Since my previous post, i have completed the design process for the Great Crested Bird (see Creature Development) and i have also put the finished concept in my Creature Gallery.
From this process i have learnt the importance of planning and attention to detail in a creatures design. Considering - how its feathers look? what colours are best? what kind of pupil does it have in its eye? does it fit in it environment? all important in discovering the right design path and creating a successful creature.
This first semester i feel my approach to creature design has been enhanced greatly. Starting with importance of structure (anatomy and musculature), my research into verisimilitude and overcoming a players disbelief, considering evolution and details as to how that creature lives, feeds and moves and finally the importance of the right texture - feathers, scales etc must look believable as the viewer can relate to existing animals.
My contextual visits also played there part in a new way of gathering inspiration and provided an insight into how other artists and designers work. The Zoo visit was of particular relevance to myself as i could study first hand animals in their environment and how they move and behave.
I believe my research into creating believable creatures this semester has provided me with the necessary foundations to further my creature design process next semester.
Thursday 15 December 2011
Monday 12 December 2011
The Great Crested Bird...
After sketching, sketching and morrrre sketching :D i have selected one of my favourites to take that bit further on its design path.
It is a cross between a Secretary Bird and a Frilled Lizard.
The males have a highly colourful head piece which they use to threaten an approaching enemy and those with the biggest and most colourful head pieces are more attractive to the females.
They have a huge 2 meter wing span, long avian legs, a feathery scale covered body and feeds on insects and small fish. The Great Crested Bird can usually be spotted around the shallow shores of lakes and rivers.
Below are some experimental pieces helping me develop this creature...
I am finding that developing key areas of the creature helps me discover new ways of designing thus making my design process stronger,
It is a cross between a Secretary Bird and a Frilled Lizard.
The males have a highly colourful head piece which they use to threaten an approaching enemy and those with the biggest and most colourful head pieces are more attractive to the females.
They have a huge 2 meter wing span, long avian legs, a feathery scale covered body and feeds on insects and small fish. The Great Crested Bird can usually be spotted around the shallow shores of lakes and rivers.
Below are some experimental pieces helping me develop this creature...
I am finding that developing key areas of the creature helps me discover new ways of designing thus making my design process stronger,
Monday 5 December 2011
Further Understanding
Today i have completed my Literature and Contextual Reviews for this first semester. The aim of my reviews was to discover how to make you, my audience believe my creatures could actually exist by creating verisimilitude (the appearance of truth).
I discovered the importance of anatomy and musculature in my designs and without a strong structural base its audience will start to doubt its existence. I also learnt to consider every little detail in a creatures design...
What is its Purpose?
How has its Evolved to Survive?
How does it Hunt and Eat?
What are the differences between the Males and Females?
All of the above are just a selection of factors to consider in the creature design process.
On top of all that, considering a players first reactions to a design...
Can the player approach and interact with the creature?
Should the player prepare for an attack?
So the Psychology must also be taken into account.
The process of researching, reading, visiting places and writing these reviews have truly enhanced my knowledge and understanding of creature design, and bare all in mind when designing.
I have also added a new page to my Blog, Creature Sketches as i have previously said i have been working mainly in my sketch book recently and i have selected a few to share with you...
Take a look and enjoy!
I discovered the importance of anatomy and musculature in my designs and without a strong structural base its audience will start to doubt its existence. I also learnt to consider every little detail in a creatures design...
What is its Purpose?
How has its Evolved to Survive?
How does it Hunt and Eat?
What are the differences between the Males and Females?
All of the above are just a selection of factors to consider in the creature design process.
On top of all that, considering a players first reactions to a design...
Can the player approach and interact with the creature?
Should the player prepare for an attack?
So the Psychology must also be taken into account.
The process of researching, reading, visiting places and writing these reviews have truly enhanced my knowledge and understanding of creature design, and bare all in mind when designing.
I have also added a new page to my Blog, Creature Sketches as i have previously said i have been working mainly in my sketch book recently and i have selected a few to share with you...
Take a look and enjoy!
Sunday 27 November 2011
The Gentle Giant
Recently i have been working mainly in my sketchbook creating creatures of all forms which is why my updates have been a little sparse. A few weeks ago myself and my fellow MA's went on a contextual visit to Yorkshire Sculpture Park (see Research section).
I found a particular piece inspiring and with my creative eye, i spotted potential. I took a photograph of this piece (above) and took it into photoshop to show you exactly what i could see in my head.
I saw the large muscular structure of a giant, first i saw a Gorilla, but as i developed this creature i began to see a sloth like animal of huge proportions. Although he looks intimidating he is far from it. He is the Gentle Giant of the forest.
Although at first i couldn't see the Sculpture Park being beneficial to myself, i was obviously wrong. Seeing an abstract sculpture clearly proved inspiring.
Although at first i couldn't see the Sculpture Park being beneficial to myself, i was obviously wrong. Seeing an abstract sculpture clearly proved inspiring.
Monday 14 November 2011
Don't Panic!
I am still here!
I realise it has been a while since my last post. I have been working a lot in my sketch book recently producing new rough sketches of creatures which i will be posting on here in time. It was also my birthday last week, so its safe to say i have been celebrating with friends and family... but this is no excuse!
Its down to serious work from now... wheres my pencil???
I realise it has been a while since my last post. I have been working a lot in my sketch book recently producing new rough sketches of creatures which i will be posting on here in time. It was also my birthday last week, so its safe to say i have been celebrating with friends and family... but this is no excuse!
Its down to serious work from now... wheres my pencil???
Friday 4 November 2011
Creature Developing in process!
Since my 'Crit' session last week i have been producing some rough quick sketches of creature ideas that could live on this new world.
This is one i have quickly sketched in Photoshop today, i was inspired to create a snake/panther combo, which i have also mutated and given it 6 legs, so far this is how it looks.
I have published this as i have also experimented with different colours of the same creature to play around with what suits best. This was another quick experiment that i will be continuing to take through my designs as the colour can dramatically change the creatures feel and overall appearance.
This is one i have quickly sketched in Photoshop today, i was inspired to create a snake/panther combo, which i have also mutated and given it 6 legs, so far this is how it looks.
I have published this as i have also experimented with different colours of the same creature to play around with what suits best. This was another quick experiment that i will be continuing to take through my designs as the colour can dramatically change the creatures feel and overall appearance.
Friday 28 October 2011
MORE Direction! :D
This week i had a group 'crit' session. This was basically a gathering of other Ma students and teachers where i presented work i have been doing and my current ideas and direction.
After this discussion suggestions and comments where made all of which helpful and encouraging, but one idea seemed to stick with us all.
We all decided that my T-Rex/Elephant combo was a great start but we wanted more crazy creatures! I talked about my idea of this creature having a tree/plant growing from its muscular back, which was great and then it hit us...
'What about another world living on its back filled with crazy creatures of all forms, with their own individual characteristics for survival?!'
So the T-Rex/Elephant acts as the planet on which others live. This in mind i have added below a quick rough sketch of what this could look like.
After this discussion suggestions and comments where made all of which helpful and encouraging, but one idea seemed to stick with us all.
We all decided that my T-Rex/Elephant combo was a great start but we wanted more crazy creatures! I talked about my idea of this creature having a tree/plant growing from its muscular back, which was great and then it hit us...
'What about another world living on its back filled with crazy creatures of all forms, with their own individual characteristics for survival?!'
So the T-Rex/Elephant acts as the planet on which others live. This in mind i have added below a quick rough sketch of what this could look like.
Tuesday 25 October 2011
Another Direction
Still keeping in the Creature Design theme, but with inspiration form my previous posts, i have thought about taking an existing skeleton of an animal but developing a new creature from it.
So the skeleton of the animal remains the same but the exterior is different to what people would expect.
Above is an example of what i have worked on today, i started with an image of a Deer skeleton and then built on it to create a new creature. It is still recogniseable as a deer but the steriotypical bouncy cute deer has clearly been lost as this new creature has an evil scary feel to it and looks swamp like.
Its structure is very slim with bones showing and the joints clearly visible.
This was a quick design and i may take this further into a more detailed creature later.
So the skeleton of the animal remains the same but the exterior is different to what people would expect.
Above is an example of what i have worked on today, i started with an image of a Deer skeleton and then built on it to create a new creature. It is still recogniseable as a deer but the steriotypical bouncy cute deer has clearly been lost as this new creature has an evil scary feel to it and looks swamp like.
Its structure is very slim with bones showing and the joints clearly visible.
This was a quick design and i may take this further into a more detailed creature later.
More Experimentation
This was another quick experiment, but this time i did the opposite to what i have done below, i have taken an existing creature from a film and tried to imagine how its skeletal structure would look.
Saturday 22 October 2011
Learning More!
Most importantly i have learnt to be able to fill in the gaps- from the shape of the skeleton i have been able to work out where the muscles connect and how the overall shape of the creature joins together.
I am really pleased with the second of the two images as i feel i have managed to keep the energy in the creature.
Photograph Progression
This experiment has turned out to be really useful in working out where the joints are and how the skin and muscles sit on the skeletal frame. I think this is a great way for me to develop a feel for the animal.
Using the skeleton as a base i can define the animals features exactly to the shape of the skeleton. I really like this technique and feel it is an excellent way for me to develop a feel for an animal and helps me understand what parts of its body move and how.
Experimenting with Photographs
Following my visit to the Natural History Museum in Manchester i took one of my T-Rex photographs and played around highlighting areas of the skeleton to enhance the image and make it look more personalised. This was a useful experiment to gather a basic feel for bone shape and structure.
Monday 10 October 2011
The Great Manchester Mission!
On Friday 7th October 2011 myself and fellow MA crew members headed out towards Manchester for a day of sight seeing, inspiration gathering and research collecting. I was excited for what the day may reveal, that was until myself and several others arrived in Manchester Piccadilly at 11.15am (the meeting point decided by teachers) to find... know body, in fact we had been abandoned... GREAT we thought!
After Trekking at speed to catch up we eventually spotted the 10 minute earlier train load in the distance. Struggling to keep up we lost sight... luckily one of our group spotted them dive into a building. At this point as you can imagine we where rather fed up (as this was a uni 'organised' trip)... we didn't get the opportunity to decide which of the two tours hosted by two different teachers, of Manchester's attractions we wanted to visit as one group had already done one!
So rather down hearted we finally caught up to this group in the Manchester Art Gallery at 11.50am, to be told we only had till 12.10pm to get round the whole gallery before she moved on... us three Games Designers thought SOD THAT, so decided to embark on our own adventure of Manchester, and what a brilliant day it turned out to be!
We spent at least an hour in the Manchester Art Gallery, all three of us finding relating things to our individual project directions, which of course was fantastic! I myself discovered all sorts of different animal related pieces which i have wrote about in my Research Section of this Blog.
After, we headed out into Manchester armed with only a Map (as non of us had a knowledge of Manchester) and our Cameras. What a busy day we had, in fact we trekked all over Manchester visiting;
1. Manchester Town Hall
2. A well deserved glass of wine/beer and a plate full of glorious food in the Weather Spoons Pub
3. On to the Peoples History Museum
4. Down to the MOSI - Museum of Science & Industry, visiting the 1830 Warehouse, and across to the Air and Space Hall (which was AWESOME!)
5. Finally heading back to the city centre and visited the Magma book store and the Travelling Man store.
After an extremely tiring museum filled day it was safe to say we were shattered! But we came to the conclusion we had had a better day than we would have had with the teachers, as we where free to explore what we wanted with no time restraints, so in the end the bad start worked in our favour, eventually leaving Manchester at 7.15pm!
We slept well that night!
After Trekking at speed to catch up we eventually spotted the 10 minute earlier train load in the distance. Struggling to keep up we lost sight... luckily one of our group spotted them dive into a building. At this point as you can imagine we where rather fed up (as this was a uni 'organised' trip)... we didn't get the opportunity to decide which of the two tours hosted by two different teachers, of Manchester's attractions we wanted to visit as one group had already done one!
So rather down hearted we finally caught up to this group in the Manchester Art Gallery at 11.50am, to be told we only had till 12.10pm to get round the whole gallery before she moved on... us three Games Designers thought SOD THAT, so decided to embark on our own adventure of Manchester, and what a brilliant day it turned out to be!
We spent at least an hour in the Manchester Art Gallery, all three of us finding relating things to our individual project directions, which of course was fantastic! I myself discovered all sorts of different animal related pieces which i have wrote about in my Research Section of this Blog.
After, we headed out into Manchester armed with only a Map (as non of us had a knowledge of Manchester) and our Cameras. What a busy day we had, in fact we trekked all over Manchester visiting;
1. Manchester Town Hall
2. A well deserved glass of wine/beer and a plate full of glorious food in the Weather Spoons Pub
3. On to the Peoples History Museum
4. Down to the MOSI - Museum of Science & Industry, visiting the 1830 Warehouse, and across to the Air and Space Hall (which was AWESOME!)
5. Finally heading back to the city centre and visited the Magma book store and the Travelling Man store.
After an extremely tiring museum filled day it was safe to say we were shattered! But we came to the conclusion we had had a better day than we would have had with the teachers, as we where free to explore what we wanted with no time restraints, so in the end the bad start worked in our favour, eventually leaving Manchester at 7.15pm!
We slept well that night!
Friday 30 September 2011
A Change of Direction!
Over the past few days i have been pondering over ideas in my head and this morning i was set on researching into how animators and designers start creating a character, and the uses of basic shape initially...
THEN... I received a book i had ordered called Animals Real and Imagined by Terryl Whitlatch, and i was blown away by possibilities! The Book is filled with amazing Creature Design work and she too has included skeletal and muscle drawings to help build a better feel for the character.
The idea of 'mix and match' animals to create new creatures, using inspiration from one animal but applying it to another really excites me.
Before i received this amazing book i had also been reading about creature designer Bobby Chiu in Issue 72 of ImagineFX Magazine (Aug 2011), which also started the 'Creature Design Cogs' turning, and discovering Terryl's Book was the icing on the cake.
Below i have put together a simple flow chart just to explain to you my thought process so far and in green i have circled my next area of research...
Creature Design!!!
THEN... I received a book i had ordered called Animals Real and Imagined by Terryl Whitlatch, and i was blown away by possibilities! The Book is filled with amazing Creature Design work and she too has included skeletal and muscle drawings to help build a better feel for the character.
The idea of 'mix and match' animals to create new creatures, using inspiration from one animal but applying it to another really excites me.
Before i received this amazing book i had also been reading about creature designer Bobby Chiu in Issue 72 of ImagineFX Magazine (Aug 2011), which also started the 'Creature Design Cogs' turning, and discovering Terryl's Book was the icing on the cake.
Below i have put together a simple flow chart just to explain to you my thought process so far and in green i have circled my next area of research...
Creature Design!!!
I aim to find out what the Creature Designers out there do to gather Inspiration.
Wednesday 28 September 2011
The Haze is Starting to Clear...
Since starting out on the Ma Ladder it has been quite baffling....
Where to Start?
What Next?
But is that Right?
BUT...
Finally i feel as though i am gradually getting some direction in this First Semester. I have decided over the past few days that for the time being i will continue to work with a Lions Anatomy, become more familiar with it and once i am satisfied, i will then work on simplifying it down to the bare minimal basic shape of the Lion whilst still keeping it identifiable.
If you check out my "Research" section of this blog you will discover images to help explain my thoughts.
Later i plan to do the same for other animals/creatures so i will end up with a Library of simple shape animal mannequins.
Where to Start?
What Next?
But is that Right?
BUT...
Finally i feel as though i am gradually getting some direction in this First Semester. I have decided over the past few days that for the time being i will continue to work with a Lions Anatomy, become more familiar with it and once i am satisfied, i will then work on simplifying it down to the bare minimal basic shape of the Lion whilst still keeping it identifiable.
If you check out my "Research" section of this blog you will discover images to help explain my thoughts.
Later i plan to do the same for other animals/creatures so i will end up with a Library of simple shape animal mannequins.
Monday 26 September 2011
Lion Anatomy...
Over the past few days i have been looking into Animal Anatomy particularly focusing on the Lion for now. Here as you can see i have started practicing drawing the Lions Skeleton and its Skull.
I will continue to practice drawing the Lions Skeletal Structure and also look into its Muscle build up in order for me to grasp where the Lions joints are and how they move.
I will be able to apply this knowledge later when i come to animate my characters.
I will continue to practice drawing the Lions Skeletal Structure and also look into its Muscle build up in order for me to grasp where the Lions joints are and how they move.
I will be able to apply this knowledge later when i come to animate my characters.
Wednesday 21 September 2011
Animals!
As i am fascinated and inspired by animals of all kinds, and i enjoy and love to draw them i have decided that my next step is to bring them to life.
My main goal when i first started my BA in Games Design was to bring my characters to life through animation. So now as an MA Student this is my Goal!
First i thought to become a truly good animator i must study in depth the "make up" of an animal, its bone structure and its muscle build up, and also study its behaviour as every single creature out there is different!
So my next step on the MA Ladder is to study Animal Anatomy and Animal Behaviour...
My main goal when i first started my BA in Games Design was to bring my characters to life through animation. So now as an MA Student this is my Goal!
First i thought to become a truly good animator i must study in depth the "make up" of an animal, its bone structure and its muscle build up, and also study its behaviour as every single creature out there is different!
So my next step on the MA Ladder is to study Animal Anatomy and Animal Behaviour...
Sunday 18 September 2011
A New Start!
Hello!
Welcome to my Blog, and i can honestly say at this moment in time i am not entirely sure how this works but i will give it a go!
I have set up this blog as a way of updating you all on my progress in my Masters Games Design Course.
My first day on the course was on Friday 16th September 2011, and what an exciting day it was! So much to look forward to and so many Possibilities! So from here its down to some serious work!
My Starting Point... Character Design and Animation...
Welcome to my Blog, and i can honestly say at this moment in time i am not entirely sure how this works but i will give it a go!
I have set up this blog as a way of updating you all on my progress in my Masters Games Design Course.
My first day on the course was on Friday 16th September 2011, and what an exciting day it was! So much to look forward to and so many Possibilities! So from here its down to some serious work!
My Starting Point... Character Design and Animation...
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