"most developers will produce early versions of a game that has either placeholder art or simple white, grey or orange"

Well well well, I never knew about that side of the game development process. I would have thought that all the art would have been done first then they would make stuff fit, or at least make a basic mock on paper that they know will work, then do the art then fill it in.

Its really interesting to know even vast great scenes with beautifully designed environments and buildings were not based around the art but the art round them. I remember seeing behind the scenes on games where they had the grid style walls and colourless objects, most memorably in Ratchet and Clank. In the game there was a whole secret 'museum' of behind the scenes artefacts and play test items to play with. However even after seeing these I imagined these were just untextured and simplified for testing and that they were just toggling the art on/off as they worked.

I suppose this is so they can know if puzzles/jumps can be completed etc.

this makes an artists work even more interesting with a new level of problem solving they have to achieve. I love stuff like this and which I knew about it earlier. I cant wait to move on to UDK projects and really get to feel like I'm part of a bigger picture.

As real as it gets

Recently we had a talk from Del Walker and ex student who graduated last year and has recently been snapped up by Blitz games. He came back to tell us all about what it was like making the transition from student to employee of the real deal. He told us how he went about it and the processes he went through to improve himself over the course of the last 3 years telling us what we should expect. It was refreshing hearing it from a real ex student knowing that this was how it really was, we got all the grit on the interviews and some encouraging and inspiring talks about members on his team and how much everybody worked to get to were they were. Del seemed to be really at home already at Blitz and it really got me motivated to achieve what he had. Im hoping we get to hear from other ex 3^rd years who find time to tell us about their experiences.

Compose Compose Compose

composition is quite often looked over and dismissed by art novices who cant really see beyond replicating or throwing together ‘cool’ ideas. In actual fact composition is one of the most important elements to art. Guiding the viewers eye around the work, showing story, meaning and design can all be achieved by the way the work is laid out and composed. From being into art from a young age I have been taught about how pictures can be unbalanced and be ‘heavier’ in parts pulling the viewers gaze into a void of colour, this usually occurs from the lack of or over abundance of subjects in a certain side of the work, and absence for example to the left of the work would pull all the attention away and half the picture, ‘theoretically’ would not be there. One can achieve a good composition by using scenery to carefully boarder and present the focal point of the piece, this of which does not want to be too far from the centre but at the same time hardly ever right in the middle.

Since year one I have tried to achieve exciting composition in all of my pieces, from painting through an archway to using vanishing points to guide the viewer’s attention to where I want it to go.

When working on imaginered work you can use everything you know and see in other work taken from real subjects. Artistic eye is important for seeing what will work best without exact reference, and knowing how things should behave. Work should always be self critiqued and analyzed every step of the way until the final piece is exactly what you wanted, most pictures are not the artists first attempt of the one piece but most likely a final comprised of tests and experiments to see what works best and using their artistic judgment to correct what they see. This is especially important when working in 3d because even when you have the reference it is hard to view exactly what you want to view and it takes a lot of judgement to fill in the gaps left by the 2d references you have at hand, this can be down to logical reasoning or true understanding of the subject both of which should be practiced and incorporated into your work. I have found this useful when doing this years 3D design, especially the self portrait, there are a lot of places you cant see or get a good picture of and it is down to anatomical understanding and judgment that helps fill those spaces and achieve something that looks viable and something you can be proud of.

Blitzzz

The other day we were visited by Jolyon Webb and Aaron Allport who we met in our first year, they returned to give us another talk on the games industry and what we should expect. Just like last time it cleared up a lot of questions and thoughts I had about the industry and has given me a clearer picture on what I want to do once the course has ended. Recently I have been confuse as how I want to take my work with the 2D and 3D aspects but they explained the roles in detail and also what other positions involved and I really clicked to what the industry was asking for. I now feel inspired for the rest of the year now and really want to prove to myself that I’m dedicated to this as much as I love the art.

Its also reassuring that they explained the process of getting into the industry from how to get your foot in the door to the interview process, what to do and what not to do.

For now I’m going to keep expanding my skills and allow myself to fall into an area I feel comfortable and pursue it from there, my mind changed so much last year I’m hoping it settles faster this year.

GameCity

Me and steve visited GameCity in Nottingham last weekend and it was the first time I had been to a proper game convention (after missing Eurogamer Expo), even if it was a small one. The main tent was set up in the square but when we arrived we couldn’t find anything at all and looked around for ages. All we came across was a exercise demo tent showing off every consoles new views on self health and how their games will assist in self fitness, and an EA set up with a few games on that didn’t really show off anything we hadn’t seen before. After consulting the map we went in search of several locations only to find out they were all bars and places to eat and nothing to do with games. We were honestly about to give up when we came across a small café which was hosting a small mini game related to Gamecity, from here we could ask where the hell everything was and how to get to the main events.

From then on things started looking up, we found the live demo for Crysis 2 and managed to beat the que for that followed by talking to some people in the media industry covering the event. At one point we were watching a live game workshop and were invited in after explaining we were on a games course, where we were shown what they were working on.

After a lot of demos and talking we finally went and qued for the main event, the Kinect talk by Rare. It was the first time we had seen the Kinect device first hand and got a good insight into the future of the product from Rares point of view, some live demos and a extensive Q&A session.

To be fair it was a really interesting visit for a small set up and will defiantly be attending next year.

Failing to prepare…

I always knew I was a bit hit and miss with organisation, and id always be up for the concept of an organised room or an organised shelf but I could never maintain the order. I suppose this was part laziness part boredom, id switch and swap things quickly because I couldn’t be bothered to carefully replace the items. At college the deadlines were so slack and spaced I grew into taking my time and not focusing on a timescale. I got my work done and to a good standard but was never worried about not making a deadline because nearly all the class would not be ready either and the tutors would push the deadline back almost every time.

Since university though I have really come to realise the importance of organisation, as well as organising my stuff I have learnt the importance of time management, and I learnt it the hard way. During year one there were many times where I would begin to hold stuff off until I was rushing and not finishing it to the best of my standards. However this was not because I disliked the course or underestimated the importance of the project, I found that if it was something I enjoyed I was doing it way ahead of schedule. Organisation can be part of presentation as well, another thing I feel I lacked last year. Due to lack of time id scan pages quickly and arrange them poorly. Setting something out in an appealing way makes the piece a million times better than that alone.

This year however I have forced a change after suffering harshly from the final deadline and I swore I would never do that again. After a rocky start getting back on track I have begun to work a lot more efficiently spreading my work evenly and balancing time, spending longer on things I know I struggle with and trying to practice as I go. Managing stuff in hours rather than days and putting time aside for harder longer projects as well as going out less are all part of my plan. After putting these new plans into practice I’ve noticed my work speed and productivity has increased drastically and I’m feeling more relaxed and learning more than I did when I wasn’t making time for myself. I’ve even covered the poor presentation, I’ve made a digital stamp to sign my work and began using media and presenting how I have been recommended to do so. If I keep this up I know ill be on track for success. Like I said before I worked more efficiently on projects I liked and this year I’ve loved all of them and really gone to town and tried to improve as much as possible. I think it really shows in my work.

Like they say, “Failure to prepare is preparing to fail”.

(I was going to write who that quote was from but after I Googled it each link said it was from someone else.)

Year one was defiantly a shock, but a shock in a good way, a point in the right direction. It showed me how hard and serious things were getting and motivated me to challenge my self. It was so much more intense than the other art years I had previously taken and I have no doubt this year will be any different if not harder. Over the summer I’ve really thought about where I could have improved and how I really intend to go for it this year and catch up on a lot of self study hours. One of my biggest downfalls last year was time management and as I sit here typing this the night before its due, I’ve come to realise its still a work in progress.

On a more positive note I have really started to do personal work in both areas of game art but I’m really trying to push visual design as I feel I’m on the verge of seriously stepping up my skill level. I’ve studied peoples work on Facebook and magazines and am picking up techniques that I’m adapting and learning from.

Last lesson we talked about dream jobs and future goals and mine would have to be working for Insomniac Games http://www.insomniacgames.com/, the makers of my favorite guilty pleasure, Ratchet and Clank.

They’re the ones who got me into game art in the first place, finding the concept art tab in the pause menu after you complete the game was the first time id really seen game art and loved it. Since then I’ve been obsessed with the art that goes into games and would love to introduce my artistic creativity. For ages I was all about the concept artist but as I’ve become more aware about the industry I have learnt it is a very specialist job for very specialist people and even if I did manage to develop the mad skills it takes to pull it off I think I still wouldn’t want it as a job. Its just too self dependent and hard to find work but luckily for me Id love to work on landscapes or characters, hell id even be happy making all the small boring assets as long as it all required some form of creativity and flare. I’m still indecisive about 3D and 2D but enjoy them both and as the year progresses I will have I better idea of an ultimate goal.

Until then I intend to continue studying every aspect of game art and exploring each new technique and skill I pick up along the way. I want to get fully submerged in Photoshop and start reeling off speed pieces slowly evolving a style. I just can’t wait to get creative in year 2!