Further work

[b]EDIT[/b]
Added some clouds in quite quickly and I think it looks much more effective now :) I think the sky is pretty much complete now- time to start work on the branch.



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More work on my night gryphon. Forced myself to start on the background before I do any more work on the gryph, otherwise I'll never get it done.

Happy with it so far- I'm really looking forward to adding really bright highlights to make him stand out and sparkle :P

Quick pieces

Description to come.

Story's Sunset

Description to come.

Sun Cheetah Reference

Description to come.

The Walking Dead

Description to come.

Don't Look her in the Eyes

Description to come.

Ardor the Slayer- finished

Description to come later.

Busy busy busy!

So it's been far too long since I updated this, but it doesn't mean I haven't been productive! In fact, I can't remember the last time I've been able to churn out so much art. I've got to say, it's been a lovely feeling :D

So, I'd better stop rambling and just post the art, each piece will be in a new post, so that I can explain the process I went through and how long it took, etc.

Also got a couple of WIP's that I want to post up too, so I'll stick those here.



The dragon guy is an old dragon character of mine called Rador- this is a revamp of this horrible old image: Cringe. This is a project of sorts to try and prove to myself that I have improved over the years.



Another revamp of an old image and species- Night phoenix's (well, this is more of a gryphon really). Will be a good chance to practice with unusual lighting as it's going to be a night scene and he glows XD Will update once I've done more on either.

Battle Queen

Just some quick sketches that I thought I'd share.

First up is the beginnings of some concept art that I'm starting for next years project. Yup, it's Saga once again. This time the design is based slightly further along in her life; this is when she becomes the most delusional and starts to the think that she's a demi god/Valkyrie/being of power.



Quick sketch of Trevor's new design, not much to say about this as I'm not sure if it'll go any further. We'll see.



Finally just another critter design- this is a revamp of a really old design that I did for an air elemental. I'm happy with the design, but hate the colours. Hopefully I'll be able to sort it out one day soon.



So that's pretty much it at the moment. I'm finding myself so tired after work that I just don't have the energy to draw, and when I do I'm struggling to work at a decent pace or to get anything done. Hopefully I'll get out of this silly situation soon though.

Sun Cheetah; ref

So yup, just an update on the image that I posted last. I've turned it into a reference sheet for this specific species, just because I've never really sorted them out and decided on what they truely are. So yup, this is the beginning of the ref, and I'll post an update once I have some colour on it.

Sun Cheetah

So it's 03:02 at the moment and I'm pretty sure the reason I can't sleep is because I'm too worked up about my assessments tomorrow. Although I'm happy with the work that I have produce, I'm worried that it wont be enough. So yup, anyway, because I can't sleep, I'm doing what I always do when I can't get to sleep- drawing.

So yup, here we have the beginnings of a reference sheet for my species, the Sun Cheetah. I haven't drawn these guys in a long, long time, and I'm finally happy with their design, although I'm sure it'll change again in the future.



Here's the original picture (cringe), done back when I was in college so no wonder it looks awful. Here is a second attempt, which isn't much better.

I used this as rough reference for the face.

Oh, and I thought I'd throw Mr Grumpy Face in here too :3



I have been sketching a lot, and creating a lot of lineart, but unfortunatly I've not been able to fully finish a piece that isn't do with uni work in a long, long time D: Hopefully now that summer is here I'll get the chance to finish up some of my pieces.

Dissertation Proposal

I've put this in the digital drop box on the Uni's Black Board, but just incase that doesn't work I thought I'd stick it here too.

Student name: Rachelle Fryatt
Date: 23 May 2010
Subject for Research: How animals and their behaviours are incorporated into games.

Outline/Rationale for proposed dissertation topic:

For my dissertation I will be looking at the various ways that animals are incorporated into games, whether as allies or enemies. My dissertation will focus primarily around how game designers, concept artists and animators bring animals into virtual environments and how they make them interact with the players.
The main two areas that I will be writing about are:
1. How animals behave especially through body language, are translated in games, and how they are exaggerated and played upon in order to communicate their meanings to the player.
2. How artists portray various animals for a game by exaggerating certain features depending on the nature of the creature, even using real life animals as a base for designing fabricated creatures and monsters.

Research Methodology:

I believe that there will be numerous ways in order for me to gain the research needed for me to write my dissertation. Some of these will include visiting zoos, reading books by animal experts, and looking at concept art books for various games and films. I also know that several films on DVD have special features which talk about the design aspects of characters, such as on the Van Helsing DVD where they talk about the process they went through to design their werewolves. Lord of the Rings on DVD also contain many special features which centre around the development of their character designs, such as the “Fell Beasts”- giant flying creatures.
I will also conduct primary research by attempting to contact professional artists in the industry and enquiring as to how much animals influence concept art, how they go about the designing process and how they bring life to the designs in game.
I also believe that it would be very beneficial to contact as many professionals who work with animals as possible, such as trainers and rehabilitators who understand why animals do some of the things they do, and what can provoke them to such behaviour.

Resources:

I plan to use several different sources for my research, including both primary and secondary sources. For my primary research I will study the behaviour of various different types of animals by visiting centres such as Chester Zoo, Pili Palas, and other locations where animals can be observed.
Although zoos are perhaps not completely ideal to study non domesticated animal because they are sometimes prevented from displaying some natural behaviours, it will how ever give me the chance to study other behaviours first hand instead of relying completely secondary sources.
I will take photographs and film different animals, as well as make observational sketches. I also feel that studying my own domesticated animals will be a benefit. Dogs and cats are being used more and more in games today, and are often used as companions for the player and therefore play a large role.
My secondary sources of research will come through studying documentaries and footage filmed by others of animals displaying behaviours that I will not be able to observe in captivity.
Another large amount of my research will involve reading material by different animal behaviourists and experts such as Cesar Millan and Jane Goodall.
I will also be looking at various concept artists and games, especially the World of Warcraft and Guild Wars series, as animals as both companions and enemies play a massive role within the game.

First Bibliography:

“Be the Pack Leader: Use Cesar’s Way to Transform Your Dog...And Your Life.” By Cesar Millan with Melissa Jo Peltier (2007). Paper back, available online at: http://www.cesarsway.com/shop/Be-the-Pack-Leader-New-York-Times-Bestseller-Hardcover [Accessed January 2010]

The Art of “Avatar”. Harry N. Abrams, Inc.; Media tie-in edition (24 Nov 2009) [Accessed January 2010]

Second Bibliography:

“The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour”. Online at: http://asab.nottingham.ac.uk/ [Found 23 May 2010]

“Animal Behaviour Society”. Online at: http://www.animalbehavior.org/ [Found 23 May 2010]

Cesar’s Way. Online at: http://www.cesarsway.com/ [Accessed 23 May 2010]

The Jane Goodall Institute UK. Online at: http://www.janegoodall.org.uk/ [Accessed 23 May 2010]

Van Helsing (2004) Two Disk Collector’s Edition [DVD] Extra Features. Universal Pictures UK. Online at: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Van-Helsing-Two-Disc-Collectors/dp/B0002U4A9A/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1274705598&sr=8-4 [Accessed 23 May 2010]

The Art of “How to Train Your Dragon”. Titan Books Ltd (26 Feb 2010) Online at: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Art-Train-Your-Dragon-Film/dp/1848566654/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1274642177&sr=8-1 [Accessed 23 May 2010]

Guild Wars Gallery. Online at http://eu.guildwars.com/gallery/art/ [Accessed 23 May 2010]

The Art of World Of Warcraft. Brady Games; 1 edition (5 Jan 2006) Online at: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Art-World-Warcraft-BradyGames/dp/0744007259 [Accessed 23 May 2010]

Life drawing continued

I really enjoyed life drawing, especially doing the line of movement practices. I really feel that it has helped to improve the motion and dynamics of my work, and I look forward to more life drawing in the future. In the mean time, I've been using Pose Maniac's 30 second life drawings to create these and these.

Life drawings

I realised that I hadn't stuck my life drawing up, so yup, this is what I could find of the classes that I attended.















I'll upload the rest in another post.

Man...thing...

It's something I drew up a moment ago on a whim. I don't draw men all that often, so they're always that bit more of a challenge, which is always fun.

I used this and this as rough references.
I kinda like it so far, so I might take it further, and although my tongue may turn black for saying so, I have urge to turn it into some form of fan art. We'll see.

I think I've improved a little since the last time I drew something like this, which is quite similar really. But still, an improvement I hope?

I want to do some more of these quick portrait sketches soon, so look out for them?

Research

NOTE: Any images in this specific post are NOT my own, I do not in anyway claim that they are, and they are copyright to their rightful owners.

So I'm going to start off with some research into Concept artists. As this is the area that I want to go into myself, I feel that it's really important that I keep update with what is going on in the game art world.

My favourite concept artist currently is Romanian born Daniel Dociu.

I find it rather odd that I am so drawn to his work, as his work is just so raw and harsh, which oddly enough is the complete opposite to what I personally create. My own work is always very refined and tidy, and it must be the appeal of being able to draw so freely that draws me to his art.
He mainly does environmental art, but there is some character concept in there too.

Have a look at these pieces, which are some of my favourites, and include both his environment and character designs.

Armor Girl
Delta Temple
Puppet
Goth
Mine

Dociu’s work is very recognisable and unique, and that’s largely down to the fact that his work is always very raw and passionate, which conveys a lot of emotion, especially tension and atmosphere.
His environmental designs create this not only when viewing them on paper, but also when encountering them in the game itself. In game his landscapes cause the viewer to behold them in wonder, and can even cause fear and apprehension.

Dociu has fairly quickly become a successful concept artist, and has worked for several companies, including smaller businesses. His more notable placements include Art Director for big gaming companies such as Squaresoft, Electronic Arts and Zipper Interactive. He has also done free lance work for companies such as Digital Anvil and Wizards of the Coast.
Since 2003 to the present day Dociu has worked specifically with AreaNet on their immensely successful game Guild Wars as an Art Director and lead concept artist. This has led him to also work since 2007 as the Chief Art Director for the company NCsoft, the parent company to AreaNet. His role involves the overseeing of the visual development of all of NCsofts’s major North American projects, focusing especially on AreaNet’s newest game, Guild Wars 2, a game which I am looking forward to imensly, as it looks like it is going to be one of the most beauitful games around.

Check out this teaser trailer that introduces the playable races in Guild Wars 2.

I could carry on writing about Dociu's work, but I don't really want to turn this into an essay (...yes, I have writen an essay on Dociu in the past :P), so on to the next artist.

Inspiration

Although I have already posted this on my other blog, I thought that it was relevant to my PDP, and therefor I'm going to put it and my other artist reviews here too.

NOTE: Any images in this specific post are NOT my own, I do not in anyway claim that they are, and they are copyright to their rightful owners.

Another artist that has continued to influence me over many years isn't in fact a concept artist. Kay Nielsen's, -who was an illustrator in what was known as the "Golden Age of Illustration"- work has always fascinated me, and I think it's mainly because of the gorgeous colours and the subject of his work, which were usually based around some kind of mythology, which I find fascinating anyway.
His beautiful, flowing forms gently lead the eye around the piece, and create a lovely fantasy like atmosphere.



The image above is my very favourite of Nielsen's pieces, primarily because the colours are just so appealing to me. Another reason I believe that I am so drawn to this illustrators work is because of the amount of beautiful and intricate detail that Nielsen put into his work. I absolutely adore detail, and when I finally get to put loads into a piece I enjoy it immensely, something I think which was influenced from looking at Nielsen's work.

Over the summer holiday I hope to experiment with and push my style and see if I can include some hints of influence from the Golden Age of Illustration, as I think it can really add to a painting.

Bradford Animation Festival

Back in November last year we were taken to the Bradford Animation Festival (BAF)for a day. We attended Day 2: Indie Gaming, and spent the day listening to talks given by professionals in the industry such as Stuart Varrall from Fluid Pixel Studio, Charles Cecil, and Sean Murray, Managing Director of Hello Games.
The talks were given on the Great Hall stage in Bradford university.

The first to speak was Stuart Varrall of Fluid Pixel Studio. Fluid Pixel is based in Middlesbrough, and they specialise in in creating games for the iPhone and other mobile platforms. He spoke about some of their most recent successes, one of which was Kami Crazy, which was downloaded more than half a million times in the first three weeks after it's release. Stuart then went on to talk about one of their newest projects, Animentals, which is a cyber pet simulator for mobile phones.

Having just played the demo that is available on their website, I have to say that it looks nicely done, very simple, with some interesting "Animental" designs. I can imagine that it would hold the players attention well, and would draw them back to play more.

Charles Cecil, who is hailed as a visionary games director, was the next to give a talk. He spoke about relaunching classic games such as "Broken Sword" on the Nintendo Wii and DS, and "Beneath a Steel Sky" for the iPhone, as both games had proven very popular when originally released, and so had good potential to be remade with the more advanced technology on offer today.

What really interested me in this talk was Charles Cecil then introduced two young animators, Ravi Govind and Aron Durkin, who had both just graduated from Bradford animation when they worked on these games. They have since used this experience to gain footholds into the game and animation industry. It was really encouraging to see students being able to go straight into the industry, and that it is possible to gain fantastic experience early on.
Ravi Govind then gave a talk on how character development and creation is accomplished, from initial design to final model and rigging.

After lunch David Surman gave a speech about the future of games, how they will develop and the role that they play along side other media. He then interviewed Erik Svedang, a young games developer who had created his game Blueberry Garden.

"Blueberry Garden is a short experimental game about curiosity and exploration. You take on the role of a creature investigating a mysterious world to find out what is going on there. It’s probably not very much like anything you’ve played before but I hope you will find it enjoyable!"

About Blueberry garden, Erik Svedang: http://eriksvedang.com/blueberrygarden/

He also spoke about his views on the gaming industry, and how he didn't really like mainstream games and therefore had set about to create a new, unique and imaginative game that stands out. He did speak about how Shadow of Colossus was a big inspiration and influence on Blueberry Garden.
Although this type of game isn't visually attractive to me, I did find that the atmosphere created and the beautiful music in the game was attractive.

Sean Murray from Hello Games was the next to give a speech about the development and creation of their game "Joe Danger". Of all the games featured, "Joe Danger" (click the link for the trailer) was the one which stood out the most and was the most appealing to me. It combined a fantastic visual environment with humour and fun, and I just thought that it was an incredibly professional looking game.
Sean Murray then went on to demonstrate the fantastic level editor feature within the game that allows the player to create their own courses.

Finally, Alex Wiltshire the online editor for Edge magazine, chaired a panel discussion where the audience had the opportunity to ask questions to the various professionals. Alex Wiltshire was joined by Sean Murray, Stuart Varrall, Simon Barratt (from Four Door Lemon) and Pete McClory (from Panoetic) who all gave more advice to aspiring artists, animators and game designers.

Although I enjoyed the day at BAF, and feel that I learnt a lot from listening to the various speeches, I do how ever wonder if we might have gained more from attending the day before the one we went to, as there were several large and impressive figures attending such as Sony, Claire Jennings (Coraline Producer and Laika Inc’s President of Entertainment) and Brian Van’t Hul (Laika Inc’s Visual Effects Supervisor).
I do think how ever that it was a really positive experience, and I look forward to attending BAF next year again, as I hope to.

Stumble is...

Brilliant! Stumble is an add-on for your internet browser which brings up random pages that could be relevent to you.
And through my boredom, I clicked on Stumble and low and behold what should load? A sculpter who I found a few years ago and was absoloutly amazed by, but then lost his gallery.

This man is Mark Newman, a very talented artist who's work is absoloutly stunning in detail.

Looking through his gallery, here are some pieces that really stood out for me:

Eel Walker
Eddie Riggs 2
E.V. female bust 2
And my favourite Sisters- the expression in the faces are just amazing- there's just so much life in their smiles it's beautiful.
And they are so dynamic too- they just don't "sit" there, they twist and flow and curve in amazing ways that just completly lead the eye around the piece.

Sculpting has always been something I've wanted to try, but alas my hands seem too clumsy to deal with it. I'm sensing yet another summer project coming on though, as honestly, how could you not be inspired by this artist?

Ardor the Slayer...

Continued.

I decided that I've done quite a bit of work tonight, and so I did some more work on Ardor. Although I'm not drawing it for myself, I'm finding it really relaxing and pleasant to work on, which is what I need to bring my stress levels down, which are rocketing at the moment due to my final assessments coming up in under a week.



So far I've blocked in rough colours and loose detail. Need to check with the owner of the character if the colour of the wings are alright, and then I'll continue.
He's supposed to be a black panther, so as I add more detail his fur will get darker. Painting black fur is no where near has difficult as it used to be, so I guess I'm improving in photoshop? I hope so, god knows I'm trying hard enough :P

I used this for reference for the colours on the wing. The wing itself is still bothering me, but I don't really know what to do about it to be honest. I'll just have to keep at it and hopefully something will click in my head and I'll be able to make it look less deformed.

I forgot to mention earlier too that I used this picture as a rough reference when I initially sketched out Ardor's face.