Life Drawing

In this session of life drawing we tried out different techniques like drawing with both hands at once and then two long poses. 

Lava Creature

Moodboard/Research 

Some images I discovered of lava-inspired creatures and animals that will help me in choosing a final design.

My initial sketch was a demon like creature, that would have lava flowing through its skin/on the rock he was sitting on.

However, in my final design, I decided to completely change the face to that of another demon (still sticking to the demon concept) and add wings. I wanted it to be grey as the face was inspired by a gargoyle, so it would be a lava-statue.

Improvements I could have added or changed: Instead of painting the lava by hand, to speed up the process and make it look more realistic I should have used an image of lava and then painted over it. Also, I could have improved the shading and not made it look so dark, because by adding more contrast the creature would look much more 3D. 

Gun Design

I started off researching what some typical futuristic gun designs would look like. There was a large variety of styles I looked at, but most were clean and precise regardless of style.

My finished piece is a combination of the images I researched, but with my own style. I like the shape of it, as it looks very futuristic, however I wasn't sure how to make it look more realistic with the colour and it doesn't look like it's made from metal. That would be my one critical evaluation of this piece, as it's lacking a realistic look.

Elf and Dwarf

Following the concept of Human anatomy, Dwarves use 4 heads, and elves use 9/10. Using these guidelines I designed these two characters.


I like the way I have drawn them, and I am happy with their designs, however, I believe I got the proportions for the dwarf incorrect, and I feel like I could have given him a set of dwarf armor instead of just clothing, as the armor would have given an insight into dwarf culture more and it would have made the character more interesting to look at. The elf looks unique and unusual, but I could have improved the details of the dress and made them more earthly. 

Character Silhouettes

First I researched some images on google to give me inspiration on how to draw distinguished silhouettes.

This is how I started with my silhouettes. I used inspiration from some images of crustaceans, and also horned creatures. 

I then added some shading detail to give the silhouettes more definition and form. The first is a peacock/crustacean creature. The second is between a crab and a man, and the third is inspired by deep sea crustacean's with a devil's horned head.

In the colouring stage, I could have improved the colour scheme for each character and added some more detail/mix of colours to the final product.

Pixel Art

Retro Pixel Toy

For the pixel art exercise we were tasked with drawing a retro toy in the style. I decided to go for the classic robot design, and intergrated into the image below it fits in with the rest of the pixel art. 

Classic Column

In class we learnt how to model a classic column using a plane and an image. I have decided to integrate it into my Battle Arena as the foundations; here is how I have started. 

One Sheet, Storyboard, Map

One Sheet

This is my One Sheet first draft - I have the main idea down, and then the core principles of the game as shown.

Storyboard

The storyboard shows how the player will be slowly introduced to the games controls as they approach the temple. Walking, running, interacting and combat are all shown in the slides.

Map Draft

This is a very rough idea of the layout of the temple. The first room is the puzzle, the second contains a treasure chest and then the player has to go up to the second floor to defeat the evil spirits of the temple, granting them access to an ancient gem that helps them on their quest. 

Perspective Drawing

This is my perspective drawing, using the video tutorial on Youtube. I didn't find it too challenging, however getting to proportions of the pillars right proved more difficult and I think I still need to work on my one point and two point perspective.

Research on Ancient Greece

What is it about Ancient Greece that makes it so monumental to us today?

And how can this be used in a game?

I am aiming to find out more about the way life was lived in Ancient Greece, their beliefs and values and their artistic culture, that has helped to shape modern society. 

To answer my question I will look at online resources that talk about Ancient Greek culture, their mythologies and their laws. There are many games that have used Ancient Greece as a template for their stories, but twisted to suit their own ideas, such as the God of War franchise which is heavily influenced by all things Greek.

The Ancient Greeks used stories to help them learn and understand the world around them. Gods, mythological monsters, heroes, all featured heavily in these tales. The family history between the Gods was complicated and dramatic. It was clear that the Ancient Greeks enjoyed drama - they had many plays based on tragedies that people flocked to watch. 

The period Ancient Greece was set in was known as the "Bronze Age" and this lasted from around 3200 - 1100 BC. It was called this because a revival had begun in terms of trade with the wider world, arts, crafts and writing re-emerged and city states developed. As the British Museum website states, by around 500 BC democracy had emerged in the city of Athens. In drama and philosophy, literature, art and architecture Athens was the pioneer. The city stretched from the Western Mediterranean to the Black Sea, creating enormous wealth. Additionally, every fourth year the Olympic Games were held in honor of the god Zeus, and this attracted people from across Greece. They are the reason why we still hold the Olympic games today, albeit less bloody. Ancient Greece has also influenced how we run government today, as the majority of the world uses a democratic, "for the people" system that originated in this time period.

Ancient Greece also gave birth to many famous philosophers that shape our way of thinking and viewing the world today such as Aristotle, Homer, and the originator of ancient medicine, Hippocrates. 

References

The British Museum. (s.d) Ancient Greece. [Online] At:

http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/cultures/europe/ancient_greece.aspx [Accessed: 02.10.15].

Robot designs

One of the first exercises we had to do was the design a robot. I had influence from a lot of anime such as Ghost in the Shell and Akira and I came up with these ideas. 

Life Drawing 2nd Lesson

The aims of life drawing is to improve my observation of human anatomy. In this session I believe I have made an improvement from my previous drawings.

I used my left hand in a few of the drawings and this was quite challenging considering it uses the other half of your brain which you're not used to, therefore it proved more difficult to observe the body but it was good practice.