Friday 26 April 2013

FUN ART CARDS (formerly known as business cards)

So I decided to go with an extremely minimalistic approach to my business card design.

I'm generally just a fan of elegant, simple design when it comes to professional representation. So I always strive for that.

This is the logo on my current (out of date) CV.
Personally, I want my portfolio to be where my art is. I just need the business card to be readable, striking, sophisticated, and memorable. 

So I'm hoping this design can accomplish this.  


The silhouette is a reused one from a painting I did a while back. The design is supposed to symbolise the idea of "onwards and upwards". the idea being that the dude represents me and he's passionate in climbing the stairs and reaching the top (becoming awesome at art). I'm sure that's probably obvious, but I thought I should explain it anyway. 

As for the "visual development artist" title, I feel that represents the work I do, and enjoy, most. And I really like the term. It usually refers to the animation industry, however, it still exists in games and films. 

They're predicted to arrive on the 8th of May, and it's rather depressing how genuinely excited I am to have them. They'll have rounded corners too!

Despite having sent away for them already, I'd love to hear any opinions or feedback for future improvement on them. 

But for now,


Showreel

I also created a showreel for the BFX animation competition this year, which I'm applying to. Fingers crossed.

May also use it in the showcase somehow.

(best viewed in 1080p.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vn5NBXYHjZQ

A Lass! (with sass)

Working on pose. I'm happy with how my digital painting is coming on. However, my poses thus far for my characters have been rather lifeless. Here's hoping I can get some awesome poses done for the showcase.


The seldom discussed sketchbook.

I sketch in my sketchbook every day, but i very rarely put anything on this blog. i guess i thought of it more as a final hand in than something to keep explaining on here. anyway, here's some sketches.














and i quite liked this one ^ so i did a paint over of the sketch. 


I thought my sketchbook this year would revolve around my adaptation designs. however, throughout, it's just hundreds of personal development designs as warm ups and tests (proportions etc) before i go into digital, which is where i've created my adaptation designs (moodboard > silhouettes/thumbnails > refine > render > lighting etc.)

I quite like using my sketchbook freely just to "draw what i feel". I've found it often leads down much more interesting paths. 

Thursday 11 April 2013

Quick Rock Studies from Imagination.

What it says on the tin. Will be working on the foliage/rocks/terrain of the story soon, so just warming up with some quick paints, looking for interesting formations.


Wednesday 10 April 2013

Finished Lina Detail and Costume.

I've mentioned the design decisions behind Lina before so I won't say too much here.



I have also started experimenting with the design for Lina's costume. As I mentioned before both Lina and Fundevogel are very familiar with nature, and thus prompted me to create Lina from the silhouette of a tree. I wanted to reinforce this idea with her outfit. The result to the left was inspired by a pine tree. I think this really supports her character and promotes a very outdoors-y aesthetic. The visible stitching also gives it a rather rustic/home-made feel, which again adds to this idea. The design on the right was somewhat inspired by pocahontas. This design I feel lacks any flair: Nothing stands out. When adapting a fairytale for an animation, there usually aren't many (main) characters. Therefore, you want the characters that are key to the story to stand out, be memorable and, ultimately, interesting.
I'm going to refine the Fundavogel design again, and then I'll be able to create a full line-up of my final designs, which should provide a nice example of the contrast in design in response to their different personalities and backgrounds.

I've made a list of assets which should be complete within the next 2-3 weeks. The list is huge, but if I want my book to be worth looking at, then these must be explored.




Entire List of Art assets needed for Fundevogel. 
(Key - First Draft (✓) Completed (✓ ✓) )

Characters
Fundevogel 
Silhouettes
Sketchbook Roughs ✓✓
Costume Designs 
Final Design Bust
Poses

Lina
Silhouettes
Sketchbook Roughs ✓✓
Costume Designs ✓✓
Final Design Bust
Poses

The Forester
Silhouettes
Sketchbook Roughs
Costume Designs✓✓
Final Design Bust
Poses

The Cook
Silhouettes
Sketchbook Roughs
Costume Designs (N/A)
Final Design Bust
Poses

All Character
Full Lineup derived from Bust Renders✓✓

Environments
Forester’s Hut✓✓
Overview
Main Room
Kitchen
Grounds

The Woods
The Escape ✓ ✓
Fundevogel’s Grotto ✓ ✓

Scenarios
The Eagle ✓✓
Forester Hunting ✓✓

Foliage
Trees
Rocks/Moss✓✓
Flowers (Scale)

Animals (Maybe)
Glowing Insects

YAY.

Monday 1 April 2013

The Escape.

For today's piece of practice-based research I wanted to create a literal adaptation of one of the scenes mentioned in the fairytale.

In the story, Lina has just informed Fundevogel that the Cook plans to boil him in the morning. Whereafter, the two quickly escape from the house to the forest, which leads on to the transformation chase - which just happens to be the core element of the Fundevogel tale.

Still a W.I.P

To explain the theory and composition behind this, I shall use some of the sections of my critical framework.

Mood.

Obviously the escape is on the hush-hush, so the desired mood was one that emphasised the cold of the night and the still in the woods.

Scale.

The scene I pictured in my head when I began thinking about how this could be done, was one from Disney's "Beauty & The Beast". Right after The Beast has let Belle go from the castle to save her father. The viewer see's her gallop over the screen and then the camera pans up from the foot of the castle. It gives this nice perspective from the ground plane, as opposed to from the castle. I felt this angle, rather than an angle from the hut would emphasise the distance better.

Composition.

By filling up half the page with fog or darkness, this lack of detail to the rest of the painting allows a double focus point. First, on the Forester's hut in the background, and then on the two main characters in the mid ground. I also used a very minimal palette of colours to help with this. Again, the warm orange/brown colours in the Forester's hut show the warmth and snugness they've left behind. This contrasts with the cool blues, and greens in the mid/foreground, which represent the cold night.

This scene also gave me the chance to put my Forester hut designs from a few months back:


...into practice.

Symbolism

I haven't really attempted to make symbolism a part of this painting, however, while I was creating it, the light coming from the window almost reminded me of The Iron Giant's eyes. This light being the only focal point in the top half of the painting creates this creepy, watched over feel, like the two are being watched by the hut as they escape. I think this actually adds quite a sinister feel to the painting as a whole, and actually adds to the whole feeling of trepidation and worry of the two characters.

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