Bringing Bob to Life

Inspired by the colour tutorial I previously looked at, I have added colour to a revision of Bob's interrogation pose. I have the basic colours set but as far as tone and depth, I have only the shadow and highlight layers offering realism.  Like the fourth part of the render tutorial, thinking more about colour theory I want to add warm and cool dynamic shading to give a more moody finish. I am also developing a mood board which inspired some of the colours I used in this image and also the initial concept. I plan on uploading this soon.

Rendering Technique

I have also discovered a really cool tutorial explaining how to colour concept art in Photoshop. It first involves applying the shadows and highlights, and then afterwards the actual colour. The videos also contain some interesting colour theory, and talk a lot about how to use the different types of layers in Photoshop:

Mass Effect 2 Art

I came across a series of interesting videos giving a behind the scenes look at Mass Effect 2. The first two videos focus on the concept art and also the animation process behind the game. The videos also relate to my new science fiction approach and have given me some great inspiration for my character in the sense of body armour and weaponry.

Bob Interrogating

I have sketched an action shot of Bob interrogating a generic figure. It gives an idea of how Bob would use his mean looking fist to scare information out of his victims. I have also included a film noir style trench-coat to give that gritty detective feel, offering also an interesting contrast with his clean, futuristic body armour.

I am not happy with the extension of the bionic arm. Although I want the clobbering fist to almost appear out of proportion, I plan on revisiting this pose, making the left arm a more realistic length, while still emphasising Bob's huge fist.

Change In Direction.

When considering the environment that I will eventually be placing my character in to, I felt creatively restricted with my original idea of the average man turns hero. I want to take a deeper fictitious approach and go for a more gritty concept than comical. I still like the idea of the protagonist being flawed and far from the perfect heroes and gods portrayed in say fables and mythology. However, I want to take a much more creative approach rather than the gown wearing layabout I originally designed. I want to remove the Egyptian influence from my design and bring in a science fiction driven concept. When reflecting on a recent visit to the Royal Armouries in Leeds, I remembered some of the law enforcement equipment on display, one of the most memorable being the riot control gear. This brought me to consider a more detailed approach with my characters attire. On the subject of law enforcement, I was reminded of  'Commander Sheppard' from the 'Mass effect' series, with his stock body armour. I combined this influence with some features from the riot control equipment and created a possible design for Bob's body armour. 

I plan on also equipping bob with a long film noir style trench coat. With Bob I now want to tell the story of an aging detective in the future, trying to prove to himself more than anything that he can still handle his perilous job. I have still included his huge fist, as I believe this could an exciting tool for interrogation, however his main weapon now has a more mechanical appearance than ancient. I may also now equip Bob with a firearm to provide the option of police style shootouts.

Bob's Weapon

I have been sketching some designs for Bob's huge clobbering fist. I have tried including some of the hieroglyphics taken form my museum visit and also from the crumbling stone effect that I found interesting. I wanted the weapon to appear ancient Egyptian, as I believe this to be a theme of adventure and discovery. Considering the background of my character, the weapon could be uncovered in the most peculiar of places (The store Bob heads to before the campaign begins) to fight back against a pending ancient evil. This is very much like the classic superhero situation, where the average person receives great power. 

 

Bob Taking Shape.

I have begun the process of drawing my character. I have produced a moody full profile image and also a focus on the face and head of 'Bob.' 

The main concept for my character 'Bob Callahan,' is that he is an unexpected hero. He is not dressed for combat, he simply left the house to call at his local shop and has found him self caught up in an epic campaign. Through all of the action he will face, he will remain clueless throughout, very unaffected. It is this quality that gives him a fearless edge. He is depicted in a dressing gown and slippers, unshaven and unashamed. To expand on 'Bob's' design, I plan on equipping him with a very large ancient weapon, based on the source material gathered from my museum visit. Perhaps I will give him a huge clobbering fist, similar to 'Hellboy's' massive stone fist, yet covered in hieroglyphics and ancient markings. I imagine bob wielding a blunt weapon as oppose to a firearm, as he has no prior experience with weaponry, he will however take physical action if his personal space is invaded.

Museum visit.

When arriving at the Leeds City Museum, I found that my camera was out of charge. In a way I am glad of the outcome as I was forced to build on my visual recording skills. I have scanned some of my sketch book pages, showing my recordings:

I was firstly engaged by some of the ancient world pieces. The sculptures and the ruins displayed both smooth flowing curves, simple repeating patters, and jagged crumbling stone. I found there was a great variety in the shapes making up some of the historical relics, as shown by the top two sketchbook pages. Surprisingly, there was also a great amount of detail in some of the pieces, even more so when imagining old traditional methods. The colourful costumes in one of the exhibits, in my opinion displayed relevance to motion and rhythm . I depicted one of the costumes, shown by the bottom left sketchbook page entitled 'Zulu Warrior.' There was a very lively and colorful vibe to this particular exhibit, drawing influence from such things as animals and mythological creatures. It was the very flamboyant curves and colourful materials making up the costumes that suggested both sound and movement. My final recording was of the main lobby location, which had an ampi theater-like design displaying a large map painted on the ground. When I looked down from the elevated seating area, I could almost imagine a kind of war briefing room, with tactics being discussed over the large map. Again the circular shape of the room was consistent throughout, followed by curving balconies and wall pieces. I believe that (like Jay Hawkins 3D modelling clip) it is important to consider balance and aesthetics with the careful use of shapes. This understanding of aesthetics was even present in the ancient world relics.

Gary Grier

I have found an artist who focuses on the mundane, who's blog I am now following. Some of his traditional style paintings almost appear like quickly taken snapshots in the most dull and bleak situations. His style of working with oil on canvas gives some of his paintings a blurred effect, almost like an out of focus photograph. I believe I could really draw inspiration from Grier's work as he takes a subject matter, which seems dull and uninteresting (people lounging around in their homes, children riding around the streets on a bike) and displays them as art. To me this adds a great sense of the unexpected, very much like the character I am aiming to create. Here is a link to Grier's blog: http://garygrierart.blogspot.com/

Concept

I have thought of an interesting concept for my character and environment. Whilst visiting the Leeds city Museum earlier today, I found myself surrounded by dazzling artifacts from ancient times. I looked around and sketched the fine sculptures and complex ruins and thought of my appearance in contrast to all of this:  grey hoody, shaggy hair and a sketch pad. I though to myself 'how could I possibly ever fit in with this weird and wonderful environment?' This reminded me of Jeff Bridges' character 'The Dude' from the Coen Brother's movie 'The Big Lebowski.' His character fits a kind of unexpected hero concept. A man fashioning a dressing gown and pajama bottoms, who finds himself caught up in a thickening plot.

This style of character relates to the kind which you would expect to find in most zombie games/movies. Characters who leave their homes for what is expected to be another average day, and later find themselves in an apocalyptic landscape. Another example of this kind of character would be Frank West from the video game 'Dead Rising.' A very average looking journalist who finds himself fending off zombie hordes. I find there is something both relate-able and slightly amusing about a protagonist with a very unexpectedly average appearance.

Also, I will be posting sketches recorded from my museum visit shortly.

Jay Hawkins

I've always liked  the highly detailed concept art behind Gears of war. This interest lead me on to Jay Hawkins. Firstly, I managed to find a very detailed Marcus Fenix character design. I have always been interested in detailed sketches being used as line art and coloured digitally with a rough painted effect. I find it effective in putting across the mood of the image and the finer details, without spending unrealistic amounts of time working with crisp delicate lines.

Expanding on my Jay Hawkins research, I discovered a video clip which shows him beginning to create a 3D model over one of his GOW creature designs. The short clip highlights his use of flowing shapes in his sketch. This will be important to consider when I am designing my character, ensuring that my design is smooth and aesthetically pleasing, and also making the 3D modeling process in future designs more achievable. 

The short clip can be viewed by clicking the link near the top top of the page following page: 

http://www.thegnomonworkshop.com/store/product/534/

Through looking at Jay Hawkins work, I believe I have gained a better understanding of how to present realistic achievable concept ideas to be developed into three dimensional models, which can then be incorporated in to game-play.

DFGA

Excited about getting started next week. Eager to learn some new skills and maybe even begin some concept art! Here's one of my favorite songs at the moment: