Progress Presentation 3.

It's been over a month since my last blog post, which isn't like me. Nevertheless, I have been working hard on my project during this time.

Last week I gave my third progress presentation, in which I covered some of the practice-based research I'd undergone in the weeks prior, and my findings and thought processes which had stemmed from said research.

The reaction to these seemed overall positive, (despite my powerpoint breaking), which was a nice motivation.

I received great constructive feedback, which centered around the fact that I didn't have a critical framework, per se. I had been researching through an implied critical framework, yes, but I didn't actually have a tangible pipeline on paper on in a document. The feedback I received really revived my opinion towards the idea of a critical framework, which, prior to the presentation, had always been negative or muddled. Despite the (imo) slight tediousness of creating a critical framework, it goes without saying that it's invaluable to your research progress. And now that I have my framework finalised, I feel much more confident and extrovert because of the way it vehicles my creative thoughts and studies.

The tutors also scrutinised my "Fundevogel" character designs which was hugely appreciated. Because I so desperately needed some critique on the actual artwork that wasn't just my own opinions.

The Chef: For a young audience, he doesn't strike you as the bad guy. I feel his silhouette succeeds more on that level. Ultimately, the final design didn't live up to the promise of the silhouette.

Also, the skin tone for The Forester is paler than The Chef, which doesn't really add up. The forester spends his days patrolling the woods, and the chef spends all day in the kitchen and pantry. This is just a classic case of me getting carried away and overlooking the basics. Which I'm slowly improving on. These basics obviously cannot be overlooked if your goal is to invent creative design solutions to the characters profile.

I think there is an appropriate variety in the diversity of the character designs. However, it would be interesting to push the designs even further and discover just how far you can push this pixar-esque style of illustration before it becomes to distant from the target audience. (Which is what adaptation is all about).

The leads me nicely onto the topics of discussion in my last meeting with Ryan, in which we went back to basics and reinstated the worth of my project. Such as:

The purpose of adaptation?

What makes it awesome?

Should the adaptation deviate from the prowess of the original story? Why? When has this been well received or done with great artistic merit before?

We got onto the topic of case studies also and how I should consider putting more time into that. So that's task for the next few weeks.

Fundevogel (The Forester)

In the early designs for the forester, I tried to combine his design with the idea of a Conifer Cone. But as I continued experimenting, nothing really interesting came from this, so i decided to focus more on shape and expression to develop his character. By experimenting with different shapes and proportions I was able to find a design which would create an interesting contrast to the other characters.

Fundevogel (The Cook)

The original "cook" character I designed a while back was too similar to the design of Chef Gusteau (Ratatouille), so I decided to take the design to the silhouette stage and design from scratch.

Cook character design sheet.

At the top left corner you can see the initial silhouette designs. I decided the silhouette I liked best was the tall, creepy silhouette on the right hand side. I felt this design would be the most interesting choice because the shape of the forester is so round and stocky, and the child characters of Fundevogel and Lina are so tiny. Therefore, using this design for the evil character would create a nice range of shape and silhouette within the characters. This contrast of design should enhance the effectiveness of the characters designs.

A Study of Value.

value study. (edited) 

I decided to to a painting with a focus on value. Value is what makes paintings relatable to us. It can allow the artist to trick the eye into thinking it is viewing a 3D object.

I thought the view from inside a train would be a great opportunity. I decided to paint without reference entirely from imagination, to first see how much knowledge of value I already possessed.

(I realise the cheek bone area needs sorted).

I felt the finished piece had a bit of an illustrative feel to it, and so at the end I decided to play around with the "curves" option amongst other variables. And I think the high-contrast/cross-process look I ended up with serves the image well and draws the eye to personality within the face much greater than the un-edited version. (see below)

value study. (original).

Resonance and Consistency in Design.

Visual consistency is something that has been of interest to me recently. I recently purchased The Art of Journey, a wonderfully full book, which clearly shows the visual development of the game, for each segment - (Character, Architecture, Landscapes, and so on...).

The harmonising patterns on the clothes of the game's protagonist, and the designs of the enemies, structures and architecture, all help to the inform the player about the world; It allows you to understand that these beings and structures have all evolved, or came to be, together.

work of Matthew Nava

work of Matthew Nava

As you can see here, Journey's artist, Matthew Nava,  uses pattern as one technique to conform the visual assets of the game. To me this really helped immerse the player in the game world and fully appreciate it's existence.

work of Emrah Elmasli

work of Emrah Elmasli

This concept artwork for "Fable 3" also demonstrates this use of visual style. The designs are so connected that the townspeople almost look like the spawn of the buildings they inhabit.

I think for adaptation this concept could be very useful. You can see the technique demonstrated in books like The Skilful Huntsman - in which design is held paramount within the adaptation.

Because this project is interested on the adaptation of an entire fictional world, I will be researching further into this idea of harmonising visuals to provide a more understood imagined atmosphere.

To kickstart the research I attempted some different designs to consider the harmonising of trees with clouds.

So I'm going to use some of these designs as fundamentals for the visual feel of an environment. Although some of them look too generic to influence an interesting visual style.

Latest Thoughts and Problems. (P-BR)

In visual adaptation from a story, ideally, you want to bring the story to life creatively, while staying true to the original prowess of the tale.

The authors of these novels give years to the imagining of the characters and environments, and how they intertwine, and so the same standard should be held for the visual realisation.

Recently, something I've been wanting to do is play around with different styles, (as shown in my previous post). So I had fun trying out a new illustrative style with this current design.

Another question I asked myself was:

What makes the main character obvious or apparent in design?

I think this could be incredibly important for this project. The main character is typically the heart of these stories, allowing the audience to place themselves in the context of the story world and empathise with the scenarios.

 Therefore, the protagonist should stand out and be noticed by the audience.

So for the last couple of days I've been designing the main character Fundevogel, for an animation aimed at a young audience.

For the design I took inspiration from Rob Laro (Freelance Illustrator and Concept Artist), and Steve Pilcher (Pixar). I tried to take a bit from the style of both artists because I love the confident line-work and flowing shapes of Laro's designs, and I love the expression you find in Pilcher's work.

By being aware of these two styles while developing this character, I managed to create some really nice expressions in the early sketches, and an appealing, colourful design in his final render.

For the final character renders, I would like them to be all of the same illustrative style, so that they can be compared together in a lineup, and allow me to see how they contrast in terms of shape, scale, and colour.

Working Character Design sheet for "Fundevogel"

Visual Style Experimentation.

One of the great resources for those of us who want to enter the Art Entertainment industry, are the "Art of" books compiled by the likes of Disney and Pixar, to video game companies such as Bioware.

These books give the reader a glimpse into all the different styles used by the artists, which are explored throughout the design process.

Art of Ratatouille

Art of Ratatouille

Personally, I find it fascinating seeing the natural quick design styles of the different artists slowly come together to finally coincide with one another.

I decided to paint a quick character line-up from "Fundevogel", and try and use a different style to see how the designs was influenced.

I actually really enjoyed trying a different style. This style was achieved by using the pencil tool in photoshop, while trying not to lift the pencil at all. 

Going to attempt a bunch of different styles and see where it leads me.