Steampunk Character - Spider Diagram

Moodboard

Task 1 - Digital Graphics for Computer Games

Task 1 – digital graphics for computer games from James-003

Bibliography
Websites: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page, http://www.techterms.com/category/acronyms
Moodle Reference material

Task 3 - Digital Graphics

Pixel Art

Pixel art is a form of Digital art, this particular art is developed through raster graphic software. These graphics are developed at the pixel level, therefore they are fairly low res and tend to be the level of graphics in most low end computers.

Within video games, pixels were used in the early stages of game development, during both the arcade age and even during the early stages of the console age, pixel graphics was the definitive method for creating video game graphics.

Pixels are made up of many small coloured squares, when put together they begin to form an image or texture. While pixels are fairly low quality by today's standards, they are still used in popular games today, such as minecraft.

Concept Art

Concept art is used to explore different concepts when it comes to characters, environments, weapons, vehicles, etc..

Concept art is done in a wide range of media, from classic pencil to paper to computer art. The method is entirely up to the designer and often has some regard to the stylisation of the game, for example

Concepts will often go through several different variations before a final piece is selected. As concepts can evolve over time it is not unusual for an accepted concept to be changed right at the end of a project, as was the case with Elena of the Uncharted series.

Texture Art

Texture art is used to texturise character models, enviroments, objects, etc within a video game. Texture art is usually in a 2D form and in rare cases 3D, it can then be overlaid onto a polygon mesh in order to create a realistic 3D model.

Take this cracked surface for example. A real 3-D cracked surface might feel rough or smooth, and definitely feels hard when touched. A painter depicting this would create the illusions of these qualities through use of color, line, shape, etc.

"Lightwave 9 improves its rendering interface with a new Render Globals Panel containing all the render related parametres."

"Surfacing in Lightwave was starting to look dated, but in version 9 Newtek has added the Node ditor to bring things up to date". Computer Arts, September 2006



Background Graphics

Background graphics include the enviroment in general, Sky's, urban landscapes, wastelands, etc.. It is down to the background designers to create an immersive world.

Background graphics also consist of menus or user interfaces. It is important to keep these interfaces interesting, as these menus give the player an overall impression of the game as a whole, it is especiall important to keep them interesting enough for the player to navigate, as when it comes to RPG's (Role Playing Game) The player will be spending a lot of time within the menus.

Print Media Art

When it comes to advertising a game, print media art is important, with the right use of this, even a terrible game can look good to a consumer. Print media art consists of packaging, posters, artwork, any piece of imagery used to promote the game.



In the case of "Dead Island" a game which I personally felt was terrible, the artwork used to depict the game was fantastic and in my eyes, gave a false impression of the quality of the game.

In the cases of Special editions, there is usually a boost in quality when it comes to the packaging, with new artwork, steel cases or even extra packaging usually in the form of a chest or box and of course, there are posters to demonstrate all this.

Bilbliograpy

Images: Super Mario, Sonic the Hedgehog, Minecraft, Borderlands 2, Uncharted, God of War III, Final Fantasy, Dragon Ball Z Budokai Tenkaichi, Rayman 3, Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm, Dead Island, Assassins Creed IV.

Websites: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page, http://assassinscreed.ubi.com/ac3/en-gb/index.aspx, http://borderlands.wikia.com/wiki/Borderlands_Wiki,

Books: Computer Arts, September 2006

Task 2 - Digital Graphics

Digital graphics from James-003

Bibliography
Images: Uncharted, Beyond Two Souls, Sly: Thieves in Time, Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm 2, Guitar Hero, Rayman 3, God of War III, Asura's Wrath, Dragon Ball Z Burst Limit.
Websites: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page, http://dictionary.reference.com/, http://uncharted.wikia.com/wiki/Uncharted_Wiki

Evaluation

The Wings of Morpheus project is centred around creating two pieces of artwork with Photoshop and Illustrator. You are to choose one of three Steampunk characters and create the artwork based on a description of each character.

I chose to create Henry Drayton. A philanthropist who is trained in martial arts and has a knack for mechanics, as a result he has created a mechanical dog for himself. He is the hero of The Wings of Morpheus project.

I researched this project from various films and video games based on the Steampunk genre, as well as from images I had found online. Such movies and games included, “Wild Wild West”, Van Hellsing, Jak and Daxter, Bioshock: Infinite, Dishonoured.

My strengths within this project lay within Adobe Illustrator. During the course of this project, my skills within Illustrator have greatly improved and as a result, I feel I was able to create a good piece of artwork.

My weaknesses lay within the Photoshop side of the project, it is a programme which I continue to feel unfamiliar with and wish to gain more experience with.

Within the Illustrator side of the project, my character exceeded my own expectations, I even managed to do some extra work in the form of creating Henry Drayton’s robot dog as well as creating an environment which I housed them both in.

I feel I could have improved upon the Photoshop side of the project, I didn’t feel especially comfortable using the programme and would like to practice with it further.

I used both Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator in this project.

When I began this project I was a complete novice when it came to Adobe Illustrator. Now I feel I have become proficient when using this programme.

Extra Work - Steampunk Enviroment

I begain by finding a screen shot of what I imagine to be a steampunkish enviroment.

I then begain tracing the aspects of the enviroment. I started with the tower and its windows. I did this with the pen tool. This was more difficult than I expected it to be, but I managed to achieve this by using a seperate layer for each aspect of the tower and assigning those layers within a specific order.

I also added my Steampunk Character to the enviroment. With that in place, I was able to gain a better understanding of how the rest of the enviroment could begin to fit in.

With my character in place, I finished off the rest of the tower. I also decided to add in the bridge. I outlined this with the pen tool and used a gradient in an attempt to gain a more believable sense of perspective.

Now that I have added all the parts of the enviroment which I wanted. I removed my reference picture and began work on creating a sky. I used a grey/white linear gradient to achieve a dark cloudy sky.

I added further detail to the sky in the form of clouds. I created these by initially creating three radial gradients in white. I then proceeded to alter their shapes and sizes with the selection tool. I then used the selection tool to drag my three gradients into the Symbols dialogue box.

After naming the symbol appropiately, I used the symbol sprayer to create the body of my clouds.

After this, I wanted to make my clouds darker, so I duplicated my current cloud symbol and double clicked my copy in order to put it into editing mode. Due to isolation mode containg a white background, my clouds were impossible to see, therefore I used the selection tool and highlighted the screen. Now that they're selected, a blue outline surrounds them.

Now that this is done, I adjusted the gradient colour to a dark grey.

With that done, I left isolation mode and onece again used the symbol editor to darken my clouds.

I felt my enviroment was still lacking, so I took some inspiration from Bioshock: Infinite and decided to add a blimp. I used a picture of a blimp from google images as a base.

After outlining the blimp with the pen tool, I used gradients to help make it appear 3D.

I added further details to the blimp in order to make it seem more steam punkish. I used a combination of the pen tool and the gradient tool to achieve this.

I also added my character's robot dog to the scene.

Extra Work - Henry Drayton's Robot Dog Work Process - Illustrator

I started by finding a picture of a dog on Google images. I used this as a base for designing my robot dog.

I proceeded to outline the dog using the pen tool. I made adjustments as neccesary to fit with my design.

I filled in my out line with a grey colour. I also added eyes using the pen tool and added a green radial gradient. I added further details with the pen tool and then used a linear gradient to aid in giving a 3D/shine effect.

I added further facial details with the pen tool, including a snout and facial outline. I also added a radial gradiant to the ears. I then added the back leg and gave it a linear gradient to help indicate that it is truly in the background. This is the reason for not including it in my original outline, so I may colour it seperately from the main body.

I added further details to the face using the pen tool, coupled with the eclipse tool, as well as the linear gradient tool. I also re-did the gradient on the ears for a more shaded appearence. I also began adding details to the legs using both the pen and radial gradient tool.

I created a strap using the pen tool and linear gradient tool, I also added further detail to the neck and legs using the pen tool.

I began adding shading using the pen tool. I then copied the colour code within the colour pallette from the main body's grey. I used this as a base for the lighting and shading. I simply lightened and darkened this shade of grey to give the impression of lighting and shading.

I also added rounded indents to the bots body using the eclipse tool. I duplicated the original circle and moved it's layer underneath the original layer. After that I moved it slightly to the side and lightened the colour to gain a 3D effect.
To add to that, I added further details to the neck and legs using both the pen and eclipse tool. I also found a clipart of a gear on Google Images and used the pen tool to outline it and create my own, which I then added to the front legs.