Final Self Evaluation

In BA3a, I wanted to push myself to draw things that I am not confident with, and hopefully improve my skills in those areas. Just by choosing to do creature design for this project, something I was not particularly knowledgeable in, meant that I had immediately started the term by pushing my skills. I started off treading lightly, not being particularly good at drawing silhouettes as I often end up spending too much time thinking about the shapes and I tend to use references too, which can make the silhouettes feel stiff. As I progressed in the project, things started to get more fun, especially once I found a theme to actually stick to with my designs. Sometimes it was difficult, especially as this is a long project, because many of the drawings I had made I had to revamp and redesign because they were not to the level I was working at anymore. I also had to drop a creature idea entirely, as I didn't feel like I was going to be able to figure out a solid design for it without having the time spent on the other creatures be lower than I needed. I used a lot of reference images for this project, and with that I've become stronger at drawing the anatomy of the various animals that I used as reference, though I think using references for a lot of my pieces has made them less original in design, as I was more meticulous about the anatomy and look of the creatures and less about how I wanted them to look. With more practice I would like to be able to design creatures without the need for any image references, but with the time and the amount of work I had set they were necessary for my skill levels in animal anatomy. I also feel that my painting skills are still not as good as I want them to be, and I definitely need to practice more in my free time so that I can improve my skills and create art I am more proud of.

With such a long project, I found it hard with scheduling and sticking to that schedule, but in terms of time management I think I have improved a lot, when I felt that I had too much planned, I dropped some work, and then when I realised that I still had some time left I added more to my workload. I ended up with enough time to finish what I had planned and also focus on my dissertation too, and didn't feel too overburdened. Time management has been something that I have often struggled with, especially when it comes to procrastination, and during my time at university I have become a lot better at it which I am proud of myself for. I also had to have time for the written work, and especially with the dissertation as often essay-based work is something I struggle with. I managed to work well with my blog and dissertation, for the most part, and that's a big achievement for me.

I feel like I also improved a lot in creature design, which is something that I have always been interested in but never gotten round to trying out, and its good to know that I have these skills that I can use in the future. I also used a lot of filters and effects in Photoshop, which has pushed my skill levels in the program higher.

I'm ultimately proud of my improvement in this project, although I am often not proud of how my art looks as a whole, these pieces are the best I can do at the moment with my skill level, and I think they all work together well as designs and all look polished. The creatures all fit together in the same world, and maybe in the future I will make the world in some form with the designs I have made.

BA3a - Christmas Break Summary

Over the Christmas break I continued working on the sheets. I decided to start out working with the bubble fish pet with putting it in a scene. For this one I wanted to just draw out the feeling I had for the scene, instead of working with sketches and thumbnails. I wanted a dark scene, and the fish would be floating whilst following the owner, and the glow of the bubbles would be one of the only light sources.
Below is the final image, the first being the original and the second having a dark blue filter pulling it together. I'm still not 100% sure which I prefer but I think one with the filter helps with the dark feeling of the drawing, but may darken the overall feel of the piece and not allow for parts of it to be as visible.

Original

Dark filter

Even though I kind of went with my instincts and the flow with this one, it turned out as I envisioned and the vibe I wanted is clearly present. I couldn't spend long on the piece too, so I'm very pleased with what I achieved. 

I decided that for the boss, I wanted a piece that felt ominous, and definitely feel like a boss battle was about to happen. I also wanted a character on one of the mounts in the piece, perhaps in the foreground to show the huge size of the boss being far away. I decided for a piece like this, and also because I had many different ideas in my head of the location, I would thumbnail the piece beforehand. Below are the thumbnails:

I started with the top three as landscapes, and decided that that orientation would be too restrictive especially as the boss is a tall creature and its size would be more complimented in portrait. I also wanted to incorporate the mushroom idea that I started this project with, as it worked in the lightless environment I wanted the creatures in. In the end I decided on the bottom left, with the large mushrooms and the character on the mount being in the foreground closest to you and the boss being half hidden by mushrooms in the background.

Below is the sketch I drew from the thumbnail:

And the final piece before and after I added bridges. I decided to add the bridges so that the character had a path to the boss, and I think it pulls the piece together more especially with the bright yellow lights on the bridges to light the way.

I'm still not 100% sure its finished yet, but so far I am relatively pleased with the piece. I think it seems somewhat messy due to the different light sources scattered around (bridge lights, drips on mushrooms, the boss' antlers and claws, deer heads), and the dripping parts on the mushrooms don't look quite right. I haven't had a huge amount of practice with backgrounds and big pieces like this however so all in all i am very pleased, but things like the light sources and the overall colours could be improved with more time and knowledge. The colour of the mount was difficult as I was trying to keep its original colours but also add blue lights to make it fit in the scene, and the boss' lighting was difficult too as there is light coming from its antlers and claws so i was trying to use that to make it seem more dramatic by having this light on its chest, however its difficult to replicate on the mushrooms too so it may look vaguely out of place. I may try to get some guidance on this piece before I call it finished, but for now I am pleased.

I decided to use the deer as the mount in this piece as it felt appropriate given the boss also being deer-inspired, and the mushroom forest felt like an environment you would see it in. I'm not sure the deer stands out enough in this piece still, so I may end up also making a character sheet for it.

The lion character sheet was only one I hadn't drawn anything for yet so I moved on to that. Below is its sheet with sketches, lineart and final:

This one was a little difficult at first as much of its design isn't sketchable due to the large pixels, but in the end I am pleased with how it looks. The top left shows the lion in a relaxed pose, showing its glowing paws, and the top right is the head shot with the glowing teeth shown. The bottom two show the lion running and the paw prints being left behind similar to the other creatures. The pixel size is a lot larger in a closer shot such as the face of the lion which i enjoyed working with. The pixels can be difficult sometimes as its a challenge to make them all similar in colour when pixelated, but it does show that the pixels will be moving around like static on a TV at any point. 

Below are reference images used.

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And i also used this video as reference for the running (link also here)