In order to hopefully further myself in my endeavors, I have begun the process of reaching out to other popular content creators on the web, most notably ones whom I've seen are open to collaboration. I'm starting off small since I'm currently bogged down with my end of year projects, but hopefully I can build some relations over the summer and begin extensive collaboration. I am also looking foreword to the possibility of taking commissions once I get a payment system in place, and I hope working in this way can prepare me for the possibility of working freelance part time. Working in this manner may also help me with time management and meeting deadlines since I'm currently struggling with these issues now, however this is mostly caused by the volume of the work I have on my hands, not the content, and with the ability to control my workflow I believe I would have a better handle on my progress than I do now. So far I have only gotten responses from a small few, most notably those who associate themselves more within the digital art community. However, I am confident that work like this may help to boost my standing within online creator communities, and I presume this would reflect well in my portfolio. I have also considered tapping into graphic design for items such as stickers, buttons and clothing, as it seems like a fun and worthwhile opportunity to consider, especially with sites like redbubble becoming more common. In any event, becoming more recognized in the digital marketplace is a must if one seeks to make their endeavors profitable, and I may have to get into the habit of advertising myself on more platforms, as recently with my spike of work I have fallen out of it.
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The most needed requirements of being a concept include ones I have previously mentioned before in various other projects, however there are a few that I have not talked about or otherwise have just glossed over without going into too much detail. One of these skills is being able to follow the director's take on any given scene and be able to effectively visualize that. Often times knowing how to communicate well with the rest of the team can make or break the individual. This includes being able to be flexible and make sudden changes to a project or a schedule when needed. Another one of these skills needed in the industry is the ability to imagine or draw objects in 3D space, It may seem complicated but all it is asking is to be able to imagine the 3D scene the team or director is looking for, and convey it on a 2D space like on paper or a drawing software.
The job a concept artist usually takes on is one where their main goal is to visualize and conceptualize various assets, scenes, or special effects, and try and create as many as possible, as many do not make the final cut. If they are working to adapt something like a novel to a game or a movie, then they are also tasked with analyzing and over viewing the original source material and making sure all assets created follow the original source's narrative and theme. However, there is no true route one has to take to become a concept artist, as there are many different paths one can take. For instance, you could work on illustrations and graphic design before becoming a concept artist, or work on animation or story boarding beforehand, or work as an intern in various visual departments. “Concept Artist.” Creative Skillset Website, creativeskillset.org/job_roles/3072_concept_artist. This is an example of what I'm talking about. Originally, I had planned to have moving tiles, and 4 levels, and 6 different enemies. Right now I'll be lucky to have 1 level and 3 enemies. I've been getting help from people both online and off line, but many times, despite how much I've trimmed and cut from my original project, it seems like I'll never get it finished in time. How simple do I have to go?
Well, now that spring brake is over, I have to say that unfortunately I wasn't the busiest of bees, however, to be honest, this break has been a lifesaver. Anyways, to get back on topic, my plan of action for now is to finish creating my own artwork and assets for my next game project. Why you may ask? Well to be perfectly honest, it's mostly because I dislike the original ones, and would like to take a shot at creating my own works. I mean, I'm probably more of an artist than a programmer anyways, but then again, that's not to say I can't write a decent script! No, I believe the main reason why is because I want to exercise my own abilities, and create what I really love creating: sprite artwork. It's been ages since I last did anything of the sort, as I've just started taking commissions again, and unless tile editing counts, I've gotten pretty rusty, so what better opportunity to better my skills? However, to be fair, it is just my personal preference, but after getting back into games like Mega Man Zero for the GBA and marveling at the fluidity and majesty of the sprite work, I've definitely have to say that pixel art and pixelated sprite art are by far my favorite type of art to be seen in games. Perhaps it is because it emits a sense of nostalgia for the "Good ol' days"? Possibly, but in the end, 16 bit heroes will always be my favorites, both to create and to play as. Maybe I'll even learn a thing or two.
Practice makes perfect right? Wrong. Only perfect practice makes perfect, and practice beats talent when talent does not practice. Yes there is the rare occurrence of someone just being naturally good at something, but that is rare, and most people have gotten to their current skill level through hard work and dedication. However, that's not to say that this is all work no fun, but it certainly isn't all fun and games either. For example, an assignment I have recently finished, twice, required me to draw something I commonly struggle with in my art 100 times, and the item in question? Paws, the hands of the animal kingdom, except these aren't any ordinary paws, these are expressive paws, like the ones you might see in some animated movies or shows that commonly feature anthropomorphic characters. They might even be considered harder than human hands, after all, the problem with human hands mostly lies with their expressiveness, but one does not commonly have to worry about the placement of claws, foot pads, fur, or scales on humans. Needless to say, I assume that I partially screwed myself over choosing a subject that combines the worst of both world into one piece. But I digress, all in all this exercise has given me more practice in this one area than nearly all my previous practices before hand, or should I say, before paw?
It is images like these two: Back paws, and, Front paws that make me glad that furries exist, they have saved my soul.
As everyone should know, summer does not last indefinitely, so it's time to get back on track. I've no doubt forgotten a few things (though not as much as a subject like math) so it's time to brush up on a few skills. (Like remembering to check if there's a blog post and not waking up in a cold sweat to do so.) The main thing that's really stuck with me though are the principals of design. Basically, what makes this design look good? 99designs.com/blog/tips/principles-of-design/ Well, while I have only learned the base four in class, being proportion, repetition, balance and contrast, this article here goes further in depth on the 7 base principals of design. I usually use these frequently with various art projects as well as a few other unmentioned rules like the rule of thirds, colors and their perceived effect on our psyche, and how shapes and lines direct our attention. To briefly explain what the article says, the first thing that is different is emphasis. Basically the rule is to make the most important part about your subject stand out. To go on Movement is defined as the way your eyes move from one subject to another, and a great image will have your onlooker either continuously scanning the image in a visual loop of sorts, or consistently lead them to the most important parts of your creation. The last new element is white space, which focuses on what isn't added. Simply put, it's mostly used to separate elements so that the viewer doesn't get overwhelmed. However, this appears to be all that I could easily find so hopefully I'll be able to brush up on some of my other skills as well soon.
Movies have and hopefully will always be an enjoyable experience for all generations, (If Netflix has the public's interests in their mind that is, but then again, it probably won't take long until some new technology like the Oculus Rift or something like that takes over and basically throws films into oblivion.) but everyone once in a while, no matter how talented they are at anything will occasionally have the rare moment of brief wonder as they ask themselves, Just how did they do that? Well just this last Thursday I was able to get a small view into the world of film industry. Now, I consider myself to be an artist, well-maybe not an artist-but at least someone who is capable of creating a pretty good drawing every now and then, so I had my ideas about how special effects in movies work, and aside from a few small things, I had my views pretty much validated by our guest speaker, Richard White.
Now I guess I've kept my audience waiting long enough, it's about time I got to the main question, which is how does the process of special effects in movies work? Well, the process is pretty simple (Notice how I didn't say that the job was easy, movies take years to create for a reason.) The first part of any movie is technically brainstorming an idea, but for your sake I'll skip to the first step of creating special effects, which is story boarding. Story boarding is the act of drawing out practically every scene of the movie you're working on, and usually the finished movie won't look exactly like the storyboards either. Once the storyboarding is finished, the next step is creating your draft of the scenes you're supposed to produce. The drafts are usually all roughly animated, and will evolve from the notes that the story board creators give. Once the draft is made, then you get into the actual shooting, and this is where things truly start to shake up. Entire scenes will be deleted, edited, scrapped, reshot, and otherwise change. Maybe the changes were for space, or perhaps a last minute decision on the writer/director's part. However, when it comes to special effects, now people are using special effects to encompass the majority of the film, unless it is strictly live action, and in that case, it's probably a cheesy romantic comedy or something like that (But if you find a really good one with like tons of special effects, then like hook me up because that sounds either amazing or a good movie for one of those bad movie nights that some people have where you mainly are there to mock it.) Sci-vis is pretty essential to the film industry, and there are probably as many specialties as there are people still trying to figure out how many programmers it takes to screw in a light bulb (To save you the trouble about 2.35798, because you got to account for possibility of error, however just because you know how many it takes to screw it in, that does not automatically mean you know how to get them to do it.) Sci-vis teaches the importance of planning, graphic design and even a look into business procedures, and while this alone does not mean I'm automatically a specialist, I am exited as to what is yet to come. The road to success is probably the most difficult road to follow known to man. It has more twists and turns than The Tail of the Dragon. There's a smaller window of chance to complete it than the Passage De Gois. More thieves exist than there are terrorists on Luxor-Al-Hurghanda road. To top it all off, it's longer and takes more time to finish than trekking along Highway 1.
However, to those who have been born into success, it doesn't take much to get where you want. For those in the upper class, either they have worked hard to get there, (Which only happens to very few out of many) or have inherited it from those who actually did the work. (Or perhaps their father gave them a small loan of a million dollars.) However, this idea I have presented to you only covers the monetary gains of success. It is really up to oneself to decide on what success is, and while I am perfectly fine with great friends and family, that in itself won't pay the bills. Well, I have delayed you enough from what this blog post is truly about, so without further stalling, let's delve deeper. Throughout my experience in elementary school, I was taught that the important thing to life was enjoying it, so I did. I worked hard in school, yes, but it wasn't my number one priority. What I put first was having fun. I hung out with friends, wrote some stories, invented adventures, and drew my dreams, however, once I got into middle school, things began to change quite drastically. The closer I got to eighth grade, the more teachers stressed the importance of grades, and aside from the little voice in my head still telling me about the importance of fun, the only thing I really focused on was my grades. I mean, can you blame me? I began to think that success was good grades, high marks, and getting the best paying or most beneficial job. I was starting to lose the idea of success of having a happy life, and it didn't help much that most of the adults and teachers around me were miserable. (But to be honest, even I hated my class, I mean, I don't even know how the teachers got sleep dealing with a class like ours. Rabid chimpanzees would be better behaved and easier to teach than my class.) By the end of seventh grade, I had basically turned to art for my comfort. I had been stressed to the point of insomnia, pushed to the brink of hopelessness, and the only thing keeping me gong at that point were my friends, (Both real and imagined) my art, and the horror of having to repeat a grade. Now I'm not saying that my life has been horrible, I have been quite blessed to have the privileges I do. Nor am I blaming the school either, I actually think it was because of multiple things that all revolve around my mental state, which hadn't really been explored at that time. What I'm saying is that what happened to me has made me into who I am now, and what I want to be in the future. And to be completely honest, I think that the best way I can use my talents to help others is to be the next big indie game designer. Heh, I know, even I think it's pretty silly at first glance, but hear me out. For starters, I have always found peace in fantasy, and rarely in the real world. TV shows like Gravity Falls, and Steven Universe were my go to feel good shows. Why? Well, these fantasy worlds weren't perfect, and they each presented themselves with real world problems that myself and many others were probably struggling with at the time, and they teached the viewers how to fix them as well. (Something that many schools don't.) Same thing with games like Undertale. They present the viewer/player with real life problems/morals and then present to them the answers and the good ethics one should have. So in response, I have decided to create my own universe and will learn how to program it into a reality. I have a love for writing, artistry, and programming, so those aspects won't be to terribly difficult, but still, looming in the distance is a challenge I will be faced with in the close future. You see, I want to create a fantasy world for everyone, no matter the age, race, gender, or sexual orientation, and I would like to do so without the sugar coating most other fantasy worlds put on. There are dangers in this universe like our own, whether they be poor legal systems, discriminating laws/people, a judgmental society, or harmful actions from single individuals. The problem I'm faced with is finding the good in all. Weather someone is being blindly lead, has an unorthodox moral system, or simply does wrongs in order to benefit themselves, (Weather or not they actually need to do so) everything must be presented. What I'm trying to accomplish is to have all who play this game look through their enemy's eyes and walk in their shoes before deciding if they are truly evil, or just a good person who does bad things. If I can accomplish this, then I would feel truly successful. My end goal isn't to become rich, (Although financial gain would be a necessity to pay for its production.) all I want is at least a good part of America to become a better place, (And for people to stop playing the victim in every problem and actually take some responsibility every now and then.) And if I can have fun doing so, then all the better. (Oh, and if you're wondering, I have almost solidified the plot and I am beginning to intertwine all the complex stories that are yet to unfold. So expect the entire project to be completed somewhere within 2018-2020.) My DeviantArt holds more information so click here for more details and information art wise Contrast for the win! |
Creator InfoThis is a blog for a Game Art Design class. Future programmer and currently an artist and writer. Archives
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