Some university updates
10:39We do in fact have to keep a university blog as part of our course but this year it's required that we keep them password protected because of some university privacy reason (I don't know I just do what I'm told)
This means that I can't really share what I'm doing unless I copy it over to this blog which is a little frustrating since I enjoy sharing what I do and writing on my personal blog. Throughout the last project it hasn't really been too relevant to put on here since it was entirely 3D-based and not an awful lot of 2D art was to be found. Although this new project 'The Sentry Gun' allows us to FINALLY concept and design our own model.
Since I wanted to share my concepting process I've decided to copy over this week's uni blog post to here:
And breathe... Although I had a great time working on the film room project I am extremely happy to be working on my own/on a new project again.
I had infact started concepting for my sentry gun towards the end of week 5/during week 6 since I had so much spare time but I hadn't mentioned it in my week 6 blog post since it was a more formal post mortem of the film room hand-in.
So! I had a pinterest board going for some time whilst I absent-mindedly pinned anything and everything that may remotely interest me when it comes to a sentry gun. I was originally quite nervous about this project since sci-fi/weapons weren't really a thing that interested me nor was it something I was particularly good at so I stayed away from generic sentry guns and tried to go down a route of something that was more 'me'.
I knew keeping it in line with my own interests was the way forwards with this project otherwise I'd be miserable the entire way through and wouldn't produce anything good. There has also been emphasis this year on the pieces we produce being for our portfolio so I also wanted it to line up with the kind of things I do already so it would fit in.
Whilst pinning away I had the thought of Ancient Egypt and I was instantly hooked. My idea for a sentry gun quickly developed into an Ancient Egyptian/Alien gun that was placed inside a (very important) Pharoah's tomb to protect it from grave robbers and anybody that happened to disturb it.
The flow of the design was something I wanted to nail quite early on; I was looking at Art Nouveau objects and designs as well as different insects.
I had originally thought that silhouettes would be the best way to start for this project since I wanted to work from a strong shape and build it up from there but I quickly realised/remembered that I infact find it quite difficult to concept from forms and silhouettes and much prefer to sketch my ideas:
I kept them quite loose but I managed to generate ideas far easier this way while also considering different Egyptian imagery and design.
I moved on from these sketches by picking a few of my favourites and developing them further. I felt that even without drawing the silhouettes I still got strong shapes. I quickly settled on a design and began iterating and developing it.
At this stage I decided to ask for feedback on my designs so far on the get good group page.
I was given the paintover on the right from Chris Londsdale which suggested I use one of my earlier designs for the neck of the gun and my oh my did it look better. I instantly realised my mistake and started working on the new design. This one had a much better flow to it and also looked much more like a cobra.
I made a very blocky model in 3D just to check that it didn't clip and to get a rough idea for the front since I had only really been designing from the side up until this point. (Egyptians drew everything side on so I can get away with it right??)
I then did some more iterations on the base of the gun, experimenting with different shapes.
After this I began working on the pattern for the sentry gun. I already had a few things in mind:
-it needed to be very gold
-it needed to look rich in both design and worth
-it needed to look like treasure in a Pharoah's tomb
I really liked the intense detail on Tutankhamun Sarcophagus; its so dense and yet it doesn't look too noisy.
Although something I quickly found with my own concepts and the way I was doing them that the colours looked far too bright and cartooony and the linework was making it look really noisy and not giving the effect I desired.
At this point the sentry gun project officially started so I moved straight onto modelling; doing the intricate designs was something I could do whilst I worked on modelling during the day.
Modelling took me about a day, and it was a lot easier than I thought. Although a requirement of this project was to learn how to bake down a high poly mesh onto a low poly (something I have no experience of whatsoever). I decided that I wanted to learn how to use Zbrush and do my high poly sculpt in that as opposed to in 3DS max.
I spent a day watching tutorials and trying to work out how to do my high poly in Zbrush but I had minimal luck, plus I was scared I'd spend a lot of time working on my high poly only to be told in Monday's lesson (where we're going to be shown how to do the high poly in 3DS max) that I was doing it wrong.
I managed to create what I assumed was my 'high poly' version in 3DS Max by turbo smoothing the majority of my mesh but since I was nervous about taking it any further without clearer guidance I decided to use my 3D model and do some photobashing to try and establish my design.
Doing this really helped to solidify my design (something which was difficult to do with just lines). I photobashed different parts from Tutankhamun's Sarcophagus and used parts of various artifacts from the wealth of Ancient Egypt.
From this I decided to work again in lines but solely for the intricate pattern design. Since I have so much time left I really want to work into the intricate details of this sentry gun and create everything myself. I have to learn a lot but time is something I have a lot of at the moment if I play my cards right.
I'm really pleased with how I've worked so far; I feel throughout the film room project and the beginning of this project I have worked incredibly hard but I've also worked healthily- I haven't had to stay up late trying to get things done, I haven't really been stressed and I've been able to do a lot of work for this project whilst working on the previous project and I still feel like I've produced a lot. I don't feel like I've done anything particularly spectacular- I've worked 5 days a week for a solid 8 hours or so, sometimes even less, and still managed to produce this much work and still have time to have a social life. Go me. (This also ties in with a previous blog post I wrote on romanticising unhealthy work habits and is proof that you don't need to work ridiculous hours to get work done)
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