Wolfy got moves...Shy

Even werewolves get shy sometimes

Wolfy got moves...Growl

Growl (No facial animation :( )

Wolfy got moves...Idle

Idle animation

Wolfy got moves ... scratch

Ear scratch

Wolfy got moves...Claw

Claw attack for my Art and Graphics 3 character, Tabby

BE Interwebz tastes yummy....

It's been a long whilse since I last updated! This is due to the fact that I has to move house and I have been without the internet for nearly three weeks, however all is not lost as the lovely lovely people at Be Broadband connected me today so all is good!

To update some news:
BUG COMPANY has now been "finished" and was handed in on tuesday, despite issues with getting it onto DVD. Whilst I enjoyed most of the experience and learnt a great deal, I don't think I'm quite cut out to be a team leader just yet.

Keep an eye out for updates including a project called SPRITE DARTER. This is a sort of resubmission for my Design semester 3. Unfortunatly at the end of last year I suffered from quite a bad concussion and had to file for mitagating circumstances for two of my subjects. Thankfully both where accepted and it means that I can now resubmit them without any penalty so I still have the chance to walk out of this year with a first.

The second project, currently called O.R.C.A, is an underwater based serious game replacing our original thrid year project, PATHFINDER (mentioned in one of the very first posts of this blog). O.R.C.A is aimed at making people aware of the dangers the worlds oceans are facing and the effects which they can have on the mainlands.

All in all there's alot going on.

Even bug creatures have pinups...

Well I've spent this week working on the final textures for the bug company mod and today found myself doing something I haven't done in a while; a 1940s style pinup.

Technically there should also be a Tagma pinup, but unfortunately, getting different vehicles in for both sides was harder than we though. So here she is, the Ladybug, a symbol of... well hope I suppose for all the Imago at war with the Tagma, the girls wanna be her and the guys wanna be with her :P

a slight misunderstanding...

Well we very almost presented the wrong thing today during tech. Turns out we where actually meant to present a game and then talk about how we'd use our chosen engine to make it and how the engine's features applied to our gameplay. Luckily Gary and I had a game concept we could use, but it did mean re-working the presentation which was a little bit of a ball ache as I'd spent so long getting it ready in the first place.

Above are two slides from the new and improved presentation. The game was called watchers and I changed the icon I had made to represent outsourced, to an hourglass to represent the game (which was all about turning back time)

keynote is not a magic wand!

I know lot of people think that my presentations only take a few minutes because I use keynote but I would like to assure them that infact they take a hell of a long time! I only mention it because my task today has been to create a presentation for technology and it's been causing me all sorts of problems.

The team/project is called Outsourced and it takes an indepth look at Valve's Source engine.

Above: The team intro screen.

Below: The introduction to what we're going to cover in the presentation.

With the exception of the Valve, Steam and salford logos, I made everything myself in illustrator.

Working hard.

I've been posting updates on my artwork for the past few weeks, but nothing on the development side of things. So here is a snippit of my Art and Graphics document to see what I did:

These are a couple of pages from the development document. The project is called Running Wild and shows the creation of Tabitha Blake from initial inspiration through to 3D realization.

Break in the maddness!

This week has been insane! I've had a total of about 9 hours sleep from Sunday night till today.
I got contacted by my current accomidation saying that they had a potential tennant for my room... unfortunatly it meant I would have to vacate the apartment on Tuesday (The one just passed).
I couldn't turn the offer down as I move into my lovely new home on the 5th and need to transfer my current contract before then.
Thankfully I managed to push the move in date back to Friday (today) which has given me a few more days but it's still been a rush.
The main problem has been that I have A LOT of stuffs and I live over an hour away, so I've spent most of the week ferrying me belongings back and forth in a little KA.
As well as moving I've had to keep on top of my work, which I was doing until I realised that my Art and Graphics was due on Friday; the same day I had to move out. I knew there was no way I was going to be able to even get into Uni, let alone have all of my work to hand. I tired to get an extension but it doesn't cover last minute houseing crisis, so I've had to settle for a 10% deduction, which is a shame as I've worked hard, easpecially on the development.

I'm back home now and I'll be living here until I move into Chimney Pot Park in just over a week.. then the maddness begins again!

Making progress

I have been a busy bunny these past few days. Below is a front and side image of Tabby.

Need to add a few more details about her personality and some close ups of the charms and such like.

Don't worry I don't bite... but she does!

Well it's been a long time since I posted. Alot has been going on recently with uni work and looking for an apartment. The good news is that I more than likely have a place to live now in a beautiful upside down terrece house in Salford with my friend Rach.

Also been working hard on my art and graphics and I now have my final character design. Her name is Tabitha ' Tabby' Blake and she is a werewolf.

She's been through several version but this is the final one. Also decided to use her as a bit of self promotion, hense the Embear T-shirt ^_^

Eye see you!

I've been working none stop on my Art and Graphics module over the past few days and I don't seem to be getting any closer to finishing.

I'm not working on the face which mean drawing it over and over until I get what I want. As a result I've been looking at various different artists to see how they paint faces and what kind of palettes they use.

After hours of trying different techniques I decided to start the final piece by concentrating on the eyes as they are usually the hardest thing to get right on a face.

So here is what I have so far. Obviously no shading around them at the moment. I wanted the shape to have a very feline feel to them which I think I've managed.

UPDATE: Updated version of the eyes

Drawing Practice

My aim over these last few days has been to try and improve my drawing skill, and so armed with some new magazines, Painter and my Wacom tablet I've been getting some stuff down on paper... so to speak.

This is a quick sketch of a character I'm working on for my Art and graphics project. She's been through several variation so far but I think I'm getting close to a final version.

Moving on up!

Some very exciting news girls and boys! I'm currently looking for a new apartment with my friend Rach and it looks like we've found one in an area which couldn't be more perfect!
Unfortunately I have the slight problem of being tied to my student accom. contract so I'm off to see if I can do anything about it.
If all goes well, I could have a new home in a few weeks yay!

Dude!

One of my Primary tasks for the Bug Company project is the creation of the concept art, which goes hand in hand with my second task of creating the art bible.

As I've already shown the progress of the art bible, I thought it was time to start showing off some of the concept art.

This piece is a male Imago character which I drew not only to practice the look of the male characters, but also for the document layouts.

Down to business

After a quick vote around the latter design of the logo won out and I added it to my business card design. This is what I have so far:

I scribbled out the number and email for privacy :P

Eventually I would like to have something a little different from just a generic business card, but for the time being this will do :)

Showing the world...

It's getting to the point now where I have to start thinking about where I want to work when I finish my university course which unfortunately means starting to get my artwork out there and into circulation. This means starting to post on forums and putting together an online portfolio.

Whilst I have no problem with the writing of the site, I am at a loss as to the design. I want it to look profession, but fun at the same time. I also want it to be possible to run on any computer/ browser.

This is my first concept, a very emo. pink, black and white theme.

Whilst the design would be quick and easy to setup and manage I would really like to have something a little more... showy.

I will update with more concepts as I complete them.

UPDATE: EmBear Studios Logo Design

Here we have a concept for a logo design for EmBear Studios. The green and white can be swaped out for any other colour.

The first one is the initial design and the second is inspired by the cover of the Cafe Sale art book.

I am serious and don't call me Shirley...

A term which seems to be thrown around a lot currently by people both in and out of the games industry is Serious Games. This term doesn't refer to a game that has no sense of humor, it is actually an entire genre of games which use the games technology for purposes other than just entertainment.

Serious Games can span from training simulations such as the tactical Language and Culture Training System by Alelo Inc (http://www.tacticallanguage.com) to awareness simulations such as Melting Point, an educational project about global warming by CogniToy.

So what does this have to do with me or my art?

Despite still being in my second year of university I have already begun work on my final year project which happens to fall into the serious game genre.

(Title screen from initial pitch presentation)

The game, entitled The Pathfinder Project, aims to expose adults and children to the wonders of the British outdoors whilst also developing skills such as map reading and navigation through a series of challenges without needing to step out of the front door. The Pathfinder Project hopes to spark the natural explorer in young and old alike, and encourage them to return to a pastime of enjoying the wonderful natural environments Britain has to offer.

The concept is of course still in its early stages and is going to go through many changes before the specific details are finalized.

Stay tuned for more updates as and when they happen.

Creating an Art Bible

Part of the brief for my Design 4 module is creating an Art Bible for all of the concepts and meshes in the team's mod: Bug Company.

An Art Bible for a game is a combination of a process of design, which shows the research and development of an idea and a concept art book, which shows the images created by the artists working on the project.

The first version of the Art Bible (presented to the module tutor last tuesday), was more along the lines of a process of design and had a word-count of 5000 words even though it wasn't even halfway to complete. The task for this week has been to revise the entire document, focusing on the images rather than the process. Below are two sample pages from the new document:

Not only has the content been updated but the overall layout has been drastically improved. These pages are taken from the research section for the characters and not only give example of images the art department researched, but also highlight the exact features that we looked at.

Update on Character Concepts

I now have the final line art for the bug vehicles, however my housemate, who is the only person with a scanner and printer, has gone home and so I am now unable to get them finished tonight. Hopefully the university will be open over the weekend and I can use the scanners in the open access suite.

Until then here is a quick snapshot of the line art:

Character Design

It's friday which means that I have two days left to complete the epic list of tasks I have to do by monday.

I thought I would take this opportunity not only to give a progress update, but also give a little taste of what my work looks like.

For the past few days my concentration has been primarily on my Art and Graphics review which was today. The review itself went very well and I'm pleased to say that I'm finally getting some confidence in my drawing ability.

As a break from Art and Graphics I have been working on my Design module

 which so far has meant getting the final character reference sheets finished so that the art team can continue work on the models.

Above are the concepts and character sheets for the two female character in the mod: The Imago (Top) and the Tagma (Bottom).

I'm currently working on the male sheets and should have them finished shortly.

My aim for tonight it to get all of the concept sheets drawn up, even if it is just line art.

Never Assume...

No matter how hard you try to avoid it, most posts on a blog tend to be nothing but a glorified rant about something that has annoyed the blogger in some way, even if it a trivial subject.

I am pleased to announce that the first post of Smudges of Ink is... no different. ^_^

My personal rant is about making plans, especially when if it concerns work. Regardless of how dedicated a student might be, they always get distracted from work, usually at the worst possible time. As a result work ends up being either late or not to the full standard that the student is truly capable of.

I am just as guilty as the next person when it comes to loosing track of time and no matter how hard I work during the week, I always get to Sunday and realize I actually have very little to show for it.

In an attempt to try and get out of this rut and start producing some proper, industry standard work, I decided to take a look at what work I needed for the week and arrange my time accordingly, allowing for time when I know I cannot work such as on Mother's Day. In the space of less than 24 hours my entire plan fell through.  What was originally a nicely balanced week of work has become a juggling act of work which would be difficult to complete in a month, let alone a week!

Whilst it may sound pessimistic, I fell that it is safe to say that it is never a good idea to assume that everything is sorted and finally going your way because as soon as you feel comfortable juggling with three balls life is just round the corner waiting to throw another two at you.