[UE4] Dragonverse
polycounter lvl 10
Hey Polycounters!
The itch to brandish the personal-art sword has again grown strong and I've been debating between one off out-of-comfort-zone realism props or a fun scene. The former is really the right choice, but right now I feel like I really need a soul-charger that I can crunch on after a day of work.
So here's...
The Challenge:
Forge a diorama of a third-person platformer in Unreal 4. The scope of the project is locked to integrating a protagonist with basic animation cycles into the engine and being able to to traverse him through a cool looking small test level with one point of origin, two points of interest, and one end destination that kicks off a scripted animation. This project needs to result in an extremely short, but full feeling experience that fumes with the feeling of adventure. In other words, it needs to be very resolved. In doing so, I'm hoping to build some new asset creation muscles and explore disciplines that live beyond the realm of environment art (rigging, animation, fx, etc)
I've chosen a Spyro the Dragon inspired skin for this project, and that means that we're dealing with a stylized medieval fantasy in which the player is a dragon. I realize that this is a well trodden environment genre today, but that just means it is an opportunity to develop an artistic voice that can stand out in a crowded world.
I started planning this at the turn of 2014, but I've wanted to start a project featuring dragons for a long time. It's intimidating, but I think there's allot to reap from trying to put all this together.
Concept Art:
I've done a few sketches to start myself off.
Initial character designs:
I started off with some random dragon sketches just to sort of collect a bag of ideas. Coming directly out of it was a green dragon about the size of a human child in this world. He has the right kind of spunk, but I felt he was too much like Spyro, so I went made a second dragon afterwards that I ended up running with.
Paintover on blockout:
I made a blockout in UE4 and scribbled on top of it to the point of a rough painting. I intend to try and solve some remaining visual questions in 3D. If that's too much of a brain stretch, i'll do some more paintings.
Level Map describing where the paint over slides fall in sequence:
You start out in an ice cave, visit an abandoned sentry tower, traverse through a spooky frozen over forest, and eventually arrive at a fortress that has been occupied by an ice Mage.
Look & Feel:
Here's a mood board of collected reference images featuring the tone and style I'm currently trying to hit. I intend to deviate.
First steps:
I've slapped together a few test meshes and a blockout level.
Protagonist mesh:
[SKETCHFAB]e3b7f6636ef647b799772a59a7394e69[/SKETCHFAB]
This model is really just the translation of a childhood imaginary friend that I needed to get out of the way before I could do anything else. I'd like to iterate on this design some down the road. The curling horn style doesn't do too much for his silhouette from third-person chase view and his features are too sweet for the main character of this game I am envisioning. Ultimately, I'm out to make a cool stylized dragon, different from Spyro, that fits the role of a hero.
Here's a wide shot of the blockout an a style-target wagon wip
Coming up next is a tiny slice of polished assets that will serve as the art target for everything else. It's going to be a finished Wagon, rocks, shrubs, a tree, and resolved ground.
Starting these threads have been a huge help in the past and I'll be posting progress as I go. I'm looking to have this totally done by the end of august, I have a feeling i'll slip past that but it is a pretty long amount of time. Please feel free to leave any comment you like.
Thanks for your support, this community never fails to be a fantastic source of motivation and critique.
Let's do it.
The itch to brandish the personal-art sword has again grown strong and I've been debating between one off out-of-comfort-zone realism props or a fun scene. The former is really the right choice, but right now I feel like I really need a soul-charger that I can crunch on after a day of work.
So here's...
The Challenge:
Forge a diorama of a third-person platformer in Unreal 4. The scope of the project is locked to integrating a protagonist with basic animation cycles into the engine and being able to to traverse him through a cool looking small test level with one point of origin, two points of interest, and one end destination that kicks off a scripted animation. This project needs to result in an extremely short, but full feeling experience that fumes with the feeling of adventure. In other words, it needs to be very resolved. In doing so, I'm hoping to build some new asset creation muscles and explore disciplines that live beyond the realm of environment art (rigging, animation, fx, etc)
I've chosen a Spyro the Dragon inspired skin for this project, and that means that we're dealing with a stylized medieval fantasy in which the player is a dragon. I realize that this is a well trodden environment genre today, but that just means it is an opportunity to develop an artistic voice that can stand out in a crowded world.
I started planning this at the turn of 2014, but I've wanted to start a project featuring dragons for a long time. It's intimidating, but I think there's allot to reap from trying to put all this together.
Concept Art:
I've done a few sketches to start myself off.
Initial character designs:
I started off with some random dragon sketches just to sort of collect a bag of ideas. Coming directly out of it was a green dragon about the size of a human child in this world. He has the right kind of spunk, but I felt he was too much like Spyro, so I went made a second dragon afterwards that I ended up running with.
Paintover on blockout:
I made a blockout in UE4 and scribbled on top of it to the point of a rough painting. I intend to try and solve some remaining visual questions in 3D. If that's too much of a brain stretch, i'll do some more paintings.
Level Map describing where the paint over slides fall in sequence:
You start out in an ice cave, visit an abandoned sentry tower, traverse through a spooky frozen over forest, and eventually arrive at a fortress that has been occupied by an ice Mage.
Look & Feel:
Here's a mood board of collected reference images featuring the tone and style I'm currently trying to hit. I intend to deviate.
First steps:
I've slapped together a few test meshes and a blockout level.
Protagonist mesh:
[SKETCHFAB]e3b7f6636ef647b799772a59a7394e69[/SKETCHFAB]
This model is really just the translation of a childhood imaginary friend that I needed to get out of the way before I could do anything else. I'd like to iterate on this design some down the road. The curling horn style doesn't do too much for his silhouette from third-person chase view and his features are too sweet for the main character of this game I am envisioning. Ultimately, I'm out to make a cool stylized dragon, different from Spyro, that fits the role of a hero.
Here's a wide shot of the blockout an a style-target wagon wip
Coming up next is a tiny slice of polished assets that will serve as the art target for everything else. It's going to be a finished Wagon, rocks, shrubs, a tree, and resolved ground.
Starting these threads have been a huge help in the past and I'll be posting progress as I go. I'm looking to have this totally done by the end of august, I have a feeling i'll slip past that but it is a pretty long amount of time. Please feel free to leave any comment you like.
Thanks for your support, this community never fails to be a fantastic source of motivation and critique.
Let's do it.
Replies
Best of luck!
Subbed
It's been a crazy time to say the least, but as they say - you gotta strike while the iron is hot!
This goes without saying, I'm on my own schedule now, and I intend to finish what I started here. It's my creed as an artist - NO PROJECT IS LEFT BEHIND!
So here I am deciding that I will make this dragonverse environment on my off time. I have a few cool things to show off the bat.
A sword and shield that I would imagine an enemy human knight would have:
And a style target pedestal that I plan to complete in 3D whenever it is that I can:
Will be back with more updates soon. Until then!