ASSIGNMENT 2: 10 PIECE PORTFOLIO

              Now I've finally handed in the last creative thinking task of the year, it's time to collect all of my best work and present a 10 piece portfolio that demonstrates by talents - it is this, and only this that I will be marked on. Considering many of the tasks required two pieces of work, I decided to scrap some of my earlier work in favor for the new. I've progressed a lot in the last year so by doing this, I demonstrate by current ability more effectively whilst also avoiding unnecessary re-work that at this point in time, could cause more stress than it's worth.

All 10 pieces are below.

PIECE ONE - COLOUR AND LIGHTING
by Christian Whelan

PIECE TWO - IANTHE CHARACTER DESIGN
by Christian Whelan

PIECE THREE - ARMOUR DESIGN
by Christian Whelan

PIECE FOUR - WEAPON DESIGNS
by Christian Whelan

PIECE FIVE - DRIVER DESIGN
by Christian Whelan

PIECE SIX - VEHICLE DEISNG
by Christian Whelan

PIECE SEVEN - ENVIROMENT CONCEPT
by Christian Whelan

PIECE EIGHT - SEAN GALLOWAY MIMIC
by Christian Whelan

PIECE NINE - ASHLEY WOOD MIMIC
by Christian Whelan

PIECE ONE - MAREK OKON MIMIC
by Christian Whelan

      I really started to progress in my work by the environment concept. From that point on, I really tried to push myself when it came to rendering my art, and I think there'a been an incredible payoff. This is not to say my work cannot be improved however. The Ianthe, Armour, Sean Galloway and Marek Okon pieces are good, but not brilliant - each of them are a few stages off being at the level they 'could' be. Unfortunately, I do not have the time in this academic year to make such improvements.

     However, in all, I'm incredibly happy with my portfolio. Considering the standard of my work at the beginning of the year when compared to now, I can truly say I've progressed a long way, and that digital art is a new hobby of mine, where as at one point, it was a huge challenge.

NEXT POST: YEAR CONCLUSION

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 8: WEAPON AND ARMOUR DESIGN (HAND-IN)

      It took me a good few hours, but I finally got the weapons and armour design done. The task was to design a set of weapons and armour to match as a theme. It was probably the hardest task yet, but through it, I think I came out with something really good. Have a look at them both below!

COMMENTS AND CRITICISM APPRECIATED!

FUTURISTIC ASSASSIN - ARMOUR DESIGN
by Christian Whelan

     So both poses are done and the armour for both is consistent besides one thing - the 8 pack. Once again, I forgot to polish it up. Regardless of that, I think this is my best piece. In terms of proportion, colouring and lighting, I've come a long way since my first drawings, and I believe this is largely due to relying less on line art. The weapons are a more accurate exhibition of my current ability.

FUTURISTIC ASSASSIN - WEAPON DESIGNS
by Christian Whelan

     When you look at my initial designs for the weapons, you'll see how they've changed. I've completely abandoned the wood theme - the only referenced and researched part of the weapons came from armour. Considering the weapons are supposed to blend seamlessly with the armour, this seemed appropriate, and I think it was effective. Of course one of the weapons clearly isn't hidden, even so, it's design suits the concept of the armour.

     Overall I love each of the weapons, they all have their unique visual features and firing styles whilst all working with the armour's design seamlessly. The Observant is the quick fire weapon, The Scatterer is the fully automatic precise weapon, The Repeller is the precise defense weapon, The Judge is the heavy room clearing weapon and The Revenant is the last resort destruction defense - all whilst working together and with the armour so they are one, rather than separate.

     Visually, My favourite of the weapons are the Observant and The Judge. The Observant looks great. It really integrates with the armour and I think I did a good job reflecting it's textures and shape. However, the Judge is by far the best of the weapons (as many people who have seen it agreed), maybe its because it is inspired by and references a real weapon, which was one of my concerns when designing's the others, but to be honest, I think it's just because it looks bad ass! The detailing of the rivets and metal texture in contrast to the futuristic red really work, and the way it holsters on the shoulder blade with its collapsing scaffold, I believe, is a really cool idea.

       Now this is done, my goal is to continue on as I have been doing, relying more on lighting to define shape and to texture parts to increase quality. But there are still things I need work on. Firstly I need to improve on faces, hands and feet. Whilst doing so, I need to start utilizing complimentary colours. once I've practiced and perfected these, its just a matter of developing my drawing skills in general.

NEXT POST: TASK 9: VEHICLE IDEAS

TASK 8: WEAPONS AND ARMOUR (IN PROGRESS 3)

      I spent the last 6 hours blocking and lighting the hands of the first pose, but most importantly I started and 'almost' finished the second pose. I say almost because I still need to polish up the smaller details such as the bolts and rivets on the armour plates. Have a look anyway.

COMMENTS AND CRITICISMS APPRECIATED!

FUTURISTIC ASSASSIN ARMOUR DESIGN - IN PROGRESS
by Christian Whelan

FUTURISTIC ASSASSIN ARMOUR DESIGN - GIF
by Christian Whelan

      Once this is done, it's just a matter of redesigning and polishing the weapons, then finally, implementing the weapons into these armour designs an detailing their functions and weapon type.

Overall, I'm really happy with the outcome, I tried my best to stay away from line art, but as you can see, there is still some there, but I don't mind, because it stops the colour of the armour blending into the background. I suppose that wouldn't be the case if I was a little better at rendering and lighting.

On a less positive note, there are some clear issues and inconsistencies in the armour. Firstly, the sitting pose has an 8 pack... Also the foot and hands are the problem. I definitely need more practice when it comes to proportion and perspective on more complex body parts like the hands and feet.

Other than that, It's 'probably' the best piece I've done so far. I'll have no problem designing the weapons now.

NEXT POST: WEAPONS AND ARMOUR (HAND-IN)

TASK 8: WEAPONS AND ARMOUR (IN PROGRESS 2)

    I spent the last hour making progress on the final hand-in of the armour and weapon designs. I've only just come close to finishing the first pose but have a look at it anyway. I think it's coming along really well!

COMMENTS AND CRITICISMS APPRECIATED!

FUTURISTIC NINJA ARMOUR - IN PROGRESS
by Christian Whelan

      

     So far I think this is my best piece. I no longer rely on bold line art to portray a character's shape and perspective.  This is something that I've been aiming to do since I started this course. For me, at least, line art seems to enforce a restriction - everything I draw, no matter how much I render it, looks too two dimensional. Maybe it's just my ability to render that's the issue, but through abandoning my usual line art ways, I hope to improve my rendering and lighting skills in the process, giving my freedom to use line art when I want, effectively.

The idea finish the gloves, implement the weapons into the armour and start the second pose. The second pose will not be the one in the picture, I hope to have a crouched 'assassin like' pose that exposes the back - a three quarter view. This way I can highlight all the weapons in detail. 

Finally, I'll draw in the weapons around the two poses individually, highlighting their titles and functions.

NEXT POST: TASK 8: WEAPONS AND ARMOUR (IN PROGRESS 2)

REFERENCING PRACTICE

         Referencing images when developing artwork is frowned upon by many artists, regardless of this snobbery, our tutor decided to demonstrate fine line between 'copying', and 'referencing' when using an image as a baseline to help create your own - he then let us try. My terrible attempt is below.

REFERENCING PRACTICE ALIEN
By Christian WHelan

     It's one of my worst drawings to be honest, I rushed it and really wasn't invested in the pose (can't actually believe I'm blogging it to be honest). As a rule of thumb, the idea is take the reference image, lower the opacity level, copy the basic (very basic) muscle shape and structure, delete the image and start your drawing from there. As you can see, mine didn't turn out well. But it is effective to be honest, some of the other students did a fantastic job!

NEXT POST: TASK 8: WEAPONS AND ARMOUR (IN PROGRESS)

TASK 8: WEAPON AND ARMOUR DESIGN (ARMOUR IDEAS)

         With a little needed criticism, it turns out my initial designs for the armour where lacking a little  So, as a result, I decided to add some ideas to the armour (unfinished ideas at that) and then implement the weapons into that armour to get an idea of the structure and colour scheme of the armour. Below is a posh gif and some full sized images to have a gander at.

COMMENTS AND CRITICISMS APPRECIATED!

WEAPON AND ARMOUR DESIGNS GIF
By Christian Whelan

ARMOUR ADDITIONS
By Christian Whelan

WEAPON IMPLEMENTATION
By Christian Whelan

     The new additions and style of the armour where inspired by Misamune Shirow art in Ghost of the Shell. His modular mech armour designs are that little addition that fill out the lacking areas on the original armour. Granted, its a little rough but you can get the idea.

As for the weapons, they were already designed in a way to work with the armour. But with the black colour scheme, they really work. So far, I'm really in love with this design. All I need to do now is finish off the legs armour and develop the final hand-in piece.

NEXT POST: REFERENCING PRACTICE

TASK 8: WEAPON AND ARMOUR DESIGN (WEAPONS IN PROGRESS)

          Now that the initial design ideas for the armour had been completed, I had to start designing some thematic weapons to go along with it. Now, as mentioned before, the idea is that the character who wears the armour has as little contact with his foes as possible. With this in mind, the weapons below where designed.

COMMENTS AND CRITICISMS APPRECIATED!

WEAPON DESIGNS - FUTURISTIC ASSASSIN
by Christian Whelan

The ideas aren't really finished, largely due to a mind block brought on from constant comparisons to other games and films. These comparison, made by others, are completely unintentional, I just designed what I thought fitted the armours theme, which also happened to receive a few (a lot) of comparisons. Again, unintentional on my part.

So, I needed to design a Light Weapon, a Standard Weapon, a Heavy Weapon and a Concealed Weapon. All of these needed to connected to one of the many power sources on the armour.

The Light weapon is the helmet that as a result trying to implement a musketeer theme into the futuristic armour, ended up with muskets on his head. I liked the design, but it didn't seem practical, as one of my friends said "The recoil on his head must be a problem...". That, along with the my tutor sharing the same feelings have prompted me to rethink this design (maybe even abandon the wooden look altogether).

The Standard weapon is the arm cannon - a rapid firing brace. Compared to Dead Space for its spine like appearance its a design I intend to keep on the most part, but maybe refine it, as it was my first idea once I finished the armour designs.

The heavy weapons - there are two (both could be considered concealed). First, the arm mini-gun. Again, it has a comparison - Predator. Not what I had in mind (again), but I like that idea, the Predator was an assassin of some sorts, so it works, especially when the armour is futuristic. However, my tutor told me to embrace the idea of a shoulder mini gun, one that flipped up when in use would be more fitting ("cooler"), and more practical. It was a concern I shared, so from this point, that the design I'll go for.

     Secondly there is the area blast (the waist power point). The idea is to have the power sources (the ones not in use) emit a large area blast. I love this idea, its simple and unique (I hope) - I'm sure someone will have a comparison somewhere. A note to make, is that it's damaging effect is only as great as the number of power outputs not in use. So if you want to fit yourself with an arsenal of bodily weapons, then you'll just have to make do with a lame area blast.

For the concealed weapon, I have the glove. This will emit an energy that repels all foes away from him / her. Again, this is only as powerful as the energy it has, so if all the power outputs are taken, it's not the greatest or weapons. Initially, I went for the hidden dagger, but that didn't make sense considering the lack of physical contact (and the comparisons to Assassins Creed). So I went for the glove (which ended being compared to Iron Man... brilliant.)

Now, I just need to refine the weapon designs, the armour designs and fit the weapons onto the armour. They may all have a comparisons, but to be honest, all the comparisons are pretty amazing, so I'm happy.

NEXT POST: TASK 8: WEAPON AND ARMOUR DESIGN (ARMOUR IDEAS)

TASK 8: WEAPON AND ARMOUR DESIGN (ARMOUR IN PROGRESS)

        Recently, I went to the Leeds Royal Armoury to research and reference weapons and armour from various eras in order to inspire my next assignment - to design and develop weapons and armour for a character.

The below in progress sketch is an idea resultant from hours of mind block and inspiration - an electrically  charged (or some form of power source) assassin .

Right now, I'm still trying to find a direction for this design. Do I keep it basic? Or do I go for a culturally inspired design like Dishonoured or Assassins Creed have done? The design on the right was an attempt at implementing an musketeers outfit into the design. I like it, but its far from finished.

The idea for the character, and therefore the armour, is as follow: 

With only bodily firearm attachments, this mercenary assassin performs martial arts in order to fight through enemies close up or from afar, the twist, is that he never touches his enemies. He kicks, punches and moves through and past his enemies, but just before he makes contact with his punches, kicks or grabs, his firearm bodily attachments fire, removing any need for physical contact.

With no real inspiration besides the human figure, this armour contains one of the weapons, a devastating area blast that digitalises all enemies. This weapon fires from one of the many limb assigned red dots (power outputs) around his body. Other weapons are yet to be designed, but a few ideas run through my head.

HAND-GUN: A mechanical spine runs from the wrist to the shoulder, resting under the cape that is tapped to fire from the wrist. 

HIDDEN BLADE: Hidden underneath the cape on his shoulder, the hidden blade never touches an enemy - it fires a blade shaped beam at the enemies. In addition, it can be equipped whilst firing the handgun, as they are located in the same hidden place under the cape.

I'm still brainstorming some ideas at the moment, the next blog post should cover the weapons and any developments in the armour design.

NEXT POST: TASK 8: WEAPON AND ARMOUR DESIGN (WEAPONS IN PROGRESS)

FURTHER READING FOR IDEAS

          Ok, so I thought I'd have no work to do over Christmas besides the further reading for other modules. As it turns out, I have some homework to do over the Christmas holidays - further reading. 

     My tutor has given me a selection of books to choose from. The one I choose, I must read in its entirety. Whilst making notes and posting them on my blog, my tutor will look at my notes and make a decision for after the holiday - what we should design and draw from the book we have chosen. 

     So, be expecting a few more posts from me covering my initial ideas and notes. Before I even choose the book, I'm going to ensure that every 3 chapters I read, I will post a 3 chapter overview  and review of ideas and notes - nothing to lengthy though, just so I can reference it in the coming weeks.

NEXT POST: THE CHOSEN BOOK

ASSIGNMENT 1: FIVE PIECE PORTFOLIO

        So far, I had learned the proportions of every part of the human body, practised perspectives, practised drawing the individual characteristics and clothing, learned how colour can be used to texture and light a piece of work, learned how line theory can be effective and how finally, shapes and silhouettes can be used to create a great character design. Through all of this, I was set the task of developing and handing in a five piece portfolio. To me, this means a chance to showcase everything I have learned so far and eventually, get marked on my work this semester (hopefully a first).

   My intention was to take all that I had done (besides the terrible onion), polish out the imperfections and present it as professionally as I could. The five pieces (that I completed in 1 day including the villain design by the way) are below.

          Well that's the first semester all done. All I have to do is hand this in an enjoy Christmas with a bit of further reading for other modules. However, I will be posting throughout the holidays if I read something in Edge magazine or on Gamasutra.com that is relevant to this blog. 

Oh, and feel free to comment. I would really appreciate it! Thanks!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

NEXT POST: FURTHER READING FOR IDEAS

TASK 6: HERO AND VILLAIN (HAND-IN)

          Designing a hero and villain was by far the most enjoyable of all the tasks set so far. Not only did I have to come up with a design for a hero and villain, but I also had to write a back story for the chosen design. Story telling is something I want to do and although not a brilliant story in the end, I enjoyed writing it and it justified the chosen design's design aspects. 

    The idea in mind was "Ying and Yang". That the hero and villain, regardless of which I would eventually choose, would contrast and relate to each other within the same fictional universe. I eventually chose to develop the villain, unfortunately both original paper based ideas are gone because stupidly, I forgot I needed to write a post on this task. The villain named "Revenant" is below.

    Considering I lost the original designs, I feel I need to describe the concept for the hero as well as the villain. The idea was that the villain represents the bully and the hero represented the bullied. In designing both of these, I went into it ensuring that every design aspect has meaning and symbolism.

THE HERO: A bullied person often keeps themselves to themselves and only acts like their true selves when alone. With this in mind, the hero would of lived alone completely isolated facing their own inner troubles. However, everyday a bullied person finds themselves in a social situation, only in a paranoid and alert state of mind - they could be emotionally attacked at any moment. Their defence? Pretending to be who they are not, conforming with their surroundings, getting them through a potentially horrible day. Thus, the hero's power would not be set in stone. Everyday the hero would unwillingly adopt a new power that benefits them in that situation and adopt a new look that hides his real identity - his 'true' self. The backlash of this is that he just wants to be normal and and in wanting such, faces an identity crisis, never being able to socially interact in the fear of changing.

THE VILLAIN: The bully is know to traumatise those weak around him/ her. Even the slight presence around somebody could intimidate someone and therefore weaken them mentally,  sometimes physically as a result of nerves. Therefore, the Revenant's power was literally his presence. Just standing in his vicinity would weaken you. However, bullies are often said to only bully others to hide their own weaknesses. Therefore, his physical appearance is a literal representation of that - his entire human identity is hidden by this intimidating shell of himself. His weakness? Having that shell destroyed, revealing his 'true self'. Under that shell, is a scared and troubled person, that is left powerless to their own pain.

    What is ironic is that although both are a direct contrast of each other, they both have one problem, themselves. They struggle to deal with who they are and what they have become, so they use the one power they have, to adapt to survive. I really like this idea and will definitely develop it in the coming years. As for the villain, it's easiest to just show you the back story to explain his physical appearance and powers.

          Something I must note is that there is a clear presentation difference between this task and the previous tasks. This is because by this point, I had been notified by my tutor that the first assignment had been set - to deliver a five piece portfolio. Because of this, I developed this to be part of the portfolio and am proud of it. This, along with four other pieces (improved versions of my previous work), where being developed at the same time. The next post will cover these five pieces.

NEXT POST: ASSIGNMENT 1 - FIVE PIECE PORTFOLIO (HAND-IN)

TASK 5: CLAY MODEL (HAND-IN)

         With the task of designing and developing a character out of clay, I had to find some inspiration  My tutor said if we really wanted, we could choose an aspect of a character or a character itself to base the model on. I initially went to my favourite game franchise, Resident Evil. I chose the most interesting character I could find, the Nemesis. The image that inspired me was the one below.

    I 'thought' it would test my skills and give me a higher understanding of 3D shape considering it's complexity and iconic facial features. However, my tutor thought it was "a bit boring" considering it has been modelled a thousand times before. It's a fair statement and regardless of my wish to model the Nemesis, to my own regret, I  scrapped the idea and used inspiration from it instead. Going for the comical route yet again, I designed an onion... for some strange reason. The back story will be detailed after I show you the development of the model I handed in not days ago.

STAGE ONE: I started building the basic shape of the model with two shaped balls of tinfoil connected together by a piece of modelling wire. Once down I flattened on a sheet of clay and moulded it around the base of the mouth.

STAGE TWO: Here I added the top layer of clay and added in the cheeks to stitch both parts together. After doing this, I filled in the mouth to hide as much of the tin-foil as possible, followed by marking out the positions of the eyes and the stitches. As you can see, I also tried to model the lips on basic level. At this point, modelling the mouth out of the same piece of clay was the tactic. It eventually proved impossible when attempting to stick the teeth on the inside of the mouth. So I decided to rethink to strategy.

STAGE 3: Pretty much complete by this point, the model had taken full form. I had added the mouth, the teeth, the eyes, the stitches and the hair of the onion (or whatever you call it). With the mouth proving so difficult in the previous stage and the teeth posing an issue, I decided to rethink the strategy. I filled in the entire cavity of the mouth with clay so that sticking the teeth on (all made up of one piece of clay) would be much easier - I would stick them on the clay in the mouth cavity rather than the roof of the mouth, which proved unstable. The lips where then added as one tube of clay rolled out and then smoothed to the face. The eye was made in a similar fashion and the stitches also - with separate pieces of clay layered upon each other. Finally the hair of the onion was added, which I will admit it dreadful - I suppose it's trial and error.

STAGE FOUR: Now that the model had been completed, I needed to bake it. It sounds like a such a simple job, but I managed to burn my onion (like most food I attempt to cook). Anyway, my onion now had a nice tan, but I had to paint it.

STAGE FIVE: Once the model had cooled, I gave it three coats of white paint. Rather than brushing the paint on, I dabbed it on. This was to ensure the final piece would look rough rather than smooth, hopefully highlighting its wild, organic nature and its evil tendencies. Because obviously, all onions are evil.

STAGE SIX: Considering the body of the onion was the most evident part, I decided to paint that first. Using a mixture of orange, two shades of brown and white, I mixed three shades of this golden colour that I layered - just like I would in any digital piece. I like the final outcome. It gave it the rough, organic texture I aimed to create.

STAGE SEVEN: Finally I used the same techniques for painting the teeth, the eyes, the stitches and the onion hair. However, with great disappointment, they are laughably awful and what I believe to be, a ruined model. 

    If I had the chance I would repaint it or even completely redesign and redevelop to model. Maybe I will one day. Anyhow, why did I choose an onion? The idea was comical. This onion is actually a giant building sized onion that was a result of science gone wrong. It was a happy, but lonely onion, until one day, something tried to eat it. After a traumatic surgical process, the onion woke up with one working eye and stitches - starting its revenge quest. Its evil nature spawned, it began to make everyone cry and thus, forced an entire country to bow to its mercy. With thousands of men wearing goggles to prevent tears, they roll the onion to its desired destinations. All whilst avoiding one arch enemy - the giant knife. A homage to Van Helsing, the giant knife constantly hunts the giant onion.

    So there you have it, my yet again, random design that could have turned out alright if the paintwork hadn't of been so terrible.

          My tutor said he liked it so I'll just accept that and forget this onion ever existed. On a more serious note, whilst having three weeks to develop this onion, I did miss a few lectures and workshops as a result of personal matters. In this time, the final task was set - to design and develop a hero and villain, choose my favourite, and then develop it into a completed deliverable. A task that should utilise everything I have learnt as of yet. This is one task I am really looking forward to and the idea of "Ying and Yang" I have chosen as a concept and goal has me excited.

NEXT POST: TASK 6 - HERO AND VILLAIN (HAND-IN)