A beautiful landscape :)

So at the last hurdle i have completely scrapped my idea and started one that i should have thought of in the first place :/ I always appreciate a majestic sight in a film or game and actually either pause the film or take a few moments to view the scenery with my character, (this happens a lot walking around Skyrim.) Any who my plan is to create a large landscape of mountains, tree's, waterfalls, etc... Just something quite pretty to look at and then i can easily tie it into transmedia such as it could be a 'fantasy world' and 'a virtual representation of a national park.' This goes down the educational route of things again which seems to be an easy way to tie things into transmedia. I'm going to start of by mood boarding and researching of course, probably with some landscapes books from the library and painters that do landscapes. I'll also research into environmental artists and see what inspiration i can find. I will also sketch some ideas but these will be very basic as i'm not strong on the concept art, i seem to be able to just jump in and work from my head better without planing and created as i go along.

Website research for environments and COD!

As i knew before we started i wanted to do an environment i found a few websites on environmental artists and level design. These are all very quite interesting a deserve a good look. In particular i enjoy viewing Alex Galuzin's blog, he keeps up to his work and combines architecture with his environments to get that polished professional feel i really want!

I also enjoy levels in games that are of houses, don't ask me why i have no idea but when i'm on skyrim or fallout or whatever, i always go straight for the house's and look inside at the details that have been aded and what i would have changed etc... If you haven't played the new map on cod black ops 2 (nuketown) I suggest you do, it's an updated version of the old one with better graphics, the layout if pretty much the same but improved in places such as sniper spots and more vehicle to hide behind in the middle. Love nuketown! Such a good designed level. Here's some screenshots of it if you haven't seen it -

Here's the websites i found -

http://www.alexgaluzin.com/blog/

http://www.worldofleveldesign.com/categories/cat_game_environment_design.php

http://3denvironmentdesign.com/

http://www.distancetomars.com/

Student World Fair

I never would have know this existed if my mum wouldn't have randomly driven past a sign and suggested we go. It was a student world fair held inside the Royal armouries in Leeds for students that want to study or do masters abroad. When we walked in the room was packed with students and stalls set up with members from all the different universities talking about the courses they offered etc. A lot of the uni's there were offering medical courses but a did find a hand full for me that offered masters animation classes, illustration classes etc...

Here's some screenshots of the emails i received with information on some of the courses that looked interesting. There's also some screenshots fo the websites i visited from these emails. I really do think i may have to do it abroad or travel first then do a masters here possibly Bradford? We'll see :)

Personally i am very much considering studying my masters abroad as i want to travel more and just take in somewhere new i think it will create some good inspiration for me.

Anthony Ward - Freelance Digital Artist, Animator & Digital Tutor

Anthony Ward came in an gave us a pretty good talk and presentation on being a freelancer for digital artists and animators. He talked about his career as everyone does and told us the story of how he got his foot in the door. As usual to my dismay back then it was all luck and redundancy. It was interesting to listen to his journey but as the gaming industry has changed so much now it's hard to know what to do know as its different. I think we need to get someone in who has literally just got into the industry now, i know thats a hard and silly request but it would be very beneficial. He spoke of how technology has advanced over time and the machines and software he used to use, i'd hardly heard of any of them but i always appreciate thinking of how difficult and how much more time it would have took creative artists to make games and such. He also gave us a bunch of helpful websites to look at and studios to research and visit. 

I think the main thing i got out of this talk is to join digital tutors really. He does it part time and i've heard all the third years and my tutors saying that digital tutors is great so i'm definitely going to do it this summer. We obviously saw some on Anthony's work and he is great at what he does so i'd love someone to teach me who i know is good. 

Here's my notes from the lecture -

GAMECITY NIGHTS

I found a page through facebook about a gamecity nights event in leeds and joined the page to see what it was about. Whilst on there i met a nice guy called andrew who was showing a game that he'd made there and we talked a lot before the actual event. I booked tickets for myself and my friend and attended the event at the electric press in Leeds near millennium square. First impressions were that it was a very small event, very indie like but it was still good to see. There were about 6 groups of people that had designed games and got up and showed and talked about the designs and points of their games. There were a few good and a few that seemed like they needed work but everyone gave good feedback which was good to take in. As it was such a small event and room everyone was networking and getting involved so i was able to meet andrew that i had spoke to through facebook and it was lovely to meet someone who gave me good advice and was interested in what others were doing. Through it we still talk now and he has put a link up to my blog on his professional website which is lovely of him :) He also has linked me up with summer internships and placements so even though sometimes i don't like doing it networking does work.

my friend joe :)

Competition Brief - National Student Survey poster competition 2013

The main reason i picked this competition is because i know how much advertising and audience NUS get's. The person who wins this design will literally be one every university campus in the country. So i plan to research all the nus student survey posters that have won before and add something that links into this year like a main event that has happened or try and link it to music and things uni people are interested in. Something that will catch someones eye cause surveys suck. I'm thinking the colour orange. Everyone loves orange.
I've also picked this one as it has a massive deadline until October so i have the whole summer holidays to put a lot of thought and effort into it instead of squeezing it in with other projects and rushing it. Lastly you can enter up to 3 designs so i'm gonna do three completely different ones :)

Here's a bit of information from the website-

Portfolio boosting national recognition and a major grand prize – can you create an eye catching poster for the National Student Survey (NSS) that will be seen in every university in the country?

The winner will receive:

• National recognition as the winning poster is used to advertise the NSS across every university in the country and is targeted at the over 300,000 students eligible to complete the survey.
• A day working with the firm responsible for running the NSS, to further develop and adapt the poster, getting it ready for use in the promotional campaign.
• A one week, paid work placement with leading London design firm hat-trick and accommodation provided by NUS

here's the link to check it out - 

http://www.nus.org.uk/nssposter2013

Idrawgirls - youtube (Identify a resource that can support an Area of Improvement)

As i've started to make my youtube page just for academic reasons i was browsing around tutorials for digital painting as it's something i know i have to get better at. I came across a picture of Darth Maul from star wars and as i'm a mega fan i clicked on it to find that is was actually a speed painting tutorial. I hadn't watched one before and the guy doing it was so instructional an helpful that before i knew it i had watched the whole thing and had found another one. I gave it a quick go to find that the way i was doing it i felt like i was thinking too much about how to do it instead of looking at the colours and blending them. I messaged him for him to reply instantly bless him, he gave me good advice and gave me a list of tutorials and helpful tips from his website that would guide me in the right direction. I'm gonna keep practising and watching his tutorials as they are just really good, if you haven't seen any of them just scroll down and check them out. I think i may also invest in a bigger graphics tablet as mine is ok for the time being but it is very small. 

I've noticed as well that i need to get a better idea and concept of lighting and shading in digital artwork, such as the colours that work well together and the layers in which you should apply them, dark to light or light to dark. Idrawgirls said it really doesn't matter you get comfortable with a certain way as your learning to do it so that's good. I think it's probably best if i hire some books from the library about lighting or watch some tutorials on it. 

http://www.youtube.com/user/idrawgirls
-drawing and painting tutorials
here's the tutorails for his youtube, really helpful stuff.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2EmdYwRV8Y
- darth maul

These two speed painting tutorials were fantastic and so helpful to watch. Step by step all the way through.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeLMGAjKoUA
-jango fett

Applying for Summer Internships

PUT RESEARCHING SCREENSHOTS OF THE COMPANIES HERE AND WHY THEY WOULD HELP YOU DEVLOP YOUR SKILLS ETC...


The painful part that needs to be done, i went through the horrible process of finding a bazzilion games studio's in and around the area and researched them all before writing emails to each and every one. As always i find it a little difficult to write professional emails as i always want to make jokes and not sound like i'm begging or boring. Here's a few screenshots to show i actually did it.

and here's a list i made of all the places i applied - 

I've found at the moment that most of the studio's are not doing internships this year or are doing them in programming which i know nothing about. I'm going to continue to look and apply for studios that are further away with the hopes that i can commute or live away for a little bit. 

I made sure to do some research on the studios before i sent off my gaming CV and covering letter, i made sure to personalise each one and include something i liked about their studio, this way they would feel like a mass email had been sent out and i'd taken the time to know their studio. Here's some screenshots of me doing this, it take a much longer time than sending out a mass email but it is much more professional practise to network on the correct level and give people more respect than a mass one. 

Expo's i'm off to later this year

So another year and lot's of great expo's to go too :D 

First on the list is Play Expo which i attended last year, probably going to go on the Saturday, they hire out a massive hall that holds old school games, games that aren't out yet, retro stores and competitions. It's always a great networking event full of people with passion for all types of games and new tech there. 

Second up is one i haven't been to before as it's a bit far away but i think were gonna have to go down and check it out as it's on of the biggest gaming events in the country. 

EuroGamer London - cannot wait.... i know there will be so many things going on through the entire day so gonna get down there early and get loads of free goodies and play till my eyes burn. 

Third - MCM comic con - never been to this one either but i'm very much looking forward to seeing all the art and graphic novels. I've looked online and apparently there's a lot of speakers on so it could turn out to be a very helpful networking event. I'm sure there will be loads to buy too :D 

Fourth - I hope i can make this as last year i missed it :/ but i've heard it's fantastic and it's in Leeds too so it's right on my door. They have workshops, cosplay and guests showing there work. 

Finished media artefact

So for my media artefact i knew i wanted to do some sort of environment and assets as there my favorite things :) I picked the lecture of psychoanalysis for this task as i am very interested in the subject and the theories and opinions people have on it. So for about three weeks i wrote down all the bad/good dreams i could remember having and then tried to psychoanalyse them myself with the research and knowledge i gained from writing the essay ( I chose to do it on videogame violence which involves psychoanalysis again). After doing this i selected about eight of my dreams and made virtual object of the things i had dreamt of, i then put these in a virtual environment of my brain (it's in a brain shape too!) I then added all the assets in in places i think they looked best, i then added dust particles to show that these are past memories and ideas still in my head. Originally i wasn't going to texture the objects just shade them in black and white to show they were past dreams but as i tried to do this they looked a little incomplete and rubbish really so i proceeded to texture everything. I'm happy with the results and the route i chose to go down, if anyone would like to see my notes on my dreams, i will put them up but as for now, i'd rather not share them all......

Virtual cat wall, i dream about cats a lot. 

A screenshot from another angle before taking the finished thingy into unity. 

here's what the finished thing looks like inside with particles, i like my textures quite a bit :)

Cities and Films Lecture - Writing Task

Cities and Film – Writing Task

I compared both articles on cities and film and found that both of the sources consider the city as a place of social change and physical change. Both of them through two different forms of media look into the development, architecture and urban environment of the city.

Stout analyses the city in an artistic form, looking at how the public viewed the cities such as through the act of photography. The photo’s showed city folk for what they were, poor and poverty. Maybe this was used as a shock tactic? Or a method of change but the lives still remained poor and nothing.

Stout identifies through journalism the feelings that the pictures convey, they provide a comical portrayal of the city and it’s people, however the actual photographs used more feeling from different perspectives such as artistic and emotional. 

Donald considered the city and architecture to be a not very nice place, possibly stuck in it’s way like an old house, he says things like, ‘ he helped to extend it’s appeal beyond a working class audience to one that incorporated middle classes.’ I think that’s total rubbish I think that society is to blame for what classes we have in the past and today and that the city took away the identity of the people due to the fact they felt like they were’ middle class’ because of the way the city looked and the reality of things.

Both Stout and Donald make good and valid points, they both believe that the cities and it’s architecture have a negative effect on people and there way of life, however this made way for a more urban way of life which is still around today, it created a sense of separation and art in expressing yourself through the city whether you are socially excepted or not. 

Globalisation & the Media

Identity

Creative Rhetorics

Celebrity Culture

Psychoanalysis-

The Polar Bear Club - finished animation

So here's the finished thing, for this module we were given 3 months to do everything, idea's, concept art, film, after effects, texturing, animation etc... We were given 4 parts of a storyboard and had to pretty much say what was going to happen next when the person was beamed aboard the ship. This module was to teach us how to combine live footage with vfx special effects, i learned a lot from it and figured out strengths and weakness which i will work on along the way. Here it is, hope you enjoy it's randomness.