meanwhile...

As i have said before, on the side of my current work for BA6 i am also working on a project for the Brainchild competition. We are a team, trying to set up a game studio in Norwich.

My role is lead artist, this is the first time i have had to direct others artwork alongside my own, i have a strong vision for what i want our game to be, and how i want it to look. I have developed the game world and its aesthetics based on the work done by the producer and game designers who came up with the concept. I am working closely with Jonathan Pace who is the producer for the team, he is the one who came up with the game design and much of the lore and background. I try to convey my ideas to my team members (there are two other 2d artists, and 3 other 3d artists) in a load of different ways, as appropriate to what i am trying to get across and to whom.

My original brief for the style and type of game was to create something like Samurai Jack from a top down 3/4 view like Bastion.

This is "The Wanderer, Tears of Irrigo" from the perspective of the art and design team.

I wanted to set out the basic outline of the world i wanted to create from the very beginning  i maintain that mood boards are a great way to do that, i spent weeks gathering images for reference and inspiration, and made a collage of what i felt was the most appropriate. this is a fast ay for me to translate my vision to the team, i can just say, i want t like this, or kind of like the image in this mood board without having to search through a plethora of image files.

One of the earliest changes i made to "The Wanderer" (then called " Project Astrum" or just "Astrum") was the switch in camera perspective. i liked the style and feel of bastion, but i felt that the game we were making could turn out too similar in terms of the game world. I thought that a side scrolling perspective camera would be better for the story we were telling and could be used in interesting ways to help us stand out from the crowd.

This first collage is the first mood board that i  created, i wanted it to literally show just that, the mood, the feel of the game world. from here i could create designs and gather images for more specific parts of the game once i knew that the other artists were coming from my perspective. 

Above is the mood board for the player characters home race. The introduction part of the first level is set aboard, the flying ship of a race of nomads. It seemed right to design this race first.

I created a separate mood board for the clothing and characters of the wanderers. i wanted to go cor a mismatched, run down but homely look. this would create a nice contrast with the harsh and hostile feel of allot of the levels in the game. The character sketches are my own, from a game concept i came up with last year. 

At the time this collage was important, i was trying to create a stylized version of the universe that the game is set in, (called the Astrum- hence the game's old name) this was to be inspiration for an abstract of an astrolabe meets and orrery, to be used for the logo and as a banner on the games website. since then the game has shifted focus more to the story if the character than the world it'self so this may change. 

A rough mood piece/ collage for the layout of the front page of our website. this will just be a splash page , to use as a place holder untill the full website is up and running.

a mood board for my the environment of the first game level

The fist set of concept art that i started to work on was for the character of Zoe, the protagonist of the game. At the time of this work the plan was to have 4 playable characters to choose from, the player would be able to choose from either Zoe or her brother Horro, at either a younger or older age. We changed this when we decided to focus more on the one character. 

I started by producing a series of quick silhouettes of the character, and then taking various body parts and swapping them around to try out different styles effects ad combinations. the ones circled  in red are the designs that my team favored when i showed them. creating the look of the main character seemed the best way to start to work on the style for The Wanderer  once we had the style set for the protagonist we could apply it to designs for the rest of the world based on the mood boards that i had done and the concept art of myself and the other artists. 

I based the character off the 11th silhouette. this was my favorite as well as allot of the group. in this concept i was trying to design a unique style for the game to use. it was decides that this kind of art style was striving too much for realism.

i wanted to push the kind of art that i was creating. i am normally more comfortable at making art that is fairly realistic in its representation. however i wanted a stylized work for the game to be set in. i wanted to avoid the soft, rounded feeling aesthetic that allot of indie games seem to adopt. a style that is very reminiscent of the style used n Pixar productions and anime.

i played around with the idea of using more caricatured forms, but swapping out soft shapes for hard edges and smooth faces to try to create a distinctive style. the below mood board shows my influences, and attempts t translate that style into something that the other artists in my team could understand and replicate.

though i now had a good idea of what i wanted for the style, i did not yet know myself how to draw it, these are my attempts to practice using the hard edged angular style that i was working on.

my development of this style took a while to get down. this was the first full render of the character zoe in the style of the game, but i was really unsatisfied with the result  the drawing itself has no character and feels flat, this obviously comes form my drawing it from a perfectly face on angle, it does not really shoe the style well. i also think i tool the angular-ness too far.

this is the final product of my development in style. i was much happier with the result of this, it did everything i wanted to convey the style of the game. from this point i could move on to working on the character in 3d.

this series of images shows my development of the character mesh. this is my first time building a human mesh in any modelling program, and the first time i have tried box modeling any organic object.

starting from a simple shape and working in the detail

i tried various different ways to create the head before i was happy with the result.

i manipulated the basic head mesh to create roughly the characteristics of the concepts i had done. 

the proportions of the character are semi- deformed/ exaggerated, this is partly a stylistic choice part functional, facial expressions are easier to read from far away if head is slightly over large.

a rough map working out of the first city location (first dungeon in the game) this was simply used to convey my ideas for the design of the environment to the other people in my group.

my quick sketch of the location of the game (the planet irrigo), i use quick, rough st=ketches like this to convey my ideas to the other artists, these are just very quick pieces of concept art. this example was used to show the style of the game in relation to the world as a 3d object.

a quick sketch of the user interface for the game. i liked this design cause it is spatially efficient but fits into the mood/ feel that i am trying to create.

this is my design that we have used as our studio logo.

concept in progress

To break up my standard process of design (wit the hopes that i might be able to come up with some design that i would be happier with) i got out some Sculpey and wire, to throw together some quick maquettes. These are really just sketches in clay that i have made to see how my concepts work in 3d space. this is a great way to work, particularly when turning a concept into a digital 3d model later.

I took inspiration for these from my earlier sketches. i liked certain aspects of this first sculpt, the antenna break up the shape and make it less upright, providing lines that sweepback away from the face area. i had started to favor using the single eye in my designs to get away from the established expectations of "humanoid" aliens, but i think the design is too synonymous with robotics (it often looks more like a lens than an eye) and this isn't what i wanted for the character. i think i is harder to create an emotive character if you stray too far from a human (or at least recognisable) template, the head is also just a little to phallic.

With this second maquette i went with a more recognisable humanoid shape for the head and built it up with plates of clay i didnt want to spend a long time smoothing, so as with the previous sculpt i just defined the muscle structure, as i would do to create a shilouette. The design just felt like it would be better suited to more of a "fantasy" setting rather than sci-fi.

I liked this concept enough to finish the sculpt to a slightly higher quality, the face is human enough not to be a jarring design, but twisted enough be off putting in the intended sense. i took away features that are defining of the human face (nose and mouth) and duplicated the eyes, simple changes but effective. 

The photo does not show it too well, but the scupt has a collection of tubes coming from the bottom of the throat and back of the head. the ones at the back actually form the shillouete of a more human character with long hair, this should make the viewer subconsciously more aware of the more human attributes.

Taking the body from one of my sketches and the head from the last bust i sculpted i sketched out my first full concept for the character "The hunter". The overall body shape, i made very human, but in the details i aadded more "alien" attributes. my style of creature design id influenced by H.R Giger. I like Gigers biomechanical take on the human body, and use of smooth rounded forms. his work has influenced allot of my design of organics in the past, as well as in this project. 

Much of Gigers art uses a human shape as a basic form, adding pipes or tubes over that to create alien looking designs. I wanted my own designs to be less humanoid than this, i am trying to create work that does not strictly follow the Hollywood school of design when it comes to alien creatures and characters. 

Progression of my character: Here i show the steps i took in creating this piece from, sketch to line art, to black and white tone work followed by building up colour. 

Generating a character:

Quick Sketches

Rather than starting with my usual process of creating silhouettes, i thought i would start this design by getting straight into rough sketches. I followed pretty much the same principle as i would create a silhouette (using the sketch to define shape, form. and outline, leaving out more detail to further work) but i think this technique makes for a design that is more readable at a glance, and leaves less to interpretation. I don't think it is necessary to produce a silhouette if i am creating designs only for the benefit of my own idea progression. starting with silhouettes is more useful to get an idea across to a decision making client of team member not directly involved in the design process.

first sketches

These are the first set of sketches i created for this project. They are for the character of the "hunter", as outlined in my brief.  As stated previously i want to base the "Hunter" of a humanoid, or at least bipedal body type, with the "Hound" taking more of a bestial form. I went into more detail on some than others, but only when necessary. 

idea development

After the first set of sketches, i felt the idea of humanoid designs might be a bit limiting, so for this set i tried to push in a less human direction. However as i was producing them, the characters felt less like characters, less like individuals that could experience emotions and relationships, more like aliens in the league of the xenomorph species, soulless devourers than something that a character would want or be able to play as, and from the perspective of. 

pushing the shape further

There are no new ideas...

For better or for worse we live in a wold that is saturated in design. It is often easy to see the origin or inspiration of many designs thanks to years of being exposed to visual entertainment media. However this makes it seriously difficult to come up with a truly original piece of design.

But it is something that needs to be balanced  knowledge of how natural forms work, what is pleasing to the eye remain constants though design. and having a wide mental visual library to draw reference from can also help to create designs that viewers are more ready to expect, because their form or color already carries connotations

Even innovative and fresh designs often reference the natural world in some way. in creature design, particularly humanoid body types (though this goes for allot of bipedal designs) it is important to be mindful of the feasibility of the design, with regards to the technical working of the body. this is because w are so used to looking at the human figure, if something is trying to closely replicate it we pick up on it as strange looking, this can be detrimental to an artist, though it can also be a tool, if the design is perhaps meant to look unnerving, or twisted bastardization of the human figure. the same goes for figures replicating, other things that we might be familiar with. an alien creature, that has a feline body shape, carries the connotations of a sleek stealthy hunter, as an artist i have to be conscious if were i take my research from to make sure it also has the same feeling what i want to convey with my design. 

Black Panther

Thanator (James Cameron's Avatar).... remind you of anything?

The design of the Thanator is clearly reminiscent of a panther  despite obvious difference they both carry a similar shape dynamic. The thanator design also shares the same joint layout of the legs as cats (digitigrade- meaning walking on the digits) where the bone of the foot actually forms the lower half of the leg.

Mood boards:

This first moodboard i created to generate ideas of bipedal aliens that are more characters than creatures, this will be for my "hunter".

Also for my hunter moodboard, here i gathered images of the level of technology and feel of the clothing that i think i might use for the character. 

Reference Material:

I felt i had to include this character from district 9, i thought it was appropriate to the type of character i could design

From Wolf to Dog

Creature research:


I have looked at a couple of documentaries on the domestication of dogs into wolves:

Mankind the story of us: Domesticating the dog

And man created dog: A national geographic presentation

Natural world: A wild dog's story

I looked at this final video to to find attributes and characteristics of wild hunting dogs that could translate to visual traits of my design. I also wanted to see the relationship between packs of wild dogs, and if ose relationships have any effect on the way they look. Other than the sustaining of wounds (which would create distinguishing marks and scars on the body, there is little other than the color/ pattern on their coat to distinguish many pack animals.  Individuals within a group can look very similar, and are (to our perception at least) just one random member of that race. I think this can be a way to differentiate between a creature and a character. a character is a specific individual, where as a creature could just be an example of its race, un-distinguishable from its contemporaries. However, to develop a bond with a creature we the viewer/ player would have to be able to identify its characteristics, thus making it more a character than simply a generic member of a species, in that way the player can start to form more of a bond with a npc creature.

There is however something else that this made me think about when considering how i would design my creature, the size.  In nature the dominant animal in the pack is usually the largest, this means, that visually, it would not make sense for (with a predator at least) the assisting hunting animal to be larger than its character counterpart, as by most logic, if it wer, it would simply eat any smaller character as it would receive no benefit from a mutialistic relationship.  larger predators tend to hunt on their own, though their are of course always exceptions. 

lions... not ideal candidates for domestication

 This is simple a rule in nature, and some would not say it is necessary to take into consideration when creating art, but i think it is important to allow the viewer to suspend their disbelief, and if the design has some grounding in reality, just by means of our own expectations and pre-conceptions of how things "should" look. 

Considering this i think it would keep the design of my creature reasonably smaller than my character. 

Generating Ideas

I have found the universes of Warhammer and Warhammer 40k tabletop games a useful place to find examples of aesthetically similar ecosystem. The various races resemble one another, shearing features

Example: Kroot

Kroot

Kroot Hound

Krootox

Knarloc

To denote that they have all evolved in the same ecosystem, the factions of a Kroot army all have the same beak with a strong lower jaw, and spine like hair protruding from the back of the heads. they also all seem to share high, and defined cheek bones and sunken eyes. These attributes are enough of a visual link to show their shared evolution or dna. the human brain is particularly adept at picking up on repetition, design like this plays to that, i hope to use this project learn how to make design decisions in this way. 

Creating a brief:

My design brief for my concept art is to: "Create a series of work showing a Primitive alien hunter and his hound."

The reason i have given myself this brief over the other possibilities is because i think it will be a more interesting pretext to explore environmental effects on the aesthetics of two figures with a close, functional relationship. By specifying a "primitive alien" i want to be able to show that the two beings reflect one another and the environment they inhabit, mirroring the working mutually beneficial relationships that early man had with domesticated dogs. Outside of professions such as sheep farming the relationships between humans and animals have become more one sided, as dogs become more domesticated, we no longer rely on what was once an important part of our success as a race, and developing making our hunting more efficient  and later cultivating the ability to herd and farm animals. Our environment and available materials also have less of an impact on the cloths we wear and the way we dress in modern times, early humans dress reflected the environment they were in, as it was governed far more by the available resources, i want to show this in the design of my character. 

This brief does not specify the type of environment or landscape, as such the brief is fairly open, i will be creating a video game protagonist and their companion. Hypothetically the series of work i am creating could go on to dictate the story and the setting of the game, though in reality in a studio i would probably be given an environment to fit my character into rather than building the environment around the character. 

I will be interpreting the term "hound" in the brief very loosely, to mean a creature (not necessarily to mean a creature of canine genus) that is used to assist the character in the act of hunting  i will aim to make the attributes of the creature reflect that. 

By having design coherence with the two creatures i want to show a close, more coexisting relationship in my designs. 

lets see if dogs look like their owner afterall...