Wednesday, October 2, 2013

$10 Sketching at the Royal Fair!! Nov 1-10 2013

Sketching at the Royal Fair!! Only $10 for GBC students, alumni and friends. They mail me all the prepaid tickets before the event. You can pick them up from me at school. You can either hand me your $10 bills or use this handy online form to book your spot: https://rwfsketching2013.eventbrite.ca






WEEK 5: Game Project Development DESN 3010: Assignment 2 Due in 2 weeks

Reminder: Today is the last day to drop courses.

I hope you're all digging into the planning stages for your next project. It's a lot of work, thumbnailing, but I suggest you draw at least a basic plan before diving into the 3D world. Remember the little Wall-E clip I showed you - before they started posing they drew thumbnails of their ideas and worked out potential poses in rough before taking it to the next level. This week I want to see everyone upload a basic plan to Trello so we can have a look at your WIP. Next week please have your basic blocking done. 



If you're doing an alternate to animation - such as particles, dynamics, etc. please make a real plan without even turning on the computer. I want a strong concept and not just a tech demo. You can do a lot with a little creativity. I'm happy to work with you to make your piece look great. We'll get you working with a mentor who's been through the process before. Keep an eye on the new advancements in real-time dynamics - there have been a lot of tech papers and demos released recently you'll want to know about, such as here:
http://physxinfo.com/news/

WEEK 5: Asset Development 1 DESN1083: Assignment 2, continued...

Reminder: Today is the last day to drop courses.
On to your next piece. Remember it's in 3/4 perspective. Not a profile view and definitely not a straight-on view. Look at last week's example. Bring in your WIP and I can tell you where you can improve. 

Don't get overwhelmed with detail. Detail should not be applied until next week. Start simple and work only on major elements at first such as silhouette and angle.

Here is a collection of concept art videos by the incredible Scott Robertson to inspire you:
http://www.youtube.com/user/scottrobertsondesign/videos

This one in particular will show you how to very quickly create a piece of simple concept art that looks like it has way more detial than it really does, including a simple way to handle the bg.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKnIm2DpCq8

There are also a lot of concept art how-to's on Digital Tutors including a playlist I'm adding to for you.
Use tools such as the Verold site and 3D programs - you can borrow free models from TurboSquid and Creative Crash to spin in 3D and help you with perspective.

Toy guns, even water guns, might be helpful. Or, apparently you can buy teeny tiny incredibly realistic Lego guns:
http://www.brickarms.com/Toys/weapons_packs/modern_combat_pack_v4.aspx

O..kay.....

We'll continue with the in-class 1-on-1 critiques of your 1st assignment. Great job on those! Wow, some super high marks and some great concepts. Many people are working way too detailed for thumbnails. I did reward your hard work with high marks but really, the idea of thumbnails is to keep it loose and avoid all digital tools like polygons and gradient shading. Many people forgot to add some detail on the 1st set of thumbs - it's not just a silhouette, it has some suggestion of structure such as rivets and form details. Stay away from blurry soft brushes for your edges - keep your silhouette crisp and clear.

Recap on Thumbnails for concept art based on trends from Assignment 1:

Thumbnails -
No -
  • Polygon tools like rectangles and ellipses. Looks bad, unless you're going to rough them up later or warp them.
  • Outline tools like the ink bottle. Ew. Not at this stage. 
  • Gradients on everything. Too much too soon.
  • Photo textures - not at this stage.  
Yes -
  • Straight lines (Shift snap is fine) for some objects like the barrel. 
  • Polygonal lassos to carve away edges and drag shapes around. 
  • One gradient to make the gun have some fancy light from the top, for example. 
  • Scribbles, fake detail, repeated elements, vague suggestions of forms

Monday, September 30, 2013

WEEK 5: Motion Studies DESN1136 Assignment 2 Due Next Week!

Reminder: this Thursday is the last day to drop courses.

So you're busy on your thumbnails, right? I hope you're keeping it nice and simple. Don' add too much detail, just focus on planning the action.

I've heard from a few of you who are interested in improving your thumbnail drawing technique.
sample page from "Simplified Drawing"
Here are two resources perfect for planning animation. One is by a former teacher of mine and former ILM animator, Wayne Gilbert. You can buy his book directly for $35 including shipping here: http://anamie.com/anamie_book.html
Wayne Gilbert's excellent book, "Anamie" or
"Simplified Drawing for Planning Animation"

sample page from Drawn to Life
A bigger, meatier resource is the 2-volume tome "Drawn to Life: 20 Golden Years of Disney Master Classes: Volume 1: The Walt Stanchfield Lectures"  by former Disney instructor,Walt Stanchfield. You can get these online or at Labyrinth. 

Read a great review here:
http://www.splinebomb.com/book-review-drawn-life-walt-stanchfield/