The beginning of Year 3

How am I feeling about my final year?


I would be lying if I said I wasn't nervous about entering my final year at NUA. It is going to be an incredibly busy year for every single third year student who are all going to be pushed to try and find their artistic potential and will be expected to be working to the best of their abilities in order to produce a fantastic research report and studio work project. It is a huge amount of pressure and stress to be dealing with over the period of a year and is surely going to have it's ups and downs but that doesn't mean I am not excited about this year either.

I have really enjoyed my previous two years at University. All of the six briefs we have been set previously were a challenge that allowed me to test my abilities and allowed me to find what my strengths were. I feel that my time at University has fully helped to prepare me for my final year and I feel confident that with a hell of a lot of hard work and motivation, I will be able to produce a final project which I will be proud of.

Moving into my third and final year of University ...

My evaluation

How I felt BA6 went overall



Below I have put what I wrote for my 500 evaluation of BA6.

For BA6 I decided to focus on the different positive and negative future situations that mankind could face through the use of character concept art. I wanted my designs to specifically focus on how the humans of earth would look in certain circumstances that could take place in around fifty to hundred years’ time. The deeper meaning behind my project is that fact that the future is something that everybody thinks about in one way or another whether it’s a trivial thought or something much more philosophical and so this means that my designs can connect to anyone who looks at them and hopefully provoke an emotional response from the viewer. Over the course of this project it was my initial goal to produce a large amount of different character designs but I then started to narrow down my thoughts and focus my attention on one type of future events that mankind really wants to strive for and one that they would want to avoid. This concept lead me to deciding to create only two final designs so that I could have characters who will be very rather different from each other and will cause completely different reactions from the viewer.

I knew that for BA6 one of my goals was to create and large amount of design work in the programme Photoshop as it is far more professional than the one I am producing work in at the moment and it is necessary to learn how to use it if I want to create design work in the games industry. Along with this element I wanted to experiment with a slightly different artist style from the one I find myself using at the moment in order to help me try and improve how I draw characters in general and get a little  more creative experimentation instead of sticking to drawing cartoon/anime inspired pieces. Overall this is the element of BA6 I am most proud of and positive about as I feel like my art style has been able to involve and grow just by trying out different some experimentation with software and artistic techniques. It has motivated to stick with using Photoshop as I am now determined to learn more about how the software works and can be enabled to create strong pieces character art. 

As for the more negative side of this project I feel disappointed in myself that I wasn’t able to improve on my time management since BA5 as this caused me not to be able to create a lot of the work that I had planned out in the early stages of my project. I think I let a large amount of negative thinking slow down my design process which is unfortunate but that doesn’t mean I cannot change this. I feel that as BA7 will be spread out over a very large amount of time I will be able to spend a few days planning out exactly what I want to do so that I will be far more prepared then I was this time around. 

Finishing off my design work

My final piece 

So after completing my clothing and colour iterations for my two future character designs I knew it was time to start thinking about the final pieces I wanted to produce. Unfortunately due to running out of time on this project I knew I was only going to be able to produce one rough design instead of two fairly polished ones like I had planned for which is really disappointing but I just had to work with what time I had. So as our project is all about the deeper meaning behind the work we have produced and how is effects the viewer I decided to choose the design that I know is going to have more of a emotional response for people which was the young flood survivor. The reason for this was yes the cybernetic girl may show a really advanced and cool future that mankind wants to head towards but I think that people also need to realise that this future may not even happen is global warming takes place and it is something that we need to focus on right now before it gets out of hand so I believed that focusing on this character as a final piece would have the best results and certainly show the link the the meaning behind my project work.  

I decided that I needed to keep working in Photoshop throughout this project and even though I am not very comfortable with the software yet I wanted to press forward with it as I know I am slowly improving with each piece I complete with it. So I decided to go to the whole hog as it were as start with actually sketching straight into Photoshop which is something that has never had very good results for me before but I wanted to give it another go this time around. Luckily, from looking at a reference for the pose I was able to create a quick sketch of my character, which I am actually pretty proud of because sometime I struggle drawing dynamic poses and then I was able to think about basic things such as where he would be and what the environment would look like around him. Admittedly building up the image's line art and them moving into colour took a very long time, longer than it probably should have because I am still getting used to the layout and tools in Photoshop but hopefully If I just keep practising with it in the future I will slowly improve. 

Usually I don't include backgrounds in my work so getting the geometry and perspective right for the building was a little difficult but I think it worked out well in the end and helped set the scene a little better. I am really disappointed that I wasn't able to add any shading, lighting effects or details on the buildings or water in this piece but I simply ran out of time by the end of so there wasn't a lot else I could do but to be fair overall I am pretty happy with it considering it is my first Photoshop piece. 

The final image can be seen below 

Running out of time

Having to get another extension on my work


So about a week ago I thought that my project was going well, I felt like I was on the right track with my work and was making some good progress but unfortunately as I got into my last week of BA6 I finally started to realise that I had fallen behind on my work yet again and I wasn't going to be able to meet my deadline which was so embarrassing to admit to myself that this has happened for a second time this term. I really didn't want to hand in a half finished project so I tried pulling two all nighters in a row to get back up to date and managed to exhaust myself and feel emotionally ill due to the amount of pressure I was forcing myself to go under in such a short amount of time which made me have a little bit of a break down. Luckily after speaking to my tutor Mark he was kind enough give me an extension just for my contextual studies work which means I am really going to have to push hard with my studio work but I may not be able to complete two final character pieces like I had hoped too at the beginning which is really disappointing and I am frustrated with myself that I has gotten to this stage again. I REALLY need to buck up my ideas for the third year and make sure that I am dedicating large amount of my time and concentration to my project work so that this kind of thing doesn't happen at as I feel like it is negatively draining me and effecting how I see myself as an artist which really isn't good.

My design process

Character clothing and clothing iterations 

So after completing my character design pages for my two future situations, picking out which sketches were my favourite and then completing more image research to give my inspiration of clothing designs and I knew it was time for me to move onto my actual drawings. I made sure before I started to draw anything  though that I had some good pose references so that I would be able to reference back to them for anatomical corrections to my work. I think that it is always important to look at different posing before drawing anything to make sure that you are getting the proportions right for the character you are creating and also so that you can give them some personality just from the he way they stand.

So I began by sketching out the young male flood survivor in pencil in my sketch book first as I knew I am not very used to drawing children for character designs so I really wanted to focus on getting the proportions right to make sure he did look like a pre pubescent teenager but also with elements added in with him being particularly skinny and also looking quite forlorn. This wasn't as much as a challenge as I thought it would be and I actually really enjoyed designing a character the didn't look pristine and perfect and had a lot of emotion to them. Once I had completed this sketch I moved onto the female cyborg who again I really liked drawing as she was able to have a much more confident pose and I could think about all the aspects of her cybernetic parts as I was drawing her. The two finished sketches that were done on paper can be seen below. 

So after I completed my two sketches in pencil I scanned them into the computer and then thought about how I was going to go about outlining them. Now usually I used a programme called Manga studio to complete all my pieces of art work with as it is what I am most comfortable using but I knew it was about high time that I moved away from this basic software and used a programme that is expected of artists to know how to use in the industry, which is Photoshop. Now I have used bits of Photoshop before so I knew my way around it but have never actually completed any final drawings in it is this was a first for me. The thing I love about Manga Studio is the fact that is had a specific line tool that allows you to draw and curve a straight line and bend it into the shape you want to you can easily create a crisp outline but I knew this tool wasn't available in Photoshop so I would have to hand draw my outline. This took me a little while to do and get used to but once I had completed my outline for the flood survivor sketch I did start getting the hang of it and overall once it was done I really liked it's more sketchy looking result. I was able to complete my second outline at a much quicker pace as I had gotten more used to the brush and tools I was using. The two outlined pieces can be seen in the photos below. 

After completing the outlines for each of my characters I thought it would be a good idea just to have a little experiment with the different colour palettes I could use for my designs. I knew that I didn't want anything to be too bright epically for my flood survivor piece so I kept my chosen colours fairly saturated and just had a play around to see what would work with what. This was very much a case of just colouring within my outlines so I really didn't struggle with this and actually just found it quite relaxing. I think at this stage by just adding a little colour the personalities and 'story' or my two characters began to become far more clear and I was pleased with the result they were showing so far. My two coloured outlined pieces can be seen below. 

The next part of the process was the bit I was really looking forward too and always enjoy doing which was the clothing iterations for my two characters. I think it is just because this part is really creative and you able to set a mood and feel from your character just from the items of clothing they wear so there is a lot to consider when design them. When I was in the process of creating these different designs I was able to look at the mood boards on futuristic and post apolitical clothing I had created a little while ago In order to get some creative inspiration and they were both really helpful to reference to when I was drawing. I found it a little tricky getting used to using the different layer in Photoshop so that I could draw the different items of clothing on top of my original art work but I got there in the end and overall I was pretty pleased with both the multiple results for each of the characters. 

So once I had completed all my different clothing designs I posted my pieces up on the Games art and design Facebook group and also sent them to my friends via messenger so that I would be able to get multiple opinions on which designs people liked the most. From this I planned to tot up the results and see which one was the most common answer and then use this design as my final one. Interestingly for both my cyborg and survivor characters the most common result for each of them was one of the designs that I didn't particularly think was the best myself. But I know in the indsutry that artists very rarely get they way with completing a design that they personally like the most and it is usually up to some else to pick so I went with this concept and stuck with the clothing design that my peers had chosen. The most popular result for my survivor was design number 5 and for the cyborg it was number 2.

I went along the lines of using the clothing designs that my peers and friends picked out and then moved quickly onto the stage of completing different colour variations of this particular design. As far as the clothing for the pair of futuristic characters went I stuck to the colour scheme which was constantly recurring in a large amount of my image research I did which was black, white and lots of different shades of grey. This colour scheme worked perfectly for both my designs as the greys on the survivor made him look quite bleak and plain which was the effect I was aiming for for him whereas on the cyborg they made her look sleek and smart so overall the results were how I wanted them to be from the beginning. After that I just fiddled around with different colours for little things such as the hair and eyes and other smaller details to make sure they completed the colours I had already picked 

and then I completed the same process of posting my designs up online and got my peers to choose which was their favourite for each character. This time around the the survivor it was colour iteration number 3 and from the cyborg it was number 2.  

Their stories 

So now that I have my two final character designs with their chosen colour scheme I knew it was time to move onto creating my final pieces but before I did that I wanted to just quickly write about the story of these two character as I feel like it really makes them who they are and define the differences between them. I have kept their back stories in mind whilst going through the creation process and they have been a big part of why I designed them how I did so I think it is important to mention it. 

Survivor 

The flood survivor is a prepubescent boy who is learning to adapt and live in his modern home town which has become severally flooded and effected by the rising sea levels. He became separated from this family when his town was devastated by the racing water and became isolated due to the government deciding to shut out the people suffering in the flooded cities due to over population in the dry land the young boy has been surviving within a commune of other refugees who all play their part in keeping the group alive. His job, due to him being small and nimble is to slip into hard to reach places and scoop out supplies for the struggling community. On one of his scouting exhibitions he picked up a nasty virus that was lurking in the stagnant water which cause him to developed a potent rash that caused him to lose his vision in his right eye. 

Traits: Timid, quiet, strong willed, determined, sensible.  

Cyborg 

The female cyborg is a young girl who is in her early twenties and lives in a large city far inland and away from the flooding. She lives a comfortable cushy life in a time where humans are now upgrading themselves with bionic parts for aesthetic purposes or to enhance their natural abilities but all of this development comes a expensive cost. As she comes from a wealthy family and is an incredibly spoilt daughter who always seems to get everything she wants she has been able to get many sophisticated cybernetic upgrades that lye low under her skin and can be seen through the transparent covered circular gaps where the electrical parts shine a strong aqua blue.   

Traits: Confident, athletic, powerful, superficial, brash, impulsive.  

Below is an example of the height difference between the two characters

Thinking about different design aspects

Focusing on clothing 

Now that I have completed my sketch pages of a variety of different characters for my two future circumstances it is time for me to move on and start drawing the full body version of the two characters I have picked to design. I have a lot of different design ideas tumbling about in my head but I knew it would be important for me to get some image research beforehand so that I can solidify my creative ideas and get some good clothing sketches down later on in the process. 

So I started off with finding some image of existing or photo manipulated pictures of clothing that have a futuristic, modern and almost sci-fi feel to them so that I would have some inspiration for my female cyborg. A lot of the image I found are actually clothes that are found on the cat walk which are always a little eccentric but I thought they would work nicely in this situation. Also one of the things I loved about some of the designs were the simple patterns on them which I am sure is something I can include in my own sketches. The second thing I looked at was the style of clothing that would be worn in a post apocalyptic environment as it is the closest I could think of to what I have envisioned my flood survivor boy to be wearing. Obviously the clothing will be a little similar to that of what the female cyborg is wearing as it is in a close time range so I must bare this in mind when I am working out design concepts. Now that I have completed this basic image research into futuristic clothing I am now able to move on and begin drawing out my character designs in full body and detail.