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NUA Art Tests - Week 13 Summary

charlightart
Jan 6, 2016
4 min read

The Brief

"Over the next 2 weeks you will choose and engage with an art or design test that mimic potential tests set by an employer. Tests are used to validate your CV and further assess your suitability for a position within a company. Tests are not limited to art and design; programmers and occasionally producers will also engage in formal or informal assessment or tasks. Collate your development into your journal and produce what your selected test asks. Consider the context of your selected test. Research the studio and franchisee is applicable. Understand their production values and styles. Evaluate whether they would want to see a result that is to specification or with that extra something."

Because I specialise in 2D Concept art, these were the briefs I was able to choose from:

It was tough to decide between the 2D concept art briefs, however because my strength is drawing/creating characters I decided to go with the test from Telltale Games. In my last devlopment project I was creating asset sheets for products because I felt that I really needed to improve upon it, so now I believe I'm ready to play to my strengths and work with something I'm more confident with.

Assessing the Brief

Before I start working on the actual brief itself, I thought I would do some research into the company Telltale Games and the Monkey Island series. Despite the fact I haven't played any of the Monkey Island games before, I have played many from Telltale! Here is a moodboard I have created which includes some of Telltale's most famous and notable games, including an image to represent their art style.

TellTale Games are mostly known for using dark outlines atop a painterly base, whether this be for assets, characters or environments (with Minecraft being the exception because of its already distinct pixel-style, and Tales of Monkey Island; which is the oldest game pictured in this moodboard).

The Monkey Island series

"Monkey Island is the collective name given to a series of five graphic adventure games. The first four games in the series were produced and published by LucasArts, formerly known as Lucasfilm Games. The fifth installment of the franchise was developed by Telltale Games in collaboration with LucasArts. The games follow the misadventures of the hapless Guybrush Threepwood as he struggles to become the most notoriouspirate in the Caribbean, defeat the plans of the evil undead pirate LeChuck and win the heart of governess Elaine Marley. Each game's plot usually involves the mysterious Monkey Island and its impenetrable secrets."

- Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monkey_Island_(series)

Ideas and Inspiration

Considering how the brief specifies that our character will be located in a sunken underwater temple, I immediately began to think of how I could personify different sea creatures. The one that stuck with me the most was a jellyfish. I think that using a jellyfish as the main subject for my character would really work well with how this creature has a 'normal' and 'twilight' form. Jellyfish themselves are exceptionally beautiful creatures to look at, however very deadly as well. This is exactly the reason why I want to play with opposites while creating the character.

I want the jellyfish to have a very innocent and cute normal form, whereas the twilight one to be quite sinister and threatening.

I knew from the get-go that I wanted to design a rather cutesy character that would look completely different in their twilight form, so I mocked up some outfit, hair and head designs. My favourite hairstyle would have to be the very bottom and top right, where it's long with multiple curls. My reason being that the concept art of Le Chuck has a curly beard, as well as curls being present in much of the overall concept art for Monkey Island 2.

I then designed some jellyfish like tails for my character, which would further add to the underwater visual.

The more I kept iterating however, the more I strayed away from the Jellyfish and instead started sketching more humanoid forms. I simply wasn't very happy with how the jellyfish concepts were turning out and felt that the overall look of the jellyfish was too elaborate for a shopkeeper character. So instead I decided to save the jellyfish visuals for the twilight form, and concentrate on creating a memorable small pirate design instead.

My favourite hairstyle from the ones I have iterated below would have to be the ponytails, as I really believe it fits the aesthetic of a young, cutesy character. However, I am aware that it's not entirely practical as she's wearing a hat; which means I would need to choose another favourite. In the end I decided to go with the third in the top row, which was basically ponytails but further down her head. I think this was a good pick for the visuals I'm looking to create and its still a very bouncy and young style.

Regarding the outfit I have designed, I added small pouches to her belt and a necklace with a 'Piece of Eight' on; which is the currency exchanged within the Monkey Island games (also known as the Spanish Dollar). I also added the same symbol to her hat, signifying that handling money is her job, i.e selling and trading goods and items as a shopkeeper.

I figured that as a shopkeeper she may carry lots of items around with her, and what better way to store them then a sack/backpack? Overall I really loved the idea of the backpack, however the look of it seems a bit too modern for the Monkey Island games era they were set in. So then I designed a sack with some fishing net on instead, which turned out to be much more relatable to the theme and where she is set (being under the ocean in a sunken temple).

Here is the finished black and white draft of the outfit, backpack and hairstyle put together.

Next it was time to decide what colours her clothes would be! I also added an unaturally blue skinned version just as a test to see if I could add things like gills e.t.c. After much deliberation I decided to go with my original colour scheme which was a purple-ish blue and yellow. I mainly chose these two colours because the main characters within the Monkey Island games have different coloured outfits in comparison.