Final presentation

For my final presentation i wanted to create a space to look like a mini studio work space. Where i layout my completed designs as if i am presenting to my design team leader. I have included the 2 scene illustrations i have done as i feel that those pull the theme and feel of the game together to be presenting along with the designs i made. I think together they pull the aesthetics of the game together, also it creates a more studio like environment which is suitable for a concept art display.

Additionally i have submitted my works onto my online gallery on Deviantart:  http://warb1rd.deviantart.com/gallery/
This will tie in with the idea of concept art as most artists submit their work online to make a digital portfolio.

Conclusion

http://warb1rd.deviantart.com/gallery/

for my final hand in i have added my works onto my online gallery on Deviantart, where i have been commissioned for works. Online gallery is also where most artists will get noticed and get contacted for works nowadays. Therefore to fit in with my area of work, i think it is appropriate to present my online gallery profile as part of my final hand in.

For this series of works i have intended to create 3 sets of uniforms for the game The Secret World online. I set out to create 3 sets of uniforms to suit and echo each faction's feel and style. In tribute for the up coming ingame update: Tokyo.Which i believe i have achieved, to the best of my ability.  I looked at the popular Japanese anime and its fascinations with mechanical robots an armor as inspirations and references.

I have also practiced and tried to improve my techniques and drawing skills by pushing myself doing harder and more intense drawings to make myself want to improve. I think this was very useful for me as i did feel i have picked up some skills and also forced me to learn to be more efficient with my time. I have improved on drawing faster. The topic of designing for a game also made me look more in depth at the mentality behind the need for visual seduction for a virtual world. As it is meant to be as detached to reality, as much as possible. I learnt that the cybernetic social space is very much similar to real life, and game costuming plays a huge role in promoting the game as well as making players feel immersed in their own fantasy. Which is what makes the gaming industry is successful. I feel that this project have enabled me to not only understand concept art better technically, but also theoretically. This will help me to further advance my drawing skills and hopefully enable me to work towards my goal of working for a game company.

Finalising Templar layout

This is the final layout for the Templar designs, i kept the layout the same as the Illuminati, with the templar logo in the background. I think i like the color the best for this piece as the red look very vibrant, as i intended it to be. It have a nice eye flow with the red lighted areas on the armors.
I reworked the leg armor to give look it have more mobility and more fitting to the human figure as before it seemed to restrict movement.

Over all i am quite happy this turned out.

Final Dragon layout

Keeping to the Illuminati layout, i have constructed the dragon layout to be the same, with the dragon logo at the back. I think like the uniformed compositions of the pages as it creates a series, which would look well balanced for my final presentation.
I am happy how this eventually turned out, as there's alot more details and the design have been refined so much more than how i started with.
The colors work well together as well, and is now more eye catching. I am quite happy with the result.

collecting ideas for Dragon

Dragon is the 3rd faction in The Secret World and they are described to be very mysterious, with no real clear motives nor does many of the members of the Dragon are clear what exactly are the real goal of the faction or what they stand for. They believe in the chaos theory, by intercepting and changing a small detail of an event can cause a revolution. Therefore unlike the Illuminati and Templar that fight out in the open, Dragon keep quiet and take advantage from the two factions when possible. They are faction based in Asia, but its said their base have been changed many times, and they do not have a fixed location for long. currently, their base is in Seoul.

Dragons are very secretive, hidden away from the world. Therefore they keep their base hidden and humble. The style of the faction is very Asian inspired. e.g Ninja styled clothing, hoods, jackets etc. which reflects the architecture of their base. These are all qualities i need to take into consideration when i start my designs. The color theme for the faction are earthy tones: Green, brown and gold.

I started collecting images that inspires me for the stealthy futuristic ninja aesthetic i am after:

  I want a body suit that hints the asian influenced aesthetic of a ninja warrior at the same time infused with hi-tech accents. Therefore i started pulling together some rough drafts.

For the Dragon models i will aim for an asian look, to compliment the essence of the faction.  I developed a draft version of the body suit look i am after (on the right). I added the scarf in to give the overall aesthetic a more interesting detail, and also to hint the ninja themed costume appearance.

Artist Research: Adrian Dadich

I came across Adrian Dadich's work as i was looking for visual inspirations for the Dragon faction design. Dadich's visual style resemble an influence from the Japanese anime aesthetic. The vibrant colors and exaggerated details are very eye catching, and pop art like. I was very attracted to some of the shapes and forms of outfits he have designed on the characters. They are very Cyber-punk styled, technology combined with mismatched clothing, with a hint of punk culture with the bright colored hair and makeup.
His designs hints a sense of cybernetic enhancement on human bodies, which is very visually fresh and interesting. Aesthetically to me Dadich's designs are very exciting to look at, as there are so many little details. there are areas that i am unsure what purpose they serve but still cool to look at and works well with the outfit.

Cybernetic space

I came across this documentary about the allures of virtual community. I wanted to explore further the concept behind how games can impact real life and how the visual aspects can play a role for people.

 Digital Ego explained that, “Every person who communicates in virtual and social environments owns a virtual identity, which sometimes may be identical to real identity. As mentioned before, our lives are a stage on which we are playing out roles that we have learnt from birth onwards. This virtual identity finds a way to express itself by existing on the internet. Transferring feelings, thoughts and links to online communities is important.” The attraction of becoming a completely different person visually is a large part of what drives the popularity of games in general. An documentary on this issue with online identity and cybernetic social space is: Wonderland: Virtual Adultery and Cyberspace Love. BBC. Where a wife and a mother of 3 had an affair online with another player in a online game chat room called “2^nd Life”. “It's about people who've cheated on their life partners and risked losing everything, for the promise of a life that's so far only been experienced in the pixels of a computer screen and the dream world of their own fantasies.” 

This is where ingame clothing and costuming plays a huge role in self expression. Clothing becomes a projection of your personality, or the personality you want others to believe in. You are free to choose the most unrealistic outfits that the game has to offer. As I found through researching game design concepts, each game would have a distinctive feel for their title and would have a particular style of costumes. This shows that game fashion feeds off the ideal fantasy of a what is believed a consequence free mentality of the cyberspace. Therefore inorder to attract players, I need to incorporate that unreal expectations or ingame clothing.