Final Major project: Pawel Dobosz
Idea Generation
Idea Generation
Idea Generation
Final Game Concept
My Final Idea developed from my initial idea
It's more of a development of the second idea which is based around the beast and a character in a factory that got teleported by a portal. This idea is something that I want to develop on because I like the beast but not the setting so I changed the setting to the Hall of judgement which connects to the story that I made. I want to base this idea around the character and not the beast or the setting just the character that is part of the story with the Rift Sword. This will be a concept art of the character with the story so no game but If I wanted to make it I would use my concept art for my character to animate him and make it into a game but for this project I will focus on concept art which is something I was looking forwards to.
My refined Idea and final idea
It will not be a game that I will be building from scratch. It will just be a art piece for the game that I made the idea for but I will focus on concept art and mainly the character Wildcard. I want to build a concept card which will have my characters design inside it with the primary style and also some additional styles for my characters hood and mask. My sketch is on the left and what I want to make on the right maybe not as much detail for vehicles or any objects but certainty my main character. My character will be animated showing his different ranks in the light legion by changing masks and the rift sword which will change with him.
The main inspiration for my idea is the assassins creed series which has hooded assassins that fight for freedom by eliminating powerful people in different parts of the world. My character has some parts of an assassin but he is mostly a thief that wants nothing to do with the light guardians that protect the hall of judgment that has been interrupted by the dark beast that traps the souls of the greedy but after realizing that he is a guardian he joins the light to fight the beast and his life.
My whole project will be put into stages like:
-Idea Stage
-Design Stage
-Animation Stage
-Design, Animation Stage
-Shadowing Stage
-Background Stage
-Polishing Stage
-Finished product
Some small Details
-Most of it will be made in Photoshop.
-References to the story
-Concept card that will show of my character
Mood boards based on my idea (Idea stage)
Concept art that I did at home which could be used for my project (Idea stage)
Some more character designs for my Main character
I did some work at home to create a concept for my character. I am still not sure If I will use it but it's here as an idea which can be developed at any point but am still going to experiment with different characters and roles to see which one is the best.
The first character on the left is a sketch of the character that I made a home and now drawn in Photoshop by tracing it from the original image that I made of it at home of the character. The character overall is good but I don't think it matches my description so he will stay as an early concept that will probably not be finished or implemented into the final drawing. As for the details of the character I can say that the hat does not look how I wanted it to look like but it's an early sketch that would probably be sketched again before even developing further so the hat would be fixed as for the character himself I like the look of him but he just does not fit my theme for this project so I will try something different. Then I found an image of an adventurer which sparked on Idea in me so I decided to trace him and see how he looked in Photoshop but I found no luck with this character as he still did not look like the character I wanted because I messed up the face and the overall character did not look how I wanted my character to look like so I left him be as an early sketch or an idea for a character that I had in mind. Lastly I made a moving character by searching for a template for a moving body that I could edit an alternate to my liking and I made this character on the right which looks more like an assassin with a hood and the Rift Sword on his back which already made him look like a character that I wanted him to be so I will develop further into this character and see what I can do with it. The first thing I will do will be a copy that I can edit and play around with it at any time. I will probably make some more sketches to develop some more ideas for my character.
Pet Moodboard (Idea stage)
I am going to focus on the pet that my character has on his shoulder. This pet is used as a scouting radar that helps the main character steal things around town. The main feature of the pet would be its eyes that help him scout areas around him. The pet would be set on the main character's shoulder and it would be digital like a watch or a band but on a shoulder.
Early sketches for my Rift Sword (Idea stage)
After drawing some sketches of my character I moved onto drawing the Rift Sword itself that is very important for my game and also the story which will be based on the sword and how it can rip through the air to create an alternate reality that can teleport the player somewhere else around the map. The first sword I made was the sword on the right which was a two-minute job that I wanted to see what I could make in two minutes and I made this a Rift Sword. The Sword on the left is more of a katana that I think looks cooler than the sword on the right and both were done in two minutes which was more of a challenge for me than actually making the sword because I was testing myself on how much can I do in two minutes and how much detail I can do in that time.
Wildcards Personality mind map (Idea stage)
Wildcards personality Minp map
New Wildcard personality Minp map
The story for Wildcard finished
As time went by I started to make more designs of Wildcard in my spare time that did not match the Idea that I described in my initial concept for my character. But they inspired me to not work on the design that I chose before but to do more research and so I did and found a cool assassin outfit which inspired me to work on the other designs that I made and this is the outcome the image on the left is a ninja/assassin character that started everything again for me because I liked the design at first with the swords and the overall outfit of the character. I used this as a template for the next design that I liked the most because it made him look like a thief which was something I was going for so I designed further and added details to match the story to the character and liked the hood which made him look like an assassin but also a thief and a guardian which he is in the story. He also has the light symbol on his jacket because he is a guardian of light. Lastly, on the left arm, he has features that reference cards and card symbols which in the end made me think of a thief because In my opinion a lot of thieves Gamble so I make sense. The only thing remaining was the name for my character which I started to research.
I decided to call my main character Wildcard because I think it suited my character the best out of everything I researched. I like the concept of him being unpredictable at any time in the story and also opens a gate of freedom for me to play around with the character because of how unpredictable he can be so I can make him do anything and it will make no difference in the story.
Wildcard concept art (Idea stage)
Wildcard concept art added the mask (Idea stage)
This is my first time adding anything to the face after the initial drawing which was done at college. I spent some time at home drawing Wildcard and this was the result that I ended up with three designs that I liked but needed improving. I mostly like the design on the left because of how mysterious it makes him be and that anything could be behind that mask while the middle one has the face and I think that I make him to plain and basic. The third one looks the most out of place because I tried to do a mechanical face which failed but still could be improved after.
Some other designs can be found on my skill building page where I experiment with different designs.
Different style for Wildcard (Design stage)
I have done some work at home to work on my character (Wildcard) I added a cloak over him and I also added the bottom half of him which includes the legs and shoes and I am still not sure on the shoes but I will work on that a home to create more concept on him. I am unhappy about the hands and I need to do them again to making them better because now they look bad and very disproportionate.
Different styles for Wildcard hoods (Design stage)
today I wanted to work on masks and faces to workout what I want for my characters face and how the mask will look like. The masks at the top are tests that I did at the start to workout how I wanted my faces to look and if I wanted them to be simple and easy to draw or be very complex and hard to draw. This was something I had to figure out before making the end product to see if it worth spending so much time on because I was going to be making this every time I draw my character. These will probably not be the end products for the character but they are an idea that I will work on.
Different styles for Wildcard motion (Design stage)
These are some of my designs that I did for Wildcard which is showing him doing an activity that I he would do in the story/game. The first one shows Wildcard with his Swords that he uses to kill the beast in the story. This is the design that I worked on at the start of the idea generation stage for this idea this character was improved on since he was last seen by adding the mask and the sword which got improved to the sword that are suppose to be the Rift Swords that he wears on his back. Overall I am happy with his design but the mask just seems not right so if I get time I will work on improving it more to make it look like a hood with a mask. The second character is Wildcard who got restyled by giving him a long jacket and the bottom half of him which I did not do in the original design. In this image he is pulling out his sword which is clipped to a holder on his back. I think that the hand could still be developed by adding detail to the hand which has the cards on it. The last character is the dynamic pose of Wildcard while running. This still could be redone because I used a template for the body because I could not figure out how to do it so I started with a template to help and guide me during drawing. His body could still be improved by adding details that he has on his original drawing because he only has detail on his left hand and the face.
Wildcard concept art improved (Idea stage, Design stage)
I started to do my final piece which will be a concept of Wildcard my main character in the story that I wrote before doing the character himself I think he turned out great with small details of playing cards and the sun symbol which is connected to my story. I really wanted to bring the character to life with his personality and his nickname which represents a playing card. I am still not sure on the back of the character but I will do it again and see if I can develop it a bit more with more details. I like the one in the middle because of the sword and the holder for the sword but I don't like the belt that is holding the sword.
I chose only one of the masks that I have drawn before because the rest just did not fit the style that I was going for at the time but I still went for a face that was shown but I think that this face is better because of the emotion on his face which shows him unhappy and confused just like in the story.
Working with T poses (Idea stage, Design stage)
T-Pose
P-Pose
The T Pose was created because it not only keeps the arms away from the boy to make it easier to rig the arm properly, but also because there aren't many muscles being utilized that have to be taken into account when moving a character into a sitting pose or a walking animation. This is mostly useful for 3D modelers who rig characters to make them do certain activities like sitting or running all of this must be rigged or the character would be stuck in a T pose which is something customers and designers don't wont because this would mean that there is no animation or there is a glitch with the game that glitch the character in a T pose or an A pose both T pose and A pose are used in the 3D modeling team but recently there is starting to be more A poses than T poses because it is more natural for the Artists and the 3D modelers don't mind because it does not change any thing it's just natural in an A pose. Also a T pose could cause textures to stretch which is something 3D modelers want to avoid.
Wildcard concept art with colour (Design stage)
I have chosen to add colour to my concept to see if it will change anything and it did. Wildcard looks better with colour because it adds more character to him and how he is as a person. Firstly I made the light blue version which I liked at the start but then after doing it further, I started to realize that the colour should be darker since he is a thief so I finished it off and left it. Then I move onto the ocean blue version which I really like and I might even pick it. I Like the contrast with the grey on his clothes and the mask which is dark grey. Another one I like is the dark red one which is also my favourite. I have to decide on which one I want to go with because from next week I will start developing him so I have to decide before then.
Wildcard concept art in Illustrator (Design stage)
Today I spent most of my time doing skill building in Illustrator but also I did do Wildcard which turned out fine but not perfect he still needs a lot of detail and the cards them self need development but this is a visual representation of what I want at the end of this project a character with different styles and descriptions around it why I chose some of the details. I will still try to finish this to show a real representation of what I want before doing it.
Wildcard GIF
Wildcard GIF (Design, Animation stage)
As a starter for today's session I made Wildcard change hoods and masks. I did this by placing the hoods over him and then made it into a GIF which ended up like this. I think this is what I want for my final animation/Concept art for him to change masks as he is presented on the page. the only thing missing is the cards in the background which I am working on.
Cards in the background idea (Idea stage)
I did some sketching on how I want the cards to be set as when I am done with the character and ready to put him inside these cards they are marked by the titles of the things that are suppose to be inside. This might be changed and developed in the making of the the final piece but hopefully not to much so I can have a small template on how I want it to look like. The descriptions will be placed around the cards and outside to make the most of out the space for the page. I want this page to be filled with ideas and concept art and how I came up with it.
Cards in the background with Wildcard (Design stage)
I went back into Photoshop after making a mock on Illustrator and made the cards in there. i am still not sure If this is how I want everything to be laid out. This is still a concept so I can work on it before the final decision which will be next week on the 1st April. Some of the cards still feel raw and need detail added to them but this is one of the first visual looks at my idea which needed explaining before now I can show them this image then I am describing it to show my idea.
Backs for Wildcard (Design stage)
After working on the front of the character for about two weeks now I wanted to work on the back of the character to finally add the Rift Sword which is a very important piece of the story and also the character himself. I had no ideas before doing this just Ideas that is the one on the left which is plain and without the sword because I had no ideas on how to do the sword are any part of the back so I placed the one on the left on my concept for a filler which is now going to be replaced by one of the two I made. It will be hard for me to chose between them both because I like the sword and the holder on the middle one but I also like the card design on the one on the right which give Wildcard a bit more character of who he is and what his nickname stands for. It will be hard to chose between both so I will as for some feedback from classmates to see which one they like the most.
Final choice for the back (Design stage)
After asking my classmate the one in the middle won but it needs some improvements like the belt which does not connect with the front of the character which will be addressed in the final version but it was most liked because of the sword and the holder but the other one also had a lot of support because it gave Wildcard some character and who he was but overall the one in the middle won which will be the design on the end product but developed with the belt on the back and the front.
Wildcard GIF Updated (Design, Animation stage)
Small update to the GIF that I made in Photoshop. With the back being added in for the effect as for everything else nothing has changed and I know of the problem with the belt which will be changed for the final version.
Wildcard Illustrator Updated (Design stage)
After updating the GIF I moved back onto Illustrator to work on the mock and I have to say the cards look better in Illustrator but this is because of the shapes that it is made of are vector graphics which means that they are sharp and perfect. I am thinking on making the cards in Illustrator and then import them into Photoshop because they just look better in my opinion also the character himself looks sharp and different from the Photoshop edition which looks a bit unclear in some areas. Overall this is just a small update to the mock to make it up to date. I use this as Skill building because I further develop my skills in Illustrator and make a mock for my final concept.
Wildcard GIF Final before making (Design, Animation stage)
This is probably the final version of Wildcard before making it because I updated the back which now has no belt but the holder is clipped to his back which just makes it easier for me to make it without the belt that would make me do the front again which is something I don't want to do right now because I don't have time to make the front again. I did not intend to change this before making him but I had some spare time at lunch which I used towards this improvement for my character. I find the belt useless because the rest of it could not be used because I did not have any ideas what to add there so I just deleted it all for space and for some Easter eggs that I will add at the end.
Wildcard with shadows work in progress (Shadowing stage)
I made the shadows for Wildcard to add realism to him and make him seem more human. I think I am starting to get the idea of what he could look like with shadows applied. The only negative is the hood on the right. I think that the color needs improving and making it lighter but that will be done after the Easter break to finilize my idea and start making him.
Wildcard with shadows finished (Shadowing stage)
The shadows are all done and ready for me to animate. I like how it turned out with the shadows it certainly gave it life and emotion with the different shades of blue that I used and also the grey that complements the blue in a way that I like it. The only negative that I can see when I am looking at it now is that the hood with the face has unfinished shadowing on the hood. This will be fixed during the animation stage which will be the next stage of my process to finish my character design
Wildcard with shadows and animation (Animation stage)
The animation stage is over and now I am ready to start working on the background which is second to last thing that my character design needs. Overall I am very happy with my progress and how my character has developed over the weeks of development that I had. Then I look at early concepts of my character it feels like a totally different character that someone else made because this version of him seems to have something different in him like the character matured over the development stage and also the Idea stage because the base body is still the same as I planned but everything else is different and unlike anything else I ever made.
Wildcard background idea (Background stage)
This is the idea I had at the start of my character development to have playing cards in the background and I am sticking with it for now but I might change it after if I don't like it drawn.
Wildcard background idea (Background stage)
My idea for the background is done but I am not sure if it will stay or not because I think that I can do something better than this but If I run out of time this will be my final background and this leaves me with the descriptions that will be on each side of the character to talk about small details that I have implemented into the character.
After drawing the background I feel that the red is taking the most focus and even maybe to much so I am going to be working on it to fix this. A way to fix this would be changing the colour red into the colour grey to match my character and to take away the focus of the red.
I have changed the colour of the red to a grey and this is the result. I think this is better than the one before it because It does not take that much focus off the main character. For an improvement I would change the opacity to be a bit lower to hide the background even more. This will be done on Monday because I can not access Photoshop right now but I will change it and report it on my website.
This time I changed the colour to the same colour as Wildcards clothes to see if it would look better than the blue that was used on the main idea. The result is interesting but I think that it is too much and starts to blend the character with the background because of this some details could not be seen which is something I don't want so I am going to be experimenting further to find a perfect background.
Wildcards Descriptions (Polishing stage)
I started to work on the descriptions for Wildcard and most of them are done it's more about the layout of the text which is something I am still working on but the descriptions themselves are done they explain what each thing stands for and a bit of back story to Wildcard and what happened to him after the main story. A problem that I have spotted is that the background does not work with the text which is troubling but I will work it out soon. If I don't find a way to have both I will make two versions of the same character but one with a background and the other with the descriptions but this will only happen if I don't find a way to have both another thing I could try is having a plain background with text but I need to think about it.
Wildcards Descriptions Improved (Polishing stage)
This is the improve version of the descriptions with a different layout which I like because it has some kind of structure to it with the hoods on the right having there own category which show his development after the story which is something I like.
Wildcards Descriptions with background (Polishing stage)
I'm really not sure which one I like to be honest because now after turning down the opacity of the background it is starting to look good and filled just like the example that I used at the start of this idea that had the main character with descriptions and a background and mine is starting to look just like that which I said I would do.
Wildcards Ranks in The Light legion (Polishing stage)
This GIF represents the ranks that Wildcard had to go through to become a Master Guardian which is the highest rank possible in The Light Legion. I still need to work on the text because I don't like the font that it uses but that will be polished and finished next week.
Wildcards Ranks in The Light legion Improved (Polishing stage)
So I did some improving and this is the result I moved the text down to the bottom left and changed the font from Arial to Bauhaus 93. I like how it turned out I think that the text looks more professional on the bottom than on the top because it does not interrupt the character himself he gets the most focus right now and not the text which is something I wanted.
Working with different Ideas for backgrounds(Background stage)
I am still on sure on my background because on one hand I want something like the cards that I said I would do but on the over hand I am experimenting with different ideas for the background and I think I like them but the only problem with that would be copyright because it would take to long to draw one o those backgrounds which could cause me to work with my original background with the cards but still I will experiment and after I do some more experimenting I will ask my tutor what he thinks of me adding a different background and If it's fine to use it if it's not then I am sticking with my background that I made before.
A background I like (Background stage)
This background is the best background that I found so far and I like it because it's an image of a void which connects to my story of Wildcard. I will be considering using this background if I am allowed to use it.
Wildcard Upgrading the Rift Sword (Polishing stage)
I made the Rift Sword change colour to symbolize Wildcards progress through the Ranks in The Light Legion. I think that this improvement gives the character some depth because it shows his progress in life. The final Rift sword is the first sword I made but I think it matches with his final tier which is the Master Guardian Rank.
Wildcards Descriptions with a new background (Polishing stage)
This is the version with the text which I think looks good in my opinion because it gives my character some contrast between the background and the character also the text fits in with the background which is good the only concern I have is that the text is unreadable because it is black on a dark background so I might try doing the text white to see if it works any better.
The background drawn (Background stage)
The background does not look as good as the background that I used before but it's mine so I can do anything I want with it but I still will try to use the other one if I can. I am nearly done with the background stage the only thing I need now is the confirmation that I can use the background that I liked. As for the project as a whole after the background stage is just finishing touches with the continuation of the Polishing stage which is the finial stage where I am going to be going over my character again to make the outlines really stick out and it will be ready.
Looking back at my work
when I first started to work on my character I have no idea of what I was going to be doing because I had no base or a story that I could base my character of. So firstly I thought of my story which was like two sentences at the time with a basic idea of an adventurer and a portal that teleported him to a different dimension. This idea was enough for me to start working on my character that firstly turned out to be an adventurer with details that showed more of an American style with cowboys and the boots and the hat. I was ready to start working fully on the character but he was scrapped soon after finishing him because I was ready to try something else so I went for a character that was in a running position because he would have to run a lot in the different dimension that he was in but the character never got finished because I got inspired by the assassins creed series of games which I played at the time and I liked the characters so I tried to draw my own and that's how the first concept for Wildcard came around. He had no detail at the start just a simple figure with a mask and a hood which was a symbol for the assassins. This character for me was more of a challenge that would need me to do a lot of work again which I already had with the cowboy and the running character but I kept to my guts and worked on it further and started work on the masks which was a big deal for the character because it gave him an identity of being mysterious which I liked after doing the mask I started to work on the details like the cards on his left arm because I made him a thief in his local town and it made sense for me that he probably gambled a lot. following that, I added the clover for luck which he had while playing cards and it's a clover which is one of the symbols on the playing cards that I researched. The story was already fully written at this time with some small details changed from the original like the temple getting changed to a cave and the factory to a hall of judgment but there are still hints of the factory like machines that blur in the shadows. Also Wildcard was made a protector light because he defeated the beast which infested the halls for years and he was chosen by the light that guided him throughout the story so I added the light symbol on his clothes to show that he was with the light which is part of the story and the core on his arm which was also a symbol of light like an energy source that the light people use to survive. After preparing all of that I moved onto the Rift Sword which I already made for the running character but I wanted it to be with this story so I added the Sword to his back and then worked on the masks which needed improvement in some places.
Adding outlines to Wildcard (Polishing stage)
This is my final stage for Wildcard just some small improvements like outlines and adding colour to places that that I have missed or got lost during production. After this there is only adding descriptions to the new version and it's done. I could improve on the back because it seems to have not much going on but it's too later now. Overall I am happy with my progress because I still have about one and a half week before the end of the project and I am done with the production and the improvements for my character so this leave me with the website which still can be improved.
Adding outlines to Wildcard (Polishing stage)
This is the actual outlines that I did for Wildcard on a white background to let you see what got changed because it can be hard to see on a small image which I posted today so this is the outlines which got improved. Some areas can be seen that are empty or not done this is because they where good and did not need any outlines. This is probably my final improvement before posting the final product which will be done today.
Final Concept for Wildcard (Finished product)
Final Concept for Wildcard with Descriptions (Finished product)
Final Concept for Wildcard with The drawn Background (Finished product)
Wildcard PDF for the Descriptions (Finished product)
Final Reflection on the production of Wildcard (Finished product)
This is it I have finished producing Wildcard. His production started from an Idea that I had at the end of the Idea generation stage which was connected to the research that I did at the start of the project. Firstly the idea was to make a 2D game which was based around the idea of a dark factory and a beast which the character had to run from avoiding any obstacles that where in the characters way but it was mostly scrapped after I did some work on other ideas which I researched during idea generation. These stretched from Ancient Egypt to cars which where fun to explore but in the end I ended up picking the idea that I started with as my second Idea out of five that I made.
This time when I came back I looked at a different side of the story and I looked into character design which I was interested in at the time because I wanted to do something different and challenging. So I started work on the character which was now the main focus of my project at the start I was not sure of what I wanted my character to look like so I did some work around cowboys and adventurers like Indiana Jones. This was a good start to just get my ideas flowing. After that I worked on running positions to see if I can do it and to see if it fits into my character which I created during the story that was done before designing to give me ideas for the character at the start I left some holes in the story which could be changed at anytime to fit my character so I called him a hooded man to leave space for me to think of a name for the main character later on during the project where I created a Mind map of what I wanted my character to have and how he will behave in the story and his appearance which was something that was unclear at the start but developed as I went along.
Most of my development was based around trail and error with the me testing different styles for the character from a cowboy to a modern thief which developed with my experiences like assassins creed which I like and found a lot of inspiration from like the hood and the overall style for him which made him mysterious. This was during the existing research time which I researched the assassins creed. The overall style for Wildcard was to connect him to the story which he represents by him appearance like the cards which he was known for because he was a thief and most thief's gamble so that's the connection then the light symbol which is directly connected to the story and how he becomes a guardian.
His overall figure is simple and easy to redraw especially the hood which became second nature now after doing it so many times during the development of the masks which are documented mostly on the skill building section of my website where I tested a lot of different masks and designs. At the start I wanted him to be a character in Photoshop but ended up using some Illustrator and some animation which can be seen on the sword and the hoods which change every two seconds this was something I wanted but I did not prioritize during the development of the character. In the end I ended up with animating the character because I had the time which was because of the checklist that I made at the start. It has really helped me during the project because I knew what needed to be done during each week which really helped with my overall planning and production also I knew that I could not make the same mistakes as I did in the project before.
My overall weakness that I found in the project before was planning and organisation. That I was normally good at but during that project I could not do it which really weakened me and my performance during that project so in the end reflection I said I would work on this and I did so and now I am done before my deadline which gives me a lot of time to develop my website and fix any mistakes that happen to be found before the deadline.
Going back to Wildcard I feel that his overall development went smoothly after finding my way around Photoshop that I always wanted to do in secondary school but never got the chance to do so. The shadowing stage was sometimes annoying then I tried to do something but ended up working on something else then coming back and then changing it and then the Easter break which was right in the middle of my shadowing stage which gave me a break and then made me work on things that I did two weeks ago which was hard to do after a break but I quickly got back to it. If you look closely there is some colour changes that where caused by the break but they are small so I did not change them because this is suppose to be a concept that would be recreated again into a 2D form or a 3D character that would get recolored anyways so I did not change it.
This project has challenged me to do something else which I was scared off because I felt that I could not draw a character because I had to follow a certain path that was layed out by professionals but it was different and enjoyable for me to do something different and I found the overall project very fun and let me develop some other skills that I did not think I could do. Wildcards full development can be seen on my website. If I make it to year two of the course I will do something else like 3D or Level Design because after a full project of concept art I feel a bit burned out but it was nice having the chance to do a drawing project because I always wanted to do a drawing project but now I am ready to do something else which is good because I will get a chance again to gain new skill which will help me in the industry.