Showreel 2016

   I made a little update to last year's showreel, aside from taking out a couple of old stuff and adding in some new stuff from this year and last year, I also made a few graphic tweaks. The opening and ending title cards have been reversed, with the opening one now being white and the closing one being black (Not a particularly important change but it was just a little detail that I liked and wanted to make). 

   The music has also been changed to HOME's "Resonance" (Who I was fortunately able to get a very prompt a friendly response from when asking for permission to use it!). In terms of the arrangement of clips themselves, while it has always been advised that with start with our best works... In a way, I simply followed my heart and went along with what felt right whilst listening to the song itself, playing around the music over and over whilst moving them about. And referring back to some of the showreel examples that I had written about in the previous year, I have also added in a few character and background designs in there as well. While I had wanted to make two separate showreels, I believe that I will need more work in both areas before I can actually do just that. 

   Seeing that we will be presenting our showreels in class tomorrow, hopefully I will get some helpful feedback on what should be removed and what parts should be rearranged.

A Little Portfolio Expansion

   While it won't be possible to have this work finished before this module's deadline, I would still however like to talk about how it was that this had all even started.

   Through roleplaying online (A hobby that allows me to further improve on not just my writing, but also my storytelling, scriptwriting and even character development), I have met and befriended an incredibly talented writer with some of the most inspiringly developed original characters I have seen in years. Having a diploma in Communication and Information Design, my friend is also considering a course in Game Design in the near future, as her ex-facilitators encouraged her to do so after learning of her interest in creating stories and characters. 

   While roleplaying would be considered a casual hobby by many, I do also believe that people can also take advantage of it and use it for more professional means if they truly have a deep passion for writing and creating their own characters, such as my friend.  

   It was in due time where I felt that I just had to do an illustration of some of her characters to show my appreciation for them myself. But, while I initially planned to have this done as a simple gift for her, I began thinking that it would actually be a worthwhile addition to my portfolio. I felt that this could be a very special art piece that is akin to Sam Spratt's artworks (I am no longer a huge fan of his works due to how repetitive they have become, but I can still appreciate the amount of detail that he puts into each commissioned piece that he does for celebrities). Unfortunately, I had to spoil the surprise and tell her of my plans as it was only right to ask her permission on this. And aside from saying yes, she was more than happy to help me in any way she can and share with me an extra details I could possibly need whilst painting them.

   And with all of these characters already being give face claims by her (Such as actress Maggie Q), it will certainly be fun getting the chance to tweak their appearances to make them appear more like how she had envisioned them.

Character Design Challenge 3 - Mermaids and Mermen

   As the post title has pretty much stated, this month's theme for the Character Design Challenge is Mermaids and Mermen. While I was initially planning to go back to another old character design of mine, I decided to instead do something similar yet a little different. I had originally designed a Chinese jellyfish fairy sometime ago and had wanted to do a revamp of that very much like I had done for the previous character design that I had done. But as it was yet another Asian-oriental related design, I felt that I would save it for another time and do something different. 

   And so, I began quickly looking into a variety of other Jellyfish types before eventually coming across the Black Sea Nettle Jellyfish, a contrastingly darker species of jellyfish as compared to the pearly sort that I had given my other design. Known to be found in the waters of the Pacific Ocean. Its range is thought to be from Monterey Bay in the north, down to southern Baja California and Mexico. Those locations further added to what I had in mind for the character design itself.

   After seeing some really lovely examples online, I decided to use one of the many images available in NASA's Royalty-Free Image Resource and placed it over my sketch to aid me in the design's colour scheme as I went along. I did struggle with this design for quite a bit and erased and repainted several parts over and over. This was due to the fact that I was trying to avoid making it appear too busy as well as give it a decent silhouette shape (Which I still believe can be done much better). 

   I ended up placing that planet texture over the entire thing again as I eventually erased and painted over most of it while struggling with my character's shape (I even drew a fish-shaped outline over her for reference after awhile, namely 3 triangles). I also experimented with a lot more brushes this piece as compared to the previous one, there isn't much shading for this one in comparison, either, but thankfully the character still does not completely blend into the background itself.

   And this is pretty much my very last character design for this module, but I hope to continue dishing out more original designs for months to come as this has been a really good if not enjoyable practice. This one is already getting more notes on Tumblr than my previous piece (Though neither of them are going to beat the Zelda piece, seeing that it is fanart, regardless of how God awful it actually is...) so I can only hope to garner more interests in my original works as I keep improving with each submission.

   I might try to get a few Qwertee designs done before I round up this studio brief once and for all!

Character Design Challenge 2 - Heavy Metal

   Taking what I have learnt from my previous submission, I took the opportunity to rehash an old character design of mine that I did a couple of years back. While originally a fandom OC for an existing game series, Shi Xiang became so heavily developed in terms of her backstory and character that I decided to eventually place her into an original series (Which I am slowly still writing up). But the main thing is, I felt that I learnt a lot from my previous submission in terms of presentation and attempted to do a better job for this one.

    I decided to go back to a more comfortable style of drawing and painting for this one, and so there is notably huge difference in terms of the art style used for this one as compared to my Princess of Zelda piece (Where I actually attempted to copy one of the styles normally used for Disney concept art). And while this piece took two days (A rough sketch on the first day before I finished it up about a week later), I felt that the process didn't necessarily drag on as much as it did with the last piece. I also made sure that there was a stronger contrast in terms of colours, lighting and shading for this piece (A huge issue that I saw with my previous submission). I suppose the few problems I ended up facing was the fact that the lightning took away a lot of details, making it less noticeable that she is a decaying undead, and so more details had to be added in there in hopes that it would be made to clearer to the viewer, aside from the short description that would go with it, of course.

   I was really pleased to see that this piece was much more well received than my Zelda piece, and while it didn't actually go over 20 likes, I am still really happy that there were some folks that took notice of my first submission. Coming up next, my final character design submission for this module (Seeing as we will be submitting everything by this month), with the theme being "Mermaids and Mermen", it's definitely going to take me sometime to figure out something a little more original for this theme, as fun as it is... and there really isn't much time left.
   
   So stay tuned.

Character Design Challenge 1 - Legend of Zelda

   I stumbled upon the Character Design Challenge community about nearly several months back whilst surfing through Tumblr. And for the time being, all I really saw it as was reference and inspiration for my own works in other modules, before finally realising that it would actually be an enjoyable challenge to participate in as well. Looking through the site's basic guide, it was incredibly simple to join this group (All you need to do is simply join it's Facebook group, where you will also be submitting your work there during each challenge). Aside from getting to enjoy the works of others and finding new artists, the very same could be said if you should so decide to participate. You will not only be able to build up your portfolio from this challenge, but will also have the opportunity to share your work with others from around the world. And so there are most definitely other perks aside from winning when joining in on this challenge, though winning would also be a plus considering the fact that a Special Guest judge is invited every month to look over everyone's works.

   I initially thought of skipping last month's theme (That being "The Legend of Zelda", seeing as it would require for us to work on something more related to fanart than original, and to add to that, I really was not particularly familiar with the series), I eventually decided to participate to better familiarise myself on how to submit my work and perhaps how to better improve when it came to my next submission for the theme that would be announced the next month after. Also, I always was a sucker when it came to fanart (More so a curse, than a blessing, especially when I REALLY need to get more original works done). 

   Choosing a character was simple, I absolutely adored Princess Zelda's design in Hyrule Warriors (As did many of my cosplay friends), and so decided to do some sort of illustration based on that outfit. The rules were pretty simple from what I could see, and they were:

1. Stick to the theme of the month
2. No environments or overly detailed backgrounds
3. Design a full figure (Not just a head or a torso)
4. One single character (Additional characters and creatures like pets are acceptable)
5. Only one design for each challenge

   And while there are more rules when it came to this challenge, these were certainly the main five to abide by should you wish to have your work accepted into the challenge. I was certainly relieved to know that this challenge was kept as fun and stress-free as possible for all of us. And so, after rereading the rules at least one or two more times, I decided that it was time to get on with my first ever submission into this challenge before it was too late.

   For this submission, I was aiming to create something a little more stylistic than my usual works, and so played around with several brushes and made heavy use of geometric shapes whenever possible, while of course basing it on the original design itself. This probably took a lot longer than it should have (About 1 and a half days worth?), and so I hope I can learn from this experience to create next month's character design with more efficiency. A lot of design elements were simplified (Such as her shoulder pads) heavily from the original design with very basic if not textured shading used (Based on some of the stylistic artworks that I absolutely adore from some Disney concept artists). After believing that my work was ready for submission, I then included my link (I wouldn't really consider it a watermark) at the bottom, so that others would be able to find my site. While there is a chance that the group could still share my design on Tumblr, they don't necessarily link each work to their respective artist, and so this was a pretty important little element.

   By the time I decided to submit in my first 'character design', I realised that my monitor tablet was not as closely colour calibrated to my laptop as I thought it to be. And so in the midst of my submission, the colours were incredibly off (Too light if not horrifically saturated) from what I had seen whilst I had been working on it. After trying my absolute best to tweak it the best I could, I simply told myself then that I would learn from my mistakes and simply submitted it into the Facebook group after... it took me an entire day before I was able to calibrate that thing the best I could, but at I won't have to keep switching between screens to check and see if the colours are decent enough now.

   I wasn't too surprised to see that I didn't get as many likes as compared to the other submissions (And yup, I shared it on my page), though I did get more notes when submitting it on Tumblr than I did on the Facebook group. While the winner would not be judged based on the number of likes they received, I still knew that I wouldn't have any chance of winning, it was still a good trial and error sort of thing for when the next theme came along, either way. And, speaking of that...

   This month's new theme is Heavy Metal, so expect updates soon on that submission!

Chris Sasaki

I will admit that I squealed an awful lot during this talk... on the inside (By the way, I'm still waiting on that photo, Ms Beth~). Chris Sasaki is a character designer from Oakland, California. He has done work for Monsters University and more recently, Inside Out and The Dam Keeper (That was nominated for an Oscar not too long ago). His primary mediums when working on concepts are digital, ink and pencil, though it really depends on how much time he is given to work on them.

Coincidentally, Monsters Inc. was the very film that inspired him onto the road of becoming an artist, while he had attempted to enrol in CalArts at least three times, Chris instead ended up attended Woodbury University, since then he believed that he was glad that things went the way they did, that the pedigree of a school did not matter as much as the quality of the teachers and one's own effort.

During his senior year, Chris was given the opportunity to work as a production intern for DreamWorks Art Department, where he met with many other inspirational artists that worked there, particularly the character designers. As he did his work, Chris also brought in his work in hopes of getting some form of aid, and it was from there he met his mentor, Tony Siruno, and it was from there that he knew what he wanted to do in life...

Finding a job after that however proved difficult seeing that people never ever thought that he had enough experience, but the thing was, how could you gain the experience needed if you weren't given a shot at any job? Still however, the smaller jobs that Chris managed to get soon became bigger jobs...

Character design is very research driven, in fact it possibly takes up 80% if not more of the time given to them when working on concepts, humorously and somehow unsurprisingly, even those working in the industry tend to rush out physical works during the last few days before the deadline. Research however is required in figuring out the worlds of these characters (Something that would be believable to the audience), that 'something' that is needed to make these characters unique and overall what simply drives their designs. Research is needed to make these designs appropriate and not generic, hence why good designs are always built around them.

Chris meets with his production designer for critique sessions almost every week and frankly prefers his directors to be straight forward about what it is they want so that he could actually get their vision right. It is logically better than wasting time beating around the bush and trying to be nice, especially when both parties desire to get it right.

When presenting a pitch, walk them through your thought process. You obviously have to discuss the story, characters, and of course the selling points. It would make sense to include the personal influences that have been gathered from your research. To show your findings and what you believe that others can possibly relate to.

While Chris does enjoy using traditional mediums for his work, it really does depend on the timeline he is given to work on these designs, and clearly digital tends to be the way to go during those tight deadlines. Once these designs get approved, this is where you have to follow through and work closely with the technical team, to draft out proper blue prints that they could use when building the models.

There is something that especially stuck with me during Chris' talk, and that was his advice on making sure that you have passion projects that you can work on during your free time. As he was so focused on following orders throughout most of his school years, he was not able to take the opportunity to find what he himself liked. Every person should find a true idea and story that they can really attach themselves to, instead of simply creating something merely because it looks cool... 

As for whatever art college you attend, it is honestly up to you and what you get out from it, it only makes sense to learn everything before figuring out what your focus is. Get your foundation down for everything before you start focusing on something. And when you finally start working for others, do remember to always have that one thing for yourself that will push you as an artist.

NekoShowguN

I first found NekoShowguN's works when searching through the developmental works of Grasshopper Manufacture's Lollipop Chainsaw, and illustrator that hails from Japan, the young artist first made her debut as part of the Osake art collective Digemout and has done art for music games such as GuitarFreaks and DrumMania. Before that, Neko normally did rather dark and/or sexualised fan art of Nintendo characters that had its own unique appeal in its own way...

But her highest profile work to date is as lead character and weapon designer for Goichi Suda's Lollipop Chainsaw, the very thing that I discovered her through. There is something absolutely gorgeous about Neko's art style that I still can't get over to this day (And numerous times, I have tried to draw in a similar manner to the way she does, and of course failing as I do). I have always wondered how she was able to make all her characters look so good while at the same time so wonderfully expressive (As seen below).

Expression sheet for Lollipop Chainsaw's heroine, Juliet Starling.

Juliet's iconic weapon.

As a certain article said, Neko's art always had this uniquely glossy if not pulpy look to it, which just seems to unique to me and while I feel allows her works to stand out all the more, especially among all the other concept artists we see these days. As tiny as the Lollipop Chainsaw art book turned out to be when I first ordered it, it was still a worthwhile buy just to see her gorgeous concepts (But darn it, they really could have printed these books out bigger!)... Looks like I might end up get Suda51's next art book.

*squints*

LeSean Thomas

LeSean Thomas is an American television animation producer, director, animator, comic book artist, writer and character designer in Los Angeles, he is everything I want to be quite honestly. He was the supervising character design and co-director for the first two seasons of the Boondocks. Other notable shows he has contributed to in the past includes Kim Possible, Ben 10: Alien Force, Batman: The Brave and the Bold, and many more.

Having followed his work for a number of years now, it is just amazing seeing how his art style and coloring continues to improve, his work attitude is also something to be highly admired, seeing him constantly post up numerous warm up sketches aside from his professional works on Deviantart always makes me want to scorn myself for not being as productive as he is, in a positive way of course.

Below you will see some of the finest examples of character designing, with each character having distinct features, different body heights, body shapes and language to one another... 

Rough Designs

"Blind Nigga Samurai"

Really nice piece of character design inspired by the renowned martial artist Jim Kelly (RIP) 

I love how he switches between simplified realism/caricature to a typical cartoony style for whatever is suited to what it is he is working on, he just has such an amazing range of styles (That he still practically makes his own instead of simply replicating others).

LeSean also posts really informative and helpful articles on what it takes to work in the animation industry as well as ongoing but nonetheless still serious and meaningful debates on what it takes for artists to be successful, as well as positive words for those that are still trying to get on their feet.