Setting a clear action plan on how I am going to develop these skills also relieved some of my anxiety as I feel quite lost in my plans.

Here I explored 3D artists and gained a lot of inspiration for this project. I noted down things that I like about their work and what stands out to me. Through this I also got to learn more about the industry, what programmes 3D artists use, and discovered other avenues where these types of designs exist, such as character branding. This will help me contextualise my designs in a more informed way.

Here I practiced story telling through trying to create an interesting plot and interactions between characters. When writing this 'lore', I also took into consideration how it will relfect the goals or in-game missions/levels, as my project's focus is placed in a real-world context of it being 'concept art' for a video game.

Blender is a common tool used by 3D artists for things like character design, so I definitely would like to add it to my skillset.

For my first time using Blender I decided to follow this tutorial to get used to the programme. I found it very difficult as I kept running into problems with the interface. I think a lot of them were because the tutorial I followed used an older version of Blender. After a whole day of working on it I made very little progress so I didn't feel the need to document it, and then my Blender crashed. It made me very discouraged. As I never had an issue learning any other programme I went into this too confidentely and underestimated how complex and difficult learning Blender would be. I will give it another go, but I am potentially considering modeling on Nomad and then importing my model into Blender as I am more familiar with Nomad. However, I am concerned that exporting it might make me run into more problems and end up costing me more time.

I reached out to her asking for advice/tips, and she suggested I watch tutorials for low-poly characters and sent me the ones she learnt from.

Image: Zensoko (2024) 3D Character, Instagram.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DALSOTHMWwC/

I might not add the external project to my professional portfolio, as I'm reflecting what industry I am trying to appeal to, however it is a great addition to my CV.

While researching the game design industry, I noticed the words “workflow” and “pipeline” used a lot. After googling what they mean I realised it was crucial for me to understand what each of these are as they describe the basic structure of game design industry processes. Researching it more in depth made me gain a lot of useful knowledge of how/what forms the game industry. I also was very lost with the process of designing a 3D character as it’s so complicated, has many layers, and from my mistakes I learned you have to be quite meticulous with your process, which is challenging when you don’t understand or know very little about it. Researching ‘3D design workflow’ has resolved a lot of my confusion, and now I can have a clearer and more informed plan on how to create my 3D character and final outcome.

I did more in-depth research on video games with inspiring visual elements as well as inspiring storytelling elements and plots. Reading about the thought process behind the design choices, how they relate to the plot/objective, and where the ideas or inspirations come from for the game, encouraged me to think outside the box as there are endless possibilties with game design. Having more detailed knowledge on a variety of interesting video games started to spark some ideas on what type of visual elements I want to include, what the game itself will be, and how these two things will reflect one another.

I will continue to experiment in Nomad and use it to create my final piece. Once I get some time, I will aim to take one of my characters and export it to another programme, in an attempt to get my topology right and animate it.  

Reflection:

• After all the research I've done in unit 9 about the sexualisation of video game characters, it really put me off creating characters that might appeal to the male gaze as that's not my goal whatsoever. So I decided to go for a chibi style of character.

• I am also going for an ‘early PlayStation’ look to the game so I wanted to keep it simple and chibi characters are known for their simplified designs. I still think I might've put too much detail in the accessories and it might not look great with point filtering, but as these are drafts I can make these changes later.

• After looking at these designs, I am the most drawn to the more creepy-like characters aesthetically, so I decided I will change the concept of my game from a sandbox, animal-crossing-like game to a more horror-based game. It gives me a clearer direction for my designs and I also think I will have more fun with the aesthetics and my creativity going down that path.

For the degree show I'd like to create a more promotional piece, displaying the characters, and to do that I have to think of elements that showcase that it's a horror-adventure. I will do this by adding dark elements such as the background to the final poster.

• I kept the name "Frightlets" which I came up with a while ago. I just really love it and I think it suits the cute/creepy doll aesthetic of these characters. It's also simple and catchy.

• After studying many different fonts, I came up with my own combination of elements I liked and hand drew a title. I like this one because it's clear and easy to read while still being gothic, portraying the 'spookiness' of my video game.

• I tried a different pose for my character, with the goal of creating a feeling of uneasiness by giving her an innocent look that contrasts her visual appearance. 

• I used the scene to embody the horror aspect by creating a dark background, and adding interest by using her shadow as the title. I also thought about coloured lights so I created some pink lit versions. I quite like this idea because I can use Blender to create contrasting shadows and then I could render the name afterwards. 

• I found having just one character and the simplicity of this design is quite eye-catching and appealing.

During our meeting today we also finalised resources for printing, adhesive, and also how many copies we will want of what and the costs.

I created a portfolio on there and uploaded work that represents what I would be interested in doing for a job / what I want to explore further.

I also added a way to contact me, and connected all my other links and accounts so that people can navigate easily to my other platforms.

I also wrote a professional statement about myself.

This one stood out to me the most because I like the composition. I also think it suits the exhibition a lot more than the other promotional poster because it's simple, more classy, and less "ad-like". I really like this design, I think it looks cool and it would definitely drawn me in if I was a viewer.

I think it also suits the concept of my horror adventure game well, with the character being quite ominous, standing isolated with the large shadow behind them. The name "Frightlets" suggests theres more characters too, so more to the story. The camera I chose for the render reminds me of early 3d games with static cameras, so this snapshot looks like a playable scene from the game to me.

My plan is to print it A3.

• I will create a couple copies to choose from with a different background colour just to make sure it's not too dark and the writing is still legible.

• I will use command strips to secure it to the wall.

Printing source: (Snapfish) https://www.snapfish.co.uk/home