Course so Far:
The course has sorta been a rollercoaster since my last Reflective Practice.
I'm enjoying Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and I'd enjoy Thursdays if I was allowed to develop my artwork for 'A Rakes Progress', and with only three weeks of this project left, I can't afford to loose a single session of drawing time if I want to complete my objective.
But apart from that, I'm enjoying the rest of the week quite a bit, I'm allowed to use my laptop and illustration skills to my advantage in those classes and every session has me working on my final outcome, which has really helped get my mind back on track with where I am on this project and I'm working steadily towards my outcome.
A Rakes Progress
I'm really enjoying this project now I have all the basic design and story down, and am now working towards my final piece.
I've finally got back on track after losing my way when told to experiment, the experiments were refreshing at first but I became lost after a while, especially because I had such a great idea for the project, which I've returned to and will develop over the coming weeks.
Better check yo'self before you Shrek yo'self.
Showing posts with label Reflective Practise. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Reflective Practise. Show all posts
Wednesday, 11 December 2013
Tuesday, 26 November 2013
Reflective Practise - 26th November
- Course so Far -
The course has improved immensely over the past few weeks, mainly since we begun the pathway stage.
I'm allowed to go more towards my illustration/concept art route and use my own mediums like pencil and digital, which in turn has helped to improve my artwork. (I'm pretty stubborn when forced to use mediums I dislike.)
The projects have improved too, with the current 'A Rakes Progress' project being extremley fun and engaging, and the fact we're working on it in pretty much every session makes it more fun.
- A Rakes Progress - We're well into the Rakes Progress, and I've been bustling with ideas that I still need to jot down, but I've had no shortage of ideas, that's for sure.
I'm sticking with the video game world theme, with a few additional tweaks here and there.
I've explored a little more than I usually would by painting a picture of one of the main characters, Nicola Shadow, but instead of using the design I've done before, I did a more sinister, shady character that Tom Rakewell could see in his demented state.
I'm still sticking with the design I did before, but this version could be the one Tom sees in madness.
The course has improved immensely over the past few weeks, mainly since we begun the pathway stage.
I'm allowed to go more towards my illustration/concept art route and use my own mediums like pencil and digital, which in turn has helped to improve my artwork. (I'm pretty stubborn when forced to use mediums I dislike.)
The projects have improved too, with the current 'A Rakes Progress' project being extremley fun and engaging, and the fact we're working on it in pretty much every session makes it more fun.
 |
| A life drawing of Jen I did on my laptop using my graphics tablet. |
- A Rakes Progress - We're well into the Rakes Progress, and I've been bustling with ideas that I still need to jot down, but I've had no shortage of ideas, that's for sure.
I'm sticking with the video game world theme, with a few additional tweaks here and there.
I've explored a little more than I usually would by painting a picture of one of the main characters, Nicola Shadow, but instead of using the design I've done before, I did a more sinister, shady character that Tom Rakewell could see in his demented state.
I'm still sticking with the design I did before, but this version could be the one Tom sees in madness.
 |
| The more twisted and sinister Nicola Shadow that Tom sees in Madness. |
Tuesday, 5 November 2013
Reflective Practise #2 - A Rake!
Course in General
The course has gotten better over the past week, we got a letter for then London Trip two weeks before we went, which is a vast improvement over the previous trip.
The projects have improved too since we entered the Pathway stage, we are now heading into the direction we want to and begin able to use our own skills instead of being forced to use a medium we dislike.
I've accepted the use of other materials more now.
2D/3D - A Rakes ProgressWe have begun a new project based on the eight 'Rake's Progress' Paintings.
We have to adapt the paintings into either a Graphic Novel or a Newspaper Article.
I believe we are allowed to use any medium we wish and adapt the story into our own version.
We aren't allowed to directly use the characters or the exact scenes, but we can adapt them into a new variation.
So far, I've had a few ideas that I've jotted down, one with the characters being robots and conveying a message of "Even if you upgrade your appearance, you're still the same underneath."
One idea I've had that I really like is that Rake's Progress is an old school video game, and that the Rake is the son of a well-known video game hero who is suddenly discontinued by the company that makes him, and in turn, he 'dies'.
The son, who could be called Rakeman Jr or something along those lines, would inherit his dads game and fame, but when he becomes the hero, he spends less time doing what he needed to do in his game and instead spend the time buying expensive graphics and NPCs.
Half way through, the coders of the game, undercover as a sort of Bailiff, apprehends the hero and threatens to remove his hero status from the game and reduce him to nothing but broken code, until the sidekick of the original Rakeman comes in and stops them, but the Rakeman has had the status removed already and his code was breaking down quickly.
Rakeman than attempts to regain his heroism by forcing a crossover with a villain from another game, an old hag. In return for some profit, Rakeman would 'fakely' defeat the hag and be seen as a hero.
This unravels when Rakeman gets in a bet with another character, a Highwayman from an RPG, who says if he loses the bet, Rakeman will forever have his hero status stripper, and he would become a glitching mess within hours.
Rakeman loses, causing him to spiral into madness, he is surrounded by NPC's begging him to help with their problems, but since he's not a hero anymore, Rakeman cracks under the pressure and becomes nothing more than a stuttering glitch.
The story ends with Rakeman in a broken code vault with several other glitches, the sidekick from the original game stays at his side, even though her being there would put her code at risk due to the other glitches.
This idea is inspired by the movie 'Wreck-It Ralph', mainly in the way that when the games offline, the characters have a life 'after work', which could be portrayed through the Rakemans hi jinx and downfall, causing his game to turn upside down.
This idea would also fit well with my pathway, as I want to do Illustration in Video Games as a career path, so doing the character designs for the graphic novel would be fun and also help me develop.
Personal Project - Super Sketch Quest
Since the last update, I've reworked Sketch's design, making him much more anatomically correct (By my art style, anyway), making him look a lot less like a generic Mario clone and also adding some smaller details, such as a backpack and little trims on his coat etc.
I also experimented with different design colours, which could be used for alternate skins in-game.
The course has gotten better over the past week, we got a letter for then London Trip two weeks before we went, which is a vast improvement over the previous trip.
The projects have improved too since we entered the Pathway stage, we are now heading into the direction we want to and begin able to use our own skills instead of being forced to use a medium we dislike.
I've accepted the use of other materials more now.
2D/3D - A Rakes ProgressWe have begun a new project based on the eight 'Rake's Progress' Paintings.
We have to adapt the paintings into either a Graphic Novel or a Newspaper Article.
I believe we are allowed to use any medium we wish and adapt the story into our own version.
We aren't allowed to directly use the characters or the exact scenes, but we can adapt them into a new variation.
So far, I've had a few ideas that I've jotted down, one with the characters being robots and conveying a message of "Even if you upgrade your appearance, you're still the same underneath."
One idea I've had that I really like is that Rake's Progress is an old school video game, and that the Rake is the son of a well-known video game hero who is suddenly discontinued by the company that makes him, and in turn, he 'dies'.
The son, who could be called Rakeman Jr or something along those lines, would inherit his dads game and fame, but when he becomes the hero, he spends less time doing what he needed to do in his game and instead spend the time buying expensive graphics and NPCs.
Half way through, the coders of the game, undercover as a sort of Bailiff, apprehends the hero and threatens to remove his hero status from the game and reduce him to nothing but broken code, until the sidekick of the original Rakeman comes in and stops them, but the Rakeman has had the status removed already and his code was breaking down quickly.
Rakeman than attempts to regain his heroism by forcing a crossover with a villain from another game, an old hag. In return for some profit, Rakeman would 'fakely' defeat the hag and be seen as a hero.
This unravels when Rakeman gets in a bet with another character, a Highwayman from an RPG, who says if he loses the bet, Rakeman will forever have his hero status stripper, and he would become a glitching mess within hours.
Rakeman loses, causing him to spiral into madness, he is surrounded by NPC's begging him to help with their problems, but since he's not a hero anymore, Rakeman cracks under the pressure and becomes nothing more than a stuttering glitch.
The story ends with Rakeman in a broken code vault with several other glitches, the sidekick from the original game stays at his side, even though her being there would put her code at risk due to the other glitches.
This idea is inspired by the movie 'Wreck-It Ralph', mainly in the way that when the games offline, the characters have a life 'after work', which could be portrayed through the Rakemans hi jinx and downfall, causing his game to turn upside down.
This idea would also fit well with my pathway, as I want to do Illustration in Video Games as a career path, so doing the character designs for the graphic novel would be fun and also help me develop.
Personal Project - Super Sketch Quest
Since the last update, I've reworked Sketch's design, making him much more anatomically correct (By my art style, anyway), making him look a lot less like a generic Mario clone and also adding some smaller details, such as a backpack and little trims on his coat etc.
I also experimented with different design colours, which could be used for alternate skins in-game.
Tuesday, 29 October 2013
Reflective Practise #1 - The course so far
Reflective Practise #1
Course in GeneralSo far, the course has been alright, I still need to readjust into doing things like life drawing and 3D, as I got really used to doing character design/game design during my FMP's and the summer holidays. (Which is a reason I'm looking forward to the Pathway/Confirmatory stage.)
One gripe I have with the course so far is the lack of information we was given about projects or trips.
Me and Mille missed a trip since we was never given a letter and didn't know when the bus left, and another instance was when I was told off for not doing something I was never told to do. (We had to bring an object to draw, but I wasn't told this until a few minutes into the lesson.)
It's been better now as the last trip had a letter given quite early and we're told more frequently what to bring to classes now.
2D - Exquisite Corpse Story
I enjoyed the first portion of the project, in which we created a storyboard/comic based on our story.
I created a story based on the rabbit, unicorn and bear characters from the story and fleshed them out to full characters.
The story I made was based around a rabbit called Hopper, who after having his field destroyed by an atomic burp, runs into an ungraceful unicorn named Karlos.
Hopper discovers the Unicorn is there because he's bullied, so Hooper decided to train Karlos in the ways of 'the Cute', and in the end, Karlos is transformed into a beautiful unicorn.As a side gag, when Hopper returns to his field later on, he finds it torn up by Barry the Bear who's looking for his beetroot.
I created three comic pages, two fully coloured and one with block colours.
The project went downhill, in my opinion, when we was made to deconstruct the story into an abstract piece.
It was alright to begin with as I was going to create a charcoal 'movie poster' of the main characters, which I felt was deconstructing the story but reforming it into a piece that made sense and would be something I'd really enjoy doing.
I was told to scrap the picture I had started, destroy it and restart it using paint and rethinking my composition.
This didn't work at all, due to my inadequate skill with painting and my already fixed mindset on the charcoal picture I had started. (Or just hard-headed ignorance, you choose.)
I still gave it a shot, but the painting I made was a mess of dull colours and messy lines, and looked more like a toddler painted it than a Foundation level student.
This was made worse since I was told that I wasn't allowed to directly use the characters, but had to reform them as abstract shapes.
My final composition was a continuation of the charcoal picture I did, and in the end, I thought it was a much stronger piece than the painting one I attempted, and outsider opinion from other learners agreed that my charcoal picture was stronger and more eye-catching than the 'abstract' painting piece.
We're still having to create a reconstructed composition soon using this deconstructed piece, so I'll update when we do that.
Textiles - In Stitches - Stitching Stitch in StitchesFor the 'In Stitches' project, I've had an idea to do a tongue-twister idea.
I thought about doing something of the Disney character Stitch, while he's laughing (In stitches) and also made of stitches.
This means the pieces name is "Stitching Stitch in Stitches".
I am still thinking how I'm going to do this, but I'm going to start with some rough sketches on paper and maybe free-machine the final piece.
Personal Projects - Super Sketch Quest
NOTE: This isn't a College project, but since its a project I'm very enthusiastic about and a project that will help me develop on my character design, I felt like I should mention it.While at home, I've been working on a reworked version of my FMP project, Super Sketch Quest.
This isn't a college project now, but a personal one that I've had interest in doing since I finished my FMP.
Doing the first version of Sketch Quest gave me immense knowledge into game design, and taught em skills in both digital art and character design.
I've decided that game design is my chosen career path, and illustration/character design is my professional area, so seeing how we're moving into the pathway stage and starting to do more stuff that we want, it'd be a better time than any to crack open this project and start it.
The main reason I've started this project now is to practise my digital skills, as I'm aiming to develop from a simple block colour shading into a near seamless smooth shading style, something I've already experimented with to some degree with previous personal projects, but now, the characters I'm doing this new found shading style on are the headliners for my first game project.
I am also redesigning and rethinking parts of the game, Sketch and Trixie (The main heroes) have had new redesigns which improve on their uniqueness, structure and colouring, and some of the enemies are being scrapped or redesigned.
When I finish college, I'm going to fully enter development of the game, creating artwork, game engines, sound effects, level design, and so on, and hopefully have the game finished in a reasonable time slot.
Everything - A Rake's Progress*Coming Soon*
Course in GeneralSo far, the course has been alright, I still need to readjust into doing things like life drawing and 3D, as I got really used to doing character design/game design during my FMP's and the summer holidays. (Which is a reason I'm looking forward to the Pathway/Confirmatory stage.)
One gripe I have with the course so far is the lack of information we was given about projects or trips.
Me and Mille missed a trip since we was never given a letter and didn't know when the bus left, and another instance was when I was told off for not doing something I was never told to do. (We had to bring an object to draw, but I wasn't told this until a few minutes into the lesson.)
It's been better now as the last trip had a letter given quite early and we're told more frequently what to bring to classes now.
2D - Exquisite Corpse Story
 |
| The charcoal Piece and the Painting. |
I created a story based on the rabbit, unicorn and bear characters from the story and fleshed them out to full characters.
The story I made was based around a rabbit called Hopper, who after having his field destroyed by an atomic burp, runs into an ungraceful unicorn named Karlos.
I created three comic pages, two fully coloured and one with block colours.
The project went downhill, in my opinion, when we was made to deconstruct the story into an abstract piece.
It was alright to begin with as I was going to create a charcoal 'movie poster' of the main characters, which I felt was deconstructing the story but reforming it into a piece that made sense and would be something I'd really enjoy doing.
I was told to scrap the picture I had started, destroy it and restart it using paint and rethinking my composition.
This didn't work at all, due to my inadequate skill with painting and my already fixed mindset on the charcoal picture I had started. (Or just hard-headed ignorance, you choose.)
I still gave it a shot, but the painting I made was a mess of dull colours and messy lines, and looked more like a toddler painted it than a Foundation level student.
This was made worse since I was told that I wasn't allowed to directly use the characters, but had to reform them as abstract shapes.
My final composition was a continuation of the charcoal picture I did, and in the end, I thought it was a much stronger piece than the painting one I attempted, and outsider opinion from other learners agreed that my charcoal picture was stronger and more eye-catching than the 'abstract' painting piece.
We're still having to create a reconstructed composition soon using this deconstructed piece, so I'll update when we do that.
Textiles - In Stitches - Stitching Stitch in StitchesFor the 'In Stitches' project, I've had an idea to do a tongue-twister idea.
I thought about doing something of the Disney character Stitch, while he's laughing (In stitches) and also made of stitches.
This means the pieces name is "Stitching Stitch in Stitches".
I am still thinking how I'm going to do this, but I'm going to start with some rough sketches on paper and maybe free-machine the final piece.
 |
| The redesign of Trixie I did recently, I've experimented with softer smooth shading instead of block shading. I also vastly improved the anatomy on her body, as the anatomy of the old design was really off. (Seriously, her legs looked crooked.) |
NOTE: This isn't a College project, but since its a project I'm very enthusiastic about and a project that will help me develop on my character design, I felt like I should mention it.While at home, I've been working on a reworked version of my FMP project, Super Sketch Quest.
This isn't a college project now, but a personal one that I've had interest in doing since I finished my FMP.
Doing the first version of Sketch Quest gave me immense knowledge into game design, and taught em skills in both digital art and character design.
I've decided that game design is my chosen career path, and illustration/character design is my professional area, so seeing how we're moving into the pathway stage and starting to do more stuff that we want, it'd be a better time than any to crack open this project and start it.
The main reason I've started this project now is to practise my digital skills, as I'm aiming to develop from a simple block colour shading into a near seamless smooth shading style, something I've already experimented with to some degree with previous personal projects, but now, the characters I'm doing this new found shading style on are the headliners for my first game project.
I am also redesigning and rethinking parts of the game, Sketch and Trixie (The main heroes) have had new redesigns which improve on their uniqueness, structure and colouring, and some of the enemies are being scrapped or redesigned.
When I finish college, I'm going to fully enter development of the game, creating artwork, game engines, sound effects, level design, and so on, and hopefully have the game finished in a reasonable time slot.
Everything - A Rake's Progress*Coming Soon*
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