Week 2

Creating Charm

Creating charm in environments is born out of a number of factors that was outlined in our next presentation. I noted the important points being, that firstly it gives the viewer a sense of being in the atmosphere. The feeling of sensation in a way they can touch, smell and even hear the atmosphere within the composition- a feeling of life, that people live and exist there and it’s not simply a liminal space but one that is inhabited.

The concept art of Marc Simonetti

A strong composition is one in

which you can put yourself in it and the way to do this is through research.

Researching every detail thought of in a way nothing is solely drawn from the imagination because although I find it might be expansive, it is unreliable when it comes to the actual construction of a space and especially the objects within it.

This even includes the way an object is damaged or used because not all used objects are badly maintained and can therefore be in good condition. That way I need to have clear real world references for absolutely anything that goes within my space which shows it is well thought out and at the same time communicates a story.

A strong composition is one in which you can put yourself in it and the way to do this is through research. Researching every detail thought of in a way nothing is solely drawn from the imagination because although I find it might be expansive, it is unreliable when it comes to the actual construction of a space and especially the objects within it. This even includes the way an object is damaged or used because not all used objects are badly maintained and can therefore be in good condition. That way I need to have clear real world references for absolutely anything that goes within my space which shows it is well thought out and at the same time communicates a story.

the concept art of Jeremy Adams

Charm is ultimately the result of-

• Solid research and drawing- to push the depth with shape language.

• Good structure- the reference must be closely obeyed with good perspective

• Immersing oneself in the life of the space (to think in terms of how it would feel to touch, smell and even hear)

• It is not a diagram- I need to be careful not to lose my story and character in constructing the believability of the space by occasionally incorporating free hand drawing.

• Avoid over detailing- since the eye needs to rest I need to avoid adding in too much unnecessary detail.

• Verticals should stay vertical- Any and all straights must stay that way to avoid any asymmetry that could weaken the composition.

the concept art of Finnian MacManus

Process of Cyberspace Food Joint

Following this I wanted to make progress on my cyberspace food joint so I drew ten rough thumbnail sketches to explore different layouts of the composition since the final environment couldn’t simply be the bowl of soup and had to be placed in the environment it would be served in. This is where my mood boards helped me visualize the shape language and placement of each element.

thumbnail sketches on paper

filled in greyscale

The common denominator in each sketch was that it followed a round formation and the reason I went with this elliptical shape is because it fit my storyline.

I felt if a character was flying in from space and entered this planet as a quick stop to grab a bite, the large round glowing halo on the ground would be more visible than a closed box.

I explored my references of conveyer belt sushi- a famous Japanese concept where the dish is automatically delivered to you via a conveyer belt and since this eliminates a server- I thought the lack of physical contact and shift to automation might be interesting which is why the sketches on the top right and left explore this.

After showing these to the next day in class my tutor and I both liked the composition on the top left the most since he advised me that because it was round drawing it in perspective would be challenging and that I would have to be mindful of the construction, which is why we found this one most manageable being a side profile.

Concept Drawing

For my concept drawing I kept my horizon line a bit high so the ground plane of the takeaway joint was visible because before it in the design was the table and bench that went around it keeping in shape with the sphere. I referred to the first presentation on perspective where references were given on how to draw circles in perspective, which is how I constructed my box within the shape that was parallel to the ones above it. The composition is in two point perspective because we get a glimpse of the side view. After I made my sketch I realized I wanted to crop the side so we get a view of the expanse of space on the left hand side – so it could possibly be a scene of action.

process of concept sketch in perspective

Once I made my sketch I painted it in greyscale to get a better feel of the atmosphere of the environment- which is overall quite dark being in space which is why the hard bright lighting from the inside of the counter stands out and illuminates the pot of soup, and skewers hanging to signify the local street food made from strange meat, with overhead screen menu displays that flash the options to order from. This in itself is a rough sketch for me to then push my final concept from which is what I intend to make with better construction and thought out detail in photoshop.

I received important feedback on this concept and most of it were improvements that I had to make in them in the construction. Firstly my top ellipse was wrong since my perspective faced it head on which meant the top view of the view was not needed. Secondly the window frames needed to face the other way, tilting upwards. Lastly I was told the left hand side looked a bit too empty and to balance out the composition I needed to add something, which is when I thought of placing a spaceship at a distance, parked on a raised platform that was more of a large transport vehicle- aligned to my narrative but being at a distance needed to be quite small.

process of detailing

painting in greyscale

Blender Tutorial

Since my last attempt at modelling the cornea ended up looking like blasted fireball I decided to start over because I was horrified. Once I followed Molly’s recording again I paused to carefully listen instead of blindly punching keys and hoping for a miracle to happen. I did finally successfully manage to create the exact shape of the cornea by correcting my previous errors which included using the proportional editing tool that extended the sphere to match the bump that was the lens of the eye.

the cornea in object mode

After a few hours the model looked nearly perfect, until we had to make our first loop cut. Once I switched my sphere from object mode to edit mode I found it had a strip of vertices too close to another where my cut had to be made. I did try several times to carefully place the loop on one line of vertices however it kept grabbing the line next to it leading to a broken loop cut.

attempting to make the loop cut

After I separated this shape that was meant to be the iris I found it looked like the broken peel of an onion. This is where I probably should have started over once more but I was already a bit nervous being two tutorials behind. Once we started modelling the shape of the iris it only got worse from where it started. We needed to make more loop cuts to pull the shape from behind and then fill it. Once I filled it I thought after applying the modifier, it would even out the roughness but the shape turned into whipped cream instead.

the onion ring that was born instead of the iris

the whipped cream that filled the hole