Stand Out Student - Last uni year project?
polycounter lvl 3
Hi all!
I'd like some advice and thoughts on my idea for my final year project at uni, we have roughly 7 months. I'm studying games design and would like to focus concept art, character art 2D and 3D, and maybe special effects.
I currently have 4 brief ideas;
Currently looking at doing no. 4 -
I've been doing research into Overwatch and League etc. on what kind of characters each game has and finding concept pieces. Am I being too ambitious creating a whole new character, story to in-game abilities?
Trying to understand the process of the whole thing: Character story/abilities, character concept, high sculpt, retopologize, texture, rig, animate, vfx (please correct if wrong!)
Any thoughts or advice?
I'd like some advice and thoughts on my idea for my final year project at uni, we have roughly 7 months. I'm studying games design and would like to focus concept art, character art 2D and 3D, and maybe special effects.
I currently have 4 brief ideas;
- Zbrush sculpture of character resting on base/environment (ie. http://imgur.com/a/gGEU2)
- Low poly character and environment hand painted (ie. http://imgur.com/a/c2epY}
- Create a character (LoL champion/overwatch hero) from concept to in-game ready 3D model (ie. http://imgur.com/a/6Hr3t)
- Remastering a character (ie. http://polycount.com/discussion/141885/riot-art-contest-caitlyn#latest)
Currently looking at doing no. 4 -
I've been doing research into Overwatch and League etc. on what kind of characters each game has and finding concept pieces. Am I being too ambitious creating a whole new character, story to in-game abilities?
Trying to understand the process of the whole thing: Character story/abilities, character concept, high sculpt, retopologize, texture, rig, animate, vfx (please correct if wrong!)
Any thoughts or advice?
Replies
May I ask you what you are studying and what your current abilities are right now? I can't seem to find any 3D that you have done. Also, 7 months for a project? Is that full-time or alongside other studies because I would suggest that you took most of that time to train yourself in whichever area that you are going for instead of having some lofty ambitious goal of doing some big all encompassing scene with rigged characters and effects from scratch.
@Magihat I listed 4 different things that included a character and the directions I would like to work towards; I don't want to be a 1 trick pony as I would like to expand my skill set. I am studying Games Design, https://prawlette.carbonmade.com/projects/5613314 (this includes the Dota project that was my first real character 3D). 7 months with I believe 2 modules (they aren't quite sure yet, I was asking my lecturer earlier) 1 character and other may be group project. Thank you for your advice, I did think it was very ambitious, maybe something small like the 2nd one will be more than enough.
If your heart is really set on character art then you will need to work really smart, hard and fast over the summer before going into longer projects as proportions are super hard to get right when starting out. I have seen countless students over the years labouring under false pretences on a character that detail wise is great but the basic proportions are way off. Its hard to say to them finish up what you are doing and move on to the next project (its good to get completion by the way rather then scrapping the project) I am just as guilty of having loads off unfinished projects but if you can finish a 3D piece and add it to your portfolio its super important!
I would highly recommended sort sharp studies in ZBrush mixed with various bake down studies. Try also classical anatomy sculpts, look into artists such as Scott Eaton and practice drawings by Andrew Loomis, this is to help with your core art studies. Try simple clay tube sculpts in Zbrush just like Scott Eaton does, its a fantastic way of working and stops you noodling with the smooth brush and going into details, it really does help with basic proportions.
As for bake downs (once you have read up re-topology) substance is a really good one stop shop these days for the whole process but XNormal is still cool if you are on a budget, but if you can get substance it really is the dogs bollocks.
Check out this thread for ZBrush tutorials and this playlist is great
I hope that helps! good luck! on wards and upwards.
One last thing, keep a list of 10 or so artist that you think are at the forefront and focus hard on what it is about them that is great and then work towards being like them and then one day you will start treading your own path
P.S. Scott's sketch books to help him with his 3D sculpts
It's better to excel at one thing, that be average at two.
With that in mind... 7 months for a single project is a crazy amount of time. The current turn around (from my experience as freelance) for a character is ~4 weeks. Thats 7 characters (potentially) that could be made in that time period. So why not do that, or something similar? Why not set yourself 6 weeks per character and make 4 characters, each one will be better than the last, you'll have a great portfolio to show off at the end of your degree, and you'll have gotten yourself into a groove of starting and finishing projects within a reasonable time frame.
Thank you!
Here is my portfolio: https://prawlette.carbonmade.com/
I do enjoy drawing, creating characters more than environments as I can I guess relate with them more. The reason why I'm reaching out to people now is so I can get started on the project before September hits! (I also have personal projects that I would like to get rolling, they also include characters ha.)
Thank you for recommending Scott Eaton! He has really nice examples and Andrew Loomis is one of my favs when it comes to drawing! There are also a couple other Zbrush artist that I look up to such as Rafael Grassetti and Frank Tzeng (these are obviously more realistic to what I prefer but proportion examples)
Got the substance pack already thanks! Used Design on the previous project, really can't wait to work with Painter!
Thank you for the Zbrush tutorials, they will be super super helpful!
Thanks for your time!
You got some groovy stuff on your website, best of luck, now go do the work and reap the reward!
Well I originally wanted to stick with illustration/concept art but a lot of people (lecturers/tutors) are saying that it's super hard to get a job into so I decided to expand I guess to something else that I would enjoy doing. And maybe intertwine them like Marc Brunet does but it was just another skill I would like to have.
People have also suggested to have other skills to offer but you are right I would like to excel in one thing, but I guess this last year of uni should give me that experimental stage if I want to pursue illustration/concept art or 3D characters.
That actually sounds like a super idea! Would you be able to show me examples or your work that you've done? Just to give me an idea on the standard of each model. Thanks though!
It's good to be able to do multiple things. In general it's good to have a broad understanding of many areas of game art. But you really do need a deep understanding of a core area.
I have a portfolio link in my signature, and i'm going to be running a character art workshop this summer.
Looking forward to seeing how you come along!
Also forgot to mention I study at Sheffield Hallam University!
I do study game design, the course is quite broad and I chose the art route. It is pretty much an art based course 2D and 3D. We work with unreal, 3ds max, photoshop, zbrush etc. I was part of a game jam as one of our projects, as much as I'd like to make my own game, I don't think I would be able to tackle it alone. Especially since I focus on the art side of things.
@almighty_gir
I do believe and agree with what you say, just gonna have to keep working hard to get somewhere! A core area for me would probably be illustration, I think no matter what I'll do illustration will always be something I would do on the side or as a job.
Thank you, I might give it a go and apply! Aha. Is it free? You've got really nice work by the way and I saw that you were mentored by Hazard instantly made me jealous! Your style is something that I would like to achieve soon!
Thanks, I'll make sure to put up a digital sketchbook post on here when I get started
Show your work and get advice and feedback. There must be loads going on in Yorkshire as there are lots of game companies there. I would check on websites like meetup, if not why not start your own. Also go to events like EGX and talk to the people on the booth as they are the developers, for some reason people always think they are paid showcase people or something? Anything like the Develop-Conference or any Polycount meet ups, or even nip over to FMX its only a 1 hour flight to Germany and your at one of the best mixed media events in the world! just jot them down in your calendar once every few months and really push hard to improve for the next one. Even if you don't fancy showing your work at an event you will be inspired by what is going on and it will focus you on what needs to be done.
Good luck!
FMX, woop woop, make sure your portolio is ready for this one as they have a recrutiment hall viewing portfolio after porfolio looking for fresh talent.
A list of some of the talks from this year, they have X6 per hour to chose from over a four day period.
Unreal Engine
Creating a Live Digital Human for Hellblade
Creating Virtual Humans
Virtual Humans Workshop
The Making of Bullet Train
The Making of the Paragon Cinematic
Intro to Unreal Engine Virtual Reality
CryTek, Creating Immersive VR Content
Guitar Hero Live – Show & Tell
The Cinematic of Halo 5
One thing is for sure, I probably won't do a whole pipeline due to the fact that I don't particularly want a job in rigging/animating. So the current process for my project would go something like this: Character story/abilities, character concept, high sculpt, retopologize, texture then rendering.
I want to produce a high poly sculpt and an in-game ready character model with concepts and an illustration.
Anyway!! Here's my sketchbook: I've done my first sculpt in zbrush, so please critique me on that as it would be very helpful!