9.
Exhibit professional communication skills in the specialist area.
These examples demonstrate my communication skills in the
specialist area
----------------------------------------------------------
8 Demonstrate an
independent and reflective approach to personal and professional development.
Over the past few months I have learnt a great deal about
what it means to be a concept artist while undergoing the various projects set on
this course.
Firstly I have a gained a far more clear understanding of
what it means to be a concept artist and what approaches I should be taking in
order to reach the final concept. Far too often I would dive straight into the
final image without even thinking of what I was doing or why I was doing it,
This in part I feel is the result of the natural artist in me that acts upon impulse
to capture the spark of inspiration which I see clearly in my minds eye.
During Shelly pages' and Atom Hawk's lectures I truly
understood the mistake I was making, the roughs, the development sketches hundreds
of drawings all addressing different moods, designs and themes until the
character the studio has been searching for appears and shines like a beacon this
is it! this is the character!
After thinking upon this I realized I was the type to do all
if that in my head constantly day and night my imagination is racing with infinite
possibilities. envisioning great chaotic battles that engulf the entire planet
to rapidly developing alternate designs for characters, weapons, personalities
playing out scenarios in my head to envisioning clearly in my mind the end
result. I just need to learn to use the other creative processes at my disposal
to further widen my creative horizons.
During the projects I also learnt a number of new techniques
and ways of working as well as improving my design and rendering abilities.
When it comes to the final image I have come to respect the
power of 3D. It is invaluable for blocking out the core elements of an image
before moving into the rendering phase of the creation process. This simple
technique can save hours of frustrating re works and caused by natural human
error.
I also feel my rending skills have also greatly improved
since I started this course my natural painting ability has greatly improved
ever since I challenged myself to move away from my comfort zones and try to
work on my week points. Painting environments and learning the properties of
metal, fabric, skin and how to render these elements successfully have all greatly
aided in my artistic development.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
7 Operate ethically demonstrating critical understanding of
the issues governing good practice.
It is very important for an artist to be true to their craft
and other people by presenting work that is actually their own and completely
their own, if the artist has worked on a multi artist team to produce a conjoined
artwork or is using someone else's art as a demonstration it needs to be
clearly stated and linked to the original artist or involved parties to avoid
confusion.
In our day and age where just about anyone who knows how to operate
a mouse and a web browser can steel images you have uploaded for viewing online
and dishonestly display it as their own work.
There are a number of ways to keep your work safe from cyber
pirates such as watermarking. However this has a tendency to degrade your image
and annoy people who are genuinely trying to view your work. If you have a very
particular style and are quite well known it becomes harder to steal your work
as people instantly recognise it and report the abuser, I have seen countless
examples of this happening on deviant art and other such file sharing sites.
Uploading your work to deviant art or a blog instantly
copyrights and dates the artwork so if there is ever a dispute you have the
date you originally uploaded to back up your ownership, emailing the artwork to
yourself when it is completed also stores the date it arrived in your Email box
also works as proof of ownership by authority of date.
Copyright exists to protect the rights and creative ownership
of artwork with respect to the involved parties e.g. the artist and the client.
Contracts exist to settle and agreement between an artist
and a client for example and dictates exactly who owns the rights upon
completion and what in full the client owes to the artist upon conclusion and
thereafter.
6 Explore and evaluate the appropriate skills relevant to
the creation of character design.
The most important and crucial skills for character designs
lie in research, pre production, idea experimentation and the keen ability to
spot inspiration from obscure sources.
Every character no matter what the genre, media or age range
it was aimed or created for starts in lots of relevant and solid research.
Research can take many different forms, perhaps you already
have a strong idea of the character in mind and wish only to find real world
references on things relevant to your character such as props, clothing, time
periods or even a particular location.
Another form of research is trying to find something new and
unique by immersing yourself in the mythology of an obscure culture. Taking old
concepts and ideas and giving them a modern twist or a dash of your own re-imagining of the subject can lead to many unexpected outcomes.
The ability to experiment and try new ideas is also
essential to an artist's tool set when creating characters. Trying new ways of
developing ideas no matter how ridicules they may seem at first can unlock hole
new avenues of thinking and thought processes. Which can lead to new workflows
that increase your creativity and overall development process.
When designing the character regardless of the medium it is
important to have the ability to breathe life into the character as it emerges
from the page. Being able to make the character believable and have a sense of
being tangible and relatable is very important to creating popular and
memorable characters.
Character design goes beyond these skills into something
much more to do with your instincts, being able to visualize the characters
world, how it works, who lives in it and how do these people interact.
How does your character fit into it all, how does the
character go about their day to day lives, what makes them tick what are their
dreams and aspirations and most importantly what experiences and decisions have
led up to the point where we are introduced to the character in the story.
5 Evaluate and defend your own work in the context of
contemporary practice
I am extremely happy with the quality of work I have
produced over the course of this modal and how I have improved in terms of
character development.
For example researching
and experimenting with ideas and new approaches to character generation to
produce unique and interesting characters. Using iconography to sell the
concept of the character basically this allows the viewer at first glance to
easily discern who the character is and what they are about and maybe even a
hint of there back-story, personifying the characters inner self externally for
instant visual recognition according to the artists intentions.
I am also satisfied with the progression and improvements
made in the weak areas of my artwork, such as environmental art. At the
beginning of this module I was very consciences about my lack of ability when
it came to environments. After producing concept after concept and receiving
feedback from my classmates I gradually started to gain a better understanding
when it came to producing environments and where I was going wrong.
Finally I am very happy
with the aesthetic improvements to my artwork that I have gained through trial
and error, experimentations, feedback and developing concepts outside my
comfort zone. I have gained valuable knowledge into processes and techniques
that I have never used before such as painting tonally and using my own
photographs as textures. I have also gained priceless insight through tutorials
and feedback secessions into what strengths I can improve upon and were I can
further develop my weaknesses to a higher standard.
4 Investigate and synthesise visual research into the creation of original concepts.
To conduct research for my character generation I refer to
books, films, games, TV shows and documentaries plus the ever in-exhaustive
information to be found on the internet.
For this character I wanted to create the uniform for the
Alien Prison Guards which would also be worn by the story's human protagonist.
For reference I consulted Nasa's website in particular there
images and specifications relating to space and pressure suits. I also searched
Google for any and all interesting reference images to aid in the creation
process.
In the end I settled on a type of pressure esk suit combined with a common Prison guards uniform to capture the feel of a police or prison officer operating in an inauspicious environment and is capable of surviving and an encounter with an especially deadly or vicious inmate.
The research material
I used primarily consisted of visual representations of various designs of
pressure and space suits plus a few Prison officer's uniforms. These images
were used as visual reference as I attempted to combine the images into
something that could successfully represent and operate as both.
So far the concept is working well as it reads as an officer
ready to perform his/ her duty in a verity of tough environments. However I
still feel the addition of a few more accessories are needed to complete the
design. Such as handcuffs and perhaps more intricate details to really sell it
as being a pressure suit.
-------------------------------------------------------------
3 Demonstrate an
understanding of techniques and methods appropriate to the chosen area of
design.
I utilize a verity of
techniques and methodologies in idea generation and conceptualization.
For character design. I like
to start off by creating very fast silhouette like thumbnails that allow me to
quickly explore many different ideas and concepts.
Utilizing this tonal silhouette technique is
for more time affective than sketching as I can literally churn out ideas in
half the time allowing for more ideas to work from.
Next I either move into pure
sketching or tonal painting to further refine my concept and also create some
ideas sheets to handle expressions, accessories and alternate clothing if needed.
Finally once I hit on an idea I like I develop a final piece
to capture everything I want in the character and it must be viable as a
successful reference for the look, feel and personality of the character.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
2 Make
informed choices relating to the creation of artwork designed to meet
professional requirements.
This image was specifically designed to help me experiment
with an already existing idea I had for the Protagonist Alien character. The purpose
for the creation of this image was to allow me to experiment with further ideas
and concepts for the look, style and surface details of the character, to in a sense
re imagine him.
This image also showcases the alien in a very realistic and
detailed manner paying close attention to details such as muscles, tendons and
skin quality. This personally helps me better picture the character in the
story by giving me a solid and clear image of the character and allows me to
move onto further developments exploring his personality and character traits.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Appraise the issues relevant to character design in various contexts.
The greatest stories in history would not
be what they are, if it were not for its memorable and believable characters. A
well developed character can leave an everlasting impression on us long after we
have put down the book, walked out of the cinema or turned off the console.
Some
even teach us morals values and perhaps inspire courage and creativity while
others inspire fear, disgust and anxiety. Good character design speaks volumes
of its inner self regardless of wither it can speak its mind or not, it can lie
within the characters visual appearance or by the manner of its attitude and
perhaps just the look in its eyes can show you dangerous from friendly and
sometimes that's all that matters.
What is important for good character design
can very depending on the medium as different rules can apply to how the viewer
experiences the characters.
Film/TV
You might expect the characters of film and
TV drama series to be designed with similar goals in mind.
This is not exactly true as you dealing
with two separate types of media, firstly Film.
Film or movie characters are usually
designed for maximum visual impact, this is primarily to hold the attention of
the audience for a three plus hour film. Another factor is to make the design
of the character very distinct and memorable since an audience watching 90 -
180 minute film has less time to degust a character and to visually recognise
or connect with him or her than a character who features in a 9 season TV
drama.
TV Drama
For the vast majority of TV dramas such as
Fringe, Reaper, Buffy the vampire slayer, True blood whatever the character
design in general relies less on visual appearance or a striking look (due to
funding limits) but more on the acting style and quality of the actor/actress
and their characters individual development within the story.
Whoever character design does happen visually
on some level for example Walter Bishop form Fringe, he usually amperes wearing
his lab coat and pretty much has the same haircut throughout the series but he
could appear wearing and looking like almost anything based upon the situation.
The designers will have a basic idea of what Walter Bishop will visually
represent (scientific genius bordering on insanity) but as for as his design in
general it is more based upon who plays the part of the character and the
events in the story, rather than a carefully designed and engineered look for
an original or re imagined character in a feature film who has to look iconic
and be easily recognisable on first sight.
Take table top miniatures for example they
cannot speak or move there pose is fixed and there colour scheme can be as
varied as the amount of people willing to paint them so what makes a good
character design in this context? strong visual design themes, strong and clear
visual iconography and a dynamic pose there is nothing more appetising for a
hobbyist than an intricate and visually stimulating model sculpted in an action
packed and dynamic pose waiting to decapitate the nearest demon.
Observe these two examples without knowing their
names or background you can make an educated guess as to which is possessed of
malicious intent and which strives to defeat evil no matter what it takes.
The key design features of a successful
miniature character resides in its visual iconography, attractive design
features and its overall pose. The visual iconography of the miniature is vital
to tell the underlying story of the character, what is interesting in these
examples is that they share the same basic equipment and both have similar
helmet and armour designs but yet they appear as two different factions again
this lies in the stylization of the miniatures iconography.
The Dark Angles Space Marine (Top Left) is
adorned with angle like wings and feathers , golden icons and relics plus interestingly enough a ceremonial robe
all symbolizing a strong battle ready commander steeped in religious dogma and
holy tenets ready to die for his brothers in arms.
On the other hand we have the Chaos space
marine who's armour and weaponry are adorned with unholy looking relics and
marks of chaos with the occasional spine or skull erupting from the armour.
Overall appearing very dark, domineering and traitorous willing to sacrifice
loyal troops and decimate innocent civilians mercilessly in battle.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete