Week 03 - Arena Render Mindmap

We were asked to make a basic, rough version of  our battle arena in Maya to then annotate with images of what is going to go where. I really enjoyed experimenting and got carried away by adding a lot of bricks and ruined walls.

I decided to stop where I was so I could step back and take a better look at what I was doing. Looking at this now I would like to make the ceiling part a little taller and also make the waterfall much higher so it is towering over the ruins.

Obviously I didn't add every detail just yet so I made a mind map with the images from my previous mood-board. Having images to relate to the currently simple model helped clear my thoughts and put a bit of order to this idea as it is still all coming together.

Week 02 - 3D Barrel Edit

I wasn't happy with the first texture I made for this barrel so I went back into Photoshop to try and fix change some parts.

 I didn't like the harsh colour of the wood so I changed the texture image I used and changed some of the colour values. The planks in the first design also looked very merged together so I chose a more obvious image which I think looks much better. I did the same for the top and bottom of the barrel but added a different texture for the rim. I didn't realise just how much of a contrast there was between the two textures as the screen lighting was different.

The difference in colour on the top is not so obvious in this view as it just looks like light shining on it but I will have to change that anyway. I think I will remake the barrel from scratch if I have the time because I would like to add more metal rings and adjust the shape.

Week 02 - Life Drawing

Today was my first life drawing session.

 We started by by doing five 3 minute drawings. It was weird to get used to drawing quickly without adding in much detail. I used a thick piece of charcoal so there isn't as much detail and shading as I would have liked.

We were then told switch to our non-dominant hand which most of the class struggled with. We had 5 minutes for each of these three poses. Although I found it very hard and tiring, I had a smaller piece of charcoal and added more details than the first ones. Using my left hand also meant I spent longer focusing on what I was drawing and trying to make it accurate so some parts actually look better than my right-hand drawings.

For the last pose we spent 5 minutes drawing the figure to fill the page. We then all moved along to the easel to our right and carried on with that drawing. We swapped another two times before stopping and looking at everyone's pieces. It was interesting to see the little changes that had been made with each new person.

Week 02 - Arena Mindmap

Before starting the battle arena, we made a mood-board of images to help inspire us. I added so annotations to pick out what I like about each image and how I would like to use it.

I decided to go with a Celtic/Dwarven style of ruins, more like a battle area then arena. I like intricate carvings in wood and stone and think that would add a lot interesting detail to the final model. Not all of them will work well together so I will have to experiment when I start making the arena. I'm looking forward to creating my own ruins by piecing together all of these ideas.

Week 02 - Alien Classwork

In this class we practiced colouring in Photoshop again. I really enjoyed painting this in roughly and layering on the colours. Though others blended their colours together to make them look smooth, I prefer the rougher painting as I think it looks better more like skin/scales than rubber.

Week 02 - Perspective Practice Assignment

Our second homework was to try draw a one point perspective piece using an online tutorial. I hadn't tried this before but it was pretty straightforward. I used pencil for the sketch and then 0.05-0.2mm fine liners for the details. I used washed out black ink and watercolors though I'm not used to painting.