Monday, 30 April 2012

Artefact 4 + 5 300 word ratonale


 Artefact 4


Artefact 4 has been an exploration in realistic cloth folds, creases and drapery. The majority of the clothing is made out of soft materials. I gathered reference images, watched a number of tutorials to train my eye to observe the way cloth reacts with the body's contours. Creating good looking drapery, folds etc has got to be one of the most challenging tasks I have undertaken as an artist. Even if they are even slightly incorrect they make the model look awkward. This in turn reminds the viewer that there looking at something synthetic, and less believable. Drapery reacts to gravity dependant on the weight and type of material, and has anchor points where the folds, creases start from. It bunches up if it is a lighter material, on the backs of the legs you get a kind of zig zags where the material is being stretched across the surface. There a lot of different factors which change the way the material flows and is perceived depending on the situation.
Creating realistic hands was another big challenge; I used my own had as reference and some literature that come with one of the tutorials on best practises for creating heads and hands. We look at hands as regularly as faces, so again if they are not given the right attention. This can belie the sense of reality, and betray the model. There are so many complexities to the anatomy of the hands, that it would be easy to make mistakes, I sculpted that part of the model more than I would have expected.
I endeavoured to include elements that added interest and cohesiveness with the rest of the characters attire. For example battle damage on the leather chest area and belt, which connected the idea of the long years of battle, this also links to that of his facial scars and weariness.






















































































Artefact 5

 
This artefact focussed on how sss (sub surface scattering), textures, colour theory and shaders work together to create a more cohesive model. The colours from the head texture were used as a base to start the rest of the design. Colour theory was an element I had not talked about in much depth in the research document, I wanted to rectify this. Colour theory is the bases of all texture work, and pushes the model further and to use colour effectively in design you need to follow some guidelines on the implementation of it.
I used colours with a peaceful tone to them, using mostly complimentary colours directly opposite each other on a colour wheel to emphasise the characters peaceful, and pure demeanour. In western cultures certain colours evoke an emotional response, creating a perception of what a character stands for; black and red is perceived to be inherently evil, whereas white, blues and greens, depending on the hue are generally seen as something more calm, pure and welcoming.

Once again I tuned to a professional for their opinion about what I had created; I gained better insight into the creation of realistic drapery and design ideas from Adam Fisher, an Australian freelance character artist who was nice enough to do paint over of a few shots I asked him to look at.  It was an eye opening experience from his critiques I learnt that a good percentage of the improvements he had suggested, was not a shock to me, It was a positive outcome to know all the hard work I have been doing in developing characters had started to pay off.
I tested sub surface scattering and shader creation for the first time in zbrush, sss is found in when light bleeds through certain object like skin, and bounces back out again which leaves a subtle glow like effect. CG Skin can look lifeless without this key aspect that integrates with other effects E.G Ambient Occlusion and specular highlights.























































 

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