Alley Scene Texturing

In this session we were given an alley scene with blank textures, our task being to create them ourselves. I feel like I enjoyed this, and am fairly happy with the results I ended up with. However, I feel like the scene could be made even better with more time, as currently I feel the scene is too 'clean'. Also, there were a few things I wanted to do that I wasn't able to, for example I wanted to add litter on the street to make it look more realistic, but I wasn't able to find an appropriate texture that would have fit in with its surroundings. 

Lizard Paintover

For this exercise, we watched a tutorial discussing 2D painting techniques, and we were then required to try out the method for ourselves in Photoshop. I found the technique fairly simple, and I feel that I'm fairly happy with the final result. However, I feel that I could have pushed the contrast in values a little further as I'm concerned that it all blended together a little too much. Also, next time I would like to make the metal more shiny and metallic, so that it can contrast more with the skin.

Dinosaur in Mudbox

During a tutorial in how to use Mudbox, we were required to edit a model of a dinosaur that we were given using the techniques we had been taught. Afterwards we had to colour and texture the model. I feel that I achieved this fairly well considering this was my first time with the program, however next time I would like to push towards adding more texture to the model. Even though my intention here was to make the creature seem as though it would live in water, giving it similar colors and textures to something like a shark, I still feel as though adding more texture would improve the model.

Lava Creature

For this exercise  we were given the image of a rock monster, and was then required to edit it by adding lava so the picture using primarily the effects layers on Photoshop. Initially I found it a little difficult to get the effect I wanted in terms of appearance, however after some experimentation and trial and error I managed to get a reasonably believable lava effect. However, were I to do this exercise again I would probably try to make the image look a little cleaner, for example with the lava on the ground, and make the face look a little more distinct as currently I feel that it's a little difficult to read.

muscle

Here is an illustration I did of the muscles in the human body, from both the font and back views. I feel like I managed to depict everything fairly accurately, however it I were to do something like this again, I would probably use a smaller brush so I could fit in more and cleaner detail

Elf and Dwarf Drawing Practice

We were given an assignment to draw both an elf and a dwarf, measuring their height with set head lengths. The elf had to be 9.5 heads tall, whereas the dwarf had to be 4 heads tall. Here is my result:

As always, I had a bit of difficulty drawing in Photoshop as well as I do in the program I'm used to - Paint Tool Sai. However I'm fairly happy with the result of these. I did find it a little odd measuring head heights as this isn't usually something I do, and it was strange having to trust the measurement rather than my own feeling of what felt 'right'. The elf was definitely easier to draw, the dwarf was a greater stretch of proportions and took more effort to look correct. The one thing I want to improve as a result of this exercise is to become better at creating things in Photoshop, as I feel I have become too reliant on the stabiliser tool found in SAI.

Insectoid Design

We received a task involving having to design an insect/humanoid creature. For this task, not only did we have to come up with an original design, but we also had to draw a front and side view of the creature as though we would be presenting it to be modelled.

The idea I had for my creature was some kind of moth humanoid creature, and soon I decided I wanted to design a moth princess that would potentially rule over a civilisation of creatures. I started by looking at different images of various species of moths, to get ideas for the design.

I was very interested in how this moth's wings looked like snakes, to scare off predators. This was one of the many things I decided to incorporate in my final design.

After getting an idea of how I wanted the creature's anatomy to look, I began to design it's outfit. I wanted to dress it in a way inspired by asian royalty, so I began to look up different clothes and artwork from countries such as China, Korea and Japan.

                                          

I found that a lot of the materials in these images were very flowy and silky. I thought this would suit my creature well, so I made sure that the clothing in my final design would reflect this.

                                           

                                                

Here are both my front and side views of my creature, and the 3/4 view final design. My creature, as stated, is a moth princess that rules over her kingdom only during the night. Her main roles are to defend her kingdom against night time predators, and generally ensure that the civilisation remains stable during the hours of her reign. Her clothes are all handmade by herself, as she is a silk moth so she is able to produce the material. This is a tradition amongst the moth royalty, as it symbolises the fact that the princess should always work hard for her kingdom, and to always remain humble despite her position.