Spaceship Interior

When trying to come up with a design for the interior of the spaceship I knew I wanted to keep it simple as I did not want to over complicate things, and also have the possibility of running out of time for completing it. When I was looking for inspiration I came across some hotels that had a very minimalist / futuristic feel to them, especially within their spas. I really liked this design as it was very clean cut and did hold a futuristic feel to it.

I had a rough idea of what I wanted after finding some these spas as inspiration so I drew up a really quick idea and then took it into Photoshop to test out some colours. I knew I wanted my interior to be bright and reflective to add more to that simplicity look and feel. Also as my character was going to fairly colourful, not sticking to the norms of animalistic colour conventions, I didn't want the interior clashing with my character. The colour scheme I came up with was quite muted and when it came to painting the texture for the inside of the dome, it didn't feel right, when placing behind my shot footage, I found that Jeff (my actress) didn't sit very well within the background. It ended up looking too fake and it wasn't something I wanted at all. I felt that if I used a free texture I would be able to achieve a more realistic setting where the two components, both actress and backdrop would be able to fit nicely together.

The last image, you can see is one of my rendered shots. Initially I tried using blinn shaders to achieve a specularity and reflectivity on the objects, however I found that I couldn't control it too well and was not able to get the effect I was looking for. Instead it was suggested by a friend that I use a shader within Maya called: mia_material_x. This shader works really well with mental ray and as you can see, produces really nice reflections. Mia materials can only be rendered using mental ray as well. Because it turned out really well I ended up using it for the floor and on my alien character too. With the floor there is also a bump map plugged into it to give more depth. The alien also needed a reflection map as with using mia_material_x, everything has specularity on it, so you need a map to tell it where to not have it e.g. everywhere apart from the nose and mouth.

Spaceship development

Trying to figure out a design for my spaceship ended up being a lot harder than I thought. I wanted something that would relate to my character yet the common sci-fi spaceships you see in movies would not fit the style I was going for. In the end I realised the main thing that would relate the spaceship to the character is fur, again a typical spaceship wouldn't really work with fur so even though it's very simple I thought just a sphere could work. By adding fur onto it it gives it another dimension and is different to what you would normally see. To make it more interesting I plan to add one large spaceship and a couple small ones flying about in the scene, hopefully I will be able to show the fur dynamics with this which will add to the performance. Another reason for keeping it just a polygon sphere is that it allows me to spend more time making sure the rig I create for my character is correct, without a decent rig my animation would be let down. As my character is a quadruped, the rigging setup is slightly different and I will have to pay close attention when it comes to painting the weights. Before all of this however I will have to make sure that my model has the correct topology, the flow of the lines are all correct and will be similar to how a real mammal would be constructed. 

In a previous post I have already been testing out different types of fur and adjusting the attributes. Now I have had more time with it you can see the images below with what I have come up with, something more different than just using the presets. It ended up being a lot of trial and error, sometimes the fur was clumped up too much or other times it was too thick. What's good about Maya Fur is that it allows you to save a setup within the fur that you have created so you are able to easily apply this to another object. Obviously I don't want the smaller spaceships to be an exact copy of the larger one so I adjusted the attributes of the main fur preset I created, I think I may also adjust the hues of the little ones within After Effects when it comes to compositing, as this will then show it's not just a copy and make it more interesting to the eye.

Further Developmet

After drawing out some initial designs I came up with a design I liked by combining a few features from each. I have drawn this character out on four legs, and I keep going back between whether it will be on four or two, however now I have come to a decision for four legs. I looked at meerkats after drawing out initial designs and found that they were a perfect subject to look at as they run on four legs but will stand up on their hind legs to look out for predators. I drew from an image I found off the internet as I found that it best represented what I wanted to draw. This design is still subject to change with the patterns on the fur and the colours, so I created a colour sheet to try out different shades and will get feedback from others to see what suits other people. From here I will then develop it further towards a final design and might adjust eye colour to compliment the fur colour, I will then be creating an expression sheet to go with this and will try sculpting my character out in clay to get a better idea of proportions.

Moustache Man

After writing up a couple of character sheets the next stage is to produce some drawings that are based off these. I want to improve my drawing skills a bit more so I wanted to contribute to the concept part of the brief. I had a rough idea of how the boss man should look so I started sketching out a few ideas, concentrating more on face shapes as his moustache is the main focal point. I tired out a range of different shapes to see what would best compliment his overgrown facial hair. Passing it on to the rest of my group for feedback I have managed to come up with a possible final idea for his face (it still may need tweaking), but I think I will take it into Maya and block it out to get an idea of volume and how it will be in a 3D space.

We have also decided on his body shape being almost like an upside down triangle, he is very well built on top but has short legs which can give him an almost comical look as you would expect him to be quite tall in comparison. Below the drawings you can see a quick model of this character in I did in Maya. At the moment it is just in smooth preview, it may not be this smooth when it comes to making the final one as it would bump up the polygon count quite a bit. His hair and facial hair may need to be modeled separately but I will have to find this out, at the moment I have just extruded out specific faces to create them. I will pass these on to Lija so she can get a better idea of proportion and how he will look from different perspectives.

Concept Art

In the end I took an idea I briefly drew up and developed from there, a mushroom cluster based on a bonsai tree. I liked how I could incorporate many different stems that grew off the main root and this was quite similar to the properties of a bonsai tree.

These are the final concepts for my game level, once I had it all laid out in Unity I had a better idea of perspective and scale so I was then able to produce this piece within Photoshop. The spaceship in the bottom right hand corner gives a rough idea of the scale of the whole piece and how big you would be as the player. When it comes to texturing the mushroom and the whole level I am going to try and stick by these colours, however I know there will probably need some alterations when it comes to the final thing. I may also change the colour of the mountains as this at the moment doesn't look too much like an alien planet, however it could work better when the lights and textures are in place. The scene itself is going to be around evening time in order to emphasize the glow of the mushroom, it will also add to the mood and atmosphere as to why there is a giant mushroom and if anyone or anything inhabits this place.

Originally I planned for my spaceship to have crash landed on a platform, however I found that this was too artificial and didn't fit in too well; like why would there conveniently be stepping stones leading towards the little island right where you have landed upon? To make it seem a bit more natural I thought it would be best to have the spaceship crash land in water, so the bottom concept art shows this.

Yipo Gao

As I am further developing my concept art for my game level, I came across this artist, Yipo Gao and was instantly drawn to his use of colour. The two pieces I chose both have a similar colour palette, however the scenes differ quite drastically. The one on the left seems to be an underwater scene whereas the one below is within a wood/swamp area. Depending on the types of foliage and the way it is lit, it can alter the perception of the image to a person. I've come to realise that a lot of underwater foliage and the creatures that dwell deep in the ocean can seem quite alien-like. They can hold an appearance to which we are not accustomed to so something that is not of the norm will seem almost as if it is from another planet.

Like a previous artist I have blogged about, Lianna Tai, Yipo Gao has also used pinks within his work and to me, in each of the artists pieces they seem to suggest that these plants or objects aren't natural, that the pinks make them glow, they seem to come alive with that colour. I created a colour sheet for my main mushroom and I did try out a combination of pinks, however when I asked people's opinion they seemed to be drawn to the blue/aqua colours more. Either way, both blue and pink - or any colour infact can suggest an alien lifeform or object, it is just depends on what the object is and what textures are actually put onto them to emphasise it more.

I really like both images are they give off a kind of mysterious yet possibly dark atmosphere which is something I want to achieve in my concept art and game level. I will see what I can achieve concept art wise using photoshop, however I think I may be more successful giving off that kind of atmosphere in my final game level when I have all the textures light and any extra effects put in.

Spaceship Design

The spaceship even though I haven't talked much about is so far, is actually a big part of my scene. The brief was to create a UFO crash site, so without the spaceship it won't be fulfilled. As it has crashed landed on an alien planet I want something that is really distinctive and futuristic to contrast against the organic forms of the mushrooms and also as it is set in the far future, only something futuristic would fit.

The moodboard shows some images/concepts I have found online. I have out off designing the ship until now as I really have no ideas what I am going to do or how to go about designing one. I want to keep it fairy simple as well as most of my polys will be used up creating the actual forest/environment.

Just some quick sketches of spaceship designs which I then took one idea further and created a simple silhouette of the top view and a 3/4 view then added some basic colour on top. I will get onto creating a proper scale drawing soon and develop more on the colours but for now this is the one I think I will go for.

Battle for Terra

I recently watched Battle for Terra, an animated film about an alien race who have to fight for the possession of their world. I was more interested in the design of this animation, where these aliens live are within extremely tall trees, which in fact resemble mushrooms. Originally I had planned to create tree houses in which my aliens would inhabit, however carving into the trees/mushrooms could be another possibility. These trees are actually made up of several of different branches, all intertwining with one another to reach the top. In comparison to the aliens themselves, the trees are absolutely huge. The circumference around just one of the branches can accommodate a whole alien family on the one level. It's a really lovely concept as you get a real feeling for the size of the place and how many aliens actually inhabit this area.

I decided to draw up some quick ideas of having my aliens houses carved into the mushrooms and have come it realise it is a much more interesting idea. The only worry I have is the poly-count we have been assigned. My original plan was to do both the interior and exterior of my environment, however I may have to adjust this - this would have been the case even if I went with the treehouse idea too. I will try and keep my design neat and simple and only have one room accessible within the mushrooms, however I still want to be able to have the person walk around their village/part of their village.

This is just a colour alteration I produced using the layer filters to change up the colours. Obviously I will do the final thing a lot more refined, but at the minute the colours I'm leaning towards are the blues in the middle image. The idea for my scene is to be in the evening so the mushrooms will be glowing, so this is quite a nice colour to start off with. I will have to see other possibilities and what I am able to achieve when texturing.

Abe Ong

I was quite lucky in finding this artist as he has produced stylised drawings of different types of mushrooms. It gives me an idea of how I could possibly design them to fit in with the family style. They're quite 'cartoony' however for concept art it works, also depending on what it is actually for that might be the final style. On some of them there is a subtle pattern on them so I could consider to have a simple design on mine instead of just a block colour.

I really like the style of his paintings, it hints of the genre of fantasy due to the way it has been light, coloured and the characters that are included. By including characters you are also showing how big they are in relation to the environment so it gives you a better idea of how big everything is; unless of course the characters themselves aren't average human height. The light shines down onto the characters which emphasise their presence so in my concept art, if I want anything to be highlighted this would be a good way of doing it. This piece shows narrative in the way of these two characters trying to reach a certain destination within this forest. Concept art itself can either show narrative or set the scene. So when designing mine I will have to decide which category it falls into. I really want to explore this style of drawing and painting so I will try drawing out my environment in a more stylised way, something that would be seen maybe more in animation than games. I will try and look at games that replicate this style e.g. Zelda, Pikmin and similar games like this in order to gather a range of inspiration to help me design my environment in the way I envision it.

Lianna Tai

As I am beginning to develop some concept artwork for my environment, I am going to look at a range of artists to gain some inspiration for style and colour. One artist I have come across is Lianna Tai, the two images to the right are the pieces that really stood out to me. As I plan to create a mushroom tree planet I think moving away from realism will benefit this, it will also correspond correctly with my target audience - family. If I move away from realism then the colours of the mushrooms can be any colour I wish, as long as the main colour palette I choose is harmonious altogether. 

The colour palette Lianna Tai has used consist of blues and greens, all of which are tones of one another so you know that they will work well together. She has also added other colours into it to highlight certain areas and to give the piece something more that will attract the eye. I plan to have my scene set in the evening so I will need a light source of some sort to help highlight the whole area. The mushrooms themselves will glow so this will fix that issue. The bottom image is more relevant towards my idea as it incorporates luminescent blues to achieve that glowing feeling. 

By having luminescent colours it also makes the piece feel more like an alien object as the colours themselves aren't really natural. The paintings aren't realistic however they incorporate nature themes within them, you can see that they are meant to be within a forest on another planet. By changing the way that you draw you can communicate different ideas. 

I need to make sure that with my scene it not only looks like an alien planet, but is also a believable scene. The player needs to be immersed within it and this will be down to the design, colours and sound.

Alex Drummond

I like the whole style of this piece, the way that the room is almost circular, which brings together all the elements of the room and draws your eye around it. The room has been sectioned off which could suggest different types of books and items being in each part. By incorporating the character into this piece, you get to see the scale of the room compared to him. It is by any means significantly larger, with this scale you begin to wonder whether or not it is designed for this character or is it inhabited by a much taller person/creature. There are a collection of books that are contained on the shelves, however there looks to be cobwebs covering them. These small details add to the description and story of the piece, it suggests no-one has been here in a long time, however all the lights seem to be in working condition. I find that it's the little details which add up amongst the lighting and colour to create the overall atmosphere of the piece.

Jason Scheier

This is a concept art from 'Kung Fu Panda'. The immediate thought I get from this is confinement. Locked away behind a door with only a window, bed and some junk surrounding the character. I like the idea of having a small room - not necessarily for someone to be locked away within it, but to have everything close by, no need to walk into another room to get a book for example. This is another example of a perspective drawing, you can really see how long the room is compared to its width. This image is quite plain - the walls, floor, no real decoration yet even though this is the case, it all works together because of the use, being a room of confinement.

As my character will spend most of her time residing in her 'hideout' this is the place where she keeps all the information she gathers along her journey. She also has an extensive collection of books and a few key items hidden away. This place is more of a work place so there would be no need for decoration or extravagance, only the essentials. I was thinking about having a bed in her hideout, however to be more inconspicuous and not linger in one place too often, I thought it would be best if she had a separate place where she would live properly.

Pedro Nuñez

This piece is quite different to the work of Robh Ruppel as there is a lot more going on in this image, not only with the amount of items within the room but also with the fact that the characters are present. You can see that this room is quite organic in the way that wood has been used to construct the main structure, there is also part of a tree that is forcing its way through the place and intertwining itself, becoming one with the building. Because of this very little light is being let through so the main source is coming from the fire, it draws your eye to this point as it is the brightest part, yet it also adds a warmth to the image even though the mood seems quite dark and mysterious. A lot of detailing has been created which adds to the characters background. It looks like he may be a witch doctor of some sort with the amount of stuff he has collected and the types of things too. The look and feel of a room can give you a good idea of what the character may be like. I really like the style of the room as you notice things in it that you wouldn't necessarily see the first time you look at it. It also tells a story of its own of how it might have became the way it is.

My character likes to be quite organised so even though there is a lot of things to look at which will keep you interested, I don't think this idea is right for my character. I think her room will have to be more uniformed and look as smart as it can be for someone living in the 17th century who isn't rich.

Robh Ruppel

Two different concepts from the same artist, I like how when you compare them against each other, they contrast really well together. You have the collection of items in a small space against a simple and tidy large room. Even though the room may seem cluttered with many items, you get an idea of what the person who lives there might be like. They could be a person interested in collecting antiques, collecting things for a purpose or even just a hoarder. Though there is a lot of things that occupy this drawing, you are still able to see the detail on individual items. There is a direct light source which indicates there is an open door and from this it highlights certain areas, making them brighter and easier to see.

The second image is more refined with the drawing style and tones of the image. This one gives you perspective which shows you the depth of the room and the scale of the items that are contained within it. This gives me a good idea of how to portray my room when I come to draw it as I need to produce a perspective drawing amongst elevations and plans all drawn to scale. As my character lives in the 1600's the room itself will be quite simple in the way of decoration, so to compliment with this I think I will keep the objects in the room to a minimum. I like how levels have been incorporated into this as it makes the room more interesting than just having it all flat. They don't add a whole new floor to the room, instead it adds separate areas which help to break up the room yet keeping it all open plan.

Theirry Doizon - Deus Ex: Human Revolution

"...the team tried to design outfits rather than characters, and combine current fashion influences with cyberpunk designs and Renaissance trends..."

Theirry Doizon created the concept art for a recent game, Deus Ex: Human Revolution. I came across this artwork and thought it was a clever and modern take on renaissance fashion. The characters outfits manage to incorporate different aspects of the trend from the renaissance era, e.g. high collars, big sleeves and big shapes. None of them seem out of date or even out of place, they fit in well with the modern clothing but still contain a subtle hint of periodic features.

Dean Holdeen

When I came across this artist I was immediately drawn to how powerful his concepts were. I find them really striking, especially this first one. You get a real sense of the character: powerful, fierce, not afraid of anything, will defeat anything or anyone who gets in his way; this is shown through the way he stands, his stature and physical build.

Even though my character is female, I thought it would be good to reference a male character as they are mainly portrayed as strong and independent, which is what I want people to see when they look at my character. I find that the armour adds to the way people think of a character, the more armour they have, the stronger they seem; even more so if it is combined with physical build. This concept is no different. I will have to find a balance between having enough armour to show that my character is strong, but not too much in the way that it will loose her femininity.

The concept below is more along the lines of what I would like to achieve, armour in particular areas and still having the clothing visible to the eye. The lighting in this piece is quite different to most concepts, it only highlights a certain area with a sharp burst of light; while the rest shadows out to the edges. I think this technique works if you have a certain area you want the eye to be drawn to first or something that you want really highlighting. I would have like to have seen the legs and feet of both characters but unfortunately they have almost been blacked out. There are pros and cons to having the concept on a black background; it's good to contrast colours against and to have things stand out, however you have to be careful not to loose details within it. The characters themselves are quite opposites in some ways; one in loose, tattered clothing whilst the other is in more of a pristine condition. I guess this adds a good balance between the two rather than having just two characters the same or very similar to each other.

David Boyce

I've chosen to look at this artist as these are still in their drawing state. The top one shows the turnaround of the character, which I will have to do very shortly when finalising my own character. Even though not in its final stage and make seem quite 'sketchy', there is a lot of detail incorporated into it which will aid the final composition. I really like the way Boyce has created several different types of expressions, I find they have a nice sense of fluidity about them; they almost have a life of their own. He has managed to draw the expressions really well, capturing the essence of each, you are instantly able to distinguish which emotions are which.I have tried to do some drawings like this but realise I need a lot more practice to achieve the standard I would like. I find I have trouble with drawing expressions as they all look different, they end up not showing any resemblance to the original character. This is something I will have to work on, probably by just drawing a lot more of the same face and altering the expression; slightly at first in order for me to get used to it.

An Jeong Won

This is along the lines of what I would like to base my character on. I want to incorporate the extravagance of the clothing but at the same time make it believable to people that she can and will fight when the time comes. The colours which have been used have been carefully thought about, they all compliment each other yet each are to their own. With the colours you can tell that light, peach and cream colours are more of a high class society and therefore she will not likely be getting into any trouble. The ruffles on her dress add volume and texture which makes it more appealing to the eye, it could also suggest she is of high importance and wealth as less fortunate people would not be able to afford such opulent clothing. I really like the way you can see a lot of thought has gone into creating the costume for the character. The costume itself is almost an extension of their personality and goals, so if they don't seem to match the story behind the character it won't make much sense.

The deep blue/greys and golds seem to suggest that she may be a soldier to royalty, or maybe she is royalty herself. Even though she is carrying a sword, her stance shows that she still is very feminine and has a lot of elegance about her. She is not just a pretty face, she is prepared for whatever comes her way. I particularly like the detailing on her attire; even the small areas are still quite distinctive, there is not much armour on her, probably because you could loose the femininity by incorporating too much. There is just enough there to show that she is prepared for some combat. By the looks of it she is carrying what seems to be a lance which is normally used in jousting; at first glance I did not notice this, but when you study it further you see the finer details. I really like the dress shape on this character, it's shorter than what is told in history but it still has that periodic feel to it; which is down to the particular style and shape, along with the small details in the armour and accessories.

The clothing on this character is much more exuberant, even though from a different era, you can still the artist has taken inspiration from history to influence this design. The big sleeves originally were in fashion during the 1820's, but like everything else things get filtered down through the ages and people interpret them in their own way. I think that even though I want my character to live in the 1600's I would like to put a spin on the way she dresses, I want it to be slightly unconventional for that time, something that will make her unique from other people. I will research and then take elements from different dresses from that era to produce my own individual idea; which hopefully will come across quite feminine but at the same time show that she is a fighter and has courage and strength.

Keith Thompson: Barber's Daughter

The most alluring thing about this character is the eyes. Even from a distance, they draw you in and you notice that she is not just an innocent girl. A lot of the time the eyes tell a story, when people talk to one another we make eye contact so we are mostly drawn to that specific place. The pale skin and the darkened eyes really contrast against one another, makes the girl almost ghost like. This goes along with the story of the character: "...the barber's soul was transferred into the body of his young daughter."

The idea of a female character for me, is far more interesting. For starters, not many people would suspect a female, especially not a young girl. I find that the shape of the body flows much better with clothing and when done right, even just a plain face can be really striking.

Henrik Tamm

Henrik Tamm has worked on many major films over the years, and spent many years working at Dreamworks on the likes of 'Shrek' and 'A Sharks Tale'. He has also worked on the first 'Chronicles of Narnia' film, which I have to admit would be one of my top films for the CGI used. Tamm created the concept art behind the movie and as you can see, every idea starts with a drawing. Even though this would not be the first draft, the developed idea is crisp and detailed; it contains everything you need to really get the feel of the environment. The attention to detail along the ceiling gives you the atmosphere of the whole place.

Still credit is due to his further development using the computer; it too doesn't hold back on any detail. The image is fierce and compelling. True to both of these images, is the fact that once you look at them you instantly get a sense of the mood and atmosphere of the scene.

I want to be able to achieve something along these lines, by the way that the drawing is done (with the marks and tones), it will give you everything you need to know about the current scene.