Week 4 Start of new projects

As week 3 concluded the bootcamp, I started week 4 fresh and new with learning about values of 5 and 10 tones. My visual design task for the week was to investigate lighting and values using different pencils or just one when drawing and rendering thumbnails.

It was quite interesting and enjoyable to make small thumbnails with different shades of grey, but I really need to push myself and widen my range of values. I tend to limit myself just to a few.

 

 I also drew figures of my classmates for life drawing class.
Capturing the figures was quite easy, but I would end up with small feet, another thing I have to take note of and improve.

In game production I got my very first brief for a project. It was called the Sci-Fi Crate and I had to create a crate that looked as close to the given concept as possible.
The development started with making a mood board in which I have placed a series of pictures showing the object, style, mood and colour before actually making the crate.
Then in the 3ds Max after setting up the reference planes, my job was to follow the lines and make my object.
The crate project required me to use tools and tricks I've learned previously from week 1 to now in order to create my object. As the 3D model was done I had to unwrap it efficiently and texture it using photos and images to create a photo realistic effect. And so finally at the end I had my crate finished.
 

 
It was a difficult challenge and a good learning experience which will help me improve when working on other upcoming projects.

The end to Game Art Bootcamp, week 3

On week three in the visual studies I was introduced to two point perspective and the important role of colour, mood and lighting. My mission was to explore lighting in photography and two vanishing points in drawing. The easiest and most obvious choice was to sketch streets and buildings. I found it quite entertaining and some there were hints of three point perspective.

In life drawing I continued practising sitting positions.
Once again I started out with a warm up, which I truly am starting to enjoy very much. For the reason that there is so much freedom in the line and marks I make. The image at the end I can produce is perhaps more interesting sometimes with exaggerated proportions.

The side I chose to draw from was quite difficult. For that reason my longer 10 minute sketch did not turn out as successful as I thought it would.



My visual design day ended with digitally painting a template for a cubee-man project. The end goal was to create a superhero or a super-villain on Photoshop and then build the character from paper the next day in my game production class.

It felt really entertaining to see how my digital painting turned into an object I could touch. My first character was a space man. I wasn't quite satisfied with the first cubee, so I made another one on my free time.

The Coat dog and Space Man cubees. The character on the left was my second one I made. I worked more on the detail and I am quite satisfied with the outcome as I think it is much more interesting than the first cubee man model I made.

The template for the cubee man that I had to use to paint in.

This week I had a go at my first presentation where I discussed design aspects of my favourite character. I had to thoroughly explain in detail the colour palette, mood, pose, hues, traits, and etc... But the challenge was to in a short time such as three minutes describe my character in detail, using smart sentences as this was a formal presentation for a couple tutors and a small audience. This in return had to teach me to only talk about important things. And I do think that I will improve on it, in the next presentation.

For the rest of my week I continues practising texturing. I was unsuccessful with my hammer last week, so I took on the table and chairs instead. Unwrapping and texturing went smooth and here is the result.

The sand and dog sphere. The sand texture was quite difficult and I am planning to attempt to make a better looking sphere in the future.

I also made two spheres. One with a sand texture and another with a dog in it.

This concluded my learning journey and the bootcamp on learning basics for the course. I look forward to the upcoming projects and challenges that are about to come.

Game Art Design Week 2

After an exciting first week I continued my game art journey onto the first day of week two.
I was tasked with another set of thumbnails, but this time it was of the archway. The arch was very beautiful, but a bit difficult to draw as the surfaces of the walls were a bit shattered. In visual studies I also explored the principles of two point and three point perspective and tried to experiment by drawing the arch from different points.

In the life drawing class I progressed onto more difficult body poses, starting with continuous line drawing and also tried drawing with my left hand. It wasn't too difficult to draw with my left hand as I am partly ambidextrous.

After the quick warm up and a few more simple poses, I practiced sitting positions.

I had to face the model from the front. I found it difficult to get the legs accurately, as my drawing reflects that there is a problem in the leg area.

Because I had difficulty drawing sitting positions up front, I focused my homework sketches to be more frontal.

This week I also got a stretch goal to do textured spheres or cubes. I chose to start making spheres with textures.  Because it is a stretch goal I've set myself a goal to do at least one a week.

For the rest of the week I practiced on the 3ds Max and attempted texturing. I've spent quite a long time trying to texture my hammer model, but it did not come out right.
I understood what to do, how to neatly place the object lines on the right place of the texture. Except by mistake I've had done something wrong on two different channels. It was a trial and error process but I enjoyed it. I will attempt to texture objects I  will make on week three.

At the end of the week I explored what makes a good character design. My first presentation will be done on week three. I will have to in a short period of time break down my favorite character to explain why is a good strong design.

Week 1- A start of a new learning adventure

One of my first thumbnails done on 29/09/2014. I started out with searching for interesting points to draw the bridges of the canal. The thumbnails were essential for the start of the final piece.

The first week on the Game Art course started out as I expected, my first day was surrounded by life drawing and learning about the basics of perspective. Little did I know that drawing the canal could be a challenge.


I focused on finding interesting points of the many beautiful bridges and moving forward with the sketches I came to the decision for my final piece. Scale in my opinion wasn't a priority, which is why I focused more on the detail and quality of the final piece. Drawing the thumbnails was quite new to me, but very enjoyable.

I chose to draw this bridge and point of perspective to draw as my final piece because I felt like this was the most interesting place in the canal. What interested me the most was the lighting that day. The water under the bridge was completely dark and behind the bridge the buildings were strongly lit by the sun, which is why I only left light lines of the background as I felt that it was more important to focus on the first plan object. 04/10/2014

The other part of my first day was life drawing. I was pleasantly surprised! Because I once again got an opportunity to draw a human body.

The next day I stepped into the world of 3D. It felt like was in uncharted lands, as I never before touched three dimensional software before. The first hours were a struggle for me. I knew there was no easy way out of this, so I kept making the table and chair models over and over, until I became a bit more familiar with the 3ds Max. After hours of practising, trial and error I finally managed to make the Awesome Hammer model all by myself. It was then I felt that all this time of practise and learning was well spent. I was pleasantly surprised how much you could do with the 3D software, almost like real sculpting,  just I could easily go back if I made an error.

 It made me feel more confident, inspired me to work hard, develop skills further and l looked forward to what week two will have to offer.

A little about me

Hello world! This is my first blog entry and for that reason introducing myself should be the first step to take.
My name is Gabriele Bondareva, I am twenty years old and my biggest passions in life are art and video games. I was born and lived in Lithuania until the age of eighteen where I attended a school of art. At the start of my senior year in my art school I was blessed with the opportunity to come to England and study Art and Design in college.
Why I chose to study Game Art Design as a degree? Simple, because it felt natural.
Since I was very little, I was curious of the world and how I could transfer images in my head onto paper. I loved drawing human figures and animals using various media. My biggest dream was to become an artist, until I got my Playstation 2. I think that was the day when my dream of becoming just an artist changed to a bigger dream. I started loving video games and art with the same passion. The art I created was inspired by games and I looked up to game creators and concept artists. Which is why, I chose to submit my application for the Game Art Design course at the De Montfort University.
Today I am a Game Art Design student - still a sharp edged shard of sea glass, that needs polishing. My journey to reach my dreams of becoming a game artist just started. I feel positive about the future as each year I am closer to achieving my goal.