The first week - Thursday - pixel art, a new found appreciation

Thursday, the day after meeting the guys from Codemasters and the thoughts running through my mind on the way to uni were along the lines of 'wow it's pretty nice weather today, I haven't even brought a jumper' and 'hmm I wonder what we're going to do today, and am I going to be able to pull this one off too?!'. Well as it turns out I feel really quite positive and happy after today's lesson.

So the whole day was based around pixel art, for those of you who don't know what it is it's basically creating images at a very low level of detail. The sort of detail that the very old NES games used to be at, 8BIT. So after a little introduction into the art we quickly get jumping straight into making our own, and it's all about making a believable small graphic which can be used over and over again next to one another without getting an obvious edge (also known as 'tiling'). This was used in all the old games to create environments, such as Mario and particularly Zelda (such as the forest areas and ground areas). So we then had a go at making tileable trees before moving onto making character sprites (a sprite is a 2D image that is always facing the screen). Making several sprites of the same character in different poses can give the illusion that it is moving, like running or dancing for example, also know as animation. So we had a quick go at creating our own characters.
My character was actually supposed to be some guy with headphones, a white t-shirt and some jeans dancing; but as the guys kept joking that it looked like Princess Leia from Star Wars I decided to change it slightly so that it looked like princess Leia dancing, and it goes beautiful with 'The Cantina Band' song from the movie. Magic!

I was done a lot more quickly that I had anticipated, an hour before the deadline we'd been set, and as we have been set with some 'homework' which is to create a pixel art version of myself in the style of Lylo and Stich', so I quickly got started on a mood board. Over the weekend I will be looking at creating this character. Have to admit that even though this is not an art style I am used to, it is quite enjoyable and a good experience; and I really look forward to seeing what the outcome will be, I have no doubt the others will have some interesting outcomes too, particularly Simon who happens to be somewhat of an expert at pixel art and clearly showed off his skill today by creating a whole usable character of the 'Zelda' type, along with some background graphics. This guy has talent; though I guess everybody on my course does in different ways, I am just hoping there is something for me out there too.

All in all it has to be said that pixel art is not as easy as it appears. Yes it looks low in quality and doesn't look as good as all this new technology, but by jove it's not easy to master. Essentially you are given the bare minimum to work with to create a believable and immersive world. Hats off to all the guys who worked on some of our favourite games from the NES and SNES generation, not only did you have a very low amount of pixels to work with, but you brought life and emotions to these little squares. Thank you!

8Bit grass

8Bit tiled grass

8Bit tree

8Bit tiled tree graphic, makes a kind of forest

8Bit bricks

8Bit tiled bricks

8Bit test character

my 8Bit dancing Princess Leia. She rocks, doesn't she?!!

The first week - Wednesday - meet the guys from Codemasters

Today I made sure I was on time, early I mean of course, the reason for it? Well a couple of guys from Codemasters came in to talk to us, they basically spent the whole day with us teaching us the tricks of the trade. Primarily how to be a concept artist, which more relevant for Isaac and Emma and less so for the rest of us.

BUT.... that's not to say that there was nothing for us there, far from it. As a designer and 'artist' I am required to know how the industry works and know the roles of the people I will be working with, in addition to this I need to be able to do some concept work myself as it could be that I may need to use it in the smaller companies, or the larger ones even, to put my ideas across.
I particularly liked this because we did not do any high level drawing in the whole day, concept art is just that... concept, it's not polished work, it's not illustration (which we spent a bit of time going through pictures pointing out the difference between the two). We were taught the whole process of getting ideas down and getting from just a brief to having a solid concept idea.

First you start with a mood board; so go on the Internet, this is where Google becomes your best friend, and just type keywords related to your brief and pick out pictures which are relevant to what you want to be designing, such as architecture, shapes, people... this really depends on what you are concepting.

Then you create some thumbnails. This is just plain black and you are silhouetting shapes of what you are trying to design, and you do lot and lot of them. Keep them neat and fill the whole page so that it doesn't look inadequate. Another method you can use is to just start drawing out random shapes, just plain black shapes, doodles. It doesn't have to look like anything. Another way you can do is to use a piece of software called Alchemy, this is just absolutely brilliant. It's a software designed to help draw out random shapes, because it is too easy as humans to draw what we know, this allows you to draw those shapes with a degree of randomness. Check it out, it's free and really easy to use. Then with shapes it's just a case of sitting there looking at them and trying to make out shapes from them, don't forget you have lots and lots of these.

Then you take that shape into photoshop and you use your tablet to brush on some highlights to bring out the shape and give it some depth and to try to show what it is that you can see.

Then you can either sketch is in 3D, top, left, front views if you know exactly what you want to do. OR you can use another free piece of fantastic software from google called google SketchUp.

The guys from Codemasters then basically went through some portfolios online which have been submitter for job applications, and he literally went through these amazing portfolios with very nice pictures but just scrolled straight past them all. Basically if your portfolio consists of amazing pictures of trolls and other disgusting things, you won't get a look in because these exist ALL OVER the Internet. You need to do something with amazing composition, or a subject that makes you stop as you scroll past. Just a tip for all you concept artists out there. Also include your rubbish sketches, the ones that show thought process, different facial shots showing expressions, thumbnailing, these are the things they are looking for.

So by the end of this day I was VERY happy. I had learned that despite my obvious lack of drawing abilities I could still get by as an environment artist, I learnt that your portfolio really has to be different from everything out there, and it needs to only show examples of what you are applying for (for example I have 3D characters I modelled and animated, but i would not include them in my portfolio if I was applying for concept artist or environment artist as it is not relevant, no matter how good the piece of work). And above all, despite them being concept artists, I have gotten myself my first contacts within the industry (other than my lecturers who also worked on big projects for big companies).... fantastic!!

The first week - Tuesday - that dreaded day

So Tuesday, a day I had dreaded since finding out I had been accepted into the course, and even more so when finding out at registration the previous Friday that we would be doing lots of drawing, still life drawing to be precise. Seeing as I am more of a modeller than an artist, this was something I was worried about. I had not done any art of high level for a while, and had broken my hand and been in a cast for 2 months not long previously, so I had every reason to feel very nervous on my way to uni that morning.
Nonetheless I am persistent and did my best to not get found out; as it turns out we have two wannabe concept artists with us, Isaac and Emma (who are just amazing I might add), so it was rather intimidating to see their art work and how easily it came to them.
One thing I had not contemplated was that the others on the course weren't at the same level. Richard, One of the guys who wants to be an environment artist (same as me) was at around the same level as me; and Simon, who wants to be a character artist, was somewhere in between, not quite at the same level as Isaac and Emma but is of a little higher level than Richard and me. So we did still life drawing of a knights Templar's helmet next to its stand. We had an hour to draw it, then we were told to do it again but only given 30mins, then again but had 15mins, then again but 10mins, 5mins, 1min and 30secs. Got pretty crazy by the last 3, literally just drawing vague lines to represent the rough shape. The point of this exercise was to get to become more confident with our drawing (with the 1hr one we were all drawing small lines and looking too much at detail, by the 10mins and 5mins we were much more confident and were drawing the lines in one confident strong go). We were then asked to pick our favourite drawing, mine was the 30mins one, and ask to explain why...... then we were told to rip them up and throw them in the bin!!!!

Another big rule we learnt this day: 'Do not get attached to your work, it does not belong to you' . This is because you are employed by somebody, so any drawings that you do belong them (the client)., if they tell you to destroy, you destroy, if they tell you to change it because they don't like it, don't get upset, if they say they want you elsewhere and somebody else will take over your project even after having spent days working on it, you must agree and it may well be the other guy will screw it up... deal with it.

After lunch we came back and did some more drawing, this time on photoshop using our graphic tablet. As this was the first time using the macs there were some issues with installing the drivers and finding out the log in info, so instead of drawing the helmet again (but digitally) and instead did an art piece based around the phrase 'under the bed'. There was really some interesting ideas within the group.

So by the end of this day I left feeling a mix of emotions, I saw how much I lacked compared to others but at the same time I realised that I wasn't as bad as I had thought and that as an environment artist my level of drawing does not have to be of a high level, just enough to get your ideas across. Good job, really.

The first week - Monday - and so it begins

So the first week has come and gone, and it has been an extremely enjoyable week. I have enjoyed everything that we've done. Each day brought something new and exciting, and I have already been pushed past the limits that I thought I was at.

On Monday we were all together, artists and programmers. The first part of the day was dedicated to doing little things to wake up our creativity. Were were split into groups and given a large A3 sheet of flip paper split into a grid of 4x4 with 4 different coloured marker pens. Then we were told that we need to take it in turns to draw into the boxes an 'apple', but no 2 apples couple be the same. So naturally the first person draws a round apple, the second draw an apple with a bite taken out of it. Then very quickly we come to realise that we'd do well to keep going like this and come up with something original, so then you start getting more creative; one person draws an apple mac book, for example, then the next would draw an image of somebody bobbing for apples, then somebody would draw a toffee apple, an Adam's apple and so on. Trust me when I say this is a lot harder than you'd think, we often had to think hard before each drawing our picture, yet in theory you are only having to do 4 drawings each.

For the next task, the room was split into two groups (we're told from a very early time not to use the 'T-word', also known as team, as this signifies that we are in competition when in truth are all part of the same team working in a studio) So now we are given a number of ipod touch and told to play a game called Horror Racing, fun for about a minute but with many flaws in the design. We are told to analyse the game in all areas we see fit. Then we are told that we need to brainstorm ideas for a sequel while keeping in mind the flaws of the original and steering clear. This was a very nice exercise and had everybody in our group on the same wavelength, artists and programmers, we came up with many many ideas to incorporate into the game. One of the main things we seemed to really want was crazy weapons such as flamethrowers, chainsaws, shotguns and especially a gatling gun (for grabbing things) to be attached to the cars. This task was a lot of fun!!

So then we all come back together and share our ideas with the other group and vice versa. Was interesting to see some very similar ideas while both taking two very different approaches.
For the next task, we were split into groups of 4 (so two groups of 3 and two groups of 4). Again with the ipods we are told to play different 70's retro sci-fi games, such as Space Invaders, Space Inversion 2(pretty much an updated version of space invaders) and some other gems. Then we are asked to share our feedback with the rest of the team. After this we are all sent off into our groups (mine consists of three programmers and one artist (me)), where we are given our first proper brief which we have to work towards. In broad terms the brief is as follows:

You have 10 days to come up with a sequel for the Space Invaders game keeping within the retro 70's look and feel. The ship has to move left and right, and the enemies (invaders) have to move across the screen gradually getting closer to the player.

We are given a lot of other guidelines, some optional and some non-negotiable, which I won't bore you with; But anyway we start brainstorming ideas right away, using the same techniques we had used to brainstorm ideas for the sequel to Horror Racing. We came up with some really good ideas, everything which we said we wrote down on a post-it note and it went up on the board, after a while of doing this we went up to the board and re-grouped them so that we only had the 'essential' elements. With the 'would-like' elements around the edge. After all you don't want to give yourself too much work so soon into the project.

So after sharing our ideas for our sequel with the other groups that was pretty much then end of the day and time for me to head to football trials for the uni team. It went well and I will be going back next week, good times!!

So this was a pretty awesome first day, a lot to take from it. The whole process of brainstorming like I had never done before, I have to admit it is a lot easier with post-it notes. Just write what comes to mind and re-arrange to accommodate your needs. After this day I was very tired but very satisfied with the start to my masters. It was particularly interesting to see the different thought processes between the programmers and artists; the programmers tend to be a lot more logical, whereas the artists just want things to look/be cool, awesome and just generally fun.

'Good question, let me tell you why...'

Right so I know I am basically writting this post right after the other, but it's just to break it up a bit.

So my reasoning for creating this blog is actually quite boring and a little selfish, but I like to think I am countering this by actually sharing it. Don't complain, it's free... gosh! Basically as I have just come to the end of my first week of my masters (so far I've had 4 days) I work from 9-5 Monday to Thursday, with the emphasis of the course being on getting some experience at working in a studio environment, so this is how we work. As I walked back from my course today two things were going through my mind: 'damn it's hot today, weird coz it's been hotter this week than it has all summer. I wonder why that is, maybe...hmm nevermind' and the second thought, being the more important and less off-track, was more of a reflection of my first week as a masters student, having to get up at 7.30 every morning despite getting woken up every night anytime between 2am and 4am by people who would still be heard a mile away if you asked them to whisper.

To put my thoughts in a nutshell, because I have to as they can waver very far at times, is that I had learnt so much in this 1 week. So many things which I had believed or thought in a certain way of the games industry and the way it works, had been twisted and turned on it's head before being made so much clearer, although possibly more complicated in a beautiful way (much like looking at a car engine only knowing what it does but not how, to suddenly knowing what each part does and why). A lot of my fellow artists (just the 5 artists and 10 programmers on this course) had blogs where they posted their work and such. Which is what got me thinking, I could put all my work on there along with my thoughts at the end of each day of what I'd learnt from that session so that I could see how I have progressed, and hopefully it may help some of you out there understand a bit more about what I do.
This blog will also be useful in another way; because the human memory is actually terrible, and the amount of information we forget/lose compared to the amount of things we keep is quite staggering, and when you think about the amount of things you are learning/taking in every single day, it's only natural.

So for me, this blog will serve for 2 main purposes:
First) It will be somewhere for me to dump everything which I have learnt each day. Get it out of my head so that my mind is clutter-free, leaving more room for the creative 'stuff' to do bounce around in there.

and Second) it will be a good way for me to re-visit all the things which I have learnt and may have forgotten. When I start on a project and I feel like I am missing something, I can just come back here and maybe gain inspiration, or just re-remember something useful.

So there, this is why. My next post will contain the things which I have learnt and my thoughts of this past week (what I can remember of it of course). After that I will TRY to update each day, though I cannot promise anything right now.

First Post - a little information never hurt

So.... my first post. I guess I should probably introduce myself and explain the reason why I have decided to start blogging, despite not being much of a blogger-type person.

So as it goes; my name's Stéphane, I was born in France and moved to England at the age of 9. I grew up as a normal teenager, had my friends, played some football, tig (or 'tag' to you Americans), hide and seek, played lots of video games (I basically grew up with the video games industry. As I went through my different phases of my early years, so have video games. I have seen them evolve from the simplicities of the early classics of the Mario Series to the complex and incredibly immersive games of today such as Mass Effect 2).

After the usual boring GCSE's that everybody does and forgets about, I decided to go to college in Nottingham to study Multimedia (e-media) at BTEC level. On this course I learned a whole variety of tools and techniques for various different disciplines, but the one that really stuck with me was working in 3D space and Photoshop. The whole idea behind being able to create something from nothing was just mesmerising. Still, after completing college and getting my certificate I had no intention to carry on with my studies, I just wanted to travel (another of my big passions).

Nonetheless, my mum finally managed to convince me to look into university as there might be something on offer which I would like; and as is often the case she was right, I stumbled upon the course Computer Games Design at The University of Wolverhampton. This course, as the title suggests, was pretty vague and so it consisted of modules covering all sorts of areas; from sound, coding (C++) and storytelling/storyboarding, to 3D character modelling (3DS Max) and level editing (Unreal Engine). So I managed to make it through the full 3 years, somehow coming out with a Ba 2:1(Hons).

Wonderful... not it's time to travel. aaaah finally!! so, 2months backpacking in southern Europe, then off to Malaysia for 6 months where I met up with one of my best friends who was studying out there. Then back to Europe, France more precisely, where I happily worked while trying to regain my French routes. Then back to the town where I grew up in England to earn myself some money. nice!