BA3b Creative Practice

Week 10 - Studies - Ukie Student Conference

Easter Break

This has probably been the most hectic couple of weeks throughout the course for me, as I completed an interview for the main MA I applied for and got an unconditional offer at the end of it, looked at lots of properties around the midlands and managed to secure and pay the deposit for a nice house with Johan, in addition to gaining a car as well, hence why I haven't been able to complete much work over this break - it's been super super busy!

Creative Practice

Koschei - Final Character Concept

The next character I needed to draw was Koschei, the villain. I started with a similar approach to Ivan where I drew the base anatomy and then the clothes on top. This isn't shown below but I did change the left arm before I started to colour, because I wasn't too satisfied with it in this pose as it looked a bit too uninteresting. Koschei's outfit changed a bit from his concept but not too much, I added the skulls and the vials on the side of his belt to add more to the fact he wields magic and a dagger (which would be coated in poison). I really, really liked the addition of the skulls because it solidified how even Koschei was, especially carrying human skulls around with him. I imagined that these would also boost his power where he would be able to summon the souls from the skeletons to fight for him in battle, which is why I added the eerie green flames appearing from their eyes.

Final Character Concept

This was my final character concept, and I think it may be my favourite of the three I've done so far. It has the right mix of being stylised and playful, crossed with realism that I really like as an art style. I still need to work on the hands but I am definitely becoming more comfortable with new techniques to draw them, even though they do need more practice.

Baba Yaga - Final Character Concept

The last character I needed to draw was the sorceress Baba Yaga, which I also drew an anatomical base for and then sketched over the clothes (like Ivan and Koschei). Hers was definitely the easiest to draw over as I didn't need to think about the positioning of the legs too much, even though I drew them for the initial sketch. I think there is an improvement shown through my drawing of hands as they look more clean in this character than they have with previous ones - so I'm glad my studies are starting to pay off from a couple weeks ago.

The staff was originally tricky to complete as I initially didn't want it appear too over exaggerated and stylised, but after thinking about where I wanted to go in the future (like Blizzard), I decided to keep it in - especially as it fit well with the initial black and white tonal concept I drew.

Final Character Concept

This was my final character piece for Baba Yaga, and it may be my least favourite just because I did feel like she was slightly rushed as I needed to get my promotional images done and completed. The reason for this is I believe she wasn't as rendered as much as I had liked, despite the fact that I think her face turned out well and the pose.

Professional Practice

Ukie Student Conference - 5th April 2017

In the first week of the Easter break I attended the Ukie Student Conference which was great!

I attended all the talks shown in the Castle Lecture Theatre which were really insightful and covered such different areas of the industry, from QA to UI design and even how to sell a free to play game.

Jobs

At the end of each week I will be looking at job opportunities in my chosen specialism, relating to the role of a Concept Artist and/or Illustrator to further my knowledge of what it takes to be hired within the industry and what employers are looking for. These will include unrealistic expectations that I don't meet as of yet, but I feel that it's good to be aware of them.

Important: Some links may be available at the time of submission if the job has been filled, which is why I have written the date accessed and have presented screenshots.

Company: WestPier Studio Job Title: Game Illustrator / Designer Link to Job Page (Accessed 26th April 2017)