contextual studies 1

for contextual studies I'm in a group doing a presentation about characters. I have chosen to do Riku out of the Kingdom Hearts series as I would like to understand how eastern characters are much more varied than in western countries. Also I like how even though Riku a non-playable most of the time he has a very interesting personality that really connects with the player as being more human than some other characters.
for example in Kingdom Hearts he was a sympathetic villain trying to help his friend but then turned his attention to power. through out the series Riku tries to redeem himself to become a brave and morally good person.
Clothing on the other hand his appearance is very interesting to me as it reflects his character. for example his silver hair could emphasis the idea of being calm but can also symbolize that his heart is not completely good or bad. This is appealing to the audience as nobody is perfect and nobody can make good decisions all the time. Also his clothes can give indications about his personality as he is wear the majority of blue it an represent his calm nature and the yellow his happiness and energy while around his friends compared to Sora who wear red in the 1st game which can represent his bold character.

His clothes also gives an indication about his personality as he is wear a majority of blue it can represent his depressive or serious nature compared to other characters like Sora who wears red to represent his bold character.

concept art

this is my concept for my environment it will consist of two beach huts and a shop overlooking the sea. Although beach huts conventional face towards the sea i find it fitting to swap the direction there facing so  the path in the middle is more distinguishable.     

beach reference photos

For my environment project I have decided to go for a unusual setting, the beach. these are some reference photos of the beaches around west Norfolk mostly Hunstanton as there are a variety of beech huts there. the setting seems to be a place for a detective game especially as there are quite a lot of mystery stories on TV at the moment like "Broadchurch" and "Light fields" which are set near the beach.

final animations

these are my final animations of moom: walking, running and having a nice sit down. moom was a simple rig meaning that some movements were hard to control. but it was a different but fun experience

spider-diagram for essay

this is my spider diagram for my essay about a creative director which i enjoyed researching especially Kim Shift as she seemed to be a very inspirational female game designer for me.

Drawings

these are my life drawings that has helped me understand the human anatomy better so when animating "moom" i could see what postures would look unnatural. life drawing has also helped me alot with developing my skill as an artist. i especially like the drawing of the two dancers that i saw on TV as i feel the portions are correct especially the women's body.

Looking at two gaming roles

Creative director:
A creative director is the key person during the game development process who is responsible for the overall look and feel of the game as ensuring the quality and style of the game play. normally the creative director is the creator of the game and character and acts as a visionary.
the creative director also has to promote the game to executives who are not directly involved in the production such as the sale and marketing departments as well as handling the media outlets such as game magazines, television and websites. On the other hand they have to handle long hours with high levels of stress particularly during the final stages of the production making sure the game fulfills the initial goal. But in small or independent companies a creative director is not needed as they don't have enough money to afford plus they can make up numbers by doing two or three jobs.
Unlike other jobs creative directors don't stay in one place for very long as they mine not be well suited for the next game so they switch companies very often. an example o this is Alex Hutchinson who was the creative director on assassin creed 3 as well as being creative director, artist etc on these games:
'Duke Nukem Advance (2002), Take-two
'The Urbz: Sims in the City' (2004) Electronic Arts.inc
'Pitfall: The Lost Expedition' (2004), Activision
'The Sims 2' (2005), Electronic Arts.inc

Alex Hutchinson also demonstrates his ability to handle the media by doing interviews about Assassin creed 3 : http://www.computerandvideogames.com/363428/assassins-creed-iii-interview-alex-hutchinson/#

Animator for games:
the animator is responsible for the portrayal of movement and behavior of characters, creatures, elements, objects, scenery, elements, vegetation and environmental effects. Which also involves being responsible for the technical process of rigging and skinning of the characters. Animators work for development studios, publishes-owned and independent and specialist companies with their usually being permanent while other jobs like Creative directors work is on project-by-project basis.

The 12 principles of animation number 12#: Solid drawing

By having an understanding of drawing construction, perspective, form, anatomy and line control a solid drawing which then can be animated. With this knowledge anything can be drawn and is its normally recommended that an animator knows how to draw before thinking about animating.  

The 12 principles of animation number 11#:straight ahead pose-to-pose

Straight ahead action is when the action is drawn start to the end of the scene which the problem with this is that size, volume and proportions but on the other hand it allows more spontaneous action. this method is normal used to do wild and fast action scenes.
While pose-to-pose animation is when you only create/draw the key points and then fill in the rest of the animation which allows size, volume and proportions are controlled better and so are the actions.

The 12 principles of animation number 10#: timing

there are three types of timing :
physical timing: is used to make objects and characters believeable by creating weight, gravity and mass.

theatrical timing: is used for both comical and dramatic effect by the character having a personality it can alter how fast or slow they do actions like walking and running.

musical timing: this isn't exactly connected to the animation but it can help with creating the mood of the character. a good example is Lego Harry Potter 5-7 on DS; as the player gets closer to a enemy the music changes into a more battle-mode that excites the player as they get ready to attack.