Changing my Title.

I Recently displayed my website, Graphic Novel and showreel in front of my tutors to help my presentation skills and to talk over my ideas for this project. After the presentation there was asked advised to make some changes to my website and showreel. The first was to change my title from a Previsualization artist to a Concept Artist because as a concept artist i can do Previsual work. This means i am titling my self right and its my choice to get into the Pre-visual area of work.

These changes meant i had to change my front page on my website and my showreel. Changing the showreel just ment changing the text but when changing the website it changed the feel of the page and didn't suit so i had to redesign the homepage. I didnt know what to have to help fill a gap on the page. I remembered a earlier lesson during the year in which we were told about maybe having a logo or design that we could use to watermark our work and use. I thought that as i didn't have a logo i could use this space to create one and then use it for all my work to come.

What i did was use my initials and a simple black and white idea to keep with my website style. As i played around with layers and ideas i created a tower out of my initials and it almost formed a stick body and face so i made that my logo. It then defined me as a person and used my initials so people know its me. I then added this to my homepage of my site with my new title as a Concept Artist.

showreel

My next part of my showreel i had a couple of ideas of how to show development of ideas to show my though progress and show how i can develop work. My first idea was to flash up fast and lots of low basic character designs to get lots of images into my showreel but to slow down and give more time to more detailed work. The idea was they would see the progression but only care about the images they had enough to time to take in. While placing some images into After Effects i changed my mind as they didn't look or feel appealing flashing up fast and i felt it was wasting time.

While i thought of what i could do i thought how i could maximise the amount i'm showing on screen and focus. I thought i would make blinds images scrolling across the screen with the better images reviling them selves while they roll. This way they can visual take in the early ideas as there isn't a lot to look at while having man focus on the images i want to show.

I liked what it looked like as to me and it felt like i was watching a film reel playing with images appearing in the middle. This to me made it feel more cinematic and interesting that just showing appearing images.



I didn't want to put to much development images in because i didn't want one lot of development images to take overall so i chose two that held more than one image in and just used two images appearing. This way i could get more in for my time.
After the end of all the scrolling images and appearing images i put the final image at the end that appears and zooms into the better part of the character.

Showreel

My Showreel came along nicely as i had a clear picture of what i wanted it to be. My concept for a Showreel was to be advertising myself briefly but showing character development to help show my pre-visual progression. The idea of showing progress is you are not just looking at work but following my ideas thus getting viewing one image for longer through the use of smaller less detailed images.

Garage band allows for free use of there loops so i edited some music to fit the time frame of thirty seconds. The idea of sound was to be exciting and a build up so i can build up to my better work. Also with exciting music it makes you feel happy and might then make the viewer more happy about you. Hopefully increasing the chances of getting a job or a company going further to see my website.

What i did at the start was to create an opening using my name and area of work so they know whose work they are looking at and what type of work. I didn't want people to not know what they were watching and whose they were watching. What i did was created text layers that would fade in quickly then to be highlighted by a box to make it formal and smart.

Screen Shots:



I used a mask to create a fading effect to the text and the boarder disappear so i can play some images.

Designing a showreal

For the next part of our portfolio we have to create a show real which will help show our art and display our abilities. The use of the show real will give more imagination to our work as will give movement and make it more exciting instead of just flicking through pictures. For 3D designers they can use a show real to show the whole model other than a screenshot which doesn't show as much.

As i am a 2D artist my work will include my better work but in an animated way. I want my work to be more that just flashing or appearing work on the screen so i will have to use more methods than fading. We have had some tutorials looking at animation using After Effects and Final Cut Pro. These tutorials helped us see how to use layer masks, create shapes and learn the basic editing tools to create animation.

I have found other students showreals from the above years of the course which have helped me grasp an idea of what i need to create. These are located at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmqEFY_aTvc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2T2PE91UYpU&feature=related

Because i have set my website around pre-visual work, i feel that i should also express my previsual style work in the showreal. This means that i might be should a progression of early stage concepts and final pieces other than lots of top work. I feel that if i was to do that it would be building up myself as a pre visual artist and advert myself. I feel that this also means i could use my showreal as a way to advertise my website.

Website and design 2

After showing both my year tutor and other students i made some changes to my home web page to fit the need better. For starters the first changes was to the navigation bar as i wouldn't need as many pages as i thought. I apparently didn't need a CV page as of yet on a website as i do not have enough of a CV relating to games studies to get a job from it. Another thing mentioned as the use of a 'About Me' i do not need to mention to much about myself, just enough to peek interest. I was told that placing information about myself would be better to be on the contact page so they can have the choice to just contact me or learn more about me before contacting. It also limits the space of what i can write so i wont rant about myself. My home page also didn't need a picture of myself and also the little text box that said about me being a student at Norwich University college of the Arts. This information again could be placed on the contact page. What this is doing is making my Home page clearer and simpler and getting rid of unnecessary pages and work.

Using these ideas i redesigned my Home page:



The Home page now just shows what i want to be, and my art and my personally in the style it is in. With this i now can make my other webpages. Luckily i don't have to do to much in design now as i will re use my background for each page. For my Gallery i don't want to show to much work as i want them to want too to see more. This means ill be using some of my best work and a good mix to help show i can previsualize ideas. If i was just to show characters it would make me look more like a character artist.

Gallery Page:

Contents Page:

Website and design

After looking at different portfolio websites online i have seen a lot of similarities. Most of the sites are in a simple layout that instantly shows character and usually an image of the artist. Using a image at the home page is automatically showing that this website is more based around a artistic character rather than a office worker. Other similar things are that the navigational bar is always in a easy to see and reach area of the website, usually the top so that you can instantly get from page to page without having to look for the right tab. These links usually include Home, Contact, About me, Gallery, CV, News and blog. most of the sites i have looked at have a blog type layout with a scroll down page with news and work. Other websites like Kim Pace's site is more plain and more art than text which i thought was better as it wasn't distracting and more to the point that scrolling around for the right information.

While looking at websites i liked the idea of having a squared website with a single page piece in the middle that would draw in viewers so that they wouldn't have to wander around the page to find what they need. It would draw all focus into the page so that i can put in the information i want them to read and they will read it. Taking in mind what i saw on other websites and how some artists used there own work as backgrounds i thought i could use one of my images. Also having a easy to see and use navigate bar would be better for my website so i wanted to make my stick out. Using these ideas i put together my home page.


This is my first attempt at designing a web page, I created a square boarder in which i made it appear to be like paint brushed on giving it a personal and artistic approach. I kept it in theme of one my best images i used as a background as well. It was just black and white so i thought for the menu i could highlight it making it stand out so you can always see were to go next. I used an orange because it was better on the eyes than other colours against the black. The white box was for my to place a picture of myself in so viewers can see how i am. I have labelled myself as well in the website as a pre visual artist because then im showing were i would like to work in and for progression show the area i will be studying in further.

Website

One of our projects is to design our own portfolio website to help to both get our name into the world and if we are continuing with the course the website is to help our progression. I haven't ever made or tried to make a website before so this is a new area of study and design for me personally. In my last post i wrote about different areas of jobs in the games industry now before i can start on making the website i need to choose what area i fit and what i want to go into in the games industry so i have something to work towards and show myself as on the website.

Because i am more 2d based in my artwork and designs this means that i can rule out 3d areas, and look at more drawn based areas like concept artist and pre-visualization. Other areas like sound and engine design and programming don't overally take my intreats and i don't want to work towards an area that i don't like doing. Pre-visualization is the art of storyboarding and the first amount of concept. The Previsual artist is the one that takes the story and makes it into a visual story, it starts giving a game a style and sets the beginning of the visual game. My work is usually similar to the work of pre-visualization and i quite like storyboarding and drawing rough versions of characters and ideas rather than a fully developed version like if you are a concept artist. With this in mind i now can continue with designing my website as i can show what i am and what i want to become in the games industry so that potential employers might hire me, also it would give an idea of what i will be focusing on in the 3rd year of the course.

We had a basic tutorial in how to create a website using Iweb a apple software for websites. There are many other websites that are available to design websites like Adobe's Dreamweaver but our focus is to use this software. Iweb is a simple software that allows images designed on Photoshop then imported to iweb to be turned into backgrounds, links and more. I had a look at Kim Pace's website to get an idea of what we are expected to make. http://www.kimpace.co.uk/ the website itself is simple but straight to the point as you see her art and then lead into a link that follows on into her work. The layout is simple and it keeps the links together as a banner which lays out the website. There is more on her website than we need. From our tutorial i understand that keeping the site clear, easy to follow and it having the information up to help promote myself is the key of the project.

Games Industries Roles

There are tons if different roles in the games industry and tons in each games company, the issue is getting into just one of these roles and picking which role is right. Its also important to be aware of the different areas of a games company.

Generally researching i came across a a list of areas and job titles in the games industry that was useful to see areas that i might be interested in.

Games Design Roles:

-Lead Designer
-Object planner
-Games Designer
-GUI Designer
-Script writer
-Storyboard Artist
-Map builder Illustrator
-Level Editor
-Graphic Designer

Art and Animation in Games Design

-Creative Manager
-PreVis Artist
-Art Director
-Technical Artist
-Lead Artist
-Artist
-Concept Artis
-Animator
-Environment Artist
-3D Modeller

Programming and Coding

-Lead Programmer
-Action Scripter
-Software Engineer
-Platform Designer
-Programmer
-Information Architect
-A.I. Programmer
-Systems Analyst
-Middleware/ Tools Programmer
-Database Designer
-Graphics Programmer
-Engine Programmer
-Gameplay Programmer
-Server Architect

Audio

-Musician
-Sound Effects Designer
-Audio Engineer
-Composer

Quality Assurance

-QA Manager
-Localisation Tester
-Quality Assurance Technician / Tester*
-Localisation Manager
-Lead Tester

Production Management and Publishing

-Head of Development
-Creative Director
-Executive Producer
-Executive / Senior Producer (Publishing)
-Project Manager / Producer
-External Producer(Publishing)
-Art Director Account Director
-Programming Manager
-Associate / Junior Producer* (Publishing)
-Assistant Project Manager*
-Project Co-ordinator* (Publishing)
-Production Accountant
-Product / Brand Manager
-Production Scheduler
-Sales Manager
-Production Assistant
-Licensing / IPR Manager

I found this list of jobs on http://www.skillset.org/games/careers/article_2768_1.asp

Brief

Our brief wants us to create a website and a 30 second show reel of our work to help us get noticed and hopefully use this portfolio to get a job in the games industries. The unit is centred around us learning to use software to help build and create a good looking and relating portfolio. This unit is more focused on how we look at whats around us and what we want to do when we leave as students. It also means we will be learning new skills that may be handy in the games industry or when we need to create new portfolios.

Research would include looking at portfolios and how we can make them good and maybe visually interesting and unique. Researching on software that might help us in the creation of websites and show reels. Also looking into areas of the games industry that we want to become a part of as there are many different areas. Displaying our portfolio in a way that projects our skills in that area is more important that just showing general work with not much meaning behind it. There may even be areas of the games industry that we didn't know of that might even suit us better.

Currently i feel that i want to go somewhere in the early stages of games design but i am not 100 sure yet what i want to do. I feel that my strongest areas are 2D artwork, Storyboarding, story design and creativity in groups. Relating this to areas in the games industries means that i would most fit in areas like Concept Art, Previsualization and maybe even Creative manager roles in the future. This means showing my work in a more visually creative way. Most of my show reel would be of still 2d imagery that i should animate. Keeping with theme of my work i should mostly concepts showing development.