FMP sketching

So after getting on my pc and going around the net a bit I was looking through about what I could find to do with my fmp and came up with a lot of great reference pictures to do with persian clothing. Not as many as I'd hoped but to be honest I should be thankful I found anything at all. So with my references in hand I silhouetted 12 different figures that I'd use for the hero of my story.

I've also looked a bit at Seahorses after realising my initial monster design looked like one and theyre quite interesting, just a bit thin and weedy for my liking and I'm not sure a tail that curls in front would be a great idea for my monster.

Also lead onto doing a little pied piper character who controls the main monster with his left arm a violin, and right arm, a bow. He will be dressed in persian dress as well to make him seem more like an Imp or a vengeful persian spirit coming back to exact his revenge. Of course he is really trivial and can be left until the end or just as a side project.

I got around to doing a speedpaint of what I wanted things to look like and having a look at colours to use which is mostly in the browns, oranges and yellows.

Finally all my reading brought me around to One Thousand and One Nights that I'll be looking for in the library on Wednesday as from what I garnered it's full of great tales that would no doubt feed my mind if not only for my FMP but forever.  Not to say I haven't heard of it before as everyone has heard of Aladdin, Ali Baba and Sinbad.

Woo work time

Now with what I have managed to get done this year, I'm not gonna have to spend every single day of christmas trying to do 12 weeks worth of projects in 3 weeks.
Just some minor changes: making the lid of the chest bigger, fixing my trash to Jolynns paintover and finishing my crab with some zbrushing on there too. Seems like an easy enough task, and many many sketches to do with my FMP to get a visual idea of what I'm gonna be doing.

Never been too good at drawing but I gotta do my best so I'll probably start doing a bunch of sketches tonight and everyday so I can have a massive log of stuff to show Chris, then he'll be really impressed and amazed and I'll get a super high grade for lots of development.
So I need to make a final decision though it doesn't help that Heather seemed really unimpressed when I explained it to her. LOL IDEAS

Alchemy

For the last day, I have been using Alchemy to generate shapes for me to draw over and hopefully help me with some monster design. I've never been too good at thinking outside the box with most things, like generating 25 variations of the same outcome. Alchemy has helped though, I've gotten a unique image from every random shape it's made, most of them being monsters/creature designs which are really going to help in the long run.

Blitz

I must say it was really useful having a word with Mr Web today as he highlighted many things I never would have looked at when modelling or when planning a piece.

Firstly we discussed my FMP about how it shouldn't be created like a wedding cake and only finished when the last bit is done. It should be more comprised of elements that stand well on their own so that if I run out of time, I will have something to show. So it totally leaves me with some planning to do regarding what it is I actually want to make for my FMP and how I will go about it.

I do enjoy making assets/props just not whole levels, having to plan where everything goes. This is referenced in my little alley way environment which is turning out great and isn't a whole large thing as it just bogs me down. Hence why I quit the rooftop and went back to the crab.

The other two things he helped with were the Trash and my Chest project. The chest, he said, was a bit drab and should really be more contrasting with much brighter colours to keep the interest in. Bringing areas out and giving them more punch so tonight I will be working on that, also to my specular. If I make the grooves less shiny, it stops them being so bright like in real life and gives the rest of the gold more punch.

My trash needs some scaling work, as I never really considered how big things are in real life. He said the cans and bin were about right so everything else needs to be scaled to fit. Have to change the shape of the bin bags to make them seem as though they are leaning onto the bin, and make them bigger so they seem more realistic. The other point he made was about story. He pointed out that there wouldn't be trash around the outside of a bin if the bin wasn't full. Hearing him say that it just comes out like common sense.  

Stumble Upon

After Eavesdropping a conversation, I took a note of Stumble upon and checked it out when I got home later and I have to say it is really amazing.

There are so many sites that I have been to that have just had excellent things to save into my inspiration folder.  Lots of great graphic design and lots of art. A bunch of fonts and hilarious pages and online games. Though I do look forward to it pulling up a page of someone else's pictures and seeing how others think and work.

I don't wanna be a concept artist or anything but I still love the look of pretty pictures and those of well dressed characters of course. Headphones and angst is the future I tell you.