New character concept
Since my last post I have been quite busy (especially during reflection week) where I had work and family commitments which prevented me getting as much work I'd like done. Instead, I chose to focus on the Design Research assignment as I wasn't able to put much time into my practical work. I had to email people working in my chosen field (concept artist). So far I have gotten 2 responses who are willing to answer my questions and look over my work. I have also started writing up 2 of the 4 class lectures to use as a starting point for my essay. I think doing the essay in small parts would be a better use of my time as I can also focus on my practice work at the same time. Last semester I ended up using 2 weeks of my time dedicated to the essay which I feel hindered my practice progress and I was overly invested in the essay writing to the point where it was the source of my stress.
I have been focusing more this past week on trying to concept a new character from scratch as suggested by Jim. I hope to have a more honed and final design by next Wednesday to show and to see where I could go next. So far I have managed to establish a set design for my character, but I haven't been able to finalise details and define their personality/style enough for a modeller to use.
As I was given a very open interpretation to design whoever I liked, I tried to set my own restrictions so I wouldn't get carried away designing very different briefs. I made some general notes and made a reference board to help with design:
To find appropriate mage class/magic user poses, I used google to find these for reference:
Although the design is of a non-human, I used the images for anatomy and pose references. I chose 2 of the 5 poses to draw as I thought they best represented the type of character I wanted to design (powerful, commanding, deadly). Some of the others such as top right and bottom left felt too 'posey' rather than an action pose.
Here are the designs I tried out (using additional poses), with the larger ones being the design/style that I settled on:
I spent between 10-25 mins on each drawing. I am keeping track of time duration to ensure that I follow my tutor's advice and learn how to draw faster. I noticed that for the design I have chosen, the hairstyle I used has a similar concept to the video game character Edelgard (whom I first drew in different styles in January). I thought this would suit my character to give their facial appearance a certain distinction. The overall clothing design was based on my previous knowledge of mages combined with the references above.
I spoke with my tutor Josh today and showed him the work above. He said it was a good start but I should think about making my design fantastical. I agreed as I thought so far whilst designing I've been thinking about practicality over everything else. He offered his suggestion as to what I should do next, the most important parts being to hone down the parts I have still left unclear e.g. shoes and underdress.
He also gave some suggestions as to how to improve my design and make it suit a video game character more. He talked about incorporating my culture in a more exaggerated way into the design and depicting different options for my character e.g. changing the weapon so it is dual (head on either side) or head is detachable/hovers and its movement controlled by magic. These were interesting aspects to take into consideration and from now on I will try to focus on this character and use these pointers to improve the design.
I feel more motivated after hearing positive things about my initial concept. It helps to know that I am doing something right as a major part of last semester was me thinking I wasn't good enough to produce the work (although I could sure talk about it!). I am also still taking on board what my other tutor Jim said about not being negative about my own work. I thought I did okay today and avoided saying anything bad about it, instead I allowed Josh to give his thoughts and made note of his suggestions. I feel that so far this semester is going in the right direction and am happy to be doing this type of work.
I have been focusing more this past week on trying to concept a new character from scratch as suggested by Jim. I hope to have a more honed and final design by next Wednesday to show and to see where I could go next. So far I have managed to establish a set design for my character, but I haven't been able to finalise details and define their personality/style enough for a modeller to use.
As I was given a very open interpretation to design whoever I liked, I tried to set my own restrictions so I wouldn't get carried away designing very different briefs. I made some general notes and made a reference board to help with design:
Notes
References
To find appropriate mage class/magic user poses, I used google to find these for reference:
Although the design is of a non-human, I used the images for anatomy and pose references. I chose 2 of the 5 poses to draw as I thought they best represented the type of character I wanted to design (powerful, commanding, deadly). Some of the others such as top right and bottom left felt too 'posey' rather than an action pose.
Here are the designs I tried out (using additional poses), with the larger ones being the design/style that I settled on:
I spent between 10-25 mins on each drawing. I am keeping track of time duration to ensure that I follow my tutor's advice and learn how to draw faster. I noticed that for the design I have chosen, the hairstyle I used has a similar concept to the video game character Edelgard (whom I first drew in different styles in January). I thought this would suit my character to give their facial appearance a certain distinction. The overall clothing design was based on my previous knowledge of mages combined with the references above.
I spoke with my tutor Josh today and showed him the work above. He said it was a good start but I should think about making my design fantastical. I agreed as I thought so far whilst designing I've been thinking about practicality over everything else. He offered his suggestion as to what I should do next, the most important parts being to hone down the parts I have still left unclear e.g. shoes and underdress.
He also gave some suggestions as to how to improve my design and make it suit a video game character more. He talked about incorporating my culture in a more exaggerated way into the design and depicting different options for my character e.g. changing the weapon so it is dual (head on either side) or head is detachable/hovers and its movement controlled by magic. These were interesting aspects to take into consideration and from now on I will try to focus on this character and use these pointers to improve the design.
I feel more motivated after hearing positive things about my initial concept. It helps to know that I am doing something right as a major part of last semester was me thinking I wasn't good enough to produce the work (although I could sure talk about it!). I am also still taking on board what my other tutor Jim said about not being negative about my own work. I thought I did okay today and avoided saying anything bad about it, instead I allowed Josh to give his thoughts and made note of his suggestions. I feel that so far this semester is going in the right direction and am happy to be doing this type of work.
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