Inspiration

Traditional Art and Media

Because the aim of this project is to try and reproduce qualities found in traditional art (general aesthetics, media texture/look, composition etc.) it is inspired an influenced by traditional paintings and drawings. Also, because traditional art is considered as having cultural value of meaning, it is in my opinion the most appropriate area to look for inspiration and learn from.

Oil/Acrylic painting

I really like oil paintings by Russian landscape artist Alexander Zavarin. Especially the impressionist alike ones, done using wide and bold brush strokes which ‘suggests’ objects within the painting but does not show any of the detail and that way leaving it to the viewer to figure out  what it actually is. A.Zavarin manages to capture soft light within the scenes but at the same time creates illusion of space where colour either brings objects forward or moves them ‘deeper’ in to the canvas space. Paintings look chaotic yet manage to capture the actual mood of the scene. The artists’ brush strokes are very visible on the canvas and not only contribute towards the paintings mood but also emanates ‘personal touch’ energy from the work. This artist work is relevant to the project by providing not only inspiration for oil/acrylic paint look within digital medium, but also a possible solution to a problem where interactive objects should stand out from a background. Possible use of bold ‘brush’ strokes to only suggest some of the background objects can be the key. Also, keeping things interesting and letting viewers mind interpret some of the things that are happening on canvas can be used to bring more interest towards the game art. This traditional oil painting effect can be seen implemented as a 3D model texture in a ‘Damocles’ trailer for a new Crytec video game called Ryse: Son of Rome ( Trailer available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czXJeJ9I2Us). (can see another post where I mention 'Damocles' trailer here.)

Zavarin, A. [no date]. [online image]. Available from: http://allday2.com/index.php?newsid=470467 [Accessed: 19 December 2013]

Zavarin, A. [no date]. [online image]. Available from: http://artbook.oo.gd/en/alexander-zavarin/ [Accessed: 19 December  2013]

Zavarin, A. [no date]. [online image]. Available from: http://artbook.oo.gd/en/alexander-zavarin/ [Accessed: 19 December  2013]

Watercolour

Z.L.Feng is an international award winning Chinese artist living in U.S.  Many of his watercolour landscape compositions can strike one as being rather dark and fairly minimalist at first however further inspection reveals an array of colours that have been achieved by the watercolour pigments blending together on paper. Intricate and dark tree branches are ‘set on fire’ by a multitude of colour dabs. Balanced compositions achieved by use of light and shadow as well as colours. This artists’ work is great as an inspiration as well as an example of watercolour media look: where every brush stroke leaves a permanent mark on canvas and the actual media has ‘luminosity’ unlike a heavy oil paint on canvas. This type of medium, if implemented successfully, has a possibility to help with keeping backgrounds simple and uncluttered and that way to help emphasize foreground and interactive objects. And just like in oil painting example mentioned above this media look can be used to bring more interest to the game art.

Feng, Z.L. [no date]. [online image]. Image #:1: LImited Edition Giclee Print. Available from: http://zlfeng.com/landscape.html [Accessed 19 December 2013]

You can see one more image of  of his painting in my week 4 blog post.

Collage

Collage is another interesting and widely used traditional art technique and a piece of art done by Nancy Standlee (see image below) is a fine example of this art style. This painting somewhat reminds an impressionist oil paintings with an explosion of bright colours and an array of bits of paper that resemble broad brush strokes on canvas. It is a nice colourful composition that conveys lively mood using ‘bold’ blocks of colour and at the same time have textural interest in each single piece of coloured paper that has been placed on the canvas. This technique can be recreated well in digital media if one wishes and can serve as a general motivation to perhaps be braver while exploring unusual places/arts/ art styles etc. for inspiration.  In a certain way, collage is similar to what Amanita Design has done with their video game Botanicula (2012)* art direction.  more info in my week 3 post.

Standlee, N. [no date]. Feed the Birds. [online image]. Available from: http://nancystandlee.blogspot.co.uk/2011/02/rooster-and-bird-torn-paper-collage.html [Accessed 21 December 2013]

Digital Art

One of the most inspirational current ink artists that manage to almost flawlessly merge traditional ink medium with a digital Photoshop painting is Taiwanese artist Jung Shan. Rough paper texture and flowing ink is visible from his scanned/photographed ink paintings that are used as background for his final images. This gives an authentic, ‘personal touch’ to the digital drawing which is created using digital Photoshop brushes. Some of the paintings are made even more interesting by photographing ink painting while it is still damp (see image below). This artist work is a great example of how to blend traditional and digital media. Use of specific digital brushes that imitate traditional media techniques can be a great advantage in trying to recreate traditional media look in Photoshop.

Jung Shan. 2013. Silence power. [online image]. Available from: http://jungshan.deviantart.com/art/Silence-Power-338758654 [Accessed 22 December 2013]

Jung Shan. 2013. Wuxia Magazine cover. [online image]. Available from: http://jungshan.deviantart.com/art/Wuxia-Magazine-cover-441137422 [Accessed 22 December 2013]

Jung Shan. Ink Samurai. [online image]. Available from: http://jungshan.deviantart.com/art/Ink-Samurai-193699240 [Accessed 22 December 2013]

I think this guy is absolutely amazing. Love the way he combines the traditional with the digital. It all looks so light and easy, done with a few brushstrokes. Amazing skills.

Videogames

Some videogame developers already tried to mimic traditional art styles and media within their games.  It is good to see what has already been done and perhaps find out how.

Braid

One of the greatest inspirations to this project has been a video game called Braid (2008)**, created by Jonathan Blow. Braid is one of the important works in the video game industry because this game is a very first well known computer game that has been inspired by and tried to reproduce traditional art style. Game artist David Hellman’s (who is also a comic and graphic novel artist) inspiration has come from traditional art movements such as abstract art, impressionism, and surrealism. 

Can read a bit about the game in my week 3 post. 

Even though all the art assets had been digitally painted, on a closer inspection, while playing the game, one can easily see David Hillmans’ brush strokes throughout the painted backgrounds (see first image below) just like in all impressionist paintings done by famous artists. (see 2 bottom images by Claude Monet)

Monet,C. 1882. Clifftop Walk at Pourville. [online image]. Available from: http://www.wikipaintings.org/en/claude-monet/clifftop-walk-at-pourville [Accessed 23 December 2013]

David Hillman chosen colours to create appropriate moods within the game that support the story and environment. Each of the game Worlds has its own colour palette. For example, within World 1 which is an introduction of the story, warm colours such as greens and yellows dominate the screen, while World 4 is a much more ‘cold’ looking environment with dominant blues and browns. Additionally, some of the elements within the game background where broken apart and implemented in to a particle system to create movement and dreamlike feeling similar to surrealistic paintings.

Also some of the background elements ended resembling watercolour or coloured ink painting on paper. (see image below)

Braid world has been crafted with a vision  as well care towards the actual game player. One of the most inspirational quotes that also strongly relates to the idea and vision of this project is a quote by Braid developer Jonathan Blow has said: “There’s a message in the visuals, and the effort that’s been put into the graphics. It’s a subliminal thing, a message which says that somebody really cared about putting this experience together...it says you’re in good hands” (Dennis, R., 2012) (Can find a link to the article in my week 3 blog post). 

In my opinion, the subliminal things within this videogame are not only previously mentioned images inspired by traditional art movements or visible brush strokes that reminds us of traditional paintings done on canvas (e.g. Zavarin A. or Monet C.) but also some of the remainders of digital paint that can still be visible on some of the asset edges (see image below).

These left over ‘flaws’ or imperfections created by a human hand are picked up by the viewer irrelevant if the art is created on a real or a digital canvas and becomes part of the artwork that contributes to its aesthetics and in this case makes game art more personal.

I think this game is important to my project because it is a great example that traditional art can work in video games. In addition, the creation process through which David Hillman went while designing the art for this game is very informative and contributes a lot of knowledge towards this honours year project. (Can read David Hillman s blog here.)

The Bridge

The Bridge (2013)*** is an only black and white 2D logic based puzzle game that is inspired by Maurits Cornelis Eschers’ (Dutch graphic artist) work; game play and art style (see images below). 

Escher, M.C. 1958. Belvedere. [online image] Available from: http://www.mcescher.com/gallery/lithograph/belvedere/ [Accessed 21 December 2013]

Escher, M.C. 1955. Convex and Concave. [online image] Available from: http://www.mcescher.com/gallery/lithograph/convex-and-concave/ [Accessed 21 December 2013]

This game can be also considered as an important step in game design style because it picked a single artist as an inspiration and successfully created artwork that closely resembles the original. Ty Taylors’ (game designer) and Mario Castanedas’ (artist) goal for games art style was to attempt to replicate black-and-white lithograph style seen in majority of M.C. Eschers’ work. Therefore, even though art for the game has been produced digitally, it does have a traditional lithograph, mezzotint media look (see images below).

The Bridge game level art

Mario Castaneda. 2012. [online image]. Quantum Astrophysicists Guild. Available from: http://www.gamersgate.co.uk/DD-BRIDGE/the-bridge [Accessed 26 December 2013]

In addition, game artwork somewhat reminds of Chinese ink painting (also mentioned in  week 5 blog post) as well as graphite pencil drawing (see images below).

The house

Mario Castaneda. 2012. [online image]. Quantum Astrophysicists Guild. Available from: http://calmdowntom.com/2013/03/the-bridge-review-pc/ [Accessed 26 December 2013]

The tree

Mario Castaneda. 2012. [online image]. Quantum Astrophysicists Guild. Available from: http://www.gamersgate.co.uk/DD-BRIDGE/the-bridge [Accessed 26 December 2013]

This game in my opinion is a great example where traditional art was used as inspiration and then was successfully transferred in to a digital medium.

Botanicula

Botanicula (2012)* by Amanita Design games, stands out with its unique artistic style: very graphic and stylised look. I think this game project shows that inspiration can be found anywhere and merging different things, can result in some unique and fascinating design results (see Standlee, N. Feed the Birds image or even Jung Shan Wuxia Magazine cover image above). 

Amanita design. 2012. [online image]. Amanita Design. Available from: http://games.tiscali.cz/recenze/botanicula-recenze-59212 [Accessed 26 December 2013]

Photography was used not only for preproduction phase as a material for character and environment design, but also as a texture material for both (see images below).

Amanita design. 2012. Botanicula: art book. p. 14. Amanita Design.

Amanita design. 2012. Botanicula: art book. p. 15. Amanita Design.

Game designers sought inspiration from nature. By blending it all together in a really creative way within game environment it resulted in a truly unique art style for a video game. 

Amanita Design. 2012. [online image]. Available from: http://amanita-design.net/games/botanicula.html [Accessed 26 December 2013]

This example relates to honours year project by inspiring one to look ‘outside the box’ rather than drawing inspiration only from existing games/art.

I think it is important to get inspired by many different things because, in my opinion it is the best way to go about it while trying to create something interesting and unique not only from a game artist view but also a game players view. Since traditional art undoubtedly holds a key to aesthetics and 3D art nowadays has taken over in realistic representation, going back to the origins of traditional 2D art seems to make sense while looking for answers of a question ‘what else can be one with this medium?’

* Amanita Design. 2012. Botanicula. Microsoft Windows. Amanita Design & Daedalic Entertainment

** Number None, Inc. 2008. Braid. Microsoft Windows. Number None, Inc

*** GameStop Corp. 2012. The Bridge. [online]. Available from: http://www.indiegamechallenge.com/2012-finalists/the-bridge/ [Accessed 27 December 2013]

Dennis, R. 2012. Games take on another dimension. Financial Times.

Photoshop: Digital Brushes

After last weeks Research Proposal document submission I had a couple of days rest and tried to catch up with the rest of 'real life' stuff that had been abandoned for a good few weeks while I was working on my document.

Since majority of the written work is now out of the way I can concentrate on going back to doing some practical work on my project, which has sadly been more or less abandoned since the crit week.

As a first thing on my ‘to do list’ had been creation of some digital brushes that would help me imitate traditional media look. General Photoshop brushes that come with the software are certainly not enough. I have also discovered that some of downloaded brush sets are also not quite what I am looking for. Also, I think learning to create my own brushes would benefit me immensely in the future. From reading some of the digital painting magazines I took from library (series of ‘Digital Art Masters'  and 'Digital Painting Techniques' both by 3DTotal) I have come to realise importance of the digital brushes. Although, brushes will not make one draw/paint better however used cleverly and appropriately can save time and help one with achieving some of desired texture look; what I'm really looking for in this case.

The process started with making some marks on paper using traditional media like: graphite pencil, charcoal pencil, ink as well as acrylic paint, then scanning all of it to digitize it and turning each in to brush/brushes.


Here is my .pdf document showing originals and tests of Photoshop brushes I have managed to produce.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/blyq137wwh5ozub/PhotoshopBrushesSet.pdf

Link to actual brushes can be found at the end of the .pdf document.


I have to say some of the brushes came out to be more successful than others. (E.g. pencil ones and some paint ones as they resemble more the look/texture of the real media.) In general I think knowing how to create digital brushes is a great skill/knowledge for any digital painter as it gives a flexibility and speed  to workflow as well as perhaps a 'personal touch' to final artefact.

Research Proposal submission week

Friday the 13th of December was a Research Proposal document submission deadline.

This week was really stressful as I was still dealing with art aesthetics theories in my head and on paper. Overall I feel confident about some parts of the proposal and some not so much. Literature review part is probably ok as I have read a lot of books related to my topic however, the methodology section is probably on a weaker side. I think, I may have spent a bit too long on the literature review as I had to rethink and restructure quite a bit this part of the document which took longer than expected.  Therefore Methodology part did not get as much attention as I would have hoped for.

I had a lot of quotes that I have gathered from a number of books and just going through them and sorting out what is the most relevant and fits best was a really tedious part. I had moments when I felt a bit like I was drowning in quotes. But I got there in the end.

Also, my project aim has changed very slightly as I have added ' creative expression in' part in it.

So what are the idea, purpose and goal of my Honour year project? In short:

This project will attempt to bridge the gap between 2D game production as well as traditional arts and its practice domains and look at both of these topics through aesthetics theories lens by exploring how traditional art practice and traditional art media coupled with art fundamentals can inform and enhance creative expression in production of more aesthetically pleasing 2D game assets.

An expected outcome of this project is significant knowledge that could be of value to academic researchers and practitioners within fields of 2D video game production as well as artists working within digital media domain.

This project aim is to explore how traditional art practice and traditional art media coupled with art fundamentals can inform and enhance creative expression in production of more aesthetically pleasing 2D game assets.

Project objectives are:

• Examine and analyse traditional art practices such as use of media as well as drawing and painting fundamentals to draw conclusions on identifying aesthetics.

• Conduct iterative practical research by experimenting with implementation of gathered knowledge in to digital media production pipeline and evaluate this process.

•  Produce art assets for a game and discuss final results in relation to the project aim.

In general this research proposal experience was very informative. So much so, that at times I felt my head is about to explode from the amount of information that I was trying to cram in to it. However, the good thing was that, just by putting thoughts on paper seem to help with understanding some of the points in my project and how it all relates together.

Now it is just a long wait until after New Year to see what the result is. But I will not be bored as I have to prepare a Concept Development document as well as Pre-production portfolio for the 13th of January 2014.

So the pressure is not really off since I, just like the most of the students on my course, have not done much of practical work in the last few weeks.

A copy of my Research Proposal document can be found here.

Writing research proposal

During last three weeks I have been focusing on getting my research proposal in shape. It is a very daunting task since I felt I needed to understand my topic better therefore kept and keep reading a bunch of books related to a number of subjects that influences my project . My main problem was, up until a few days ago, the description of my research project in one sentence. Finally, Eureka! I got it now and it is:

'Explore how traditional art practice and traditional art media coupled with art fundamentals can inform and enhance production of more aesthetically pleasing 2D game assets'

I feel a great relieve now that finally I have managed to capture my idea in to words.

I think the parallel I could draw between the process of aim formation is the same of trying to capture a cloud: the project idea was hanging around in a sort of undefined cloud/mist shape until right conditions formed and finally it turned in to rain and I was able to capture it all in a bucket in a form of water. :)

However, by no means the work is over. I still have a good bit to go in addressing art aesthetics and art theories question. It is a really hard topic to get ones head around and I wish I could have avoided  it altogether but because the whole idea of my project is to create something meaningful by being aesthetically pleasing there is no way of getting away from it. I guess, in the long run it will be really beneficial to gain a better understanding in what art is, from a philosophical point of view. In my opinion, it will have a major impact of how and what art I will create in the future.

AGDS project update

This week I have finished artwork and animations for Abertay Game Development Society's team 'Gravity Men' game. Currently the game has no name but it is about a trapped robot that tries to escape robot disposal depot.

You have seen my character design concepts in week 3 and  final design in week 7 blog posts.

Below is an example of death animation during development process 

Here are swf. videos of the character animations (idle, movement, jump-up, jump-down and death) that I have created using Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Flash for this game.

As I have mentioned earlier I was trying to create a look of a robot drawn on paper using traditional media (pencils and watercolour) and it was my first serious attempt to see how it would look in a digital form. I guess the art style and character design was somewhat inspired by Amanita Design game Machinarium (2009).
I think overall I’m really pleased with the result and these little tests strengthened my resolution to continue working on my project idea of creating ‘artistic’ looking 2D game art.

Amanita Design. 2009. Machinarium. Microsoft Windows. Amanita Design & Daedalic Entertainment

Robin Sloan meeting feedback

This Tuesday went to see Robin to have a chat about my project in general and clarify what I should be concentrating on in my research proposal document that is due in two and a half weeks. One of the main reasons to seeing him was the feeling of confusion on how exactly I should approach the document. During lectures and seminars I was getting a message that I should concentrate most of all on written materials (books, journals etc.) to help explain and back up my project. However, since what I am wanting to do is much more visual and really new. I still feel that there is not that much relevant information which could be used to directly back up my research proposal. A lot of the more recent information is online and in forms of interviews, blogs etc. I felt I was unable to produce a statement they in my opinion want. Something along the lines of ' here is a peace of evidence (such and such said it) therefore what I will be doing is logical, necessary etc.' Also, explaining in words what I want the actual art to look like is also not an easy task.

In 15 -20 min I've tried to get as much information as I can. Received good feedback on my idea and some advice on approach I should take in my research proposal document  He has also lent me a book Melissinos, C. and O’Rourke, P. book 'The Art of Video Games: From Pac-Man to Mass Effect' and recommended to have a look at it since it had information on previously released games and many interviews with their developers.

I did find our conversation really helpful. His advice meant that I would have to remove a lot of what I have already wrote but it would be for the better. Also, adding  screenshots and small analysis of some of the games would certainly help with explaining what I am trying to achieve with my project and how I want it to look.



Melissinos, C. and O’Rourke, P. 2012. The Art of Video Games: From Pac-Man to Mass Effect. New York: Welcome Enterprises, Inc

 Talks about videogames that are/can be considered as being important in some way or another to the whole videogame development process that has started 40 years ago. Interviews with actual game developers shed light not only on their game ideas but also processes involved while creating them.
Information I have found that is relevant to my project:

• backs up my opinion that players do use 'suspension of disbelieve' when playing video games. p.44
• games are serious medium of expression  and if can not be considered as being art just yet then it is surely on its way to becoming it. p.8, p107, p.127, p.157, and  p.211.
• games and gameplay influences people who play them therefore plays role within culture. p.137, p.194

Literature

Apart from doing some practical work for my Crit week presentation I have been spending increasing amounts of time reading books and trying to understand not only how to structure my honours year project but also all the rest of relevant information that I need to learn/understand to be able to complete my work.


As mentioned  in my previous blog post (week 5), more than two weeks ago I have started looking in to some literature that would help me in dealing with research proposal and my project in general. Punch, K. P.  book 'Introduction to Social Research: Quantitative & Qualitative Approaches'* looked like a good start.(recommended by Robin Sloan)

Since my project is very art concerned there was not as much relevant information as I have hoped, however it was handy in finding out what are good research questions, what is a 'case study' and general advice on writing research proposal and finally dissertation.

Since I'm considering on using a case study of game 'Braid' I need to have an understanding how useful it would be and how I can structure it. At the moment however, I am not sure under which type (general overview, instrumental case or collective case) my own study will go under. It seems I would be looking to find out information that is covered  by each one of them.

* Punch, K. P. 1998. Introduction to Social Research: Quantitative & Qualitative Approaches. London: Sage.


Some of the other books that I've been looking at recently are:


Bentkowska-Kafel, A., Cashen, T. and Gardiner, H. 2009. Digital Visual Culture: Theory and Practice. Bristol: Intellect

Book contains a number of essays from different artist who create digital art. It analyses theory and practice relationship across technology and digital media and what is involved in creation of new media artworks. It also points out the impact of technological advances on new visual art and artistic practices that are developing as a result: interactive art and videogames as part of the new digital culture.

Gray, C. and Malins, J. 2004. Vizualizing Research: A Guide to the Research Process in Art and Design. Aldershot: Ashgate

I have read and used this book last year for one of my modules but decided to have a second look this year as well in a hope that it will help me to understand and structure my own honours year project. This book covers such topics as project development and implementation for art and design. Although it is primarily aimed at masters and PhD students it does have a lot of useful information even for undergraduate studies. Explanations given about research processes in general and how they can be applied and used for practice-based approaches. I think it is a really good book not only to help evaluate and ground ones project and ideas within appropriate context but also to set one on the right path on how to approach and structure/plan the whole project.



Kirkpatrick, G. 2011. Aesthetic theory and the video game. Manchester : Manchester University Press.

Author sees videogames as a part of popular cultural form and claims that they offer aesthetic experiences to the players. Similar to G. Tavinor, he employs aesthetic theories and draws parallels between videogames and painting, music and dance but at the same time acknowledges that videogames are neither of them but a combination of all. Thefore, it is one of the defining properties of the videogame and must be judged differently: as its own medium. G. Kirkpatric dedicates most of his attention in this book to the gameplay which dictates rhythms which influence players in a number of ways.

Laughey, D. 2007. Key Themes in Media Theory. Maidenhead ; New York: Open University Press

Since it was on a recommended list for this year’s read I was really expecting more out of it. It was an interesting read in general and I do not regret having read it, however there was hardly any really useful information that I could apply to my project. Chapter 8 Postmodernity and the information society provided information on the whole postmodernity movement and added some overall understanding on how my  project fits within the media theory however I feel I am already past that stage and what I am looking for now is how I can narrow down on what I want to achieve and find supporting literature.



Tavinor, G. 2009. The art of videogames. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell

In his book author talks about how videogames can be considered as being art. He takes philosophical theories of traditional art (especially cluster theory)and applies them to video games and their development. Explores how current technical and artistic sophistication affects game development and how a player perceives it. These are the questions that author addresses in his book:
'How does a videogames art sit in the respect area forms of art?
How does the digital medium of videogames have an effect on visual art?
How do videogames appealed to the player’s emotions?
What is the locus of artistic interest in games, and how does this differ from other traditional forms of art?
Finally, Is videogame genuinely art?'

Tavinor sees graphical representation in current videogames as one of the most important aesthetic achievements and having potential to make a contribution to the arts. However, other video game components like sound, gameplay and narrative play a very important role.

Digital Painting Books

A few weeks ago I took some books on digital painting and drawing: ‘Digital Art Masters' and 'Digital Painting Techniques' both by 3DTotal . I have found them really inspirational as well as useful even though some of them not only contained information on digital painting. Sometimes just reading how people in the industry go about creating their art can teach one some good techniques and handy tricks. I think most interesting part that I really think will be worth trying out for my project could be digital brush creation.

Another great book I had a chance too look through is 'Mobile Digital Art: using the iPad and iPhone as creative tools'* by David Scott Leibowitz ( Abertay library link: http://uad-live.lib.ed.ac.uk/vwebv/holdingsInfo?bibId=121861) Although it talked only about art created using mobile devices  (tablets, phones) it introduced me to the idea that I should use more my Android phone as a portable sketchbook. It happened so many times that I came up with some good idea while on the go or when I was lying in bed trying to fall asleep and did not have a sketchbook with me to record it. However I do have my mobile phone most of the time with me and I can use it to sketch even in darkness which can be really handy.

One of the best things that I like is the possibility to create sketches/drawings/paintings using layers on the app and then export it and use it in Adobe Photoshop to add final touches or continue working  on the earlier sketch.

Autodesk Sketchbook Pro software information: http://www.autodesk.com/products/sketchbook-pro/features/all/gallery-view

Autodesk SketchBook Pro app for Android Cost ( current price £3.03): https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.adsk.sketchbookhd&hl=en_GB

Autodesk SketchBook Pro for iPad: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/sketchbook-pro-for-ipad/id364253478?mt=8

Autodesk SketchBook Mobile: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sketchbook&hl=en_GB

Free version is also available: SketchBook Mobile Express : https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sketchbookexpress&hl=en_GB

The same apps are available on iPad as well as more similar art apps by other developers (for iPad and Android) free and paid can be found on Internet.



*Leibowitz,S. D. 2013. Mobile Digital Art: using the iPad and iPhone as creative tools. Abingdon; Burlington, MA: Focal Press

Crit presentation feedback

Thursday Crit presentation went well. Just a couple of days before it I was worrying that I still do not have an aim or even a vision statement for my project. Luckily my conscious finally managed to make a connection in my head between all those ideas that I have been having last few weeks and I finally have a vision statement/aim: 'explore how traditional art practise can inform and enhance production of 2D game art assets'.

My final project goal stayed more or less the same: create art assets for a single game idea and try to implement them in to a test game or most likely a mock up playable level.

As my practical work I have shown all the images from my previous post. Feed back I have received was exactly as I have expected. I had been advised to tackle background and interactive assets issue: how to try and make it more easy for a player to distinguish which objects are interactive and which ones are not. also look more in to traditional art and see what I can bring it to my digital art project.

My further action points are:

• to continue literature research. At the moment i am looking in to art aesthetics and aesthetic theories.
• reiterate my previous practical attempts: change colour scheme and fix artwork for: Fianna, Dragonfly dash and Noboy games.
• make more practical tests: improve backgrounds, try and reproduce texture that is often seen in oil paintings. (see image below)

Alexander Sigov. [online image]. Available from: http://pinka.pl/pin/148714/Alexander-Sigov#.UukZWfnFJpg [Accessed 2 November  2013]

Also as the time goes by I am starting to realise that I will not have enough time to do any programing on my own if I really wanted to make a playable demo. In my opinion, it would be a much better outcome then having a video or a bunch of still images as a final peace therefore, if I really want the demo to happen I would probably have to get  someone else on board. It is a major step, as some of my previous experience shows, working with others or depending on others for projects is not an easy task. I might have to look at getting programmers or game designers on board.

Reworking old game art ideas 2

Next week is a Crit week and here are updates on my practical work so far:

Fianna

Sketches of some of the objects and characters that had been inspired by The Book of Kells.

I was trying to create something  new and perhaps a bit more simple as well as something that looks somewhat similar to original. I found out that Celtic looking designs are much more time consuming then I have assumed at first.

Quick mock up and colour as well as texture test.

As mentioned in my previous post I have tried changing colour scheme to something less bright and multi coloured but I came to realise quickly this wasn't the best idea. I think by muting colours design/idea  lost connection with the original ( The Book of Kells). I have also tried to fiddle with paper texture and it ended up looking 'too much' and 'too fake'.

I think I should go back to the original bright colours without worrying about them making sense (e.g.  dog being red colour) as well as working on background texture looking more realistic and not over the top.

 Dragonfly Dash

Mock up screenshot of the game

I have decided to change the game from a 'top-down' to a side view as this way I was hoping  I could show more of the flowers and background vegetation without compromising the actual game play too much. Also, as mentioned in my previous post I have attempted to recreate ink and watercolour look.

I think it is a better attempted then the Fianna one because the watercolour paper texture looks quite realistic. Ink marks also look reasonably satisfactory. Things I should fix in my opinion are:

• Colours - need to go back and refresh my knowledge on use of colour because it has been a while since I used colour in paintings.
• Recreation of watercolour painting effect. Although current result is not a very bad attempted I think looking in to digital watercolour techniques and possibly relevant Photoshop brushes would improve results.
• Background - need to come up how I could paint background plants so they would complement the foreground flowers

NoBoy

2 variations of  apple trees

Quick mock up of above apple trees within an environment  and  with  apples as interactive elements.

I was trying to replicate 'painterly' look on the left tree and tried to experiment a little with Photoshop brushes on the right tree design. I think both tree designs look reasonably successful and the apple seem to stand out by colour contrast, however by looking at the image so far I have realised that it might be difficult to differentiate between a background element and an interactive object in front of it. This problems stems from paintings being flat and static 2D objects with no interaction. I should look in how this problem is solved in other 2D games. Also, I should familiarise myself more with digital brush creation process in Adobe Photoshop as it in my opinion would help with achieving more of a 'painterly' texture.

 'Gravity Men' team  main character- robot.

Robot (main character) sketches.

Main character design mock ups. Combined a couple of robot designs from a previous sketch (see earlier post) and chose to combine 6, 7 and 8 texture tests in to final character design.

Final design for robot character.

As mentioned in my previous post I was attempting to give robot more aesthetic/artistic look; preferably somehow remind of sketch done using traditional art media. I have used a layer with watercolour texture effect and then tried to imitate a pencil drawing. I think it came out well and my team was happy with design.

Rat game character sketches where I have tried to recreate ink media look.

My favourite design and texture look is the one on the bottom right hand side, however the top right hand side one probably looks much more ink like.

Aesthetics

To help me understand more about the art and the beauty of it I took out from a library a Cahn, S.M. and Meskin, A. book ‘Aesthetics: a comprehensive anthology’ as well as dug out from my books box another book ‘Philosophical Aesthetics:  an introduction’ by Oswald Hanfling.

I feel quite anxious about the prospect of getting back in to art aesthetics. I did study aesthetics a little bit during my college years and I remember this subject being quite hard to get to grips with. There are so many theories and theorist and because it is art and not a science, there is really no right and wrong or true and false. The two books are really tick and I would imagine it’s going to take me a while to get trough them. What I’m expecting from the reading is a better understanding about art, its meaning, also theories that I could use when looking not only at traditional art for inspiration, but also give me some sort of solid grounding when analysing art in games and producing my own art for my honours year project. Also, I hope that all this knowledge will help to move me forwards towards finally identifying my aim for the project, because at the current point in time I feel like I know what I want to create, why and perhaps how I’m going to do it, but just cannot tie all these things in to that one sentence that can actually explain my project.

Crit week is roughly in weeks’ time and Project proposal in 6 weeks and I am not in the right point in time with my understanding about the whole project. I just hope that all the reading and perhaps some practical stuff that I’m creating will help me finally organise things in my head in time for submissions.



Cahn, S.M. and Meskin, A. 2008. Aesthetics: a comprehensive anthology. Oxford: Blackwell Pub

Hanfling, O. 1992. Philosophical Aesthetics:  an introduction. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing

The Art of Damocles Trailer for Ryce: Son of Rome videogame

A couple of weeks ago a trailer video for a new 3D game came to my attention. Although it has not got much to do with 2D games  it does have a lot to do with the art style in video games.

The game is called Ryce: Son of Rome. It is a third person action-adventure that has been developed by Crytek (using CryEngine) and is about to get released in November for Xbox One.

The main developers goal for this videogame was to merge story and action  and to improve the emotional quality of the game. They have used many film techniques like building of a character, Imaginarium motion capture for capturing full actor performances (face and body at the same time). However, what I want to talk about is 'Damocles' trailer video created by Jakub Jabłoński and Platige.


Watch trailer here:

I think this trailer demonstrates an outstanding creativity. The idea of using painted textures for 3D models is a great idea in my opinion and shows that game developers becoming braver in exploring possibilities of applying traditional art within games.

The art within the trailer reminds me somewhat concept art for Guild Wars 2.

Here are some examples of Guild Wars 2 art:

ArenaNet. 2011. [online image]. ArenaNet. Available from: http://gw2guides.blogspot.co.uk/ [Accessed 30 October 2013]

ArenaNet. 2011. [online image]. ArenaNet. Available from: http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=166738&page=4#.Uvoixvl_t8E [Accessed 30 October 2013]

Some of the viewers’ response in comments sections on YouTube and other websites seem to be mainly positive. Quite a few people seem to express a whish of having the whole game art looking like it does in this trailer. Game audiences seem to be maturing and looking for new ways to enjoy videogames. Hopefully in the near future some game developers will take on this idea.


For more information on making of the Damocles trailer:

More about the developing process:
http://www.cgmeetup.net/home/ryse-son-of-rome-the-legend-of-damocles-by-platige-image/
More still images showing development process:
http://www.cgmeetup.net/home/making-of-ryse-son-of-rome-the-legend-of-damocles-by-platige-image/

Platige http://www.platige.com/en/


Also a short video developed by Glasgow’s Axis animation studio for MTV awards. It also has 3D models textured using hand painted/drawn textures:  http://vimeo.com/7432584

Child of Light

This week I've found out about a new game named 'Child of Light' that is being developed by Ubisoft Montreal.

Here is a link to their website: http://childoflight-game.com/

Watch trailer on YouTube : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXBbB4sfEpQ
YouTube video of Child of Light Walkthrough Demo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkljZTI2ryA

Developers Tumblr blog: http://childoflightgame.tumblr.com/


What is known so far about the game:

It is a platforming role-playing genre game with a strong focus on narrative and atmosphere. Art style draws inspiration from artists from golden age of illustration, art nouveau as well as Studio Ghibli and Yoshitaka Amano.

Available modes: single as well as multiplayer.
Developer team is using UbiArt Framework engine (used for another Ubisoft game: 'Rayman').
Expected release date is sometime  2014.


‘Child of Light’ game is about a child called Aurora who falls asleep and in her dream visits mythical world of Lemuria. There she must bring back the sun, the moon and the stars from 'Queen of the Night' captivity to be able to return to her home located somewhere in 1895's Austria and her duke father.

I think the most amazing thing about it is the fact that this type of art style game is being developed by big game development studio. In my opinion, if Ubisoft will manage to make it a really good game (gameplay and story wise) it’s going to be a major step towards 'art house' games taking their place in mainstream game development field. Possibly, it will fully open doors to a 'traditional art' inspired art games because so far we have only seen only very few indie companies dabble in this kind of art style for games. I think it certainly shows that game development industry is maturing and especially 2D game developers, starting to explore 2D game potential: looking at more interesting ways how it can be presented to their player base.

My favourite quote that came from the blog:
‘Video games are cultural products as much as movies or music. We have the opportunity to bring to life content that enriches people’s lives and is as diverse as the reality we all live in.  We must seize this opportunity! ‘ by Mélissa Cazzaro

Some  game screenshots


Ubisoft. 2013. [online image]. Available from: http://www.xb1.co.uk/features/child-of-light-hands-on-with-xbox-ones-first-jrpg-like-game/ [Accessed 30 October 2013]


Ubisoft. 2013. [online image]. Available from: http://www.writeca.com/2013/09/14/child-of-light-ubisoft-montreal/ [Accessed 30 October 2013]



Ubisoft. 2013. [online image]. Available from: http://www.writeca.com/2013/09/14/child-of-light-ubisoft-montreal/ [Accessed 30 October 2013]

Online article 'Discover “Child of Light”, the Playable Poemabout' the game  can be found here: http://www.writeca.com/2013/09/14/child-of-light-ubisoft-montreal/

Look at traditional art

Still can not quite work around my head on describing what I am doing for my project this year.

As suggested during my Pitch presentation, I have started looking at some of the traditioanl art and artists that can be relevant on serve as inspiration to my project.

I think one of the things that inspires me is Traditional Chinese ink painting. Mainly because this medium has similar properties to watercolour with which I'm quite familiar. It can have the same minimalistic and ‘translucent’ feel as the watercolour and if successfully used adds the same translucent and ‘flowing’ property to an artwork. Chinese painting seem to have sprung up from calligraphy and is one of the oldest artistic traditions in the world. One of the nice examples of ink and wash painting techniques can be Liang Kai painting Immortal. 

Liang Kai. 1140 - 1210. Immortal in Splashed Ink. [online image]. National Palace Museum, Taipei. Available from: http://www.chinaonlinemuseum.com/painting-liang-kai-immortal-in-splashed-ink.php [Accessed 25 October 2013]

Only few spontaneous brush strokes on paper can give a hint on the texture of fabric folds (light vs. heavy or smooth vs. rough), persons weight  as well as convey mood of the painting.

This type of artwork reminds me somewhat Ōkami (2006) game art.


Joseph Mallord William Turner works are really interesting because of the way he uses colour and light in his paintings. I do like the blurriness of the objects. He manages to convey the atmosphere of the scene.

Turner, J.M.W., 1819. Naples and Vesuvius, from the Hill beneath Certosa di San Martino and Castel Sant'Elmo. [online image] Tate. Available from: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-naples-and-vesuvius-from-the-hill-beneath-certosa-di-san-martino-and-castel-d16101. [Accessed 25 October 2013]

Turner, J.M.W., 1841. View of Venice - Ducal Palace, Dogana, and San Giorgio. [online image]. Available from: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:View_of_Venice_-_Ducal_Palace,_Dogana,_and_San_Giorgio,_by_J._M._W._Turner.jpg. [Accessed 25 October 2013]

Turner, J.M.W., 1844. Rain, Steam and Speed – The Great Western Railway. [online image]. Available from: http://pictify.com/424553/jmw-turner-rain-steam-and-speed-the-great-western-railway. [Accessed 25 October 2013]


I also like the texture of the paintings and find that some of the Braid (2008) backgrounds have that same washed out, quality. I think Turners painting style (oils as well as watercolours) can work really well for game backgrounds: provide enough interests but not overwhelm the foreground game action.


Claude Monet works have a lot of very visible loose brush strokes: typical of impressionist art. What I like about it is the atmosphere that is created by the colour as well as those individual brushstrokes that manage to define things on a canvas without the need for all the detail. This type of painting technique leaves 'space' for the viewers’ interpretation which I think is a nice thing to have. Also brush strokes become individual lines on a canvas that can serve many purposes at the same time: help create mood (flowing lines vs. angled ones), contribute to overall composition as well as serve as an artist signature.

Monet, C. 1897. Arm of the Seine near Giverny. [online image]. Musée d'Orsay, Paris, France. Available from: http://www.claudemonetgallery.org/Arm-Of-The-Seine-Near-Giverny-In-The-Fog2-large.html . [Accessed 25 October 2013]

Monet, C. 1872. Impression, Sunrise. [online image]. Musée Marmottan, Paris, France. Available from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impression,_Sunrise . [Accessed 25 October 2013]

David Hellman, Braid (2008) artist, in his blog ( http://www.davidhellman.net/blog/the-art-of-braid-index ) mentioned that he was inspired by impressionists art/artists. I think it is quite evident in final game art style that he created for Braid.


Some of the Isaac Ilyich Levitan landscape paintings are not really done in impressionist style however they seem to convey an impression of him trying to capture nature in a moment.

Isaac Ilyich Levitan. 1898. Sunlit Day a Small Village. [online image]. Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, Russia. Available from: http://fineartamerica.com/featured/sunlit-day-a-small-village-isaak-ilyich-levitan.html [Accessed 25 October 2013]

Levitan, I. I. 1885. Snowbound Garden 1885. [online image]. Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, Russia. Available from: http://www.oceansbridge.com/oil-paintings/product/81161/snowboundgarden1885 [Accessed 25 October 2013]


Vincent Van Gogh post-impressionist painter is known for his bold colours, rough and daring brush strokes.

Van Gogh, V. 1889. Starry Night. [online image]. Museum of Modern Art, New York. Available from:  http://www.vangoghgallery.com/painting/starry-night.html [Accessed 25 October 2013]
Technical practise research some videos some of the painters books

In his Starry Night painting swirling brush strokes in the night sky creates motion and keeps viewers eyes moving around the canvas. Also, yellow stars and their halos are juxtaposed against the blueness of the sky.
I think Van Gogh painting style is very tactile, painterly like and it would be very interesting to try and reproduce this traditional art feeling/look in to 2D game art.



Although there are some digital artists/art out there that try to imitate the oils or the watercolours, or some other traditional media, somehow hardly any of it has actually made it in to video games yet. And if this kind of art has a cultural value why not take it and try to apply it somewhere else, especially if it lets people enjoy it more easily and excites their imagination?..


Clover Studio. 2006. Ōkami. PS2. Capcom

Number None, Inc. 2008. Braid. Microsoft Windows. Number None, Inc

I have also started reading Punch, K. P. book  Introduction to Social Research: Quantitative & Qualitative Approaches because I need to find out more about research practises for my proposal document and overall project structure. basically, what I can/need to do to satisfy the research project convention.

* Punch, K. P. 1998. Introduction to Social Research: Quantitative & Qualitative Approaches. London: Sage.

Pitch presentation and feedback

My pitch consisted of presenting my project idea as well as discussion about all the information I have manged to acquire so far (mainly to support my idea for this project). With my presentation I have tried answering these questions: 'why I want to do this project and what evidence is out there that supports my idea', 'how I think I want my outcome to look' as well as tried to highlight the fact that I was unsuccessful in finding much literature that discussed in detail 2D art in games. I guess it does show that some of the book authors ( see 'Literature struggle' post) where right, there is a noticeable lack of information about the game art aesthetics not only in academic circles but also in general.

Here are some of the example of art that I was showing as my inspiration:

Alexander Dzivnel. 2012. [online image]. Available at: http://artodyssey1.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/alexander-dzivnel.html [Accessed 2 October 2013]

Jon Klassen. [online image]. Available from: http://kgavenda.wordpress.com/2010/07/08/jon-klassen/ [Accessed 2 October 2013]

Pashk Pervathi. 2010. [online image]. Available from: http://www.aa-artgallery.com/?_escaped_fragment_=__pashk-pervathi  [Accessed 5 October 2013]

Rusudan Gobejishvili. [online image]. Available from: http://vk.com/wall-22548395_235 [Accessed 6 October 2013]



Vered Gersztenkorn. [online image]. Available from: http://deconstructing-aesthetic-forms.weebly.com/vered-gersztenkorn.html [Accessed 8 October 2013]


Studebekker Pushkindt. [online image]. Available from: http://0.static.wix.com/media/9968b8_c0b850d3c0d469e8a59ff620a5c3c68a.jpg_1024 [Accessed 10 October 2013]


Z.L.Feng. Image #:10. [online image]. Available from: http://zlfeng.com/landscape.html [Accessed 14 October 2013]

I have chosen these images (and a number of other ones) to illustrate that I would like the game art I would create for this project to have a look/feel of traditional media. Hopefully this way making videogame more interesting to look at and hopefully player having a more rewarding experiences while playing it.

I have also spent time thinking about the ways I could tackle the main problem of being too little information on 2D game art. So far the only solution I could come up with that will allow me to continue working on this project is to try and do research and work on this project in 'up side down' manner: by looking in to traditional art and trying to apply my findings towards digital art in 2D games.


Pitch feedback

I would say Thursdays pitch went relatively well. I did receive a positive feedback regarding my choice of project. Lecturers as well as other students seemed to find my project interesting and voiced their support on my choice of topic. I have also received some advice and reassurance regarding changing the point of view of my research and looking at traditional art first of all and trying to fit information i will find towards the game assets production.

Things to do next

Finish dealing with the current books about game development and digital media and start looking in to traditional art and art aesthetics.
Also need to start doing more practical work because Crit week is in another 2 weeks time and I will  need to show my advance in this area.