Keep working

Hello! First off I'd like to say that I'll be using  wix  to post my weekly ramblings, so check me out here:

Carla Chanquia Art

I should've done this post a while ago but I have been crazy busy trying to manage the DMU Taekwondo team. There's always something that needs sorting and it is stressful. I have to admit that it does consume a good chunk of my time which it isn't great in terms of uni work. I know that as the year progresses it'll be less and less busy so I just try to stay calm and carry on.

The last week of this project was mostly dedicated on producing a final illustration of my character with commercial purposes. I had a couple of ideas in mind but this scene is the one that seemed to work best.
Making the initial compsition was easy, it was the painting part that scared me the most. I put some lighting information in the shape of arrows, hoping it will help me paint the character.

I started by applying colour straight away but I did have a black and white layer on top in order to check the painting's overall values. The worst part? Definetely the armour. It didn't look or feel metalic, it didn't look sleek and shiny and it made me very frustrated. I looked at other artist's work to figure out how they tackled this issue and tried to follow their technique. I also struggled a little bit with the background as sometimes it seemed to overpower my character. Perhaps I could've pushed the buildings further away, so that the middle ground would pop up a bit more.

This is my final piece. I am happy with it as I learned so much about digital painting. I tried new tools (such as the awesome burn tool) and new techniques. I also feel more confident painting armour even though it still needs work. The main issue it that it looks to 'paintily', in other words, it doesn't look very realistic. The feedback I got from my tutors is that if I want to push my grade into the 70s I need to make it look more realistic. They recomended using photographic textures as well as grunging up the scene. I need more material definition, and that's what I plan to do during the last week of the term (it's the only week we have time to go back to our projects and refine them). 

I know I can do better! Until next time!

Carla.

silent hero

Hello everyone! This week has been pretty good except for the fact that I contracted a cold which has left me with no voice... The best thing is that I had to work on the DMU open day and talk to people. Anyway, this cold has slowed my progress down this week which means I am behind schedule in terms of what I should be working on atm. I do not want to skip any bits of process in order to finish the project, therefore it is time to step up my game and work harder.

So, I iterated some more, trying to push the high fashion theme and I really like some of the ideas in here. At this point though, because I hadn't spoken to anyone I wasn't very sure how to push the avant-garde concepts. I was afraid that my character would look like a fashionista rather than an armoured hero. In the end, I decided to go for the bottom right design as it looks like a safe yet cool design.

I did iterate a little bit the original design in order to find out what outfit would suit him better. I felt that baggy trousers were not the way to go for an agile sneaky armoured character and in the end the urban outfit was the one that appealed to me the most. I also struggled deciding what to do with the face 'glasses?helmet?headband?goggles?'

while deciding what to do with the face, my boyfriend who always gives me constructive critisism on my designs, had the idea of making my character wear a mask, like the Venetian ones. An expressionless, cold, mysterious mask. Then I took the basic concept and turned it into a futuristic mask. The idea was to have a predominantly metal mask with subtle neon lights going through it.

Once the design was complete, it was time for colouring! I created my colour palettes by picking them from my mood boards. Halfway through the process I realised that the colours that worked better were the ones that were close to each other in the colour palette with the addition of one or two complementaries. Also, my character is a city hero and being realistic, he wouldn't look like a neon sign for everyone to notice him. therefore I chose the more subtle, darker palettes.

And this is my final design, I wanted to do more texture exploration but a tutor came to see me yesterday and he said that I need to start working on the final illustrations and then come back to finish off my designs. He also said that he liked my character exploration and that I gave a wide verity of styles to choose from and from an Art director point of view, that's very good. Him an another teacher agreed that with some direction earlier on, perhaps I could've pushed more the avant-garde idea, but overall, they are happy.

Well, this is it for now, next step is making a cool illustration (hopefully more than one..), until next time, bye!

1,2,3!

Hello! I'm back here with plenty of things to talk about! ( I doubt I will be able to explain everything in this post). Summer was good, specially the two weeks I spent in Spain, it helped me switch off from everything and recharge my batteries for this coming year.

Throughout the holidays, I had an ongoing internal debate with myself about my future as well as my aspirations and ambitions. I had been so lost on my second year that I ended up quite torn inside by the time summer came. I wasn't happy, I tried to embrace every aspect of game art as a second year (don't get me wrong, I did enjoy the projects) but in the end, I didn't even know what I enjoyed to do anymore, I had lost my spark, my flame was slowly dying. If I were to survive 3rd year I had to do something about this situation and so I looked deep within me and eventually found the answer I have known all along 'I want to do 2D'.  I believe it was towards the end of my first year that I felt that my 2D wasn't good enough and compared to other people in my course, I had no chance to become a concept artist. I was afraid and intimidated so I tried to focus on other aspects of game art in order to find something else that I could do. Now I realise that I was a fool. I don't regret what I learned on my second year, but I am angry for giving up on myself and for not having the courage to carry on no matter what. But I will not run away anymore, I know I have a long road ahead but I am ready! I will face any obstacles head on, no matter what I have to do, I will become the artist I want to be, however long that process might be!

For the first time in a long time I feel like I am myself once again, confident and eager for adventure! Being chairwoman of the Taekwondo club has also helped me shine once again. So many people are dependent on me and my decisions that I had no choice but to (excuse me for the language) 'grow a pair of balls'. So I have dusted myself off and honestly, I have started to learn to care less about what others might think.

Well, emotional stuff aside, a good chunk of my summer has been dedicated to plan the coming Taekwondo year and being leader has been tough! It is hard to 'let go' of your power. What I mean by that is that sometimes I take on tasks that other committee members should be doing because it is easier to do it myself. It is also hard to keep a good balance of discipline and friendliness, but I always try to have a diplomatic attitude no matter the situation.

                         Yep, that's me (the red belt) on DMU's matriculation ceremony.

And because of taekwondo related activities + lack of money I have missed plenty of gaming related events such as industry workshops and EGX...It really sucks not being able to go to those places but I hope to go at some point in the future.

Last but not least I would like to talk about this first week back at uni, which has been...surprising.

I went into our first lecture with no idea of what my third year was going to be like and I came out very excited! For us third years, they have created this style matrix which means every single one of us can specialise either on 3D, 2D or VFX /UI. We have a wide range of briefs to choose from and each one of them is tailored to a specific style.
I have chosen to go for the 2D oriented ones and my goal is to do a realistic, a semi-stylised and a fully stylised project. I want to have a verity of styles on my portfolio which in theory, should make me more employable in the future.

The first project I have chosen is a realistic brief, to be specific, the armoured character project. The tasks are pretty straight forward, gather reference material, concept, iterate, colour test and create a final illustration of the character. The challenge is making it realistic. My drawing is slightly stylised (do to the many years drawing manga...) and I will have to try hard to stay within the realism realm.

Considering this year is about pushing myself and my skills I though 'because making a realistic character isn't enough of challenge, let's create a futuristic character!' I never do sci-fi, like ever. I always thought it's awesome but I am more drawn to fantasy, medieval and organic looking things in general. I have always struggled to draw futuristic things, but hey, I can't run away from this forever!

I started off with a military mood board to observe how contemporary armor looks like, and to understand how technology can enhance a soldier's strength. Then I moved into a more urban style of armor, more sleek and futuristic. And then I moved onto my ultimate goal, to make my armoured hero a cyber/arcade/avant-garde looking character.

And these are my first set of characters I created. I have struggled with every single one of them, I just didn't know how to draw armour. I used line drawing for all of them and some took well over an hour to make...I know, it is embarrassing. I could've photobashed images or work with silhouettes but I think working with a brush has helped me understand their shapes and their functionality better. Also, I probably won't get a better time to take my time to analyse what I am doing than university because once I get a job, everything will be 'produce stuff quickly!'.

Anyhow, my main concern is how much can I push the futuristic design before it loses its sense of realism. I was meant to see a tutor on Friday to discuss my project but no one came to see me (they ran out of time) and it left me with all these doubts on how to go about this project. I am annoyed because everyone got feedback except me...So I'll trust my instincts and carry on with what I had in mind, maybe I'll get to talk with someone next time.

I want to push some of my designs forward, once happy with them I will move onto material definition and colour testing. Finally I will make orthographic views of my character and a final highly rendered illustration.

And this is it for now, until next time!

Carla.

A little sunshine

Hi, I know I haven't been posting much recently but I have been pretty busy...I have also been worrying quite a lot about results day BUT results were given on the 30th of June and I got 65% or a 2:1 which it is awesome! I thought I was going to get a 2:2 therefore I was incredibly happy to find out that I did better than I expected. What surprised me the most was having 70% on Critical Studies and Visual Design which has given me a boost of confidence towards next year. On the other side I thought my Game Production module would sit at 60% but it went down to 56%... I know 3D is my weakest aspect and I need to work on it if I want to have an awesome looking FMP.

Therefore, happy times! If I work twice as hard as I did this year, I am in the position where I could achieve a first on my degree.

And results aside, I have been sorting out accommodation for next year as well as my holidays. I recently realised that my passport has expired and I have a month to renew it before I have to go to Spain (I already booked my tickets), yes I know I should've done it earlier but I already have an appointment with the Spanish embassy in London and I should be okay...

I have also been doing some speed paintings from time to time although I struggle to put in enough detail in 30min...and I hate them all afterwards. For some reason I seem to struggle to blend colours and define shapes. I feel like I haven't found that one brush that works with my style of drawing and painting. I guess I'll keep experimenting and see what happens...

It is so much easier to grab a a pen and make random doodles on a page. I suppose it is partially due to the fact I have been drawing with a pen since I was a 3 year old. I don't think on how to use the tool anymore, I know exactly how to be gentle and harsh with it, I am in control of my strokes and line work, I just let imagination shape what I have in mind. I just wish I was the same with digital media, it is definitely harder to handle than traditional media. There are too many options, too many tools!

To conclude this post I just want to talk about some of my sketches I did a few days ago around Leicester. For those Game Art students and Alumni who are still around, we meet from time to time to sketch together around the city. It is a great idea since I don't really like to go out by myself and draw in the cold weather even though it is summer (English weather yay...)

I was planing on going to some art lessons over the summer but money isn't too good so it is great to be able to keep practicing my traditional art skills.

And this is it from me, I'll be going home in a week and get my passport sorted! Oh yes, I almost forgot, there is something I am working on but it is a secret (I don't want to get my hopes to high..)

Until next time!

Carla.

Awaiting for results

Hello! I know I should have posted a while ago but I've just been procrastinating the task...I guess I've just been very bored since I parted off from uni...I have been doing my own stuff but it is not the same as working at uni.

Anyhow, I went to the DMU Game Art degree show about a week ago and I was pleased to see how good some of the third years work looked like! I really want to be as awesome as them by this time next year! (fingers crossed). I didn't really talk to anyone since they all seemed busy showing their work to family and friends. It was nice to see their FMPs finalised and on display though, it definitely inspired me.

In terms of my life, I have been doing quite a lot of work for TKD since I was elected chair for next academic year. All I can say is paper work, paper work everywhere! It haunts me...well, I am exaggerating but the amount of forms I have to fill in it's ridiculous. Apart from that, I am happy to be chair, it is a big responsibility and I like to see it as a challenge, a way to prove my leadership skills.  

Talking about skills....last post I mentioned that I wanted to practise my fundamentals and so far I have been doing alright. I need to keep pushing myself to do it, and do it more often! My plan is to dedicate every day to a different aspect of drawing and eventually move onto 3D.

I also, realised how hard it is to draw technically. It is almost mathematical and my head hurts after every drawing session! It is fascinating how everything can be broken up into smaller and smaller components, until only lines remain. I guess that's the difference between being an amateur and a professional artist. I always used to think that great paintings were freely drawn but I was very wrong...

I am also keeping up with my digi paintings! I try to do speed paintings everyday but sometimes the topics are quite abstract and I give up half way through...(I know, I should keep going, even if it looks terrible).
My current tutors are mainly 3 awesome books:

Figure Drawing for all it´s worth - Andrew Loomis
How to draw - Scott Robertson
Digital painting techniques - 3D total

I also follow some online tutorials from time to time since I learn better when someone is talking. Words confuse me sometimes.

I have so much to learn in a small period of time but I will keep on working and see what happens, I am just tired of doubting myself...

I have more to tell but I think I'll leave if for next post, see you soon!

Carla

Some personal work

Hello everyone! I hope my last post didn't put you to sleep! Well this time around I will be posting some pictures instead, mainly work I have done on my spare time since I parted off from uni.

On my quest to become a concept artist (one day..) I do little bits of concepting here and there, to be fair I barely keep any of the projects because I am not happy with them.

The image above though was an experiment I did after watching Feng Zhu's Design Cinema ep 70. The main idea is to pick a scene of an old game and carry out a re-design. It was pretty fun and I really enjoyed integrating photo textures onto my own painting!

Next is an entry for a fan art challenge which I actually won! The character belongs to Clash of Lords 2 by IGG and my idea was to make a more realistic version of this hero. I got a lot of support and compliments for it which has made me more confident to show my work on public sites.

The last two pictures are speed paintings I have done since I joined the daily spitpaint facebook page. Everyday they post four different topics and we have 30 min to come up with something (no photo textures allowed). I kind of like it. It gets me into the habit of generating ideas fast and producing something within a time budget.

Right now I am working over the fundamentals of drawing which I will be showing you guys on my next post, possibly...

On a side note, I just passed my red stripe TKD grading! Only two more gradings for black belt!

Until next time!

Carla.

Reflecting upon this year

Hello! This blog post is a shorter, more informal version of the reflective essay we had to submit a few weeks ago.

My second year as a Game Art Design student at De Montfort University has been a journey of personal growth and self-acceptance of my own weaknesses and strengths. It has been a period of change and transformation, a time for experimentation but, above all, it has been a stage for important decisions to be made.

Working in a team has been a positive and rewarding experience. Every group project I have worked on this year involved a process of adaptation. From time to time I disagreed with the group and in some cases one would attempt to enforce an idea, resulting in an uncomfortable situation.  To begin with, I found it difficult to convey my ideas and thoughts and I felt invisible to the rest of my team members. This could be attributed to a lack of confidence in my own skills, as I am an introverted person.

As I progressed through the year, I gradually came to realise that my ideas were at least worth consideration and that certain projects could have been different with my input; I wanted to be heard. It was not until the Container City project that I broke through the shell and began to have a bigger impact on group work.  

Being part of a team has given me a sense of responsibility and tolerance. Working together meant we were able to share the workload, thus achieving a higher productivity rate within the time limit. As artists we work in diverse manners, with different speed and it is only when we move in accordance to our colleagues that we progress. I have experienced both sides of the spectrum this year, for example working in fast-paced dynamic teams would occasionally result in falling behind on my work, which made it seem like I was slowing our productivity. I discovered the complexity of adapting to a pace one is not comfortable working at and I learned that rather than riddling myself with guilt I should strive to contribute faster every time. On the other side of the matter, working within a team with a lower productivity rate can often become frustrating.  If I would try to push each one to produce work faster then it would only decrease performance. Therefore, the only available action was to be patient and encourage them to work harder via positive reinforcement. In theory this may have been the correct method, but it also proved to be tasking in terms of meeting a deadline.

Also, this year has been demanding in terms of technical skills required and I have been under constant pressure to achieve the expected high level of commitment to the course. From day one I was asked to produce vast amounts of work over small time periods. I also switched from working in traditional media to digital media (with exception to life drawing) almost instantaneously, which I found overwhelming. Furthermore I had to change diffuse and specular maps methods for PBR texturing. It was difficult to adopt this complex method and I struggled trying find the logic behind it, causing much frustration. As the year progressed I began to understand the concept of PBR texturing in depth and it resulted in lower stress levels, whilst instilling a boost of confidence to my skills as a game artist.  

 On the Visual Design side of the course I went out of my comfort zone by using new methods of creative designing such as silhouette design and photobashing. 

The biggest challenge I have faced this year has been presented in the Off the Map competition, sponsored by GameCity and the British Library which we just finished.  In such an ambitious project I set high expectations for myself, thus I decided to create a fully animated rabbit that would run through the level. Our course promotes independent learning and as one progresses into third year the amount of taught lessons decreases, meaning for this animation task I was to work alone. I sought help from books and video tutorials and gradually the pieces of the project began falling into place. As the project continued, I became familiar with independent problem solving and, because of this, partially losing contact with teaching staff was not a huge concern. I now realise that upon entering the workplace, in this case the gaming industry, constant work supervision will not be provided so I also appreciate this process of detachment that my university tutors encourage. Furthermore, this has given me a greater analytical way of thinking when perceiving feedback, as I have learned to decipher key information to react, implement and change. After a trial-and-error animation process and several challenges I came across when implementing the character into the game engine, my group currently has an AI-controlled rabbit guiding the player through the level. The appreciation I have received is the most rewarding feeling I have had of yet and feeds my appetite for producing more successful pieces of game art.

During the course of every project, I have had to present them in front of a small audience, mainly composed of the Critical Studies team and peers, with focus on testing my “soft skills”.  I approve of this method, because I believe that in order to succeed one must be able to present themselves properly, to communicate well and to convey their ideas in a non-imposing manner. Positively reacting to feedback is also important, so through publically exposing myself to constructive criticism is a great way to improve and build confidence. I still feel nervous when talking in front of an audience, especially if it is a topic I am unfamiliar with, but I have learned a certain degree of improvisation and also to stay positive throughout presenting.

            I can see now that not only have I refined both technical and soft skills, but also my personality and future vision have both been enhanced for the better. At the beginning of the year I was adamant that I wanted to become a concept artist, because I have always been enthusiastic about expressing my creativity through drawing and painting. However, as time progressed and I became more proficient using 3D tools I started second guessing my career vision as I questioned whether concept art was the path that I desired to take. As a result, I sought clarification by choosing to experiment with as many aspects of game art as I could. At this point in time, I have sculpted figures via 3D software, completed VFX work, animated characters and completed forms of coding via blueprints in Unreal Engine 4. After having a feel for all those different aspects of creating games I thought I would be able to establish a preferred area to work in, but the truth is that I still cannot choose one and this worries me. Not being able to see a goal in my future career is proving a daunting thought. I feel that my third year focus should be to improve all range of skills previously stated in order to provide an excellent understanding of many aspects that will make deciding job aspirations easier. 

If I had to pick my ideal job then it would likely involve working as a freelancing concept artist. My main reason is the freedom given to work from anywhere in the world and the enjoyment of working in many different projects and clients instead of being bound by the restrictions of being part of a company. However, I have been considering other options due to the realisation that it would take me many years to develop the skills needed to become successful. I feel may be so focused on my weaknesses that I tend to disregard my strengths. I think I need to analyse my personal findings and reflect upon them to choose the best course of action.

I am uncertain of what career lies ahead so I will learn as much as I can on various aspects to end up with a broad range of skills that would improve my employability. My plan of action for the next few months is to train my fundamental skills such as life drawing, perspective drawing and rendering techniques. I also want to revise my character work, produce better models by improving silhouettes and topology as well as learn new techniques to be able to work more efficiently. I wish to improve my texturing skills for stylised and realistic characters, as well as improving mesh deformation in the case of applying animations. Last but not least I'd like to learn more about Unreal Engine 4 to create better looking games. I also need to brainstorm ideas for my FMP (Final Major Project), considering it is the pinnacle of all the knowledge I have gathered during my three years as a game art student.

To conclude, this academic year has broadened and refined my technical knowledge, from sketching the human body to placing playable characters into a game. It has taught me about the value of team work within the video games industry and by losing the fear to speak my mind I have been rewarded with the necessary tools to be able to communicate properly and to work in a sociable environment. This experience has also promoted my independent learning as well as increasing my adaptability and tolerance to work with different people. It has also fomented the importance of good organisational and planning skills and opened my mind to new career paths that has made me question my future aspirations. 

I know it's still long but this has been my second year at DMU. Thank you for reading and see you soon!

OTM Post mortem

The Off the map project started on February the 3^rd and finished on may the 8^th and even though it’s only been three months it has felt like I spent a lifetime working on it! It has been enjoyable and at a times frustrating and boring but to be honest I am glad I took part in it because I have learned a great deal about myself and others. I have tried new ways of working and new techniques which have broadened my game artist tool kit.

This project is a competition sponsored by game city and the British Library although we are also submitting it as part of our second year project curriculum for DMU.  The theme for this year revolves around Alice’s in Wonderland exhibition in the British Library and we were asked to create an interactive experience which would fit into one of the following three categories, Oxford, the Gardens or the Underground. 

At first the tutors told us we would create a 3D side scroller game but after a general complain from most of the year they decided to let us do what we wanted. My group was composed of Jonah, Lewis, Carl, Andrew and Georgia and I couldn’t be happier because for the first time I felt that I had a good group and I knew we could achieve so much! And to be honest as individuals we are all brilliant but as a group I don’t think we work very well…

I feel that our first mistake was to go for an open world scene rather than a confined 3D side scrolling game. Personally I wanted to create a game similar to Child of Light or Limbo were the mood, composition and colour is what sells the game. I thought that it would fit perfectly with the Alice in Wonderland theme but most of the members in my group preferred a fully explorable 3D environment and so we decided to go for that.

Our first thoughts were to merge the Oxford and Underground themes together so that as the player walks through the city everything is realistic and as it descends into the underground everything would start to look a bit more wacky and surrealistic. This idea quickly disappeared when we realised that we had been too ambitious and so we decided to settle for Oxford. 

Then we went all out on oxford, we would include a quad and a river bank and a jabberwocky tree and a garden! Sadly this was all too ambitious as well and therefore we ended up with a street scene and a back garden with a well.  It felt that the initial spark we all had for this project faded out as the days went by…

I’d say that the main reason behind our lack of motivation for this project was due to poor concepting and planning of our level. We lost interest in it because all of our original ideas were gone by the time of hand in! I think that if we had properly planned a way to include all those initial features into a small scene, everyone would have been happier. Don’t get me wrong, the concepts for the shops were very good, that’s why they are the best looking elements of our level. Then I compare it to the initial concepts we had of the rest of the level and we had nothing relevant, they were too vague. We were building a level with no references. This led to different interpretations of the overall look of the level. It wasn’t until the last few weeks that we started concepting how we truly wanted the level to look like.

 Also, we got too caught up on making it accurate and realistic that we forgot to add our own interpretation of the world. Apart from the rabbit and the pickups, we barely have any elements that shout Alice in Wonderland!

So after a bad start we just got on with our assigned roles. I was in charge of characters and I am happy that at least the original idea of including a rabbit in our level prevailed throughout the length of the project. This was something new and exciting for me, I learned new ways of rigging, I learned how to animate both in 3D software and Game Engine and above all, I learned about the importance of good topology!

It was a lengthy process which consumed most of the project time but it was incredibly worth going through it as it has become one of the most important features in our level. The game starts when you see the rabbit moving and you feel the need to follow it! If I have to animate in future projects I know I would take half the time and I’d probably push it a bit further (facial expressions maybe?). I definitely want to learn a bit more about animation since there isn't a more satisfying moment for a character artist to see its creation alive!

 As I figured out how to animate a rabbit, the rest of the team focused on building the level. We were quick to block out the initial layout of the level and test some game mechanics but then everything just slowed down. I believe that not really knowing how the level actually looked like made everyone struggle on creating the assets. They either wouldn't fit with the style or the shape would be wrong or it just wouldn't be working for the level.  I think we spent a month and a half with a grey box for a level and at this point even our assigned tutors almost gave up on us. I can’t blame them, we just struggled to make progress and every week their feedback would be the same ‘Get things into engine, texture, and make sure game mechanics work’.

I think that the pressure to deliver just made us sink more and more and in the end we just wanted to finish this project and do something that we actually enjoyed. Jonah became the team leader out of necessity and I think he has done pretty well although I feel he would keep his true thoughts inside in order to not hurt anyone. I am certain that I bit more pressure from him would have benefited the team and make us work faster. But leadership is tough and keeping a team motivated and working requires a good balance of discipline and understanding.

Perhaps we should have talked to each other and made sure everyone was on the same page, especially the asset team. At some point I didn't even know how the level looked like or was meant to look like! So, yeah communication is a big deal, not only oral communication but visual as well, we’re artists after all, we learn more from a picture than words!

I can’t say I am pleased with our project because we could have done so much more…I am happy with my contribution though. The rabbit looks great although I ran out of time for the rest of the assets I decided to do. In terms of the foliage I had to be selective and choose a few items that were manageable with the time that was left and it is a shame we don’t have a wider range of trees/flowers.

Here are the main points I got from working in this project:

-          Concepting is the most important step on any project. Bad concepting will lead to a bad game.  Also, not any concepts are valid, they have to be relevant and give instructions to the modellers. They need to tell how the end product should look like. They don’t have to be complex paintings but they need to be clear.

-          Art Direction. This one is tied to my last point since I feel that if we had had some sort of art direction it really would have benefited our project. If someone just had commented that we needed a change on our level (which the tutors did on our project presentation) perhaps we would have ended up with a different result.

-          Leadership. People like to follow a leader even if that appointed someone is making terrible decisions. Someone has to do it and commit to their role and be strict if it is for the greater good (no need to be mean though). I’d like to become team leader on future projects and take on that responsibility and see if I am fit for that role.

-          Communication. Oral and visual. The team should know what they are doing at all times. Even when they are working on their own stuff, feedback can be helpful to make them notice mistakes that they would have missed otherwise.

-          Have fun! I think that when something drains your soul instead of giving you joy, that something must change. We started this project because it was fun and creative and we lost that emotion as we realised our level wasn't looking the way we’d hoped for. For future projects it might be worth to start the project again. Who knows, perhaps looking at it with a different set of eyes might turn it into something awesome.

And this is it, I don’t want to go on for too long... But just to summarise, I am happy I went through this experience because I needed to learn about my role in a team and how to become a better team player. I have acquired new technical skills and we made a game! I feel we need some fresh air and perhaps later on we’ll come back to it and polish it.

See you soon!

Carla.

Last week of OTM

Hello everyone! Last week was hand in time for the Off the map project and everyone was very stressed to say the least. There were so many things that needed to be done before the Friday deadline therefore we decided to focus on those things that were achievable.

Here's the last concept I did for the project and I have to say we managed to include most of the elements in it into our final scene.

In terms of 3D I was in charge of creating the pick up pages as well as the foliage in the level. I thought this task was going to go pretty quickly but it took quite a bit of time!

The idea for the last pick up was a drawing of the three sisters in Alice in Wonderland style which I did in fine liner and Photoshop.
From here I moved on to making the trees. I did four to begin with and I am glad I didn't decide to make more because I wouldn't have been able to finish them! I was advised to be careful with crossing alpha planes as it would make the frame rate drop and for being too careful I spent way too much time creating the canopy. It wasn't until later that I was told that it didn't matter if they cross as long as it isn't a big amount.

At this point I just went a bit crazy with it and made the foliage more dense and 'tree like'. I fixed the normals for the planes to make the trees look more realistic. But then only two of the trees were good to export. I don't know what is wrong with the other two but as I try to export them the program just crashes. Due to time constraints I just decided to just use the available trees for now and try to fix the problem with the other ones after the DMU deadline.

I also made flowers and grass but I had to limit the amount due to running out of time. I modeled almost all of the flowers instead of using alphas because of the frame rate situation and to be fair they look pretty good!

And here are some screenshots of my assets:

I will be doing a post mortem about this project soon and I reckon it'll be pretty long...so look forward to that because I have learned a lot thanks to the OTM!

See you soon!

One week to go

Hello! OTM project is coming to an end and I am not ready for it to be over, there's still a lot more we could do! Anyways I'd like start by reflecting on the previous post and the presentation in general.

The topic was interesting and I spend quite a long time doing research about it and learning the general opinion about it. In fact, I had too much information that trying to fit everything into a 3 min presentation was an impossible task.

The presentation itself was okay, I had a good start but around slide 4 I messed up my lines and in my head I went blank. Thankfully I didn't stand there like a statue and I kept talking around the topic. I knew my main points so I just improvised and made sure that I mentioned them at some point during my presentation.

I believe the tutors picked up on that and my mark won't be as good as it would've been if I had a smooth talk all the way through. I think that my main problem is that I had too much to say and I kept thinking about the time limit which made me lose concentration. Next time I will include less information per slide and allow myself a little break between slides.

I tried to dress appropriately and be engaging while talking as well as making a  good use of body language in order to convey my emotions. I believe my main struggle was trying to cope with my nerves. A little bit more practice would have been handy but I need to learn how to stay calm in presentations because it affects my overall performance. I think the best way to overcome this problem is practice, in other words, do more presentations!

And as promised, here's the little animation I did for my dichotomous character re-submission.

Until next time, bye!

Has technology killed communication?

Hello everyone, today's post will be dedicated to a presentation I had to deliver about a week ago for my Critical Studies module.

Has technology killed communication? In a world flooded by smart devices, have we lost the ability to talk to each other? Or is it just a phase in the evolution of our society?

It all started when I watched the video for Stromae's new single Carmen.

Stromae - Carmen

Its message is clear 'Don't let social media control your life'. After watching the video it left me thinking 'Has is grown to that extent?' and 'How far will it grow?'

Videos like 'Look up' by Gary Turk and 'IDIOTS' by Big Lazy Robot appear on our news feed from time to time to remind us what our society is turning into. They tell us to switch off from technology, to stop experiencing life behind a screen and to stay away from the social media giant. But is it really that bad?

Look Up - video

IDIOTS - video

To help me find an answer to this debate, I simplified some of the issues with technology into three different sections: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.

The Good: Digital media connects people! That's why they were created on the first place! They give people freedom to express themselves. It makes possible to talk with someone across the world, it even allows us to meet new people. We have never been so close to each other. Why should we reject it then?

The Bad: All the content available to use can become overwhelming and at times we become too busy updating our online presence that we forget our surroundings. Sharing part of yourself and finding out that other people likes it can lead to vanity and turn you into someone you are not.

The Ugly: Being able to express your opinion freely means that any opinion is valid and hateful content can damage one's self esteem. And then there;s those who's online profile is so acclaimed that they become attention seekers. And worst of all, social technology takes away our privacy.

The reason we get involved with socializing online is to share part of our lives with those who are close to us. It is a fact that most people we interact with are our real life friends and family. It makes sense that in a world moved by technology, our communication with each other will be influenced by it.

Does that mean we will become alone someday?

Online friends can't hurt your feeling whereas real life ones will. By losing that attachment to people we could become shallow and cold. But then again, we are sociable beings. We need to be in contact with people, it's what makes us human.

In conclusion, the way we communicate with each other is changing, it has changed throughout history and it will continue to change. So, has technology killed communication? No, in fact, it has increased so much that from time to time it's good to switch off all devices and stop talking.

Thank you for reading!