Hero Colour Use

In the film Hero, they use the different coloured environments to mark different themes and stories in the narrative. It creates a very bold, original effect.

NatGeo

Desert reclaims buildings in Namibia

I am increasingly finding that National Geographic is one of my favourite sources for real life inspiration. This photo is just incredible, I'm not sure whether to believe this is natural lighting or not, but it makes for a fascinating environment nonetheless.

Amazing Volcano Photo

Lightning Strikes in Volcanic Ash Cloud

An incredible photograph of a night-time volcanic eruption lit up by lightning in Chile (National Geographic).

Deep Sea Creatures 2

The incredible Dumbo Octopus; uncanny faces of the Hatchetfish; surreal-mario-style Predatory Tunicate, glass-internal-organ-looking Tunicate and huge floating colony of Tunicates.

Deep Sea Creatures

Recently, I have been looking at deep sea creatures in a good portion of my spare time and have been a little obsessed with them for a few years now. I think that they can provide incredible inspiration for very original art, in environments, characters, concepts etc. It is one of the richest design resources I have ever come across, and looking at some of the cliches that appear in many games and films, seems to be relatively unexplored.

The surreal deep sea cucumber, Enypniastes; a group of ancient-looking Isopods and a mugshot; the transparent-headed Barreleye Fish; the ridiculous Blobfish.

Group Activity

This is a visual description of the mediums in which I plan to output work, the Practices involved in the research and development.

Project Pitch

Pitch Presentation

Pitch Supervision

I supervised a pitch group that included 1 other 4th year, a 3rd year, a 2nd year and 2 1st years. There was a wide range of different work, styles, approaches and competencies.

By and large I congratulated the other students on the amount and quality of work already done by week 4. I tried to think about where I was at that stage in each year and considered what kind of feedback would have helped me. One of the main pieces of advice was to be more thorough in research and to investigate more lines of development before settling on a final design, showing clear evidence of this research and development in sketchbook and other work. I tried to get across that this was important not just for the grading but also to improve the quality and context of the final product. I also recommended that they do not slow down in their work rate and that if they were at all unsure of any aspect, they email or arrange to talk to their tutor and sort it out as soon as possible.

At times it was difficult to think of suitable criticism on areas I had not really worked in much myself but tried to give general advice and encouragement. I also made sure to ask questions about any part of their work I was not sure about so as to know better how to help them.

At times I benefited from prompting from the supervising lecturer on areas that students needed to improve on which helped a lot. I think I could maybe have been better at involving the other students in critiquing work and aim to come up with a better plan for this area for next session.

Project Aim

Personal Statement

AG1064A: Professional Practice – Personal Statement

Proposer: Shanti Easton

Student Number: 0701816

Programme: Computer Arts

Specialism(s): 3D Environment Art, Games

Personal Statement

Inspiration and Interests

I am inspired by really interesting and exciting worlds in novels, films, paintings, TV and games. I always want to explore the best environments further and in more detail, and this is only really possible in computer games.

Characters are often well defined and represented in linear narrative, but I am never as satisfied with the environments as I always want to see what is around the next corner or through the trees. For example one of my favourite games series is The Elder Scrolls by Bethesda, as the player can explore anything they can see when looking out over the landscape.

I love beautiful, functional and well thought out art. But also appreciate when an artist includes the kind of aesthetic detail that is completely unnecessary in the context of completing the game; by not having to justify itself, I find that the environment can be promoted to the status of art. I consider myself an artist and respect the work of other artists more than content that is just there for a character to run through.

Another huge inspiration for me is the consummate work of Hideo Kojima, creator of the Metal Gear series. I admire his uncompromising approach to realising every part of his vision in his games and hope to one day have the same level of influence on any project.

Career and Creative Aims

During my career I plan to work, at one time or another, in Environment design and 3D Environment Modelling and Texturing for games; Art Direction; Game Design and Creative Direction. I wish to create engaging, convincing and exciting environments in which to enjoy great games.

Current Skills and Abilities

Environment and character design; traditional art skills; game design; Maya 3D modelling; Photoshop and texturing skills; Flash 2D art and animation; critical discussion of games.

Skill Gaps

By the end of this year, I plan to become highly skilled at 3DS Max modelling; advanced environmental design and construction.

Battlefield Beta

I was playing the Battlefield 3 Beta and this gives me a rare chance to see a slightly rushed environment in which I can pick up on mistakes that might be ironed out in the final game. I could learn from some of the things that do not work in terms of the art.

For a start they have left the bits of grass that stick up where there is actually concrete, but that's a pretty simple mistake. They also have made some puddles on roads that at first look good but on closer inspection just use the same moving water texture as on the lake which does not look at all correct on such a different scale. It looks like the roads are made from a tileable template that includes the puddles, as they are present even on downhill slopes which would obviously not be possible due to gravity.

Minor gripes but it is interesting to see that, even in the industry, it doesn't all look perfect on the first try.

Wish I could take screen captures on Xbox 360 :S

Mindmap

A mindmap created to help develop the research question, starting with the research topic or field in the centre. From that I extruded what I see as the main issues concerned in the construction and effectiveness of the environment.

Hopefully these will lead to more focused research questions.

Environments: Skyrim vs Oblivion

I think that the difference between the environments in Oblivion and its sequel Skyrim are a good place to research what makes a good 3D environment.

A deeper look into the differing methods used by artists will be helpful, such as the fact that all environments in Skyrim will be put together by artists rather than using the procedural generation of Oblivion. So far the game looks much richer and more like a living world. I think this will help players to get immersed in the game and that highlights the importance of environment design in games, applicable to the rationale of my research project.

I will carry out very thorough 'research' on the game when it comes out in November. :D

Group Activity

This was the second part of the mindmap in the group session. It was a little less focused, but some of my additions such as Science, Philosophy and Meta-Physics represent some of my more abstract inspirations. Other notable components are: Evolution and Darwin, Space, Music. Then we really began to lose concentration and put down anything that amused us.

Group Activity

This first sheet of our group session shows what inspires, motivates and intrigues us. I started by thinking of artists and designers that I like and games that have excited me enough to want to make something of my own. This was actually a good place to start, as it forced me to think about why I want to go into the industry in the first place and what sort of impact I would like to have.

I am most inspired by environment art, especially in computer games in which it is interactive and accessible for exploration, as opposed to film, where it is quite linear and orchestrated. I like the idea of a sandbox in which there are rules and mechanisms that form a framework for a player to have a more kinetic and unique experience, while maintaining a sense of immersion.

I have often seen films that will show a glimpse of a city with seething back alleys or a forest with dark paths and thought, "I wish I could go and really explore that." I have experienced the same thing with games, books and even music, while I am not quite so excited about getting to know the characters.