Evaluation

So this project has come to an end, and it's time for me to assess and evaluate my work and what I've learnt.

I struggled a lot at the beginning of this term. I didn't know what I wanted to do, art wise, and found it became increasingly difficult to draw or paint anything. Painting was no longer fun, and as a result, the work I was trying to create was poor.

That's when I decided it was time for an over haul on everything, and try out some new techniques. Before this, I used to try and paint using easily 20+ layers, which would lead to me painting on the wrong layers, getting confused, and even loosing parts of my work because there was just too much going on. I knew I wanted to develop my work so that I could paint linelessly, but had no real idea of how to. This is how I went about my final 3 pieces from last term, which I feel are very poor pieces compared to what I've created now. Disliking those pieces was what gave me the motivation to push myself as much as I could to try and improve in as little time as possible.

I tried painting in shapes directly without any lineart, and it was the image below that was the result.

Although I like the final out come, painting in this way just didn't feel personal to me. How ever, it was a good practice for me to learn to blend colours and tones more effectively, and how to incorporate textures into the "paint".

I then decided to try and go back to how I was drawing last year (Year 2), which is simple line art and colour. Which is how I ended up with the following two images.




Although I thoroughly enjoy drawing like this, I quickly realised that it wasn't advanced or detailed enough to be finished concept art. Although a nice way to sketch, I couldn't call it a finished piece.

Doing these two suddenly allowed me to realise that I didn't need to paint linelessly, and I started to go about more experiments.
I know paint by getting to a coloured sketch, and then merging all layers flat (I make duplicates just in case I mess up first). This allows me to see my lineart, but to also paint over it, so that I don't have to keep switching layers back on and off.
This process allows for a lot more freedom, and reduces the amount of layers used by a significant amount.

I think the major thing I've learnt from this term has literally been how to paint in a more effect and much faster way. I know I still have a long way to go before I am industry ready, and there are areas which I need to push myself on much more. Specifically males and perspective. I plan on starting my own project over summer which will include me learning how to use other packages such as Zbrush, Flash and Illustrator. I feel it is really important to push what knowledge I have gained about these packages over the last year, so that I am at least competent and confident in using them.

Over all I am happy with the work I have produced over the last term. Although there isn't as much as the quantity of last terms work, I do however feel that the quality is greatly improved, and therefore far more valuable. I have some strong pieces that I can begin my portfolio with, and I hope that if I continue at the pace I have been, then I'll continue to learn and improve.

Aimee costumes

Here's the finished set of costumes for Aimee that would feature at various points within the game. The first two on the left are starter costumes, and would be changeable with the player being able to upgrade them to how ever they like.
I'm pretty happy with these, considering they're quite basic figures. It took about 1 hour and a half to do each one.

The Forest Grower

The finished piece for the Forest Grower.
The Forest Grower is an ancient creature that stalks a vast area of land. It destroys and eats diseased or dead forest and jungle, and then re-grows them. It can stand stationary for weeks at a time as it grows new life around it.
Although huge in size, the Forest Grower is generally a peaceful creature that just goes about it's business. However, if it's forest and land is threatened or damaged, then it will attack in a fury, intent on preserving the life of the land.
It is peppered with arrows and spears, and even rope from when humans and other creatures have attempted to bring it down, a futile activity which would only result in damage to the humans.

The Forest Grower

More progress on the Forest Grower. The following images show how I went about changing the background completely, as I really disliked the original I was working on. (I used this image as reference).
I'm still not 100% happy (then again, I never am), with it, but I think it's a vast improvement on the original.

Byron

I took a quick break from the Forest Grower to amend some things on this piece that I received some crits about.



Things changed include:
Darkening the hair in certain places to give it more depth and volume.
The angle of his nose and mouth.
Added in his necklaces.
Deepened the skin tones so that they popped a bit more.

I think after making these changes that it's a much stronger piece, and I'm finally really pleased with the out come. I know there are still areas that need improving, especially the mouth, but for once I'm actually kind of proud of my work.

The Forest Grower

So after deciding to scrap my Night Stalker piece for now, I realised that I need to paint some kind of creature as I only have humanoid pieces so far. Flicking through my sketchbook, I came across this sketch: The Forest Grower

So here's a run through of where I am with it so far.

The Night Stalker

I'm still really not feeling this piece. I've pushed myself to paint more fur, using a Photoshop brush created specifically for this purpose. There's something about the image that feels very awkward, and I'm not sure if it's the creatures colours.
I think for now I'm going to leave this piece be- I've learnt something from it (how to render, and how not to render fur); I have stronger WIP's that I think would be better to concentrate on.

Aimee costumes 3

So I've tried out that technique I described in the last post, and I'm really enjoying it. It's much quicker for little pieces like this, and you can achieve some quite nice effects by duplicating layers and changing the settings further.
Over all I'm pleased with how it's turning out so far.

Aimee costumes2

Base colours are in. I've been thinking about trying a different method of painting with this one; I saw a friend using this technique the other day and was impressed with the results, and wanted to give it a go myself.

I block in the base colours, and then on a layer underneath, I shade everything in grey scale. The colour layer is then switched to "Overlay", which allows the tonal value from the grey scale layer through. Should be fun to see the outcome.

Re-visiting pieces

I've received quite a critiques since I've finished these various pieces, and I thought it would be a shame to let them go to waste. And so these are the improved pieces. I'll detail under each one what was changed.


Byron: I added some hair falling over his neck to try and make it look more natural.


Recovering: Completely reworked the background. I think it's a much stronger piece for it, and I feel that it flows together much better. (I used this image as reference)



Nomads: I lengthened Astarel's legs, and re-worked the knees a bit more so that they didn't look so flat and stylised.


Toekis: I reworked the colour on it and lightened it up so you can actually see the detail that I had painted in.

Aimee Costumes

Byron

This is the finalised portrait of Byron, a character in the game who would become the players ally. He is a sarcastic character, quick to tease others with a very dry wit. He is very conscious about his image, and makes an effort to keep his beard and hair in pristine condition.

Byron;

1. I realised that I haven't done any pieces focused on a male character yet. I know they're my weakness, and I think that's why I forget to draw them. I've really got to force myself to do it, as I find them so difficult to draw.

So I decided to do a couple of pieces on Byron, my male character who would feature as a companion and a good allie in the game.
First up is a detailed portrait that I have planned, so you can start to get a feel of his nature and what his life has been like so far.



I used this fantastic image as reference.

2. Rough base colours are down. Not sure about the necklaces- I think they cut the image in half and are too harsh.


3. Starting to refine the basics, and merging the line art in with the colouring. Ended up removing the necklaces.


4. Just continuing the refining process, and changed the angle of the nose to fit in with the overall angle of the face.


5. Continuing with the rendering of the face.


6. Skin and beard is now finished (without pore details or scars).


7. Beginning to render the hair. Byron is quite vain in appearance, hence why his hair and beard are immaculate.


8. The bulk amount of the hair is done, but it still needs more tonal value to make it look fuller.


9. Added more depth to the hair, and added some stray strands for effect.


The finished piece is in the next post.

Recovering

I'm leaving this as it is for now because no matter what I do, I'm just really not feeling the background. I'm taking a couple of days off from it, and will come back to it and probably re-work the whole background. I also want to experiment with a background I painted earlier this year, (this one here), and see if I can move her into it, but I do have very big doubts that it will work properly.

Aimee continued 2

Here's the process that I've gone through so far over many, many hours. Although I'm happy with Aimee, the background really feels odd to me. It looks very odd, very distracting and generally very badly painted. I'm going to have to push this further and see what I can improve.

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Aimee continued

1.Steadily working my way through this, and I have to say, I'm really enjoying it. It's also nice to know that I've improved; I originally drew this last term, and barely got anywhere with the colouring because I was still struggling with digital painting so much. Painting in Photoshop is becoming much more easier and natural to me now, as is knowing where lighting should be placed; I think it's safe to say that I have somewhat improved since last semester.
I'm ridiculously glad that I've finally been able to sort out a technique that works and allows me to paint much quicker than previously.
Rather than spam my blogger continueously, I'm going to update all the newest images on this thread.



2. Worked quite a bit into this since my last update. Had a lot of fun with the fur/fleece that lines her jacket. Hair is now finished, and I'm moving onto the sleeves. I'm determined to get this all painted out today.


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