Studio Project - Texturing

 



Above are some of my 'flat pack' buildings. Below are a sample of some of the pictures I took to create my textures.

Studio Project - Model

Life Drawing - Session #1

These two drawings are based in Norwich Castle Museum. We went to the castle with Will and went to the keep. The purpose of the exercise was to capture perspective and give our drawings depth as though they were 3D. This was my drawing for the exercise.

I am fairly happy with how it turned out. The one thing that was mentioned about it was that I'd made the rear sections quite dark in places, this brought them forward more than they should've been, confusing the perspective a little. From a technical aspect I feel it's an accurate representation of the subject.

The next task was to draw something in fine detail, one small section or item within the keep.

I chose a suit of armour because I liked the way the lighting fell on it, leaving all the bumps and nooks in the armour. Thus making for a nice detailed rendering.

The final task was to combine the previous two into one. So an 'environment' and a focal point.

I chose to the casing for the armour because I felt it stuck out slightly anyway, a large, polished metal and glass structure within an old keep composed of wood and iron. To add to it I drew the background section in pencil and focus in pen, to bring it out of the page. This allows for a very clear point of focus.

Character Comparison

For this CS task, Sharon asked us to contrast and compare 2 characters, she also told us to choose very different characters, so I decided to go with the Dragonborn (Dovahkiin) from Skyrim and 47 from the Hitman series.

We have a set of rules we need to follow, similar to BA1, we have to use our Contextual Framework, Structural Framework, and Visual Framework, as well as add our research to this blog post to show evidence of our analysis.

Contextual Framework:
- Origins: is there a literary/visual/arts connection?
- Cultural Influences
- Company (Do they have a ‘House Style’?)
- Target Audience

Structural Framework:
- How does the character function within the rules and conditions of the game? How has their function affected their design?
- What point of view does the player occupy in relation to the character?
- What interactive experiences does the character provide for players in the game?
- Does the character’s design express ‘true character’(in McKee’s definition)?

Visual Framework:
- What does the character look like?
- What are the possible visual influences?
- Does the character reveal intertextual references? If so, what purpose do they serve?

Dragonborn - Dovahkiin (The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim)

This is the playable character from the most recent RPG single player installment in the ESO franchise. This game, as well as the previous games, takes a heavy influence from medieval times, set in a fantasy world where dragons and magic exists. There are countless medieval resources such as old weapons, pieces of armour, tapestries etc to go off for this game. I think that's part of the appeal, it's like Grand Theft Auto but takes part hundreds of years ago where you make your own armour and smith your own weapons.

It could be argued that it's also set upon quit a fairytale base, the protagonist pursues on quests set to him by the lords of the land to reclaim certain items or to slay some creature. It's got a folklore feel to it.

The game was created by Bethesda, and I believe they have quite a strong house style that spreads across their games. In particular the most recent fallout games as well as the most recent ESO games have many similarities. To list a few; User interface and inventory, weapon stats, carry weight, physics, combat, map and marker placements as well as mission structure.

I think this is usually done to hit a very wide audience, partially to keep it generic for those more casual gamers, however as there is usually so much freedom within what you do, it keeps the die hard fans entertained with complex lore.

As far as rules within the game go there are very few, besides physical limitations such as flying and walking through walls (even that's achievable on the PC version), the game restricts you in a very small way, either that or they do a fantastic job of leading you in circles so you never really see the edges of the game. The second is something I like to believe happens other open world games such as Grand Theft Auto.
Third person or firstperson, the game lets you choose for different scenarios/personal preference. I think that firstperson is more rewarding whilst exploring and discovering new things as it scales you down and makes everything feel bigger. Third Person is more useful for combat  or if you're looking for something in particular.
The player has huge reign over the characters weaponry, armour and skills. This allows you to create a complete unique character. I think this is the reason as to why so many people adore the game, it's personal.

The character looks very medieval during the beginning stages. Iron armour, wood and leather. This takes it's inspirations from it's surroundings. When you start in the game the towns are made from stone and wood, it's all very basic, as it would've been. Therefore the armour is basic too. It's only when you go seeking out other materials that you can make new forms of armour.

47 (Hitman series)

47 is an entirely fiction character, but with heavy western cultural influences. His clothing, weapons and the cars in game all seem very modern. The settings in which the missions take place are often actual places or based upon real places. Either that or the buildings are created very closely to real world counterparts.

The thing I always loved about these games is how down to earth they are, admittedly a super-assassin isn't what I mean, but the technique of the kills and the settings often leave you wondering, 'could this have happened'. I find that because you have the possibility of completing a mission flawlessly that it is something that could be done outside the game.

Within Hitman the rules and conditions are very strict, there are certain things you can and can't do, but what does vary is the way in which you do those. It's heavily story based so you're steered through levels entirely, it's the opposite of a sandbox like game. 

The game viewpoint is third person throughout the game, this allows a wide view of your surroundings as well as being aware.

The character's career is moulded by the choices you make throughout missions. This gives it a personal feel, any actions you take you have to face the consequences.

The character 47 has a very clean look. The way you'd imagine a modern assassin would look. As good as he looks I've always found his attire confusing, I know it's become more of a status symbol but someone in his position would want to blend in as much as possible, not be wearing a tailored black suit with a red tie, it'd make you stick out. 

I feel I've chosen two characters that are quite conflicted, opposite ends of the scales. Playing as the dragonkin you're dropped in an open map where exploration is the key. You develop your character entirely from scratch starting with next to nothing. You can play through the whole game discovering a lot of it and creating the best weapons and armour within the game without actually getting far in the storyline at all, developing your character and the storyline are almost two entirely separate things. 

Hitman however is the other end of the scale, you're put into the game with a pair of pistols that you can use to complete the game. Each time you spawn you're in a new level which you play through, usually, without going back. The storyline is everything within Hitman.

In conclusion two totally different games but equally as satisfying due to the freedom of choice.

Designs

I found beginning my castle difficult. It's not something I'd done before and laying one out is harder than I imagined. Well laying one out that looks aesthetically pleasing. Below is an initial design.

 

I started with a very generic fantasy castle, upon a hill with a spire etc. But designing it to look simple yet have build up areas was proving difficult. My main building ended up looking more like a church than a castle. Whilst this design was fun to draw and try out, it was proving impractical for me. 

The next design was one that I stuck to quite heavily

As you can see from this image and my final building, the two are very similar. This is the way I wanted it to be, because I layed it out like actual building blueprints (with a small thanks to my flatmates, both architecture), it made it much easier to model in a technical program such as Maya. 

The reason I chose to do a blueprint straight away is because I could play with lines on the go. It's slightly improvised, I had no previous designs. It's from a built up memory of things that I've already seen.
I have strayed quite far from my initial designs and research but I didn't mind so much, I found this process helpful in the way that I realised I have to stick to my limitations in a program such as Maya, of which I have no experience. It's certainly been a learning experience.

Character Narrative

Clive was a fairly simple person; he liked the little things in life. Things such as his flowers growing perfectly in the spring, freshly cut grass and the smell of the new wood varnish he put on his front door the other day. His daily activity rarely strayed from popping to the market, selecting a few pieces of fruit for the day as well as some milk, trimming his rose bush or saying hello to the neighbours.
One day however, his whole life was turned upside down for a few hours. He was on his way to market as usual at 10:15am, when he heard shrieks and a frantic horse. As he turned the corner into the market square there was a horse lying on the ground calling out, it'd been wounded by several arrows and wasn't going to last much longer.
This distressed Clive, being a lover of all things natural; he turned around and went home. He arrived at his front door and went to unlock it. It was already unlocked, ‘strange’, he thought, ‘I could've sworn I locked it…’ He shrugged it off and went inside. He stopped in his tracks, frozen solid; there was a man on his floor in the lounge surrounded by a small pool of blood. He was barely alive, coughing and struggling to move, he had an arrow embedded in his abdomen.
Clive had a wave of discomfort wash over him, followed by that of slight relief, realising this man was in danger and would be no threat. Then, as the man was no threat, his practical head was on. He rushed to his bathroom and various cabinets to look for ointments, bandages, anything that could help him. Being a former medic of the village, as well as a pharmaceutical vendor, he had plenty of supplies.
He worked tirelessly on the man, who was dipping in and out of consciousness, removing the arrow, pouring disinfectant on the wound and making the man smell some salts that would help numb the pain. He opened the wound and began stitching up a deep inner wound that was causing the bleeding, cleaning it up, sealing up the muscle and stitching the skin together. After 2 hours of patch up surgery he rushed off and brewed some strong herbal tea and made the man, who was regaining his consciousness, inhale the fumes to bring him to his senses. After an hour of sniffing the strong herbal fumes, the man was able to talk. All he managed to croak out was ‘thank you…’. Clive nodded, gave a little smile and went to his bed to have a nap. He assumed the mysterious man would do the same.

He awoke the next day, the surgery had taken it out of his, he hadn’t focused so intensely in a long time, it tired him greatly. He went through to his lounge to check on the mysterious man, but he wasn't there. Instead all that was there was a letter, he heard a loud CRACK, he looked out the window and a very large and ornamental looking carriage was whisked away by four of the largest and most impressive horses he’d ever seen. He opened the letter to find the following;

“Dear kind stranger, I cannot thank you enough for rescuing my son in such a dire situation, I’m sure it must've been distressing for you. I cannot reward you unfortunately as I don’t want to risk your safety by making it clear we were in contact. I have people that dislike me and my family and I wouldn't want them thinking we were affiliated.

Just know you have someone powerful looking out for you, I cannot thank you enough.”

Clive looked for some kind of clue as to who left this and who left in the carriage, as well as whom the young man was. That’s when he saw it, something that took his breath away. The realms royal seal.