Breaking boundaries – Working outside my sketchbook.

For part of Stage 2 I had to push my chosen media and work into more experimental and unexplored territory. With my current work I had been exclusively working in my sketchbook as my original idea was to creating a sort of detailed journey though a creative process using 24 as a design quota for key areas of my characters design.

To push this I was given a task of creating at least 3 life size pieces outside of my sketchbook to stretch my work into the more experimental zone and to push not only my idea but my media choices as well. This first piece I created was a set of 3 quick studies of my lead character in different poses and media choices to get a feel of how drawing in this size felt. I don’t tend to work this big usually and working on an vertical surface felt very alien and at times uncomfortable and frustrating.

Though I started to adapt to this new way of working and decided to use the scale to allow me to add more detail into the clothing of my character to create a more believable functionally as well as a more detailed look at the attire she would be wearing on her adventure. I found creating the initial sketch in charcoal and using chalk pastels and sketching sticks to create colour, tone and a smooth blended finish to match the inspired style of work to be the best choice when creating these pieces.

   

Working in a life size scale does have it’s benefits and I am glad I attempted to tackle this new way of working as it got me looking at the finer detail of my work as well as using unconventional methods of working to get a new view on my designs. Though despite this working in life size was still a frustrating experience as I tend to work better on smaller pieces especially when it comes to proportion.

Until we converse again stranger.

Stage 2 – Update 2

Through my work on stage two I have had to make some changes to what my final outcome my work will be.

First of all the work will no longer be 24 of each design point as time constraints for my portfolio, University preparation and the actual interview as well as my own personal life and job have hindered my free time in completing my original idea. 24 has now become more of a starting point for my work which has led me down the character design and game asset design path allowing me to explore creating various designs based on key ideas and phrases as well as ideas I wanted to express in my work.

Also due to these time constraints I have decided to narrow the final designs down to just one final character from both a male and a female character to just a female one. This is because I want to create a well designed female character and the female design was further down the creative process than the male one was.

I started to work outside my sketchbook to cover criteria I wasn’t meeting in my work as well as pushing my usual boundaries by working on life size pieces which I will create a post on this subject too.

I will no longer looking into 3D modeling in this stage because of time constraints and unfamiliarity of software involved. If possible this could be something I tackle in stage 3 if applicable.

My Final piece will still be at least one final concept piece of my character but mounted and placed center stage next to my work books in my area as the life size pieces would draw too much attention away from the final product.

Also as I have been without my computer for the last five days my work has unfortunately been set back. Now I have it back I will be focusing on completing the work I have been unable to complete. Hopefully this won’t be too much of a set back to my final idea.

Until we converse again stranger.

Influences – Tamara de Lempicka

For stage 2 I looked into Art Deco and Dieselpunk as a style influences for the final design of my character.

As mentioned in my previous post I wanted to use an artists who from the 1920’s – 30’s who could capture not only the decade but also the style of the time in there work to influence the style of my own creations. I came across this portrait artist who was very prominent in the 1920’s and 30’s who adapted the cubism style of artists like Picasso into her portraiture. This artists name was Tamara de Lempicka, a Polish born painter and the first female artist to become a glamour star.

 

Lempicka gained notoriety in the 20’s for her unique style of cubism inspired portraits referred to as “soft cubism” her style may have been inspired by the cubism movement, but she found that impressionist artists could not draw and that they used “dirty colours”. Lempicka has always set out to make her work unique and would never copy another artists style or technique exactly, this is why her work in comparison to impressionists work was clean, precise and elegant.

Lempicka’s work did not only gain her notoriety for her style and technique but has also made her one of the key artist for the Art Deco movement and even inspired some of the stylistic choices for the ‘Burial at Sea’ DLC for Bioshock Infinite, a game with a heavy theme of art deco and the fantasy 1920’s – 30’s Dieslepunk style.

I was going to use a stylistic influence from the era I have set for my work on stage 2 and Lempicka’s work really stood out for capturing the glamour and “hollywood” feel of the time. I found her style was perfect for capturing the excitement and stylish action I wanted to root into the final pieces of my character.

Until we converse again stranger.