aqukay2d

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Password: 2Dart

Assignment Name: In-Game Scene

Tools: Procreate, IPad, Krita, Unity

Description: In-Game Scene of Hayden, turn-based combat style.

Feedback: I struggled alot with the style of the game going into this assignment. The turn-around and key art are painted while the character sheet is more flat so I was unsure which direction to take the game scene. Typical 2D turn-based combat style is often chibi-ified due to the small screen space the character takes up, however, I did not want to stray from the character sheet I created so I ended up choosing the simpler line art style as the general look of the game. I also struggled alot of exporting the game in the correct aspect ratio as the web build constantly cropped the edges out of my scene.

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Assignment Name: Character Design Part 3

Tools: Procreate, IPad, Photoshop

Description: Key art of Hayden making a game-changing discovery in the Oriens Citadel library.

Feedback: I wanted to emphasize the bookish yet excitable nature of Hayden's personality with this piece as it focuses on a narrative moment. However, I'm not sure I really like the composition of the final piece. As I continued to render the illustration, I lost a lot of the energy from the sketch. The exaggerated 5-point perspective didn't really work either. The more I painted, the more the curved lines that direct the viewer's eye around the canvas disappeared. I also struggled a lot with the values on this piece as I went back and forth a lot with how dark the character is compared to the background. I still feel as if the background doesn't feel right, though I can't pinpoint why.

Sketch 1: Hayden reading a travel journal with the capital city visible in the distance. Convey an adventurous and rogue-ish feeling. An open world with so much to see.

Sketch 2: Hayden making a discovery in the confines of the Citadel library. Focusing on a very specific moment with the world revolving around Hayden.

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Assignment Name: Character Design Part 2

Tools: Procreate, IPad, Krita

Description: Profile sketches and character sheet for tritagonist Hayden Occasus.

Feedback: I feel like my character's personality is sort of everywhere with the expressions and poses I chose to sketch for this sheet. The character is very expressive but guarded most of the time with heavy snark and confidence. I'm not sure how well the guarded part of his personality translates, or if he just seems like an over-the-top dramatic.

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Assignment Name: Character Design

Tools: Procreate, IPad, Krita

Description: Character turnaround and alt color of tritagonist Hayden Occasus.

Feedback: Maintaining consistancy and detail was a struggle for me when drawing this weeks turnaround as I found myself forgetting small details such as the waistcoat buttons and ribbon on multiple different occasions. Although I feel I was able to convey the character and the world he lives in somewhat successfully, I feel as if the design could have been a bit more interesting visually but I'm not sure how.

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Assignment Name: Environment Design

Tools: Procreate, IPad, Photoshop

Description:

Flat colored version of last weeks b&w sketch #1.

The war against the neighboring country has ravaged the land. Small communities such as this one, Geniht, attempted to barricade themselves to survive but ultimatly fell.

Foliage and enviornment are largely mysteriously untouched compared to the manmade structures.

Architecture are collapsing in a way that suggests some type of force bore down on it in unnatrual ways. Like a cannonball.

Feedback: I ended up refining the original colored drawing to help me better nail down a mood before I drew the years later version. I also found myself doing a constant back and forth between the two to keep consistency with the storytelling and level of detail. I struggled alot with rendering the perspective / sense of depth for both pieces which is something I still haven't managed to figure out but am at a point where I am satisfied.

Color Sketch:

Thumbnails:

Reference:

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Assignment Name: Sketchbook Week 9

Tools: Procreate, IPad, Krita

Description: Merchant market stand, 2 perspectives.

Feedback: I struggled alot with making the design seem unique. I had the idea of a slanted roof and a homely feel however, actually figuring out how the cloth would drape and what types of materials to use was a long process. I ended up following the theme of my last prop (handcrafed wood) to create this final design.

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Assignment Name: Environment Design Part 2

Tools: Procreate, IPad

Description: Flat colored version of last weeks b&w sketch #1.

The foliage is dense and huge with tree trunk diameters growing meters wide and foliage swallowing the architecture.

The town is centered around a small church, where it serves as both a place of worship and a hub for community and commerce so the building is central and important looking.

Mountains roll into the distance, humid and dense fog cover the land.

Feedback: I wanted to try out photobashing to build texture and detail but I struggled alot with seemlessly integrating it into my very stylized sketch. Im also struggling with color in this lighting, trying to figure out how much value and saturation specific things in different distances has been one of my major problems with this piece so far.

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Assignment Name: Sketchbook Environment Design Part 2

Tools: Procreate, IPad, Krita

Description: Traveling Merchant Carrying Case Concept Design.

Feedback: I wanted the case to feel homemade by someone who knows what they are doing but isn't a master of their craft. Therefore, the design is fairly geometric and simple. However, I feel the design might be too simple as it's literally just a box with the only interesting aspect of the being the runes on the lid.

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Assignment Name: Environment Design

Tools: Procreate, IPad, Krita

Description: 2 B&W sketches of the village Geniht on the outskirts of Oriens that focues on the religious building, a sanctuary, that served as the central hub for the small farming community.

Feedback: I wanted to depict a small village inspired by old english and german stone buildings. Oriens is a forested country that is filled with larger than life trees and mountains as far as the eye can see, so nestling architecture that is typically associated with flat land and hills was a challenge. I also didn't want the environment to look too developed so I chose to block out simple buildings instead of the more intricate castle architecture you would typically think of when it comes to medieval buildings.

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Assignment Name: Sketchbook Week 7

Tools: Procreate, IPad

Description: Insignia of the Royal Family of Oriens.

Feedback: I oscillated between whether this design should be super complex like a traditional coat of arms or more simple and iconic. I ended up going simple, focusing more on the major shapes and contrast with the colors because the insignia is meant to be plastered everywhere from clothes, buildings, government documents etc. to show the might of the monarch. I've also been really interested in flag design recently so I used some principles from common flag symbolism as well.

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Assignment Name: Making Many From Few

Tools: Procreate, IPad, Krita

Description: Variations of the lions from the Chinese Lion Dance tradition. Comprised of 3 different faces, clothes, and head Accessories.

Feedback: I initially wanted to variations in the lion's base color, fur trim color, and clothes; however, I quickly found out how difficult it would've been to make fur trims that matches the color of the face's fur without having to totally deform the face when no trim is choosen. I ended up leaning into my cat inspiration and giving the lion pet clothes influenced by traditional chinese new year attire and the lion's themselves. I also ran into an issue with the hat not being compatible with every lion face since some of them had very tall ears. Though, a bit weird looking, I solved with by deforming the hat to the point it would be tall enough to cover all possibilites.

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Assignment Name: Sketchbook Week 6

Tools: Procreate, IPad

Description: My OC Crowe. Reference sketches from 2020.

Feedback: My main concern with this sketch was refining the character design. This character has gone through quite a bit of iterations over the years but I never landed on a permanent design. Crowe comes from a fantasy world inspired by a mix of east asian and scandinavian culture so I've always oscillated between how to blend the two historical fashion styles together. I ended up settling for something loose that has a silhouette similar to a yukata, tunic, and poets shirt.

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Assignment Name: Sketchbook Week 5

Tools: Procreate, IPad

Description: A 200ml flask carved out of glass, gold, and igneous rock to store burning lava.

Feedback: I was inspired by the look of striated igneous rock left behind by flowing lava for this design. It gives the rock an organic and almost fantastical movement and has an already existing connotation with its ability to encase lava. I also visited an egyptian perfume shop recently and I tried to mimic the bottle elements found in the hand blown glassware.

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Assignment Name: Patterns from Particles

Tools: Procreate, IPad, Unity

Description: The scent of winters first cold front represented by five different particles.

Feedback: One of the most prominent feelings for me is the smell of winter arriving. To represent this, I started by breaking down the smell into different categories and assigning abstract shapes to each. I wanted to juxtapose the sharp, clear feeling with softer nature and breezy feelings so the particle pattern has "two parts" with the sharp feelings first, followed by the gentler feelings. I feel the result feels a bit too slow, busy, and disjointed as I spent most of my time trying to figure out different features of Unity's particle system.

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Assignment Name: Pixelizing Monstrosities

Tools: Procreate, IPad

Description: 8x8, 16x16, and 32x32 pixel versions of the same "Bassking" creature design.

Feedback: I struggled alot with the 8x8 due to the unique silhouette and double faced nature of my original creature design. The design is also tall and skinny which I had to shift some of its proportions in order to fit into the limited square I was working with for all three sizes. To convey as much information as I could, I decided on emphasizing features that I considered important such as the curved neck, wide open mouth, the fish, and wings.

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Assignment Name: Sketchbook Week 4

Tools: Procreate, IPad

Description: Vampire Teeth Hors d'oeuvres

6 slices French bread baguette (1/4 inch thick), toasted

4 ounces smoked salmon

6 fresh vampire teeth

15 ounce container of cream cheese

1 teaspoon fresh lemon zest

Pinch of parsely for garnish

Feedback: Because of its french name, I always struggle to say the name of this appetizer. When I first saw it written, I thought it sounded like "horror devour" which is no where near what it is but because of that, I started associating hors d'oeuvres with fancy gothic foods which is why for this sketchbook, I decided to add vampire teeth as an ingredient to the recipe.

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Assignment Name: Industry from Biology

Tools: Procreate, IPad, Photoshop

Description: Rococo-inspired horse drawn carriage designed after honeycomb patterns, bee hives, and bee anatomy.

Feedback: I had the idea of transforming a normally very circular object, the horse-drawn carraige, into something geometric. For my silhouette ideation, I mainly focused on playing with shape and size with different wheels and central carriage options. I was torn between two different silhouettes as shown by my sketches above but ended up choosing a design that reads the most like a carriage while still maintaining the focus on hexagonal tesselation. I enjoy the final render though I wonder how well the other, more experimental design, could have turned out as well.