BA3b Creative Practice

Week 7 - University Art Test

- Professional Practice - Junior Concept Artist Vs. Concept Artist

University Art Test

It feels strange to write this but I wanted to include this within my blog and submission because it is something I will be focusing on in the next two weeks! Recently I have been looking at various universities around the Birmingham area to apply for an MA. Because most people know that my boyfriend Johan managed to secure an Environment Art position at Rare, this means I have been thinking about what to do going forward. I didn't want to work in retail and enjoy the atmosphere of university, so I thought an MA would be the best choice - since concept art jobs are quite sparse (but I will be applying to them throughout an MA at the same time).

So anyway, one of the universities got back to me and requested that I complete an art test. I thought this was really awesome and I'm excited to be given a brief to work on for the next two weeks! I have to submit it for the 27th March.

Also on another note, I was diagnosed with tonsillitis early in the week which is 'brilliant' timing! Despite this however, I will be doing my best to power through the pain with paracetamol and continue working :)

Brief:

"Deadline (Two weeks Exactly!)

Theme: ‘They Landed’.

Produce a piece of concept art that you feel demonstrates creative use 2D graphics software (Photoshop, Painter or illustrator)

Use as much imagination as possible. I'm not only looking for technical proficiency but also creativity! The more creativity the better!

Scenario

An environment needs creating. The theme is ‘They Landed”.

This concept needs to eventually be modelled by the environment team, as an immovable background object, which can never be seen from beneath or behind, so bear this in mind when creating your concept.

The Lead Artist has tasked you with producing this concept, and has given you the following constraints:

The area in game that this concept will fill must only cover area of 10m x 10m square.
The environment should be based on elements of real world reference, and this reference material will be expected to be shown, along with the final concept render.
All preliminary sketches, thumbnails and perspective sketches should be included with your final piece

Deliverable's

The following materials should be delivered:

* Reference images.

* Preliminary Sketches

* Finished Concept"

'They Landed' initial Ideas:

Aliens/Science Fiction – Bit cliché and too obvious of a subject

Immigration – Going to America/Christopher Columbus/Art deco

Steampunk – Airships landing

Message – Carrier (Pigeon for small example), arrived where it was supposed to go

Home – End of a journey/adventure

Marriage – Settled down (bit obscure) / Honeymoon

War – Enemies landing/ danger

Abandoned/Fallout – Bombs /Post–apocalyptic

A Job – New career/happiness/achievement

Cargo – Ship/Materials/Island

Cult – Mayan/Egyptian/Historical Camp/Raiders

Explorers/Archaeologists - Discovered a secret, hidden location for the first time Event/Performance - Stage - Performer swooping in

Religion - Adam and Eve (Garden of Eden) - First People on Earth

Favourite Ideas:

1. Explorers/Archaeologists - Discovered a secret, hidden location for the first time

- This idea gives me a great deal of historical content to research where I can specialise in a certain era to gain inspiration from various artefacts, furniture and religious context.

Examples: - Mayan/Aztec Culture and Artifacts

- Egyptian Culture and Artifacts

- Famous Mythological Places (Atlantis e.t.c - Not El Dorado as that's been found by Nathan Drake!)

Great References for Mythological Places:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mythological_places

http://listverse.com/2012/11/30/top-10-legendary-lost-worlds/

http://www.ancient-origins.net/unexplained-phenomena/five-legendary-lost-cities-have-never-been-found-004407

- Avalon: "The place where King Arthur’s sword Excalibur (Caliburnus) was forged, and where Arthur was later taken after the Battle of Camlann to recuperate."

- Atlantis: "According to Plato, Atlantis was ruled by ten kings; the royal palace had hot and cold running water; and the largest temple on the central island was dedicated to Poseidon and Cleito."

- Scholomance: " A legendary school of black magic run by the Devil himself, located in Hermannstadt (now: Sibiu, Romania). Located in the mountains,south of the city Sibiu, near an unnamed lake."

- The Lost City of Aztlan: "Many consider the missing island of Aztlan to be the ancient homeland where the Aztec people began to form as a civilization prior to their migration to the Valley of Mexico. Some believe it is a mythical land, similar to Atlantis or Camelot."

2. Religion - Adam and Eve (Garden of Eden) - First People on Earth

- Although it would be more difficult to think of a setting for this 'Garden of Eden', I really love the overall idea and think it's a really interesting subject to work with.

To Explore:

- Botanical Garden with Fantasy Elements

- Animal Imagery

- Religious Imagery

- Organic Shapes

Cons:

Would be very open - Difficult to create an object with no back

Mainly organic - wouldn't be many man-made structures

Going Forward - Scholomance

One of the most interesting places I have found is Scholomance, a school of black magic run by the devil which I originally thought was a fictional location in World of Warcraft. There is much debate whether the place is real or simply a myth, although I think this would be an awesome location for a game like the new rebooted Tomb Raider or Uncharted.

Emily Gerard’s 1885 article on ‘Transylvanian Superstitions‘

"Only ten scholars are admitted at a time, and when the course of learning has expired and nine of them are released to return to their homes, the tenth scholar is detained by the devil as payment, and mounted upon an Ismeju (dragon) he becomes henceforward the devil's aide-de-camp, and assists him in 'making the weather,' that is, in preparing thunderbolts. A small lake, immeasurably deep, lying high up among the mountains south of Hermanstadt, is supposed to be the cauldron where is brewed the thunder, and in fair weather the dragon sleeps beneath the waters."

- Entrance/Door/Gate

- Artefact against a wall

- Long structure holding a book e.t.c

- Mural

- Wall Carving

Imagery:

- Religious Figures - Lucifer/Baphomet

- Serpents/Snakes

- Dragons

- Black Magic

- Storms, the weather

- Knowledge - Books

The temple of Pharaoh Ramses II has a good example of what could be made into an asset where the back is not shown (the largest portrait photo). My favourite is definitely the one at the bottom which is a sculpture on display at Beaulieu House in Ireland (unfortunately the only photo of it that I could find!).

After researching into sculpture more, I came across a variety of wall fountains (some ornate, some with interesting shapes and form). I think creating one of these would be be very fitting with my 'explorers' subject, and could go further to embody the overriding theme of 'They Landed' - as it could be part of some initiation the scholars had to go through before they entered Scholomance, this fountain being a part of the entrance environment.

My Concept Art

The first things I started with was using the snake/a serpent for the basis of my design since it's a prominent symbol for the devil and dark magic. I don't want to cover my fountain with 'obvious' symbols because it would look too high fantasy than being believable. I wanted it to be more subtle, like the snake in the middle of my designs is positioned in the infinity symbol, which is thought of as satanic. I have placed the 'Equal Armed Ironed Cross' at the very bottom below the lower part of the fountain.

Next I started to expand on my small fountain with some different shape iterations, as well as making it larger.

Because I need to work on my perspective more, I decided it would be a good idea to continue with my favourite iteration and re-create it in 3D (rendered in Marmoset, very very rough - ignore the hideous topology!). Not only does this give me a better understanding of how it would be built, it provides a great base for me to work from with the renders.

As much as I'm enjoying the theme, I feel like this asset isn't where I want it to be, and I think it would be in my best interest to start again. I want to show the university my biggest strengths since this brief is to be treated like an actual art test, not something I struggle with. I still wanted to show this here though, as a sign of my progress. I think playing with more organic shapes and figures would be best for me as I want to impress with my best work.

Professional Practice

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.

This week was slightly different where I found 2 jobs from Ubisoft which was a Junior Artist and simply Artist position, so I thought it would be interesting to compare the differences.

Company: Future Games of London (A Ubisoft Studio) Job Title: Junior Artist Link to Job Page (Accessed 15th March 2017)