Grids. Above are photographs I took, showing a number of ‘Grids’ I had found in all kinds of locations. The bottom two also show me ‘making and breaking’ a grid, using sugar cubes.

The page opposite shows how I made grids using a pattern with typography, which I then broke by cutting it into lengths and repositioning them to break the grid.

Open & Closed.When experimenting with Open and Closed systems, I discovered it can be put to any number of things. Above I created an open system with typography I made using post it notes, where I left gaps, and below it, a closed version, where there were no gaps.

The page opposite shows more of my open and closed system work, where I discovered untied laces were an open system, and tied laces were a closed system. I also liked the idea of having a closed system word, made out of one single shoe lace.

Biography - Stephen Hawking

This is the final outcome of my work for the Biography brief. I was finding it hard to research Stephen Hawking in a new way, so I decided to ask people what they thought they knew about him, so I could use the answers. I arranged the answers into icons I made using various Adobe programs, and put them into speech bubbles to signify that they were spoken.

Biography - Stephen HawkingThis is the second part of my work for this brief. I created two stylized versions of Stephen Hawking, using the ‘Kid Robot Design Your Own Munny’ template for the character, as it’s a well known figure design today. I created one with his wheelchair, and one without.

1 Person recognised the design of him without his wheelchair, and 18 recognised him with it. I put these figures into percentages to put with the image. The idea of this was to research how his image is affected and recognised by his disability.

Sweet Persuasion.These two pages show a collection of images from our Persuasion brief. We wanted to play on people’s perception of colour, so we decided to put lemonade into cups, but make half of them pink to attract the thought of sweetness and flavour, and half of them black to give the impression of bland flavour. We wanted to persuade people to take the pink more than the black using colour association. By the end, it turns out our idea had worked, as a lot more people took the Pink lemonade than the black.

Shooting Stars.These two pages show some of my favourite work. I had to challenge the recent news story about the Inkbombs found in a printer on UPS flights. The one below was my idea of a fictional Ink company setting up the story to go with their campaign on ink prices being too high, using a clever, related slogan.

The one on the right was a movie poster spoof, where I had changed the event into a film, which was ‘Snakes on a Plane’. I created both using Adobe Software.

Ways to tell a story.The story I chose to retell for this brief was me unlocking my front door. The image on the left is a mock-up ‘Gameboy’ game at the point where I unlock my front door, inspired by old role playing games on the ‘Gameboy’.

Above is the one that took the longest, a detailed 9 frame hand drawn comic of the same event, but from a comic style. I created it using a graphics tablet and using various software.

Ways to tell a story.VIDEO: www.danhawe.gdnm.org/ 2011/01/03/the-crocodile-door/

Above is another of my ideas for the ways to tell a story brief. This shows a few frames from my stop frame animation of me unlocking my front door and turning into a crocodile - I’ve heard it happens a lot. I’m in the photos, the photos themselves were captured by Victoria Satterthwaite.

“Polaris” - Introduction.For my independent study, I am going to be working on the concept creation of a game, entirely from scratch. This will include character and world concepts as well as creating the story itself. I have always been very interested in the concept stages of film and game design.

The game I have come up with is called “Polaris”. Polaris is set on another planet, named Nara, home to the “Polaria” people - a race

of creatures with a likeness to anthropomorphised canines. Humans on a mission known as “North Starr” visit the planet in a hope to find a rare material to harvest, which would involve destroying the planet, and the Polaria people. The mission is led by Novak, a shallow man with an interest only in the material. A crew were sent to the planet to check for material prior to harvesting the planet, at which point James, a troop on the mission, discovers the Polaria people and

their incredible planet. He gets to know one of the Polaria - Sirius, a hunter, who has been outcasted for working on his own. James also discovers an amazing, yet mysterious and unknown power source used by the Polaria. Sirius tells James of an ancient artifact, “The Polaris”, which most believe to be legend only, but Sirius knows it exists, and that it holds secrets of the universe and new powers

beyond human compehension, and that he is the last Polaria to know of it’s true existance.

James knows what will happen to the planet if it gets the go ahead to be harvested, and desperately tries to warn the pacifist Polaria leader - Zathe. Zathe doesn’t believe their planet is in danger, but

both James and Sirius know it’s true, but no one on Polaria will listen. When James returns to the North Starr ship, he tells Novak of the Polaria people, and the incredible power source and way of life on the planet. Novak doesn’t care, all he wants is the material from

the planet. After some heavy persuasion, James manages to get a week, and only a week to find this legendary artifact to use as a

bargain to save Nara and it’s people.

James returns to the planet to embark on an incredible adventure with Sirius through uncharted lands and awe inspiring landscapes to save the planet and it’s people in a week, as only they can, by finding

the “Polaris”.

The story was the result of a few influences and imagination. This portfolio shows my work on the conceptual ideas for this game. This

is the concept and design stage, rather than the completion and finalisation stage. Usually this sort of work is completed by a studio

team,

InfluencesAbove are some of my influences for my story and my games style. These include Final Fan-tasy, Mass Effect and Fable - 3 very popular role playing games. They didn’t influence my story very much, but the images above show some shots of the games which have inspired me in style and feel.

I wanted to get the organic, other world natural feel into my game which I think these imges show.

ResearchThe images above show some examples of work, and how the work is created.

Concept art can be anything from a rough sketch or a scribble, right the way through to a beautiful image of a games design packed full of detail, and drawn to an incredibly high standard. Studio teams use both traditional and digital mediums for this work, but most seem to now use digital methods.

The top left image shows the main method of creating concept art digitally - using a graphics tablet. The one pictured is a Wacom 21UX - a very expensive on screen tablet. These are widely used by artists in the concept design stages. I will be using a graphics tablet, but I will be using a Wacom Graphire 4 - a seperate tablet of my own which I have used often.

When concept artists create artwork of environments and worlds, they usually work straight into colour, and produce large pieces. When creating characters, they tend to draw them from at least 2 different angles to show enough of the design. Character designs are usually done with linework rather than straight into colour, and usually start off in black and white with no colour.

I have studied a lot of concept artwork, and have been to a convention for Pixar, which was incredible to see the amount of concept art and where all the ideas originate. I have always enjoyed drawing and designing this way, and I enjoy looking at how all the games and films are made.

Initial Concepts - Sirius.These are my initial concept sketches. The top one is of ‘Sirius’ - the hunter from the Polaria people. I designed him to be a human-like canine, as I created the Polaria people to be. He has a ‘Polaris’ weapon with a Polaris blade.

James.I designed James to be a typical build troop, the sort of worthy troop that would be involved in such a demanding mission as the North Starr mission. He has a hand held communication device and ‘excercise’ gear.

Novak.I designed Novak to be the opposite of James - a less ‘outdoors’ kind of character, with a suit who would be inside a ship on the mission. Novak’s item of interest is his NS ear piece which he uses for communication.

Zathe.Zathe is the leader of the Polaria, so he is another human-like canine. He is built similar to Sirius, but not as big. He also has no weapon, but has extra tattoos to show his status, and a Polaris necklace.

Initial Concepts - World.These are two initial concepts of parts of the world. At the top I have some designs for ideas of housing for the Polaria, which includes inside cliffs and trees. The lower image shows some of the aspects of the temple where the Polaris artifact is found. This includes a plinth and someother ideas.

Initial Concepts - World.The top initial concept is of a ‘floating island’. I really liked this idea, and thought it was a suitable addition. Below is a concept to show the natural aspects of the world closer up. I really enjoy sketching, and I feel it really helps get ideas going, although I am a fairly slow sketcher.

Development - Zathe

Height: 7’2”Weight: 280lbs

Notes: Zathe now has more tattoos, which have been properly designed, as well as details for his Polaris necklace and other details on his body such as markings.

Novak

Height: 6’0”Weight: 160lbs

Notes: I have developed Novak’s suit to be more suitable for a space style mission, but keeping the upper class feel. I have also added more details to his ear piece.

Sirius

Height: 7’4”Weight: 310lbs

Notes: I have fully developed Sirius’ weapon with detail, and have added a few details around his body, including markings and details on his accessories.

James

Height: 6’2”Weight: 210lbs

Notes: James now has a fully dsigned handheld communication device, inspired by a ‘Sidekick’, and I have developed his outfit to suit his ‘ground troop explorer’ style.

Further Development

These are the further developed characters of James (left) and Novak (right). I have designed the colours for the characters, both of which share similarities in colour and style, and an ‘NS’ logo, as they’re both part of the same mission. I didn’t go into too much detail with the colour as these are still concepts. I am pleased with how they are looking, but I would have liked to have drawn them in more views.

Further Development

These are the further developed characters of Sirius (left and Zathe (right). Again, I have designed the colours for both the characters, including details and fur patterns/markings. They are similar in species, but patterns and colours differ between them, as they would with canines. I find the Polaria characters to be more interesting, and I would have liked to have continued with more views. All my concepts are drawn using SAI Painter.

Development -World.

The concepts for the world are now in colour and have more details, allowing me to show more of my idea. The top image is the developed housing, with more detail, showing similar aspects to the floating islands. Below are the concepts for the plinth for the Polaris artifact, and the Polaris artifact itself. The colour really helps show the material and feel. The images to the right show the floating islands in more detail, and a concept for the natural areas of the world, which I have given an organic,mystical touch using the same Polaris blue as the artifact itself.

How I work - Sketching

I do my concepts from start to finish using SAI painter. First of all I will create a rough sketch, but with enough detail in it for me to work from ontop. I will then make it a light colour for me to ‘ink’ over.

II have also included screen shots for this step by step.

Inking

Inking is the stage where I draw the more defined, finalised lines. This step isn’t always necessary as sometimes I work straight into colour. I start off by making the sketch larger and drawing over it smoothly with the pen or brush tool depending on what finish I want. I will add details at this stage too, and correct any mistakes I notice in the sketch. This process is usually quite long.

Flat Colours

Once the inking is complete, I select layers under the inked lines and add flat colours. This process can be quite tricky I have to be very neat. I will usually put colours for a single area on a seperate layer to make it easier for me in my next, final step.

Final Step - Depth Colour

Finally, once the flat colours are done, I move onto adding depth and detail using colour. This is probably the longest pro-cess, but it’s a process I enjoy. I will add details and lighting at this stage too.

I will add any other details at the end, and then I’m finished. This time, it’s a picture of Sirius.

Game box designs

Above are an Xbox and a Playstation 3 game box cover design for the game. These help to give an idea of the games style and feel, and involve more artwork. Since these are concepts, I have used my concept artwork to make a design. I would have liked to have made multiple designs and used more detail if I had more time, but it’s been enjoyable to produce these.

Bibliography

Methods of Madness

Biography -Kidrobot ‘Munny’ template (outlines) - www.Kidrobot.com

Ways to tell a story - Nintendo Gameboy screen template (I vectorized it) - www.Dodgybarnet.com

Independent Practice

Influences - Game boxes:Fable II - www.Countingbeans.co.za

Final Fantasy X - www.Ps2.rpgsite.netMass Effect - www.Gamefaqs.com

Screenshots:

(top left) Avatar Artwork - www.Spooky777.Deviantart.com(top right) Final fantasy X - www.Greedygamer.Blogspot.com

(bottom left) Final Fantasy X - www.Zerochan.net(bottom right) Avatar Game - www.ForceG.com

Research:

(top left) - www. blog.digitalcontentproducer.com(top right) - www. Freakygaming.com

(middle left) - www.Shapesandlines.com(middle right) - www.Freakygaming.com

(bottom left) - www.Fable.Wikia.com(bottom right) - www. community.ageofconan.com

Game Box Designs (top bars)

Xbox 360 banner - www.Nextgn.comPS3 banner - www.Gamepro.com