personal review on the second

the end of the second year done !! i thought this year went very fast an at times very slow and grueling it was allot more eventful than my first year i think the level of work has jumped to a much higher level was surprising how quality of work has changed from the building bins in 4 weeks in the first year to building a full playable level in a group. 

this year brought alot of new challenges like learning how to use game engines and working in a group to build a full level when before i had only worked on assets. but that brought a very steep learning curve and has gave me alot better understanding to the game industry and working techniques to building an actual game when i first joined the course i wanted to be a concept artist because that was the only think i had done 2d art work and i enjoyed it but joining the course has opened up a new world of possibilities and working on a level i thourghley enjoyed making bits and slowing putting them together and keep working on it untill you have something quite cool and enjoyable to walk through and see you creation but i still fancy my self a more visual based person but i think it better to aspire to be a jack of all trades then master of none

this year i think has gone responsible well a couple hicups but there always are especially with my 3d work but this year i had several thinks i wanted to develop in all areas.

the main thing i wanted to get better at this year was character art and get a better understanding of current gen methods to build characters and i think  i manged to accomplish that to a certain degree as always with this course and art in general  you can always excel an nothing is perfect but i have noticed improvements in my design work  i really wanted my speed paints develop allot so i started doing half an hour warm ups because i felt my final paintings were to a good level but i had to put allot of time in that could be better unlisted and speed and efficiency is one of he most important things in the games industry.

i felt visual design as always was my most successful element of the year because its what comes easiest to me but as well as developing more speed at drawing i still need to become faster this year vd has been good but i don't think i have been as imagintive with the projects as could of been i think i need to focus on pushing things as far they can go and still be grounded to realty which is a hard balance.

critical studies i always find difficult but this year being more used to how the course works i think i found it easier to to stay ontop of  and beginning to develop my writing abit more to me rather than just filling in the task from the first thing that comes up on Google.

but overall i have enjoyed my second year and am ready to sleep again after my deadlines are over.
for my final year i aspire to be alot better in all areas and to get alot closer to he idusrty standard then level of work than i am now and to further develop my style of art work  

life changing or career building?

life changing or career building ? i think both are very important to be a good game artist you need have a vast technical skill and knowledge but the main think is to be able to problem solve with something your stuck on to be able to research and figure things out which is the only way you can learn to do is through practice and curiosity but the industry is always changing and evolving that's why you need to be able to adapt what iv witnessed so far is allot of the skills for new software's are interchangeable already before iv not to even manged to concur current gen "360 , ps3 gen" fully before a new generation and big leap in graphics is on the horizon as i start my second year in November they'll be here and the industry will change and evolve even more, but how much will the skills you need change in order to be successful ? im not sure there will be a huge difference especially not in the foundation skill blocks you will still need to be very technical skilled but creative people will be needed you will have to no what looks right and design interesting environments, characters, vehicles, everything. 

for our university work i  think we should strive to be as new as possible as high gen as we are able because its only going forward the main concern i think  is at the moment most character artist build in 3ds max an zbrush a character and then retapoligse where as now after Cameron guest lecture he showed us  for next gen the tri count is hugely different and massively built in 3d software's rather than sculpting software's for accuracy, one of his main points was that if you know how to sculpt and have those foundation skills you will find it ten times easier so in the other respect maybe we should just concentrate on current demand and keep developing things on and on until were ready to move onto next gen.

highly trained graduates , or creative individuals?  they both have huge merits but personally i think a highly trained graduate should have the edge because you know theve worked hard to get there degree depending on the grade. the projects your set on your degree shouldn't  be your portfolio or tasks that you just accomplish they should try be as creative as possible but i think its massively important still be creative and build a portfolio outside of your degree pursuing the area you wont to be in as-well as doing that in your degree so i think they can both be right in there own merits, but getting a degree helps allot to keep you on schedule and consistently working. 

education is needed for this because task's need to be set and marked and criticed by people who know what there talking about as-well as pushing students to work harder but as you get further and further into education it gets more of own back and less imput because you shouldn't need as much help anymore and to be more original as person and skill but i think that makes education fur filling because it allows you to build yourself till you don't need it anymore.

creativity, talent myth and craft

creativity by talent i find interesting ive had this discussion a few times whether artist talent is something your born with or something you develop through personal experience i don't think that you are born with talent just general interest to a certain style of art that draws you or area in life as artist graffiti art may interest you and through practice hard work and development is where you build talent build something worth looking at the would interest someone else and they might take something interesting from that and work on it until maybe there really good intricut line drawing. i find it hard to think whether i was ever good art from birth or if  interested me and i just went with it my brother loved art and drawing and being creative when we were younger also but now he couldn't draw to save his life but he was always better than me but as i worked hard and tried to develop my art he got interested in different thinks but if he started practicing for 2 years and i stopped i think it would be an interesting experiment to see who would come out on top measured by doing the same study both before and after. on the other side i think maybe 10 % or 20 % could be just naturals more creative in there fields  because everybody learns differently i think its more to do with what inspires you that's shapes your creativity.
creativity i think can only be enhanced by technology because it opens up a massive world of new mediums like digital painting and 3d art animation it lets your take your imagition even further from massive final piece painting to 3d sculpt to usable moving character but i do see how the little pressing of buttons and building an unwrapping and technical things in 3ds art could be a hindered because they could stop you from showing your best idea because its to technical for you to overcome but i don't think that's something to worry about hugely just another a barrier to further your designs and hence your creativity.
artist, programmers  writers, art directors, are all highly creative roles  because they all create things for the example writing is a massively creative job thinking up the story-lines writhing something people have to be scared or laugh and characters and thinks that they might say developing another characters brain almost a personality.

creativity looks like that catches your eye draws you in taking something simple like Victorian age for example and twisting an adding changing thinks about the world distorting but still believable that for me is something creative and i found that lion head were making really creative games especially but as they went on i thought they started to take that creative spark away and commercialize it i find everything through a game creativity from top to bottom especially the more traditionally art the concepts and graphic just because it so obviously  creative .

 as artist we show our creativity to be showing something people can see designs finished products and just being noticed by others for what you can do  traditional an no traditional ways ide say ide lean more to say i was skillful through practice rather than talent but i think these words all have very similar meanings  and labels that all boils down to practice .
i no what i need to do develop what im doing and allot more more research more practice more more more ..........................................................................

generalist to specialist

art director is the person who makes sure the game all fits in together and keep the overall theme of the game without makes thinks look mismatched so that game is a believable world the art director will check all the other artist work an all the work that the artist do goes through the director for feedback and critt will also be in charge of all the different artist that work on the game and the the specialist which is what im trying to work towards at the moment as well as been a jack of all trades working hard one to get into the industry with witch for me is character design as a 3d artist and or concept artist but they'd also have to look over the vehicle artist, characters , environments , weapon an vfx artist.
game artist on a hole create everything you see in the games witch make up the game world and the animators create and define there movement .

producer is responsible for managing the development process and keep everybody in harmony and also managing the deadline an keeping everybody on track.as well as the external producer works on keeping the game on track with the original concepts.
publishers is in between the merchant and an manged the process for the funds to develop the game and set milestones of where they need to be at and at the sales end it will cover the marketing and selling of the game  but alot of the task can be contracted out to other company's like advisement, the publishers are the ones who keep the majority of the earnings for the said game an have to pay game developers who also get royalties from the game .
game designers are the people who come up with the idea of the game and what it consist of an how it plays through and decide what they want in there game for example whether its goin to be a first or 3rd person shooter or horror or action and have to research and develop the ideas for the game which to me sounds like a very interesting job especially the initial idea for a game i think kick starting a game coming up with the idea would be a very cool job an being able to watch your idea develop into a full game sounds really good . which also has lots of different areas like map builder who for example in our queens project would be the udk mad who would place all the assets and build the map with what the 3d artist had built, as well as illustrators ,graphic designers, level editors and script writer who write the story line for the game and character bio
programmers are technical developers and are in charge of writing the code that actual make the game work with several different disciplines including programming the a.i gamplay, graphics , action scripting, platform designer and more
audio the people who design the sounds for the game and the sound effects and even sometimes watch over the voice recordings.

interaction design

interaction design i think is very interesting market and i think has only just begone to be tapped into with wii and xboxs kinect there still so much that is yet to be improved on so far i think the wii could bring a hole new level to gaming in general at the moment its only real used for family entertainment and younger genretion wii sport games a such but i think the capabilities could be used for alot more not just serious gaming for example use for the army simulators it essence like an arcade game when you hold the gun as the controller but the environment of the game projected around you training soilders pilots for real time warfare but i think one of the biggest obsticules would be movement in the game the game would you have to be in an empty room to move around without hitting anything you wouldn't even have to have a controller already kinect 2 has been developed to take in alot more depth an individual  fingers movement so the flick of your finger could fire a weopon it wont be long before its even more in depth. the wii and kinect have opened up a massive market for improvement and space to reinvent gaming. so far the consoles can sense where your are and allow you thinks run jump do activates as an avatar i think it will be really interesting when you as player can feel the game for example a console where you put a helmet on an gloves and run and jump an  get shot at feel vibrations or pressure on your gloves as you play. 3d technology has been rising as well and has become alot more exsesable at the cinemar 3d games, seeing a film around you and popping out at you i don't think it will be long before both are merged together 3d goggles with interactive movements. i think the rise of the wii has brought a big new market for games i think the only downfall to interactive games is that when alot of people play video games they lie to sit at home and chill out and play them not run around in your living room like a gym alot prefer sitting on a sofa twiddling there thumbs me included an getting emersed in the story line but with the market it brings alot more active to people to buying  games which is proaply a good think for people in general and the gaming industry on a hole . 

sound for games 

the sound for games is one of the most important elements in a game because without the sound the games seems boring sound adds atmosphere ,tension , sadness , realism and really sucks you into a game in general also masivly helps show genre like horror or comedy by quirky music or a noise that makes you jump. and what reminds you of  a game is the games soundtrack and brings back memories of when you were playing the game in boss battles or scoring a big goal or screaming like a girl in a horror game the sounds wile be what reminds you of it . from my research ive found that a big majority of the most famous composers ive found and from games i rember the soundtracks from are Japanese i think  that's because alot of our most played games are Japanese company's like for example one of the most famous games Pokemon huge part of alot of children life but i still rember playing the game and the music popping up when your about to go into battle and if i hear it today i instanly know where its from  pokemon sounds were done by junichi masuda who always worked on smash bros brawl which arguably one of my Favorite games .another massive name koji konda  for game sound who worked on mario brothers which of course is a huge name and has some very recognizable sounds but for me propaly the game sounds that most recognizable would be halo whenever i would play halo an the opening mission of the third game the sound would always start to get me pumped for the game and i think also for advertisement purposes realy bring out the game is the sound. and makes you rember it allot more. i think music moved forward into alot more depth in games when ps2 came out because when ps1 games were out and retro games the majority of game used retro soundtracks and more like sound effects then actual acoustic songs and games started to high full bands like for metal gear solid 2.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AoZhXA10EEI

 Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards composition good times is it the most influential recording made in 20th century ? i think its really hard to say that one recording can be the most influential because there so many in 20th century to compete  but it did go triple platinum and shot to NO.1 which shows it must have been a massive influence but im not sure if it can be classes the most but my opinion i think its to hard to say one is the most influential 

mortal engines

mortal engines self portrait : reading the book i got a sense that the people on the earth not on the floating cities would be quite interesting people who would gather an scavenge metal a scrap from fallen ships and left cities also the maybe some the scavenge crews that are sent out after one another cities destroyed each other. so first of i started mood boarding an found some great reference from movies that i enjoyed that i think have steam punk elements like the road and book of eli both of which are the world after its ended type films like mortal engines  i chose to get images of steam punk characters who were really dirty an scratched damaged which wanted  i want to convey in my character an aged version of myself .

i then moved on throwing down some thumbnails quick silhouette to get down the shapes i wanted i did a few variation i quite liked the idea of having a scarf round the neck an some sort dust mask to cover the face but i thought since it was a self portrait properly be better if i showed the face more .

i liked the idea of a big bag to make my character more interesting and bring a better silhouette to the side view . it then moved onto my final turnarounds which i think came out ok an will be good to mold around for my 3d model.