Character Image Reference

I used a part of this image which i found in an Imagine FX book. Its a piece by brad rigney called duels of the planeswalkers. I took aspects from the woman character wearing gold and white for my own characters costume. I used the same colours and a similar style. 

Environment Image Reference

I took this picture for another project which i was involved in and decided to use it as a base for my environment. I did use the same perspective and setting however i changed elements of it to suit the style and theme which i was aiming for. For example i changed the season by adding in snow, the time of day by putting a darker coloured layer in and added in glowing lanterns in the trees. 

Making a Gun

In order to come up with ideas for our object design concepts we used the website pimp my gun to create new designs using the parts provided, we could create robots, spaceships, anything we could think of using the website. It was very useful in the design process. 

We then started to take the designs into photoshop and make them more our own by layering over the top of them, cutting parts out to create different shapes and putting colours over the top to give the designs a completely original look. This can be seen by the top design which i started to edit, i wanted to give the effect that there were glowing parts on the gun so i used the soft brush tool to create this however i was unable to complete the design and start working on my second gun. 

Object Evaluation LO5

Similarities: 

One of the similarities between the pieces is that both of them include a cushion to sit on as the main chair and an oyster shell for the backrest. I decided to use these because it was most like the original rounded throne shape which i wanted to go for, but as i was following an underwater theme i decided that the oyster would be the most appropriate for the back. 

Both of them include pearls, the picture has larger pearls sat on it, where as i decided to distribute them differently and on the shell itself as i wanted it too look more fantasy themed and give the shell more decoration to create more of a contrast in the colours. 

Differences: 

There is very little colour used for the main shell as it is mainly white where as with mine i wanted it too look more magical and use a colour which would stand out more on the white background. The pink also worked a lot better in making the pearls stand out where as if i'd used white they would have blended in and as white is a shade there aren't really any different colour tones which i could of used to create the realistic effect for the texture of the shell. As i used pink, i was able to blend in red as well to give it more depth. The picture seems to have used lighting to give the shell more depth, so i have used a different technique to give off a similar effect.  As it is a throne i thought that its more than likely that someone of royalty or a high status would sit in it therefore i picked pink, gold and red for the colour palette as gold and red a well known for being associated with royalty. 

The picture which i have used doesn't actually have any arm rests as it's more of chair as opposed to a throne but i decided to go with the sea theme that i would include arm rests which take the form of seahorses. I decided to do seahorses as they tie in with the underwater theme and a lot of detail could be added to them, also they seemed to fit in with the rest of the throne as they make it appear more extravagant.  The golden colours which i used for the seahorses gave it a more expensive appearance and the contrasted well with the other colours. 

Unlike the image i haven't used the whole oyster shell to create the throne because i wanted to create something more unique and it would have taken a lot of the focus away from the seahorses. 

Likes: 

I like the seahorses, as the details which i put on them make them stand out and i put an emboss effect on them to give them more of a 3D effect which makes them appear to be closer to the foreground. 

Dislikes: 

I dislike the oyster shell as i think that i could of used more colour on it to make it stand out more as this is meant to be the main focus for the image and the seahorses draw attention from this. 

What i'd do differently: 

If i was to do this again i would dim down the colour of the seahorses so they don't detract attention away from the shell and i would of tried to do it from a different perspective as the face on one which i picked doesn't look as realistic compared to if i was to do it at an angle. 

Character Evaluation LO5

Although i have chosen to do a different type of character, there are some similarities and differences between my work and my artists.

Similarities: 

The artistic style is one of the things which i attempted to keep similar to my influence concept piece. I have attempted to blend in the armour like the piece which i used for inspiration. It has an element of realism to it but there's also a cartoon/anime style as well so ive only taken so of the style and then mixed it with another to create a more unique piece. 

As i traced over the image to get the proportions correct for my own concept the stance of the character is exactly the same, it gave me a lot to work with although it was more challenging attempting to put a different type of outfit on my character. 

The eyes are very bright and contrast with the rest of the piece as they're a completely different colour, the eyes which i have created also contrast well as the use of bright blue and purple on green makes them more noticeable, however this is also different to my inspirational piece as they're similar colours as the skin colour. 

Differences:

Where as the inspiration piece is very dark and uses mainly black and red to give the character a piercing look, my character is more colourful as i have used a colour palette of blue, green, gold, white and grey. I did this because i based my character on a lizard and they have very bright, bold colours within their skin pigmentation. 

The armour has aspects of it which are similar such as the shoulder plate armour however predominantly it is a completely different look altogether. With the outfit i created i wanted to give the character an Egyptian style hence why i used golds and whites and gave her a slit skirt. 

Likes: 

I like the artists image because it mixes both fantasy and a dark horror theme together which works well with creating an effective character piece. 

I like the use gold and silver for my armour in my piece as the colours work very well together in making the distinct style of the armour stand out. 

Dislike: 

I dislike the cartoon/ anime style which comes through in my piece and the block of colours. 

What i'd do differently: 

If i was to do this piece again i would of used a wider variety of colours to create a more realistic piece and perhaps looked more into skin textures and shading as i really wanted to put creases and lighting on the outfit but i wasn't sure how to create this effect. 

Environment evaluation LO5

From comparing my concept art and my inspiration for it i can see that there are clear differences and similarities between the two: 

Differences: 

The image i have used as a reference is very symmetrical which does take some of the realism away from it, so i decided to make mine less symmetrical by drawing it from a different perspective. 

Jae-Cheol Park has a larger colour palette, as he has used blues, purples, greens, reds and pinks where as in contrast mine is a lot more desaturated, as i have only used colours such as white, black, grey, orange and red. However given the chance i would like to add more colour to my piece. 

Jae-Cheol Park's piece has a greater depth to it as he has created his piece to give the impression that it is further away, this can be seen by the person which is standing near the tree, in comparison they're significantly smaller. Where as i have less depth in my concept as my silhouette is closer to the foreground and of a larger scale, i took this perspective because i unlike Jae-Cheol Park's concept my main focal point doesn't revolve around a large object (such as the tree in his), but rather the lanterns and the character. 

His has a lot more of a softer artistic style used to portray his vision making it appear more light a happy fantasy world setting, where as mine is a lot darker with the shapes being more defined, such as the trees which are a lot sharper, making mine look more like a dark fantasy world with more danger. 

Similarities: 

I have used a similar technique to Jae-Cheol Park as he uses warm bright colours to contrast with the cool colours used in the background, therefore making them appear as though they're actually alight. I have done this with the lanterns by using oranges and reds to provide a realistic effect but also to give the impression that the picture has a slight oriental feel to it. 

Both of the pieces have very similar settings as they're both forests, as signified by the foliage in the surroundings. 

Likes: 

I like the depth which the artist has given to his picture and the very wide range of colours which he has used. On my piece of work i like the light effect which i have produced with the lanterns as they look very realistic and provide a warm lighting in a cold environment. 

Dislikes: 

In my piece i dislike the anime/cartoon style which seems to be mixed with the realistic style which i intended. However i do feel that this style has become my own and therefore makes it very different from my reference image. 

What i'd do differently: 

If i was to do this piece again i would definitely add more depth to the piece, perhaps putting more in the background such as trees further away or mountains. I would of liked to add some stars and worked on the bark and snow textures which i feel need further development. 

Influence For Object Concept Art

Originally i wanted to do an ice throne, this was my initial idea and without having done any sketches. I found this image of a throne from the film Dune. I liked the shape of the back rest because although it gave it a very soft rounded feel it also made it look extravagant. I was going to use the same shape but place ice spikes around the inner circle. However decided to use the same object concept of a throne but chose to make it out of a different material. 

I am going to use this for the base of my throne and trace over the pillow to get the proportions correct. 

 This image is going to be used for the back rest, i am going to trace over this shell to get the shape to look how i want it too. 

I am going to trace over this seahorse and use it either side of the throne to create the arm rests. 

 I was unable to find an example of an artist which actually drew thrones specifically, so i decided to use this as my main reference image as it is a similar concept as to what i am going to do for my final piece. i want to use similar colours, predominantly pink/red for the shell. I like the fact that pearls have been included in this design so i am going to incorporate them into my design. 

Tuesday 6th November: Concept Character Art

We repeated the same process for our character concept piece as we did for our environmental concept. First of all we found another piece of concept work by another artist which inspired us, then we drew a minimum of 6 credit card sketches of our ideas. After we picked one idea, refined the sketch using half an A4 page and used research to portray any textures realistically. 

 

• I liked the fantasy theme of this concept character and the dark colour palette which has been used. The character looks both deadly and skilled. I want to only take some aspects from this picture for my own piece, such as the theme and possibly the artistic style, however i would like to find other character pictures to also take inspiration from as i want to experiment with more than one idea. 

• There isn't anything which i really dislike about the picture, it captures the mood very well, however im not as taken by the position which the character is stood in. 

• To improve the picture i think if the character was in more of an action pose holstering a weapon the picture would have a greater effect and give a hint as to what type of character they are. 

Drawing an object

We picked objects from a selection of items and then drew them in photoshop, i picked a pot was unable to complete it in class so i added shading later. However this does mean that the lighting might be a bit out of place 

16th October 2012- Concept Art

Environment Concept Art

This is a piece by Jae-Cheol Park

Like: I really like the fact that it’s set at night as it makes the lights from the foliage stand out. I also like the use of colour, as the red contrasts with the blue and green.

Nature is the main theme; the rest of the environment seems to be built up around the tree, so that the main focus is still on the tree. 

Improvements: I think that possibly the main tree could be more detailed and possibly taken from a different perspective as the main the drawing is symmetrical which makes it appear unbalanced. 

This is a piece by a different artist and it shows the city of Atlantis. I like the underwater environment and the strong use of a predominant blue colour palette.  

This is another piece by a different artist which shows a Chinese street. I really like the atmosphere which has been created using darker colours such as grey and the contrast with the lights which isolates and enhances certain areas of the image. Although the artwork is dark the main focus culture of the image has been established by the small shelter which is in traditional chinese colours (red and gold) and the signs. 

4th October 2012- Doodles

These are some sketches which i did in my own time

2nd October 2012- Tone and various techniques

We started off by copying a chart for tonal ranges and writing down a definition of tone to prepare us for the rest of the lesson. 

This drawing shows where light is reflected from, therefore creating shadow and different tones. 

These are my notes on the different aspects of drawing. 

More definitions. 

This is another contour drawing of a scrunched up piece of paper, which isn't quite finished. I had to look at the paper and not what i was drawing. 

We picked a few wooden shapes each and drew them taking tone into account. I think that the shading needs to be less harsh in some places, as its too dark in comparison to the rest of the shape. 

I copied this from a synthetic flower, i didn't get to complete the drawing. Tone was the main focus. 

Tuesday 25th September- Sketches

To start off with we learnt the basics of drawing by doing various tasks, this was also to establish what level of drawing that we already had. 
We were given a picture of Martin Clune and told to copy it using anything from a 2B to a 6B pencil: 

I found drawing a corner of the room particularly difficult as the perspective which i was viewing it from was relatively difficult to portray in the sketch: 

To get an idea of the sort of techniques which are used in drawing we looked at 4 artists paintings and copied their mark making techniques into boxes. The artists we looked at were Matisse, Van Gogh, Delacroix and Ben Shahn: 

We copied a picture which forms a face and went over line which we drew whilst thinking about which part we were drawing, we then had to mirror the image. The purpose of the activity was too see drawings as simple shapes as opposed to trying to over complicate what's there: 

1st October 2012

In my own time i copied this from an image which i found on the internet. 

Improvements: The image would have stood out more if it had a background and possibly more shading, also some more highlights 

Positive: The fur texture is realistic and there is use of different tones throughout the sketch

Negative: The darker areas of the image, are too dark for the rest of the tone used in the image, the pupil of the eye isn't in the correct position (too far up the eye)

30th September 2012

We had to place our hand in a difficult position and draw from it. Originally i drew this on the 25-9-12 but i was unhappy with the shape so i have re-drawn it in the same position as i had the first drawing, but added tone and worked on the proportion

Improvements: I think that i could have used more shading and drawn the fingers to a more suitable proportion for the hand, also i could of added some shadow to the sketch

Positive: The picture is shaded, has highlights to signify where the light is coming from and there are darker lines used to create the creases in the hand which is a relatively effective method

Negative: The length of the fingers aren't correct and the first finger to the left is too large in width compared to the other fingers

Mark Making in Photoshop

 

To experiment with the graphics tablet we used different brushes in Photoshop to see what type of marks they made. Also if a different amount of pressure was applied to the tablet then the opacity of the brush altered, this could be very useful when shading pictures/sketches in. 

Perspective Drawing

We used a Bamboo tablet and Photoshop to create a perspective drawing

First of all we drew out a rough sketch of a figure on a bench sitting in a park, we then drew an horizon line at the top. 

Step 2: We used the pen tool to pick a point on the picture as to where we thought our perspective line should go and then drew lines, trying to match them up with the concrete slab lines we already had in place 

To speed up this process we used the arrow icon (select tool, which is the white arrow), clicked the end where the white dot was (not the line itself) and copied and pasted it to create multiple lines 

To colour and define the lines we clicked the Perspective point and dragged the mouse to select all of the lines- we then created a new layer- went to paths- brush- unchecked shape dynamics- size 5/6px

Then go back to paths and select stroke path with brush (opacity 100%)- its the unfilled circle icon at the bottom of the right hand panel. 

Step 3: We created a layer and put it at the very top. To refine the lines we had a higher opacity selected for the brush and drew over the existing lines, this time making them more precise and therefore refining the sketch 

Step 4: Unlock the background and reduce the opacity to 50% 

Layer under the background and use the bucket tool to fill it with white 

Finally, draw the figure onto the picture