# Interdisciplinary Practice 1 (Games Art) (1J7V0030_2223_9F)
##### by Hannah Staff

## Week 1 : Welcome to SODA!
Introduction to SODA. Talking with Andrew King about the idea of "infinity".
Every Monday: Joined extra classes for zBrush and anatomy with Ashli.
Also on Tuesdays, Tech art workshop with Andrew King after CG Industry Pipeline.

There are a lot of confusion of what collaboration in the unit means. Are we supposed to colab with the other peers on our course or other people outside?

### Goals from this course
**(SET IN HERE MY MOODBOARD OF PUREREF AND MY GOALS)**

**ALSO GOALS OF MOODBOARD; MIX OF ARTSTATION**

## Week 2 : Blown away by AI
Adam Cain introduction and another class where we talk yet again about ourselves. Though it is important to see what the other people in our course are doing and what is their type of style for example. As IP1 need to have some sort of collaboration, there is the possibility to work with our fello students together. Patryk were initiating on making some sort of large house with a lot of rooms where the player could walk around and interact with different sectios of the house. Each room would be designed by a student and have their own style-vibe-story. This could be a nice touch to a small portfolio work where everyone could show off their own detailed small section as well as the bigger picture.

### Collaborating with Nathan
Weekly meetings with my mentor Nathan Robinson who works at Firesprite in Liverpool. While doing the first year of the Games Design BA, I applied to the mentorship program late spring and was lucky to get it. Our first project together was a blocked out level of Firewatch made in Unreal Engine to learn more about the concept of level design. **(Add a link here to my online portfolio where I show a video of this level ) **

### Own Research
For my own research, I am interested in mythologies, folklore and other stories.

#### Using AI to generate ideas and construct thoughts into images
Adam Cain introduced us to 5 AI tools to play with. Midjourney, Nightcafe, StarryAI, Dall-E and Artbreeder. I fell down the rabbit hole of developing AI creations immediately and my 25 free credits of Midjourney ran out the first hour before I jumped on Nightcafe and StarryAI. The immediate attraction to using AI to help constructing thoughts to images were definetely there. Though I quickly found the limitation for especially using the free softwares almost a bit scary to study an art and design related degree.
**(add in here a screenshot of all of my AI creations)**
Using these tools were especially fun to help develop the ideas for the project I am working on. As I am into the retro vibe of the illustrations that can be created, the AI helped me to create for example some scenes of Manchester, Oslo and Tokyo for my Co-Labs in Storytelling later on.

**SHOW HERE MOODBOARD OF WHAT I AM USING FOR THE PROJECT WITH NATHAN AS WELL AS CO-LABS? OR IS IT TOO EARLY?**

## Week 3 : Falling in love with Japanese folklore
Andrew King again: two videos that we watched and discussed, one about procedural work in No Ma's Sky and the other one about how the creators of Crash Bandicoot broke how he PlayStation 1 works to make their own game work. Later talked about making tools out of tools. How a still-life image was created by giving a computer a set of rules and how these then created an image. Kind of like AI? Procedural work = AI slightly? **MAYBE FIND RESOURCE ON HOW THEY WORK THE SAME/DIFFERENT?**

Tech Art Workshop with Andrew King: 
This was very helpful to understand more about UV mapping and will implement when I will be building my models of robot Yokais.

### Own Research
Started reading Shinto: The Way Home
*Kasulis, T.P. (2004) Shinto: The way home. Honolulu, Hawaii: University of Hawaii Press.*

Watched Princess Mononoke film

Watched one episode of ONI on Netflix

Also Playing Cyberpunk 2077 which gives inspiration for the setting of the future world in not what I would call a post-apocalyptic world, but rather the Synth theme, colours and vibe

Playing Cloudpunk which also give inspiration, similar inspiration found in this game as in Cyberpunk

### Collaborating with Nathan
Going very well, want to make a level together somehow and talking about how a Pokesnap (reference this) type of game would be fun to achieve. The original plan was to make a game that could work like the Medium where the same scene has two stories to it. The player would be able to jump between two scenes and see a room that is brightly lit and a cute scenery while the flip side would be a more dark and post-apocalyptic scene.
We are both excited about mythologies and folklore. Though Nathan is more into the synth vibe of modern day Japan, I am more into the old mythologies that exist in their Shinto traditions. We are meeting in the middle where I am taking references from Hilda, Simon Staalenhg and old myths from Norway for references. I can also see here in my very first moodboard that I made for Andrew that it is very clear where my style and interests are.

## Week 4 : Co-Lab? Collaboration fo IP1? Co-Collaboration?
Session with Dylan and seeing some examples from her

Adam Cain class: clarified the issue with where the student were confused about what collaboration meant and how much we need to concentrate on this. Then Photoshop systems of how one can make simple mockups of character styles and silhouettes.

Utilizing stories to create worlds wih Adam. **USE HERE THE QUOTE FROM MY NOTEBOOK**
"Good stories can create bad things, bad stories can create good things? what?"

### Collaborating with Nathan
Meeting with Nathan on the Monday this week because Thursday was busy getting a tattoo. Started working collaboratively together in PLASTICS.

**SHOW HERE A SCREENSHOT OF WHAT THAT LOOKS LIKE**

### Own Research
Started Playing STRAY for inspiration of the future world and robots

Research even board games? Kodama forest, kodama duo and kodama the tree spirits

Watched more ONI on Netflix

Continuing to read the book, also found a lot of other books with the help of Matteo for more research on the Yokai monsters. Introduced to an entire world of more books

Character Design squad

Watched and episode of Tales from the Loop on Amazon Prime

## Week 5 : “Learn to draw, If you don't, you're going to live your life getting around that and trying to compensate for that” - Saul Bass
Finished 3D modelling the Komainu lion-dog for the world I am creating with the mentor.

Session with Adam: website where we can do quick illustration based on poses in a short time. **DO HERE; MAKE SOME ILLUSTRATIONS OF ROBOTS IN THE SILHOUETTES WITH THE WEBSITE THAT HE SHOWED US**

##### 30 seconds drawing

##### 180 seconds drawing

##### Concept art of the Yushimi hike and a little Kodama spirit

finished some quick 1 minute character skethces inspired by Adam Cain's lesson last week and the book "The Skillfull Huntsman".

These sketches are all supposed to be the Kodama forest spirits.
**(Add a quote or reference here from one of the books)**

#### Bibliography
*Le, K. et al. (2005) The skillful huntsman: Visual development of a Grimm tale at Art Center College of Design. Culver City, CA: Design Studio Press.*

Finished playing STRAY

**ADD IN SCREENSHOT IMAGES FROM STRAY**

### ~05-11-2022~ Manchester Art Fair trip with Josh
#### https://www.manchesterartfair.co.uk/

Went to the Manchester Art fair to get some inspiration for my worldbuilding. One artist called James Chadderton stood out as his artworks are post apocalypitic ladscapes which fits to the theme of my project where we are in the year of 2075 and humans don't exist anymore.


"Who or what inspires your art?

The Post-Apocalypse series of work came from my love of science fiction and landscape drawing. When I was young, I was fascinated by Post Apocalyptic films like The Terminator, Threads, Logan’s Run, Mad Max, Escape From New York, Soylent Green; they were exciting and scary in equal measures. Threads, a BBC docu-drama set in 1980s Sheffield, gave me nightmares for a year. It is the most terrifying film I’ve ever seen but left a lasting impression and no doubt contributed to my ideas process later on. More recently, inspiration has come from all sorts of media and hundreds of creative pieces from thousands of different people."
from: https://dot-art.co.uk/2021/01/26/in-the-studio-james-chadderton/

**CREATE A MOCKUP OF ALL THE IMAGES I TOOK NOT ONLY 1**

### No Meeting
No collaborating meeting with Nathan this week as it is his Birthday week and he is traveling for a while. I concentrate more on working more 2D, character arts and cncept arts this week

### Own Research

Watched another episode of Tales from the Loop on Amazon?

## Week 6 : Feeling the Creative Block

#### Creative Block
Usually, Mondays are my favourite day when it comes to doing Uni work. New week, new me, new beginning. This Monday was especially difficult as I woke up with a complete creative block and no knowledge of where I should go from here.

### Session with Dylan Yamada-Rice
Using our senses for a different type of research. I made potion flasks out of the objects that I smelled and filled them to the amount that they smelled to me.

**create some yokaiis that are created originally and not exist from before?**


### Meeting with Nathan Robinson
Not as amazing meeting as we usually do, but at least we have a plan now. I will design small bits and bops in Maya that can be autogenerated using a tool. Changing for example the arms, legs and face will give an entire prectre of variety that we can play around with.

To do: Make some more cute robot parts

david Bull recommended by Alex

### Own Research
Borrowed the studio Ghibli book by Damon

#### For later and to continue working on this topic and project
After the meeting with Beth Senior 03.11.2022, she brought in the examples of bringing in my own reflections from Norwegian mythologies and to work on this further. Which is definetely something I'd like to do. How come that our two countries which are so far away from each other have similar type of stories and mythological creatures?

playing God of Ward, show the screenshot of Kratos on top of the mountain and compare this to the talk from Adam about concept art and framing

## Week 7 : A reality check for all artists

### Grads in Games Talk GAmes Artist 14.11.2022
Reality check: It's really hard, there are far more artists than jobs and not everyone will get a job straight away

The personal projects, the stuff that has been done outside of uni using the techniques that was learned in Uni is what will get one jobs.
As many big Universities will have the same students applying to the same jobs, a lot of portfolios can look the same after students have been doing the same projects.

Concept artis- most difficult to get a job

Technical Artis is where the easier jobs are. Any title with "Technical"
!TECH ART!

Having a specialization as early is now is a good thing

What Technical skills of an artist wants to see:
Pulling all of the things I have made into an engine so the big guys can see how the art is actually applied into a game.

Tools: Maya/ max/zbrush/houdini/blender (not an industry standard at all)/after effects/photoshop/the entire substance suite

Artistic ability: having an understanding of general composition, fine art, colour, lighting & SHadow is a big plus
- the desicions that I make based on art theory will help

Personal skills:
Great communicator,
Teamplayer and ability to follow a brief and adapt to many art styles

Portfolio tips:
more important than a CV as an artist
someone only looks at it for 30 seconds

it's your sepsonsibility that everything works such as URL andd other platforms

uodate artstation

showing process as well as the final work

quality over quantity

variety of styles in important
because you'll get a task to follow another ones brief and style

oroginal work, not uni work

clear descriptions, tools, engine, time frame, specifications ect.

Don't compare yourself with classmates, they don't have a job either

CV
Add an actual hobbies and interests list, this is the only place where the company can see my personality shine and not just what I have done

Networking to get a job!
- going to as many games events as possibly can, maybe even give out businesscards!
- About making friends and new connections across the gaming industry!
- opportunity to be yourself and be seen
- Everyone you go though University are also people who you will be bumping into for the rest of your career
- Attend physical events
- Any local game dev groups that I could join?
- Update Linkedin and keep it updated

The interview process:
Do as much research about the company as possible and know EVERYTHING about them!
come prepared with questions
be prepared to talk specifics
do not be nervous, the interviewer wants you as much as you want the job
they are not trying to trick you, but just to see if your'e fit for the job

Search for a Star
- final year and master students
- developa game project, follow a brief written by the game industry, get assessed by games industry professionals, finalise and have a mock interview
- 2 options for 3d art, character art and environment art
- environment art / vehicle,/ create environment featuring a key set of props,
- OR create a themed star citizen spacecraft
- Industry brief, themes and workflow guidance are provided.
- focus on what youre good at
- show it in a game engine
- register for it! February 6th: Project submission deadline

Loukia Kyriakidou, art director of the new Mickey Mouse game

END OF TALK

inspo:
https://tohad.artstation.com/projects/xzrYmO

### Own Research
Reading Come and SLeep: The Folklore of the Japanese Fox

Playing more of God of War

GLOAMIN Book

### Blackpool Trip
To be very honest the Blackpool trip was supposed to happen several weeks ago. I understand the appeal for the Photography and Film students that this trip can be a place for inspiration and to do something that is related to the project. BUt to be perfectly honest, as a Games Art student, I don't see exactly how this can be related to my personal project except that Blackpool is an extremely sad city that looks like it can been from a post-apocalyptic video game. I understand how the artis I saw during the Manchester Art Fair was inspired to make some artworks in this area. ONe doesn't have to change it to a sad future anyway, because it already is!

**ADD IN SOME PHOTOS FROM THE TRIP**

### Meeting with Nathan Robinson 17.11.2022
Great progress from both ends! Working on the level together and figuring out how Plastics work. It is a powerful tool that lets both ends work together, though it is a slight headache to get around with


NOTE! The different things we are making and the ideas we have are not being optimal for an actual game that would be published. Though since this is only a personal project we are working on together and something we only wish to publish in our portfolios, we give oursleves the freedom to not making everything perfect and optimal.
One example is the idea of having each area of the level to change daytime, so it could for example start off in a Sunset, when the player moves down to the forest area, it is nighttime and then lastly the player will end up at the top of the mountain looking at a beautiful sunrise. Having a dynamic timed system like this is extremely heavy on the hardware and a lot of games will not use something like this, but rather "trick" the player into walking into a tunnel which will then use normal tinted torch lights to trick the player into thinking the time has changed. We want to explore how this strong dynamic thing can be different.'

GOAL: SUBSTANCE DESIGNER!!! Have planned a quick tutorial with Dan Hobson for 23~11~2022

Tests of arms for Komada Forest Spirits

## Week 8 :

As I have had company from Norway, my brain has been in holiday mode since Thursday morning. The knowledge that Christmas is getting close is very stressful. What happened to time and knowing that we have all of the time in the world to work on the project?

Stress - stress - stress

Should be able to make a "to do list" that is doable for myself

CG: make water!

IP1: Finish my little Robot boys

Co-Labs: Make some drawings and sketches on top of Amy's images

### Post apocalyptc building in Tokyo for Andrew King : ~22~11~2022~
https://www.spoon-tamago.com/2019/06/17/post-apocalyptic-illustrations-of-tokyo-in-ruins/

Shibuya Sakuraya
https://ameblo.jp/tokyogenso

This reminds me of the artworks created by James Chadderton that I found in the Manchester Art Fair

### Goals This week:
- [ ] Read the Fox book as well as Shinto: a way home

### Own Research
Simon STaalenhag books of Damom
// Reminds me of the comic book That I have read THe STand

### Meeting with Nathan Robinson ~24.11.2022~
A hard reality check of what I will be able to achieve now until the delivery dates. A meeting where he also helped me a lot where I feel like I am in a constant loop of worrying about the deadlines, but I am not doing much about the deliveries for the deadlines either as I am just spending all of this time worrying. "You only fail when you give up", which might sound very cheesy like one of those screensavers with dolphins in the sunsed and a quote written in cursive lettering, but it was also necissery to hear as I have been feeling slightly unmotivated lately. Working now on picking myself up for the final push before the hand in dates and setting myself do-able goals. Such as for next week, I want to have the models pretty much done and also UV mapped and scaled and exported properly.

#### Naming Convention

### STRAY
https://80.lv/articles/art-dump-a-behind-the-scenes-look-at-stray/

https://coryschmitz.com/Stray

A TRIP TO THE MUSEUM OF INDUSTRY IN MANCHESTER




KODAMA



## Week 9 : Don't panic! December starts this week!

### Mo-Cap Studio induction ~29.11.2022~

### Meeting with Nathan Robinson ~01.12.2022~
PANIC MODE, DECEMBER IS HERE AND I HAVEN'T PURCHASED A SINGLE CHRISTMAS PRESENT

PROGRESS!

### Own Research
Borrowed books from Damon: Going through Simon Staalenhags Tales from the Loop and Things from the Flood

Watched Annilihation

## Week 10 : Prioriticing projects

Finlising Komainu-Lion Dog

### Own Research
Watched TROLL on Netflix

Shit Typology

arms:rubber dry

### collaborating with Bipin for his project
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## Week 11 : Is Covid still a thing ?
Dead

### Own Research
Finished God of War
**legg til credit scene fra god of war**

Finished the book Japanese motifs to get som inspiration