After I put my mood boards together I begun planning some rough concept art for what I wanted my environment to look like. These concept sketches involved terrain and studies of some things that I looked at in my mood boards and mind maps.
This was one of the fist initial sketches of what I thought my environment may look like, to begin with I imagined it as a large cove area with an overhanging cliff face with a large waterfall coming over the top, the main explorable area would be where the waterfall goes into the lagoon at the bottom.
Later on I decided not to focus so much on what was going on above the actual play area and focus more on the ground itself, adding a cave behind the waterfall with two dragon statues stood either side on large platforms. Although I did not draw the interior I wrote down what I wanted to include in the cave ie: Dragon bones.
Here is a slightly more detailed version of the concept shown above, drawn from a different angle. This is still continuing how I wanted my fairytale environment to look and I tried to make it look peaceful and serine.
Following the theme of using dragon statues I drew up a few studies of different kinds of dragons, Chinese Dragons (top), Japanese dragons (middle right) and a statue of a westernized Dragon (bottom left). It was at this time that i decided to try and model the more westernized Dragon as not only was it already in a statue pose from its source image, it was also the kind of Dragon more commonly referred to in fairy tales and myths.
After a lot of hard work I finally finished my animation for the 3D module. The animation "Little and Large" follows my characters and sticks close to the criteria that had to be included.
As part of my fairytale environment I planned on making 2 dragon statues stood either side of the waterfall. The problem that arose however, was what type of dragon I should use. Because there are so many different kinds of dragons depending on where in the world you are from I decided to mood board various breeds to see which would best fit a statue. I narrowed the breeds down to Western Winged Dragons, Eastern/Oriental Dragons and Water/Sea Dragons.
My initial thoughts were to have my game set in a valley with a large waterfall cascading down its center, I made a mood board of different kinds of valleys and the emotions they give off.
More often than not, Valleys are usually ascociated with peace and calm, not danger. Knowing this I tried to find Valleys that reflected the fairytale setting.
In the early stages of the research and development into my environment I did some mind mapping of what sorts of things could be included into my game. One of the first things I thought about was what kinds of plant life and trees I would put into my environment, if any. So i decided to make mood boards of the three kinds of trees that I'm most likely to put into my environment. Cherry Blossom trees, Woodland trees and Willow trees.
Im unsure of if Im going to add trees into my environment with it being an Interior design but I may find a way of encorporating some in.
I have begun making a mindmaps for the upcomming module for Game art essentials, in which we will be making our own 3D environment using Unity. Below is the mindmap with what points I feel could be developed on throughout the first initial stages.
Recently I have been doing research into the storyboard artists and the sort of things they have to do in order to help make a production a success. Dan Miligan, storyboard artist of 300 is a good example of how using art can be the connection to a film doing well and a film losing itself or becoming overwhelmed during its earlier stages. Below are a couple of snaps from his storyboard for 300.
Zach Snyder, director of "300", "Dawn of the Dead" and "The Watchmen" had an interview with indymogul.com about the importance of the storyboard artist to the film industry:
"Storyboards play a vital part in my process long before I start sharing them with my team. I’ve always storyboarded my commercials and movies. It is a key part of my process for envisioning the entire film from beginning to end. In addition to using that drawing time to figure out blocking and action, it is also when I can begin to get a sense of whether the dialog and pacing are working. As you can see from these frames, my storyboards aren’t necessarily super-finished art pieces on their own. I often find that the frames that get the most detail are the ones where I’m stalling - thinking of the next shots. In contrast, if I already have a sequence sorted out in my head, the boards tend to be much sketchier. In the past, once I had completed my sketches, I would have a clean up pass done by an artist."
Other snippets from storyboards such as Sin City differ from that of 300, show a more before and after comparison of how they want the actors to behave and stand as well as what sort of shot the camera is filming at the time as shown below. Proving that storyboards are essential in pretty much all walks of media.
Aside from concept art it was my responsibility to create a storyboard for the rest of my team to follow. It was my job to visualize what they wanted the film to look like and it was my job that every thumbnail, every drawing, was done so in a way that my team members could understand in a clear way.
The video below focuses on an up and coming storyboard artist who has been employed to do work on "Batman, the brave and the bold" and talks about his experiences and influences throughout his life.
I believe that story boarding is a key and essential part of creating a game/film/animation as its up to the storyboard artist to convey the ideas of the other production members right down to the slightest camera movements. Without story board artists a team would lose all sense of direction towards their goal. S.B artists are somewhat artistic SAT NAVS that point the rest of the crew in the right direction and are of the highest importance towards getting a successful result.
Because I would love to become a concept artist I have been doing research into what is required of you to be more likely to be taken into the ranks of the games industry. I found a few links that have proven quite useful and given me some insight into the career.
- "Concept Artists must have up-to-date knowledge of computer illustration software packages, e.g., Photoshop and/or Painter. They must also be conversant with film imagery and have a good understanding of what Directors, Directors of Photography and Editors require from a scene."
-"99% of the time, a great concept artist knows he's part of a team, and shares the imagining with the rest of the other guys in the creative process----at least in the conceptualization stage. The visualization part is completely up to you, and that's where all the technical skills come in--Originality counts for something, definitely, but faithfully translating those cool ideas into images that appeal & excite & communicate something about whatever it is you're visualizing...that's key. And of course, all the really grand ideas are almost never a one-man job."
-"A few main points to remember: Keep drawing and don't copy other people's work, use it as a guide and learn from what they have done.
Don't be afraid of blank paper - just get in there and draw, nothing ever comes out right first time anyway.
Be critical of your art, and look hard at it to see what doesn't look right and then change weak aspects and improve on parts that already work within the illustration."
Although as a general rule of thumb I abide by these rules regardless but these articles have given me more inspiration to keep trying and not to be disheartened when things don't turn out right.
As my role in the group films that we made i was put in charge or concept art and some character art. I have always loved concept art and aspire to become a concept artist myself to explore a range of environments. In general the thought of being paid to do something I love and use my imagination sounds like nothing I would like more.
This video by Platform32 looks at Opus Artz, the lead base for concept artists to carry out their briefings, this video also explores the skills and values that employers look for in budding artists wanting to start out in the industry.
Although the concept art section of the gaming process is not a huge one compared to other media forms, it is the most appealing to me because as a concept artist you are being handed down information that other members of the greater scheme want you to carry out, in essence I believe its the job of a concept artist to make the creative directors visions a reality. I also believe its the concept artist who can be responsible for persons getting excited for the release of an upcoming game (eg: looking at images of the concept art that may have been leaked onto the web in the early stages of a games development.)
Personally I dont believe concept artists are given enough credit compared to some other divisions who help make a game. Without the concept artist all other contributing divisions would be at a loss and have nothing to go on, 3D animators and Maya modellers would be creating these dimensional renditions without a bulls notion of if it was to the liking of the higher ups or not. Recognition towards british concept art bases is growing slowly but surely and without a doubt a concept artist truly does breathe life into a games initial idea.
While doing further research into silhouettes and shadow puppets I was told about a video called "Bad Apple", when I found the video I was astonished by how stunning it was. As a fan of Japanese animation art it was nice to see a silhouette film with the same sort of anime style. What i also loved about it is how smooth it interchanges to different characters and how said characters are animated.
Im the future I would like to have a go at making my own silhouette animation, as usually such short films don't have words I'd like to see how I fare with making characters convey emotions through movement and expression rather than their voices.
