Modeling Thesis help?

teeth

Hello Polycount! I'm a university senior in a BFA program which requires me to create work for and curate a show for myself for my thesis. Accompanying this is a paper that talks about the work. Our paper must include an introduction, background, influence, work discussion, evaluation (in relation to the overall art community) and technical sections.

Basically I need to compare my work to other artists and then back it up.

However, I feel like I'm the only one stumped on how to relate to my own work. My thesis project is a series of character models both low poly game work and high poly sculpts. I feel like I live in a bubble! I look at other artists like you guys here and folks on cghub, but I have no idea how to talk about my work in the fine arts realm. Anyone have suggestions for artists I might be able to talk about? I apologize for not being able to post any of my work at this time, but our department 'encourages' that we do not post our work online until after our orals are completed.

Envart

You could compare how realistic low poly models appear to testing subjects, against how realistic they perceive the high poly sculpts are. Then you could include displacement mapping perhaps as a way of circumventing the natural limits of low poly models.

A friend of mine based his thesis on the quality of various skin shaders, and they stacked up against CG quality images. Personally, mine was about colour theory and how colour can evoke different emotions.

I have some documents that helped me during my dissertation, that deal with how to plan it out, what the examiners are looking for etc. If you PM me here, I'll send you a link.

teeth

Those are some interesting ideas, thanks for the inspiration! I especially like an idea that branches off your first proposal that discusses what modern gamers are looking to get out of a game's visuals. I seem to recall an article that talked extensively about how gamers want more 'art' (like Journey) in their games, and less life replicas.

My biggest concern/confusion I guess is that I'm at state school in a program that focuses heavily on fine art and gallery presentation. Coming up with things to talk about in the game realm isn't /too/ much of a problem, but I don't know how to bring it back to a subject that my committee will like and pass me with. I had to fight to have my thesis approved as I"m in a ceramics and 3d concentration. I was able to convince my committee that digital sculpture is just as valid a sculpture as ceramic sculpture/

Envart

Ahh, that makes things a little clearer. Be advised, this is what my examiners were looking for - so your mileage may vary. Hopefully it will be of some help!

If you're stuck for things to talk about with classical sculpture, I'd recommend trying to find as many art books on sculpture as you can. The loftier, more well regarded, academic ones will be the best for finding erudite quotes. Try searching for academic papers also, there's a good chance someone else has covered this ground before you.