STYLE MIXING: MAREK OKON PROGRESS 15/03/2013

       The great thing about designing a Mafia-esque character is that the clothing isn't the focus, as their clothing is generally simple and stereotypical - I don't have to reinvent the wheel. The importance is in the face, so considering this will be the defining feature of all three styles, I decided to start with Marek Okon's ultra realistic style, as our tutor advices we simply use a close-up shot (shoulders and face) when adopting his style. 

     This allows me to do two things - one, get the hardest style out of the way whilst developing my Photoshop painting skills further, and two, it allows me to develop the character in the characters face, which just happens to be the most important and defining characteristic of this character design. It's the logical choice to start with Marek Okon's painting style - it suits my approach.

So I started adopting Marek's style today, and so far, it's turning out pretty well (directly below). This is not to say I didn't have my failed attempts along the way (bottom two images).

CHARACTER DESIGN - IN PROGRESS
by Christian Whelan

      Something that I should note is that I'll paint in the eyes, ears and hair last. By lighting and rendering the head first, I can get an idea of how to light the eyes (the hardest part of the face) realistically. At the moment, I'm really liking my progress, it's the best portrait I've done so far and I'm learning quiet a lot on how colours work with each other and how to choose a pallet and stick with it. No more white and blacks for me!

I thought it was turning out well, but there was something wrong with the face I couldn't initially put my finger on, I soon realised it was nose and the eyes. They made the character look inhuman. Looking at the .GIF below, you can see how I used the warp tool to save myself some time by repositioning the nose.

CHARACTER DESIGN - IN PROGRESS GIF
by Christian Whelan

      Again, the .GIF file is being temperamental (I really need to sort that out), but you get the idea. Anyhow, as I said, there were a couple of failed attempts that were still useful in letting me find my creative feet. 

CHARACTER ATTEMPT #1

CHARACTER ATTEMPT # 2

     Not much to say here really. The first attempt is terrible and reminiscent of the art I did at the beginning of the year and the second one was turning out okay I suppose, it let me understand the structure of the face a litter better, but again, it was just too childish.

So I got the latest attempt done in 45 minutes, and I am to carry on with it. I need to finish the lighting, the clothes, the lips, the eyes, the ears, the hair and the background. Once done, I think it'll look quiet nice.

NEXT POST: STYLE MIXING: MAREK OKON PROGRESS 21/03/2013

STYLE MIXING: CHARACTER STYLE REFERENCES

       For the chraacter that will form the basis for all three styles, I want to strive for an late twenties to early thirties mafia look. In this case, the fashion from that era aswell as pop culture will be a good reference point. Currently, I picture an well built male character with a tight (slighlty unbuttoned) off-white shirt, a black waistcoat, black pants, holding a tompson at his side. Maybe I could swap this black and white pallete for a grey or brown - it all depends on what era I choose as a basis for the fashion.

Either eway, I've gathered some material online that I think will prove usefull when designing the character.

Fashion, iconic people, pop culture that created the Mafia stereotype such as The Godfather and even modern medias such as Mafia 2, will basis of this template chracter. Notable reference images are below.

THE GODFATHER - AL PACINO
WAISCOAT AND COLOURS

RANDOM MAFIA DUDE - 1930's
POSE, WAISTCOAT AND TOP HOT

MAFIA II - VITO
CHARACTER, POSE, COLOURS AND CLOTHING

MAFIA II - VITO
HAIRSTYLE, CLOTHING AND THEME

Now I have a basic idea of the character I want to design, I can begin adopting the three defferent art styles.

NEXT POST: STYLE MIXING - MAREK OKON PROGRESS 15/03/2013

STYLE MIXING: THE BRIEF

         The latest task of the semester was set recently - to design a character and draw him / her three times, adopting three distinctly different art styles. The art styles off Sean Galloway, Ashley Wood and Marek Okon. An example of each of there work is below. They're pretty cool.

SEAN GALLOWAY - EXAMPLE WORK

    Sean Galloways work doesn't really appeal to me. Not that there's anything wrong with his style, but its too basic for my liking - very 50's comic like. However, it seems like a simple style to replicate (famous last words) - thin lines, basic lighting and exaggerated physical features and poses. It kind of remind me of Jet et Radio, Dragon ball Z or the Gorillas.

ASHLEY WOOD - EXAMPLE WORK

     There's something very Metal Gear about this artwork (one of my favourite games), and looking at other Ashley Wood pieces, I can imagine I'll enjoy mimicking her style. It's realistic yet conceptual - an aspect of her work I really like.

MAREK OKONS - EXAMPLE WORK

Marek Okons work is pretty intimidating - clearly the most challenging out of the three. Although I think his style is phenomenal (Mass Effect like... and that game is amazing!) it's going to push my talents to the limit! I think I'll attempt this one last...

        Clearly this task is going to force me out of my comfort zone, but considering I've already took that first step with my environment concept, I think I'm prepared  At the very least, it's going to develop my creative versatility when it comes to add. Thank god, because I was getting sick of using the same style over and over again. 

NEXT POST: STYLE MIXING - CHARACTER STYLE REFERENCES

LANDSCAPE CONCEPT (HAND-IN)

      This is by far my favourite task and piece for university that I've worked on. If I had to choose, environment art is definitely a route I'd like to explore further. I feel I could, and can, improve on my talents in this area - I really want to. Not that character or vehicle design bores me, it's just I like the idea of having an entire canvas to freely work on - the entire scene can become a character itself, and I love that.

After another hour of work, I finally finished my environment concept. It could still be improved, but I have no idea how to move forward with that - I need my tutor's criticism and advice. Regardless, I think I've done a good job and as I say, it's my favourite piece. Both it and I have come a long way since its basic line drawing, and I'm glad it changed the way it did. 

Have a look at the development .GIF below and the of course, the final concept.

COMMENTS AND CRITICISMS APPRECIATED!

CAVERN ENVIRONMENT CONCEPT - DEVELOPMENT .GIF
By Christian Whelan

CAVERN ENVIRONMENT CONCEPT
by Christian Whelan

    Don't get me wrong, it could be better. The foliage could be less cartoon like, the highlights could be more effective and the foreground could have a little more character and detail. However  compared to my usual standard of work, I think I've improved, and if there are any inconsistencies, I'm sure my tutor will highlight them so I can improve for future art.

I literally cannot wait to get this printed off on glossy paper. It's gonna look sexual. Yeayuh!

NEXT POST: STYLE MIXING: THE BRIEF

LANDSCAPE CONCEPT - PROGRESS 04/03/2013

        Spent a couple of hours refining some of the textures and making a drastic change with the colour palette. Rather than red, I opted for orange as a second lighting source. I don't know why I didn't think of this earlier, orange contrasts and compliments blue (the base colour for the scene). Red just doesn't fit in this vibrant scene any more. Finally, I've managed to capture some form of fantasy like atmosphere.

CAVERN ENVIRONMENT - IN PROGRESS
by Christian Whelan

 
Again, it's not finished, some of the lighting was placed to get an idea of its final positioning. I aim to carry this theme throughout the entire scene and add in some stalactite geometry (maybe?) to add depth and help define the lighting.

    A couple of additions have been made. I refined the grass texture, added in some vines (I hope to add in some moss), some water spray, water texture, further highlights and some bats on the horizon and within the cave. The bats will be great tool when coming to defining the scale of the scene with lighting.

    The idea was to have people residing within the cave, banished from a hostile world. There only methods of light is ember magic, the source of which was found within the cavern and harnessed when civilisation was forced to move underground. This scene captures their determination to venture outwards and far. 

It's just a case of adding in elements and refining everything within the scene now to ensure it's consistent and effective. Hopefully, by tomorrow, it should be done. There's no reason why it shouldn't be.

NEXT POST: LANDSCAPE CONCEPT (HAND-IN)

LANDSCAPE CONCEPT - PROGRESS 03/03/2013

         Not had much time today to make any progress on my environment concept, but I made some progress that has given me ideas on how to progress with this work. With my last progress update, I'd adopted a new style and direction and had a light attempt at executing it. Today, after two hours of work (whilst watching Scarface) I added in the sky, further lighting and highlights, a character silhouette, a moon, a second lighting source and some grass. Have a look at my progress below., again, nowhere near finished.

ENVIRONMENT CONCEPT - IN PROGRESS
By Christian Whelan

ENVIRONMENT PROGRESS - GIF
by Christian Whelan

      Honestly, I have no idea why my GIFs are so temperamental nowadays. Anyway, you can see how it has improved upon the last milestone. However, the grass needs finishing, the red lighting source needs to be used in the scene and finally, the cave needs some damn colour. It's looking way to black.

      Some notable things to mention are the sky, the grass and the silhouette. Developing the sky and primary lighting source was a real help. It let me understand the colours and direction of light in the scene, telling me I needed some more colour - the grass. The grass is something that helps frame the horizon and create a focal point for the scene. Adding in the green highlights is what accomplished that, but it still needs development - at the moment, the grass seems out of place. Finally I added the silhouette  This was an attempt to one, add some life into the scene, and two, to highlight the scale of the environment because this was (and still is) an issue. More work needs to be done on that using lighting.

          At the moment, I'm happy with it, but I need another pair of eyes to look at it so I can move forward, luckily I'm visits my mother tomorrow - I'm sure she'll be brutally honest.

NEXT POST: LANDSCAPE CONCEPT - PROGRESS 04/03/2013

LANDSCAPE CONCEPT: PROGRESS 02/03/2013

           Painting an environment challenges everything creatively - composition  perspective, lighting, scaling, colour etc. My normal methods to approach all the aforementioned are restricting, plus, everything just ends up looking too bold, too 2 dimensional and too cartoonish - crap. I had to rethink my approach to concept art as a whole and in result, it absolutely changed everything.

   Now, it inst even remotely finished yet, I'm still finding my feet, brainstorming ideas for lighting and colour pallets. But by challenging myself, my art seems to adopt a theme and dare I say it, character.  Normally, my work would use one lighting source, no complimentary colours, and always the same pallet - black and red. It was just boring!

I aim to leave my restricting comfort zone from now on. I want to;

• Stop being afraid of contrasting colours.
• Stop using white and black alone to light scenes.
• Develop my highlighting skills.
• Focus less on detail at the start of work. 

So, after looking at concept art and theory books to develop my understanding of concept art as a whole, I took my first step at applying it to my scene (below).

CAVERN ENVIRONMENT (BEFORE) - IN PROGRESS
by Christian Whelan

CAVERN ENVIRONMENT (AFTER) - IN PROGRESS
by Christian Whelan

   You can see the difference between the first image and the second. If I would of gone down my usual cartoon like route, It would of ended up looking like a blind baby drew it with crayons and glue.

    Like I said, vary early in it's development  The second red lighting source was just an attempt to get an idea of things, I'll rework that later. At the moment  I need to get in the basic lighting, then add highlights until finally, adding in the red light and refining the back drop. I'm actually exciting to see how this turns out.

NEXT POST: LANDSCAPE CONCEPT - PROGRESS 03/03/2013

LANDSCAPE CONCEPT: PROGRESS 01/03/2013

      I've always found the task of painting landscapes and environments daunting. It just seems like a huge task to craft a world using an entire canvas, not just a section of it! Maybe its the fact that the entire image has to be perfect for it to work, and my perfectionism along with my lack of experience cripples me when it comes to such a task. Anyhow, the tenth task at university is to draw a landscape using Manchester (or any other city) as inspiration.

    Well, after worrying about it, I threw myself into it in blind hope and for the most part, it turned out fine, but my intended perspective and scale went down the drain as it progressed, and I didn't like the way it way turning out, so I made some changes whilst envisioning the possible colour pallet of the environment.

Note: I have no idea why the GIF has a little panic attack on the last image. Every time 

I create it, it does the same thing. Maybe it's so terrible it doesn't want to look at it...

PERSPECTIVE WORK - PROGRESS GIF
by Christian Whelan

PERSPECTIVE WORK - IN PROGRESS
by Christian Whelan

       It looks pretty cartoon like at the moment, but once I've got the basic colours and lighting in, the lines will be removed so I can render it. Also, I want to add something into the scene that gives it more character - something that contrasts the generic cave's eventual colours. The structure far in the distance will do that, but I want the scene to carry two consistent themes.

    I have a tendency to start a fresh over and over again, only to look back at the old work an prefer it, then start again, and again and again. I end up hating everything I work on for some strange reason. Ah well, I'm just going to stick with this idea and see it though until I'm happy. When it comes to painting the scene, I'm going to research painting techniques, most notably in the Borderlands 2 art book and Mass Effect environment concepts. Whilst I'm at it, I'll watch a few speed paintings to see how they build a scene using colour (which I should of done to begin with).

NEXT POST: LANDSCAPE CONCEPT - PROGRESS 02/03/2013

TASK 9: VEHICLE AND DRIVER DESIGNS

         Long overdue blog post. But after developing the original silhouette designs for the vehicles, I asked friends and family which of the designs they preferred. Surprisingly, they chose the one I preferred, but the one I didn't think anyone would of liked. So fortunately for me I began to design that silhouette.

     Now, this vehicle was inspired by an early 40's car with the idea that when developed, it would be extremely patriotic in design (flags, american colours etc) and the driver would be am androgynous female american hero figure. However, as I started to develop the idea, I realised, that although it looked functional, it just wasn't an interesting. The top down view, of which I began with, inspired a new idea - a intimidating dragonfly design.

     However, this would render my patriotic concept useless. So, as I developed the vehicle I started to see a dragonfly and an eagle within the same silhouette. From that point, I had in mind a vertical police force vehicle (it's intimidating and patriotic) - one which can switch between a close quarters upright hover craft and a normal fighter jet. 

Note: the design below is it's upright position.

     With this police force idea in mind, the colours blue, white and red came to me (naturally), but considering its futuristic look, I decided to go with the robotic look which in turn, inspired the driver - a mass produced law enforcer that shared the same visual and physical characteristics as it's vehicle.

     In all, I'm really happy with the vehicle and character  I think the concept itself could be a little clearer on its orientation, but other than that, I like the concept behind it and the designs execution. I still have a lot of room to improve though. I'm trying.

COMMENTS AND CRITICISMS APPRECIATED!

THE ODREAGLE - VEHICLE DESIGN
by Christian Whelan

THE COMMANDMENT OFFICER - CHARACTER DESIGN
By Christian Whelan

       My next goals are to really plan out characters before I design them. I seem to just go with the flow when it comes to characters, resulting in a mixed bag that's just above average for the level I should be at. When vehicle designs are considered, I need to learn perspective because to be perfectly honest, the only reason there isn't a perspective view of the vehicle, is because I was too intimidated by the idea. Maybe next time.

    

 Most importantly, I need to practice at grey scaling, I've seen other student's vehicle designs and you can really see the jump in quality when it's used effectively to develop shape. Again, next time.

NEXT POST: TASK 10 - LANDSCAPE CONCEPT - PROGRESS 01/03/2013