Critical Evaluation

At this time I have just about finished this assignment overall and it has been an amazing experience for me to see my idea grow over the whole year. Even though this is the end of my second year and this project, I will be continuing on this in my own time because I feel as though this concept is only the beginning of a game idea that could be great due to its themes and underline meanings. I am unsure it I will be taking this idea onto the 3rd year and continuing because I want to challenge myself again to ideas which I have been working on in my own time.
This term has felt strange compared to the others because of the personal nature of using all my previous work and turning it into a portfolio to promote myself rather than the game. In saying this, I believe this to be one of my strongest terms because of how my portfolio has turned out. Though I still have a little more to add, it seems to be very easy to manage.
My portfolio, I have tried to convey a sense of who I am from the backgrounds, drawings and how the interaction works as the viewer would progress through it. I have tried to make it enjoyable from easy to follow instructions of how to use, simple hover features to see the work and keeping every page stimulating to look at which out over being powering. I believe it to show myself as an artist and promote my game concept in one. The portfolio itself contains a large about of idea for the game concept but also I included other works I have done both inside and outside of University so I can show my flexibility for this design work and styles. Overall I am very pleased with my portfolio because I have taken a lot of time in designing everything so I can get my points across without any words. It also is a triumph for my skills as an artist too, seeing my work skills improve from image to image and giving my confidence a boost in the right direction.
My blogging skills however still need to be improved. I have tried blogging many times before and yet still find it hard to keep on top it. This time around I know I manage to keep up somewhat may however I did have to back log some parts. It is always a learn curve and getting myself in the habit of doing it and I did find it enjoyable to do once I got into the rhythm of it. The only problems I have with blogs from a personal point of view is talking about my ideas because I have very protective of my creative process. Much the same with this game concept, I was unsettled talking about it on a public site however learning about Creative Commons calmed the mind down a little. This is something I have to get used to. Mostly the blog has helped to keep on track with setting myself deadlines and keeping track of everything that has been missed out or forgotten about. Benefits of blogs are will be helpful.
One thing I know that was a big deviation was my progress compared to my learning agreement. I did change quiet a lot because I felt like the path I was on would not get me to the best possible outcome. My learning agreement did not seem to reflect myself creating a portfolio of my work but rather another part of the game which was not a part of the brief. In doing so, I believed I made the right choice because of the finished product I have. I would of liked to done some animation of some kind but because of changing my ways, it did not seem like the best choice of action and would not fit in with the portfolios overall theme.
One part I was unclear about was doing more research and how that would be presented. This is because I felt this term was not based around research because of the last term which was heavy on the development stage of the game rather than this terms personal portfolio. Research I did manage to do was mostly Artists for inspiration or new programs such as InDesign which I created my portfolio in. Research key elements and how to use it was the most of it. This was all documented within my blog so I am hoping this will not drastically affect my mark. This is because personally, I did not feel the need for more research because of the nature of the assignment and my content with the games concept up to this point.
If I was to take this concept on to next year, I believe I would focus my attention on the narrative and 3D modelling. I tried my hand at a few 3D mesh over the year and a piece for this term which felt very much like the begin of a larger development for my concept. Enthusiasm is the key and I know I have a lot for this game concept and do hope to take it on further at some point in time whether it is next year or as something else later on in my career.
As a whole, I believe it to be a success. I know from over the past year and this term I have become more confident in my idea and creative abilities to express my thoughts. I am very excited what next year has to bring and hoping that my next project will be as enjoyable as ‘The Dawning’ has given me over the past year. With the small drop in my grade for last term, I am hoping with the effort, overall presentation of my portfolio and the amount of emotion I have shown will give me that push for high marks.

PDP Interactive

Even though it is coming up to hand in, with the success of my portfolio, I think I will add some buttons to make it easier to select which part to go to straight away.

Progress...

I am really enjoying Adobe InDesign. I don't understand why I did not take the time before to investigate this program which had been on my computer for a while now. My portfolio is looking great and I am extremely happy with it. I have tested a few PDFs on the uni computers and they work fine so I have everything crossed that the more interactive parts will work fine.

Portfolio Progress....

I have decided to use this image of the wall frames as my main navigatation page to my different works. It is linked into the game concept I am working on as originally it was going to be used later on in the portfolio just showing concept work. Now it is the main page, each frame will have different works in them, examples like:
Frame 1 = The Dawning concept work
Frame 2 = The Dawning Finished Concepts
Frame 3 = 3D work
etc

Everytime you click on a frame it will bring up another frame which will contain the first image of that set. Along the side will be smaller frame with the other images. Click on them to send that image to the main frame to view larger.

PDP

Finally my PDP is up to date, not finished as such but it is all organised now in the parts instead of scattered in folders. Had to do a bit of back logging but I am happy with it for now.

InDesign progress...

I have been learning a lot from Adobe InDesign today and have learnt some useful tricks. I have learnt how to make buttons and like them to other pages and also how to create a rollover effect. So with this I can use my wall frame image by adding the rollover effect to bring up the images in a larger space. This is mostly done with learning how to use 'States' action box and asigning behaviours to a 'HotSpot' button to activate a hidden layer which would be the larger image. What I am wanting then is to click on the larger image to return to hide the image again. Hopefully this will work.



-Image above of my practice with buttons and rollover elements-

Carbonmade

I am not happy with using Carbonmade for my portfolio. I have seen others peoples who use iPortfolio or something on there MACS, but because I am a windows user I can not use it. It is very limiting and extremely dull to look at. I have tryied looking for other online sites but it is very difficult to find any. I have not idea where to start when it comes to building a site and I want my portfolio to really stand out and look great. So, I have decided to kick out Carbonmade and investigate an offline portfolio using other software like Adobe product.

Inspiration: Claude Monet

Claude Monet painted a series of pictures of his impressions of London. At that time London was a smokier place than it is today because people burned coal for heat. The sky was generally dark with pollution, and Monet recorded that in his paintings.



This painting of London gave me an Idea for an image which I completed in 4hours or so using the variations of the colour palette Monet used here. I tried to retain a connection with this image by keeping this sense of emptiness which is only filled by a large shadowy object. It is also very still and calm considering what it is portraying. It has not beginning nor end, what i mean by this is Monets painting could be the beginning of a story or the end, almost a perfect setting which can create complete narrative from a single scene. This is what I have tried to take into my own piece inspired by this.


-Crop of Larger image-

Adobe InDesign CS3

Today I am going to learn the basics of InDesign so I can get started on my Interactive PDF. As always opening up a new program seems to be very confusing... at the moment I dont even know how to add an image to my template, so, hopefully by the end of the day I should be able to add images, make buttons and link pages together.

INTERACTIVE PDF

I have been thinking about creatng a PDF for my work with some interactive elements to it. I have never done this before and have no idea where to begin. With the software I have, I am going to learn some basic Interactive elements on Adobe InDesign which can be exporte as an Interactive PDF. I believe this will be much easier to do than going back to Flash at this point in time.

Up to now

At this moment in time I have been finishing off other concepts which I have been playing around with which I believe as benifiting my over all portfolio. It has taken alot of my time but I have really enjoyed being able to see my skills evolve over the course of the past few weeks and it had driven me to do more and more.

My original idea of having my portfolio play out as the introduction would has become alot more difficult then I thought. Given the time we have had and seeing it past by alot faster then I would of thought, it is unlikely I will be able to achieve this. Flash is becoming alot more complex and difficult. This is one program I plan to learn alot more of over the summer term so I can use it alot more surfisantly for the 3rd year. So now, I will be uploading my portfolio on to an online portfolio site.

One issue here that is holding me back if the lack of online portfolio sites which are free and simple to use. If I had this idea from the start I would of been able to have the money and subscribe to a certain site and learn the basics, but even HTML coding is confusing to me and I know 'coding' is the next step for me to learn for other programs aswell. So now, I have been using a site known as Carbonmade which allows for a very simple, easy to use interface for uploading a portfolio of work. Only, I find the simplistic design very inkeeping with my game concept.

Inspiration: Kris Kuksi

I have never seen this artist before and I am complete amazed by his work. I have always had a fancy for art which is considered startling and horrorific. I am not sure how this will directly inspire my current work but I am sure it will at some point, Specially for idea for creature design or a nest environment? I am not sure but the work is fantastic.

Going against my learning agreement

I have been doing alot of thinking about my work recently and how it is I am presenting it. Up to now I have just been continuing with my work, designing and developing ideas but not knowing how to present them. When looking back over my learning agreement, I can see that I will be going againest what I said. I planned to show off the introduction to the game, only, now reading it and looking at what I am supposed to be doing, I can see I am in the completely wrong place and need to get it sorted. As I want to show myself as a concept artist, I can afford to focus on story boards when it will be time consuming and I can show enironments which would be seen at the beginning of the game, but I dont need to explain it.

I will be sure to mention this in my conclusion and summery of this term and why I thought I had to change my way of progression. I believe it to be for the best and this way I will be able to show off my potentional without being held back by keeping inline with the story boards. I wouls much rather use the larger concepts I have done than show the lack of storyboards I have.

Horse Concept

One idea I have been playing around with is putting in something which symbolises Fox Hunting. As the player would be controlling the fox, it forces them the play and survive in an event which is reality.

What I find so appealing about this, purely in a game concept way, is the visual image of a larger statue like creature, just perfectly still. The polluted horse has a growth on its back which is the symbolise the rider. These creatures would be scattered around and jus watching. Watching for the player to come into sight where then the horse like creature would call out, summoning a larger pack of polluted creature. These would represent the hounds used in fox hunting.
I believe this would be a great creature enemy for the game which would make the player think before acting, how would I get by this guy? what would I do if I am seen?

Luckly I have study horse anatomy before when I was younger for A levels and I still remember the best ways the draw them.

Inspiration: Jacek Yerka

I feel so lucky to have found this artist as I absolutely adore his work. Having played Machinarium, the art style really got my attention and Yerka style of art has some similarities to it, specially in his environment images.

What I like about these images in particular is that I can relate them to my idea for the introduction to the game. Focusing dramtic unusal changes inside a place which we feel is comforting to us. I am really drawn to the images above and below of the bathrooms. The top image more so because of its connection with natural elements. I love the idea of plant life from a pond or lake growing inside the bathroom and because the house I am using also has nature growing inside it, it fits perfectly and a good source of inspiration.

Creature Designs: Peacock

I had an idea today for an unlikely animal creature design which I can think of any other game having it. Watching 'QI' on Dave, they had a question on the Peacock and I just had to design a creature around this animal. One of the most unlikely for a design as it is not usually associated with anything 'evil' or 'blood thirsty', so, I got pen to paper on had a few quick sketchs.

__image__

After a few more designs I will create a high quality concept in photoshop to add to my portfolio.

Helpful Site

http://www.wonderhowto.com/
I have been using this site a few time to help with problems or questions about idnt programs like Zbrush and Maya.

Fox study

It is hard to find stuff about foxes which isnt seeing them as pests or sites on how to kill them. Even looking for the anatomy of the fox is difficult. What I have been reliant on is its close relationship to a dogs anatomy and how they move and their stance. I did manage to find this image of a foxes skeleton in frame by frame movement. Strange by highly help full with my fox drawings.

Art of Howl's Moving Castle

I have recently had my birthday and my friend got my The Art of Howl's Moving Castle which is one of my favourite movies. As I mentions before about collecting Concept books, this is something very special. It is so refreshing to see the idea looking so clean and naked on the pages and knowing that they will become such great film. I will be using this book for ideas on how to set out a concept sheet etc.

Fox and Creature Concepts

Even though I had choosen to concentrate on the environments of my game concept, I have done a few of the creature designs that would appear in the game. Also, I wanted to look more at the anatomy of the Fox and practice my drawing skills of this animal. So I will put up the images in another post that I have manage to do in my time away from environments. I will explain how the creature would act, move and why they look they way they do.