professional-graphics-designer

[professional-graphics-designer]

A Link to the Past

When it comes to another historical story that can be linked to our own real world, I have decided to look into the legend of King Arthur. The tale that is as old as time, King Arthur has many iterations of the original tale. It is said that a sword encased in an anvil upon a large stone had been taunting people to pull it out in promise of ruling the kingdom as king. One day, the young Arthur goes to the sword and, against all odds, pulls it out - thus proving his royal lineage, naming him the next King of England.

This website details lore from the tale about how the sword came to be and it's magical properties, for example; "The sword was magic, Merlin explained, and only he who was fit to rule England could pull it from the stone." (Sword-in-the-stone, www.heroofcamelot.com). This sword plays a pivotal point in his story, just like the tale in which I wish to tell will be based around a key weapon.  

Also like the sword Altair wielded, the sword in the stone may have never existed in the first place; but it could have. This story would have been another great place to start when it came to making a bridge between fantasy and reality. I could have designed a sword based on 6th Century English blacksmithing, creating shards of what the former sword would have looked like physically, and making the full model in Maya as-well-as showing how the sword could have looked inside the stone.

As such in the story of King Arthur, there would be no tale without the sword as it's the key point in which Arthur is named King. This will be the same case in my story because whilst Arthur uses the sword to restore his rightful place as heir of the throne, Altair (being an assassin) could not slay his targets without a weapon. Whilst these two stories use weapons as different ways of moving the story forward, they both use the weapon to move onto the next chapter in their individual tales.

[professional-graphics-designer]

Using the research I found from the DeviantArt questionnaire and the twitter poll, I incorporated the handle design into some sketches which could be later used in my final piece.  I knew that people preferred the first design from my twitter poll and from the questionnaire I concluded that people preferred longer blades over short ones, using that information I sketched up a medium length sword with a patterned grip. I would later go on to use this in my final piece with a few alterations to this sketch.

[professional-graphics-designer]

This is a questionnaire I did to find out different peoples ideas on certain weapons.  The first response shows me that person prefers realistic swords to fantasy swords, they prefer something that is both reliable and useable. However the material that they’d use shows me that perhaps they’d like to incorporate some sort of fantasy elements into the basic blade. I conclude that from the second response the answerer believes that the flashier, the brighter, the better a sword is. It also shows that from a design perspective, people like the idea of weapons that not only kill with deadly accuracy but also give it’s victim a painful death. A select few people like a side of humour when it comes to their weapon design, weapons that would not be functional in the real world but in a video game would provide a laugh. They also mention a scythe with a serrated edge which shows that some people prefer visual appeal over functionality. From this research I’ve decided that I will use elements from each of the responses in my final design, particularly the visual aspects from the first response.

[professional-graphics-designer]

Software Research

In order to start the designing process of my weapon I had to look at the different softwares available to me in which I could use to create the weapon. Here I broke down the differences between the softwares and what pros and cons their were to each. Autodesk Maya: Maya is a 3d modelling and animation software used by professionals around the globe and it’s a software that I’ve been learning about on and off for the past two years. Advantages - I feel that I have a good knowledge of Maya based on what i’ve learnt and feel that my weapon modelling in previous projects will allow me to create a refined weapon that will look good once rendered. Disadvantages - Although Maya is easy to learn it can take a very long time to master. Learning how to texture things using other programs and apply them in Maya is something I do not know how to do which would mean that my weapon would look half finished. Adobe Photoshop: Photoshop is probably one of the most well known and well renowned image manipulation softwares available on the market. It’s a program that i’ve become very familiar with and am most likely to use for my project. Advantages - The Photoshop layering system allows you to separate all of your work and work on individual canvases which means you don’t have to pile things on top of one another.  Disadvantages - Because it is an image manipulation software you are limited to how much actual drawing or painting you can do in terms of actual creation of concept art and such. Paint Tool SAI: PT Sai is a digital art program that is mostly used by self employed artists and designers. Whilst it’s not a program I’m experienced in, through conversing I have learnt that SAI could help me in the design aspect of my project. Advantages - SAI has a smoothing tool which helps to create line-art and it is a cost effective alternative to bigger programs for people on budgets. Disadvantages - There is limited technical support for the program and it’s limited to Windows Operating Systems.

[professional-graphics-designer]

This is a poll I did on my twitter account to find out what kind of handle designs people like the look of most. I ended up incorporating the 1st design in my final piece because not only was it my favourite, people preferred the look of the design and pattern.

[professional-graphics-designer]

These are three mind maps I created when exploring each idea in more depth.

[professional-graphics-designer]

This is a collection of FMP Ideas I did earlier in the year when I was still brainstorming possible outcomes for my project.

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Proposal & Bibliography.

[professional-graphics-designer]

Final Evaluation

At the start of this project we were tasked with creating a piece that showcased everything that we’d learnt over the last 2 years. This involved using our planning, practical and critical thinking skills to come up with something creative that will be shown as part of the end of year exhibition. With this information I decided I wanted to expand on what I’d done in previous projects, by not only designing a sword, but also creating it. In order to explore the context of my project I first began by choosing a period in time in which I wanted my weapon to be set in. I did this through a series of mind maps based around some key figures of the early medieval era and some mind maps that showcased different types of weapons from that era. These mind maps gave me a general idea of specific points I wanted to research, for example one of my mind maps lead me to eventually researching deeper into ‘Richard the Lionheart’ When I first started the project I initially thought that I wanted to do an axe and I focused the majority of my research on axes, but as the project went on I realised that I wanted to do a sword because It would allow me to link a fictional universe to a real one. This is because the Assassin universe I’ll be linking the real world to usually use swords as their primary weapons. I’ve never really thought of a general audience during this project because I feel like what I’m doing appeals to anyone. Much like Arthurian legend contains some fiction and some truths, I wanted to make something that could easily be mistaken as real. Anyone who takes an interest in Medieval warfare I feel would enjoy the piece that I’ve created because it allows them to conjure up imaginary scenarios that I’ve made for them to believe. The entire purpose of this project for me is to captivate my audience into believing the story they are being told is true. In this case I want my audience to believe that the ‘Assassin brotherhood’ existed in our world and not only in fiction. At the start of this project my sole aim was to make nothing but a simple weapon which could exist somewhere in the world, however as time went on and I developed new tastes for different video games I decided that I would try and create a convincing weapon that could exist both in our history and the lore of the game universe. My original idea was to create a full-length sword made out of wood, but due to unforeseen circumstances and lack of time I realised that it would not be possible to create this the way I originally intended. I underestimated what type of equipment I’d actually need to pull off such a feat and in doing so I had to change my idea slightly. Instead of creating a full model I decided to create a partial relic of the former blade, which would represent the sword during the exhibition. I felt that given the circumstances I managed the situation well and adapted my project accordingly to the setback and in result it actually aided my project as I feel it made it more plausible.

During this project I’ve exercised my knowledge of Autodesk Maya by recreating my sword in a 3D capacity from the blueprints I created in Adobe Photoshop. Although I haven’t used Maya since the previous project I actually managed to find out more about the lighting and camera tools, using them to give a nice rendered photo of my finished sword. I feel that my technical ability using this software has improved significantly as I’ve taught myself things that I didn’t know before.

If I had more time I would’ve actually spent way more time in crafting an actual sword as opposed to creating just the grip of it. I feel that more time would’ve allowed me to properly test if I could pull off what I wanted to actually do and in turn I would’ve physically been able to make the blade instead of just digitally design it.

My time management has without doubt been dreadful throughout this project, I came up with an initial plan and I barely stuck to it. Going into higher education I like to think that using what I’ve learnt at college I will be able to apply a better sense of timing to my future course which will allow me to achieve more than I ever have.

In my initial proposal I set out to create a weapon that would close the gap between a fictional universe and reality. I found a period in time where I could manipulate the life of someone who existed both in the fictional and real worlds and I created a link between them by using a weapon. I feel that once my final exhibition is completely set up all the work I’ve done contributing to this project will come to life and will resemble a museum exhibition, displaying a long forgotten piece of history which could fool even the most experienced of historians.

[professional-graphics-designer]

Reflective Logs

Reflective Log – Week 1: What I wanted to do: The first week of any project is all about deciding what you want to do and establishing some sort of idea about what you’re going to be working on so this was my main aim. I wanted to have a basic idea of what I was going to be working on over the next few months. What I achieved: I came up with 6 different ideas that I felt I could explore in more depth and began thinking of different ways I could carry out those ideas. This left me at a good point because I knew what I had to do the following week to explore each idea further. What I learnt: I learnt that coming up with lots of different ideas can be difficult because you don’t necessarily know what is going to be easy and what is going to be difficult before exploring them. Reflective Log – Week 2: What I wanted to do: Now I had some preliminary ideas from the first week I needed to start putting them into practice by thinking about writing my proposal and finalising my idea. I also felt this was a good time to start building a planner of how I want to manage my time over the next 10 weeks to ensure the work goes smoothly. What I achieved: I didn’t actually manage to do what I wanted to do this week, I needed to finalise my idea so I could begin writing my proposal  but I didn’t actually manage to get onto it, I was still in the process of deciding what I wanted to do. This told me that I need to knuckle down and make sure my idea is completely finalised for next week. On the plus side I did manage to get my planner done which allowed me to keep track of how I was doing with the project. What I learnt: Picking an idea to start working on is a difficult commitment, once you start to research and create one idea it’s hard to go back on it because you don’t want to lose work you’ve already done. What I need to improve on: I need to be faster in choosing my ideas instead of getting caught up with so many. This led me to fall behind the planner that I had created. Although falling behind the planned schedule was bad, the planner showed me that I needed to step it up a notch in order to get on track. Reflective Log – Week 3:

What I wanted to do:

My key aim for this week was to get my idea completely finalised and have my proposal finished or at least have it on its first draft. On top of this I should ideally be starting some secondary research to gain more insight into my chosen topic.

What I achieved:

At this point I had a good overview of what I wanted to do, which was to create a weapon on paper before digitally transferring it into Photoshop and then 3D modelling it. I felt this was a good idea because I consider myself to have a reasonable understanding of Adobe Photoshop and Autodesk Maya. Although I had a good plan of what I wanted to do for the project I still hadn’t put it down on paper with my proposal, which is something I needed to get done as soon as possible.

What I learnt:

I found out that actually putting ideas down onto paper is harder than it seems, I had the idea of what I wanted to but actually explaining it I found to be harder than actually talking about it. What I need to improve on:

My main problem Is that I failed to put my ideas down onto paper and struggled to find inspiration to start researching them. I knew what I wanted to do and had a good idea of how to do it but I just wanted to start it instantly without any preplanning

Reflective Log – Weeks 4&5:

What I wanted to do:

The Easter break is a good chance to get out and visit any exhibitions or museums that could be useful research to accompany a project so my plan was to go to the London Museum and look at some of the weapon collections. I also wanted to get some preliminary sketches down as well as continuing to collect research on weapons.

What I achieved:

My Easter was rather empty and I didn’t do much, although I planned to go to the London Museum and check out weapon collections I failed to do that. I did manage to finalise my proposal and I now had a good idea of what I wanted to achieve and when I wanted to achieve it by.

What I learnt:

Using spare time to go out and collect any primary research you need is key because you don’t know when you’re going to get that chance again.

What I need to improve on:

Sticking to my plan is something that I have never been good at and it’s something I need to work on. I am usually quite efficient at coming up with the plan and have good timeframes for finishing things in but when it comes to actually completing them I fall behind rather easily and it can damage my schedule and hurt me in later weeks. Reflective Log – Week 6:

What I wanted to do:

I felt that continuing to build on the little research I had was important in progressing during this week as it’d allow me to take inspiration to actually start building some test pieces.

What I achieved:

I carried on with secondary research, finally coming up with the link I was going to create between two worlds. I thought it’d be interesting to link a fictional and non-fictional world together using a weapon that I designed and created because it breaks down the barriers between what’s real and what’s not and it allows the viewer/reader to question it.

What I learnt:

Creating links between fictional worlds and reality is difficult because you have to find a believable balance of what’s real and what’s not, my idea was to create something that was believable.

What I need to improve on:

My primary research was something that took a huge beating in the last couple of weeks purely because I didn’t take the time to do any. I found that secondary research was much more appealing to me and decided to carry on with that instead. Reflective Log – Week 7:

What I wanted to do:

My idea was completely finalised and I knew what I wanted and needed to do, it was just a case of doing it. I wanted to be able to start the actual making of my project this week or at least begin drafting it.

What I achieved:

My research was still behind where it should be but I didn’t let it hold me back in terms of making actual test pieces. I started drawing different types of swords in Photoshop to see what kind of design I’d eventually end up modelling, on top of this I decided to start using Maya again to refresh my memory of the software in preparation for later on.

What I learnt:

You never really forget how to use a software that you learnt in the past. It takes a while to get used to again but once you get back in the flow of it you remember things remarkably quickly.

What I need to improve on:

At this point I feel that my decision making really needed to change, instead of pushing ahead with test pieces and drafting my final pieces I should’ve focussed on finishing any outstanding work so I didn’t have to come back to it later. Reflective Log – Week 8:

What I wanted to do:

The project was over halfway in at this point and it’s good to keep self-evaluation going to monitor your personal progress but from time to time it’s useful to get some critical analysis from someone else.

What I achieved:

Whilst sitting down with another student we looked at each other’s work and analysed what each of us needed to do to progress. I was told that my research needed to pick up and I needed to carry on with my draft pieces, however it was good that my proposal was finished and I had a clear Idea of what I wanted to achieve. I feel that peer critique can be useful in situations where teachers cannot quite help. It’s good to have a second and third opinion on your work so that you can continue to evolve it not only around one standard but a few standards.

What I learnt:

I learnt that evaluation from peers is key towards progressing with your work because it allows you to take on more than one perspective on how you’re doing.

What I need to improve on:

I need to be better in actually implementing the critique that’s given to me. Although I understand the positive effect it has and how useful it can be, I sometimes struggle to actually take on the information and apply it correctly. Reflective Log – Week 9:

What I wanted to do:

I feel by this point I should’ve at least had my preliminary sketches done of what I want my weapon to be and some digital renditions of it.

What I achieved:

I jumped straight into the digital side of the project without doing anything on paper which isn’t what I had initially planned to do but I felt the inspiration to use digital software and thought I’d go ahead and do it. I managed to get some digital drawings done of possible outcomes for my weapon and began refining the pictures.

What I learnt:

Sometimes it’s better to follow your inspiration instead of lingering on something. You should never forget about the targets you haven’t yet fulfilled but you should always do what you deem is correct at the time.

What I need to improve on:

I need to annotate and summarise my work better by keeping notes on how my work is coming along, which will give me a better overall perspective when It comes to writing reflective logs. Reflective Log – Week 10:

What I wanted to do:

Ideally any digital drawings would’ve been finished by this point, as well as any physical drawings in my sketchbook or on paper. I will hopefully be moving on to 3D modelling my weapon this week which will hopefully prove not too hard.

What I achieved:

Staying on track, I managed to start modelling my weapon in Maya this week. A few weeks previous I did some casual work in Maya just to refresh my memory and it paid off well. I didn’t have to spend any time relearning anything or remembering anything, I just got on with it and it turned out nicely.

This put me on course to actually build the weapon over the next couple of weeks which I was happy about because I felt I was on schedule for once.

What I learnt:

I found out this week that I could use the camera and lighting system in Maya quite effectively. It’s something I haven’t used before and in the final rendering of my weapon I feel that the lighting gives it a nice touch.

What I need to improve on:

Catching up on old work is something I still needed to do and I hadn’t done it by this point. I should’ve used the time that I gained from being ahead to finish any outstanding work.

Reflective Log – Week 11:

What I wanted to do:

During this week I wanted to take the 3D modelling, digital drawings and sketching I’d done to bring my weapon to life using 1 inch thick pure oak wood we had lying around at home. I had tools indoors as well that had been inherited down through the family so I felt I could pull this off with a week to spare.

What I achieved:

I completely went off of target this week and instead of physically creating my weapon I decided to carry on with my research and I actually managed to get a fair bit done, but this put me behind on my physical creation. I knew that the next week was pretty much my final week to be able to make the weapon as it was half term so I had to focus.

What I learnt:

It’s not good to overwork yourself, sometimes it’s better to keep it simple instead of setting unrealistic goals.

What I need to improve on:

At this point it’s really just my planning that needed improving. The bad planning with the research from the first couple of weeks came back to bite me because It still needed doing. Reflective Log – Week 12:

What I wanted to do:

Half term was a fantastic opportunity to completely catch up before the final hand in date as I had lots of spare time to physically build my weapon, write up any evaluations and finish any research.

What I achieved:

I hit a huge brick wall when it came to the physical making of the sword. I’d left it so much later than I thought and because I hadn’t tested anything it all fell apart. The tools I had weren’t correct for the build and I just didn’t have the time I thought I did. My idea was completely kaput until I decided that I’d make it simpler, instead of having a full blown sword to present at the exhibition I created a backstory as to why the sword is no longer intact. I would display this almost like a museum piece where people could read about the sword’s history and look at the blueprints for it.

What I learnt:

Setting unrealistic goals can sometimes really hurt your project and it’s great to have a backup plan in case things go wrong. It’s also really important to test things at an appropriate time so that when it comes to it you know If you have enough time and if you can pull it off.

What I need to improve on:

This showed me that I really need to improve on my testing. A key part of my project proposal was that I was going to physically create the sword but alas because I did not test anything soon enough it meant I could not fulfil my original proposal.

[professional-graphics-designer]

Peer critique 2 - Emma

What have I done well: I have got a variety of research from different sources which contributes to the overall context of my project. My moodboards are informative and lay out the information neatly which is easy on the eye. I’ve shown a good range of grips/handles which show i’ve put thought into the different designs of the hilt. The blueprints i’ve created are highly detailed and show a good representation of what they would’ve looked like hundreds of years ago. What I could Improve on: It would’ve been good if I’d explored different sword designs instead of settling on one which would’ve shown that I explored different types of weaponry before settling on a singular design. I could add more detail to my annotations which would further summarise my work.

[professional-graphics-designer]

This is the museum like plaque that i’ll be presenting at the exhibition, it gives a summary of information about what my weapon was used for.

[professional-graphics-designer]

[professional-graphics-designer]

These are some blueprints I designed for my sword which will be on show at the exhibition. This was quite difficult to make because I wanted to recreate an old school blueprint vibe by using a beige colour with some dark grey/brown drawings. Getting the brush to look like a thousand year old faded pen drawing was one of the hardest parts, as I had to fiddle around with the settings to get the right look. Overall i’m incredibly happy with the way these blueprints came out and I can’t wait for them to be on show at the exhibition.

[professional-graphics-designer]

This is just a quick collection of pictures I've gathered from the internet which show different kinds of medieval weaponry. The thing that intrigues me most is the fact that all of the swords are relatively similar. None of them have any intricate bends in the blades or handles but they’re all rather basic in the sense that they have a typical straight handle and a straight, long blade. 

[professional-graphics-designer]

Peer Critique - Yannick

What’s going well: My Proposal is finally finished and I have a clear outline of what I want to achieve during this project. I have also stated the time frame that I planned to do everything in. What could be developed: My classmate told me that I needed more primary and secondary research, and suggested that I look up some video game weapons as examples for my research. We also discussed that a good plan would be for me to do some test pieces using the software I’ve chosen so I can get a better idea of what my final piece will be. Self-Set target: Taking my classmate’s advice, I’m going to look at some video game weapons to help my research, I’m thinking that I’ll particularly look at some more realistic video games such as the Age of Empires or the Chivalry series. Research is the major thing that I need to finish off for this project so I’m going to focus on this before I begin to make my final piece.

[professional-graphics-designer]

This is my comparison between the video game rendition of William V and the way he acted in real life. Being that his death is the link between the two worlds i’m bringing together I felt that It was important to find out the similarities and differences between him in the real world and the fictional world. After my research on him I’ve come to the conclusion that the Assassin’s Creed portrays a more brutal, younger, power hungry version of William that didn’t exist in real life. The fictional William was harsh on his men, executed thousands of innocents and plotted to kill the king. Whereas the Non fictional version of William treated his men well, was good humoured fought until the final years of his life.