not make my wrist worse. I went to the doctors when I was back home for the holidays, and I have what's called a ganglion, which is essentially a build up of liquid in the joint in my left wrist. Thankfully I'm right handed, but I support my sketchbook or tablet with my other hand, and the intensity of work over the past two months has caused it to flare. Unfortunately, my doctor has said that at its size, it isn't worth draining the liquid with a needle as they'll only get a few millilitres from it, and then there's the risk of infection she warned me of. The good thing is that the pain isn't bad, it just causes quite a bit of discomfort in how my wrist is angled and restricts how far it can bend. As such, I'm going to switch back to reading, writing, and researching to get a bit of a break. I mentioned this to Ryan in our meeting today just in case it causes trouble in the future. He reiterated our meeting times are for an hour each fortnight, and I got the Thursday slot at 3pm, and that I should come with the Diary sheets filled out, and what I should be showing and talking about. The group seminar is about the dissertation, not practical work, and to bring whatever form it's in. We'll discuss theories and relevant ideas.
My ethics form got approved, on the condition that Ryan has to agree on the content given to human subjects. I asked about how to convert my blog to a PDF and was recommended a site, blog booker I think it was, but it seems easy to do. I also asked about the best places for business cards, and Moo looks to be the best for quality, even though it's more pricey. I was warned away from Vista Print, and that doing things early is the best way to go. I questioned if I could use the same layout from my Proposal for my dissertation - orange bars and titles - but was told the colours might bee too intense, and it's best to keep things clean and easy to read.
So, I've been working on theoretical stuff lately, reading and noting quotes. I've studied my animal inspirations, as I want to have a balance between originality and familiarity, and certain animals have been overused in design such as cats, wolves and lizards. I've collected visuals on bears, deer, kangaroo, otters, and exotic birds, as well as work from Terryl Whitlatch who has a nice process of breaking animals down to their bones and muscles and then merging them with another. I've also gone over my notes of creature design in entertainment media, in particular how fashion is applied to the range of different forms and sizes. Ryan actually lent me a book called How To Draw Wild Animals In Simple Steps by Jonathan Newey, which builds animals from shapes, and seems a helpful process similar to some Disney concept art I've seen.
A major focus the past week has been researching art styles and genre associations. I looked at games, from unique abstract or artistic pieces like Okami, through blending styles like Borderlands 2, onto realistic visuals like Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag. I know I don't want to do heavily realistic styles, and am aiming for something that maybe has nice line art, uses shapes in the design, with lightly exaggerated proportions and texturing, and interesting colour schemes. I want to define my work as concept art, but show that it's applicable to 3D. I started a media test as a response to the games and individual artists I showed, which Ryan liked and said was healthy to explore, and that I had good examples.
I mentioned I was behind on my blog, but that I'm keeping offline notes, and that I noticed gaps - things I've mentioned in my presentations but not made a post about - which I'll go back and fix. I've started thinking on how I should present my portfolio, and hopefully a printed book. Ryan recommended speaking to another student that did this. I also went over my plan for the showcase and how I would lay things out, as well as for the survey, and possibly using individual cards for the characters instead of on a single sheet. Ryan said I've done so much detail done this early, which I hope is a good thing. I showed him a rather messy draft of a learning contract, and said I've started preparing for the next presentation.
Ryan stated I'm really well prepared, and that I talk confidently. He praised me on the level and depth I talk at, which is a little embarrassing as it doesn't really feel like that. I've shown good pieces, and he'd love to see more of that practise and experimentation. He's very happy with my standing on the theoretical side for research and the dissertation, that it ties together as expected and beyond, and he has no concerns. I just need to work on the practical, but still take it easy.
Action Points
- Finish art style media tests.
- Investigate Blurb & Moo for printing.
- Study borrowed book.
- Catch up blog.
