Visual Design - Lava Creature

Learning FX In Photoshop - Making And Using A Lava Style:

In the lesson we learnt about styles and fx in Photoshop. Since I'm still reasonably new to Photoshop I had no idea that these functions existed. However I don't think I could forget about them now. I especially love the fx options. As for the first piece we were given the first image shown in this block. A plain sculpture which we then had to go away and turn into a lava golem! Just above is the result of my work, I'm happy with the results even if I did go a little over the top with the lava.

Quick Sketches:

We were given the task of creating our own lava creature for our homework. Above are 3 quick pencil sketches I drew exploring ideas. At first I had the idea of creating and elegant, maybe mythical creature with flies through lava and has lava pouring from it's body but it just didn't feel right. I wanted to create a monster, maybe an in game enemy. Lava is dangerous so I felt a dangerous creature would make the theme much more. So I started creating lava golems of my own. My second idea was for a child lava golem, Even though it wouldn't be as frightening I thought it'd be an interesting concept. In the end I chose the large lava golem design.

Final Piece:

Above is my final piece for this assignment. I actually used the original pencil sketch, which I then uploaded and added to Photoshop for the transformation shown. I'm happy with the results, if I was to redo this piece I'd include the entire creature in the image. I really like the effect that the watercolour paper made to the texture of the creature.

Visual Design - Pixel Art Robot

My Pixel Art Robot:

Above is the pixel art robot that I designed. I've always been intrigued by pixel art but had never really attempted it until now. I went for a simplistic idea with colours that I thought would match the scene. Although it was one of my first times exploring pixel art I felt that I did quite well. I think I excel at technical drawings which include measuring and straight lines. But that's just my opinion. Anyway, it was a lot of fun trying out a new technique and I'll try using it more in the future. If I was to improve my robot I'd perhaps give it some head wear.

Fitting it into the scene:

Visual Design - Futuristic Gun

Mood Board:

This a moodboard of images I've collected from multiple games. Games such as: Borderlands, Call of Duty, Halo and Fallout. Each of these guns have a futuristic theme, however they are still very different from one other. There are differences in: form, colour and style. But they served to be great inspiration for my final design.

Quick Sketches:

Above are some quick pencil sketches of ideas I had with inspiration to those shown on the moodboard. I don't think much of these initial sketches so for my final piece I created an entirely new weapon with attributes from my sketches. I liked the idea of the bottom weapon the most, having some sort of melee aspect attached to the gun. The idea came from rifles in the past which had knives attached to the front. But I wanted to make this more futuristic, also I liked the idea of haven't an attachment like this on a pistol, with different technology I imagine there wouldn't be any issues with weight and such either. So I started brainstorming and created the piece below.

Final Design:

The piece above is my final design of a futuristic weapon from this assignment. As mentioned above I wanted to add a melee function to a pistol which was also futuristic. So I designed this, the blue beam in between the barrels is a laser which would cut any enemies down. The pistol is designed to be held with two hands (mainly one but maybe a second to stabilise it) and has a barrel both at the top and bottom. To cut with the laser you'd be able to turn the gun easily since it's a pistol also.

In terms of design I wanted to keep the gun looking sleek and reliable. To do this I used straight edges in almost the entire piece. I wanted it to seem like a light and elegant weapon so I used light colours in the design to portray that. In futuristic media lasers are usually red or blue so I chose the colour I thought worked better. I designed the lasers to be the same colour as what I fought could be the energy supply for the weapon (assuming it's the future and they don't use bullets but instead energy weapon because they're cool). I enjoyed this piece and I felt it gave me a chance to create something especially original.

3D Art Production - Battle Arena Moodboard

Visual Design - Elf And Dwarf - Body Proportion

Elf:

In this task we had to create an elf, following instructions on what size the body proportions are. The elf had to be 9 1/2 heads tall (as shown in the picture to the right).

Dwarf:

In this task we had to create an dwarf, following instructions on what size the body proportions are. The dwarf had to be 4 heads tall.

I enjoyed this task but found it very difficult. I haven't had much practice drawing people in general, so when the proportions were changed from an ordinary humans it became even more problematic. 

The areas in which I think improvements can be made:

- The feet of both.

- The face of the elf.

- The arms/skin of the dwarf.

Even though there were some imperfections in my piece I thoroughly enjoyed the work. I'll use these pieces as a learning experience and learn from my mistakes.  

Visual Design - Crustacean's

Mood Board:

Concept Art:

An original piece of work, my task was to create 3 silhouette characters/monsters inspired by crustacean creatures. These designs were created after research (my previous post) and each imagine has elements from different crustaceans.

The first creatures main inspiration was from the lobster, the creature shares its claws which is one of the most dominant features of the creature. The idea for my creature was for it to be some kind of space worm/snake, very deadly chopping it's prey up before devouring it. Very nasty.

The second creature has inspiration from the barnacle not only does it has the appearance of the barnacle on different spots across its body, but it also shares its nature, being a slow and almost stationary creature but being very armoured and tough. It also shares a single claw from the crab family, although I've customised it for visual effect. This creature is ready for battle and stands at the ready.

The third creatures arm's are based on a crabs legs, the tall thin physique shows it's not meant for combat. I wanted this creature to be some kind of mad scientist. It either experimented on itself to become that way or perhaps it's just another alien, who knows?

This is my third time ever using a graphics tablet and I really enjoyed creating these pieces.

Visual Design - Perspective Drawing - Second Piece

This is my second piece of perspective drawing, also following one-point perspective. For this piece I was able to use watercolour and fine liner pens, I varied between using 0.3 and 0.5 thickness.

Visual Design - Perspective Drawing - First Piece

This is my first piece of perspective drawing, it is a sketch. It is to understand the basics of one-point perspective.

Gameplay and Interactivity - Stone Age Research

The Stone Age - Research

My aim for this work is to research what type of tools were used in the stone age, what materials were used and what they were used for. I hope to discover new tools which aren't around currently for inspiration for tools/weapons which could be used in a game. I will also use this opportunity to view images of these tools to see what the texture of them looks like. Having this knowledge will help if I decide to make a game set in this era to create a realistic appearance to players.

The Stone Age's Tools

Tools have always been needed for humans to survive and evolve, tools allow humans to create or modify anything depending on the tools functionality and the users skill. These tools allow humans to interact with their surroundings in ways which weren't previously possible and tools have been used since the stone age.

In the stone age different materials were used (despite the name). However because stone doesn't corrode or get destroyed as easily as other materials, more stone artifacts are left over. This allows archaeologists to find sites where early humans lived and often allows them to estimate through evidence roughly when they were using the artifacts.
At the start of the stone age humans when tools were originally developed (roughly 2.6 million years ago), there were only basic tools (nothing more than shaped rocks). However about 1.7 million years ago, they started to make tools such as hand axes and other cutting tools.

As time went by the progression of their technology and innovation advanced further, roughly 200,000 years ago they had points in their stone kits. This meant that different tools could be fashioned and new materials used. This is when spears, stone awls and scrapers could be made, they could use these tools for the preparation of: wood, hide and other materials.
And even later on, near the end of the stone age, innovation for new tools only increased. People experimented for identity in their culture as their craftsmanship had increased dramatically, they even experimented with other materials such as: ivory, bone and antlers. They still used stone though and often combined materials to create tools which varied.

Reflection:

I believe that my research has been successful, I've learnt how tools advanced through this time period and the materials used. I also learnt of new tools like the stone awl and the fact that in the late stone age some tools were made from antlers, which really surprised me. I feel that there are probably more tools which I haven't discovered in my research time, however if I create anything based on the stone age I will do further research to discover them.

References:

Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History (2015) Stone Tools [Online] Available from: http://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/behavior/tools [Accessed: 2nd October 2015]

Benito Álvarez J-M. (2007) File:Bifaz eliptico.jpg [Online] Available from: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bifaz_eliptico.jpg [Accessed: 2nd October 2015]

Vasnetsov V. (1883) Stone Age [Online] Available from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stone_Age [Accessed: 2nd October 2015]