Crash Concept

After meeting with the rest of the team, one of the ideas we all agreed had great potential was some form of airship. I took this idea (Based on some of teammate Dan's concept art) and applied it to the cave location I had worked on previously:

I opted to use a cool green and purple colour scheme as I feel it successfully captures a damp dark cave atmosphere. This time I feel that I executed the colours more successfully, as the image seems to have better depth and the focus seems to be drawn onto the ship. I used a rule of thirds grid to try and balance the composition, and make the sure the focal point (airship) was correct. I also concentrated on perspective as well as shadow and light.

One problem I faced was colour banding when using transparent gradients:

You can see subtle banding here, the gradients showing clear segments almost resembling a poor print. I found that I could tone this down by adding a subtle noise filter along with a gaussian blur. 

My final Issue would be the hours I spent painting the image. I hope that with time I will be able to produce at least two pieces of this level of detail in a day. Perhaps for my next piece I could attempt a rough looser style. If I could still manage to capture my ideas, but spend less time on a single image, my work rate would be much more efficient, as would be expected working at an industry level.

Initial Concept Idea

I was reflecting on the images I found earlier, and thinking of ways in which I could combine elements I liked from the concept art I looked at for inspiration. I decided that I liked the idea of a bleak sci-fi setting, and also the idea of man-made architecture against a wild natural backdrop. I liked the idea of a cave system holding something mysterious beneath its surface. Instead of an old structure holding historical information, I thought I could approach this idea in a more literal sense. I was reminded of the uncovering of 'Prothean' virtual intelligence in the first 'Mass Effect' game. I imagined discovering some kind of information terminal buried deep within my cave system. This could be an interesting focus for a piece Machinima narrative. I produced an early piece of concept art to try and capture this loose idea:

I already have ideas on how this concept could be taken much further. Firstly, if this location were to be developed, I imagine there would be a great focus on the terminal itself as a key prop. As there has up to this point been now initial development work, the terminal I have painted here is admittedly uninspired. To improve upon it, I would develop something much grander in both scale and detail. I haven't quite captured the colossal structure I was hoping for originally. Also, the terminal could be something more abstract and alien, perhaps left behind by a race existing before man. This would certainly make for a more mysterious and intriguing narrative, very much like the ancient 'Prothean' race from the 'Mass Effect' series:



Similarly we have the 'Forerunners' from the Halo series. I came across this stunning concept art teaser for the upcoming 'Halo 4' release. We see evidence of these 'Forerunner' structures left behind by the ancient race:



Again, I love how these polished futuristic structures sit against vast natural backdrops.

Our team has yet to get together and share our initial ideas for possible genres and locations to aim for with our piece of Machinima. I hope this piece of concept art I have produced will spark some ideas. I am looking forward to combining my thoughts with the ideas belonging to the rest of the team. Hopefully we will have a strong idea of where we going with our project by the end of our next meeting.

On a personal critical note, I am still experimenting with colour and composition. With my terminal piece, I found it hard to move away from the initial green colours I was working with. I opted to try and apply a complimentary red tint to the backdrop, which achieved a slightly more dynamic sense within my painting. I am still however trying to learn more about colour theory and how it can be applied.

Seeking Inspiration

We have established a three person team to develop a piece of Machinima. During our first discussion, we found that our main areas of interest lie in producing concept art. Because of this, we have agreed to stretch out of our comfort zones and generalise to cover the maya, unity, and sound elements required. Where this background of concept art will work for is, is that we should have a very thorough and vivid idea by the end of the art process.

From our initial brainstorm, we accumulated a large number of themes for a location. We felt it would be a good idea to first consider the space, which will inform our character ideas and story. Working very loose and freely, we said that instead of tying down one of the ideas, we would each go away over the weekend and produce some rough initial concept art for possible scenarios and locations. Instead of producing a focused mood board right away, I thought at this stage to just seek inspiration to spark ideas.

I decided to use deviantArt to search for user produced conceptual works.

This first piece I came across by 'Raphael-Lacoste' is titled 'Mining on Gliese':

What I like about this stunning piece is it's implications. It is easy to fascinate over a brighter future where everything is more refined and efficient. However here, it is suggested that we are still spoiling planets by scaring the land with industrial scale mining equipment and the extraction of possible fossil fuels. The colours are very rustic and earthy, contradicting the clean polished look we find in some science fiction concepts. I am engaged by this dirty future theme, which we find also in the 'Alien' films.

The next piece I found is a colaboration between 'JoeDiepstraten' and 'DanilLovesFood' titled 'Kradortharr Tower':

I like this idea of a fallen colossal structure, which likely once stood strong and tall. The tower seems almost personified, like a sleeping giant due to it's enormous scale. I love the combination of ancient ruins occupying vast cave systems, a theme adopted in 'Gears of War' when uncovering the Locust's underground civilisation. It really feeds off a sense of discovery and exploration, the idea that an almost parallel world exists hidden beneath the surface. It also invites a sense of isolation and secludedness. A setting of this kind would also allow for some great use of sound. There would have to be a huge focus on achieving the cave's open acoustic environment. I can almost hear the thin streams of water trickleing through the caves, combined with the sound of water droplets dripping from stalactites on the celing, all echoing to create a symphony of high pitch frequencies, balanced by the deep eerie sound of wind moving through the environment. Perhaps this eerie secluded cave idea could be combined with the 'dirty future' concept, occupied by abandoned industrial mining equipment as oppose to the ancient ruins in this image.

Another great piece concept I came across was this piece by 'wildcory1' titled 'Dome concept':

I am really starting to sway towards this idea of futuristic manmade structures being embodied by the environment around them. As you can see from this piece here, there is almost a juxtaposition created between the wild vines and foliage compared to the smooth chrome-looking platform assembled in the centre of the painting. Colour wise, the man made structure and the surrounding environment do not differ greatly in colour values. In this sense, the image merges quite well, whilst still keeping the platform the focal point without loosing it to the greenery.

What I notice about all the pieces is the attention to textures and detail, and the great feel of depth and value control. They almost already feel as if they could exist as a 3D space, as if there is some existing awareness of the game industry pipeline and how the environment could be modelled and textured. I hope that in my work I can also really capture the mood of the environment and ultimately consider how the setting would feel as a virtual gamespace.