Interesting Character Design.

The course has now shifted into looking for at the creative processes involved in making good designs, the first project was to create an interesting character using the people of Leicester as inspiration. The end results would be an orthographic and a clay sculpture.

To begin with I went out into Leicester again and sketched the different people, I'm use to this now after doing so many for one of the previous assignments. I was on the look out for anyone who looked a bit different, and I know for certain Leicester has a few characters who like to roam about.

After spending a few hours drawing across a couple of different days I definitely found a good selection of people, the wet weather didn't help though, most people were in coats.

During one of the nights I also gathered reference from the internet of characters. To me an interesting character doesn't need an over the top outfit or suit of armor, instead they could be plain clothed. Look at Brad Pitt & Edward Norton in Fight Club, both have every day cloths on yet their characters are fantastic, or there's the main character from Memento, again a normal looking guy yet his various tattoos tell a completely different story.

The next thing I did was take a small selection of my quick sketches and reproduced them to a higher quality. Maybe this was a bad idea because this could have cornered my mind into thinking about these characters too safely which will be apparent soon, but I had fun doing these nonetheless.

Out of these sketches I then tried to shape them into an interesting character but I feel I didn't push them far enough. I thought about turning a homeless looking guy into an almost The Last of Us survivor [1] but looking back this was way to easy. I really should have played around more to see if anything more unique could have been done, obviously I did not want to throw tentacles on him but I could have pushed it a lot further. 

I tried another character, this time a Big Issue seller and the idea of a Rorschach like person came to mind, hiding in plain sight with his costume in his bag but I quickly ditched this idea as I felt I was really bringing anything new to the design. Towards the end of the project I saw something in one of the sketches I done, the large coat collar around one of the women reminded me of some of the crazy neck ornaments some the African tribes wear and this sparked the design below of a Village Priestess or something, turning the handbag into a basket of shrunken heads. I only wish I had thought of this early.

In the interest of time I pushed forward with the Apocalypse survivor guy, thinking of various outfits. I again don't think I explored this enough, with my characters looking more like he's gained a new piece of equipment rather than a different design entirely. I tried to think of what it would be like to survive during an apocalypse, clothes would be torn or broken, things would be missing and as for weapons, they'd probably be rare, especially guns and ammo. I also should have used reference for base figure!

I dived straight into doing the orthographic without trying any colour variations and again I should have used reference for the figure.

The entire process of designing a character is a new thing for me and I without a doubt made a number of mistakes through out this project. The next character project that I've already done (I'm slow at posting this stuff!) has benefited from these mistakes and I'm much happier with the whole work flow and I think this has without a doubt improved the quality of my work. Next up though is the sculpture for this character!

My experience with sculpting is very limited so being asked to make an entire character was a bit scary. The only thing I knew was that I needed Sculpey and some modelling wire for the frame. I looked for videos on creating a frame because I have never actually created one.

As you can see my frame wasn't the best as it couldn't stand up by itself, this was a huge problem later on when it came to doing finer details. I now understand the importance of a good solid frame and won't be making the same mistake again!

Once I got to use how the Sculpey handled i really enjoyed modelling, if my model could stand up I probably would have enjoyed it a lot more. Adding nice details then to only flatten them out a few minutes later was a real pain. I am about to make another sculpture and again the mistakes I made with this character will help improve it, I will be making a good solid frame so I don't have to man-handle my model every 10 seconds.

This entire project was a huge learning process for me, learning about designing characters in the 2D space and 3D. I am pleased with the final outcome of both but I feel the design could have had more thought put into it but I think this is to do with my process more than anything. The best thing I have taken from this project are the mistakes that I made, because for the next character project I didn't make them again, leading to a much better end result, I'll post up the other character soon (hopefully)!

References & Notes
[1] http://media1.gameinformer.com/imagefeed/screenshots/TheLastofUs/TLOU_Gamescom_ConceptArt_1.jpg

Road Map: Concept Artist.

Our last Critical Studies sessions had us look at applying for jobs across the industry and what various skills we would need to attain the jobs, we also looked at the sort of things we would see from the applications themselves and this post will compare a job application's requirements to my current skills. Once done this will also serve as a road map to help me achieve my ideal job role.

My ideal job at the end of the course would be a Concept Artist, being a Concept Artist has been a dream job for a long time now. The first thing I noticed is that there are basically no Junior potions going, I found a Senior CA job role, and 2 middle-weight roles, one of them being from Remedy, the creators of Max Payne and Alan Wake.

I will break down this job application and compare my skills to the required skills.

"Do you have a playful mind accompanied by a high degree of artistic skills? Are you able to produce inspiring and mood setting concept art for projects regardless of their visual style? If so, we would like to hear from you!"

I certainly have a playful mind but this is the only thing in this paragraph I am certain of, my artistic skills are good but they certainly need improving.

• Minimum of 2-3 years of experience in creating concept artwork for animation, film, or videogames

This requirement is the only one that is completely out of my reach at the moment and that's because this isn't a Junior role position, this would be more than likely replaced with a grade requirement which is realistically more attainable.

• Good understanding of color, composition, architecture and human anatomy

I have some knowledge of each of these but I would not be confident in them, especially my colour theory. All these need work!  

•  Ability to create believable character concepts from stylized to realistic

I'm confident in my character creation abilities, as I always like to base my designs on reality while trying to avoid the clichés (I hope anyway), however the creation process and the artistic skills required to visualize these ideas are an area I need to improve on.

• Thorough understanding of 2D paint packages

My understanding of Photoshop is quite good, my digital painting ability on the other hand isn't but hopefully this will improve as I do more paintings.

• Clear verbal and written communication in English

I am happy with my ability to communicate my ideas to people, but obviously this can always be improved on!

• Great looking online portfolio

A great looking online portfolio is something I am missing, which is really, really bad. I have a small portfolio from my previous job but it is rather simple hasn't been updated since I came to Uni.

• A bachelor’s degree in arts or relative field (Applications from self-taught candidates will also be accepted)

If I complete the course I'll have this done, +1 to me!

After going through this I now realize how much work I need to do, all my 2D skills need improving in practically every way as well as the process of creating 2D work. Thankfully I've got over 2 years left to improve and I certainly think that's enough time if I use it well. I also need to set up a new online portfolio that can showcase all of the different work I've done which will improve the chance of me getting a job. This will certainly be a tough road map to follow and complete but I really don't know how to give up so there's only one way forward!