Minor/Major Project - Honing in on a final idea

Another post about an exciting new development of ideas! The idea stems from my interest in supporting the LGBT community - and creating a good/fun representation of them; perhaps making diverse individuals who proudly display their sexuality, for example:

A set of superhero's who could be advertised on a poster, the side of a bus, a billboard, inside the Tube station etc, with unique designs.

I do also want to dabble in how women are usually heavily sexualised and turn it on its head; perhaps make a sexy man who appeals to the female gaze for once ( as well as gay men) but not make him camp; the moodboard below shows roughly what i'm talking about with some examples of sexy men that are rarely seen in todays media:

Also seen here is Wonder Woman more covered up than usual; more fierce, and more dominant. This is something I would like to consider; but also, the hero's can be of a different race to show diversity, as well as different body types such as: more thick, more muscular, taller, shorter, so that it relates more to us as real humans. I also need to take my level of realism down a notch to make things easier for myself. 

As for the style, there are a few options; when talking to Alan, we questioned how the "Top Trumps" style cards, advertisements/posters would be in the 70's/80's/90's: at a time when things were not as accepting, and it would be strange to see.

Another style could be that of a Reniassance style painting; showing elegance; there is a painting done by Sam Spratt for the promotion of rapper "Logic's" song, which looks like an elegant renaissance style painting, but is in face full of modern people, with a statue of a robot in the background laying in the traditional style. This would be interesting to do, however the level of realism needed would be challenging.

I do like the idea of an 80's theme: I enjoy the style and culture of the decade, and could make something really unique and bold.

"Anyway - I can imagine a series of posters featuring heroic kickass LGBTQ characters - essentially, turning bullied scared school kids into heroes - or giving them some heroic archetypes of their own to admire."

Maya 2017: Rendering with Arnold

During today's Maya session, we took a look at the newest, more realistic and faster renderer, Arnold. Arnold is incorporated in both Maya 2017 and 2018; this time around we used the 2017 version.

We took a scene of treasure and played around with lighting, exposure (as if the render view is a real-life camera), changing the samples (to make the image less grainy) and experimenting with a range of lights, such as Maya directional, point, spot and quad light. In my first attempt the image came out quite dark and grainy; a mesh light was added to the cup to make it glow.

Some other attempts with different lights and changing up the colours. 

Year 3: Scrap Dahlia sketches

Some sketches of Dahlia done about a week ago; however these have been scrapped. 

@Alan @Phil Minor/Major project idea variants

         

After a discussion with Alan and Phil, and reading the feedback I recieved on the previous post, it is clear I must take on the project with something simple, and not go for creating a (video) games model, as this is not what I want to be known for. Instead, art for things such as board games and card games would be a good idea - I need to approach this as though I am being commissioned - so my interest in detailed paintings and character work can be incorporated in a 3D illustration. This mind map is of other ideas: I have a deep interest in Japanese fashion culture, specifically "harajuku" fashion, however other than that, there isn't a subject to move forward with on that, other than a hyper-detailed model, which again, I do not wish to be known for. I do have an interest in the LGBT community and was thinking of perhaps a scene(s) of a gay couple overcoming the harsh society; much like this music video from Logic which is very moving:  


           

The mood board below shows examples of art from (as Alan suggested) Magic The Gathering (card game), Yu-Gi-Oh card game, Legend of the Cryptids game, as well as other art used on board games etc. I could find a subject/story and create my own still (or series of three) images depicting a story or a mood, similar to what is shown below, in 3D form but with my own style and heavy use of textures and lighting.I find these paintings and imagery deeply facinating and would love to one day paint to this level.

This second mood board comes from the disscussion I had with Phil - the left half is of childrens stories - I'm thinking one could be adapted, changed up, modernised and made in my own style, for example, an older, more badass version of Red Riding Hood that hunts, or a role reversal of Sleeping Beauty (I was advised however, to stay away from Disney). Childhood stories I remember are listed in the mind map at the top; however, I'm leaning more towards the board/card games idea, yet I can also be flexible and create somethin derrived from a childrens story, to show my flexibility.
  The right hand side are examples of tableau vivant photography which Phil recommended - I do like the moments captured in the photographs and they relate to what my end product(s) would look like, however I would still like to have my style in whatever the end project may be, and not something that looks super real and normal (i.e non-fantasy, normal human life).

As time moves on, I need to have an idea down soon; I'm happy with doing childrens stories, or art much like in the second mood board - I'd need to find a subject and/or something to adapt, and for it to be worth a year long project.

@Alan @Phil Minor/Major Project - Exploring Ideas

During a talk with Alan, we discussed what I would do in terms of my interests, and thinking about my future career. My interests lay deeply in detailed illustration (for example, poster art for League of Legends, playing cards art, etc), but I would also need to incorporate 3D into this. So the best solution would be 3D illustraion - perhaps a single or series of 3D rendered scenes that tell a story, or even have a little animation to show the narrative. The theme I am going with is games - be it video games, card games, board games etc - and the art that goes with it, for example posters, card art, promotional art etc. I researched existing art for inspiration:

Images (A, C, D & H) are good examples of 3D renders with an environment, telling a small story. The use of colour and style is something I wish to refine, perhaps creating a 3D scene(s) of Dahlia (last years project model). Images (B, F, &G) show the type of style i'd go for - realistic but also with personal style, as well as alot of details. Image (E) refers to what was talked about in the above paragraph; hyper detailed digital paintings/illustration - something I'd love to do. Image (I) is like a poster/wallpaper - something else I could create as an end product.

The above images are more examples of 3D scenes that tell a story. These are very advanced 3D works, and the composition, colours and mood in each scene make them unique, and I can end up making something along the lines of these.

I'm still thinking about the context of what would be made, however the idea of a strong female lead in a game is something I really want to create.