Mech charge

A concept piece I had thought about doing with the original idea for the game, but decided to do for proper as a concept piece for the Valkyrie mech and the enemy mech I had done previously. I decided to keep a more sketchy style to the art, as it is something I enjoy seeing, but I know I need to stop myself doing and move on to painting properly.

Vertical Slice - Concept Art

From almost the get go the game was to be set in a swamp or forested area. I already knew that would be enough of a challenge for me, as I am not the most skilled at painting or drawing vegetation and landscapes, being more focused on characters and objects. Still, I decided to try, as it would at the least give me experience and help me improve.

When the voodoo theme and the more cartoon style was decided on, I instantly thought of the old Playstation 2 game, 'Tak and the Power of Juju'. It definitely helped me think of the more stereotypical jungle themed terrain.

I wanted to primarily use wood for most of the environment objects, with it being bound by rope or by large, crude looking nails and screws, keeping with the cartoon theme. This also gave me the the original idea of trying to make everything look rather painted, as in the top image above.

I also had a go at redesigning a couple of the characters that Ed had designed, primarily the frog and the Wooden zombie. I made the frog a slight bit more threatening and large, with a slightly lizard like appearance, including things such as fangs and large claws, as well as bulking out the body. I also did a similar thing for the wood monster, making the chest more pronounced and getting rid of its shield to try and make it more of a threat to the player. Unfortunately, neither of these characters would be used in the final game.

I also did a few sets of concepts for other objects that would be laid around the level, such as lanterns, log platforms and multiple mask designs. I then was asked to do final designs.

I also did a few attempts at painting up larger areas for the game, such as the boss arena, which unfortunately was cut along with the boss fight. I also did a sketch that was only slightly progressed into a painting of the environment as a whole. It included a few things that also did not end up in the game, such as the fishing sloth, boat, lily pads and some others.

For this brief we were instructed to create a piece of concept art of a tree that had character. I decided to go with a sightly fairy tale or fantasy route.

I wanted to get across the feeling of a spirit or person that had been trapped inside the tree, arms out spread and shouting to the sky. I also placed in a small 'red riding hood' like character to get across the scale. I tried a different painting style for this, with trying to keep any smoothing to a minimum. I believe it worked rather well for some of the tree trunks, but I really did not like the outcome on the leaves. Its something I have always struggled with. I also believe I could have got across the depth of the area a bit better.

Our assignment for this project was to make a concept piece of a dragon using a 3D sculpt. We could either do a full 3D sculpt or a 2D paintover. I chose to do a paintover.

Mood board

Sketch

First WIP

Third and final sculpt WIPs

 Render

Paintover WIPs

 

Finished Concept

This pic was done for a Santa themed project where we had to make a Xmas card that would be given out. I struggled to get a few things I wanted on it done in time and actually plan to take it further, adding textures, the feet, numbering.etc.
I actually decided to use photoshop for this one, and tried to use a square brush. Its a start in a different direction, and one I want to see where I can take it.

For this week's assignment we were given the task to create either a 2d or 3d image of something surreal.

From my research I found there was many many ways to go with this, as the concept of surrealism literally opens up millions of windows of opportunity for the wierd and wonderful. I decided to try two ideas. One a more simple style, like a newspaper cartoon, and another in the more traditional painted style.

I did a quick, if slightly crude drawing of a magpie stealing jewels with a thick brush, like a large ink pen. I then used a marker brush to get in basic colours and shading.

For my second piece, I decided to think of a wierd way of transport. I hit on the idea of driving a foot.

I had a bit of trouble trying to get the skin tones right with this one, and still think there could be a little more work with the reflections on the windows too. Yet Im pleased with the overall wierd concept.

For this newest project, we were told to create either a 2D or 3D image of a creepy halloween creature. I decided its finally time to bring one of my nightmares to life.

In terms of research, there wasnt much to be done, as it was quite a vivid nightmare. The main concept for him is a living stone man, with light shining from the eyes and mouth. I had a few looks at things like the weeping angels in Doctor Who, and also more at enviroments he would be in, like the tunnels of the london underground.

I began by doing a quick doodle to get my idea on paper. It wasnt super cohesive, but got the general image across.

I then went into mudbox and grabbed the huan form msh, and began to play around with it, seeing if I could maybe bulk him out or pose him differently. I also attempted to paint him with a stone texture, yet the effect was very underwhelming, making look more like he had measles.

I then took the mesh into 3DS Max and began creating an enviroment for him.

The main focus of the render was to get the lighting spot on. I ddnt want to have much in the way of lighing behind him, just enough to give him an outline. I used two Area lights with a slight decay to get the effect.

I also created 3 spotlights out of his eyes and mouth, pointing directly at the viewer, to shine across the walls.I rendered out an image of the creature by itself with the area lights, and the enviroment by itself with only the spotlights.

I then took the renders into photoshop and began working on the final lighting and texturing. I added a brickwork texture to the walls, after adjusting the levels for the creature and tunnel. The creature still looked a little too dark, so I added small lense flare behind him. I painted on his eyes and mouth in pure white, to have the light effect, and added a strong lens flare over it in a lighten layer. I started playing around with a few other things after this, such as adding in a cracked stone texture to the view, although very lightly, to show that the viewer has been slightly turned to stone already by the creature. All in all Im pretty happy with the way it came out, although it would have been nice to get the creature looking a little more stonework like.

Starship

For this assignment we were told to create a ship design. The term was very loose, and we were given pretty much free reign to design any kind of ship, be it starship, airship, sea vessel .etc. I decided to go with a starship/atmospheric cargo carrier. I pulled a few resources from other pieces of concept work for large star craft, the space shuttle (the first ever cargo spaceship) and also fighter jets. There were a miriad different design styles, from more generic starships, like the Daedalus from Stargate, and Serenity from Firefly, all the way to very unconventional designs such as the Battletech Union dropship.

This gave me free reign to kinda play with multiple designs and design styles. I even did a slightly 'classic' design too.

I wanted this one to be more like a smuggler ship, with four cargo pods to provide a sort of contingency, if one gets shot off .etc. It is also slightly more streamlined, with heavy engines.

This is a slightly similar one, yet I decided half way I wanted to make these ships fit into a mech universe I am writing at the moment. I added a catapult deck on the top, to launch the mechs from the cargo bay. A bit bulky however.

This one was inspired slighly by the Halo frigate design, with a slightly truck like feel to it. This one also has a rotating cargo bay to raise different holds up to a catapult deck on the top. The movement ideas I have for this are kind of like this: http://youtu.be/LZpfNLsnYYI

This one is more in the style of the mechs I have been designing, with an embedded catapult on the top. This kinda was slightly inspired by a train, yet I bulked out the rear to become super bulky.

In terms of the final design, I am probably going to combine designs 3 and 4, similar shape and such of the 3rd, with some styling of the 4th, maybe adding wings from 1 or 2.

The model was made in as little spereate objects as I possibly could. The main hull was one, with the cylinder, reactor, front thrusters, armour plates and the 5 part mech bay all being other objects. I tried to make it as simple as I can, yet also with enough detail to give a distincitive shape under lighting. I gave it some basic materials too for colour purposes, and lit areas, such as the thrusters and the windows.

I also added for lighting purposes, an area light in each of the thrusters, to give it the idea of it is active. To help show this lighting, and scale, I put in some small simple blocky 'trucks' and buildings in the distance, to help give it a small enviroment.

 

'The ‘Wild Moon’ bulk cargo carrier. Heavily modified to remove the cetre mounted cargo pod and replacing it with a rotating quad mech bay, capable of storing 4 Valkarie class mechs and all related equipment and weaponry. It also features a dorsal catapult deck, for launching the machines for combat, or for salvage operations. The twin frontal cargo holds are more than spacious enough to carry the remaining cargo to the destination. Suprisingly nimble for a craft it’s size, it is also able to hover close to a planet’s surface (10 metre clearance) to travel along the super highways connecting cities, such as the famous SH-502 between Olympus and New Seoul on Mars.'

The render came out pretty well, but didnt have as much pop as I thought it would. I took it into photoshop and PaintTool SAI, giving the edges a slight line, almost as if to show the metal panelling. I also added in some small people to help with the scale, along with its name 'Wild Moon'.

I think it could have had a slightly better and more detailed background, as this looks rather basic, although the focus is definately the starship. I think I could texture it better too, and make this a much prettier machine. I am hoping to take it further and actually finish it comepletely, with animated parts and a full texturing.