Photoshop Session: 02/03/2015 (Still Life)

In today's session with Jordan we stepped way from working with photoshop, and instead drew still life in our sketchbooks. We were asked to do a series of thumbnails, but in different ways, drawing with our opposite hand for example. We then had to do 3x final drawings, I believe.

While doing these drawings I was happy with how they were going, but now I don't think they look too good, or not as good as I remember. I didn't spend too much time on each thumbnail and they aren't the most photogenic images in the world, but this session has taught me about further ways as to how to do thumbnails. 

I only managed to do 2 final drawings, the first being done in the same way as one of the alternative aspects drawings, and the other being in charcoal, an alternative medium. I do like the first one as it is nice and smooth. It has a clean composition that works well with the ratio of the page/box that it was drawn in. Unfortunately, the charcoal drawing has smudged somewhat and doesn't look as good before hand. However, from memory, I was happy with the tones that I managed to create and it had a unique effect.

From Script to Screen: Prop Design - Wheelbarrow - Sketch

Following on from the first wheelbarrow drawing, this one is a lot smoother, primarily due to the sketchy style that I used before. The design will be simple and clean, as it will match the style of the characters. 

From Script to Screen: Allotment - Interior

This is a reasonably quick drawing of the interior of the Shack that Simon Frost lives in. I did this in my sketchbook, and I tried to include as much of the detail from the script as possible. I actually quite like it. It look small and confined, and so could provide some tense scenes. It demonstrates that it is deteriorating/old and it works well with Simon Frost's character. I will continue to experiment with the setting, once the character designed are finished.

From Script to Screen: Initial Character Designs

After my OGR feedback, I looked at the styles that Phil suggested. I really like the "Yum Yum" style. Yum Yum is a studio based in London that does character design, as well as making animation, stories etc. I really liked the simplicity of their work, and so think they are a suitable source of inspiration for my characters/story. As, quite rightly, my characters should be more designed as shapes, rather than complex beings, I will look into how to turn vegetables into people, instead of the other way round. Below are two quick sketches I did of Simon Frost and Anna Stone in my sketchbook. I looked at Yum Yum's work and tried to make them the characters that I described in the character bios. They aren't necessarily obscure shapes, which is something I will work on. I think my characters should all remind the audience of a certain vegetable, and so it would show consistency in the story, instead of having 3 characters who just so happen to look like a certain type. 

I will now move into Autodesk sketchbook and will look at how to make Simon and Anna resemble a certain vegetable, as well as design the minor characters in the story. Although, I do think the design of Simon looks a bit like Butternut Squash.

                           Simon Frost                                   Anna Stone                      

Yum Yum Character

What If? Metropolis: Key Asset - Theatre - Drawing

With most of Bridget Riley's work, it is very simple and clean, but often has very strange forms and unclear patterns in them. The Theatre in the city will be the most detailed and most unique as the rest of the buildings will be very simple with crisp edges, like Bridget Riley's work. Like the lighthouse, I wanted to do it in my sketch book because I could do it quickly and see how more obscure it can become through drawing it fast. I'm very happy with how it looks as it is very abstract and will be hard to read/understand when it is fully rendered in Maya.

What If? Metropolis: Key Asset - Lighthouse - Drawing

Although my lighthouse is very simple in design, it is very important to the city as it is it's main light source. I wanted to draw my key assets in my sketch book because I look the rough style that I have and it manages to demonstrate what the final lighthouse will look like.

Three Point Perspective Exercise

My three point perspective exercise is different to the other two as it doesn't have the same amount of detail or isn't as busy. The reason for this is that I couldn't quite think of how to do it. I was thinking of drawing a path, but I thought it would be really small so it would look hardly any different. I was thinking about drawing a road, but I didn't know how that would look. Back to the perspective of the drawing, I think it works well with the actual buildings themselves as they get smaller correctly and the middle building is fine, but the details on the buildings are a bit wobbly. This is because I didn't draw the perspective lines, because I didn't think there would be a need. I was wrong.

I'll edit the photo at a later date.

Two Point Perspective Exercise

Here is my two point perspective exercise. Just like my one point perspective drawing, I didn't mean to include so much, but as I liked how it was looking I decided to make it look like a proper crossroads. I think the left row of buildings is a bit squished as I included to many buildings so the ones are the end are really thin. The right side, however, I think does work well as the buildings decrease in size correctly.

I'll edit the photo at a later date.

One Point Perspective Exercise

Here is my one-point persepctive exercise. At first, I was only going to draw the rail track with a view signs next to it, but as it progressed I decided to add a few more things. I think, overall, it works quite well as things to get smaller in the distance and the pieces of wood on the track get further apart as they get closer to you, so I think this exercise worked quite well.

I'll edit the photo at a later time.

Continuous Cities 1 - Leonia

These are my first 9 thumbnails for Leonia, that I did in my sketch book. I struggled to come up with ideas behind how the city could look like. I was only able to come up with dumps that were made to look like cities. I do like the actual drawings, but I just found it difficult to envisage the city, even though the "Continuous Cities - 1" passage is quite long.

Also, I know this isn't the best image quality. I'll try to improve it at a later date.

Cities and Despire 3 - Despina - 17-24

As I quite liked Despina, I thought I'd do a few more thumbnails, but this time I did the quickly with a pen in my sketch book. I quite like the actual drawings because they show my quick style and they don't have to be exact or in much detail. However, I think some of these look similar to the previous thumbnails. I think I need to focus on more on the details of the anthology rather than just creating an image of the city and then altering each thumbnail slightly.

So far, out of the cities that I've done, Despina is the one I'm considering taking further. I'll make my final decision once I've done more of the cities.

Also, I know this isn't the best image quality. I'll try to improve it at a later date.