Independent Practice Week2:Designs

I began to design my ships but not go into distinct detail rather just having a unique design as well the placing of the sails. With each design i wanted them to have a distinct design whether it be large, small or even small in size going to a large size. The unique placement of the sails also came to mind as to how many sails would be used and the sails shape.

As you can see from the designs that i had done i wanted to design the ship as a block based outline although i produced some spherical type designs to see variations but i was going for the block based shape, thinking of how the modelling stage would benefit from this, speaking of polygon wise.

My mindset of the ships size, specifically the back of the ship where i see the captain and crews cabin areas, the front of the ship being the control room and below would be areas for the cargo, supply room, generator, engine room and even the weaponry.

Independent Practice Week2:Research

Having the idea of doing a space pirate ship immediately what came to mind was the 2002 Disney animation Treasure Planet and so i went back and watched the animation again. Watching the animation with a different mindset, one which looks at the little nuances that were missed the first time around. Picking up the concept of using a standard ship based design such as a galleon or a frigate and turning that into a space ship by adding certain technological aspects of the ship such as engines, solar sails and generator. The way that Treasure Planet has created their design has given me the option of using certain traits of theirs to possibly build around or go down their route.

Taking more screenshots of the interiors of ships as well as the exterior from certain shows i was watching at the time, the two being Haven and the 2011 Thundercats show. As i was watching the show, Haven i started to see how the standard ship has little on its main deck besides the key components of a ship. The interior of the ship shows that it is the main area of living as you see most of the crews posessions within the ship. The other show, the 2011 Thundercats isn't one to regularly show ships but one had shown up in an episode and i found that the unique design as well as certain objects that show they are based off of their surroundings, such as the class like domes on the side to look out through the sand. There wasn't much in the interior aspect of the show but what had stood out from the limited scenes of the interior were the ships kitchen which shows how the room itself takes shape from the exterior of the ship.

Overall taking these screenshots from the first similar idea that came to mind and ship related shows that i had been watching at the time, i found that taking these screenshots and taking a look at ships designs and key areas more thoroughly i picked up key components to be used in my development. Key components such as the regular design that comes to mind when thinking of as ship, with the sails, main deck, cabin and the components that are shown with the technology portion of the ship, such as the engines, generator and how sails would be used.

Independent Practice Week2:My Self-Brief

Filling out the rationale and handing it off to be looked over, i received my response during the tutorial that my idea to do a concept art project is a good direction to focus on. Knowing what i will produce i started to discuss my idea of creating a space pirate ship crash landing in a cave. The idea had come to mind after watching the latest Pirates of the Caribbean film which revolved around the concept of the 'Fountain of Youth', the location of the scene made me think of how the scenes setting could have a space ship and carrying on the pirate theme, the space pirate ship was created.

As you can see from the images on the left i took a liking to the setting that Pirates of the Caribbean took for the 'Fountain of Youth', a dim, wet cave, surrounded by rock formations curving around to focus on the mid point of the cave, the 'Fountain of Youth' and the suttle amounts of greenery and roots/vines covering the entrances of the cave.

Here is my game synopsis: 'You are the main character, a lonely body ready to leave what the world has to offer him, trying to distance himself from the world by going on holiday but unknown to him he would come across an adventure that would exceed his expectations. You are wandering around parts of the jungle that are very dangerous when you notice an open cave that had somehow engulfed something which resembles a ship, you enter the ship through an opening in the side.

Once you enter the ship you start to feel the ship beginning to shake and the sound of an engine starting up as you soon realise that your in space. Not knowing what to do you start to make your way through the ship whilst the remaining crew looms in the shadows and the hibernation pods.'

The overall setting of the concept is a jungle backdrop where a cave is the crash site for a space pirate ship and the main character has found the ship and set off the motion sensors to reboot the space pirate ship and be taken off into space with the crew still in hibernation pods. I will be focusing on developing my overall idea through the conceptual stage showing interior and exterior of the ship, the crash site and possibly character designs but the main focus is the actual ship. Researching into ship designs and encompassing that design into more of a technology base spacecraft and certain forms of information that will contribute with a better development of my ideas.

The brief is to design a space pirate ship based upon the synopsis given and to have an outcome of conceptual designs showcasing the crash site, interior and exterior of the space ship. The end product should depict the synopsis well and demonstrate a space pirate ship across to the audience and to get across many details of the concept of the space pirate ship where the audience would be able to find differences between areas of the concept art and to understand what the concept art is showing. Going down the route of doing a space pirate ship came to mind from Pirates of the Caribbean but doing an actual space ship rather than a standard ship was again based off the results of my previous self-brief project as i felt that doing a design from a standard ship would hinder my development and went back to creating a design which has no major similarities to an actual space ship.
At the end of the project i expect to have pieces of concept art demonstrating designs, ideas and the whole concept of my project. Developing my artistic skills to better express my ideas is my goal towards the end of the project and once my skill set has become that of a professional nature i believe i can take the projects outcome towards my next project to create a 3D representation.

Update:
-I had not really gone into much detail of the whereabouts and time that my story is placed but after thorough research i feel that basing my story within the time frame of the 1500s would fit well with the spaceship basing their design off of the Carrack as the Carrack was seen as 'the' ship to base future ships off of as it was strong, allowed large amounts of cargo and people and the structure of the sails allowed additional speed. As for the whereabouts i found an unexplored region of Earth's Amazon Rainforest primarily the Amazon Baain of South America and the reason i chose this is due to the crew that encompass the spaceship are an advanced race from a planet called shinde which have been studying the human race and have furthered their knowledge based off of human kind and from their obsession of Earth much of their advanced technology is based off of Earth's objects of the time. The reason the Amazon Basin was chosen is due to it being unexplored within the time period my main character comes across this ship from a distance because the area where the ship had crashed was unexplored many others that had come across the ship from a distance didn't want to risk the journey to the ship but the main character was the exception.

Independent Practice Week1:Briefing

The top up year for DFGA course had started with the usual updates and ongoing within the confines of the college, along with the briefing of the new project. Carrying on the self-brief mentality from the previous year we were told to that the new project would be an exploration into the issues of our dissertation through practical means. After the briefing of the project had been told we were asked to fill out a rationale for the project, what are the outcomes, bibliography and the overall progress of the project.

Below is the rationale form that i filled out, the overlooking aspect of the form is that i will be developing my skillset of the conceptual stage of a project by focusing on the concept art. Within this project i will be developing my idea with concept art, sketches and variation of designs which will be used within the next project to create a 3D model. Choosing to focus on concept art and modelling as separate projects came to mind after looking back at the previous years project outcomes and not really being impressed by the end product, which led focusing on them as individual stages.


1.Name: Ifraz Mohammed
Rationale must include:

• a brief summary of the project - work/study/research intended.
• what will be produced
• the purpose of the project in terms of your own professional and personal development
• intended audience
• potential problems you may have and how you will handle them
• where appropriate - citation from reading/research/dissertation material
• bibliography

2.Rationale - strategy of study and project development - 500 words

• The project that i am going with is to basically have an idea which will be developed through a few concept art pieces which will then be sufficient enough to develop further through 3D modelling. The work intended to be done is a few pieces of concept art demonstrating my idea and creating the mood and overall feel for the game. I intend on studying concept art that has already been created and how they have been created by researching concept artist, tutorials as well as directly contacting these artists.
• At the end of the project i expect to have pieces of concept art demonstrating designs, ideas and the whole concept of my project. Developing my artistic skills to better express my ideas is my goal towards the end of the project and once my skill set has become that of a professional nature i believe i can take the projects outcome towards my next project to create a 3D representation.
• The Purpose of the project is to develop my skills and to understand what is expected of me when beginning a project and to allow myself to use enough time in developing an idea. This project is more of a developing skills project where i will be expecting an outcome that can be given to anyone and for them to be able to produce a game from the concept art being so vivid and detailed that covers many areas that is shown.
• The intended audience would be 12+, the reason being is, i intend for the concept art to show the game being a darker teenage type of game involving pirates and the game will intend to have a series of puzzles within the game which will be at a certain difficulty setting. I see the style of concept art being dark, mature and showcasing more of a detailed setting which will be appreciated more by the older generation of gamers and the style of gameplay being more puzzle based and will also have more of a technical/intellectual style of gameplay.
• Potential problems that may occur throughout my concept development could be the artwork itself, being unclear of what i am trying to display and also the mood, setting and overall design of the idea not comign across. A way to rectify the problem would be to constantly look at refrence images, work and even tutorials to show how other artists show their work.
• Reading materials such as magazines, online articles and tutorials will be used in development and along with researching into the mentioned sources i will be in contact with concept artists to aid in producing concept art along with their feedbacks and sources from my dissertation will help in understanding how the piece of art or game comes across.

3.Bibliography - havard reference

Lisa M. Detora, (2009) Heroes of film, comics and American culture: essays on real and fictional defenders of home:North Carolina:McFarland and Company, Inc.

Michael McKinley, (2010) Maya Studios Projects Game Environments and Props:Indianapolis, Indiana:Wiley Publishing, Inc.

Roz Kaveney,(2008) Superheroes! Capes and Crusaders in Comics and Films:London:I.B. Tauris

Henry Jenkins, (2006) Convergence culture: where old and new media collide:New York and London:New York University

Robert Alan Brookey, (2010) Hollywood gamers: digital convergence in the film and video game industries:Bloomington, Indiana:Indiana University Press

Summer Work

Over the summer i was able to develop my skills further, all be it not to the extent that i had wanted but i was able develop distinct designs that helped me to understand a set way of developing models. I wanted to develop significant comic book based objects and looked at objects such as captain America's shield, Thor's hammer Mjolnir, Green Lantern power ring, Daredevil's Billy Club, Ghost Rider's Chain and Medallion and Batman's Batarang and Batmobile.