update: wheres my motivation gone!?

Hello,

Well my new years resolution is fading away...

Well frankly for the longest time, i was in a rather "depressed" state should wee say, creatively I wasnt happy with anything I was doing to the point i barely touched a pencil/pixel in a good month or so, plus still not being able to find an employee of any sort willing to hire me in the 10 or so months since I graduated has really not helped either.

So a week ago I decided, "the only thing in my power I can do right now is try and get as i want to be at drawing" so i have spent  a good hour or so each day sketching some doodles,

This was helped somewhat by reading scott pilgrim comics which i like the style heres my attempt:

( face,hand, female body constructions and general poses sketches available if you want to see these let me know, please)

So using what i learned i decided to create 3 characters from one of my favourite games of all time Super meat Boy.

I invested in getting a new tablet my other one had broken which I didnt worry about for a while due to pixel art not really requiring the precision of a graphics tablet.

(i will still be doing pixel art ofcourse just i feel getting my basics drawing skills up to scratch will overall improve all the other creative things I have wanted to do for a long time)

So anyways yeah back to the characters

Sketches:

sorry dont know why its rotating it back to portrait when i upload it =/

anyways so after i did these drawings i took them into photoshop

unhappy with dr fetus i did a resketch, i was happy with this until i realised the pose was all wrong.

latest sketch of him is better i think however his left hand may be sticking out too much

so here is super meat boy and bandage girl

What I Like - SMB

1. Pose looks natural
2. the colouring + shading although rather simple is rather effective.
3. the left hands pose changed for the better than what it was like in sketch ( looking straight at it) i feel this adds to his pose and personality

What i Like - BG

1. pose looks feminin and natural, i use to shy away from drawing girls as i was hopelessly bad at it
2. the bandage effects
3. Colouring + shading

what i dont like

1. the line work is rather rough ( this is due to a lack of practice with using the graphics tablet)
2. SMBs left hand with the thumbs up look odd.
3. BGs lower leg looks odd
4. more can be done to the texture of super meat boy to make him look like meat rather than just having red skin

I did the changes to bandage girls lower leg to make it look better. lengthened her thighs and fore shortened her calfs.

So, like I said Dr fetus got me into a bit of bother so dont have him digitalised yet so tune back later on to see that ( i would say tomorrow but i realise when i do that i more than likely dont get it done)

Anyways, thanks for reading i am hoping i can get back into the swing of things once more. (any feedback is welcome)

David M

Pixelation for the nation

Hello,

Thought it was about time for a little update. So I am still doing sketches fairly regularly along with doing some more t shirt designs for qwertee just for general practice if you like any of them you can vote for them here, anyways shameless plugging aside I also thought of doing some pixel art.

I decided to do something out of my comfort zone so i did an environment landscape...

original size

scaled image

Apart from some mistakes here and there im rather happy with the outcome, it felt good doing pixel art without the pressure of uni looming over me. It was originally going to be a background for my pixel boy guy.

but i felt that he didnt really fit the environment and would be better in a more simplistic scenario, also i was doing this as my mum wanted an ipad case from my redbubble store so told her that i would make it a bit fancier first, however since the ipad has a set resolution and template i would need to keep it in mind so when it scales it does so properly.

moving on from that,

My bloopers or W.I.T.H (what if this happened) animation is still going rather slowly i am sorry to say, as I rushed through storyboards, missed out animatics in a desperate attempt to get straight to animation only to find myself in over my head.. so taking a step back and taking a more careful approach.

hopefully going to get the storyboards done for tonight and al post them on here tomorrow.

until then, thanks for reading....

David - Portfolio

Updates: checklist

just the usual what i have done, things i got to make some improvements too and what i still got to do.

update: a worryingly slow and unproductive day

Hello,

So today hasnt gone well for today other than a couple of words added to my dissertation nothing has really been done in progress and infact i have even more work than what i had  first thought.

so heres the updated checklist,

so yeah lets go through this, (i realise this is for my own sanity more than for an interest blog post so feel free to go look for cute kittens chasing ducks in shark outfits or whatever)

so yeah my practical is going reasonably well...(hybrids no longer included)

so i only have 2 levels in old school to represent and i have started doing the character animations today for old school and im hoping i feel more productive and motivated tomorrow and monday and should have that done for then.

which leaves me to do some transition text to slow down the pace of the timeline and inform the audience in whats going on. so if thats all done for wednesday then i'll be happy. unfortunately i wont be able to see it running on my ipad until the weekend to see it working.

Dissertation im at 5024 however i do feel like im running out of things to say in the literature review case studies and critical framework but still need to talk about my project and where it fits in and how it may address the questions raised. so hopefully going to maybe hit about 6,000 words after that and then with the conclusion and stuff added bringing me to 6,250 odd by friday or something?

_________________________________________________________________________________

as you can see i have this all thought out also got some wiggle room incase of serious dips in my productivity like today. but this when things get foggy and im unsure how and what they want for these bits...

Annotated developement sketchbook - i assume i have something of a skeleton of what could be a developement structure but i dunno what in the hell would count as the sketchbook and what is strictly PDP which is another developement module.

learning contract will prob write that out tomorrow as i am reasonably confident in what i need to do for that

the record of semester meetings i have but they may not all be printed or signed by ryan however and the one that have been printed may have been thrown out when tidying my room =/

2x bound copies of dissertation... just gonna say i can easily see me spending over 50% of my SAAS payment on these and things for my exposition and also graduation. whilst also trying to find a way to feed myself

Expo is possibly the most annoying thing on the planet right now... but yeah i shall have the stuff up for that soon im guessing i havnt really had the time to think about how im gonna show my stuff atall

presentation - should be fine if i get enough preperation in before it

PDP - in this i think i have alot of stuff to show so shouldnt be too bad however this 3x  A4 pages for personal reflection is rediculous i dunno why it needs to be so large atall as im pretty sure it would be abundantly clear in everything else =/

so yeah words cant describe how stressed i am right now and the fact ryan wont respon to my emails are making things easier

Update: Project Idea

Hello,

So yeah, after my meeting with Ryan we thought it would be very important for me to get an idea of what i was going to do as my final project. I think after my most recent presentation and results put alot of negative thoughts in my head and made me very unsure where my project was leading too.

So I spent my time since thinking long and hard going back and forth from ideas in my head. So what i did was think about what relates most towards my Aim:

"Does Pixel Art add to the play experience of games other than the perceived nostalgic value?"

So with the aim in mind, I then compared my ideas to see what would in my opinion answer the question more accurately.

So here are the ideas,

#1 - Game

A game that uses its pixel art as a sort of gameplay mechanic, and showing the various different styles.

I didnt go into this idea in a great deal but I had an idea that you could manipulate the resolution of the game to get past puzzles.

for example, low resolution pixels would be bigger and harken back to the times of the 8-bit era of games with limited detail and colour making things unclear such as signs. 

16-bit would add more colour and pixels/detail are added so what was once a solid block would be split into smaller blocks and show maybe a cracked/weak structure thats able to be broken.

3D would work in the same way as say Fez

Does it answer the aim?

in a way, it answers in that it can show all the different styles that pixel art has rather than the one we all remember from the past.

so whats wrong with it?

well me not knowing how to code atall makes this game impossible for me to make playable especially in the time i have.

I think if i created a game in any sense people will still have the thought that pixel art outside of games doesnt work, when im trying to point out that pixel art can and should be considered as a type of abstract at movement relevant outside of games. I think this would be able to argue and show the "aesthetic" side of my aim so therefore a game might not argue my point thoroughly enough.

#2 - Animation

A short animation showing the different styles of pixel art (see concept development & pre-production portfolio)

Does it answer the aim?

same as above

So whats wrong with it?

Time probably being the biggest negative here, take a look at my animjam animation for example. 30 seconds of rather limited unfinished animation took me 48hrs to complete now if i wanted to animate a short story say 1minute long with various different styles etc i just dont think it would be possible in the time frame given

#3 - Showcase

What do i mean by showcase?

Well, what i was thinking was lots of different forms of pixel art from 8-bit classic era stuff too 3D environment ranging from models to lots of spritesheet animations etc

Does it answer the aim?

I think in a more interesting way, yes. As I would be allowed to create whatever i feel inspired to do rather than having to make it fit within the constraints of say a game/animation theme this would also help in people having a more open perspective rather than classing it as a game straight away and think of the more artistic implications.

I am going to pitch all these ideas to Ryan and see what he thinks, he told me to be ready for him to shoot my idea down (in expectation i can and will defend my point) hoping to have atleast concept doodles of how i see my project turning out.

so yeah come thursday at 15:00 BRING IT ON RYAN!!

haha but in all seriousness i think i have gotten past the massive dip in my productivity and on a more confident incline back up.

David M

Update: Start of semester 2

Hello,

So first off i managed to get everything handed in for submission on time and fairly happy with what i got done. 

So, our first day back was yesterday and we had a lecture, all i can say is it looks like it is going to be a rather busy last half of the year.

but if all things go well and to plan it looks like it is going to be rather fun.

Im not sure if im allowed to post this but i got my proposal feedback a couple of weeks back aswell.

C13

Not a brilliant mark but it is an essay and its been well established that my weakness in education has always been essays so im happy with that.

The feedback was also pretty handy and i will use what i was told to improve all my mistakes for my dissertation. My main area being my methodologies, I knew it was going to be a weak point when i submitted it but it got an MF, but I know what now needs to be fixed. will probably start drafting out my dissertation within the week. We are supposedly getting a lecture on our dissertation next monday so hopefully things are discussed about it then so i can make a start.

So after my weekend break its going to be back to work, here what i have planned...

• More personal development work - finish PSABR fan art
• arrange meeting with Ryan
• sort out exposition layout and requirements
• plan out what i want to have done for the exhibition - Showreel
• Learning Contract

Update: Whats going on?

Hello again,

Well its our last full week before submission so things have started to get a bit worrying,

why?

• im still not 100% sure what it is the lecturers actually want handed in, and how much they expect for both modules
• I dont know whether what i want to do meets my aim/ is enough for my honours project.
• artistic block still seems to be taking its toll but trying to get myself back into it now

so apart from these things this is what I am planning to do,

1. So right now i have been doing concept sketches storyboard and forming somewhat of a script for the animation i am planning to do (however due to the mentioned artist block these are not to the quality i want to submit.
2. Pixel art representation of what i perceive as Classic, Modern and Hyper-Realism styles 

for my concept development

1. more research into artists and styles of pixel art

Miscellaneous

1. ethics sheet
2. meeting with ryan
3. sort labels for my blog, decide which module each entry are actually for.

But yeah, thanks for reading. No pictures today im afraid,

David M

Update: Holidays!

Hello,

Sorry for the complete absence of updates so far this month, anyways this is where I am at now and what I have planned to do for the holidays.

Well firstly I managed to get my Project Proposal submitted in time at 6% originality, I feel relatively confident on the proposal but essays have never been my strong point so I am not expecting a fantastic grade.

Anyways other than that I bought new RAM for my pc and did a complete clean install (i do this every year to get my computers fresh for the new year.

However, my laptop does appear to have a  HDD problem so it makes work take longer than its supposed to due to it being rather slow when it works or constantly crashes.

My Pc for whatever hard was making it difficult for me to download the drivers required for my tablet and also photoshop, however with the presence of Alastair that seemed to had made them work.

So thats me finally able to get some work done (before i go to Ayr on the 23rd - 27th) was hoping to get more work done before i went down but it was rather unavoidable, its a shame pixel art is so digital because then my work progress can rely solely on the temper of my PCs.

Tim Von Rueden - Pixel Art Tutorial Sprite sheet

Anyways, Today I bought a tutorial from http://cgcookie.com/concept/cgc-series/pixel-course/ thanks to George for pointing it out to me it cost me about £6 but it gave the impression that it was rather good and i thought it would be worth it, to get myself back into the swing of things. I have some of the tutorial videos downloaded and ready so should get results of that up asap.

what else i have planned, well i still want to do a video of my project proposal. I want to get my skyscraper vs truck animation sorted. I also need to think of what it is exactly that i want to do for my final project.

so yeah in sumary

1. video proposal
2. Ethics Sheet
3. Skyscraper vs truck animation
4. Final Project, WHAT ARE YOUUUUU!?!? 

anyways thats all i have so far today, I have overdue books to deliver so better be off.

David M