Team Twist - Abilities and Anmations

Now that we are getting closer to modelling our playable characters, I have been set with a task to figure out the looks and animations while our characters cast spells. This task is something that I have never done before and it was definitely a lot of fun figuring out how to convey everything that I wanted to show.

This page was the first thing that I have done for our Gravedigger character. While designing these I have looked quite close at various fantasy games such as World of Warcraft, Guild Wars and Neverwinter Nights. Each of those games have provided me with a starting point on what I wanted to show in my own animation sequences.

This ability, which is called Necrotic Mass, was meant to be a wall of bones emerging from the ground in front of the player. The purpose of this skill was to create a wall that would protect the player and block out incoming enemies.

This was a second approach to Necrotic Mass. Although I knew that we would not do something like this (due to the tight schedule and) I still wanted to play around with different designs and ideas.

This ability was quite simple in design. A big cloud of toxic gas slightly emerging from the air or a horde of insects slightly increasing in size and quantity. 

Spirit Guard is essentially a buff which increases player's defense and increases damage. I imagined this one as a spirit of a gladiator emerging from player's body.

Unholy Utterance was yet another buff ability which, upon casting, would release a floating skull above player's health that would indicate that skill is actively working.
Overall I really enjoyed working on this task, and I think I learned quite a lot during the process. At first I have started with quite detailed designs but I have quickly learned that simplifying my drawings, especially in this task, would work better for me while trying to convey my ideas on paper.

Team Twist - Graveyard

Graveyard was something that I always looked forward to. I really enjoy the overall idea of haunted place, that is dark, scary and ready to strike.
As mentioned in my previous blog post I have decide that now I am going to do paintings that will be more 3D friendly. I want to do both illustrations as well as more design work that I could pass along to our 3D modelers so that they could use them as a starting point.

Above are three illustrations that I have done for our graveyard level. As you can see I have used quite a lot of hard surface objects that I have noticed while researching Victorian Graveyards. A lot of these look almost modern. Concrete floors along with steel gates and tall tombs give a sense of world progressing forward, just like in Victorian era.

Above are couple of drawings that I have done for our 3D modelers. Throughout the process of designing these we have decided that it would be better for us to follow both my drawings/paintings as well as various reference photos that we have gathered, That way we can combine both and hopefully come up with something unique and believable. 

In conclusion, I have really enjoyed working on this location and I plan to come back to it and do more. I have learned quite a lot throughout the process. Painting graveyards was definitely not an easy task. Coming up with designs as well as trying to convey everything that I wanted onto a canvas was definitely challenging but rewarding task. 

Team Twist - Sewers

As I've mentioned before me and my team decided that we wanted to have three playable locations for players to explore. So far, I have worked on two of those, which is the graveyard and sewers. And while both were really challenging, I really enjoyed figuring out designs.

Above I have attached three paintings that I did while designing sewers location. The first one represents an entrance to the sewers. I really tried to convey the gloomy and dark mood of Victorian London in each painting, in hope it would help our 3D modelers work things out better. Next two paintings are interiors of the sewers. Although they are quite different from each other, my intention was to add variety of different concepts. 

When I look back at these now, I feel like I should have done a lot more drawings that are more 3D friendly. Although these paintings might be used for representational purposes, they will definitely not be used as a guideline for modelling. There is too many elements that would definitely not work out in the 3D environment, even though they might look believable on the canvas.  

Team Twist - Harpy.

I think that this character really deserve it's own post. Working on a harpy was really challenging, due to the fact that we weren't sure of how it could look. We had couple ideas in the head but in the end we really pushed ourselves with this piece and I think it looks really good, as far as the design go.
Although I usually start with silhouettes while designing my character, we came to a conclusion that there is not much to explore when creating a harpy. A lot of silhouettes end up looking the same due to the humanoid body shape and a set of large wings. Instead I have went straight to the sketching phase, which I think worked really well with this particular character.

Above you can see some of the sketches that I have done while trying to figure out the design. The only guidelines that I have received while designing Harpy was that we wanted her to have a child's face. At first I thought that this would not work with the creature, but I quickly grew to love this idea.

And here is a final painting. Quite a jump from sketching stage straight to this point, but I have decided to figure out things along the painting process. In the bottom right is the sketch that I used as guideline while designing this creature. I've decided that going with female-like body would work really well with the design. The mix of bird features with human proportions really stands out from this design. For the wings I have closely looked at various birds, but what really struck me was the vulchers. They wing span can be quite large, and I think their overall behavior would really fit with our character.
Overall I really enjoyed working on this piece. I think it turned out well and definitely looks unique compared to previously shown creatures.

Team Twist - Weapon design

Weapon design is always fun, especially when our characters are quite unique. My job this time was to design weapons for Gravedigger and Deep Sea Diver. Although both characters are quite different from each other (one being melee and one being a caster) I followed the exact same process while designing weapons for them.

Above I have produced quite a lot of silhouettes for the Deep Sea Diver weapon. Our initial idea was to have him wielding an anchor, but I really wanted to explore different concepts so I came up with various hammers, maces, scythes and even a steering wheel.

As far as the Gravedigger weapon go, from the start we knew exactly what we wanted to have. A simple shovel. Of course I wanted to go overboard and I came up with a shovel that is magically infused. I have used a green tone because it really fits with our character, that is able to summon minions and use blood magic.

Here's the final design that we chose for our Deep Sea Diver weapon. I have imagined his anchor as a rotting piece of extremely heavy metal. I have used few pictures of rotting fish which really fitted with the design. I have also produced a second version which is wrapped in chains.
Overall I consider this task to be really joyful. I always liked designing weapons and I think this process is definitely rewarding.

Team Twist - Neptune design

With the Neptune design we didn't really know what we wanted to have, so at the beginning we have explored various designs and approaches.
Below I have produced some silhouettes that later would be used as a starting point for our Neptune design. As far as the reference I have looked at various mythological paintings, pictures and character description and also at multiple movies such as Pirates of Caribbean.

As you can see we have explored quite a lot of different designs. I have painted both humanoid characters as well as insects and more generic fantasy creatures.
Once this stage was finished we have chosen no. 3. From this point on I have started producing various sketches based on the silhouette.

Based on the silhouette above I have produced various sketches for the Neptune character. I really enjoyed this process, because I had a lot of freedom and I was able to explore many different styles and concepts. During this phase I imagined Neptune as a rotting, chubby looking character with tendency to sit in one place, or even being chained to the wall. He  was supposed to be big, grumpy and have a strong appearance. Although I found number 8 really appealing to me, my team decided that we want to go with number 5.

In this stage I have started to explore different heads for the Neptune. I have extensively looked at the reference that I have mentioned previously. This was fun process and I really tried to make all the faces different from each other.

And here's the final illustration. I have used quite a lot of different colors on the character, and I think it worked quite well. Although he does not look quite as angry as I'd imagine him he still looks appealing. I have intentionally left out painting lower body, due to the fact that this won't be visible in game. Neptune will be half way in the water so I saw no point in painting legs. I really enjoyed working on this piece.
Neptune definitely looks unique and although he does not resemble the mythological picture of him, I still think he will fit well with our game idea.

Team Twist - Tavern Design

As a part of our hub location we have decided that we want to have some sort of tavern that will be used as a means to regenerate health or buy potions. As far as the design go, we knew from the beginning what we wanted to do. The ground floor was something that we really explored in depth.

At the beginning we wanted for a player to be able to enter the tavern, but as the time went on we decided that player will not be able to enter the tavern. I think this approach will save us quite a lot of time and maybe in future, when we finish all the fundamental bits then we might come back to it and expand on it. For now we wanted to use the windows on the ground floor as a way of communicating with the maid inside.
Overall I think this tavern turned out great and it will blend well with other buildings.

Team Twist - Blacksmith station

I have been asked to produce a painting that would represent blacksmith station. I really enjoyed working on this project and I have produced various paintings that looked quite different from each other. That way I think I have produced enough for the team to chose from.

This painting was the first one I have done for this assignment. I really wanted to capture the old, abandoned look and I think I have done it quite successfully. While receiving feedback I have been told that this painting looked a bit too medieval and I should maybe explore more ideas.

While this painting is quite similar to the one above I have tried a different approach with the house design. This one is much more sharp on the edges and fits a lot better with the Victorian era.

This is a design that we decided to go with. I really like this painting and I think I have capture Victorian feel quite well. The pointy roof bits is something that I have been encountering quite a lot while looking through various references. Also, the whole design is a lot more clean and I think it will work well within the game.

Team Twist - The Hub

Together with a team we have decided to create some kind of a hub, in which player will be able to rest, restore his health and buy new items. We needed a city layout so I've decided to paint a simple isometric village view.

We decided that we will have two main buildings. One is a tavern, in which, as said before, player will be able to regenerate his health. The other building is a Blacksmith station, where player will be able to sell items and fix equipment.
I've also included three exits that will lead to the locations in which player will level up and fight.

Team Twist - Creature Design

Recently I was asked to produce two creatures that could be used in our first level. We decided to go with the sewers, so we needed some dudes that would fit the setting. We've decided that we want to use Greek mythology creatures, but completely redesign them into our own.
Here I've produced two creatures with couple of variations.

There isn't much to talk about this creature other than we wanted it to be quite big.

In Greek mythology Charybdis is described as a whirlpool that sucks up all the ships that come by. At first I drew a big mouth  sticking out of water, but then me and my team decided to redesign the creature, so I drew two different variations and then a couple more on the chosen design. We also decided that player will not see any of the body, simply because it will save us both time and processing power.

Year 3 - The Begining!

Year 3 has started and I must admit, it was a rough start. I had a choice between joining a team or doing an individual project. And while I really wanted to do a thing of my own, I honestly had no idea of what I'd like to do. I've decided to join a team instead. They were working on an isometric RPG game set in Victorian London. This really appealed to me, though I'd prefer a fantasy setting. ;)
I took a role of a Lead Concept Artist, in which I do the majority of artworks.
Here I'm sharing with you first painting that I've produced for this project. The purpose of this was to explore both the architecture as well as the mood. I wanted to portray a dark and gritty London streets that could influence my team, and maybe push us further in the future.

World Building - Low poly weapon Final render.

After countless hours of texturing and modeling I have finally finished my flame thrower. I am really happy with the outcome. I achieved everything I wanted, although I wish I had more time to tweak my design. I must admit that I really enjoyed working on this project, even though it wasn't my comfort zone. I really wanted to try myself in 3D environment. The topology of the model works well and has a nice flow to it. I am also pleased with the silhouette of the weapon. Even without the textures weapon is readable.

Above is the picture of the mesh of the flame thrower. The whole model is low in polygons and could definitely be used in older as well as in newer games. The whole purpose of going this low with polygons is that I can produce majority of details using hand painted textures. The exact same technique is used by people over at Blizzard or Carbine Studios. 

https://skfb.ly/DQvX

Here's the finished weapon. I've used 3D-Coat for the texturing work and photoshop for the presentation purpose. As you can see I've added quite a lot of details that would otherwise require a high number of polygons. Cuts in the cloth and metal were hand painted which saved quite a lot of memory.

 In this shot you can see more clearly how I produced artificial light using highlights on the material as well as the cuts and other details.

Here I have painted quite a lot of lights on the back of the model. I think it definitely made the weapon more alive and believable. As far as the glow goes I have used exactly the same technique as in previous shot. I've added a slight wash over the blue area with a soft brush set to soft light, which gave an illusion of glow.

Overall I am quite happy with the outcome. I only wish I had more time to add some particles around the gun barrel or cables in the middle area, but even though I did not make these I still think my weapon looks appealing and I feel that I did really well with the task.

World Building - Low poly Weapon.

Now that other two task are finished I can proceed to the last one, which I think could be the most fun. Lately I have been doing quite a lot of work on my 3D skills and I am much more satisfied with them than ever. I feel much more confident walking into this project than before and I that I can accomplish a high standard outcome from this assessment.
I've decided to produce a low poly weapon which could be used in games such as Wildstar or World of Warcraft. I really enjoy hand painted textures so the fact that I can combine both concept art with the 3D work really appealed to me.
The other game that I though about while producing my intent was Brink. I loved the game back when it was released mainly for the customization options for both the character and the weapons. I really enjoyed the style and I think I want to achieve something similar with my weapon.

At the start of the project I was thinking about making some sort of fantasy weapon like an axe or a sword, but then I realized that I want to exit my comfort zone and do something else. I've decided to produce a flame thrower, that would have an appearance of a riffle. The weapon would be light and portable and would look as if it was used quite a lot.
Below I have attached some sketches that I did as a starter for the project, that I liked but decided to abandon because of me wanting to try something different. 

As I've mentioned previously I quite liked these even though I decided not to use them as my 3D model. Each of these weapons have some sort of story behind it. I wanted to make them feel unique and different from each other. 

Here I have started producing various sketches for my futuristic weapon that I've decide to do. Using the mood board seen above I constructed four of these sketches, but because I could not decide which I liked the most I've decided to pull bits from each design and construct something unique. 

As of now I am ready to build my 3D model. I have a clear image in my head and I think I can achieve quite a pleasing results based on the sketches I produced. 

Games Mechanic - Extra stuff.

Here's some work that I've produced towards the end of the project. The crowd was an idea of our team leader Stefan. The idea was to produce a flat characters that would be used as an audience on our maps. Similar technique could have been seen in the older releases of Fifa or any racing games.
I did not really like the idea as the characters would be placed quite close to the character and it would simply look unattractive for the player.

Here are the three Orcish dudes that I've painted. I have not payed much attention to the detail because of the fact that these will be only 512 x 512 in pixel resolution and will only move up and down.

And here's the tutorial book that I've produced. We wanted to achieve quite simplistic look that would be easy to read and would give a player quick info on how to move in our game. The background was made from the tiling texture that I've painted before and I think it worked quite well with the style we have in our game.

Games Mechanic - The Slick Rick and his Crew.

This is probably the last texturing that I'll be doing for this project. With the deadline approaching we still have quite some stuff to finish but I believe that we will make it on time. I really enjoyed working on these, mainly because of the fact that I am a huge fan of Dungeons&Dragons. 

As I've mentioned in my previous blog entries I've started using 3D- coat. I really can't believe that I never knew about this software. I have luckily discovered Kelvin Tan who is a 3D artist at Blizzard Entertainment. I was really shocked when I saw his work process using 3D-coat. Anyway, these two were a very fun project and I only wish that I did more organic stuff throughout the assessment. 

World Building - Natural Environment final pieces.

I am so happy that this project is now finished. I very much enjoyed the whole process and I felt really good while doing it. Unlike with the character design, now I felt much more confident with the task, as this was my area of comfort. From the start I knew what I wanted so I wasn't struggling much until to the final pieces. These three caused me some issues, due to the fact that I kept going back to them. I've changed so many things, but I think it worked well and it definitely improved my work.
I had quite a lot of discussion over my paintings with my tutor Ewan so I felt that with each meeting my work looked better than before.

 Here are the three final pieces. Instead of producing three different illustrations I've decided to work on the same one, due to the fact that I have never done it before, so this was an opportunity for me to see how I'll do with showing different weather conditions in the same painting.
In the conclusion, I really enjoyed working on this brief. As I've said before I felt much more confident with this task and I knew exactly what I wanted to have. Now that these are finished it's time to make some 3D assets for my third and last brief. I am really looking forward to this task mainly because I have had some work done with my 3D skills and I feel much better about it than before.