Final Exhibition

For me, games have always been a form of escapism. From being able to immerse myself and create my own fantasy world detached from reality, it has helped me cope with problems that I’ve been faced with throughout my life. 

Stemming from my love of games, I’ve always enjoyed drawing and designing my own characters to suit both existing and my own worlds I created. Because of this, I decided to showcase my imagination into my exhibition.

Therefore, my initial idea for the exhibition was to create an game world and bring it out into the real world to attempt to merge the two worlds (fantasy and reality) together. However, trying to convert a piece of art that is small and two-dimensional into something that is huge and three-dimensional proved to be one of my biggest problems. This is because even though digital can be manipulated to make it seem three-dimensional it is still on a two-dimensional surface.

Because of this, I had to rely on placing lighting intricately to give the illusion that it has some sort of three-dimensional quality to it. Therefore when I was placed in a large white open space, I had difficulty trying to achieve good lighting. Because I could not create the appropriate environment in this space, I moved into a narrower, darker space where I could truly experience how lighting would effect my piece. 

I had also wanted to show not just my characters design, but also my journey throughout the past year by the evolution of my characters and the story that was involved with them. Therefore, I wanted to have both of my characters fighting the creature. However, due to the complications with turning my digital pieces into a three-dimensional environment, I did not have enough time to complete a second character cut out. Because of this, if I had more time I would ensure that I created my second character so I could fully showcase my journey as a game concept artist. 

I had originally intended my piece to be purely printed out digitally to show my skill and focus on digital art. However, I found out the digital came out patchy due to the different lines on the paper. To fix this, I decided to paint my pieces with acrylic paint instead. I had also intended on having 3D pieces in my work, but I found out that the sculptures would be too heavy to be placed on the wall. 

I ended up solving this by changing how I placed digital pieces on my work. I instead cut them out based on the shapes, as well as only digitising a few of the pieces that are meant to stand out. 

Despite all of the problems I had encountered from my exhibition, I believe that I have still managed to complete what I had set out to do; making my own characters and environment into real beings. I also believe that my exhibition is also very immersive to the viewer by engaging more than one of the senses. As immersion has been such an important component for game worlds for me, I wanted to ensure that viewers could experience being a part of the world just like I do.

QR Code

     After viewing the Birmingham exhibition, I decided to use a QR code to provide viewers with information as to why the character is fighting the creature. This will help give viewers the ability to understand the context and be able to look more in depth at my piece once understanding its story. 
      In addition to this, my concept art sketchbook will be beside my piece for viewers to look through and discover my characters' journey through initial ideas to final designs. 

Link to PDF file

Blue Spotlight Experiment

- Annotations in sketchbook - 

Adding sound to exhibition

After visiting the Birmingham exhibition and seeing all of the environments, I had concluded that in order to make my environment truly immersive I would need some form of sound. Adding sound will also allow my piece to become more engaging from the outside, as people will be drawn to my piece from hearing the sound but being unable to see my piece from a distance.

Based on my environment in the exhibition, I had to look for potential sounds that would be suited in that environment. As my environment is inside of a cave/lair, some sounds would be:

• Ambient sounds 
• Echos
• Wing
• Water droplets
• Monster sounds
• Bats
• Insects

I began looking for audio samples of various sounds I could use for my environment from free audio sample sites such as Soundbible.com. 

Sound samples:

(Sounds for cave)

Wind
Wind2
Scary Ambiance
Water Droplets

(Sounds for creature - sounds must be snake-like with a hiss, or not too much alike a growl as it would not suit the creature.)
Snake Hiss
Monster Growl

However, individual sound samples would not be effective and I would have to place them all together in a repetitive and realistic fashion to create a long soundtrack for the environment. As I thought this would take too long, I decided to look for ready made and free videos of cave ambience (which are often used for players to immerse themselves in games such as Dungeons and Dragons) to see if any could be suitable for my piece.

Cave Sounds

For a cave sound, I decided to choose Dark Cave Ambience | Cave Soundscape | Echo Sounds and Water Drops by Ambient Relaxation. 

I felt that this video had all of the necessary sounds such as the echo, ominous ambience and water droplets which I felt was vital in the soundtrack. As well as this, the sound is not repetitive in a way that it is predictable, making it seem a lot more realistic for a sound. However, the video lacks a monster sound which I felt was important to give the creature a much more menacing appearance and make the sound less calming. 

Because of this, I decided to focus my attention more on creature sounds to make the environment resemble a monster lair rather than a simple cave from outside the exhibition.

I next looked at Monster Lair Sound Effects 10 Hours by Mythicalicalypso. I decided to choose this video as I felt the sounds created from this video could be the most suitable for my creature, compared to other videos which I felt were too much alike a mammals roar. The sounds from the creatures are also relatively spaced out enough so the sound isn't overpowering. 

However, I felt like the cave-like environment would be lost using just this sound alone, as none of the ambience from the other video was present. 

Sound mashups

Because I felt both videos lacked what the other video had, I decided to experiment with mashing together videos in order to create a unique sound which I could use for my piece. 

To do this, I used a website called www.youtubemultiplier.com which allowed me to play multiple videos at once, while being able to make one quieter than the other. Being able to make one sound louder than the other allowed me to drown out some sounds which I felt would be too overpowering, making the sounds blend together easier. 

Mashup 1

The first mashup consisted of the two previous videos blended together, with the monster lair sound slightly lower in volume than the cave ambience. I believe this mashup is effective as it has both the monster sounds which I needed to make my creature appear more menacing, with the dark cave ambience around emphasising the cave environment. I also made the monster sounds quieter to emphasise the echo, making it appear that the creature wasn't the only one in the cave and there was in fact more hidden in the darkness, deeper in the cave. 

However, as these sounds aren't quite snake like, I decided to experiment with snake sounds with the cave ambience to see how they would blend together. 

Mashup 2           Mashup 3

From doing these sounds, I found out that no matter how quiet the snake sounds were, the lack of echo in the sounds made them stand out too much due to a lack of distance being conveyed. Therefore, I believe they would no be effective. As well as this, I felt the snake hisses were not as menacing as the monster lair sounds.
Because of this, I have decided to use the original mashup of the monster lair and dark cave ambience to create my environment. 

Aurora Lights

Multicoloured

A multicoloured aurora light is the most realistic aurora light setting. However, the lights seem too artificial and do not fit with the environment I am creating. 

Colour Changing

There are several settings which change colours in varying ways such as quick flashes or slow transitions. However, some of the colours of which it changes to does not suit the environment that the battle scene is taking place. The colour changing is also too chaotic and distracts from the main focus of the piece. 

Single Colour 

I decided to use a single colour light instead of colour changing lights which adds a calmer movement to the piece. Unlike the colour changing lights, it adds to the environment without taking the focus out of the characters. From only using one colour, I have learned that depending on the colour you choose, it can change the whole mood of the piece. Because of that, I experimented with the single colour choices the light had. 

Blue Light

The blue light creates a much cooler environment for the piece and emphasises the blue tones in the character and the creature. The movement of the light also resembles water, which could further emphasise the water/ice element the character and creature is based off of. However, the blue light seems very serene which contrasts with the intended mood of the environment. Because of this, the light is not very effective.

Red Light

In contrast to the blue light, the red light conveys a much more sinister mood. Rather than the blue being calm and serene water, the red light gives a much more dark and dangerous mood of flames erupting from the floor. As well as this, it blends in well with the red light underneath the creature. Therefore, I will use the red light in my final exhibition.

Green Light

The light also had the colour green as a light setting. While it retains the cooler colour scheme, due to the lack of green in the piece it stands out too much and therefore does not fit into the environment. 

Flashing Strobe Light Experiments

Whilst experimenting with lighting, I decided to try strobe lights to see if I could add more movement in my piece by a way of lighting. 

Fast and Slow 

The strobe lights could be configured in a way that changes the speed of the flashing light. The strobe light would change speeds from a fast to a slow pace, but both speeds remained consistent. 

Because of the consistent speed, the lights seemed too artificial to be added into the exhibition, no matter how fast or slow it was. However, when the light was on the creature's face it cast a light behind the cut out, making it appear much more menacing when the light flashed on. Due to the flashing, it also made it appear that the creatures was moving in and out of view.

Both 

To try and make it seem more natural, I decided to try two strobe lights of varying speeds, which hit different parts of the exhibition and made it seem more like lightning was hitting the character and creature. 

While this made it less static like having just one strobe light, the light pattern was still too consistent and predictable so it didn't seem natural enough to be used in my exhibition. As well as this, the environment for the battle was inside of a cave which meant the light would not be appropriate for the battle scene. 

Birmingham Exhibition

I also found an exhibition piece that was created using the game The Sims 4. At first glance, it is a bunch of sims sitting around the table talking, with video annotations detailing their conversation such as relationship, drama, etc. similar to a reality TV show. 

From watching a few minutes, a new episode appears with the title "This is my Simulation, And You Are Just Living In It!" 

Around are some seats where you can sit and watch the TV, but above those seats are plum bobs. After some thought, I realised the artist was trying to show us that we are in fact all just sims, and we living in a simulation just like they are.

This has taught me that games are as much of an art form as any other medium, and that even the simplest of installations can be effective. 

From this exhibition, I have decided that I will revise my exhibition and make amendments to make it much more immersive to the viewer, as well as provide much more information for the viewers to understand the exhibition to appreciate it fully. 

Digital Painting - Layer Effects and Techniques Explanation

In my digital pieces, in order to create my desired effects in terms of vibrancy and lighting, I have used several different layering effects and techniques. 

These techniques are used in a software named Clip Studio Paint, which is a software used to create illustrations, but has features that can be used to also create comics and (very limited) 2D animations. 

Types of Layer 

In Clip Studio Paint, there are two types of layers which have different purposes. 

Raster Layer - A Raster layer is a layer that uses pixels to create marks on the canvas. This is the layer that is primarily used to create the illustrative painting, blending and colouring. However, due to how it creates the marks on the canvas when it is scaled up it has a frequency to pixelate. 

Vector Layer - A Vector layer is a much more mathematically drawn layer that uses maths to create vectors on the canvas which is thickened depending on the brush used. Due to how the layer performs things automatically it can use more processing power. You also cannot use a fill tool on a vector layer. Therefore, these layers are primarily used for line art. 

Digital Techniques

Colour Picker; Intermediate Colour - This colour chart uses 4 colours to create a palette that slowly transitions to each colour on each corner of the palette. This palette can help create different tones for lighting and blending without having to manually create the colour using a colour wheel. Because of this, it also helps the colour tones to be much more consistent. 

Clipping - Clipping is used to allow you to draw within a certain shape on the below layer without going out of it. This can help if you want to use a layering effect to highlight a shape without altering the base shape.

Image (no clipping)

Image (Clipping) 

Lock Transparency - This has the same purpose as a clipping layer, except the base shape is on the same layer. This helps if you want to blend lighting in the shape without altering the shape itself.

Selection Layer - A selection layer is a layer in your image that you can refer to using brush options. A selection layer is most commonly used on a line art layer, of which you can refer the brush tool to fill in certain parts of the line art to begin colouring your piece. 

Symmetry Ruler - A symmetry rulers is used to create lines of symmetry in the canvas which will replicate lines drawn on one side of the line on the other. This can help create intricate symmetrical lines in pieces.

Layering Effects / Blending Modes

Base Image (No layering effects added) 

Multiply - Combines both the base layer and the current layer and creates a darker version of the colour that was used to create the shadow. This is used to create much darker shadows in pieces. 

Colour Burn - A setting that is similar to the 'burning' technique in Photography. It darkens the colour of the base layer which can be used to create contrast in pieces. 

Subtract - Takes away the colour from the current layer on the bottom layer, which can help take away some of the vibrancy in a piece and create some duller shadows. 

Lighten - Looks at both colours of the base layer and the current layer, and finds the brighter colour. This colour can then used to create more subtle highlights. 

Colour Dodge -  Takes the base layer's image and takes away some of the contrast and therefore takes away some of the sharpness of the colour. 

Glow Dodge - Has a similar effect to Colour Dodge, however the light is stronger. 

Add - Adds the current layers colour to the base layer which brightens the colour.

Add (Glow) - Has a stronger effect than Add, with an added glowing effect. Is used to create a much stronger highlight.

Overlay - Uses a combination of layering blending effects to make the dark areas darker and light areas lighter. It also changes the colour slightly depending on the colour on the current layer. 

Hard Light - Depending on the colour and tone used, it will create effects differently. For example, darker colours will create an effect similar to Multiply while light colours create an effect similar to Lighten. 

Pin Light - Replaces colour on the base layer based on the image of the colour to create a subtle colour difference. 

Hue - Changes the hue but keeps the brightness and saturation of the base layer the same. 

Colour - Applies the hue and saturation of the current layer, while keeping the brightness of the base layer the same. 

Usually, only one blending option may not blend in correctly or give off the effect needed. Therefore, I usually use a combination of layering effects to complete my shading. 

In this piece, I used Glow Dodge, Pin Light, Colour and Multiply to complete the shading. 

Changing Opacity 

However, while sometimes a blending effect may give the option needed it may also overpower the image too much. To fix this, I can change the opacity of the layer. 

Changing the opacity will make the layer more or less opaque (100% being opaque, while 0% is completely invisible.) 

Changing the opacity has many uses. For example, it can be used to make a sketch lighter to make line art easier to create. It can also be used to make some effects become more subtle.

For example, in this image the shadow and light are harsh, which could be good in some situations where a character is in a dark room with a harsh light. However, in this case I would like it more subtle, therefore I altered the opacity of some of the layering effects to make them less prominent in the piece. This made the lighting much less harsh and more even toned. 

Concept Art Book Research

Concept art is a form of art which depicts an idea that could be used in games, films, comics, etc. It is a journey from an initial idea into a fully fleshed out and refined final idea which is placed into the final product. 

Concept art for products are not created alone; in order to create a unique and detailed design it undergoes redesigns from not just one person, but from a team of people aiming to create something eye catching and original. These teams usually are split into focusing on certain aspects of the final product, for example environment, characters and props. 

For example, Assassins Creed Odyssey is a game that employs many different teams to focus on the game's main characters, biomes, weapons and enemies. This is because it both saves time having a team work toward a same goal, but it also allows these designs to flourish by having many people working on it. 

Creating Concept Art

 Early sketches by Thierry Dansereau

In the beginning, concept art is created using very quick sketches. These are often not complete and without colour, but create the basic designs and convey the purpose of the character to be further refined. 

Early concept art by Gabriel Blain. 

After the early concept sketches are complete, the next stage is to create several different ideas for designs of the character which could range from clothing to hairstyle designs, etc. To get inspiration, they are often inspired by real life sources which reflect the time era and environment the character is in. For example, these are inspired from the ancient Greece time period.

Ideas from these designs can then be taken and refined in order to get closer to a final design. 

Once a final design is complete, they are then integrated into the film, game, etc. Using in this case, a 3D render. 

For my final project I plan to create concepts for characters and a creature to be a part of my environment. To do this, I want to understand how concept art is created. However due to the time that goes into creating a final design (which could span from months to a year) I will be taking a much less detailed journey towards creating my characters.