Space Centre: Where I Am Now

Right so just before Christmas I was given the task to draw some thumbs and a final at the location of the National Space Centre here in Leicester. This is quite a funky looking building and has some cool exhibits inside so I was quite excited to get this project under way. When I look back at that project I realise that this was when I was starting to up my ante and I was just beginning to really push myself to put in the time and effort. I was doing more self directed study and throwing myself into new tasks which was admittedly not exactly what I was doing before. I did 5 A3 pages of thumbnails and a final of the sputnick replica.

I was quite happy with some of thumbs and I was definitely showing progression from my earlier drawings on the course.

Since then I have really upped my game and every week I do a secondary project on top of all my other work. I have now been able to use time management to increase my productivity and I attend labs everyday so I can focus better (I'm typing this in the labs now when back in the 1st semester a blog post like this would take twice as long because I would have all the distractions at my flat). This increase in productivity is something I am really enjoying and the more I work the more I enjoy what I get out of it. When I first started working at the labs I would go home and have a rest for a couple of hours before bed but now I even start doing work. Little bit at a time I do slightly more and this will start reflecting in my skills soon.

Now back to the subject of the space centre. Recently we were told to do another space centre project to show improvements from the earlier attempt. I did find this quite funny at the time though because I had just a couple of days before done a self directed study of the space centre during my reef and gladiator projects. So I used my time to do 4 A3 pages filled with tightly packed thumbnails that were of a nice quality and a A3 final. I decided to combine this work with the self directed work because they were done at the same time. My technique has improved and my speed at doing the thumbnails has increased.

I think even though the quality hasn't improved loads I know my speed a the amount of work I do has. During this space centre project I also finished a 3D project made a presentation (about Blade Runner) and I did a self directed project on the Abbey pumping station. I've learnt how to keep working and the more I work the better I will become.

Reef character... and new lessons are learnt

Recently I had another character project to work on but this time it had to be inspired by the motif "Reef" this could be anyway I wanted, shape and form, colours, rhythms etc... So I started this project as strong as I could by getting books out from the library on reefs and sea sides. Moodboards were made and I looked at the colours typically found in coral reefs. I really liked the idea that the reef was alive and there was personality to the different structures and rhythms inside it.

After the moodboards I drew some pictures a creatures from the reef and reef based humans (fishermen). These thumbnails were done so I could understand some of the qualities of this reef motif. Drawing turtles particularly interested me because they had this bored lacklustre feeling about them. Like they were tired but knew they had to do what they were doing. They also had some interesting patterns on the shells and the silhouette of the head was quite angular and squared off.

I continued exploring shapes and silhouettes in many ways. I couldn't find one thing that particularly gripped me. I did many early designs and found it hard to develop one I felt was strong enough after lots of thumbnails both of silhouettes and little sketches.

I eventually settled on a design of a scuba man. He has quite a square head with the facial features disguised by his breathing apparatus. I imagined him as this slumped not happy henchman for a sea theme super villain. Just tottering about doing his job from day to day ( a bit of a yes man).

So the next part was testing out this design and making some changes to the body and head. To do this I decided to use digital painting because its something I'm still trying to understand. With the head sections it went really well and I've found that I'm ok in grey scale. The problem was doing the finals where I used colour I realised there so much I've got to practice and work at before I can do any decent designs. So what I got out of this project was that I'm understanding the process now and I know how to generate ideas but I need to work on my skills so I can put these concepts down effectively.

Blade Runner: Art analysis

First things first before you read this I strongly suggest you go and watch Blade Runner because this post is just an art analysis of that film. If you don't want to listen to my advice because your some sort of rebel maybe you will watch this fantastic piece of cinema after you read this.

Blade Runner is a science fiction film set in a cyberpunk vision of Los Angeles in the year 2019. This is a world where industry and commercialization has grown and throughout the city advertisements are everywhere. It's also technologically advanced and the plot revolves around a Blade Runner name Decker who has to hunt 4 genetically engineered robots called replicants that are violent and look just like humans. The amazingly well crafted world that it takes place in are what really brings it together and every environment in the film reinforces what's happening in the story. The awesome cinematography, music and concepts make the world seem as real as can be.

LA 2019

Blade Runner borrows many parts of both its themes and style from Metropolis which is essentially the first big sci-fi film and has defined many aspects of science fiction. Made in 1927 it shows a far off future with massive and crowded cities where towering skyscrapers are entwined with many overpasses and networks of roads. Hundreds of connected buildings tightly packed where manufacturing plants are toiled over by the masses. The architecture and look of the film uses Art Deco which was a new movement at the time and the film pushed it onto the big screen.

Metropolis and it art deco style also helped influence Bioshock.

The plot of Blade Runner is very much a detective story and there is a strong sense of film noir coming into it. Scenes with lots of important dialogue use lighting conditions and the colour pallets to give deep impact to scene and help set the visual tone which reinforces the characters exchanges.

The aesthetics of the film use retro-futurism to ground the sci-fi elements of the film in reality by using styles that exist. In the case of Blade Runner the costumes of the characters are all inspired by the fashion of the 1940's and the 1920's. The bar scene has lots of designs that scream of the old vaudeville acts of the 20's and the main characters attire is that commonplace in 40's america. The architecture has an art deco feel to it and these towering structures have lots of decal and signs in light which was popular in the 40's. The ending takes place in the Bradbury building which is this old building that perfectly demonstrates this retro futurist vibe with old style lifts and awnings that have this old feel. In the films its run down with garbage and rubbish on the floors but your reminded that there's this futuristic world out side by these powerful beams of light cutting through the cracks and the blinds where flying cars and ships drift around outside.

The Bradbury building was also in 500 Days of Summer

The film really has two different colour themes running throughout the film and one of them will always dominate a scene depending on what's happening and where its happening. One is comprised of rich yellows and bronzed oranges which harken back to Art Deco in some ways. This scheme is often used in the high rises and the rich offices the Tyrell corporation. It's also used in the extravagant bar scenes where vaudeville acts occur.

Syd Mead's awesome concept art

The second colour scheme uses the colder colours with mainly blues and some green hues to show the gritty city and have this dark moody feel throughout the film. This colour theme is used more on the city streets and in interrogation scenes where a dark cold atmosphere is used to keep this noir feel.

Here I have two of my favourite stills from the film here. The first one shows this excellent shot of one of the characters running out of the door. The strong lines of the light and shadow on the floor lead into the figure in this very active pose with lots of movement. The dark surroundings are illuminated by the neon lights which are place diagonally so they are again leading the eye to the character.

The second still is towards the end of the film and shows the main character looking around a room of mannequins searching for a replicant who is hiding in the scene. All the heads of the figures in this shot are in line breaking up the image and leading your eye along the line so you see that they are similar so the replicant is hidden. The mannequins are shrouded in this orange colour and so the main character is pushed forward by the subtle blues that surround him. The white light creates a gradient on the still from the top left to the bottom right and heavily illuminates the mannequin that is actually the replicant in disguise.

Blade Runners living world that is filled with mood and tension has now become a land mark in sci-fi and has gone on to inspire many of the things we see and play today. Fifth Element, Deus Ex, Cyberpunk 2077 and ghost in the shell to name but a few.

Cyberpunk 2077

References:

  http://d2vo5twcnd9mdi.cloudfront.net/uploads_ca52e37f-d3e5-4cb0-9b0d-8e10f2adb724-blade-runner-2-movie.jpeg
Blade Runner Poster

http://frankensteinnow.wikispaces.com/file/view/Blade_Runner.jpg/92840908/Blade_Runner.jpg
Image of a still from the film Blade Runner 1982

http://www.leninimports.com/metropolis.jpg
Metropolis poster. photoshopped image of original Fritz Lang poster.

http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o165/cinquevolte/Blade%20Runner/2-13.jpg
Image of a still from the film Blade Runner 1982

https://derricklferguson.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/blade_runner___rachel_by_maxhitman-d39c7r5.jpg
Image of a still from the film Blade Runner 1982

http://www.sauceforthoughts.dreamhosters.com/wp/home/.mashenka/edwardlcohen/sauceforthoughts.dreamhosters.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Blade_Runner_Concept_1.png
Concept art for Blade Runner

http://wharferj.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/bladerunner_bradbury_1.jpg
Images of two stills from the film Blade Runner 1982

http://www.pinterest.com/caseorganic/bladerunner-concept-art/
Concept art pieces by Syd Mead

http://payload42.cargocollective.com/1/0/128/3149179/40-deckard-arrives1_905.jpg
Image of a still from the film Blade Runner 1982

http://images2.fanpop.com/images/photos/8200000/Blade-Runner-Promotional-Still-blade-runner-8230044-2560-1070.jpg
Image of a still from the film Blade Runner 1982

http://www.overclockers.ru/images/soft/2014/01/23/cyberpunk_1_big.jpg
Image from the trailer for Cyberpunk 2077

Are you not entertained?... Gladiator Project

Making a Gladiator

Right so recently I've been working on my 3D skills and as a project I made a gladiator. This is my first time character modelling and it was an interesting exercise in making the topology flow around the model to create the organic shapes of a human. The tri budget for this gladiator was 2800 tris and we had to rig it with a budget of 28 bones. I did enjoy this project because I used a lot of new tools and modifiers for the first time so it has broadened my knowledge of 3ds max and modelling in general. Because I rigged it I also had some fun loading in animations and testing the rig. I also eventually animated the camera so it followed the gladiator as he did a dance.

I used box modelling to make the body, hands and head separately referring to the same references so they all matched. I then attached them all together to form the complete body. I then modelled in the armour and weapons and attached them to the object. As part of the armour I use the poly draw tool which allowed me to draw planes around the shape of the gladiator. I used pelt unwrapping and view port canvas when making the textures and unwraps where my knowledge of unwrapping increased. I made use of welding the seams together in the unwrap so I could remove as many seams as possible however this did mean that the texture space wasn't used as effectively as possible. Using these new tools meant I was understanding more about how to make my models and reinforced the skills I already knew. During the last 3D project I was just trying to grasp the way a good topology would work but as I worked through this project I am truly starting to understand it. If I keep working hard eventually I might be a decent 3D artist. And seeing as I'm doing lots of 3D work when I'm not drawing I probably will.

What I've learnt the most though is effective time management. In the past I only really applied this to manage my 2D process because that was something I struggled with but as I have been upping my workload and productivity every couple of weeks I decided to apply it to this project and it worked wonders. Normally I must admit with the 3D projects so far I will be quickly finishing it on the hand-in date but with this project I have finished with 4 days spare. This has given me time to present the work well. I have added a camera to one of my saves and rendered it out as an animation where the camera follows the gladiator around.

I'm definitely going to continue putting my all in especially now I see that balance between my 3D and 2D pays off. My gladiator is also on my sketchfab page.