Nintendo DS Bandit Model Development Images

1st Head Modelling Development Images

Climax Visit and Porfolio Critique

Climax stated "you have strong work but you need to focus more on realism rather than always working in a toon style"

"i dont see how some of your work is relevant to concept"

"you need more 2D renders mainly because of we look at line work, and when i turn over i want to see and nice 2D render."

Climax Recruitment Visit (4^th March 2010)
http://www.climaxgroup.com/

Recruitment Manager – Why join Climax?

·         Independent – Multiplatform

·         Trained by Professionals

·         Involved in many platforms and projects

·         Appreciation

·         Recognition

·         Team spirit

·         Great location

sgodfrey@climaxgroup.com

Art Team

·         Environments (Env’s)

·         Characters (Char)

·         Special Effects (SFX)

·         Game user interface (GUI)

·         Animation

4 Common Threads

·         Reference

·         Composition

·         Colour Theory – Colour Theory is Very Important

·         Judgement

GBrace@climaxgroup.com

What we are looking for

·         Clear, concise CV

·         Few, well selected examples

·         Clear, solid presentation

·         Digital work is good, but make it work

·         Good artistic judgement

NEW IDEA

I had a new idea mainly inspired by Zelda Twilight Princess for its artistic and stylistic characters, Shadow of the colossus for its rendering style and Ico for its mechanic of leading a partner.

The idea i had is of a Bandit character, world re known for his skills has been captured by mercs who are buying is freedom in expensive of him doing jobs for them.

Comic Riddick

This was just something extra i did, and that was to look into doing a comic version of Riddick.

I did this mainly to show that i can work in a different style, preferable for a portfolio piece as Climax are coming to visit, and i am planning for this to critique a small portfolio of my work, just so i can get an understanding of how far they feel i am off getting into the industry as a graduate.

Riddick Final Ideas

These are ideas i actually did on the train, i decided to push out the area around his neck so that it seemed that he was more top heavy. I dont think it was exaggerated enough though and that the legs had to be shorter. There isnt really any reference for Buzz that shows really well built characters, so taking ridding and pushing his obvious elements is the best step to creating pretty much a caricature of him.

This is the Final Design of Buzz Riddick.

I am pleased with the design as i feel that pushing out how hench his arms and hands are which pushes across to a younger demographic that he is really strong, especially through shortening his legs as well. 

The crit i received from colleagues we well which positive saying that they understand it was a caricature of Riddick which could easily be applied to Buzz.

 I do also feel that technically just being a caricature isn't enough, but from the crit, it seems positive

What ive learnt from this is that demographics do define what style and genre a game can be, e.g. Buzz is a 3+ while Riddick is 15+. Different aesthetics and colours show different meanings to the audience which could make or break the idea, the research just needs to be implemented well enough to show that an understanding of the purpose of each of the elements of design in the game, come across clearly to the audience.

Riddick Intital Concepts

Trying to grasp the structure of his body is difficult, mainly because exaggeration is needed. With these concepts i found an idea pretty quickly but it wasnt exaggerated enough and didnt really capture the monotone mood and build of Riddick. I then tried to incorporate the actually main Buzz character, but the only reason you can tell its buzz is because of the head, and in the game, he is the only character that actually looks like that so this idea needs to be moved on really.

These ideas started taking form as i noticed that quite alot of the character in Buzz had really thin bodies with big heads, a much more childish approach to anatomy which reflects the demographic completely. The problem i had with these is that it only looks like Riddick through the goggles and the blades. The problem with the blades is that they could be classed as offensive material for a family game as they are pretty fierce looking weapons. 

The body at the top is pretty cool i thought mainly because its so over exaggerated, but i think this is why it doesnt work, because its too exaggerated, but atleast this gives me an idea of how far i can go with it. Similarily with the faces, quite of few of them just make him looks like a batman wannabe, which is completely away from the design of Buzz.

The next step would be to exaggerate the body enough to capture how hench his body actually is.

Demographic Research and Riddick

Adam tasked me to re create Riddick as a character for Buzz (the quiz game created by Relentless) and a comic character, mainly to understand the benefits and why demographic is one of the soul reasons why games are successful or not.

First off, images of the style of Buzz and Riddick are needed.

Figure 1: Riddick & Buzz

Buzz
Buzz has a very obviously style which is more about capturing and emphasising stereotypes of characters and generic people. Also the use of this creates a aesthetic (bright colours with certain parts of the body being exaggerated depending on there stereotype.) which is aimed at a younger demographic, which is why this a family game.

Riddick

Riddick is pretty much a space pirate, renown for his skill in assassination. Riddick from the torso up seems to be overly muscular, which gives an idea of how the character could be exaggerated. Compared to Buzz, its demographic is at the complete other spectrum of the market, as Buzz contains no elements that contain grotesque or offensive material unlike Riddick which is full of murder and blood. 

The next step is really to just start concepting the idea of Riddick in Buzz to understand the style, and try and apply it in a non offensive way.

The Final Critique and the end of HUMANITY

Showing my work to my tutor, he didn't really agree with the main design elements, mechanics and especially the narrative, as he stated that "you cannot fit characters to a flawed narrative." I didn't realise that i was creating a flawed narrative, i was trying to get across that the game is based upon one man against impossible odds. But that obviously failed.

He also said that the design is too similar to Dead Space, and there i can agree with him, i just didn't step back from my artwork enough to see that what i was doing wasn't an iteration of a previous concept, but more of a copy. 

From this, i was told to move off of the idea, come back to it later if needed but if not completely move off it otherwise i will end up with no work. He said that i should move onto something that displays that i can redesign a character for different demographic.

I went wrong by not getting into the character enough, and not understanding his purpose in the game world. Also i didn't take into consideration enough that demographics are not best defined by games, but by films. I also wasn't loose enough with my idea because as stated before, i was leaving my self pretty much open for this. I didn't realise i wasn't giving myself a chance to explore in i started a brand new idea.  

From this failed idea, i have learnt alot of things as well. For the next project i must take into consideration straight away:

• Demographic - This defines the audience of the game and singles out what console, genre and aesthetic the game should follow.
• Concept don't illustrate - You are not expected to reach a final design straight away, be loose then tighten nearer the completion of the design once its been experimented.
• Do not rehash old ideas - If you are going to make a game with similar mechanics as other, redesign and reimplement them in different ways rather than copying and creating a game that has a similar experience to its inspiration.
• Get Crit even more -  if you can get crit everyday, get it, because it will only make your ideas even stronger.
• Work fast - if you dont work fast then you wont ever get faster. The industry don't want to waste money on a worker who takes a day to do a few illustrations. Concept art are not illustrations.
• Understand the Character - get into the character and the idea so that you can fully understand the mannerism and behaviour of the character.
• If you have an idea, draw it the best you can - Communication through images needs to be strong so that the developers and audience can understand the visual cues. 

Latest Game Idea and Demographic Information

The game has now been titled "HUMANITY" as it sums up the protagonists main character arch.

Demographic
13+

Movies that appeal to the demographic.
Wolverine: Origins – Wolverine [Logan]
Chronicles of Riddick – Riddick
Mission Impossible – Ethan Hunt
Ghost in the Shell – kusanagi
Transformers  (Movies)
Star Trek ( 2009 Movie)
Terminator Salvation
Avatar – Jake Sully

Genre

Sci Fi Action Adventure

I researched on the PEGI website so that i could define the age rating of my game:

Age Rating

18

Discrimination - Between humans and aliens (Different Species)

Bad Language – Strong bad language

Bloody Violence – contains human disfigurement as well as alien.

Game Story and Character Information

Story Summary

The back story information about how they were created and how they took over still retains. The Zyclyn are gradually dying out, as they are running out of resources. They are an ancient mechanical race, that is wearing away and needs something to host themselves in so that their race can continue to live on. The form they found that best suited their skeletal structure was the human form. This is when the Zyclyn came down to take over the earth and hoard thousands of humans onto ships to be experimented on. The player will wake up on a ship in space, away from home, viewing earth in the distance. 

Human Information Race: Human
Planet: Earth
System: “Sol System” – The system of the star “Sol”
Galaxy: The “Milky Way”

Name:  Siegfried “Sig”
Age: 29
Marital Status: Wife

Possible Traits

• 
  
  He is stubborn, but also stealthy. Most situations he will enter without thinking and attack head on because he thinks he knows he can win.
• 
  
  Whenever he can see a chance to gain objects that aren’t his, he will take the chance, even if it could get him killed, just to receive loot that he collects.
• 
  
  Forever frowning, and always series, he always takes work home with him, and will never not be seen training in his hut.
• 
  
  He fights to protect his family, and the motherland.
• 
  
  He never wears shoes as he feels that keeping his feet encased in the earth of the motherland protects him from harm, and keeps him one with the earth.

Back Story

He was born into a world without parents. From the age of 10 he joined the armed forces and was intensively trained with various weapons, specialising in mostly swordplay with, long and short swords as well as daggers and archery. On the battlefield, he was ranked highly due to never loosing a fight but also because of his un matched skill and power with a blade. During these 10 years of service, he was stealing all kinds of precious items, like gold, money, and even personal belongings that he could sell on from highest ranks of the armed force. After 10 years he was found out as was sentenced to death in the sandstorms of the wasteland. [The Wasteland is full of sandy dunes and high level of winds. Many unknown and ferocious creatures live here and survivability is highly unlikely].

A group of mercenaries from a village, caught word of the power that he holds, and went into the wastelands to save him. After the recovered from his wounds, the mercs asked him to join and he accepted due to them saving his life. After 5 years of various jobs, he grew attached to the village, the families and the mercs. Over time the aliens had sent a probe 5 years ago, to search the planet for powerful beings that might would be able to withstand the a body being combined with mechanical parts. Eventually they found these mercs and found him and they were captured by a spaceship, taken to the planet forth eden. 5 years later, he wakes up and wonders where he is as all he can feel is the cold sense of metal beneath his feet, no dirt.

“The more he mods himself, the more he loses his humanity and his consciousness to save his planet”

Alien Information

Race: The “Zyclyn”
Planet: “Forth Eden”
Moons: 4 Moons -
System: “Arorian System” – The system of the star “Arora”
Galaxy: “The “Paghas Sea”

The “Zyclyn” Backstory

The Zyclyn were first created by a race now extinct called the Pathians. The Pathians were the first known species to show highly advanced technology. The Pathians created the Zyclyn to be used as workers for the their planet “Eden” as their idea was to create a world of no work and infinite pleasure. The Zyclyn were formerly known as “Actibots” followed by a code depending on what their form of labour was e.g they were called Actibot DB.123984GT [Bot/Labour/Manufacture #/Type of Labour {Ground Trooper}]). Their purpose depends on what they’re form of labour was for example, defence Zyclyn had hands with fingers to hold guns and scientific Zyclyn had more delicate hands that were used for picking test tubes up. The size of the Zyclyn vary depending on what they were for, but the average height of them was around 7 – 9 feet tall, the shortest being 3 foot and the tallest being 900ft which held up building for entertainment and other activities. The Pathians created the Zyclyn with a memory bank that allows them to learn from observation and problem solving.

Over thousands of years, learnt the ways of the pathians, including how to converse, how to build their own kind and all the technologies and also, emotions and their own life style. The Zyclyn began to develop their own even more advanced technologies without the knowledge of the pathians to fight against them for forcing them to work for all these years. They killed the Pathians and used their ships to travel to the “Paghas Sea” to a planet in the outer orbit of sun Arora, a planet they named “Forth Eden.”  From this, they devoted their lives to creating and Eden city of their own.


Due to having thoughts and ideas of their own, rebel Zyclyn forces were formed which were to go against the one thing that hurt their existence in the first place...Biological life forms.

This rebel group have researched the human life form for many years trying to come up scientifically how a human and robot could be combined into one being, thus a bio-mechanical being as a result, so that they could become in  sense invincible, being able to heal from wounds received by their technology and more.

“To enhance the regeneration rate of the human body.”

Latest Concepts - Robots and Protagonist

These concepts were based off the aesthetics of the previous post. I tried to take into consideration, the anatomy of the characters, as structure and form are all part of aesthetic.

Figure 1: Robot designs

I did struggle with the design of the robots, because ive never actually design robots before, which is why i took up the challenge to work out of my comfort zone. I wouldn't say that these designs are successful, as i was mainly just looking at the eyes and the face of the robots, but i couldn't really get across the design i was hoping for.

Figure 2: Combining the previous researched aesthetics to the design of the character.

I has the idea of making the heart the core element of the human body that the robots what to manipulate to constantly pumping the plasma energy through the veins of the body. I was also designing a chest plate that protected the heart, which is why i went for a shape that was more skeletal like a human ribcage. More like an exoskeleton. 

Figure 3: same as above

Giving the protagonist cybernetic skin, that flakes away when he uses the plasma energy, i thought was a cool idea, because it adds an interesting element to the main game mechanic. As the skin is away it leaves the players skeleton open, it is the characters shield. This also adds a limitation to how much the player can use his powers, making it more rewarding when its used.  

I am pleased with the concepts, as i final feel that im coming to more of a complete design rather than being left behind, because the last thing i want is to come out with loads of research and no finished products because i will then have nothing for my portfolio. 

Robot Research

The idea i had of the robots, aesthetically would have a decayed, industrial sense to them making them feel like an ancient race from across the galaxy. Below i have linked the name of the movie/game to a video so that you can see the characteristics and design in motion of there various characters.

Figure 1: Mass Effect, District 9, Star Wars  

(copyright to respective owners)

These designs stood out to me when i researching for images to impulse my creative flare. These are not specifically the design im going for, but they all contain elements that i would consider. These characters dont feel ancient at all, so i began to look at other games and films that have incorporated more of an idea of aesthetic design that i have for my robots. 

Figure 2: Dead Space, Killzone 2

Figure 3: Event Horizon

What appeals to my ideas mostly is the harsh cut in lighting. Most the lighting is powered by the player or from millions of lights set up around the scene which appeals to the aesthetic of a futuristic setting, which is mostly show in Dead Space and Event Horizon. The design elements i want to combine it with is the industrial and somewhat undeveloped city of the Helghast in Killzone 2.

Thinking in terms of demographic, my game idea is taking a different turn mainly because that it seems like far more of a survival horror rather than an action adventure/hack and slash. Hopefully if i combine these element, just implement then in different ways, i can bend the interpretations of the audience towards the style of action adventure games. 

Another Critique

i showed my tutor my work, and he actually helped me quite a lot. He was stating that going down the bandit route is not bad, but im aiming for the wrong demographic. He stated that looked at my character from a 13 year old's point of view, they would assume my character to be more than dirty because of the dreadlocks as the assumption toward that hairstyle is that they are greasy. I personally don't have a problem with this, but i think that is the problem he was getting at, the game idea isn't for me but for the audience.

Figure 1: Disney's Jack Sparrow (copyright respective owners) and my Bandit Character

My tutor stated that if i was aiming for the a Jack Sparrow demographic, then this idea would have worked, but my idea was actually nothing to do with his mannerism. This does show to me that i still don't have a grasp on demographics and that im still making this idea for my self now the audience. He said that i need to define my demographic and move onto the design of the robots if his design is going to influence the design of the protagonist. Moving onto the design of the robots would be the best idea.

New Concepts

The latest idea i had was based more on creating a character who is more of a mercenary than being part of an army, so that then sense of not being clamped down by a government gives the character a sense of being free from rules, giving him a chance to seem more carefree, but also retain his hard shell.

These concepts i began to look at bandit characters, because i had the idea of giving him a more intimidating aesthetic design, making him seem more like a bad guy, and anti hero, but also for his weakness to be his family.

I researched stereotypical desert bandits, as it creates a more earthy aesthetic to set the era for the audience. The rugged aesthetic of the character creates a much more "i dont care" look which completely displays that he isnt there to appeal. I believe this would appeal more to the 13+ audience because at that age, they are rebelling, wanting to not conform to the rules of society, and having this character is an exact model for them to look up to. I think that these designs work well, mainly because the dreadlocks are a different hair style that isnt really shown in video games which gives the character that bit more of a different edge. 

Inspiration

These inspiration pages helped me outline various design elements, and possible character personalties and traits. Hopefully it will also help me outline who the character is and why he is on this quest.

Protagonist Inspiration

Figure 1: Video Game character inspiration

Darksiders, God of War Series, Nier, Dynasty Warriors Series, Prince of Persia Series, Dead Space, Crysis.

Figure 2: Film & TV character inspiration
Roronoa zoro (One Piece), Colin MacLeod (Highlander), Riddick (Chronicles of...), Wolverine ("" Origins)

These images are what i found when researching for inspiration when i was having my creative flare. They describe my type of character mainly through their personalities. I want to create a create a passive aggressive character that always resorts to fighting because that's the only thing they know, but to make his strengths his downfall as strength is not the only personality needed to succeed in a world you know nothing about. Also the images give a form a aesthetic design as well, giving a sense of a more industrial, yet futuristic setting where it seems more eroded rather than just designed that way.

Hopefully this will help me define a demographic, and also enable me to find what i can and cannot change so that my idea can have more of creative and unique twist, making it stand out from the crowd of the already over populated action adventure genre.

Genre Research

Researching into game genres is the beginning of helping define my game idea genre, so ive researched into games genres that i could see my game being. Other research like films and magazines is needed though to help define my audience and demographic. After doing research, i have outlined various games and their main mechanic and age rating that would have an influence on my game idea, as well as to help define the demographic:

Action Adventure - Traversing the open world, improving your character and progressing the story in a linear fashion.

Similar to:

1.       Prince of Persia (PEGI 12+) = Exploration 

2.       Beyond Good and Evil (12) = Exploration, discovery and narrative.

3.       The Legend of Zelda series (varies Twilight Princess 12+) = Exploration, discovery, materialistic.

·         Adventure Hack and Slash- Traverse a more linear and obvious path, destroying many enemies in your way, whilst improving your character.

Similar to:

1.       God of War (18) = Gory OTT Violence

2.       Nier (18) = Violence and exploration

3.       Darksiders (18) = OTT Violence

·         Hack and Slash- traversing a section of a map, full of enemies, hacking down as many enemies as possible whilst collecting better equipment and completely challenges and missions.

similar to:

1.       Dynasty Warriors Series (PEGI 12+) = variation in combat through characters, levelling up.

2.       Ninety Nine Nights series (PEGI 12+) = variation in combat thorough characters, levelling up 

·         Survival Horror – Over the shoulder, focusing more on the survival within the tight corridors of the alien ship, using your thief skills to gain information and gear to survive and save your race.

Similar to:

1.       Dead Space (18) = surviving by whatever means possible and rationalising what you have. 

2.       Resident Evil 4 (15) = surviving by killing anything in the way

·         First Person Shooter- Using the plasma power of your arm to gain different strengths and better yourself, whilst retaining the ability to free roam with a linear storyline.

Similar to:

1.       Crysis (15) = Exploration and being the alpha male.

2.       Half Life 2 (15) = shooting and narrative.

3.       Far Cry 2 (15) = Exploration, teamwork and shooting

First Critique

The first critique on my work went really well id say, even though it was pretty much about how my idea is too fixed and needs to be loosened up.

I actually spoke to a former attendant, now teacher of the course called Warwick. He told me that my work is too fixed, like ive been working on the idea for years, which means that im too attached to the work, meaning that i wont be able to be critical about it either. From the character concept, he was also saying that trying to incorporate a Japanese honour element is very hard for a western idea to get away with because we actually know very little about the history of Japan and that it isn't really worth it because it wont pay off, it will just end up shallow either way. He was saying that the scheme of honour could work, just try and apply it in a non Japanese way.

With the story, he said that it needs a lot of work because many element really don't work with it and i really need to define a demographic for it as well. I had no idea what a demographic was till it was explained and now my understanding of it is:

• A demographic is a portion of an audience that conforms to various specific consumables. e.g. 10 year olds like Ben10 and like things with bright colours.   

I also got critiqued by Adam, and he pretty much told me the same stuff as Warwick, but elaborated on a few me elements of my ideas. He said that i need to completely reinvent this character and story if i want it to work because it is completely flawed with narrative, mechanic and design elements. He also said that ive dived into concepting in the completely wrong way, that i need start with sketches towards a final design, rather than the other way around.

Reflecting on this, the crit that i got today has more than helped me, i really need to take a step back from the character and define who the game idea is for and why. From this i made a list of what i did bad and what i need to improve:

Do Not Do

• Getting attached to artwork is bad as it leaves no room from improvement
• Concept is about being fast and efficient, not about making pretty artwork, its about making artwork that is needed to complete the task. (this does change from company to company says Warwick)
• Getting as much crit as possible and iteration after iteration just makes the work even stronger.
• Don't work on ideas you have been working on for years as it will not work out e.g (Too Human was a failure after more than  6 years of iterations over various generations of consoles.)

To Do List and Improvements

• Define the audience and demographic, as an idea that you like will not sell as its personal.
• DEFINE A GENRE.
• Get out hundreds of sketches rather than working on one idea for a day as it will definitly be wrong.
• To understand a character, get involved in his personality and mannerism, to understand a character is to iterate and form a better idea. 
• Get work onto the forums for crit.

Cyberwarrior Artwork

The artwork i did last summer, will help me save time hopefully on concept work as to me it feels more complete, but i do need to get critiqued. 

I probably shouldn't have erased the artwork underneath as im working more as a painter rather than a concepter by drawing over what has been done previously. This is the stage of the character that the player would control, as this is the protagonist has regained his first weapon. Initially, this character was just going to have an amputated arm before he went into space, but it wouldn't have made any sense at all due to horseback and swordplay era. I was trying to capture the sense that he had been rebuilt with having bandage around him, and showing that he is stronger than others by wielding and oversized blade in one hand.

From his attire as well, i wanted to get across that he is honourable, similar to a Japanese samurai. The image of the spine is showing the detail of what the communication devices look like. They also are armoured to protect the spine from being severed or ripped out with ease. The main problem i feel with this is that it feel like there is a bit too much detail to be captured successfully in 3D which is why i wanted to get the work critiqued. 

I had a pretty set idea what i wanted the arm to be like, but my initial idea was not about harnessing plasma, but about being extremely powerful through impact. The first idea was about just having an amputated arm, which was over powerful, similar to bionic commando without the grappling hook abilities. This idea seemed boring though and overused in games and films already. Then i had the idea of having an attacked retractable blade, making him more of an assassin, but from his build it doesn't work because that isn't in his full frontal personality.

The plasma idea, actually came about from a dream i had, when a man in white, wielding this blue plasma energy, came from the horizons and whipped out all evil upon the earth with a single blow. Sound very like Gandalf from LotR. The idea i had for this though was more based around moving parts creating kinetic energy that powered the plasma energy, so that it never runs out. 

I had another idea of making the armour more royal, which makes him seem as if he is higher ranked within the army. The design looks good i thing because there are many interesting elements within it, but i did spend too much time on it which is very very bad.

The Cyberwarrior Idea

I initially came up with this idea back in the summer at the end of the first year, which was to basically finally see my long running characters in actions, modelled, textures and animated, bring them to life more than paper as i was just excited because i can now use a new media which adds the extra dimension to my characters.

The outline of the story is, there is an ancient race of robots from space, coming down to a parallel earth, where the main protagonist resides. The protagonist is part of the earth's military of world defence, a force of elite soldiers and warriors that defend the world for all kinds of terrorism. The protagonist is a sergeant on the battlefield, commanding many groups of men, as well as being part of Defence 4, a small, but overpowered team (one of the characters being one i created a long time ago called Colette Reavis) used for espionage and big threats. When formed together with their various skills, they create an awesome force, that shouldn't be reckoned with.

The humans are more technologically advanced, but stilled used the likes of horseback, steel and archery to maintain their balance with nature, as they strongly believe in mother earth and honour. Every human, in the army received a communicational device, implanted into their spinal cord, so that every human was in tune with another.

The Robot forces have been sending probes around the galaxy, searching for a suitable host for their mechanical bodies. Their main goal is to create an army of various typed super machines, that are enhanced by the self regeneration abilities of humans bodies, but to also allow a constant flow of their power source they use to fight, a bright blue plasma energy, that can blaze through anything if powered enough. This energy they planned to flow through the veins of the human body so that it would constantly be created from the heart core. They have planned their attack for years, and that was to harvest as many humans as possible for experimentation.

When the aliens arrived a huge war broke out, and took control of the spinal communicators of the humans, causing them to be controlled like puppets. They were then smuggled onto the ship and taken back their their home planet. As the protagonist is being experimented on, for an unknown reason, he wakes up in the middle of the operation of combining the human tissue and mechanical skeleton, wielding an over powered arm. the protagonist is meant to be one of the most elite super warriors they created.

This is where the player would take over, traversing an unknown world, trying to save his race from extinction, and being hugely outnumbered.

The main mechanic of the game would be on enhancing the plasma arm, even getting more part for the arm, and combining these elements to take down the enemy. And also possibly teaming up with other players, who would play as the other members of Defence 4 to take down the enemy.

More Artist Portfolios - Low Poly stuff

Considering my game idea, i am going to research into more than just high poly work. I want my game idea to be on PS3, Xbox and PC but also thinking in terms of DS and Wii because it widens the appeal range if my game idea can appeal to it.

I couldn't find any Wii portfolio's but im going to search some model rips at some point.

Ben Mathis

The first bit of work you see (Brad Pitt's character in "Inglorious Basterds") i think is pretty insane that he has been able to capture that amount of definition in the model with under 1000 polys. From this it can really be seen how much a texture can do in terms of definition that isn't there. Majority of his work is low poly as he has been on many games around the PS2 and original Xbox era. 


His 2D work isnt the best, but it is clear where his skills lay with his portfolio. In terms of DS i wouldn't have thought that his models would run on it, but it gives me an idea of how to create a low poly mesh with good flow and make the texture do most of the definition work.

Owen Shepherd

The most beneficial part of this is mainly for seeing the mesh flow, and poly counts of characters in DS, as as much as i haven't looked yet, im sure the 3D power of a DS is pretty limited which is why sprite games still exist on it. It is also seeing the LOD's of the character as well because it allows me to see how they tackled the change in poly count on the screen through cut scenes. Im sure LODing is always useful skill as it shows you can take higher poly elements to lower poly or visa versa.





Hopefully i can find model rips from DS games, so that i can de construct the mesh flow and poly-count.Overall, i think low poly would be a good to venture into, mainly because it shows that ive explored and also, shows i can create artwork for different audiences, as that is what developers what to see as it shows you are diverse.

Professional Artist Portfolios

We were also tasked to do research into professional artist portfolios which i can definitely see is beneficial, as much as it could make me feel pretty rubbish, id rather look at it as something i aim to reach and success over rather than feel rubbish about how much better they are than me.

Mashru Mishu.

He has one of the strongest portfolios ive seen which is why he is first. Most of his work are high poly realism sculpts baked to lower poly meshes, most limited to the tri count of consoles. He also has an immaculate eye for human and creature anatomy, lighting, form and structure which is show clearly throughout all his work. He also has amazing textures for all his characters. Not only that, but his website is clear and easy to navigate website, with a simple, short web address.

The main thing that is lacked in his work that i see if that he doesn't really take the poses of his characters very far which most of them just standing in a pretty natural stance no matter the character, and also the fact that he doesn't have much stylised work, but it is clear that he wants to go in the direction of realism. From first impressions though, he doesn't fail to impress. Also when you look at his CV, he has ticked off all but a few of the criteria as he has no 2D work.

Popov-SM

His work is all stylised, which could also explain why there isn't much work on his website, mainly because from what ive seen so far, the industry is heavy on realism at the moment. This doesn't mean his work is bad though because is 2D concepts are incredible, full of interesting and unique designs. it is clear that his main strength is his 2D work. He has some good 3D models too but none which are completely made by him (he has made the model but not the texture.) His portfolio isn't great, but im putting him in as research as his stylised, 2D and 3D artwork is just amazing. i do wish he had wire frames of the models though.

Rodrigue Pralier 

He has worked on EA's Army of Two series and also Bioware's Mass Effect 2. What i like about it is that he has some much work that shows a variety between realism and stylised, all of such a high standard as well. He he shows various realism and stylised sculpts as well, but also he has amazing 2D rendering skills as well. This is the best porfolio in terms of body and standard of work that ive seen.

The problems i have with it though is that there is sooo much work to see its almost too much, and you have to sift through to find his best work, which is just too laborious for a developer. Also i do think his presentation could be better as well, as there isn't any form of justification of alignment of the work. this is just me though because i feel that i could present it better. Also quite a few of his models dont have wireframes, texture maps, and are not posed. Although this may not be a problem since most of the models are for games,  which implies that they are correct in every aspect to be in a game.

Jonathan Fletcher

He has entered a few times into the various Dominance Wars but what i love most about his work is his textures. For some its almost like they are paintings, not models, they are pretty deceiving, although im not sure if this is a good thing, i think they look great because its something different. His 2D artwork is pretty good, although ive seen better, but when you see his 3D and texture skills, it makes up for it. His presentation of the portfolio is one of the best ive seen as well as its clear and concise.

 Slipgatecentral

His entry for Dominance War was absolutely amazing, one of my most favourite models ive seen mainly because i love the concept and design/style of it, and its all for next gen spec as well. I could only really find his deviantart page, which isnt the best but it gives an idea of his talent. He is not only a great modeller, but also a great conceptual artist and digital painter, which is shown through his page. If it wasnt for the deviantart page, his work would have good presentation as he shows, wireframes, textures used and high and low poly sculpts, all that an industry wants to see for 3D.

Paul Richards

Paul Richards has some outstanding concept work, something of a standard that i would love to reach. He is a 2D concept artist, that has worked on many games, one being Darksiders which i loved for its design. The reason i researched him is mainly for his concept art skill and that its a level i have to reach for the industry. It is clear that to be a concept artist, you must be varied in all elements of the design process including characters, environments, props etc. If i want to be a 2D/3D character artist, that means i will only be focused   on characters, but i will need the skills of character and creature anatomy and form to be as strong as his work. The problem with his site, is that his presentation is really bad, as there is nothing showing his best works, its just lists of artwork, and it actually would look really boring if his artwork wasn't so good. 

Overall each of the portfolios i have put up have elements which are strong about them which will help me to construct my portfolio with work that is relevant for the specific job. Also from looking at the portfolios, i can clearly see how they managed to get to that specific outcome, which gives me a better idea of how to reach that standard, as it is not just practice by itself. Here is a list of what i have learnt from seeing these portfolios:

• Good Presentation - Needs to be clear, concise with the best and relevant work you have that appeals to that employer and job. This will also help it look interesting.
• Easy to Navigate - If its difficult to get around from artwork to CV, im sure that most employers would just give up.
• Show your best artwork as soon as the page is opened - This will get the employers attention straight away if the work is impressive.
• Make sure contact details are easily in vision - Just make sure its not too in your face.
• Show a variety of work - no employer would want to see everything the same, so show that you can vary your work in terms of style and demographic.