Mid Term Project Proposal

For my midterm project I want to submit a series of concept art related to a visual novel project I plan on working on with several friends. The art will be done as examples of how the game will look, albeit with my art for the project rather than the art of my friends that I will actually use once the programming process of the actual game begins.

Here are the 6 Images I will be submitting for the class:

1. A rough draft of the menu
2. A rough draft of the game-over screen
3. 4 pictures of the characters hand drawn with elements explained via text in photoshop
4. A monologue screen from the main character's perpective
5-6. Two examples of in-game conversation

The target for the presentation would be people I plan on involving in the project, to give them an idea about how the game should look and how they should plan their parts of it. The idea behind the project is distinct since a lot of other people in the major are doing portfolios instead of wholly original work, and  the style is that of game screens instead of just compositions and concept art. All of the pieces are going to be made in photoshop, in some form or another. The main inspiration for the screens in question is the Phoenix Wright series, a similar form of game whose look inspired the aesthetics of the project. The art style is obviously anime influences as most of my drawings are.

Narrative Images

Here is the completed version of the narratives:

The three images are characters from the same story. The text on the top is a monologue from their perspective on the value that is most important to them, displayed in the large word at the bottom.

Malefic is a character whose life has been controlled and used for the benefit of countless people. Because of that, his main goal is to life by his own means and not be controlled by anyone. The pursuit of freedom and escaping his past are his two main motivations.

Judith is a strong willed character whose main motivation is help her people recover from the incidents that occur in the first part of the story. As a fair and just ruler, she embodies the virtue of honor.

As a monster hunter, Leon is a character who constantly puts himself in danger, and would be willing to give his life if necessary, to help protect other people. He embodies the virtue of sacrifice. 

The narrative itself is in a tryptic format using the three primary colors (Red, blue, and yellow) to tint each of the three characters. The colors fade to black and into the next color, representing the unity of the three despite their different outlooks. The repeated background texture enforces this. I could not think of a background that would unify the three very different texts, so I thought the texture would work better for the composition. It also puts more focus on the characters, who need to stand out instead of the text. Without a background image they are more of a centerpiece and less of a part of the background.

Overall I was happy with the composition. The lineart on Judith could've been done better (the leftmost hand trips me up a bit.), but the other two characters were drawn well.

Color Corrections

The first set of images done for the color correction was mostly done to make the bottom original image a bit more dramatic and less blown out. The picture was too light so I added more dark regions, creating a much more dramatic look.

The second set had a different issue. The darks on the bottom were overpowering the lights, so I changed the levels and tones to make more details stand out.

Art Showcase Response

While there were definitely odd pieces in the showcase (particularly the hanging balloons), the showcase had some very interesting pieces as well. The deer head that was linked to the televisions screens, showing the view of the animal was a great installation piece. The photo manipulations on display, especially the one with the sphere in the background were also neat. The aforementioned piece made great use of repeating certain elements of the original shot. and had a very strong composition. The carved boat must've taken an impressive amount of time to make, as the details present were staggering.

The food was also very good. I suppose that much goes without saying.

Compositions

These two compositions were drawn with a tablet in photoshop. The characters are all original ones from several stories I'm working on. The guides broke up the pictures into thirds on the horizontal and vertical planes.

15/30/60 Minute Drawings

Here are the three drawings done for the first week's assignment

The 15 minute was a simple spacescape drawing I did. There were no effects used aside from altering the layer opacities for the shadows and clouds.

The 30 minute drawing was a slightly more complicated landscape picture. The opacities were changed for some layers, and a special brush was used for the grass.

The 60 minute piece was the self-portrait. The text in the background is from the song "Without a Doubt," by the band Betrayal.

Abstract Photos

Here are the photos used in the Composites in the previous posts.

The first if looking down the barrel of a nerf gun. The flash provided a nice effect for the inside of the barrel. The second is of two plastic bottles and a container of dish soap lined up. The last is of the tops of sharpie markers in a container. The flash also provided some interesting lighting in the gaps.