- Appraise the issues relevant to character design in various contexts.The decisions made, important factors and issues in character design is vary a lot depending on the format it is to be used in. Not just if it is a game or a movie, but within those two main categories as well. In games, an important issue is simply the angle you will view a character from, and the context on the screen.A first person shooter needs a specific kind of character, and can allow for complex designs with a fairly high polygon count, which can then affect how concept art for that piece will be drawn. The angle the character is viewed from also affects the design – you would want to make certain iconography and identifying features be easy to see from whatever angle the character is.In a first person shooter, differences can be minor and still be identifiable. Different headgear, slight differences in silhouettes, may be enough if the setting is to be well lit and easy to see. However, if the game setting is to be in dark corridors, smoke, or very fast paced more obvious ways to identify the different characters may be needed.However, if the game is a top down game such as an RTS, a top down hack and slash such as Diablo, or n arena battle multiplayer game like Heroes of Newerth, DOTA or LoL, were there are often a very large amount of characters, and the characters viewed from far away. The designs therefore do not necessarily need to be highly detailed, however they need to be easily recognizable in term of shape and colour and players need to be able to pick their own character out in the mids of combat, and easily recognize the different characters from a distance. The environment, setting and gameplay the character is to be used in needs to be considered for the character, as while a design may be very good by itself, it might be unsuitable for specific settings. A great character design for one game, might be horrible for another, and a very important issue is to consider the actual use for the character – not just its look.
- Make informed choices relating to the creation of artwork designed to meet professional requirements.
This has been demonstrated in learning outcome 4 and 5 and in these images. Executioner Head Warden Prisoners
- Demonstrate an understanding of techniques and methods appropriate to the chosen area of design.
- Investigate and synthesise visual research into the creation of original concepts.For several of the images references were used to inspire and create various parts in several of the artworks for this module, making sure details I might not have thought of are included, and help make the designs more realistic.The correct use of reference and research in concept art is very important, and can easily make the difference between a good piece of work and a bad one. It can help better the understanding of how things work , and then help create designs that work better together, this goes through the actual character and its costume. Things like anatomy, skin textures hair and variations of the such. While your imagination is always a good starting point, using refernces to ground it in reality and stimulate it will help create a more interesting, more realistic, and in the vast majority of cases better, and even more creative concept.
- Evaluate and defend own work in the context of contemporary practice.The work process used in this module has changed for each piece done, and I believe it is similar to what is used in industry practice. The process has changed from starting with line drawings to working more with silhouettes, and become more efficient, changed its focus onto creating characters with more attitude and pose, and creating a process that is more efficient. Some of the changes to the process have come from experimenting, others from looking into professional pipelines and processes online.The main focus when creating work and changing the way I work has been efficiency, producing art of a high quality quickly. In industry it is required to produce a large amount of art at a high rate, as you are in a pipeline and other people are dependant on your work to be finished before they can start theirs.Working toward the goal of efficiency while keeping the same level of work has been very succesful, and if you compare images done at the beginning of the year, such the prison head warden, compared to images done later on, such as the executioner, the speed pictures are produced at has been improved by a lot and, and is close to practice in industry.
- Explore and evaluate the appropriate skills relevant to the creation of character design.There are several very important skills relevant in character design, apart from the strictly technical ones. One important thing is a basic understanding of people, and most importantly how we see other people. It is possible to create beautiful pieces of art, that while technically amazing, are flat, generic dull and not very engaging characters. Having a understanding of people, how different types of people carry themselves, movement and attitude and how that can reflect in poses, choices of clothes and facial expression. Answering the questions as to why a character would wear an item, and making the character actually wear it and have it work with the entire personality will help create a lot stronger character, and treat it differently from just creating a doll with cool clothes. Understanding pose, attitude and facial expressions I believe are more important to creating an engaging character than technical ability and the skill to perfectly render a character.
- Operate ethically demonstrating critical understanding of the issues governing good practice.All my work is my own, and has been made ethically without breaking any copyright or taking work that was not my own.
- Demonstrate an independent and reflective approach to personal and professional development.
- Exhibit professional communication skills in the specialist area.I have displayed this in several images, using various things like posture, light, design and colour to display mood, attitude, posture and note the various importance of different elements in these concepts.
