Progress so far

It’s been a while since I have done one of these posts, a fair bit has happened since the last; lots of work and lots of stress. I definitely feel like I have made major progress over the past 2 terms and I feel a lot more confident in most areas of the course, especially 3D at the moment I feel like I know the software a lot better and I have actually started to integrate some new software in to my workflow. I do wish I could say the same about putting my models in to UDK, I have had so many problems with it (mainly with light mapping) but I do feel like I have learnt a lot more about the software from these issues as I have fixed them.

After the last progress post, we started by doing lots of storyboard like sketches; just a few minutes per sketch. To begin with I was panicking a little with the quantity asked of us but when I got going with it I really enjoyed it and I am quite proud of the finals I produced for it. I think I could have improved this project by spending a little more time and perhaps doing a couple more finals as I feel some of my finals could have been better. Here is an example of some of the final pieces I produced for this project I'm really happy I managed to capture the scene/person accurately and in proportion but I feel I could have used the water colour a little more effectively.

We have also undergone multiple character projects, the first trying to design an interesting character based upon drawing from life, the latter involved a bit more Imagineering as it was a reef character based loosely on human form. It was nice to be able to implement techniques I have picked up along the course and use them as part of a design process; we also had to them sculpt the characters out of clay too. Here is the final design alongside the final sculpture, whilst the sculpture isn't the best and isn't as accurate as I would like it to be but I really enjoyed doing it; it was good to go back to something so traditional especially after 3D modelling.

We also recently did a project on portraiture, looking at the technical side of drawing a face, to put what we had learnt in to practice we were told to produce a self-portrait. I had done this a couple of times before, the last time I did was probably a couple years ago and it was absolutely terrible in comparison to now. I was never really any good with faces but now I feel like I could produce something similar to the subject.

Some of the more recent bits we have been doing have been about revisiting previously visited locations and drawing there again to show how we have progressed over the past year. The amount someone can progress over the small space of 6 months is incredible, I was really surprised at how confident I felt in drawing what I had struggled to draw before. As you can see below I have improved considerably, the image on the left was from around Christmas and was a re-do of the same piece from around a month before. I feel my rendering abilities along with my sense of scale have vastly improved however I still feel that I need to work on my texturing using pencil as it looks a little flat.

I can’t believe how quickly this year has flown by, it’s hard to believe I finish for good in around a months’ time. Before then we have another extra 2D and 3D project, the 2D one being a design project based around 1920s Chicago and a mystery 3D group which I should hopefully hear some details about on Monday. I am looking forward to a summer of furthering my skills and exploring some areas I perhaps don’t have time for in term time as well as catch up on a few games I haven’t had chance to play yet.