Computer Arts 4th Year - Honours: Semester 2 - first supervisor meeting and project progress

Starting back in semester 2, the project is going rather slowly as the weight of it all is somewhat crushing, preventing productivity and hampering thoughts. So far, the research part of the project has really dampened it all for me; it feels like this massive separate entity that looms like an arrogant monster (rather apt) and only frustrates me that I don't know what to look at, where to go and what to discuss.

However, my first supervisor meeting has helped with this problem greatly in the sense that all the research I have been trying to garner has been theoretical, and whilst this is of course important, it is not the be-all and end-all, instead I should of course be focusing on the practical research. By practical research, I mean things such as dissecting images and creating responses based on my findings. At any rate, the meeting majoritaly comprised of separating the practical and theoretical side of the project so as to show the contents required of each and then showing how they should be more interlinked and, in many cases, be one-in-the-same.

Something I had been thinking about was mythology and folklore, which interestingly was a topic at the very start of my project when I was considering doing graphic novels. Now however, I can look into the subject from the point of view of researching adaptation and interpretation. There is a rich visual history of creatures in mythology and folklore from many different parts of the world and the artistic media has taken great swathes of the knowledge and portrayed it in it's various forms. Many films and games indeed capitalise on the popularity of the subject and they adapt and interpret creatures to their own ends. Examples include: 'God of War', 'DreadOut', 'Beowulf', and 'Hercules' to name but a couple. I recently attained a book, 'Imaginary Animals - The Monstrous, the Wondrous and the Human' by Boria Sax, which looks into the history of a number of fantastical creatures throughout the years, so would be a good point of reference to gain an academic insight into the matter. I would like to perhaps write a case study on the subject, but will look to asking my supervisor at the next meeting as to what is involved in such a thing, as I have absolutely no idea where to even begin at the moment. Furthermore on the subject, for the practical side of it, I would be able to adapt and interpret mythological and folklore based creatures myself, creating particular tasks aiming to create a variety of designs that will hopefully focus on originality and iteration.

Another topic of discussion at the first meeting was that of creating a portfolio of creatures using the IP of the company Games Workshop. It would be my goal to one day send my work to them and provide art for their various books, as they are always looking for free-lance artists who they can rely on to create strong exciting pieces. Looking through a variety of the books, they contain a plethora of artworks from different artists, all with their own unique styles; the really good ones are those that you can instantly say, 'that's a . . . piece.' My personal favourite artist who does images for Games Workshop is Adrian Smith, here is a link to his website:
http://www.adriansmith.co.uk/
I believe that it is very important for me and would benefit me greatly to aim to develop my own personal style over this semester, refining it and making it unique so that, like Mr Smith's work (I love saying that), it can be instantly recognised and therefor hopefully be commended more. So, by interpreting the various creatures/creature-races of the Warhammer universe(s), whilst maintaining the Games Workshop designs, I will hopefully be able to put together a decent portfolio that will be two-fold in purpose, acting as both part of the practical research in my project, as well as giving me work that I can take to the company straight from finishing university.

Practical-wise, my project will be rather heavily traditional as i plan to use markers for most of my work, however by using digital techniques: scanning in sketches; printing them out; touching up final images in Photoshop etc. I can satisfy the need for the project to be computer related (what with it being the Computer Arts course and all). I have tried a few different makes of pens and find that the Copic Sketch markers, whilst expensive, are certainly my preferred choice. I guess it really is a case of you get what you pay for, but at the same time is also down to personal taste.

Research-wise, I have been watching videos and playing a couple of games related to this project, specifically 'Evolve' and 'Spore'. Now, I have 'Spore' to play any time I wish, which is great and fine, however 'Evolve' I recently played the beta and found the game-play itself to be somewhat lacking, so thus have come to the conclusion that any further research into the game will have to solely be conducted through images and videos as I don't want to commit to buying something that I don't feel will aid the project through personal game-play. The creature designs in 'Evolve' are indeed interesting however and I plan to do a break-down of each of them, looking at them in detail and giving my thoughts and opinions. To add to this, I will then create my own creature for the game, based on my research and again focus on originality and iteration as the main parts of the design process. 'Spore' on the other hand is incredibly interesting as the creature-creator part of the game allows you to create a wide variety of designs, all be-it that they are in the cartoony style of the game and are thus limited. This isn't necessarily a problem though, as it would be perfectly possible to take designs, aim to make them 'logical' and alter the style to suit whatever purpose they will be given. I will seek to take screen shots and even video if possible of the creature creator in action through my own hands. It is somewhat limited though in the sense that you need to go and collect extra parts throughout the level, meaning the best way to play it is by completing the stage and messing around in the editor at the end.

Finally, I shall just post up what practical work I have been doing, which majoritaly consists of drawing real-life creatures taken from images on Pinterest to create a back-log of sketches that I can return to for my own personal creature designs, perhaps expand on certain ones and of course to help show the incredible diversity in the animals, birds, insects etc. that live on our own planet.