Life drawing

I had done a little life drawing before going to university. A group of local artists where I lived organised to meet on Thursdays during summer and draw. When I first joined however I did not know about the positioning rules and had to try and tackle for shortening off the bat and it didn't end well. Yet the practice helped me a lot and made me a little more confident when starting life drawing at university.

Beginning each session with quick sketches and contours practice without looking at the paper and drawing with your opposite hand was completely new to me however. It helped me try to quickly get her form down on paper.

  

Using charcoals, inks and chalks was also new to me and great to experiment with. Tough messy each give a very unique effect on the paper.

Charcoal extrusion work was also very new to me, but a very fun was of working. Allowing the artist to continually add and take away values made the process very fun and gave a completely different effect. Also allowing me to get a better understanding of shadow and highlights as I struggle quite a bit with them.

 

 I'm slowly beginning to understand proportions and for shortening but I'm still making many mistakes and working to slowly.Hopefully that will all come with practice. 

Elements of Environment design

Game environments can be some of the most creative, and fantastical places as well as some of the most realistic and believable environments. But what makes some environments better than others?

One of the elements can be its style. If your creating a completely cartoon and fantasy universe with system limitations it can often be a better option to have everything stylized. It may stop the world being as believable but if made correctly is believable in its own universe. If it all stays to a similar style with few inconsistencies then theirs no reason to deny that that is how everything should look in that "world".

Though realism can also be just as important in environments. With them being very accurate we naturally will recognize elements and believe what we are seeing around us. Yet if done incorrectly we can quickly lose interest. 

But even with some of the greatest visual environments they can still be hindered by there restrictions in often being simple corridors where the player can't explore. This was one of the greatest criticisms of Final Fantasy 13. As even though it was one of the most beautiful games. The majority of the time you were restricted to simply following one singles path.

Often worlds can feel empty. They could be very vast and give the player lots of exploration. but if the environments are very simple and empty the player will lose interest quickly. One game I can think of that did open world environments very well was Skyrim. Each city, area, dungeon had its own unique feel, architectural details or habitats. It also helped that there were often specifically designed elements which would act as unique markers for the area. Such as an unusual rock formation or waterfall. It made the world seem very vast even though you could walk from one end to the other in possible less than an hour.

One of my personal favorite games for its is Final Fantasy 12. This games world is so vast. So many areas in maps and even hidden ones. This meant you could spend hours going over the same places and finding new areas which in turn made exploring very rewarding. Not only that but each area on the map had its own unique feel. Even desert areas, which there are multiple of, because of them having weather systems in some, and slightly different plants or being open or closed in by cliffs they each feel unique. 

Its when environments can create environments that in whatever style are recognizable and believable in their own way. they allow the player to explore and not force them down a path where things will "randomly" occur. Each area should be unique and non repetitive so the player will recognize certain areas apart from reused assets. So the keys to great environments is giving the player areas to explore, them being unique and believable and also stylized in a way that represents that world and that stays consistent.

http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01597/final-fantasy8_1597224c.jpg

http://www.mrmof.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/cp_towerrush-01.jpg

http://86bb71d19d3bcb79effc-d9e6924a0395cb1b5b9f03b7640d26eb.r91.cf1.rackcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/assassins-creed-screenshot-big.jpg

http://thegamefanatics.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/rayman34.jpg

http://assets2.ignimgs.com/2011/02/11/skylanders-spyros-adventure-20110211075708326-3395522_640w.jpg

http://media.edge-online.com/wp-content/uploads/edgeonline/2013/02/SkyrimReach2.jpg

http://www.skyrender.net/lp/ff12/1-2/02.jpg

http://download.gamezone.com/assets/old/gamezone/22/9/54/s22954_ps2_63.jpg

http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100424204620/finalfantasy/images/6/67/Sandsea_tanks.jpg

Elements of Character Design

In everything from movies, books, soaps and games you can find interesting characters as well as the dull and plain ones. But in all the greatest films, games and books you will only find engaging and believable characters that you can truly understand. But how do they do this?

One way is to develop the character along the story, their transformation from simple civilian or convict to hero over the time frame that we see them. In video games this can be difficult however to do. In the most recent Lara Croft video game we get to see how Lara progressed into being able to kill and how difficult her first kill was. The trouble was after her first very saddening first kill she seems to be able to just about kill anyone without any remorse. There is no build up to her becoming like this, no gradual increase which loses some of her development as though you have missed part of her story. Yet this also shows how far games have come. We are gaining connections to the characters feelings their hardships as though they are our own.

For me personally the first time I truly connected with a character was in Final Fantasy 10. Okay I know final fantasy but Tidus is one of my favourite characters and why? Because I fully believed and loved his story. Yet there was something I never realized at first when playing the game, his name is never said once. You were able to name him at the start whatever you wanted making it ore personal. And from their his adventure would begin. They took a very original approach to his story and the world by letting you be the one to learn about it through him, as he was also new to it. You got to learn about the world, its religions and how everything works along his journey, as though you were both gaining your feet at the same time so it became very personal. Information isn't been just thrown at you to to read up on later you learn as you progress through the game naturally.

Another game that blew me away with character development was Dragon Age: Origins. With the great ability to completely customize my character and pick their unique back story, made my own character very personal to me. I created a dalish Elf called Luna. Wow I'm original with names... After a certain point your given a lot more freedom and the conversation branch is introduced. Though your character is voiceless, it does not detract from her story. In a way it made it more personal, I could imagine how she sounded and act out her choices of line. But that was the key thing, choice. Everything in the game required you to make a very personal choice in the story, you didn't truly know what effect it would have, which in some of my cases needed badly with party members falling out with me and things going very wrong.

Which brings me to another great character element of the game. The party members. You can bring them along with you and depending on the decisions you make will determine whether or not they like you.But not only do you communicate with them but they also communicate with each other in amazing party banter that occurs just as you travel around. It makes it feel natural and as though your party members are actually not just focused on you communicating with them but have their own natural conversations with others, which makes them feel believable as individuals. It also cements each of their unique personalities as they communicate with each other and often argue or misunderstand each other, which can often also be very humorous.

For me these are some of the most successful characters were in these games that I played, and each for different reasons. For following their adventure, to them being very personal, to great choreography and character development.