It's been a while since I updated a Supervisor Meeting. I fell ill just before the fourth presentation, which I couldn't attend, and I missed two of these sessions, although I informed Ryan and tried to keep things updated. I am behind on a number of things, my head was so stuffy I just couldn't concentrate on anything.
I began the meeting with a few questions. I wondered if I had to redo my ethics form as I no longer have human subjects, and I might have to rejustify why I have no ethical concerns. Ryan said I didn't have to, but I could email them and ask (I did, it's not necessary). I asked if he just wanted the Diary Sheets stapled together to submit, and that's fine. I also enquired about next week being the last meeting, and Ryan said he might do one more before submissions, although emailing is still ok. I confirmed the date for the dissertation first draft (11th April).
For my exposition, I had the idea of having descriptions of the archetypes and how I interpreted that in my designs, like small information posters of my process. I wanted to check the site Ryan recommended for a printed book - Blurb. They looked pretty decent, and I would love to get one done. The small square or A4 sizes look nice, and the prices aren't too cringe worthy. Alongside Moo business cards I intend to get, prices just for printing things can pile up, so it depends. I've been looking at game art books and guides to see how they've done layouts, and especially the backgrounds as I don't want them to be just plain white and boring.
I've worked on the colour palettes for all the species, trying to get the basis of the schemes similar enough to look like they belong to the same world. This isn't too important anymore as each duo has a different species except the humans (one which is defined by their clan, the other the city), where before they were mixed and matched. I'm also figuring out art styles. The Leader-Follower features red line on warm colours, and blue on cool. Ryan says it's harmonious yet still pops. Next I want to work on their shading, mostly aiming for gradient with light texturing. I've finished the female human, but I'm a bit frustrated with the Giant as his line art is more detailed. The human male as been started, and this is the first Ryan has seen of him which he liked. I want to make him a bit more scruffy looking, and his archetype pairing will be in a painted texture style. Ryan said it's great I'm doing the fashion so well, and that they're like proper designs that could actually be made. I figure the three archetypes are suited for different platforms: Leader-Follower is indie in that it's artistic; Leader-Leader is for mobile with it's vector style; and Follower-Leader for AAA with it's more painted style. Ryan says my work has the strongest silhouettes he's seen all year, and that it's awesome to see this becoming a really fleshed out character design process. He can see my abilities have strengthened, and that I talk professionally.
Action Points
- Finish Giant and male human.
- Start Pet and Leader-Leader pair.
- Finalise art styles.
- Finish bios and stories.
- Dissertation
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.
The hand in for the Ethics form is tomorrow, so not much work done overall since hand-ins. Going through the examples online I found were quite bad, they were so obvious in their mistakes, and what I really wanted was an example of someone who thought they didn't have any ethical concerns and how they justified not having any, as that is similar to my case.
I printed out my form for Ryan to check in our meeting, and we started by going over it. He said I might want to specify video/computer games in my project title, and that my description could be done in less words and detail. The wording was a little difficult to pinpoint when I was asked about how I could possibly make human subjects stressed. Basically, my questionnaire asks people to pick answers, and they might feel anxiety in doing so, especially in getting the wrong answer. But I intend to state that there is no true wrong answer except when obvious, like where siblings or a parent-child pairing can't be a romance. Then Ryan just checked I had the right boxes ticked, changed the participant number from 10 to 20, and reworded a few terms. He said not to be worried if it comes back, and that usually it only needs slight rewording etc. I would edit the document and print it off for him to sign after the meeting, and then handed it in.
Ethics Form.
Next I showed Ryan my Pre-Production Portfolio and Concept Development Document to update him since the holidays. A main point was a rewording of my critical framework to Character Design, Narrative & Character Performance, and Player Interactivity, and this made my action plan image much neater. We talked about the number of case studies I had, which normally he would recommend I cut down, but they were varied enough that I needed their full coverage for my research. Ryan recommended I look at Papo & Yo for their monster-pet-like archetype, and also showed me a design document for DOTA 2 which was really interesting. It showed the pipeline process for the game and how they created the characters. I'll be sure to look at this in more depth.
We went through all my work and research so far. Ryan says I've made good observations, and liked my silhouette designs. He enjoyed the size scale and pairing pages, as it solidified everything I've been working for. I said I wanted to backtrack on my final designs, iterate them a bit more with sketches or greyscale. He said as an illustration the final image characters were very good and he liked my style, but now I just need to push my anatomy skills and accuracy. We discussed how to further the designs with their clothes, armour and accessories, and how their designs could be different if styled for a different genre. I confirmed the final outcome was definitely not going to be a model, as that isn't important for my project. I had an idea that I could do a mock up of a popular duo in a game screenshot, showing the style in-game, possibly hinting at mechanics. Ryan wasn't too sure about this as he wants me to focus on the characters and process, and suggested getting a printed book. Overall, he said my work was excellent and he was impressed. The way I talk sounds professional, I direct the conversation well, and that I'm making connections most people don't. It was quite a confidence boost and I'm not too worried now about grades.
