Fantastica in Danger

Ok, Today I printed out the PDFs of Neverending story from the folders on MyUCA. I read through the first couple of passages of the book and immediatley thought of an enchanted forrest. I looked through the pages, analysed them and broke them down by underlining pieces of content that could relate to the environment. The quick sketch below was an image I had drawn to visualise a line I had previously read in the first paragraph of the book. Great Oak. This Iconic image of a forrest gave me a base for a main scene in the forrest therefore the image below represents a large tree of importance. As this is only the first of my sketches, the tree itself doesn't look as almighty as I had first imagined. This is why development in this project will be such a key point throughout. 

The next image is another quick sketch to help me bring my imagination to a visual representation of what the forrest may look like if it was overlooked by the moon. As the extract states, it is nightfall and the moon is present. Althought the image is'nt visually pleasing it gives me an idea of how I could develop these smaller images into a refined final piece. 

 

The next image which is below is a more refined sketched image I had drawn after I had a more broad idea of how I would create my scene. In the book there is a piece of text which tells of a parting within the trees, a parting to an open space. In the image below I have tried to create thick trees which seperate one another by a gap in the middle. There will be the opening, where the light will be allowed to stream through onto the floor of the open space, where the wisp watches.

The image above is a work in progress. In this image i want to get a sense of perspective but not to allow a character to take the focus off of the scenery. Just to help me I have blured in a circle in the bottom left of the page above. This represents the wisp, overlooking the opening in the forrest. Once more, below are four texures I found whilst walking too and from different places. I did'nt have my camera therefore I gathered the dead and dying foliage and stuck it into my Sketchbook for texture reference images.

I gathered the textures above because they reminded me of what to find in a forrest. The moss represents a texture which could be found on the ground, over the old great oak, on or underneath rocks. Some of the leaves represnt decay, this could represent many different things. For one holes in the leaves could show an abundance in magical wildlife, or it could show a dying, wounded forrest. It mentions something about war in the passage, Something I will take a further look into, destruction of wooded areas and forrests.

The Mighty - Metropolis

Some films just need to be seen and I personally think Metropolis is a must in anyones movies to see list. Like the Cabinet of Dr Caligari, Metropolis is a silent black and white movie which was made in 1927. The plot of the film is about a futuristic city in which society has been divided into two social classes of people, the working class who basically run the city from its depths and the upper classes which have the luxury of living on the surface of the city.

In this film the visuals are amazing, especially when you take into consideration that it was made in 1927. The layout of the city is superb, it demonstrates sheer power and dominants among the people who live within it. I really like the sort of gothic look of the futuristic city and also the way one tower stands out in importance, the tower were Fredersen controls power of the people.

Just to give you a quick starter of the film without giving too much away, the city is being controlled by the upper class which is led by a man called Jon Fredersen. Fredersen controls all of the workers who run the machines which are beneath the cities depths. Maria who is a evangilical character advises the workforce that they should not start a revolution but wait for the arrival of the Mediator, Freder Fredersen (son of Jon). Okay thats all im going to say on that, appart from you need to see this film even if you dont like science fiction because their is a love story their too and with silence it makes it makes the acting seem more truefull.

When I was watching Metropolis I definatley saw were some programmes, films and games got their inspiration from. Take the image below for instance, Is it me or does Hel share a rather small resemblance with a Cyberman from Dr Who.

Adam Adamowicz

I first heard of Adam Adamowicz when I received the special edition Fallout 3 game and had a look at the concept art book that came with it. His work is outstanding and very inspiring. To me and many others he is most well known for this games character and environmental concept art.

What I decided to do was take a look at the fallout concept art I already had and then pick some images i liked from fallouts environment.

The first image above is a concept idea which he had created based on an apocalyptic and nuclear landscape.

More environmental concept art from fallout 3 which by using the concept of a world in which was destroyed by nuclear war. The concept shows the after effects of what it could look like.

not finished.....

Assassins Creed 2 - A Short Film

I'm really sorry but this needs a place on my blog. you are always seeing improvements on games and hopefully this one will fulfill all of my expectations. Since we started University I have been really good and done my work and put my Xbox to one side instead of the other way round. In this project I will have a better use of time management so I can better fit my life around my work making life much easier. Oh yes, back to what this posts about. Assassins Creed 2. I know speaking to a lot of people on the course that they are getting this game, no questions asked. So for mine and their benefits I thought i would add up this short film in a series which are being made by ubisoft for the Assassins creed franchise. For people who havnt seen this check it out if you get time have a look because its well worth it, and Jordan its only a game so don't get too excited lol.

The Cabinet of Dr Caligari

Yesterday in our first lecture of the new project space we watched a seventy minute film made in 1920 called "The Cabinet of Dr Caligari". The movie was made in black and white and also a silent movie of the horror genre. Basically the main story is about a man named Francis who tells a story of a time when the carnival came to town. As he follows mysterious murders a plot unfolds resulting in him questioning whether he has made everything up in his mind.

I must be honest and say this film was crazy weird, but good weird. Although this film isn't what i would usually watch I kind of enjoyed its wacky-ness.  I found some parts of the movie tedious but it did have its points of likability. I definitely loved the crazy shapes of the scenery and the different moods of music which gave characters their eerie presence, especially Dr Caligari and Cesare the somnambulist (sleep walker). Unlike recent horror movies, Dr caligari doesn't offer the viewer a frightful experience, but it does have a dark and creepy atmospheric purpose which corresponds really well with the story and the genre.

 

The images above are in place just to demonstrate some of the weird skewed scenery. I personally really think the way they have set the scenery really works for the horror genre because it gives an eerie and unnerving effect.

Below is a quick trailer which highlights some of the shapes of the scenery and the atmospheric music.

Welcome to Space, Unit 2 - Neverending story

Ok guys, really pleased with the new unit and especially my theme, Neverending story. After a long five weeks which im glad has finished, I feel much more comfortable now I have the first project out of the way. So moving swiftly on. I saw folder ten and the feeling I had waiting to find out what was inside was like christmas. I remember opening the folder and being really happy with the theme Neverending story. Not only did I know that it was a book and film, i had seen it and enjoyed it too.

I need to read the book, but I am as slow as readers come. I know the film well as it was one of my favorites when i was younger. The film Neverending story is about a young boy called Bastian who simply comes across a book which is called "The Neverending Story". The book tells a tale in which Bastian reads the story and becomes to realize that he is the only one that can save Fantasia. Whilst reading the book he becomes very lost within resulting in him needing to find his true identity in the real world where he belongs.

Although I have put the trailer above my main focus on this project is with the book. Published in 1979 by German novelist Michael Ende, The Neverending story was Michael Endes best selling novel which overall has been translated into thirty different languages world wide.

This above is the books cover which was translated into English by Ralph Manheim after the book was first published in German. I have been given chapters "Fantastica in Danger" pages 19 too 31, "The Desert of Colors" pages 217 too 226, "Grograman, the Many Colored Death" page 227 and "The Silver City of Amarganth" pages 243 too 258.

What I will be doing with these pages is reading them over and over and using my imagination to create environmental concepts on all of the chapters.

A Quick Conclusion to Anatomy Project

First of all I would like to thank everyone for any constructive criticsm over the last five weeks. I think at the start of the project I really struggeled to get motivated but towards the end I had began to enjoy the brief and all the knowledge I had gained on the way.

If I was to do this project again I would definately become more aware of time managment. This is what I will be doing throughout the next project in order for me to keep on top of the work and not let the work become a burden.

I am pleased with my final portrait and even more of the knowledge I have gained on the subject of Anatomy/portraiture over the time given. I look foward to the next project as I now have a little experience under my belt.

Final Cubic Portrait

Hey guys, finally at the end of a very good but stressful project. Im very glad to finally be putting up this final image for my final portrait idea about bullying and botterling up anger. As I said in earlier posts bullying was a big thing for me when i was in my early days at secondary so I wanted to try and make a self portrait that reflected this theme.

One of the things that I was interested in doing for my final piece was cubism. I really liked the look of cubism but I wanted to add my own little touch to my work to make it unique.

What I have been trying to do is back up my theme on bullying by looking at some fictional characters such as two face and jekyll and hyde to demonstrate that my anger is hidden within me but not on the surface. I used Maya to create a cubic base and then tried to add lamberts with images to the surface. I found this to be really confusing as a newby like me to Maya could'nt work out how to do it. This then gave me the option to bring it into photoshop and try and recover the image.

Overall I am pleased with the outcome of the image and the concept. However I really wish I had another go at this image because I could use this as another starting point for another idea. I just really hope all goes well tomorrow and the portrait looks OK on the projector.

In conlusion to today I found I really suck at trying to present a piece of work. I dont know why this is but hopefully after a few more crits I will be more confident in front of the class. What I tried to explain today in class was that my self portrait was a representation on how my identity has been changed/torn appart over the past years. Like I tried to explain in class, Each of the boxes combined together make up who I am in the present based on all of life experiences, such as bullying for instance. This is why I have created the 3Dimensional mixed montage of images, to represent different segments of my life. I really want to thank you Phil for pointing me in the right direction at th crit and for the positive feedback on my portrait, hopefully next time I wont let you down with my lack of presentation nerves.

Maya Week Four

Poker Chips

Whiskey Bottle

Final Desk Render

Above is my final redered shot of the desk and I must say im impressed. The tutorial was easy to follow and helped me to complete with ease and enjoyment. Below are three more images which I put together in photoshop to create the final image above. From top too bottom, Beauty pass layer, Occlusion layer and Zdepth layer. Trust me the beauty layer is'nt the same as the final.

 

 

Robot and Rocket Animation

Below are my completed videos for my robot and rocket animation. For some strange reason I cant upload a video directly to the blog, only from youtube. Therfore I have created a youtube account and uploaded the video onto there and copy and pasted the embeded files so you can see the videos below.

Rocket Animation

For some reason Youtube has cut down the length of my videos. You can still see the actual animation properly but instead of the animation exiting the screen it stops just before.

Life Drawing Week Four - Negative Space

This week was by far the hardest of the life drawing classes by far. The main aim of the life drawing class was not to focus on the model but to only draw negative space.

I was given very little time to complete the images above. Some of the images turned out really well but I just could'nt get my head around drawing only negative space and trying not to focus on the model. according to the tutor he said this abstract approach bought out the best in my drawings as he could see much improvement with every weeks lesson.

Common Shaders

What I have been noticing since I have been doing all of my Maya is that when I render and save an imag, no matter what I save it as it always looks slightly worst than what it looks like on my monitor. I have looked at the renders and it seems it shows up different on other screens. Any way hopefully these common shaders look better than the point lighting.

Glass

Matte

Red Plastic

Black Plastic

Silver

Chrome

Gold

Glow

Hidden Glow

Johann Kaspar Lavater

I have been looking at the science of Physiognomy for my essay because it is a study of the facial features and general apearance of human beings . One person I have been researching is a man called Johann Kasper Lavater who was a German poet and Physiognomist.
Apart from his poetry Johann was highly fascinated in the study of Physiognomy. Physiognomy consists of gathering information by studying facial features to find out a persons inner character or true identity. The study is based around the bone structure and the main features of the face such as the eyes, forehead, mouth , chin and nose.

As I have been reading most of these studies depend on a humans bone structure which is covered by the tissue which shows all of the different emotions. If you look at a number of individuals you should be able to depict what a persons character and emotions are just by breaking down the facial features.

Johann Kaspar Lavater

Trans Gender Identity

I watched this very interesting programme last night and I thought as I was trying to explain that people struggle to know their true identity I would use this as an example.
The programme was about several children aged eight too sixteen who suffer from an identity issue called gender dysphoria.

Many children are usually born with this problem but in most cases children usually grow out of gender confusion. Like the documentary we watched about the first ever facial transplant, is it morally right for a human to have an identity change. If it was up to me I would definitely be in favor of people being allowed to change thier identity only if its completely necessary. What do I mean by this, I mean if plastic surgery and transplants are used to cover scars or defaults in the face then I would agree that people who suffer these problems should be allowed to alter their identities such as Isabelle Dinoire. Are you born straight or gay, some say this all depends on your upbringing but others believe your born with it.

I found this programme very fascinating and touching as it followed the lives of each of the families which struggle with social acceptance all because of their trans gender confusion.
I wondered if it was right that children so young could choose to change their identities at such an early age. Study shows that even children so adamant they want a gender change they will eventually grow out of it. This stems a huge problem for children who choose a different gender path because once they start taking gender blockers the sex change is irreversible.

The story I found most interesting was about a boy called Chris who was previously a young girl. Chris who is sixteen was adament he wanted to alter his identity by becoming a man.
He started taken testosterone at the age of fourteen and looks and talks like a man.
I have put the link for the  documentary below, its about forty minutes long but very interesting especially if your like me and you find these things fascinating.

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/bodyshock/4od#2973461


When I watched this documentary  the works of "LawickMuller" sprang to mind. Lawick is famous for metamorphosis portraits of couples.  The 16 step metamorphosis is from one artists partner to the other. Looking at his portraits I found it very unusual but at the same time fascinating. For me this image puts having a gender change into some sort of perspective. As you look at the steps you are able to see a transformation from male to female. You can see about half way that the male begins to look more feminine, could this be what they would look like s a women, im not sure but it is an unusual concept, knowing a different identity.

Chuck Close and Franz Gertsch

It may of taken about four weeks but I finaly discovered an artist/photographer I really like. Chuck Close. I find his work absoloutley awesome. The colors, the layout and the photorealism technique he uses throughout his paintings.

I love photorealism. Chuck Close is one of the first people to use this technique. With this technique he would gather his images, really study them, break them down and them transfer it to canvas as a painting. To produce this effect the artist would use a bristle or airbrush to obtain the distinctive effect to create the photo effect. 

This is insane!! I have never seen anything like this art wise in my life. These are the most stunning photorealism paintings I have ever seen. I was talking to someone who is very fond of photorealism, I told them about Chuck Close and showed them some of his work. They were impressed, but they said to me if you like photorealism you should check out someone called Franz Gertsch. Who?
Franz Gertsch is Incredible. If you like Chuck Close's work then you will find Gertsch to be a God of photorealism.

Look at how beautiful this portrait is. Would you believe this is'nt a photograph but an acrylic based painting. This work is phenomenal, the lighting, the shadows, the eyes, the lips and especially the hair. Every essence of the image is a magnificent. I saw this image and I was drawn to its beauty, but it was nothing compared to what i felt when I saw this image of four men at the beach.

I know this project is on portraiture but the image above relates to the artist who im talking about. People who see this painting may be shocked to find it is a painting and not a photograph. This is why I love photorealism, it makes people question whether the image is real or not. Take the image above for instance, The lighting and shading of the painting is so accurate it shows muscel tone, creasing in clothes and different colors of skin tone.

Stylistic Lighting Tasks

I have been using MAYA for about four weeks now and it is finally beginning ti stick in. I am finding it much easier to navigate the display but also I am able to remember specific and useful things. Below are all of my stylistic lighting tasks which i found relatively easy. The only problem I thought I had was during the night scene. It doesnt match up perfectly to the tutorial picture. I have looked at other peoples blogs and they seem to have the same problem so hopefully it will be ok.

Early Morning 

Mid Day

Night Time

Horror 

 

SCI FI

 

Fire

CryEngine 3

Ladys and gents, for all you gamers out there welcome to the future of gaming. Introducing the new CryEngine 3. This looks awesome. This games engine is the next generation of video games. So far the only game I know of using the new CryEngine 3 technoligy is "Crysis 2" which also looks insanley good. If you have'nt seen this video, watch it and make your own minds up.

Francis Galton

Francis Galton was very interested in composite portraiture and whether you could identify a particular identity of a person, such as criminals. He was very fascinated by wanting to know if there was a specific look for a criminal. In his studys he took images of criminals and created composites of them to see if you could tell if that person was a criminal just by looking at the image and not knowing thier personality.

Francis Galton had a limited supply of technical support to back up his theory, therefore he could never use his composite of images to define an image that is the criminal type.

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Maya Week three - 2 and 3 Point Lighting

The image below is a screenshot of 2 point lighting which i did in Maya

In this second tutorial I used a 3 point light and applied it to the environment and this was the result.

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Maya Week Three - One Point Lighting

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