Week Number & Date: 30.12.19 – 06.01.20
Task list:
- Start and finish reference sheet for character 1
Current Position –
The first step in creating my reference sheet was to gather as much reference of my character design as I could for all of the elements of the design I will be highlighting on the sheet, the hair, makeup and outfit are the elements I will be showing on the sheet. I laid each of the images out into the document almost like a layout for the sheet, I them put them together into a reference group to keep my layers clean.
The first part of the sheet I focused on was the overview of the character. I sketched out the character using the reference I collected. Something you may notice is that the character looks a lot more rounder here in the face and body when it comes to the shape language, in her reference I created it didn’t feel like there was enough of a western flare coming from the work. For the reference sheet I’m taking extra care to make a rounded design.
The eyes, breast size, waist and hips were adjusted multiple time to find a good balance in the anatomy for the pose. After finishing the sketch I cleaned up the lines and removed the guide lines so I could use a clear sketch for my inking.
I inked over the sketch on a new layer, I switched off pressure for opacity to keep th inking consistent opacity wise so that I don’t need to apply loads of pressure to my tablet constantly. I’ve practiced lineart a lot over the last year and my strokes have become a lot more consistent and confident so my lineart is a lot less sketchy and is more flowing now.
Once the inking was done I applied base colour to a layer behind the inking. Whenever I’m on the base colour part of art I always have to remind myself that the work doesn’t look good because I haven’t finished it yet and the clashing base colours will look jarring as there is n shading or lighting.
The jarring colours help separate all of the shapes so when I use the selection tool to add shading, lighting, textures and effects there aren’t any issues with picking up the areas.
I create shading by using a mixture of gradients, cel shading, coloured inking and textures. I struggled a bit with the shading as using bright colours is something that’s really new to me. A lot of my work before used dull colours so I had to redo a lot of areas to get it right here.
After the shading was complete I began painting the makeup onto the face, I laid out the lip stick using an inking brush and then applied the shimmer with a pastel brush, I locked the lip stick layer to make sure that the shimmer didn’t go onto the skin. I made the triangular graphic with an inking pen.
Once this was done I applied eye shine, final effects and applied colour and light to the lineart. The inking was made a very dark purple, it’s difficult to tell but when I compared it to the original black ink I could tell it was all different as it made the character look softer. A white gradient was added tot eh light side of the overall piece to add depth, along with a shadow gradient.
This is the final pose. I’m really happy with how she turned out and I think the rounded shapes helped her design a lot
I really wanted my character sheet to have a vaporwave background as I thought a plain colour would be boring.
I went back through my vaporwave folder to get some ideas as to what the background could be. I wanted the background to be striking but not distracting so I felt a city would distract too much. I went with a simple sunset with some palm trees as it is striking but not distracting.
I began by laying down a flat purple onto the layer for the sky, to create the twilight effect I used the gradient tool with a brighter pink colour for the sunlight.
I knew there would be a sun in the middle but it would have been plain with just the sun, I decided to frame the sun using the palm trees, I painted just the one, duplicated and flipped it onto the opposite side of the canvas.
The sun was created using the circle tool on the horizon and laying a base colour down, I then locked the layer to add the gradient. After this I unlocked the layer I added the segments in by rubbing out sections.
After this I moved onto the grid pattern on the ground. The way I got the to be at identical angles to eachother was to draw a line at a positive angle, and then add a minus to the front of it, this results in photoshop flipping the angle horizontally, that way you don’t have to worry about making the angles incorrect, looking back at this however it would have been easier to use the symmetry tool here for the grid.
My background was done but it looked a little flat, I had watched this youtube video created by Anya Arts which really opened my eyes to adding textures to my work to make them less flat.
I went online for free to use textures, I went with a hologram texture and an old vhs filter to give it an extra layer of depth. It made the scene look a lot less flat made the scene easier on the eyes.
The last thing I created was a fake date in the bottom corner using the text tool in photoshop, some of instagram’s vhs filters have dates in the corner of the image as if it was filmed on an old camera. It’s a very vaporwave thing so I thought I would add it here in the corner.
I moved on to the design breakdowns of the sheet, I started with the hair reference. To speed up the process I traced over my ideas gen to create the lineart, I made sure that the shape language was rounder in the inking. In order to get the back side of the hair design I duplicated the inking for the front of the hair, flipped it and rubbed out the inner detail. After I did these steps it left me with an outer silhouette to work with, I drew in the hair strands in on the back.
I kept the colouring flat apart for the hair gradient so that it wasn’t too distracting from the hair, which should be the main focus. I used the lightest and darkest colours in the gradient to create hair streaks in the gradients as this made the hair less flat.
After the hair reference was done I moved onto the makeup reference, I used my makeup ideas gen as a base but made sure that the face was rounded and smaller at the chin.
I inked over the open eye sketch before duplicating it for the closed eye face. I rubbed out the inked eye and drew a new set on closed so this way I can show the eyeliner.
I then applied a base coat over the face and hair (With the exception of the hair gradient). I made a new layer for the makeup ontop of the skin layer and referred back to my ideas gen and the final pose. I made base shapes and locked they to apply the powder effects with the pastel brush. I duplicated the makeup on the closed eyes to use on the open eye face. I then rubbed out the makeup that wasn’t on the upper eye lids to finish this look.
I then moved onto the final element of the reference sheet, which was the outfit overview. I used my ideas gen as a base to speed up my process here, the symmetry tool was used for the jacket to get the top part of the outfit even.
After this I moved onto the colour, I applied a base layer down and only selected certain areas for the gradient tool. After the light and dark gradients were applied to the leotard and jacket I went back and layered up a splatter brush to create the glitter effect. Then I selected the tights to add a lighter gradient effect. The shoes were given a rounded gradient to fit around the rounded shoe. The straight gradient didn’t sit right on the shoe.
This is the final sheet for the first character. I really like how it turned out both with the colours, lighting and shading. I’m also really happy with the layout here. I’ve decided to use this layout on the next sheet as it works well!
What did I find difficult or easy?:
What I found difficult:
- I didn’t find it difficult but I found it tedious to draw out all of the assets after a while, it got a little boring but I had to bare with and stick with it.
What I found easy:
- I found the whole main pose really easy and fun to do, I had a play around with it and I had so much fun shading and adding glitter.
Planning for next week –
- How do I plan to catch up?
Everything is up to date so I don’t need to catch up.
- Do I need to change anything about my work or planning?
Using my ideas gen as a base has sped up my process a lot so I will be carrying on with that process.
Week Number & Date: 14.01.20
Task list:
- Start and finish reference sheet for character 2
Current Position –
Now that my first sheet is done I can move onto my male character sheet, I am already at an advantage with this as the background as already been done, all I need to do is go to hue and saturation and make the colours cooler, after this I go to colour balance and adjust any of the colours I am unhappy with.
After the background was finished I hid it because it would be tricky to see what I was sketching if the background was visible. I laid down all of my reference for the main pose, I played around with the coat, I wanted it to be dramatic as it is the focus piece of the outfit.
I mainly played around with the large collar of the coat, I went with half of the coat slipping off the shoulder to show off and emphasize the size of the collar. I wanted something similar to what Cruella De Vil (Disney, 1961), maybe not as large but something dynamic.
I inked over the sketch using an inking brush, the exact same way I inked over my previous character. I had to ink the collar multiple times to get the curve right as it ket looking flat. To help me out I used the warp tool to make the curve a little more prominent.
Once the inking was complete I moved onto the base colour, I made sure the colours were bold and made sure I could distinguish then so that when selecting areas for shading came it would be quick and easy.
With the shading I used a mix of gradients and cel shading, I’ve found that a mixture of the two works nicely together since only using one or the other can make the piece look flat (Which isn’t what I want to achieve here). I selected areas at a time and did gradients and shading in separate places. To make the hair a little textured I added in the coloured streaks in his references.
I moved onto the makeup which just includes highlighter on the nose, cheeks and face glitter. I applied a darker base underneath the highlight to bring out the lighter powder more. I did end up playing with the levels and contrast to make the powder brighter. I selected the face and used the splatter brush to create the glitter effect on the face. I used a range of pressures for the glitter in order to layer it up.
I then added the catch lights to the eyes, I was going to put it on the right hand side however i moved them to the left since they worked better that way.
I went back to the texture video made by Anya butler, the character looked flat still even with shading! The reason for this is because there isn’t things like glitter to break up the outfit, like in my first character design. I ressolved this issue by applying various textures to the character, I used a regular sheer texture from a stock site for the exposed areas of the leotard and I used a bubbly plastic texture from another online stock site. I chose plastic for the jacket because it’s a unique and artificial material for clothing that people use quite a bit now. I thought it was futuristic in a way.
The final thing to do was apply the pattern to the jacket. I used the same technique I discovered during my ideas gen which is using the stamp tool to apply a consistent pattern across the selected area, it saved me a lot of the time and hassle that drawing them by hand would have created. I placed them over the texture layer so that the textures didn’t decrease how bold the patterns are.
This is the final main pose, I really like how it turned out in the end, it’s as vibrant as I wanted it to be and served as a really good way to learn about patterns and textures on work.
I moved straight onto the close ups on the reference, to speed up the process I inked over my reference images, the first close up was hair. I inked the front and to get the back view I duplicated and flipped the front inking, rubbed out the inner lines and did it as a back view of the head. It sounds complicated but it is actually a reakky quick and simple process.
I then did the shading for the two heads, I followed the same steps as the main pose, selecting areas and applying the gradients and cel shading, like the first character I didn’t show makeup here to make sure attention is kept on the hair.
This is how the final hair reference turned out, I really like how it turned out and is the same quality as the final pose.
I went onto the inking, I inked over the reference to speed up the process, to get the closed eye face I duplicated the inking I had already done,erased the eyes and drew the closed lids.
I applied colouring and shading in the same fashion using gradients and cel shading. It felt consistent with the hair and main pose shading style so it looked really nice.
I then applied the makeup using the pastel brush and splatter brush, I put a darker tone underneath again to bring the light out more, I then duplicated the makeup and moved it over to the closed eye face. Because there was no eye makeup it made the duplication quick and easy!
This is how the makeup reference turned out. I really like how clean it looks here with the shading and inking.
I moved onto the final close up which is the outfit, I did the same as the previous two close ups and inked over the reference, I only linked the left hand side and duplicated it to the other side to have a symmetrical outfit.
I moved onto the base colour, I made sure the colours were bold so that selection would work easily. I drew around the outline and used to paint bucket tool to make it quicker.
I added the shading by selecting areas of the outfit and using the gradient tool to create shading and depth to make sure that it matches up with the shading of the other close ups. I then moved onto the texturing after this.
I made sure to use the same textures as I did in the main pose to keep it all consistent , plastic for the coat and sheer on the exposed parts of the leotard. It gave the outfit a lot more depth which made it consistent with the rest of my work.
I then applied the same pattern to the coat using the stamp tool, I used two coloured triangles and layered them up in the coat to create the desired pattern.
This is how it tuned out in the end. I’m really happy with the final product due to the colours (both combination and brightness), I love how consistent the references are and how it all looks together. I’m glad I made it match the other character sheet since they go hand in hand together.
What did I find difficult or easy?:
What I found difficult:
- I actually struggled a bit to get the face right in the hair close ups, it didn’t look consistent with the close up and I had to ink it a dozen times to get it to look okay.
What I found easy:
- Once again the shading, texturing and lighting was my favourite part and was the part I found easiest. I find it easy since I do a lot of rendered and shaded work outside of college so I’ve had practice.
Planning for next week –
- How do I plan to catch up?
Everything is up to date so I don’t need to catch up.
- Do I need to change anything about my work or planning?
I have finished the character part of this project so I no longer need to do the same sort of processes. I don’t know if I’ll be able to trace assets for the environment in the same way but I’ll have to wait and see.
Week Number & Date: 15.01.20-22.01.20:
Task list:
- Start environment (May not finish in a week due to ambition of scene).
Current Position –
Urban and interior environments are very new to me with what I have painted environment wise, due to the ambition of a nightclub it will likely be challenging and won’t be done within a week, we’ll have to see.
I started by sketching out the environment, I started simple using basic shapes and a one point perspective grid to build up the scene bit by bit to build up the scene. I did end up tracing the sofa test pieces to speed up the process of drawing them as I was struggling with the shape of them for a while.
I coloured under the sketch, I made sure to use the distinctive colours to make she selection easier for shading, the colours look awful at the moment but the shading will bring it together.
I started shading the walls, floor and sofas, I refereed back to my final concept for lighting reference, the light comes from the f=bad so all reflected light is coming from the centre of the scene, as well as this it has a pink hue to it. I used the colour balance and hue/saturation to add a brighter hue.
I moved onto the light source itself (I think I should have done the bar first looking back at it). As well as this I added in the tables. I had to make sure the lighting matched the sofas here and that the placement matched the concept art. I duplicated the shaded tables and added the lighting individually so that the lighting matched the tables location.
I then added in the water fall in the left, it may be a surprise that this is a water fall since it wasn’t well textured in the concept art. I applied the base colour and sectioned out light and shadow before building up the tonal value and blending the tones. I then changed the colour of the water to a pink colour as if the light has changed the water completely.
The two darker panels next to the waterfall are the windows. To show this I made a quick cityscape, I made the buildings with a base colour before adding a lighter gradient at the lower part to show traffic and lights at the street level. I the added square windows, I used the previously mentioned stamp tool for the windows to speed my process up. It looked flat still so I applied a glass texture over the windows and put the layer i=on overlay mode, I decided to add a pink shine to the windows as a final touch so I lightly made some brush strokes and put them on overlay to lighten them as well. These steps made sure that it was clear that there are glass windows before the cityscape and made sure it didn’t look flat.
I then added the chairs, I made them extra light since they are next to the bar so they will be right next to the light source and it wouldn’t look right if the chairs are as dark as the sofas.
I went ahead and created the font above the sunset bar. I made sure the font was bubbly and curvy like in my final concept, I locked the font and then added shading and highlights to make it seem like a glass font light. I added a glow effect to both the font and the main bar to really bring out a light effect where it was needed. They looked rather flat before this so it really helped show that these are my light sources.
The palm trees were probably my absolute favourite idea in the whole night club (other than the sunset bar) so I was so excited to add them in. I sketched them out lightly before building up the colour and cleaning up the tress.
Something you may notice is that the tress in my final concept are actually pink when the trees here in my final piece are blue. You may be wondering why I have decided to change the final colour idea of the trees. The reason being is because the pink palm trees didn’t look good in the scene, they didn’t stand out enough in the final piece.
This is what the scene looked like with pink palm trees, the bar, pink hues of the scene and the water took away the trees contrast when I added polish and detail to the scene, because of how simple the final concept piece is I didn’t consider this possibility then.
The trees felt flat and didn’t feel like holograms so I added a hologram filter over the trees to make them stand out more in the scene. I think they look a lot more interesting now because of the filter, it created a very nice effect.
A nightclub isn’t a nigh club without lights! To add a flare to the piece I added some lights to the scene, to create the effect I made light brush strokes on a low opacity and then applied a circular gradient coming from the corner, it gave the scene a nice cast of light and made everything pop.
The last thing to do was add the hologram pole dancer , I sketched a layout of the pole dancer to figure out a pose and the anatomy of the hologram. I sketched in white so it was clear to see against the background.
I the sketched in detail the character with pink inking, the hair took a few attempts since I wanted to layer up the sections and make it flowing so I had to redo it a few times to get it right. I then rubbed out sections of the hologram to match the palm trees.
To add a finishing touch to the scene I added filters over the whole scene,like with my character sheets, I added a hologram layer and a TV static layer as they are common in a vaporwave setting. It really brought the scene together in the end, it’s so nice to see this finished and it’s even nicer to realise it only took 2 days to make.
What did I find difficult or easy?:
What I found difficult:
- I found the layout tricky to do on a detailed level since interiors are so new to me and I’m still getting used to them.
What I found easy:
- I found the shading on the sofas and bar easy, I used both my painted style and a gradient style to create the final look.
Roxanne's Development Blog (Second year) 