Art 117 Fall 2010

Finale

2010-12-16T10:17:00.000-08:00

I wanted to thank all of you for making this another great teaching experience. I hope each of you were able to take something away from the class that can help you in some kind of way, and I also wanted to let you all know that the energy you all have as students rubs off on me and it helps me to be more creative and think out of the box. I had a great time last night at the bar, sorry I couldn't accept more drinks since I had to drive back. And thanks for the soccer ball, it's an awesome present that is going up on my bookshelf to display. Have a good winter break and I'm sure I'll be seeing you around!

-Ariel

Firehouse Photos

2010-12-15T23:55:00.000-08:00

Since I didn't use the flashlight, most of the them are pretty dark(some blurred)...

http://www.mediafire.com/?09tprqqnsxvq9d7
-Ginny

If I played ping pong!

2010-12-15T19:30:00.000-08:00

I would totally pwn!

:D

2010-12-15T18:09:00.000-08:00

thanks for two awesome semesters ariel!

if i played ping pong.

2010-12-15T13:30:00.001-08:00

ping pong with feet

2010-12-12T08:57:00.000-08:00

thought this was just silly enough to post.

it's hacky sack but it's played like ping pong almost.

2010-12-10T10:31:00.000-08:00

Internship

2010-12-09T11:21:00.000-08:00

Remember to send me your portfolio link and resume by tomorrow if you're interested in the Kabam internship!

-Ariel

interior revision

2010-12-06T09:34:00.001-08:00

this is my final revised interior and another rough lighting idea

Redneck Ping Pong Progress

2010-12-05T22:14:00.000-08:00

posting for any feedback

Moment _ Dragons

2010-12-05T20:32:00.001-08:00

Moment Piece for Final

2010-12-05T20:03:00.000-08:00

This is entirely different from what I brought to class last week, and that's because I've decided to take a completely different route and do a moment piece from the opera Madame Butterfly. I've seen it a week ago in San Francisco and thought that it's Japanese theme and the stage designer's use of pinks and greens could make a good composition. This is what I have so far, but it looks overworked and disconnected. Any ideas?

Ping Ping character

2010-12-01T08:09:00.000-08:00

Hello Ariel,

Here's what I have so far on my character design for the Ping Pong/Streetfighter project. He's supposed to be a retired tennis player who now plays international ping pong and uses a miniature tennis racquet for a ping pong racquet. Everything about his style of play is heavily tennis influenced rather than it being a traditional table tennis style. I'm struggling with the pose as well as gesture and would like feedback on that as well as anything else that can improve the overall design. Thanks.

2010-11-29T15:39:00.000-08:00

hi again ariel,
here is my moment piece that I did not get to turn in, if there is any critiques for making it better please tell me.
I shall turn in a copy on the server when I am back.
Thank you ariel,
david teas

2010-11-29T15:32:00.000-08:00

hey ariel,
These here are some ideas that I had for the SuperPingPong person...I will work through more ideas when I get back. I know they are very rough but if any seem to head in an interesting direction please let me know. And if none of them work or if they are just unclear, please let me know as well and I'll be sure to put out more work.
Thanks again
david teas

For Kira

2010-11-24T11:49:00.000-08:00

Hi Kira,

I think overall your ship needs some smoothing out to get the more metallic textures. Also it could use more shadows being cast by overlapping parts. I touched up the long surface nearest to us as an example of how you can smooth things out a little more to make it look metallic. An easy way to do this is to:

1. create a new layer.
2. use the lasso tool to go over the shape you'll be smoothing out.
3. Keep the selection active so you can draw inside it, and press Crtl H to hide the little selection "ants". This will make is easier to see.
4. You can start throwing in soft gradations using the airbrush and then using other brushes to create highlights and shadows. Keep in mind that some things will cast reflections and that you can cast vertical shadows from objects that are touching the surface you are working on.
5.Add some panel lines/rivets to add a little interest.

I hope this makes sense!

Final Air Ship Revised

2010-11-24T01:33:00.001-08:00

The final version; this is what it looks like after numerous touch ups and a long time trying to make it look shiny... Any suggestions? I've tried the overlay layer, etc, but something is missing. I've been looking at metals and such surfaces for reference, but unless I can look at how the light bounces off that specific shape, nothing seems to help. Hm.

2010-11-23T03:13:00.000-08:00

Because of time, I was only able to do one of my 3 vehicles.

airship!

2010-11-22T22:04:00.000-08:00

Prop! I know it has issues so any help is appreciated.

TY~ Christy

ping pong links

2010-11-22T20:46:00.000-08:00

here are links to my old ping pong characters for those of you who want to go with this idea. People who missed class, ask your classmates what is due on Monday. Have a good thanksgiving!

http://artistadel408.blogspot.com/2008/08/sketches.html

http://artistadel408.blogspot.com/2007/12/ping-pong-rally.html

Final Ship Design

2010-11-22T18:01:00.001-08:00

Here are some views of my air-ship. Painting is still in progress.

vehicle for 22nd of Nov

2010-11-22T15:18:00.000-08:00

Here is my penguin vehicle. Thanks and happy Thanksgiving.

late night crittin'

2010-11-22T02:12:00.000-08:00

Brian: I cant help but want to see more drama for such an intense action scene. Maybe put the camera closer to the main character, add more explosive debris skeeting up from the ground and falling off the fingers back down to the ground (think huge scale monsters like in Clash of the Titans).

Izzy: I like your composition but i think the sillhoettes of the characters are mushing together and not really reading well. maybe you can seperate them a bit.

Steph: good start, first one needs more value contrast! In second one background girl's pose is funky. If shes leaning on the wall i cant feel the weight, Bunny would slap you for this.

Havent checked this blog in a while, wish i had time to crit the rest..

boo!

2010-11-22T00:32:00.000-08:00

I was only able to work on two more since I went to CTN this weekend. I'll try to finish up some more by class!

Reworked and recolored

2010-11-21T20:40:00.001-08:00

it looks really isolated but I'm not finished. I wanted to post it and get some feed back so I can make those fixes as well as adding the street lights and cars and windows and stuff

2010-11-20T19:10:00.000-08:00

Here's the paint I have so far. It probably needs to be more saturate.

2010-11-18T09:04:00.001-08:00

Here's a comp of my moment piece for the destroyed aztec village. The goddess is showing him the destruction he has caused and is about to offer him the two choices.

I was wondering if you had any suggestions for the on how to give this more mid ground space without interfering with the composition. Maybe some heads on sticks or something? I was thinking of adding some fog at their feet.

I'm having trouble figuring out the values of the mountains in the background. The sky gradates into a dark, and I was wondering how that would affect things in the far distance.

cookies!

2010-11-18T00:02:00.000-08:00

Sorry I couldn't make it to class today. But here are four color keys. The whole Gurney triangle thing still doesn't make sense. I want cookies.

Vehicles

2010-11-17T23:36:00.000-08:00

I didn't realize until recently I'm basically doing 3 vehicles. Oh well. This was mostly for color studies. Still messing around with the cart to the left. But this is the general direction I'm heading in.

Comments are nice.

for christy

2010-11-17T22:54:00.001-08:00

Hey Christy these are some examples of menu screens from medal of honor that I was telling you about. When you select each different thing they would be animated and glow so that it would be a focal point. Hope this helps :)

Circus Train Ideations

2010-11-17T17:22:00.000-08:00

I am a bit behind now since I decided to scrap my story moment and do a vehicle but here are my favorite ideas for the train design. If anyone has any ideas or suggestions, please comment.

-Megan

2010-11-17T17:20:00.000-08:00

Sorry guys, I cant make it to class today. I took my thumbs and sketches further and started refining my vehicle. This is a gorilla style mech that the ground infantry uses as anti air. Its main weapons are jet turbines on its arms that generate vacuums to suck planes out the sky. Im still trying to reference machinery in some areas such as the torso and legs to see what they could be constructed out of. Im still a little iffy about the head design as well. Any comments welcome. Thanks!

Dragons - Rough/line_Saxons&British

2010-11-17T16:40:00.001-08:00

revised interior

2010-11-17T16:16:00.000-08:00

Some revisions, any comments would be helpful

Thanks,

Christy

for Bryan

2010-11-17T09:48:00.000-08:00

Hey Bryan,

here's some quick thoughts on your piece. I was thinking having the hand more in a dynamic pose, or think of it as a pose where it's trying to grab the guy. I'd make the main guy not so parallel to the ground, he looks like he's laying down. The mountains on the left could be angled more to match the other mountains and the curved ground plain. The blue monster could be moved a tad to the right, or not, just try it out to give a little more space between the hand and the blue monster. Add cracks on the ground where he punctures the ground, and add pieces of ground where the hand comes out. The colors I'm not to fond of, so keep playing with that.

-Ariel

composition study

2010-11-17T01:45:00.000-08:00

Hey I'm not so sure about these colors but I was messing with the composition. I'll keep messing with it but I wanted your feedback I was playing with the sizes and the scale of stuff hoping that would help with what you weren't liking about the composition before...otherwise I can do the other shots that you were ok with

2010-11-16T05:44:00.000-08:00

Here are some of the more thought out thumbs for my moment piece. The first column are of the fight scene atop the blimp. The right column are of the "bomb"scene we talked about,but I'll probably stick with the fight scene though.

Buy this book

2010-11-15T14:52:00.000-08:00

I saw this book at work today, it's really good. A lot of step by step stuff, specially mechanical and environment work.

http://www.amazon.com/Mechanika-Creating-Science-Fiction-Chiang/dp/1600610234/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1289861509&sr=8-1

thumbs for story moment

2010-11-15T02:10:00.001-08:00

I hope these make sense

You guys should read this

2010-11-12T11:08:00.001-08:00

interesting article on the current art trends in social games, for those of you who are interested in going into the genre.

http://www.insidesocialgames.com/2010/11/12/art-quality-social-games/

monster house moment pieces

2010-11-10T22:32:00.000-08:00

inspiration

http://www.khangle.net/gallery/displayimage.php?album=3&pos=8

The Back of your Head

2010-11-10T21:05:00.000-08:00

Gotcha!

2010-11-09T16:41:00.000-08:00

Hi Ariel
I decided to try a night time interior scene. I was wondering if it was too bright for night time. I'll probably add small tools bits and junk to feel more cluttered.

Abandoned excavation site

2010-11-06T04:33:00.000-07:00

Hi Ariel. Just showing what I've done so far. I went for the more desaturate pallette because it is abandoned except for maybe the creature enemies. I added a middle ground ceiling in that opening on the second image? Is all those details in the foreground ok? it may feel too noisy. idk. And is the scafolding ok, I felt some highlights may have been too bright? And do you have any suggestions regarding the bg area? I blended it into the bg more and didn't super saturate it because I felt the tonal composition already encapsulates that area a lot. I felt the viewer might not want to look around and in that way become distracting. And I kinda felt that there needed to be more stuff. Maybe there's too walking space? I hear to keep space for level design though idk. Sorry if i sound blabbery.

Thanks. Tim

Interior Comp

2010-11-05T21:03:00.000-07:00

Hi Aerial, this is my comp for my interior, along with some color comps. This is supposed to be the inside of a storage room where the protagonist takes refuge in. I was wondering if you felt like this was a round room, and if you had any suggestions. I'm not too happy with my color comps, so any advice on that too would be great.

For Ryan

2010-11-05T10:06:00.000-07:00

I'll start with saying that what Jesse said below is correct, the perspective is off and it make the carrier look like it's listing. As far as the overall scene, there's nothing that I really find interesting about it. It's a cramped composition and the lighting is more compelling than the carrier. I'd suggest doing something along the lines of the thumb I did here (but don't feel like you have to stick to it 100%, it's just a guide for an idea) where you can show some of the life of the carrier. Maybe the deck crew is guiding the planes to their takeoff positions. I've also put links to photos that I feel have similar low camera angles. Next time, post this as only a sketch before you start committing to color because if your composition isn't good and it's got perspective issues then you wasted time coloring something that won't be used.

http://www.navsource.org/archives/02/020939.jpg

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_YlH1XSlujrQ/ShsfW5jqX8I/AAAAAAAACmU/zKgKc0Cb5gs/s400/bh.bmp

http://www.solarnavigator.net/aviation_and_space_travel/aviation_space_images/tomcat_f_14_jet_fighter_usaf_navy_carrier_deck.jpg

for ryan

2010-11-05T02:48:00.000-07:00

Ryan. I like where your going with this piece, however you have simple perspective flaw; you have a natural horizon line(the horizontal edge of the ocean) and yet everything in the foreground is converging to a point WAY above that line. This makes it look like your aircraft carrier is tipped up at an angle. To fix this you would either have to raise the horizon line way up to where the points are converging(easy way), or.. redraw pretty much everything in the foreground/ midground converging to a point(s) on the horizon line. Also since the sun is way off at an angle maybe there will be long shadows from everything. May want to exaggerate the color of the sun vs the shadows too too, although color is not my department.

deguzman; environment

2010-11-04T18:22:00.000-07:00

Hey Ariel, here is the environment for the exterior for the aircraft carrier shot. I struggled with the perspective alot and the colors are now looking to saturated after tweaking them several times. Any suggestions would help. Thank you.

Layout For Interior Shot

2010-11-04T16:15:00.000-07:00

So, I wanna double check to make sure my perspective is making sense. I included the original pencil sketch, and then what I tried to do with photoshop...unsuccessfully. I tried to draw a floor layout plan and then ctrl click the transform handles to make it go back in space, but I end up pulling the corners out so far it goes wiggity wonk. Ideas/suggestions, esp when dealing with all the varying ellipses?

Comp Revision

2010-11-03T14:13:00.001-07:00

Steam society home map

2010-11-02T10:45:00.000-07:00

Heres what i got, i think if i had more items i really could of sold this better but anyways my biggest concerns were scale, i had a hard time tyring to decided how big certain items should be in comparison with the the people. Usually buildings can look pretty small so hopefully this looks ok.

Final Environment and Interior thumbnails

2010-11-01T16:37:00.000-07:00

I touched up the final exterior and added rain to see how it looks in dramatic weather. Ominous, but a little confusing.

The interiors need more development, but I have an idea of what I want to do: a small, shabby studio, somewhat like on a ship, with hammocks instead of beds and everything else firmly tied and bolted to keep from falling. The main challenge is what angle to show it from and how many levels to have to keep from being too confusing and visually busy.

castle comps

2010-10-23T15:24:00.001-07:00

Aztec Landscape

2010-10-22T18:41:00.000-07:00

Hey all. So here's a comp I did for my landscape. I'd love feedback on colors, composition, etc. I know it's rough and I know the eagle/snake thing is a bit occluded; if this is distracting or whatever, please let me know :)

An important link for photo ref

2010-10-22T11:08:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone,

I haven't mentioned this, and I don't know if all of you know about it. If you go to google image search and after your topic word you type source:life , the results will come from the massive Life magazine photo archives. These photos are awesome and big in size and a lot of the time they are great for reference gathering. Sometimes you have to put a capitol letter at the beginning of the search word to have it work. Here's an example of a search for "motorcycle race" within the Life archive (relates to the current BFA project):

http://www.google.com/images?q=motorcycle+race+source:life&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=og&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wi&biw=1283&bih=790

-Ariel

stuff

2010-10-21T20:11:00.000-07:00

Hey Ariel, here is what i have so far for my environment. I like the idea that a player starts with a smaller chunk of land and unlocks bridges with leveling up. I also though about different platforms of lands that the airship can take you to. For the sake of simplicity i left everything on the same plane.
I have a lot more assests to make (like more trees, dirt tile, and buildings) but im mostly concerned with the shapes of the main map. Any suggestions before i start painting more on those mountains and cliffs?

Thanks
Christy

For Tim

2010-10-21T18:11:00.000-07:00

Hey Tim,

I won't comment on the color because I don't have time right now at work, except that I will say it seems too yellow-green for a desert/canyon environment. As far as the composition, I think you can simplify some of the canyon area. I did some quick light tweaks with levels and added shadows to try and draw your eye to the prison. You have a big rock surface on your right which you can use to your advantage and create shadows from it that can help you frame the building better.

-Ariel

Prison

2010-10-20T22:14:00.000-07:00

Hey Ariel, I wasn't sure what I was doing. The colors in relation to the values are crazy! I swear that yellow is 10% grey! I also feel that the composition is too busy. I'm going to do another but I was wondering if you had any suggestions so far and then I can apply those as well. thanks man

hungry!

2010-10-19T21:20:00.000-07:00

my shapes are still pretty even. needs more tweaking! i wanna see how far i can break things before it just took completely wrong...

For David and Steph

2010-10-19T12:01:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,

here are the comments I had on your sketches. I think they are pretty self explanatory with the notes, but tell me if you have any questions.

-Ariel

Teas:Environment

2010-10-19T01:29:00.001-07:00

Hello, this is my choice for the environment. There are elements that I'm still struggling, for one I'm not sure whether it feels as if we're slightly looking up at the city in the background. I also had a question about the building of the slums because I'm not sure if I'm able to draw it in perspective; because i feel that even though the buildings themselves are geometrical i feel that they are build organically...any advice would help! Thanks!

-Teas

2010-10-18T23:56:00.000-07:00

i'm not to happy with the lighting on the booths. i didn't really figure it out yet. and the blobby guys are just place holders. i want to design the booths more so its more shapely, but i'm having problems because sometimes it just looks like i have bad perspective :[

Castle views

2010-10-18T10:19:00.001-07:00

Hi Ariel,

Here a some more of the rough sketches for revision. Thank you for your input :)

2010-10-17T03:15:00.000-07:00

This is a different shot of the thumbnail that was reviewed last wed. I was wondering if this seemed better or if I should just go with what I had before.

2010-10-15T20:28:00.000-07:00

For my environment i wanted to have a victorian shipyard at night where two characters do some shady business. I wasnt able to make it to last class so any comments on these would be appriciated. I think i'm liking the two on the top left and middle best.

For Steph and Wilbur

2010-10-14T10:36:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,

I looked at your thumbs and these are the ones I felt worked the best.

Wilbur- I think you can add some more distant rock formations and get rid of that hole in the foreground rock (it attracted too much attention).

Steph- I gave notes with your thumbs, should be self explanatory.

-Ariel

rough thumbs

2010-10-13T18:42:00.000-07:00

Super rough thumbs, trying to figure out mood and lighting. I'm not really in love with anything yet.

environment ideas

2010-10-13T15:55:00.000-07:00

For my environment I'm planning to design rock structures in the middle of the ocean or on the side on sea cliffs that house number of bases and docks for air vehicles. The idea revolves around the rock structures acting like an insect nest or hive and the vehicles swarm in and out. I plan to do some more independent studies of the rock structures themselves, but I've colored the numbers of the compositions I think are working. Any comments are welcome, thanks!

my other prop

2010-10-12T01:28:00.001-07:00

This is my other prop that was still unfinished last week.

For Tim

2010-10-04T09:53:00.001-07:00

Sorry for the late reply on these, had a busy weekend and I wasn't home a lot. Anyways, after looking at your rock dude his leg does look off so I moved that a bit along with his arm. I also added a little more reflective light and highlights on cracks/crevices. You should also add a few small cracks to the hands, but other than that I like it. As for the human, I didn't like the hair either. Just an idea, what if it went back and became sort of spiky/messy? Try it out. He could use some more reflective light and warmth to his face. I also did a quick little lasso tool edit and gave him a little smirk, I don't know if that ruins his character but I was thinking of how to make him look less stiff expression-wise.

Neat eyedropping trick in Photoshop!

2010-10-03T17:18:00.001-07:00

Hi all, I don't know if this applies to you guys, but if you work in a ton of layers like I do, you start to realize that having to turn off layers to eye drop a color behind it gets kind of troublesome. Here's an awesome little feature I found that helps out a ton. When you have your eye dropper tool selected, at the top there will be a menu that says "Sample: All Layers", change this to "Current Layer", and it will only eye drop the layer you're on! This is great for working in value first but wanting to maintain your color.

Character fixes

2010-10-01T18:07:00.000-07:00

Theif- I added a hair tied up. I felt like I really need to break his silhouette. I was thinking it might look too girly though!? Any suggestions or quick fixes to break up the silhouette?

I also added another pant leg because I felt it made more technical sense and I stretched out the bandana

Guardian- Are those stone arms ok? and his right leg looks off? unbalanced?

Thanks guys

Great cinematic reference

2010-09-27T11:55:00.001-07:00

Came across this site at work today, definitely a great source of reference for environments and lighting.

http://www.evanerichards.com/blog/

check it out!

2010-09-25T18:03:00.000-07:00

Hey Rudy,
The new pose is fine, only have a few issues with it. The image should explain itself, but overall I feel the femininity is getting lost and the weapon should be separated from the head to make it more clear. Nice work though!

-Ariel

Ive decided to go with a more neutral pose for my character. I gave her a simpler Arm as to not draw focus away from her. I also felt it was interesting to push the asymmetry of her design so i removed her armor on her right leg. I changed the color of the fabric from brownish to blue so the brass is not so similar to her clothing and I added some color to her eyes. I feel she could use some other hints of color around her body as well.

Revisions up in server

2010-09-25T12:58:00.000-07:00

Hi all,

the 9/22 revisions are up on the server, I can't access my yahoo email for some reason so I can't mail them out individually.

-Ariel

color comps

2010-09-24T15:34:00.000-07:00

9/22/10 revisions

2010-09-23T11:47:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,

I realized that I didn't put the revisions from yesterday's class on the server. I'm at work right now so I can't put them on the server until night time, or email me and I can email them directly to you after work.

-Ariel

additional crits

2010-09-09T01:29:00.000-07:00

Thought i would post these from today and if anyone has anything constructive, please let me know.

Ideations

2010-09-06T00:02:00.000-07:00

just doodling my characters, they're two girls who do tricks on horses, one is on the chubbier side, which made her loose her popularity. The one with the boyish-type body started to steal the show, so all the fame and attention lead her to become an alcoholic! yay anti-prohibition!
going for a graphic shape-base, but I actually want to render them to give them more volume, like example 13.

Some links worth checking out

2010-09-02T18:21:00.000-07:00

Hi all,

I came across these today at work, the Ian Mccaig one is awesome because it has small tutorials!

http://kekai.blogspot.com/

http://iainmccaig.blogspot.com/

-Ariel

Real "steam punk" arm

2010-08-31T13:43:00.000-07:00

Something interesting for those of you doing the steam punk theme.
http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/broughttolife/objects/display.aspx?id=5936

Getting started

2010-08-27T07:56:00.000-07:00

Hi all,

There is a folder in the "Shortcut to Animation" desktop shortcut called "Art_117_alvarez". Put your files in there, in the FALL folder.

-Ariel