Concept Art: Trollbella's final piece

Like with my Red Riding Hood final design, I have also started with thumbnails to give myself more variety to choose from. 

In this scene I want to show a complete contrast in mood but not be so scary that it wouldn't be shown to children. Trollbella takes a liking to one of the main characters 'Connor' and i wants to show 'Trollbella' in a charming light to contrast with the spooky atmosphere.

After creating my first environment with red i started enjoy the challenge of creating an environment without much organisation like in the hallway of the place.

Before adding my characters i thought this background could stand out by itself unlike the hallway scene where it seems to depend on the character. so i have added this image to my portfolio as a sole environment.

in this final scene i needed it too seem darker so that the environment looks scarier and in turn makes 'Trollbella' look bright and interesting. I knew that just making i the scene more black wouldn't work as it would just make the environment smaller so i looked at other pictures and cartoon films to see what they had done to darken their scene. luckily I found that adding a dark purple/blue lightly over top gave the intended atmosphere without making it too scary.
Overall by doing this scene last I seemed to understand what went wrong/right with queen reds scene and was able to develop the skills i had learnt.

Concept Art: the development and final piece of ' Queen Red Riding Hood'

 while doing this scene I have come across two difficulties, firstly is the composition of the scene which was pointed out to me by my tutor who said that the vanishing point should never be on the edge of a page as it distorts the scene. taking his advice i enlarged the page and placed the vanishing point a bit more left enabling me to add the other side of the hall. overall i think this drastically changed the composition and looked more pleasing to the eye.
the second problem that occurred was with the hands as I kept getting comments on the size of the hands and that they didn't look feminine enough. i have struggled with specific problem for a couple of days now and have decide to see one of my family members who's an artist to give me some immediate advice.

After spending the afternoon with my relative we came to the conclusion that the former pose wasn't working even though we spent an hour or so working on the pose we had to change it as it seemed to cause many problems.
we talked about different poses which would beckon the audience to her, we looked at a variety on Disney film clips to get an idea of movement and different poses. so we settled on this pose which shows her being welcoming.
We kept the hands less detailed so they aren't so distracting as I want the viewer to be attracted to her face.
In conclusion I have had to make a few changes to this piece of artwork but i think its for the better the only thing I would change is the colour of the walls and roof as i think it can be seen as distracting from the character.

Contextual Studies: Video Games As Scientific Tools

After looking at the negative impacts that games can have I wanted to find some video games that can actually make a difference in the world instead of making it worse. This lead me to games with scientific purposes that anyone can play and potentially make a help with matters like curing diseases.

the reason I thought about this was after watching a ted talk with John Hunter talking about his world peace game I start to wonder if there were games that could actually help the world.

my first game is ' Play to Cure: Genes in Space' develop by a wide range of video game designers working for cancer research, in the game the player is on a mission to collect as much 'Element Alpha' as they can while flying through space. before each mission the player must map out a route each map is an DNA micro-array which is a collection of microscopic DNA spots attached to a solid surface. By allowing players to map out a route it gets thousands of eyes to look for spots and patterns which would take a small minority of scientists years. 
the player then plays out their route in a 3D environment at the end they find out if they have collected enough 'Element Alpha' to go to the next level.
With loads of eyes looking for patterns and scanning the DNA, scientists are hoping to minimize the time it takes allowing them to find cures for cancer quicker. 

This type of education tool has been found to work in other projects like 'Fold it' where player must manipulate 3D models of enzymes in to different shapes allowing scientists to spot possible structures to be re-enacted in real life. the potential of these games are seen when you find out that players learned more about an AID enzyme in 3 weeks than scientists had in 13 years. 
which shows that with everyone thinking differently we can get more problems solved than people who have been told to think and do things in a certain way. 


sources:
https://www.ted.com/talks/john_hunter_on_the_world_peace_game 

Bond, J. (2014). Play to Cure: Genes in Space lets you fly spaceships and aid in cancer research at the same time. [online] Apple news, reviews and how-to's since 2004. Available at: http://www.tuaw.com/2014/02/06/play-to-cure-genes-in-space-lets-to-fly-space-ships-and-aid-in/ [Accessed 9 May. 2014].

Cancer Research UK, (2014). Play to Cure: Genes in Space. [online] Available at:

http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/support-us/play-to-cure-genes-in-space [Accessed 17 Apr. 2014].

Fold.it, (2010). Solve Puzzles for Science | Foldit. [online] Available at: http://fold.it/portal/ [Accessed

18 Apr. 2014].

Maxwell, B. (2014). ExPlay 2012: What can games offer science and society? | Features | Edge

Online. [online] Edge Online. Available at: http://www.edge-online.com/features/explay-2012-what

can-games-offer-science-and-society/ [Accessed 19 Apr. 2014].

Mohammadi, D. (2014). How online gamers are solving science's biggest problems. [online] the

Guardian. Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/jan/25/online-gamers-solving

sciences-biggest-problems [Accessed 17 Apr. 2014].

Mundasad, S. (2014). Play to Cure: Games for cancer. [online] BBC News. Available

at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-26009350 [Accessed 9 May. 2014].

Concept Art: starting my final design

I haven't done a final design on character for a while so I thought I would play it safe and do quick thumbnails which encapsulated the character as well as the environment she lives in.

In the scene when we are introduced to Queen Red Riding Hood its in her palace where she greets her friend 'Jack' who she is madly in loved with. i wanted to give this welcoming maybe even flirtatious look. also the scenes in the palace depict red as self obsess with portraits of herself every where as well as the colour red. after creating these thumbnails i went through the ones i liked and looked at merging two together to get both the character and environment correct which is the bottom-left thumbnail. 

My first worry about this scene is the pose 'Red' is doing as her hand is coming toward the audience which I saw as a challenge as i find hands hard to draw especially when at a odd angle. Also in the past i have found environments hard to do as i have had problems with perspective, so i see this final piece as a challenge.

Concept Art: Trollbella Model Sheet and Character Sheet

 once again doing the character sheet was so much fun as well as challenging, I feel like I have really captured her character and not lost the shape of her face by doing so. Also in the model sheet i feel that i have followed through on the look of the dress but I might go back and make the dress look more grubby to reflect more on where she lives.

Contextual studies: What are Games really teaching us?

After my last contextual studies post I have become intrigued by how games can potentially teach us to think a certain way or do certain things. Below I have looked at some games that might shed some light on what I'm saying.

“Being schooled means understanding how to stand in line, how to speak when acknowledged, and how to follow directions.”-Ian Bogost 

The Stanley Parable is a indie game developed by Galactic cafe which follows the player as they play as Stanley and how they react to the narrator. though-out the game the play is given choices to make but the narrator will always try and put the player on a certain path but the player has the 'illusion of choice' spread out in front of them. If the player goes against the narrator the player gets punished some how but if the player follows the narrator's narrative the player has been said to have been 'freed' but this can be argued to be false as the player did not leave on his own free will. in a bigger perspective this game could potentially be telling the player that not following the rules whatever the case may lead you to horrible circumstances, and to stay within the lines of society leads you to a 'happy' life.

another game I found intriguing is 'Animal Crossing' created by Nintendo is a 3D simulation game that puts the player in a new town where they must pay of their dept for their house and help the community with the problems as well as the player having time to collect items.
But over time the player can lose the sense of peacefulness in this town and start craving for more and more things. the player is influenced by the endless cycle of consumerism that they are constantly reminded of by:

• the non-playable character who are quite happy with their small house and old possesions which  makes the player distant and different from them.
• the value of some collectables are quite high that the player is face with the decision to give the item to the community or kept it to themselves and make more money. 
• the constant letters from the 'happy room academy' reminds the player that there house could look better, encouraging the player to buy more stuff leading to them buying a bigger house for it. 

the feeling of consumerism can also be felt in other games like 'The Sims', the more expensive possessions the player buys the happier their Sims and the non playable characters are.

sources:

Animal Crossing. (2001). Nintendo.

Bogost, I. (2007). Persuasive games. 1st ed. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Davidson, D. (2008). Beyond fun. 1st ed. [Pittsburgh, Penn.]: ETC Press

Ferrari, S. (2014). The Judgment of Procedural Rhetoric. [online] Academia.edu. Available at: http://www.academia.edu/431419/The_Judgment_of_Procedural_Rhetoric [Accessed 17 Apr. 2014].

Gwaltney, J. (2012). Gaming rhetoric: The Stanley Parable in the classroom. [online] VentureBeat.

Available at: http://venturebeat.com/2012/10/27/gaming-rhetoric-the-stanley-parable-in-the

classroom/ [Accessed 19 Apr. 2014].

Johnson, J. (2011). Freedom and Control. [online] Psychologytoday.com. Available at:

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/cui-bono/201104/freedom-and-control [Accessed 18 Apr.

2014].

Rao, L. (2014). EA Founder Raises $6.5M From Greylock For Social And Emotional Learning Game

‘If You Can’ | TechCrunch. [online] TechCrunch. Available at: http://techcrunch.com/2014/02/26/ea

founder-raises-6-5m-from-greylock-for-social-and-emotional-learning-game-if-you-can/ [Accessed 27

Apr. 2014].

The Sims. (2000). Electronic Arts, Aspyr.

The Stanley Parable. (2011). Galactic Cafe.

Concept Art: Red Riding Hood Character and Model Sheets

 this is my Character sheet for Queen Red Riding Hood in my model sheet I wanted to go through the emotions she portrays in the book  like flirtatious and panicked  as well as basic emotions such as anger, happiness and sadness. i attempt at adding her crown on top of all of her heads but i had difficulty understand how her tiara would sit especially with her hair up in an odd way this also explains why there is none on her model sheet.  Overall I'm happy with the character sheet as i feel i have caught a variety of emotions even if some have changed her face a bit too much that she looks different, on the other hand some emotions I feel I have portrayed nicely.

even though I like her new dress and that i wanted to show all of its features I also wished that I had added a back view with her hood on to show how it would flow on her body. If i have time i will arrage this.

Contextual Studies:working games

Just a quick subject I want to touch on which relates back to my previous post on edutainment. As pointed out Ian Bogost's book there is not just children that companies want to train , there is also a specialized type of game targets at workers, using games as a 'fun' way to train.

"The videogame Cold Stone Creamery: Stone City, Despite the relative novelty of a videogame with an ice cream viscosity model, the training outcomes described above return all benefits to the corporation, not to the worker.

Training videogames become educational when they stop enforcing a process as a set of arbitrary rules in the service of the organization and begin presenting a procedural rhetoric for the business model that the employee has been asked to work under.

Laurel Althusser points out that schools teach hierarchy and consumerism; schools are necessary in order to release parents into the working world, where they contribute to the gross domestic product while taking on greater and greater debt that perpetuates their need to conform in the role of complacent citizen.

It is starting to become clear to me that serious games and casual games alike can be potentially telling us that we must be a specific way in life to be considered successful. In this game you must not think of yourself but about the company and the customers needs constantly and that portion sizes of ice cream can result in the company losing/gaining money or a customer being happy/angry at you, in other words they want you to please everyone without any thoughts about yourself.

Sources: 
Persuasivegames.com, (2014). Persuasive Games -Stone City – Cold Stone Creamery, Inc.. [online] Available at: http://www.persuasivegames.com/games/game.aspx?game=coldstone [Accessed 17 Apr. 2014].

  

Concept Art: Red riding Hoods Dress

Even though in the iterations i went through dresses she could potentially wear i wanted to just give myself a change to see these dresses head on to see if i would change my mind.
I didn't want to feel too specific at this point about what time period the dresses were based around, I was more interested in form and colour combination. in the end i decided i would keep with a big Georgian dress with detail on the corset that would reflect Red's well known story.

Contextual Studies:casual games with learning elements.

unlike the edutainment games that I talked about before these games are not directly made for entertainment purposes but have educational values in them.

'Little Big Planet' By Media Molecule is a puzzle platform video game for the PlayStation 3 the game is for large audience including children all the way up to adults. this game unlike the edutainment games doesn't undermine their players as the game allows the player to create, share and play levels that they or other players have made this can be said similarly of 'Minecraft' also as it allow the players to make meaningful play.

when looking at these games I started to think of Jane Mcgonigal’s theory from one of her TED talks which is about how are super powerful people because they are optimistic, constructive, productive, meaningful and motivated. this can be seen when people play games like 'Little Big Planet'

another game I found interesting was the 'Civilization'series by 'Microprose' a turn-based role-playing game which was brought up in Ian Bogost book.  

"Games like Civilization12 and Empire Earth focus on the progress of history from era to era. As software systems, these games can be seen as historiographies, representing history with rules of interaction rather than patterns of writing."

This video game allows the player to understand how civilizations have grown through-out history and what could possibly happen in the future. this leads the player to think outside the game seeing what they could do for reality.

sources

Bogost, I. (2007). Persuasive games. 1st ed. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Alexander, B. (2014). Techne » Teaching with a video game: the case for Civilization.[online]

Blogs.nitle.org. Available at: http://blogs.nitle.org/2010/10/06/teaching-with-a-video-game-the-case-for-civilization/ [Accessed 18 Apr. 2014].

Little Big Planet. (2014). Sony Computer Entertainment Europe.

Mcgonigal, J. (2010). My book. [online] you found me. Available at: http://janemcgonigal.com/my-book/ [Accessed 17 Apr. 2014]

 MicroProse. (1991)Civilization . DOS, Windows, Amiga, Machintosh, Atari ST, Sega Saturn, Super

NES, Playstation. Reading: MicroProse

TED, (2010). gaming can make a better world. [video] Available at: http://www.ted.com/talks/jane_mcgonigal_gaming_can_make_a_better_world#t-652003 [Accessed 19 Apr. 2014]