Visual Library

Visual Library

The visual library is something that artists and writers use this visual library to create an image that they see in their mind. 

What i can do to enhance my visual library is to visit different places like museums and go travelling to visit different countries to view different scenery, I should read more books because it is better for your visual library because you think about a vision in your mind. Also to have a better and bigger visual library i should watch nature because that is where most of the ideas come from, they are based on actual creatures. Things that are bad are playing video games, this is bad because your mind doesn't expand, since your ideas would be based on other peoples ideas. even though no idea is original it is bad to have an idea or design that is basically the same as other peoples games.

When growing up some people that stop playing with toys after the age of ten or stop using the creative side of there brain can effect them in the future because they wont has a large visual library that they would need especially in a design job of games design or writing story lines. But people that continued to play with toys and draw etc. would have a larger visual library because past memories and what you have seen helps you create something.

Concept art research

Concept art has a history which has been around from the early 1930’s which Disney animation used to create characters and scenarios. This is a preproduction design role which is needed to create the game ideas in artwork form. Concept art is used for ideas and images of how a game will look; it is used for characters, item or area. So the main objective for concept artists is to create a visual still image of a scenario. They are used to design items such as guns, for example the Gears of War franchise used an artist to spread around a logo which was designed by their lead designer and then the concept artist would create this in a couple of different ideas of how it could look. These artists aren’t just used to draw and create images they help on the design team until the project reaches the end for the drawing a creative side, concept artists must be able to work deadlines in capacity of a graphic designer. Concept artists don’t always just use paper and pencil to start off, more advanced ideas have been used with using software like Photoshop and Corral Painter; this is easily available for artists. They would also use a graphics tablet to draw an image on Photoshop for example.

Other techniques like oil paints, acrylic paints, markers have been used, but now modern paint packages have been programmed to simulate the use of blending the colours.

Concept art has changed through themes. They have been used to create the look of how science fiction and fantasy stuff could look like, but overall concept art has had many subjects in which is the involvement in films and games, but recently it has been a big thing for video games development, this is because it’s a different way to portrait how something would look. The different range in concept art has different views, especially from photorealistic to the traditional styles of painting. With the use of new software it has changed because artists can edit images pixel by pixel and this has given them the choice to use natural paint on a computer to imitate real paint. Concept artists have to create a lot of work in the early stages of work to show different interpretations, which are done in sketches, speed paints and 3d over paints but later when concept art is created they would use matte paint which is then used to give a realistic view which would be required.

But what concept art is actually used for is to create a view of an image, this is then done in a few different styles and looks, they would design the scenes that are in the game like walls and the floor of a building for example, they would create a few different looks of it and then the 3D modeller would create it in 3D. They also have to create an item which needs to have a specific look, which the game designer would show him what he wanted it to look like.

Their job includes to get the majority of their work to 100% because they give the main look to a game, they might create their own textures so that the world has its unique look and feel, especially since it has been hand drawn.

When creating concept art, it is good to have reference images to help you expand your brain because they need to be able to create a whole environment, so the role of a concept artist is hard and time consuming but without them games might look a bit different.

This is one example of concept art and this would be the finished design of the character from Mass Effect 3 which is known as Garrus

This is another example of concept art and what concept art is actually used for is to show what characters and/or environments could look like when the actual 3D model is created.

Environments are designed like this example. They have a lot of detail and they could take hours to create.

Comparing concept art.

These two different types of concept art have different styles of art one is digital and the other is cell shaded.

The digital image is showing a dark and industrial alley way, it looks like it is a way out of a building and it is telling us the this is the way to freedom from the hell hole that you have been in. It has atmosphere of a death and despair, the mood of atmosphere haunts the player, this style of art work is realistic. I don’t any criticism towards this piece of work.

This image is very different with the use of light down the centre of the image; the emotional balance in this picture is dark and dingy, with the use of light being at the end of the tunnel.

The image uses the light well with the light source because with the lights between the two walls, the orange glow. When you look at this image, your eyes go straight now the centre of the image uses the depth well with the walls becoming smaller and smaller as you guide your eyes down the walls. , this picture is very different from the more cell shaded one as you can clearly see. The rule of third is different in these images, your eyes connect differently because of the different types of image that they are. The colours that are used are complimentary colours, they use blue and orange, these are used because they blend well together, and they don't upset the eye when looking at it.

 

This second piece of concept art is a cell shaded image, it is a traditional style of work. This image is showing a distressed moment in time with murder. So the mood of this is bad, and stressful, it is very eerie with a hand coming out of the floor. The atmosphere in this image is different with men carrying guns and arms coming out of the floor, I have no criticism in this picture.

This image has a very different effect to the more realistic picture above, the image used cell shading, the light source in this image is left to right, but it also has a light sorce in the centre where the legs are hanging out, the bullet fire, it has a bright orange in the corner which your eyes connect to because of the vibrant colour, but from left to right. it has dark misty colours where the men in suits are and then they merge with the browns and creams on the wall, the different use in colours has worked well, even the bright red shoe stands out and doesn't affect the view of the image. with this concept art, the red shoe is like the only thing that is alive because it stands out so much and the rest of the image is dark and grey like everything is desaturated.

Shades and Light

 

These images describe the difference in tonal value, the different shades show value in pictures. For example the image above shows the differnce in tone with the darkest bit which is underneath the yellow, that is the closest bit and then it gets lighter when things are further away in the distance.



These silhouettes show different tone from the plain quick character designs, tone is shown by using black and whites, and they give a character depth through this technique. it is not just a boring character design, it gives a character life with the depth, it creates a look which fits with a character.

Artists use silhouettes to show a rough design of how a character looks, they would of created several different designs and then you can add different parts from different characters, this lets you combine body parts, adding value gives you an insight to what the insides look like on a character. Using this as a start-up for character design is good because they can be manipulated to how you want. The characters are created with perspective, they are all created from something that i have seen or think is good. creating silhouettes, is good because if you don't know what your actually designing, it is ok because the human eye can pick up shapes which helps you work out what a character could look like and where you’re going to the put the face etc.

Colour Theory

The basics of colours.

Red, blue and yellow are primary colours.

Orange, green, and purple are secondary colours:

Complementary colours exist as opposites on the colour wheel, this means that they are more vibrant.

Red and green can be both cold and warm.

Photoshop - Tints (adding white) x axis

Photoshop - Shades (adding black) y axis

Hue - another word for colour

Saturation - how strong the colours are

Value - How light or dark the colours are

Monochromatic - the same hue (colour) to get various colours, us tints and shades.

Analogous colour schemes - the colours on the colour wheel, which are next to each other. For example blue violet, violet and blue smooth and rich schemes.

Complimentary - colours that are opposite each other on the wheel.

Same value but opposite hues are called compliments (they tend to not work well next to each other)

Equilateral Triangle – blue, yellow and red these are traids of colour

Isosceles triangle – this shows the split compliments

The square – complimentary colours which are combined with the tertiary colours

 

The images above show black and white effect which shows us the black and white view, if it is grey it would be far away in the distance, but then if it is dark black it would be a lot closer and then its a bit lighter in the middle.