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Stand Out Student - Last uni year project?

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Prawlette 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;
  1. Zbrush sculpture of character resting on base/environment (ie. http://imgur.com/a/gGEU2)
  2. Low poly character and environment hand painted (ie. http://imgur.com/a/c2epY}
  3. Create a character (LoL champion/overwatch hero) from concept to in-game ready 3D model (ie. http://imgur.com/a/6Hr3t)
  4. Remastering a character (ie. http://polycount.com/discussion/141885/riot-art-contest-caitlyn#latest)
As you can probably already notice that stylized is preferred.

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?

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  • MalloryW
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    MalloryW polycounter lvl 14
    What does your current work look like?
  • Magihat
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    Magihat ngon master
    You say you want to focus and then lists 4 different things. That is not focus and if you try to do too many things chances are you will not excel at any one of them and stand out for different reasons than what you are going for. 

    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.
  • Prawlette
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    Prawlette polycounter lvl 3
    @MalloryW  this is what my current work is like: https://prawlette.carbonmade.com/ we didn't touch on character modelling in 2nd year of uni but we are in 3rd, however I've recently got zbrush so I'll be practising this summer. We did a Dota project https://prawlette.carbonmade.com/projects/5613314 (which is when I started to really get into 3D)

    @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.
  • littleclaude
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    littleclaude quad damage
    Well done on asking, its great to see pro active students. It would be good to see your portfolio to help advise on your style, where are you studying out of interest?

    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 
  • almighty_gir
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    almighty_gir ngon master
    I guess (based on your carbonmade) that you're not sure whether you want to be a concept artist or a 3d artist? That isn't to say there isn't room in the industry for people who can do both... in fact someone who can do both (to an equally excellent standard, is probably the important part here) are incredibly valuable. BUT at your stage in development i would probably suggest first deciding which you want to be, and then go forward with that knowledge and just get better at that one thing.

    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.
  • Prawlette
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    Prawlette polycounter lvl 3
    @littleclaude
    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!
  • littleclaude
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    littleclaude quad damage
    No problem.

    You got some groovy stuff on your website, best of luck, now go do the work and reap the reward!
  • Prawlette
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    Prawlette polycounter lvl 3
    @almighty_gir
    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!
  • almighty_gir
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    almighty_gir ngon master
    Prawlette said:
    @almighty_gir
    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!
    Hmmm i'm not sure i believe that it's super hard to get a job as a concept artist. I'd probably say that, much like character art (and game art in general really) it's just highly competitive, so you have to be very good. And that bar is constantly being raised.

    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!
  • Prawlette
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    Prawlette polycounter lvl 3
    @littleclaude
    Also forgot to mention I study at Sheffield Hallam University!
  • Prawlette
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    Prawlette polycounter lvl 3
    @dustinbrown
    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 :)


  • littleclaude
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    littleclaude quad damage
    Prawlette said:
    @littleclaude
    Also forgot to mention I study at Sheffield Hallam University!
    Ah cool British, well done ;) The reason I say that is there are some many social meet ups you should go to and start networking and Britain is really easy to get around compared to other places in the word due to the short distances, trust me!. We huff and puff when we have to drive for 15 minutes to get to work, in Australia, USA that's the end of the block! so make the effort it will be well worth it.

    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

    https://youtu.be/-1I9GIvLwZ0



  • Prawlette
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    Prawlette polycounter lvl 3
    I have started my digital sketchbook! And starting to finalise my idea for my university project.

    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!


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