The long run before the first jump

I'm really starting to get into the work flow again. Recently I have been creating my character models and at present they are all at different stages. (Which will be easier to demonstrate their process)

This first one is the chracter Teargems...

As you can see, it is just a basic mesh as it stands. Once the hands and head are done I'll then add more detail and loops.

The next model is Jimmie the Bullet. The one's model is complete and is now under-going UV marking (hense the blue lines) Once I'm satisfied with the marking, I'll create a UV Map and complete the texturing.


The Next model is cK. I have completed the UV mapping for this one, and am currently texturing in Photoshop.

The maps aren't as tidy as I'd hoped, however I feel confident that they will work and give me a pleasing result.

Lastly is character Iron, whom I displayed at last terms presentation.

He may look the same as before, but I have actually re-modelled and textured it. One thing that I did learn during the animation process for the presentation was that the character model was lacking enough loops for smooth movement. Thus, I went back to the model to adjust it, re-map it, texture it and now to rig it.

Away from the 3D side of work, I have been keeping myself busy with drawing and reading. I recently finished a character drawing of cK, using on of his many sound wave blast attacks.

On the advise from a friend, I decided to have a play with colour in photoshop. My original drawing of this was quite dull; the colour didn't match the 'mood' of the picture. The mood being rather 'epic' and thrilling, it needed to have a bolder, exciting and alive feeling. I will continue experimenting with this technique in future drawings to see where it can take me.

I have also been reading my way through a couple of books. I recently bought 'On Horror Writing' (recommended by Nigel), a handbook on the secrets of the success of the scariest genre of all. The reason I am reading this is because I feel it will aid me in creating my cutscene for the end of year show. The Horror genre is very good at quickly introducing characters, having the audience connect to them, and then having them brutally killed off. As the end of year show clips are most likely going to be short, I'll be focusing on the first two aspects - quick intro. and audience connection.

The book will also be helpful for a comic... Yes! In addition to all this, I'm actually creating a comic... And yes! It will be based off of my game idea - 1.0.3. I recently bought 'The Art of Bolt' by Mark Cotta Vaz and 'The Art of Pixar Shortfilms' by Amid Amidi for reference and inspiration. I'm currently writing the script and screenplay for the first 6 / 7 pages. The first page is complete and I will be displaying them once I have my online portfolio site up and running.

Start of a new

I sure has been a while, so I'll get right to the point.

Sinse the dissertation hand in, work has been all over the place. The first week and a bit I had a break from work. All that writting and reading had me mentally worn out. Then for some unknown reason my harddrive decided to die... litterally. I am so glad I had everything backed up, and that the thing didn't break two weeks prior. That would have been hectic.

So sinse then, I've bought two more harddrives to be doubly safe and have tried to progress into this new terms work.

I've been focusing a lot on narrative over the past few weeks. As I'm doing an animation for my end of year show it's going to be important that I get the right scene made for the viewing audience. I went to see Nigel (One of the course tutors) for a hand in where to look and what to focus on. His advice was sound (as always), he advised me on a book called 'On Horror Writing' which I've just bought off amazon.

He also told me to relate my narrative work to videos, films and animes that I find most emotionally moving. One in particular that I've chosen is the anime One Piece. I'll be studying one scene for narrative inspiration. Said scene involves Pirate Luffy (The main character) fighting against a government agent Rob Luchi in a vein attempt to save one of his crewmen. It has always moved me to tears. I'm also choosing two more favourite videos, films, anime scenes to study for emotional response. I'll update on which ones later.

I have started story boarding one of the narratives that I have created. I'm expecting to change it as the weeks go by. I'm still watching Derek Thompsons DVD for constant reminders in contrast and how to best lay a scene in story boarding.