Learning Outcome 8_Exhibit strong communication skills

Torture scene, Alien Prison key moment.

I believe the above key moment is a good example for communication skills

I think its successful in that its clear the Alien is getting tortured and that hes possibly dangerous. As well as this its clear whom the torturers are and whom the victim of the torturing is. Lastly I believe the illustration use of composition helps to sell the Alien as the focus of the piece.

I would not consider it very strong though in the sense that my figure drawing as point out previous is lack in anatomical knowledge. Which takes away from the scene, and I've inadvertently captured the moment after the action rather than the key moment of action which does not help communicate the point as well as I would of liked. And it also makes the scene less interesting.

However I do feel the piece has communicated its point, therefore I believe it successfully addresses this learning outcome.

Learning Outcome 7_ Demonstrate independent learning and continued personal development.

Here are 2 of my final Key moment illustrations, they both display very poor use of anatomy in general, for example the main characters face in the second image. In order to rectify this I have been and continue to do figure studies, gesture drawings, and anatomy studies. Moreover I initially had trouble with the perspective in all of my key moments, as a result of this I am now going back to basics to refresh my memory on the subject.

And finally I am also planning to work on my rendering of form and work on more consistently translating my work from strong value foundations into the finished colour work due to my current tendency to loose my sense of lighting and colour in the finals.

Learning Outcome 6_Operate ethically demonstrating critical understanding of the issues governing good practice.

The following are practices that should be abided by when operating as a concept artist. Do not plagiarise others work ie taking someone story for instance a changing it only slightly. Do not claim work that is not your own is yours, for instance if you have work that is down as part of a team clearly labelling which parts you did and didn’t do is very important in an industry where you are very likely to have multiple people work on your art.

Not infringing on others copy right or claiming that work your have done is for a commercial product. For instance the brief that we were given by Ubisoft Reflections Art Director for Assassins Creed is not for a product to be made in the Assassins Creed brand, and as such we would not claim it is.

Some other issues seen as good business practice are abiding to contracts, keeping to non disclosure agreements and so on.

Learning Outcome 5_Evaluate and defend own work in the context of contemporary practice.

Establishing shot for the Alien Prison. This is the second version of a final key moment illustration.

The above illustration is one of my final 'Key Moment' scenes for the Alien Prison brief. My goal here was to show an establishing shot of the prison and give an overall feel of the world and setting of the story.

As a reference point for a professional comparison I will be using the Key Moments shown in Atomhawk games portfolio page: http://www.atomhawk.com/keymoments.html

The Key Moment illustration has a strong use of composition which helps to establish the main Alien Prison in the background as the major point of interest. With the perspective, and contrast, and value grouping helping to pop out the prison from the background. Moreover the use of design elements such as showing different vehicles, various types of architecture (old and new for instance) give the illustration give some sense of technological and cultural setting of the piece.

The use of colour is fairly saturated, with a primarily warm tone for the majority of the city, this helps give a sense of invitation to the city. Which helps towards enticing the viewer to find out more about the world.

Compared to the professional works done at Atomhawk studies the work lacks that dramatic feel that many of the key moments appear to have, and some of the energy seems lost through the use of a more painterly look to the work compared to the looser brush strokes of the Atomhawk work. However use of composition and colour is closer to the standards on display.

Looking at the key moments on the Atomhawk portfolio page appears to show more use of contrast and mood in the overall pieces. Whilst attempts appear to have been used in the above piece to show that it could perhaps be exaggerated more to help with the dramatic feel of the key moments.

Comparing to the contemporary work done by Atomhawk games and the work displayed above the illustration does fit into a contemporary workplace however the work shown would not be up to the same level of quality on display without addressing the issues mentioned above.

Plan and implement appropriate skills in the creation of visual work.

Learning Outcome 4: Integrate and synthesise research into design solutions

This is a selection of the some of the references I used to inform my designs in the Alien Prison brief.

 

And below a selection of designs for the guards and the aliens.

I have used the various elements of the uniforms in my reference to help inform the designs of my prison guards, initially my designs were much more militarised similar to my reference however upon feedback from tutor these were deemed inappropriate in the context of a prison. As such I toned down the design elements to go for a medium between the two designs.

With a lightly armoured guard who was slightly unique in uniform design between each character but had enough uni-formality between the group to hopefully show they are all part of the same guard outfit.

With the alien designs I used my deep sea creature reference in order to inform the designs, I also had pictures of panthers and other large cats to inform the first alien design. My goal was to have 3 unique creatures that had amphibian or water dwelling traits to suggest they are different species that are present in 1 world that was perhaps primarily made of water.

Learning Outcome 3: Demonstrate an understanding of appropriate techniques and methods

The below storyboards were based on a script written for the brief by our tutor. They demonstrate how to visualise a story using composition, perspective, characters, and other art principles.


This is one of the shots of my revised storyboard:

In my revised storyboard I have changed the layout in order to have the story flow in a more natural manner and to match the script that it is based on. I have got to this stage by creating multiple iterations of the storyboard, using thumbnails, being flexible with styles in order to find a balance between quality, quantity and clarity. And lastly as with all of my work I believe it demonstrates listening and reacting to feedback.

Learning Outcome 2: Analyse Industry and professional requirements

The visual storytelling requirements for industry professionals in the field of concept art are:

• is the artwork sensitive to the audience in question. For example a 3+ game is unlikely to show characters with sharp teeth or claws as it is not appropriate to that audience. Moreover a hugely colourful artwork is not really appropriate for an audience whom is expecting a dark and gritty style of work.
• As a follow on to the above is the Age group in question. If ask to design for a horror game for instance. Creating scary creatures, with bits falling off, and exposed body parts is not going to work if its a game for young children. However doing stylised Studio Ghibly style horror creatures that are more 'cutesy' is much more acceptable as they are not overtly scary but are appropriate in the context of the horror game.
• Cultural Sensitivity, an example is the recent furore over inappropriately placed religious icons in Call of Duty.
• Cost – ex. Voice overs, Cinematic's etc. are very expensive both in man power and resources
• Art Direction can effect storytelling significantly, for example a really vibrant colour palette would compliment a fun, humour filled story, and also help to aim more towards a younger audience.