Although I've not been the best at keeping this blog up to date with my most current thoughts and progress on my project, it's appropriate to say that after crit week my project has had a change of direction, but not a complete change of heart. I've managed to channel the questions that intrigued and troubled me the most into a more suitable project.

Worrying about tackling the technical side of a technical artist was a great focus up to now, but I've always wondered - where does the "artist" of technical artist come into play? Why is it more suitable for a person with an artistic background (with a little bit of programming know-how) to be in this role rather than the reverse (a programmer who dabbles in art).

This could easily turn into some psychology project, but I'm going to steer it away less from the person and make it more about the role. What makes a technical artist? Why is it so diverse? Why is it so hard to define? Where can the technical artist express their arty side - the creative side? Is it purely about communication of ideas between groups? Can a technical artist be independent? Is it entirely a group effort role?

Now the characters I design will only be a vessel for showcasing my work, though it doesn't mean that detracts from their artistic integrity!

So watch this space while I update it with thoughts guiding me in my new direction. For now however, I better crack on with the work. Up and away!

Gnomon Workshop & Other Learning DVDs

To supplement the books and papers, I'm going to also look at and reference Gnomon Workshop and Digital Tutor DVDs to develop my practical knowledge and skills, such as:

• MEL 101: Fundamentals: MEL Programming Techniques with Kevin Mannens
• Character Design Pipeline: Production Art & Research Techniques with BARONTiERi
• Character Rigging: The Puppet Rig - Maya Rigging Techniques with Carlo Sansonetti
• Maya Cloth 101: Fundamentals: Cloth Techniques with Mark E.A. de Sousa
• The Skinned Character Rig: Skinning and Deformations with Carlo Sansonetti
• Stylized Character Modeling for Production with Alessandro Baldasseroni
• Character Modeling for Production: Character Modeling Techniques with Ian Joyner
• Character Texturing for Production: Texturing techniques with Ben Neall (if I can get it)
• Creature Texturing and Rendering for Production: Texturing Techniques with Laurent Pierlot

Books & such

While not so much a reference list and more of a bibliography, here is a few books that I own that will hopefully provide some information through my proposed project:

"Body Language: Advanced 3D Character Rigging" by Eric Allen and Kelly L. Murdock

"Art of Toy Story 3" by Charles Solomon and John Lasseter

"The Ballad of Rango: The Art & Making of an Outlaw Film" by David S Cohen and Gore Verbinski

"The Cinematic Art of World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King" by Blizzard Entertainment

"ZBrush Character Creation: Advanced Digital Sculpting" by Scott Spencer

I also hope to gain some up-to-date and current knowledge from watching the making-of sections of DVDs like

How to Train A Dragon

Up

Despicable Me

Toy Story 3

Rango

Alice in Wonderland

Narnia: The Witch and the Wardrobe

etc...

A mix of animated features and CGI/live action films will hopefully give me a decent understanding of what happens underwear the bonnet at many animation/CGI graphics studios.

I also have a subscription to Game Develop Magazine and ImagineFX, which should be a great source of information and help throughout the year.

This is just a start to the resources I have on hand. I hope to frequently update this blog with a list of suitable media throughout my project.

Some work

While I've been researching for my proposal, I've been trying to brush up on my practical skills. I recently got a book titled "MEL Scripting a Character Rig in Maya" by Chris Maraffi.

As I'm learning a brand new skill, I've only been following the examples in the book. The code I've written is the code found within the first chapters, but I have annotated it with comments to help me understand it better. I've also written a supplementary "cheat sheet" of commands and more general advice. Here's what I've done so far:

/*
Defining, Querying and Editing Variables
*/
//defined variables
int $num = 7;
float $dec = 3.267;
string $name = "mySphere";
int $nums[];
float $decs[5] = {7.23,1.0,20.7,0.567,12.0};
string $names[] = {"One", "Two", "Three"};
sphere -n $name -p 0 0 0 -ax 0 1 0 -ssw 0 -esw 360 -r 1 -d 3
-s 8 -nsp 4 -ch 1;
string $names[] = `sphere -n $name -p 0 0 0 -ax 0 1 0 -ssw 0
-esw 360 -r 1 -d 3 -s 8 -nsp 4 -ch 1`;
//print nodes
print $names;
//defining queryable variables
int $spans = `sphere -q -nsp $names[1]`;
int $radius = `sphere -q -r $names[1]`;
//query and print number of spans in sphere and the radius through the
//command node
print ("Number of spans: " + $spans + "\n");
print ("Radius: " + $radius + "\n");
//looks at sphere command and edits the radius to match the number of spans
sphere -e -r $spans $names[1];


/*
Defining the Selected Node and making it a variable
*/
string $selNodes[] = `ls -sl`;
print $selNodes;
/*
Selecting multiple nodes
*/
string $names[] = `sphere -n $name -p 0 0 0 -ax 0 1 0 -ssw 0
-esw 360 -r 1 -d 3 -s 8 -nsp 4 -ch 1`;
select -tgl $names[1];
string $selNodes[] = `ls -sl`;
print $selNodes;
/*
Change Get Value of X scale and set it as Y translate
*/
string $names[] = `sphere -n $name -p 0 0 0 -ax 0 1 0 -ssw 0
-esw 360 -r 1 -d 3 -s 8 -nsp 4 -ch 1`;
getAttr ($names[0] + ".sx");
setAttr ($names[0] + ".ty") 5;
/*
Catch sections attribute and set spans attirbute to match
*/
string $names[] = `sphere -n $name -p 0 0 0 -ax 0 1 0 -ssw 0
-esw 360 -r 1 -d 3 -s 8 -nsp 4 -ch 1`;
int $sections = `getAttr ($names[1] + ".s")`;
setAttr ($names[1] + ".nsp") $sections;
//Creates a new attribute that has a long name, short name and nice name, with a floating value
//that is keyable, minumum value of -10, maximum value of 10, default value of 0, readable and writeable
//affecting the tranform node of $names, i.e. Sphere.
addAttr -ln "myAttr" -sn "ma" -nn "My Attribute" -at "float"
-min -10 -max 10 -dv 0 -k 1 -r 1 -w 1 $names[0];

Cheat Sheet:

List of Useful MELScript Commands:
` = catches a return value
select -cl; = clears selection
select -r; = select node
select -tgl; = toggles a node
listAttr; = list all attributes on a node
getAttr; = query or get information on an attribute
setAttr; = edit or set information on an attribute
".sx" = define attribute (note flag here is short name for scale x)
EXAMPLE
getAttr ($names[0] + ".sx");
-k/-keyable =
EXAMPLE
//lists all keyables attributes on the transform node of the object
listAttr -k $names[0]
help = synopsis of the command
whatIs = tells if command is a procedure found in the MELscript folder when loaded
float = decimal number, may be also referred to as length/double
int = integer
string = text
vector/matrix = groups of numbers
"on"|"off" = "true"|"false". 1|0
rename = gives object new name
"/n" = new line
/* |
Hello World |= Block comment
*/ |
//Hello World = single line comment
[define type of flag] [variable name] = [result]
EXAMPLE:
int $num = 7;
OR
string $selNodes[] =  `ls -sl`;
xform = consolidate multiple types of transforms with one command

Outside inspiration

Outside of art, my inspiration comes from many things, such as ancient culture, architecture, myths & legends, sculpture, etc... Here is an example of some of my general inspirations...

 Ancient Culture & History

Ancient dead civilisations like the aztecs, the egyptians, the mayans, greek, romans, etc... are wonderful examples of the development of humanity over time, either through art, architecture and/or culture. They are brilliant sources of inspiration, for creating stories and art. Often, these cultures are closely linked with myth and legends - the source of all modern storytelling. Because of this, I often draw inspiration from these, though sometimes it may only be aethestic. Often myths were inspired from things the cultures did not understand (such as the day/night cycle or natural phenomenoms like extreme weather) and this primal need to tell a story round anything is what draws me to their stories...

Nature & the Natural World

A lot of my fascination is drawn from the living world around me, from plants to animal life. While this may seem a little generic or open, there is not a single source of inspiration I can point to for this. The way things move, the habits of creatures, the natural beauty of the world, geography, geology, etc...are all inspiring.
In particular, I am drawn to other forms of life, such as animals, reptiles & birds. A lot of my previous work draws from these sources.

Ancient Storytelling & Myth

As mentioned above, stories were humanity's way of trying to understand nature. All across the world, there are myths and legends to help explain the unknown. These stories are great fuel for inspiration, and a lot of great storytelling started here from the Greek myths to modern traditions such as the Mexican Day of the Dead.

Modern History & the Future of Humanity (speculation)

The source of inspiration for any sci-fi setting - modern history and the future is a topic of great interest for me. With the rise of technology and access to mass communication such as the world wide web, there is a lot of speculation as to what the future holds. It is generally inspiring for me to look at what the world was like 30 years ago, and see what my future might be. 

Traditional Art

Lucian Freud

A true master of observational art, Lucian Freud has a certain way of capturing the ugly side of people without humiliating or ridiculing them. His paintings are always very gritty and textural, but often depict softer emotions in people despite their initial appearance. I prefer his newer art to his older pieces, finding them more truthful to the subject matter, but still keeping the essence of the person's emotional state intact.

Leonardo Da Vinci

Leonardo is a great inspiration for any modern artist who follows the classic principles. Not only was one of the great minds of the millennium, but he and the other renaissance artists made it so that modern day art is underpinned by an understanding of science. With formulae such as the golden ratio and the Vitruvian man, we now can construct art from our knowledge. This in particular appeals to me - someone who treads on the line between art and technology - creativity and science. 

Meet Meline

Meet Meline is a short animation made in 2 years by French artists Sebastien Laban & Virginie Goyons. From concept to final realisation - everything within the film (bar sound and music) was created by them. While the film itself is quite sweet, I personally see it more as a technical achievement - being able to perform so many roles with only two people.

However, what is even more interesting and insightful is the "Making of" featurette which shows a behind the scenes of the entire making of the movie. While incredibly basic, it explain the process in which an animation like "Meet Meline" is made from concept, to production to post-production. For the keen eye, the footage shown throughout breaks the process down even further - allowing artists to see even further into the creation process.

What came as a surprise mostly to me, is how much work is done with post-production. The film is broken down into multiple composite images, rather than final renders, and highlights a process in the making of animation films and short I know very little about.

It is a brilliant resource to get started on, and also that if two (though highly talented individuals) can make something of this calibre - then I can certainly can take a character from conception to final (with all the bells and whistles) for my honours project.

Original Vimeo Link to "Meet Meline"

Alessando Baldasseroni

http://www.eklettica.com/index.html

Very inspirational artist who works with one of the biggest cinematics companies today - Blur. His work showcases some of the most amazing examples of character art for 3D production.

He also shows a lot of the behind the scenes shots, which is great for a budding artist like me! What interests me the most is that not only is he a modeller and texture artist, but also a surface artist!

Scotland loves Animation

Thought it was worth mentioning that I attended a very interesting and inspiring workshop on Friday 14th October. It was presented by Merlin Crossingham of Aardman Animation and Richard Scott of Axis Animation. 

The workshop itself was very useful, but perhaps the most insightful part of the day was the Q & A, which solidified a lot of thoughts, hopes and fears I had of the animation/production industry - name that key skills are valuable, as they cannot be taught - though something like Maya and Photoshop can. Sometimes I feel I get caught up in not knowing enough. While knowledge is equally important, I shouldn't neglect the skills that brought me here - even if I do pursue a career in something like technical art/animation.

Uncharted: Drake's Fortune

Back in 2007, when Uncharted: Drake's Fortune was released - the games market was a flood of grey/green/brown FPS games. The palette and saturation of these games were burnt-out and the visuals were aiming for photorealism.

Uncharted broke the mould in releasing a game with, as quoted by Amy Henning - game director, "a stylised reality". This meant that the game did not try to emulate realism - but capture it. Hopefully, when done right, this is a technique that won't age as badly with technology as photorealism tends to do, and avoided the nasty obstacle that is uncanny valley. This is something that spurred and inspired me, as they were brave enough to try and create something new - something that hasn't been done before in game or was lacking - and showcase it!

Amy Henning also touched upon "going outside your comfort zone" to create something new and worth it. This is also a philosophy in art and life that I believe in and I hope to keep that element alive as I progress.

Uncharted is why I'm here today. Whether or not I stay in game or film is irrelevant - it made me believe that creative arts CAN be a career choice and that being a creative person is hard work, but totally worth it.

Pitch Presentation

Feedback:

• Overall project looks promising and there is a lot in it.
• Research question and objectives well-laid out and give good direction. 
• Needs to be narrowed down a lot to a specific research field.
• Shaders could be an interesting and unexplored technical angle.
• Wording in the aim and objectives needs refining.
• "Character" too loose a term and needs to be defined. 
• Industry unsure - games or production?

Pitch presentation last week went well overall and I have a good start to my honours project. I need to understand and define and little more in my aim and objectives, as well as choose my words wisely. I agree with this and hopefully over the course of the next term this will all be amended.

I have uploaded the presentation and provided a link below:

Pitch Presentation (download link)

The two videos referenced in it are listed below.

Aims and Objectives

Took me a while to get there, but here is my aims and objectives 1.0

Project Aim:

  To investigate how character design affects the creation of convincing characters and examine the role of the technical artist in realising these credible characters. 

 

Objectives:

◦1. Research existing characters and deconstruct and identify the traits which aid in realising them.

◦2. Explore current industry skills and tools in technical art and examine and compare their uses.

◦3. Conduct a series of experiments utilising current technical art & animation skills to aid in the creation of convincing characters.

◦4. Develop and create a small range of characters using these techniques and analyse their success considering the role of a technical artist.

 

Planet Dinosaur

I have recently been watching Planet Dinosaur.

Although it's obvious that Planet Dinosaur does not have the budget of many of today's CGI's productions - the art and cinematography behind it is something very interesting! Earlier on in my blog I spoke of Rango and how it applied cinematography techniques to the animation process to create a blend between the two - I find that Planet Dinosaur is trying to do the same. Camera angles and scenes are set up to look dramatic, but also as though they have been filmed - like a modern day documentary. This emulating of the documentary film format - but in an entirely constructed 3D environment and scenario is an intriguing use of the techniques I spoke about earlier.

Even though I know the basic process behind the creation of productions like Planet Dinosaur, it's always nice to hear a little bit of input from the artist's themselves. Here's a couple of links to interesting videos on behind the scenes.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00kb1rf
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00kf292

Inspire me! v2.0

As well as many 2D concept artists who inspire me - inspiration comes from other places.
Here's a quick compilation of the stuff that inspires me outside art itself.

Music:

Orchestral music & video game soundtracks are a large part of my inspiration when it comes to working and creating work. Sometimes it's nice to just drown out the noise without concentrating too hard, and sweeping orchestral tracks without much vocalisation is a perfect way for me to relax without loosing too much focus on the music itself. Richard Williams (author of the Animator's Survival Kit) mentioned that music is a distraction from the art itself, and I do agree - but personally I do like to have it to level the background sounds and inspire me. Maybe this isn't the best practise overall, but I feel it helps me do the best work.

Animation



Animation has been a large part of my childhood and adulthood for inspiration and creativity. From the Disney classics to modern CGI blockbusters like Toy Story 3, animation has always convinced me that there is no age limit on creativity and expression - that topics both serious and silly can be conveyed through something that is entirely created through the hands of talented individuals. The discipline itself has some of the toughest and most driven people leading it - an attitude to life I very much respect. Masters like Don Bluth, Hayao Miyazaki, Tim Burton, Brad Bird and John Lasseter are a testament to the art of animation.

Games



A love later discovered in my life, but always there - is my passion for video games.

People

Hayao Miyazaki
Don Bluth
Tim Schafer
Fumito Ueda
Hans Zimmer
Bobby Chu
John Lasseter
Brad Bird
Amy Henning
David Cage
John Williams
Walt Stanchfield

Inspire me!

Here's a big bunch of my 2D artist inspirations for this project - all neatly packed into one place. Thought I might elaborate on why these people inspire me as an artist more than any other form of art. I personally feel it takes a great deal of strength, spirit, determination and talent to be a pure 2D artist - especially considering how high the stakes are and how tough the competition is these days.
Although I know I do not have what it takes to be a 2D concept artist or illustrator, I truly respect the people who have so much passion that they live and breathe their art and study it in what I consider one of the purest forms.
Not only do they study from life, but they have the expertise to take that knowledge and apply it to create fantastic imaginery worlds and characters.
This is why I respect these people so much - as an artist - and I hope I show as much passion for whatever I follow in my life.

Andree Wallin - http://andreewallin.com/

A brilliant matte-painter and concept artist, it's Wallin's pure technical skills and amazing rendering that inspire me.

Baron Tieri - http://www.barontieri.com/

Another brilliant artist with phenomonial design and speed painting skills.

Bobby Chiu and Kei Acedera  - http://www.imaginismstudios.com/

Not only does Imaginism Studios draw and paint very well, but they are often giving out sound and honest advice for life in the arts in general.

Jerome Jacinto - http://chichapie.deviantart.com/

Wonderful use of colour, line and texture.

Yngvar - http://yngvarart.daportfolio.com/

Another artist with a brilliant sense of dynamic composition and colour.

Dan LuVisi - http://www.danluvisiart.com/

Fantastic attention to gritty detail and depth and character.

Jana Schimer - http://janaschi.deviantart.com/

Fantastic rendering detail and overall brilliant artist

Michael Kutsche - http://michaelkutsche.com/

Game artist and recently concept artist for Alice in Wonderland and Thor.

These are just a select few of my featured artists. For a more complete list, I've supplied the following links.

http://jameswolf.deviantart.com/gallery/

http://joelhustak.deviantart.com/

http://keunchul-j.cghub.com/

http://bluefley.cgsociety.org/gallery/

http://loish.deviantart.com/

http://meirou.deviantart.com/

http://morriperkele.deviantart.com/

http://okonart.com/

http://www.vandalhigh.com/

http://www.nadiaenis.com/

http://blog.sina.com.cn/u/1256629024

http://lackadaisy.foxprints.com/

http://sonsofthestorm.com/