So after completing a little further image research and creating a collection of different usable gradients based of photographs of different environments and lighting, I felt confident enough to move onto working on my colour studies. I was previously shown a technique I could use by one of my fellow students who has spoken to my tutor Nigel about how to go about creating these studies. The idea was to grab one of the previous value studies we had produced for this Art Test and then over lay one of the gradients on top of our chosen thumbnail. This would allow us to pick out colours from the gradients we created to add different lighting to a final pieces we had to produce to help create a image that had more feeling and a scenic setting to it.
Baring this in mind I picked out a mixture of the different gradients and value studies I had completed and mashed them together, making sure it was thinking about the lighting and composition of the image. I also make sure I picked a variety of different lighting so that I could have a few images based at night and in the day. Below are the five different colour studies that I completed. Overall I think that my candidates for the three final designs are the top left thumbnail, the middle right thumbnail and the top right thumbnail. This way I will have a variety of location and and lighting in my scenes and this will hopefully allow me to create far more visually interesting final pieces.
Once I had moved away from my value studies and had done a little bit of image research to help me feel inspired for citadel I would be designing, I started to think about what I would have to do to create my colour studies. I knew that they were going to be based off of the value studies I had completed recently but as I want so keen on these thumbnail designs I knew I had to think of a way to make then far more interesting and creative when I added colour. There was also something else I knew I had to bare in mind whilst creating these pieces and that is that a big chunk of this Art Test revolves around the feel and mood that the final pieces captures and also having to consider factors such as what time of year or day the 'screenshot' is from.
I knew that light, composition and mood of the final pieces were all really important things that I had to to include in the design process so I had to make sure that I had variety in each image which meant including a different time of day and possibly season to make each environment stand out and not look to similar to the last. I was just about ready to start working on my colour studies when one of my fellow students, Grace, showed me a technique that our tutor had showed her in one of her lessons. It was a technique we could use to help us breakdown and understand the colours used in a scene and a way to get a far more interesting colour palette to work from. Basically the idea was that you grabbed a photo of google images with interesting lighting or colour and then made a gradient of it. This was done by using the gradient tool in Photoshop and then fiddling around with the colour wheel and sliders provided to match up the colours with the ones in the photo you had selected. I have to say that I actually really enjoyed doing this process as I was allowed to take a break from working in a rough style and do something detailed and accurate.
Below are examples of the different gradients I used whilst using photographs of different lighting and environments for reference. Now that the gradient studies have been produce I can move onto creating a few colour studies using these new colour palettes to help created different moods for each image.
I am now at the stage of the Art Test where I should starting to focus on creating my colour studies by working off of the value studies and thumbnails that I had created previously but I ended up coming to a little bit of a creative stand still. I knew exactly what was being asked off me for this next stage of the project but my work had seemed to have lost any design inspiration that I had thought of in the beginning of the process. The really rough value studies I ha produced didn't give a clear idea of what sort of environment I wanted to create as of my studies made the city I was designing look dull and moody where I actually wanted it to be far more colourful and vibrant. This was beginning to irritate me and I knew I needed to get a bit of inspiration back so I decided to do some brief image research into different cities layouts and architecture to hopefully help bring something more to my design ideas before I had to create my three final pieces.
I knew exactly what type of design and setting I wanted to produce for the Fable inspired citadel and that was one which was located on a large sea cliff that lead down to harbours and beaches where the cities main trade took place. As this is the type of environment I was aiming to recreate I started to scroll through google images to see what sort of photos I could find of this type of scene. After a lot of scrolling I stumbled across an image of a small town that was crammed onto the side of a tall steep cliff face, buildings nearly toppling over the edge. This nearly mirrored the type of environment design I had in mine so I followed a trail of links to find out what the name of this place was and try to see more photos of it. I soon found out the town was called Bonifacio and was located in Corsica which is small island just off of Italy and is in the Corse-du-Sud department of France. Below is a mood board of the town and it's fantastic coast line and structure. I found these photos really inspiring as it is such a beautiful place with really lovely views and layout and I think that looking at this images will help me picture how I want to layout my final designs and get a better idea of perspective for this type of environment.
After talking to my tutor recently about the technique I had been using previously, which consist of a cartoon style and bold outlines, he and I discussed what I would need to change it to be able to create rougher and sketchier value studies. This was needed to be done so that I would be able to get more ideas from just one image and come up with more creative designs and hopefully spend less time stressing over my pieces and trying to make them look perfect. Previously I created four value studies trying to stick to the technique that my tutor Nigel taught me which all seemed to turn out okay although I spent more time on them then I should of.
Baring this in mind I decided to produce eight more value studies, trying to keep the style used in the previous four but this time working on how quickly I drew them out. I made sure to work quickly when producing these value studies so I made sure that I only took 5 minutes on each one before moving onto the next panel and then not going back to edit them as I really wanted to keep these sketches as rough and imperfect as my Tutor had suggested. Honestly I am not to keen on how they turned out or look stylistically but I stuck to what my tutor told me to do and now I am can onto the next stage of the process which is colour studies.
Re thinking my designs and starting with the value studies
Once I had completed my sixteen thumbnail sketches, I knew that it was time to move onto my value studies but I was struggling to understand what they actually consisted of. I knew they were design images which shows the lighting of a scene but I wasn't too sure how detailed they were meant to be. Were they simply supposed to be made up of block colours or something more detailed with a larger amount of shading? As I didn't want to start them and end up doing the wrong thing, I thought it would be best to ask my tutor Nigel about it as he was the one supervising all the 2D Art Tests.
I manages to chat to him during one of our most recent classes and showed him what I had been working on so far and that I was thinking about moving onto my value studies. He immediately explained to me why I have probably been struggling and this was because my thumbnail designs were just far too detailed. They are meant to be quick, rough and loosely drawn sketches which give a very brief example of what you are trying to portray in a scene. None of them are meant to be highly polished as they are only a starting concept and artists only add detailed when it comes to a final design or painting. For me, the thumbnails I did were very rough as they were each done in five minutes and drawn straight onto Photoshop using a tablet which to be honest, I really didn't enjoy doing as I am very used to doing hand draw designs and taking my time on pieces, making sure that they line art is correct. I had even decided to re do my thumbnails with neater line work so that they looked far more appealing and so I would feel more comfortable with creating the three final pieces a the end of the process (an example of the neater thumbnail sketch can been seen on the first panel of the second image below.) I has also been sketching out a house in Fables art style, which can be seen in the image below, so that I could improve my drawings and keep the style following through my designs.
Unfortunately Nigel told me to shoot down my preferred art style for this Art Test, which meant losing the time I spend on my work and the use of line art, so that I could focus on getting the thumbnails done quickly and roughly as they aren't supposed to be highly detailed designs that we spend a lot of time on. This proposition immediately made me feel worried as not only would I be working on environment art which I know isn't one of my strong points but now I would have to completely change my art style and technique to something that I am not to comfortable of knowledgeable about. Nigel gave me a gentle push and told me to start working on my value studies in class so that he would be able to see them and see if I was going down the right path. After drawing out a brief study which can seen in the second panel of the image below, I was soon told that it still wasn't what I was supposed to be producing and I should be far more lose and rough with my design work. He drew out a quick example of what my value studies should be looking like and that is what I needed to aim for. It was very rough and lacking in detail but he explained that it is like that so that you can pick out shapes that are very exaggerated and obviously there. This way you will get far more design ideas out of just one concept.
After I saw Nigel sketch and he showed me what brushes I could use after a little tweaking in Photoshop I began working on my value studies which are the six final images which can be seen in the image below. To be honest I only really like one of them which is the second one on the right hand side but apart from that one I think they look a little stodgy. Although Nigel said they are a lot better than what I had been doing before so it seems that this is the style I will have to continue to use when I move onto my colour studies. I will hopefully be able to use the advice my tutor gave me and make sure they remain quick and rough so that I don't spend too much time on each one.
After my most recent session where I received feedback from my tutors, I started to focus and push forward with the more artistic side of the Art Test. I could have done a much larger amount of research into the subject of environments and districts but as I was starting to fall behind a little when it came to work load, I decided to press on. I moved away from research into Fable and starting thinking about my thumbnail designs, where is the citadel located? What season will be depicted? What is the layout of the city? These where all things that I needed to consider as I sketched out my concepts as thinking about the location was a big part of the test.
I knew to keep my work flow going and the quicken my drawing speed, I was going to use my tutor Nigel's technique of taking 5 minutes on each sketch, so that I don't spend far too much time on one and neglect the others. Whilst I was thinking about my thumbnails designs, I was also considering that fact that I am working on an area which I am not particularly used to and that I should keep this theme going. I was originally planning to hand draw all of my thumbnails in a sketch book which is what I am comfortable with but for this Art Test, as I was testing myself already, I thought I should try drawing them digitally with my tablet instead. Using this medium mixed with Nigel's technique, helped my to produce sixteen quick designs which can be seen below.
Over all I am not too keen on how these turned out which may be due to the fact that I am used to drawing concepts with pencil to paper or the fact that environments are not my strong point but I do have something to work with here so I am now able to move onto my value and colour studies and keep progressing with the project.
Moving away from research
Recently we had a fairly simple session where we were allowed to work on our Art Test in class and also receive any feedback from our fellow students or our tutors, George and Nigel. As I had been ill for the past five days, I had fallen behind on a bit of my work and had missed out on similar sessions so I wanted to take this chance to be able to talk to my tutors about my progress and to make sure I was on the right track. I got the opportunity to talk to my tutor Nigel, who specialise in 2D artwork, which is relevant to the Art Test I am doing so I am pleased that I managed to grab him for a few minutes.
I was able to show him my blog so that he could see what I had been working on over the past week and explained where I was planning to go from there. He immediately told me that I had done plenty of research and did not need to expand in this area, even though I did want to look up some image inspiration for different fractions but he said this wasn't necessary so that saved me doing some extra work which, in the end, would have been time wasting. He said the most important thing for me to do now is to move onto my thumbnails otherwise I would end up getting swept up in the research side of things and neglect the actual art side of the test. I was then able to ask him a few questions about the thumbnails we needed to produce and whether he had any techniques for drawing them. He told me that I should draw out nine boxes in rows of three and then spend five minutes drawing out a environment concept in each one, timing myself as I went along. Once I had completed this the first time, I was to repeat the process again and again, going over the same sketches each time and adding more detail every time I did. This way I would end up with nine detailed looking designs which I had spent a good amount of time on.
I really like the sound of this technique as I think it would help me to push myself to work a little quicker and rougher so that I am not spending unnecessarily long on just one thumbnail, giving it to much detail on the first go. I think I will start off by trying this method on paper first and then completing a further nine thumbnails on Photoshop so that I have used a mixture of methods and, hopefully, will end up with some different results.
Before I attempted to sketch out any thumbnails designs I knew I should start off by considering the location and layout of the Citadel we were supposed to design for this Art Test. When I was reading through the brief I noticed in the first paragraph that it said 'The hub is a citadel that sprawls from deep within the earth to the clouds above'. This means that different sections of the city could be located in different environments such as in the mountains or in underground caves. This also means we will have to be able to draw these different areas if we want to give variety to our designs. Baring this in mind I decided to do a little image research into a variety of environments found on earth so that I would be able to have references and inspiration when I started drawing out my concept art.
Below is a collage of different photographs that I really liked and will hopefully come in handy if I need some inspiration for colour, lighting or just something to draw later on in the process.
Environment design Once I had a looked at some unrelated 2D environment art pieces for inspiration for lighting and composition in my designs, I moves onto looking into the specific area we were focusing on for the Concept Pre-Visualisation Art Test. I began to research into the different environments that have been featured throughout the series of Fable games to make sure that I got a broad range of designs and concept to work off of. So I started off at the beginning of the process, finding images of hand drawn environment concept pieces for Fable. After scrolling through Google images I found a collection of sketches that I knew were going to help me capture the feel of what the buildings were like throughout the game so I chucked them into a mood board, as seen bellow.
It was really nice to find these initial concept art sketches as it gives you a very clear example of what the style of the game and environments are from earlier on in the process. It was really good to find some clear and detailed images of the different homes and shops found in Fable as the buildings will essentially be the building blocks of the concept art I will be making. Structures such as buildings help bulk up an environment and change it into a different area, so for example having one building shows that its a remote, quiet area but having 5 - 10 shows a snapshot of possibly a large town or city.
The first thing thing that stood out to me when I looked at these sketches was the styling used and the perspective of the buildings drawn. Everything about them fits snugly into the cartoonist unrealistic style that Fable possesses, making the buildings look like they almost have life of their own. The structures all look very top heavy and chunky but none of them are made up of straight lines of perfect symmetry. Each building looks a tad wonky, as if it is slightly leaning over to the side which could be showing an example of how older structure warp and shift in time but I believe it is focusing more on the cartoonish style so this aspect is more to give the buildings more character than to do with anything logical. This is a good news to me as it means that means that my lines and perspective don't have to be deadly perfect which is something I usually struggle with when drawing structures but I must still consider things like sizing and how the buildings is going to work with the objects around it. These are really nice sketches to work with for inspiration and I think they will really help me to capture Fable's art style and feel.
Once I had done some image research into 2D environment concept art I soon moved into looking at what the environments actually looked like in game and how they translated from sketch to a 3D model. I made sure to look at levels from each of the different games in the series to make sure I was getting a full variety of the different designs used. I really loved looking at the different in game snap shots as their is a some really beautiful uses of lighting used throughout the game which gives each environment a different warm feeling. I chose a selection of my favourite environments and made up a mood board which can be seen in the image below. Even though this Art Test is 2D based and shouldn't be focused on any 3D concepts, these images were really helpful to look at they have given me a lot of inspiration for examples of colour and composition that have been used in the different areas of Fable which will hopefully translate in my three final pieces of concept art.
I also decided it would be a good idea to see some video footage of the environments when in game as it would help me see another aspect to the designs instead of just 2D image inspiration. After a little browsing I managed to find a few videos on exactly the sort of thing I was looking for which were really helpful to watch. Again these were really helpful to look our for a clearer idea of the different composition and layout each area had which will hopefully translate into the work I complete. The videos I found and watched for research, I have posted below.
Now that I have done a fair bit of research into the 'Fable' series of games and have also looked into different types of 2D environment concept art for inspiration on lighting and composition I believe i ma ready to move onto different areas of the brief. One of these will be looking into the possible different fractions could be included in the game and what influence they would have on the environment which is something that is mentioned on the brief that we should look into. Secondly I could look at some photography to do with the different seasons to branch out my options of different setting in my concept art along with what time of the day it is set it which will included look at photography of night and day. This will also help my get the right lighting and feel for the scene depending on what I am trying to create. Accompanied by this image research I can start off completing my thumbnail sketches so I can really get the ball rolling with the designing part of the Art Test.
Pieces of concept art, speed paintings and tutorials.
Now that I knew what Art Test I was going to be focusing on for the next three weeks of the project I decided that It would be important for me to do some research into 2D environment concept art in general. This was mainly to get myself into the mindset of creating this particular type of artwork as it is very different from drawing character designs. I knew I would have to flush the craving to draw people out of my system for a little while so that I would be able to focus on the project I have been set. Initially to kick start my research I started off by looking back over my Deviant Art favourites page to find environment designs that I had liked and saved in the past. I had quite a collection of images which meant a lot of scrolling but below are two mood boards with a selection of some of my favourites designs.
Usually for me I don't really go for just one particular theme of environment design so for example sci-fi or fantasy. I like a wide range of art styles and concepts, I think it all really depends on how talented the artist and what their taste for lighting and colour is in their pieces. I will admit that my preferred art style usually is Anime, something with a element of a cartoon style thrown in or a unrealistic drawing which can be seen in the images below. This is why I am quite excited about drawing Fable concept art as I think their designs are almost a mixture of those three things I like to see in artwork.
After collecting together examples of environment concept art I liked I started thinking about what I was going to do for this Art Test and how was I going to improve in this area. I know that this is an area that I will struggle in and will have to work on to get to a good enough level so I thought about looking up whether there were any tutorials for people who are in my position. Being told something step by step is is a good way to learn to learn something new so I went on YouTube to see what sort of selection they had. Unforutantly there wasn't a vast array of different tutorial videos so I just picked out the ones that seemed most useful and went through the artists work piece by piece. There were however a large amount of speed painting videos for me to look at so I choose a few that I believed would be relevant for this project. All the videos I have looked at for research are below.
Now that I have researched into a variety of different 2D environment concept art pieces I can finally start to narrow it down and focus on the style and designs used in the Fable series.
The Concept Pre-Visualisation Art Test
During the first week of the new project we were told that we needed to know what Art Test we were going to be choosing and to start completing the necessary research we needed. At that moment of time I was still very confused and stuck about which test I actually wanted to complete for this part of the project. It was in-between going with something I felt more confident with completing as I am very used to drawing character designs, or trying to go for something that would be more of a challenge for me and not guaranteed that I would do to well on. As I was very in-between the two choices I decided that I needed to ask my tutors what they thought would be the best plan of action for me instead of choosing something and then realising that it was the wrong one for me to do. I had a quick talk with my tutor George about the two 2D concept art options I was in-between doing and asked what his opinion was on which one I should complete.
He instantly told me that I should do the Concept Pre-Visualisation Art Test as it would be a opportunity for me to try and draw something different instead of just character design and would help to expand my artistic capabilities. I explained to him that I was worried that my environment designs wouldn't quite be up to scratch as I am not very used to drawing that sort of thing but he quickly explained that the art wasn't the important thing in this project, its the research. As long as I complete a large amount of research and then the others elements that the Art Test is made up of them I shouldn't have a problem with this project. Speaking to my tutor helped clarify to me which Art Test I should focus on for the first three weeks of the project. I think he was completely right when he said I should try something different as my art work doesn't have a large amount of variety and I know that that is something I need to work on in the future.
Overall I am more than happy to begin working on this project as it will be something a little different for me to work on and I would like to see how much I can push myself and if I make any improvements in the process. The next stage for me now is to do more research into the game Fable, especially to do with the environments and buildings included in the game to make sure I heading down the right path when it comes to actually drawing out my designs.
Looking at the game 'Fable' The second Art Test I decided to look into was the Concept Pre-Visualisation Test. The title is a little misleading so what the brief actually entails is creating a citadel that could be found in the any of the series of games, 'Fable'. The citadel will be where the four different fractions or the world meet to socialise, manufacture and trade. This will be done by creating 2D environment art of the city, designing such things as docks, religious or commercial sectors, forges and living quarters. This all has to be done by using the art style of the game Fable and much consider things such as the time of day and what the season will be. All of this also has the capture the mood and feel of the lived environments. So this brief is a little more lenient than the other Art Test I looked at but there is still a large amount to be done to actually pass it.
The whole idea of this test is to create artwork that fits in with a already existing and well known style which is something that concept artists would have to learn to do when joining a company. Although in this test we are allowed to add our own personal flare to our pieces to make is a little more personal but I have still have no clue how I would achieve that. To be honest this is the Art Test out of the two I picked which I am feeling less confident about as I don't have a lot of experience with drawing environments of any kind . Completing this test would be a new challenge for me to try and over come, which is a little worrying but also important for me to keep in mind that it would be a great opportunity to expand my skill set and learn some new artistic techniques instead of just sticking to character design. I did rather like the sound of the brief so I decided to do a little research into the game we would be focusing on as I have heard a lot about it but never had the chance to play it.
FABLE
The original Fable is a single player role playing, open world and action video game that was released on the 14th of September 2004. It was released on various platforms such as Xbox, Xbox 360, Windows PC ans Mac OS X and was the top selling game September 2004, selling more than two million units by 2007. The original game was developed 'Big Blue Box' with a group of more than 150 people working on the project but as the games popularity increased and new games in the series were released, 'Lionhead Studios' took over development for the games.
In Fable you play in a third person perspective and take control on the main character, called 'The hero of the Oakvale' who can interact with objects, the people you bump into in your travels and any dangerous foes that cross your path. Similar to the style of many other role playing games such as 'World of warcraft' or 'Dragon Age Origins', your goal is to complete all the quests and missions you have to be able to continue the story line and advance in the game. As well as following the main story there are many side quests for the player to pursue so they can discover the world they live in and meet new people, ultimately building up your characters reputation and skill. Each quest completion gives the character a sum of gold which the player can use to go and buy new weapons or items to use during the game which can effect how certain characters will react to the hero. But weapons aren't your only choice, the hero can also learn how to use spells to help ward off foes and build their strength. There are many different personalised option for the player to choose to help make the story more personal to them and feel like they are effecting the story.
Fable also have a few interesting elements to it's gameplay which isn't normally found in other role playing games. For example you can change throughout playing the game and completing certain actions, what type of person you want to hero to be. Doing good deeds will increase the hero's likeability and will push you more towards 'positive alignment' but, doing bad deeds will turn your the character into more of a villain, edging towards 'negative alignment'. There are also elements such as clothing and habits which can change the hero's persona or appearance. If you eat too much then the character will gain weight or if you wear a certain piece of clothing it can make you look more attractive but if you were darker clothing then you are more likely to appear more frightening.
Below is a collage of screenshots from the original game and two YouTube videos. One is of the trailer for the game and the second is the first 10 minutes of gameplay from Fable.
Due to the popularity of the original game, several other additions were created to add to the series, each one building onto the iconic world, plot and style of Fable. The Fable series has a very recognisable art style compared to many other role playing games that have been produced which mainly stick to looking more realistic, for example 'Dragon Age' or 'Skyrim'. This game however has a more distinct and cartoon looking art style which manages to make the game appeal to a different range of people who may be looking for something a little different from your typical quest game. With unrealistic, colourful and soft designs it looks like the game has been aimed at children but with elements such as sex and violence, all the games in the Fable series has received a 16+ age rating which is clearly aiming the game at an older audience. The original game in the series sticks to a very soft colour palette and environment style, keeping everything airy and fresh but as more games were produced, players were introduced to darker looking levels to explore, adding a new element to the game to make a little different from the first.
Everything perfectly falls in place with the cartoon theme in this game. Apart from it's creative environments designs there are a wide array of different stylised characters for the player to interact and talk to who help to build to the area the player is exploring. An example of Fable character concept art can be seen in the first image below. Although there a are a large amount of elements that build up the world of Fable, the area that the Art Test is focusing on is the environment designs. Although there are many different cities, towns and small areas out side the populated areas that the player will discover throughout the game to the stylised cartoon theme that Fable possesses and help bring the game to life. An example of 2D piece of Fable environment concept art can be seen in the second image below.
Now that I have done more research into the game to actually find out more about it's game play and stylised art style, I am less cautious about choosing the Concept Pre-Visualisation Art Test as there is something very appealing and almost comical about the environments and character designs used in Fable which has managed to peak my interest and possibly steer me more towards completing this test. I am actually excited about the idea of doing some 2D artwork that I know is going to have a cartoon style to it, which is similar to the art work I do already. The only thing that is really holding me back at the moment is that the fact that I am not very experienced with drawing or designing environments and buildings so this would be a big challenge for me to over come. I am just worried that the work I will produce for the test just won't be up to scratch and it will affect my overall grade which is making me lean towards the 2D character concept Art Test as it is something I feel more comfortable doing.
However if I do decide to choose this Art Test then I will do a larger amount of research into each of the games in the series. Also I will spend a good amount of time to find reference images and closely look at the environment/building design to make sure I start off on the right track.
Looking at the game 'Speedball' and '2K Games'
Before I settle on which Art Test I want to focus on for the next three weeks I decided to do a little research into each of the given games that the two briefs cover to help me choose between the options available and finalise my decision. I want to make sure I am choosing the right one as I would hate to start working on one and then realising that I had made the wrong choice so hopefully doing the research will help to guide my choice. The fist Art Test I decided to focus my attention on is the Character concept art one as at the moment it is the test that is most suited to my artistic abilities. I started off the research process by looking into the unfamiliar video game 'Speedball' which the whole brief focuses around. I hadn't heard of the game before so I was curious to have a look at it and see what its style, play through and graphics were like.
SPEEDBALL
Speedball is a long running sports/action video game which rewards players for violent play and scoring goals. The games play style is influenced heavily by popular sports such as handball and ice hockey which gives the player a little bit of familiarity to activities that already exist instead of getting the grips with a whole new sport. There have been several games in the series, many of them reusing a replica of the original 2D pixel art game produced in 1988 by 'The Bitmap brothers' and then tweaking the game so it will play on different platforms. The most recent version of the game was released in 2011 and was re done so that it could be played on a android phone or tablet. In between the tweaking of the original game there was also a 3D version of the game released in 2011, Speedball Tournament, in order to try and re vamp the game and introduce it to a new audience.
There isn't really a story in the original game, it simply focuses on the game play of the made up sport. Speedball is a hand ball game that is played by two teams on court with a goal at each end of it. Scattered around the play area are certain things that can effect a teams gameplay for example, power ups and multipliers which are used to improve the teams skill and give them a better chance at scoring a goal and winning the match. Similar the the gameplay found in the popular series called, 'Fifa', a football based video game, the player only has control over one player on a team at any one time and can then switch when the ball has been thrown. The game is available to play against NPC or another player.
Bellow is a collage of collected screenshots from the range of different Speedball games. Also there are three videos below that which show the game play of three of the different games which gives you a good understanding of the graphics and the sport involved.
All of the games style stay very consistent throughout the series, sticking with the cuperpunk sci-fi theme used in the original Speedball. This style covers every aspect of the game, environments, interface and character design. The players on each of the available teams are made up of either humans in powerful futuristic armour or deadly cyborgs which will make for really interesting character concepts and designs.
Once I had completed this basic research and got to see the gameplay and art style of all the different Speedball games, I immediately took a disliking to it, especially the moderner re do of it. They all seemed very bland and dull which caused the game to lose a large amount of the 'action' is was supposed to contain for me. I actually preferred the older 2D character designs as they seemed to have far more personality to them compared to their 3D counterparts. Below is an example of the interface and designs used in the second version of Speedball.
This disappointing factor has managed to push me away a little from the idea of completing this Art Test but I do know that in the games industry you will be a given a project that you may absolutely hate and despise having to do but you have to complete it because it is your job as the concept artists. I am keeping this thought in mind so that I don't disregard this test completely just because of the art style. There is one aspect that is keeping my interested in this test and maybe it's saving grace and that is that fact that in the brief it says that the company 2K games has acquired the rights to the game. This means that the style could change rather differently when being produced by this company or barely at all.
2K GAMES
2K Games is a american based game developer and producer and was founded on January the 25th, 2005. They specialise in 3D computer and video games with a large amount of their most popular production coming later in the companies time line. Two of their most popular separate series of games are 'Borderlands', which was nominated for a BAFTA award, and 'Bio shock'.
Each of these two games have a rather dark feel to them with is mainly down to their colour palette. plot and the art style used which manages to create a grungy feel to the characters but also gives them a lot of depth. As the Character Concept Art Test brief says, 2K games has taken over the Speedball series which means that they can have their own stylised influenced over the game and push it in a completely new directions if they want to. This leaves open a lot of different design ideas and concepts that could be created keeping this companies style in mind.
There are key areas of the game that MUST stay the same in order to keep a running theme in the series, so you wouldn't be able to go completely mad and reinvent the game to suit your own style. Areas of the game that must remain the same are the game play and sci-fi cyberpunk theme plus the environments, such as the court, must represent something of the original game other with the sport will be completely ruined and wont function properly. Although that doesn't mean that the art style can't be tweaked a little to make the game look more interesting and stylised compared to how bland it was beforehand. So for example, you could be able to re design the characters in the style of one of 2K Games to give the Speedball the companies flair. Baring this in mind, I decided to do some image research into the two most popular games produced by company to see what sort of designs would be possible to do and if they would fit in with brief.
Below are images of the front covers of the games 'Borderlands' and 'Bioshock' along with a few bits of their concept art.
Looking at these different pieces of concept art has given me a good idea of what sort of style I could work with when creating the character designs, especially the pieces that have cybernetic designs in them. I really warmed to the style of Borderlands the most which was mainly because of its dark outlines, which makes the characters look like a 2D digital drawing and the expressive facial designs. Plus I think I could get some good designs out of using this sort of style for Speedball. It would give it a different creative edge and possibly make it more exciting.
Now that I have looked into the Character Concept Art Test I can move onto researching into the Concept Pre-Visualisation Test and looking into the suggested game, 'Fable'. This is so that I can make sure I have gone over both tests properly before I pick out the one which I would like to have a go at.
Recently and over the winter break I had been suffering from a bit of a art block which has been rather irritating as I really wanted to get some good work done. So instead I decided to focus on playing the new game I got at Christmas, partly for game research purposes but also because it had been recommend to me time and time again and looked fantastic. The game was Dragon Age Origins, the first in a series of 3 fantasy role playing games developed by Bioware and published by Electronic arts. As I haven't played very many games compared to other students of my course I thought it would be important for me to try out new games to get more knowledge on the subject and expand my library.
After a few hours of playing the game I was instantly hooked. Its game play and art style is very similar to that of the more recent video game Skyrim which I have previously played and enjoyed. Although I had never played a game which had a role playing theme so this was a new experience for me and I have to say that I really enjoyed this element as it made the character you play as feel very personal as you can choose (from a list of options) of what you want them to say. Another element that made the character feel this way was that you were able to customise and edit the avatar at the beginning of the game, changing their appearance such as hair style, facial structure, eye colour ect. This allowed an element of personalisation to the game and made you curious to see how 'your' characters story would grow.
As the game progressed I became more attached to the character as I felt she had a bit of personal flair to her. Finally, with new found inspiration I was able to get a drawing down and turn it into a finished piece which I am rather happy with, Below is the drawing of my Dragon Age Origins character called Elika Cousland.
Character Concept Art Test I thought I would start by looking at the Art Test that I immediately warmed to and felt most comfortable with when I read the description of what needed to be completed. Drawing characters, whether they are my own design or just fan art, is something that I enjoy to do and end up drawing frequently so it is an area I feel confident in. It is also the area that I would like to go into in the industry in the future. Although I wouldn't just be breezing by with this test and it will be a way to test my skills due to the fact that my art style is very stylised and cartoony and the character design in the later versions of Speedball which I am certain we will be focusing on, looks realistic. I will have to challenge myself to draw characters to look more realistic to make sure my designs suit 2K games style of game.
The reason I was also interested in this Art Test is because it included elements that we were asked to produce in our previous project BA1 so I am already experienced in creating thumbnails, sketches, a character sheet and a final piece which are all elements that are included in this test. I think this makes me more confident to work on this test as than others as I know I enjoyed completing BA1 so I am sure I can have fun with this one too.
Concept Pre-VisualisationTest As well as looking at something that I knew I would be comfortable with completing, I am also considering stepping out my comfort zone and trying something a little different. The Concept Pre-Visualisation Test in a 2D environment based brief where we are asked to create three finished pieces of concept art of a city that would be found in the video game Fable. A big part of this brief includes drawing the buildings that would be found in the city and I am not very strong with perspective or designing environments but choosing this test would give me an opportunity to push myself to draw something that I usually don't and to hopefully to improve in the area.
One of the things that is pushing my to try this Art Test is the style of the game Fable. It's concept art and designs are just beautiful and have a slightly unrealistic feel to them which I really like about it. Also the brief says we are allowed to add our own creative flair which means it is far more lenient in design work than the Character Concept Art Test is which means I would be able to add a little bit of my own style to the environments.
So far I am rather fifty fifty with both of the tests and I am not too sure which one to go with. My plan of action now is to do a little research into both of the games that the Tests are based around which should be able to sway my opinion of which one I want to work on. I also believe asking my tutors for advise would be helpful to see what they think would be better suited for me this time around.
Today's sessions was a further look into BA5 as we were given a clearer
description on what the project entails. This was just a basic summary to make
sure we all understood what we were supposed to be doing and if we had any
queries about the work so far. We also received our first look at the different
Art Tests that the tutors had created which allowed us to gain a clearer
understanding of the type of work we would need to produce for this unit and
what different areas we could specify in. There are actually seven Art
Tests instead of eight which gives us less to choose from which I actually
think is a good idea as there are a couple I am interested at looking at as
possible options. Any more and I would have been spoilt for choice.
Below are the list of different Art Tests that are available for us to
choose from. Each test has a written description explaining what you should be
focusing on for your project and work will need to be submitted in hand in.
Luckily we have been given a wide variety of different areas of the games
industry to choose from so we can pick one out that we feel comfortable and
confident in completing. The follow briefs can be seen in the images below. OPTIONS TO CHOOSE FROM
3D environment art
3D character artist
Character concept artist
Environment concept artist
Concept pre-visualisation
UI designer
Games designer
From a brief look over each Art Test I am already being swayed by two of
the 2D concept art tests that are available to choose from which are the
Concept Pre-Visualisation Test and the Character Concept Artist
test. The reason for this is that I believe that this is the area I am
more suited for and have the most confidence in as I creating and drawing out
designs and concepts. I am also wary about any of the 3D options as 3D really
isn't one of my strong points as I worry that any work I produce in this area
wouldn't be strong enough to submit. But this is just a first impression at the
moment, my course of action now is to read through each options carefully to
make sure I am choosing the correct Test to work on as I would hate to have to
change my mind later on in the process.
