Research [to-do] (design theory) - Valve's Guide for Dota 2 Character Design

http://media.steampowered.com/apps/dota2/workshop/Dota2CharacterArtGuide.pdf

Design - The-Going-Under-The-Water-Safely-Device, Research and Development

To get into the swing of things now I will begin with the design of an interesting vehicle seen in the novel - the submarine known as 'The Going Under The Water Safely Device' or; 'The Boat'.

Plan;

1. gather descriptions and a list of adjectives, references from other artists, historical research on early submarines, historical reference images
2. Compile into a list of images and short descriptions and adjectives
3. Draw thumbnails
4. Select some distinct thumbnails for further refinement

Collection of descriptions from Jingo

Copied and pasted all useful references of the craft below:

 'Well, because it is submersed in a marine environment I've always called it
the Going–Under–The–Water–Safely Device,' said Leonard, behind him.
'But usually I just think of it as the Boat.'
He reached behind him and shut the lid.

It was a cylinder, tapering to a point at both ends. At one end the taper
was quite complex, the cylinder narrowing in a succession of smaller and
smaller rings, overlapping one another until they ended in a large fishtail.
Oiled leather could be seen gleaming in the gaps between the metal.
At the other end, extending from the cylinder for all the world like the
horn of a unicorn, was a very long and pointed screw thread. 

'Looks like a giant fish to me,' said Colon. 'Made of tin.'

'Propulsion was a major headache, I'm afraid,' said Leonard, climbing up a
stepladder. 'I thought of paddles and oars, and even some kind of screw,
and then I thought: dolphins, that's the ticket! They move extremely fast
with barely an effort. That's out at sea, of course, we only get the shovel–
nosed dolphin in our estuary here. The linkage rods are a bit complicated
but I used to be able to get quite a turn of speed. The pedalling can be
somewhat tiresome, but with three of us we should be able to get up to
some quite satisfactory accelerations. It's amazing what you can do when
you imitate nature,

'Let's see you get up them steps, lad... hup hup hup.. .'
Nobby scrambled up the ladder and disappeared.

' 'ere, sarge,' came a metallic voice from the belly of the fish, 'there's all chains
and cogwheels in here. What's this do?' The big auger in front of the thing started
to squeak round.
Leonard appeared from behind the fish.

After a moment any listener in the boathouse would have heard a
complicated clonk as bolts slid into place. 

It was quite dark in the Boat. A candle swung from a bracket over Leonard
of Quirm's bowed head as he sat steering with two levers. Around Nobby,
pulleys rattled and little chains clicked. It was like being inside a sewing
machine. A damp one, too. Condensation dropped off the ceiling in a stead
There were the tanks of air, for example. Nobby was happy to accept that
you could squeeze air up really small, and that was what was in the groaning, creaking steel–bound casks
strapped to the walls. It was what happened to the air afterwards that came
as a surprise.
'Bubbles!' said Leonard. 'Dolphins again, you see? They don't swim
through the water, they fly through a cloud of bubbles. Which is much
easier, of course. I add a little soap, which seems to improve matters.'

Page 133
Sergeant Colon risked a glance behind him.
Lord Vetinari was sitting on an upturned box amidst the clicking chains,
with several of Leonard's sketches open on his knees.
The Boat was moving faster now they were away from the city. There was
even a brackish light filtering through the little glass windows.
'The auger, I would have you know, is for attaching us to passing ships in
the manner of the remora, the sucker–fish which attaches itself to sharks. A
few turns is all that is necessary for a firm attachment.'.
.
Page 135
'I am knackered, sarge. Is there anything to eat?'
'There's some more of that garlic sausage. Or there's the cheese. Or cold beans.'
'We're in a tin with no air and we're supposed to eat cheese? I ain't even going to
comment on the beans.'
'It's just that it's getting a bit... crowded, if you get my meaning.'
'I will pay out the rope as soon as it's dark and we can surface and take on air.'

He reached up and opened the hatch.

Sergeant Colon did not get a lot of sleep. This was partly because he was
woken up several times by sawing and banging coming from the front of the
Boat, and partly because water kept dripping on his head, but mainly
because the lull in activity was causing him to consider his position.
Sometimes when he woke up he saw the Patrician hunched over Leonard's
drawings, a gaunt silhouette in the light of the candle – reading, making
notes...

They might even have wondered about the piece of bent piping which
turned with a faint squeaking noise.
'–idea while I was dozing off. Piece of pipe, two angled mirrors – the
solution to all our steering and air problems!
'Fascinating. A Seeing-Things-Pipe-You-Can-Breathe-Down.'
The pipe slid down into the waves. There was a little flurry of bubbles and
a damp argument about whose job it should have been to put the cork in,

Leonard
spent a lot of time looking out of the tiny windows
Sergeant Colon reached
automatically for the screws that held the lid shut. 

Page 176
and then the hull of the Boat rose a few inches above the surface. The lid
unscrewed and Leonard's worried face appeared.

Page 232
Lord Vetinari pulled the steering levers until he was pretty certain that they
were heading towards a suitable ship and said:

Page 233
There wasn't very much space in the Boat, and most of it was taken up
with Sergeant Colon's souvenirs. He'd been allowed a brief shopping
expedition 'to take home something for the wife, sir, otherwise I'll never
hear the last of it'.
Sergeant Colon coughed and indicated with a tilt of his head the hunched
figure of Leonard, who was sitting in the stern with his head in his hands.
Lord Vetinari looked up. They were under a boat now and it seemed to be
going in the right direction. He steered the Boat until he heard the thunk of
hull hitting hull, and gave the auger a few turns. 

Storage and launching:

The whole thing was mounted on a crude trolley, which was in turn riding
on a pair of iron rails that disappeared into the black water at the far end of
the boathouse.
'I've lit the candle that'll bum down
and sever the string that'll release the weight thatll pull the blocks out.'
The candle burned down and severed the string that released the weight
that pulled the blocks out and, slowly at first, the Boat slid down the rails
and into the dark water which, after a second or two, closed over it with a
gloop.

Summarising Descriptions 

Exterior form:

• Metal
• Reminiscent of a fish according to Colon
• Cylinder, tapers to point at each end
• Rear end series of smaller and smaller circles with oiled leather in gaps. Fish tail at the end.
• Seems to function with the motion of a fish tail - inspired by dolphin
• Long thin detachable screw at front to attach like Remora fish
• Screw misunderstood to be a weapon for sinking ships
• Ladder up to hatch on top
• Hatch bolts shut, screws shut and can be pulled shut - complicated mechanism
• Bubbles created with soap and air to aid motion through water
• Little glass windows, some on ceiling
• Later modification - Seeing-Things-Pipe-You-Can-Breathe-Down with optional cork

Interior:

• Not much space 
• Cogwheels, pulleys, little chains
• Candle hangs from bracket
• Condensation drips
• Very smelly from food and lack of fresh air
• Food storage for garlic sausage, cheese, beans
• Three seats for pedalling
• Space in bow and stern where Vetinari and Leonard do work
• Behind pedallers - chains, upturned box for sitting
• Two levers for steering
• Compressed air, groaning in steel-bound casks (wood, metal?) strapped to walls supply air and soap to outside
• Little glass windows, some on ceiling 

Picking out most important aspects for gathering reference

What does the design need to SAY? What is our major emphasis?


What is its purpose? - exploring deep underwater, sneaking away from the city, sneaking into the enemy city = exploration and espionage vehicle

Things to aim to portray

1. Deep underwater - structural strength, pressure protection, lights, 
2. Sneaky, stealthy - camouflage colours, textures, imitation shapes, low shapes
3. Natural ocean forms - fish, dolphins, whales, fins, tails, gills, mouths, lights,
4. Da Vinci eccentricity/aesthetic - copper, brass, leather, wood, gears, cogs, wheels,
5. Misunderstood peaceful vehicle - looks dangerous but is not intended to be, conflict between peace and violence, misleading form

Things unsure of/things to think about or experiment loosley with

1. Serious or quirky?
2. Materials?
3. Overall style?
4. Speed?

Think about what can and can't be portrayed in silhouette 

- try to portray as much as possible in silhouette though

Notes - looking at the references in relation to design principles/elements - perhaps take some notes specifically re: this 
Reference Gathering and Topical Research

Collecting a large range of relevant reference images that show some of the aspects described by the 6 points in the section above. Using pinterest to collect. See the images in this link.

Topical research will include looking at some early submarines, a quick look at how they work, etc, to make a design more grounded in reality.


Some Historical Submarines

Cornelius Drebbel 1572-1633, Dutch man in service of English Royal Navy
Created the first navigable submarine in 1620 based on William Bourne's (1535-1582) design (historical accuracy)?
Leather-covered wooden frame. Third model (last one) had 6 oars, carried 16 passengers. Could travel from Westminster to Greenwich and back at 4-5m deep
Method of oxygen generation unknown - historical suggestions that it could have been by heating potassium nitrate or sodium nitrate in a pan to create oxygen. But this is not fact.

Bourne's idea was a submarine that would expand and contract its overall shape (thus changing its overall volume) to change its buoyancy. Modern submarines have chambers that are flooded or emptied of water in order to reduce or increase buoyancy respectively.

Around 1652- 1654, Louis de Son built the Rotterdam Boat, semi submerged craft designed to punch holes (battering ram) in the side of boats. Underpowered, didn't move at all.

The Turtle was a submarine, first to be documented in combat. Built by David Bushnell in 1775 to attach explosives to ships. Never a success.
Two wooden shells, covered in tar, reinforced with steel bands.
Buoyancy controlled by letting water into a bilge tank at the bottom and used a hand pump to push the water out. 91kg of lead attached could be released instantly to give instant buoyancy. 30 minutes of air, speed of 5km/h. Powered horizontally and vertically by two hand cranked propellors. Vertical propeller would be used when neutral buoyancy achieved.

The Nautilus built by American Robert Fulton for the French between 1793 and 1797.
Hand-cranked propellor. Large iron keel was hollow and was the ballast tank, pumps pushed water in or out.. Had a rudder with horizontal fins attached to control the angle of dive - like modern day hydrofoils.
Copper sheets over iron-ribbed hull. Collapsible mast for surface propulsion.
Weaponry - drove a needle-like spike into the underside of ships through which a wire had been threaded. Wire attached on one end to an explosive that would be released from the submarine, and on the other end attached to the sub. As the Nautilus moved away the wire would be pulled through the eye of the spike, the explosive pulled towards the ship and on contact it would explode.
Waterproof leather snorkel tube provided air



Technical contemporary sub information - specific workings 

Subs are generally kept as close as possible to neutral buoyancy, and then control surfaces used to fly the sub through the water.
To submerge or surface, the Main Ballast Tanks are used. For precise quick control of depth beyond this, the Depth Control Tanks are used. These can also be used to maintain a constant depth. Can be located near the CoG or further apart to prevent affecting trim.
Stern hydroplanes oft used to control trim while the  fairwater planes and/org bow planes on main body may be used to control depth with less effect on trim (due to close to CoG)
Teardrop shape reduces hydrodynamic drag when submerged.


General nautical terms and concepts

Some reading on ballast http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sailing_ballast
and Keel http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keel

Keel: the 'spine' of the boat and the first part to be laid down and a major source of structural strength in the ships we'd see in Jingo. Ribs attach to the keel.

Ballast Keel or Full Keel is an extension down from the keel that often has weight. Intended to provide stability and lateral resistance - to reduce rolling.

Skeg is an aftward extension of the keel that protects the propellor

Bilge keel are projections from the sides of the ship to reduce rolling.

Draft - the distance between the waterline and the bottom of the hull. The more laden the ship, the bigger the draft.

Trim - the difference between the fore and aft draft

Outriggers - help reduce  rolling


A really good simple explanation of submarine functioning
http://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/The-Fleet/Submarines/Fleet-Submarines/Trafalgar-Class/How-A-Submarine-Works



















Thumbs

6B -

• aggressive front, low profile hatch or 'cockpit' form indicates a stealthiness - like a hunched head. 
• Long form, blunt face and blade-like form, gives a sense of speed and damage. 
• Small, tucked in side fins give sense of speed, aerodynamic
• Interesting, bold and distinctive shape, but a thin, tall form doesn't serve our purpose

6A -

• large nose area gives sense of large engine placed there - heavier, more powerful but slower to speed up or slow down - like a muscle car

8A -

• front lantern heavily suggests deep water exploration and nighttime operation
• Prominent wing or fin-like protrusions reminiscent of Da Vinci's style of wood-and-canvas wings
• Overall form suggests speed and some agility - size of fins relative to body suggests smaller body, so very fish or bird-like rather than sea mammal
• Long form suggests great forward speed
• Far pulled back rear connecting edge of front fins suggest fish-like form rather than aircraft or bird
• Gaps between fins and body, as well as mechanical adornment of lamp and screw-spike suggest machine rather than fish
• Taper towards rear directs the eye backwards a little, maybe confuses direction 
• Light too far forwards, makes front heavy. Make more stumpy or balance further back

8C

• Shrunk size of side fins to increase sense of scale of body and reduce sense of agility
• Increased scale of tail to retain some sense of forward speed, although general bulk means it seems slower now
• Maybe a bit front heavy

8B 

• Rounded form and smaller tail-shaft feels more playful, slower and perhaps less aggresive, more defensive
• Rounded form more Bathysphere-like - suggests deeper water
• Lamp suggests deeper waters as well
• Seems less stable or controlled - somewhat more prone to tipping due to rounded form and smaller fins, smaller rudder, etc
• Large screw suggests smaller size
• Seems more fish like and less mechanical - need to play up the mechanical a bit more
• Stealth? Camoflaged as fish form. More camoflage or stealthy attributes in detail?
• Light too far forwards, makes front heavy. Make more stumpy or balance further back Discovered by putting the boat in a quick speed painting with rough proportions, angled downwards
• Light as is also too flimsy, breaks unity with the quite tight and firm form

Further exercise - take 2 and push further?

Oriental! Look at Da Vinci work to compare aesthetics, see if oriental influence might be acceptable

The Oriental Issue:

Da Vinci Flying Machine:

Same wooden-frame and canvas look. Less straight edges and more curved, bone-like forms.

European analogue - sailing ships, shapes - masts, sails, the little triangle ones, etc.

Lantern idea to also anchor in eurotown




Set 2



A1

• exploration of a different lamp shape
• Brought to my attention the asian aesthetic - how do I tone this down?
• Interesting head form

A2

• Rounded the wing forms similar to Da Vinci's flying machine above, added tail fin
• rethought the tail - more planar

A3

• Much less asian influenced, more curved and sharp wings - aggressive, speed
• Tail simplified

A4

• Started looking at European ship and their sales
• Tried a staysail-like form to retain nautical iconography while decreasing Asian aesthetic
• Tail still quite Asian-like but hopefully offset and countered by larger fins
• Idea for lantern - old-English street lantern. Wall-mount appropriate form for angler-fish look

A5

• Ditto but scaling down the fins and drill to add bulk to body, create sense of decreased speed and agility

A6/A7

• Playing with perpendicular sail masts
• A6 confuses direction of motion
• A7 departs too far from the nautical aesthetic

B1

• Took the sail forms from A4 and applied them to B
• Works well, looks fish-inspired with obvious man-made, western and period-specific construction
• Tail could use some further thought

 Things to do at this stage!!
Refer to list of things to aim to portray
Refer to Design elements and principles when thinking about the shapes used



Selected A5 and B2
Final silhouette stage -final touches - tail shapes on both and rudder fin on A5


Round 3
A2 - tail too detailed? Will be offset by surface detail, I hope
A series trouble defining direction of motion
B series trouble defining direciton of motion with the convex tail, returned to concave

Shortened the screw on A4 to reduce sense of speed, moved rudder forwards to give a sense of  weight nearer front to also reduce sense of speed

Tail choices - defines direction of motion clearly without creating excessive sense of speed

Tail still a problem for A series
Too far forward leaves back top edge unbalanced and empty
Too sharp gives too much of a rocket-like form and sense of speed
too square stands out as unique



A4
B4



Tidied up persp

Details, revised for minimal layers, less cleanliness and smaller and tighter canvas for more focus on speed and idea generation/dev than presentation

Generate a bunch of ideas up until 3pm, then review them while thinking about the elements and principles of design and what each of them expresses/relation to brief
Select 2 detail images to take to colour and material

Experimented with position of ladder - middle felt too divisive, rear felt gave too much attention to rear(?) (more instinctive feeling, like we enter a car/aeroplane near the front where the driving happens, entry to submarines near front, etc)
front position also gave a sense of easy access to lantern on front, etc

Quick look at cars - detail in front to form a focal point, the 'face' of the design
look here for meaning or important information - character, indicatiors, lights, identiificaiton number plate, and we know the driver sits just behind and above this


importance of having a front face of vehicle became noted

Detail 1 - ended up analysing in book, scan and place here

two that were working best were A4 and B4

Did one final stage of making final changes and alterations as noted in analysis



Detail 2 - final touches



maybe ask online about list of concerns re these designs
eg - initial read of A - does it feel forward moving?

B2 selected had line cutting through eye window but by pulling it back we lead viewer's eye to face
wider sections slows down. also ties in with the architectural sensibility. But feels off compared to other one.

as an acting-art director make more solid decisions before beginning - don't be afraid of putting up walls to make it a managable task within time frame



Ref advice next time - slow and small!



Refer back to materials on surface for detailing!! Original claims - leather between joins of tail, 'tin' body



Colours discuss
A&B 3, 4, 5, and 7 are more stealthy - camoflage.

Materials of 3 and 5 are steel or silver metal, while 4 and 7 are copper or brass or similar with blue paint.

7 shows a quick paint job with lack of concern for overall aesthetic - pragmatic and speedy, an unexpected alteration. The rough and organic shape of the paint edge does contrast with the rest of the aesthetic and doesmake it a focal point of the design -what if it were made of vertical strokes like with a roller?

Screw of 6 and 7 appear to be made of same material as the framing material. If this material is decided to be wood then this will not work! On these ones the framing must lie flat on the surface.

5 seems quite more advanced and contemporary with its more modern navy blue theme

Research (artist work critique, artist research) - Architecture of Francois Beauregard

Design 1: House Under Construction by Francois Beauregard

Artist's notes:

• Single story (client's religious choice)

Brief analysis by me:

Character:

• Secretive, values privacy

• Due to few front-facing windows, shielded/hooded windows block out more light, high and small windows on garage door

•   Inherent oldness or disuse

•  Shelf-like brackets at top of pillars visually reminiscent of cobwebs

Old country house feel to roof
-due to awning over windows



Contacted Francois regarding this house. I sent him the following message:

I'm analysing the character of it at the moment in order to better understand the semiotics of architecture for my own designs, and it feels like it's got a big emphasis on privacy and/or secrecy for the occupants due to the lacking number of front-facing windows. Was this your intent?

to which he replied

Nope! You're probably over-analyzing this home. Reading architectural theory? He he I have too... The layout is governed by a two car garage up front. That takes up just a bit more than half of frontal area. Plus front door. That leaves only one window unit for the bedroom/study up front. There's plenty of windows along the left side where the living/dining/kitchen is, plus more in back. If anything, we want it to feel open and cheerful, not closed off.

Personal Development - Creative Roadblock and Lack of Motivation

It's been a tough few weeks with very little motivation to start making. A lot of fear and stress, over-analysis and anxiety.

[16.10.2013 note: have since realised that I have been suffering from excessive perfectionism as well as declining confidence in abilities in design and decision making. This has been ongoing throughout project. Slowly seeing some improvement during final weeks of semester]

As per Rebecca's awesome advice, I'm trying to just paint whatever for a little while to try to get motivated again.

This started as a photostudy but eventually turned into a fantasy painting. Very, very similar to the stuff I used to paint when I would just paint without a plan. Found myself going back to all the same old images - flying ships, long and rickety wharfs, fantasy houses and dramatic landscapes.


Original photo sourced from here

Original composition, somewhat unbalanced with the foreground grabbing too much attention:

Nautical-themed ship, added an exaggerated bow to the front and gill-like forms to the underside with fish-like tail. Coal-cruise-ship chimneys protruding from a shellfish-like upper shell.

Revised composition - added the tree to the left to keep the eye in the frame, added lighter surf and very loose diagonal lines to the lower cliff (bottom left) to push the eye towards the rocks in lower right, which then push the eye back up towards the ship. Balanced the bulk of the cliff with dark cloud in the distance.

Thoughts: 

• Could clarify and add more diagonal motion to the lower-left cliff.
• Simplify the cliff, make less busy so that it fits in stylistically with the rest of the image, OR increase detail in the rest of the image.
• Horizon a bit unclear in terms of depth - look at references for the clouds next time and ensure that they appear to retain their depth

Research - List of Links, design theory and practice, contextual information, industry organisation, project-specific reference

Character of Architecture

http://www.architecture-student.com/architecture/character-and-style-in-buildings/
http://www.placemakers.com/2011/04/29/coding-for-character-the-architecture-of-community/
http://www.oldhouseweb.com/architecture-and-design/architectural-character-identifying-the-visual-aspects-of-historic-buildings.shtml#Three-Step Process to Identify A Building's Visual Character

Iterations and Design
http://samhogg.blogspot.co.nz/2013/02/iterations-and-iterations.html

Elysium design
http://www.cgsociety.org/index.php/CGSFeatures/CGSFeatureSpecial/elysium
http://library.creativecow.net/kaufman_debra/Elysium-Neill-Blomkamp/1

300 design
http://www.cgsociety.org/index.php/CGSFeatures/CGSFeatureSpecial/style_guide

Previsualisation
http://library.creativecow.net/cline_gare/Previs-4_When-to-Use-Previs/1

Victorian City
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Louise_Rayner_Salisbury_The_Poultry_Cross.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Leadenhall_Street_J_Hopkins.jpg

Filmmaker's Guide to Production Design
http://home.fa.utl.pt/~cfig/Bibliografia/Cenografia/447%20-%20The%20Filmmaker's%20Guide%20To%20Production%20Design.pdf

Modern brochure for police station design
http://tna.europarchive.org/20100419081706/http:/www.police.homeoffice.gov.uk/publications/police-buildings/design-quality-police-buildings2835.pdf?view=Binary

Fan-designed Pseudopolis Yard floor plan
http://www.beeptwo.com/watch/floorplan.html

Theories and Arguments re: Concept Art in the Production Pipeline
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ft9oSw-opB4

James Don Vito on the Realities of Being a Concept Artist
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=0T5ZaXOAEMc

Personal Development - Dealing with Designer's Block

Some tips at the following sites

• http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2011/10/5-simple-ways-to-beat-designers-block/
• http://designfestival.com/10-ways-to-rid-yourself-of-designers-block/
• http://www.gomediazine.com/insights/graphic-design/10-tips-avoid-designers-block/

The following link that reminds us that no one gets it right the first time

http://www.peachpit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=1934244

Research (design theory, process) - Matt Kohr's 'Vehicle Design', 'Design Basis' series

Still trying to get a handle on design process before jumping in and designing Ankh Morpork.

http://www.triangleparkcreative.com/tips/design/principles

http://tersiiska.com/design/principles/

http://www.1stwebdesigner.com/design/20-reasons-your-design-sucks-1/

http://lenoxweb.net/Custom-Web-Design/balance-web-design.html

Research Source 1.

Looked at this tutorial by Dr Chee Ming Wong on ImagineFX


Research Source 2.

I purchased this instructional video series called "Vehicle Design from Start to Finish' by Matt Kohr in order to learn more. The following are some notes and my own thoughts on the processes.


Phase 1 - Thumbnails

These thumbnails are for a final rendered image. That is, the final goal is a rendered image and the analysis of the thumbnails takes into account the perspective and camera angle of the thumbnail for this final image. I guess this saves time by setting up a general image composition early on. My thoughts: what if a design that comes out in the thumbnail has been drawn from a lacklustre camera angle? This can be rectified in the 3D stage later on, but in this stage could it impact our judgement?

• Begins with thumbnails. Uses a premade grid setup.
• Can do this with pen and paper or digitally - or any other method.
• Almost like automatic drawing - working quickly with a thick brush, letting accidents occur and contribute.
• Wait for interesting shapes to reveal themselves then goes in that direction.
• Don't always have an idea what it will end up looking like - it's brainstorming. 
• Forcing yourself to go through a specific process - coming up with new ideas never had before.
• If you can design a process to walk through you can reproduce your creativity.
• So you know how to create an interesting result.
• Thumbnails the most important part of the drawing.
• Sometimes skips this step and goes on to the final drawing - but often this doesn't work out. 
• The above point illustrates that sometimes a designer doesn't go through the design process rigidly.
• This stage is about getting a nice black and white compositional read:

1. What am I looking at?
2. Is it interesting?
3. Is it balanced?

• This is where the ideas of 2D design come in to play.
• Thumbnail - visual shorthand unique to each artist. Everybody's will look different, and their process for creating them will be different.

• Matt's thumbnail process: uses 100% opacity and hard-edged brush and eraser tools. Forces you to be decisive, make quick decisions whilst drawing.
• Using google image search to find the regularly used angles for photography of the subject.
• We see him copying and pasting some elements to reuse and rework them in other thumbnails.
• Great to end up with a large variety of thumbs. He does 9 here, but not unusual to get 20-30. If it's really important, you might get 100! A variety of options, and you know that what you take forward is the best of a variety of options. To find your PERSONAL BEST.

PERSONAL BEST, that is, YOU DON'T HAVE TO CREATE A PERFECT OR IDEALISED RESULT. Many skill levels in any industry - your work doesn't have to be as good as Syd Mead's in order for you to be doing work.

• A balance between time and quality - the more you do, the better your final result will be. But you can't spend all your time doing thumbnails.

Phase 2 - Coloured Roughs

• Take the most promising thumbnails and do some colour roughs
• Not sure what colours he wants to start with - picks from reference images
• Locking pixels and using masks to help keep the decisiveness of thumbnailing going. I think to get rid of any laborious retouching. We can make quick and confident strokes without worrying about going out of the lines.
• We have them all on the same canvas so that we can see them all relative to one another, look at them all at once. Take it in.
• Sometimes Art Director will help to pick, but if on own then it can be harder to pick.
• Looking for parts that are successful. We might only think about the colours of one design to work well, and the shapes of another to work well. 
• In this case we might then pull the two thumbnails and make a new set of thumbs that combine these aspects to different degrees.
• Now would be the time when he would try mixing and matching - making thumbnail iterations based off of the coloured roughs.

Research Source 3.

Bought the instructional video 'Design Basics' by Matt Kohr.

Notes:

Character designs and visual metaphor

• Using visual metahpor to display ideas - sharp spikes signify danger, bad, etc. Roots in evolution.
• Natural world - sharp shapes, spiked animals, sharp teeth, etc.
• Poses for characters can be used too - heroic Hercules pose vs hunched over bad guy pose.
• Some cultural differences - specific animals signify different things, so explicitly using a lizard (for instance) and it's spikes could read differently depending on where you are.
• ICONS - iconic shapes that imbue real world natural objects (and designs) with meaning.
• Cultural background of shapes can teach us about their use - Satan and his many spikes - horns, pitchfork, spiked tail, spiky bat wing
• Darth Vader essentially a big pointy triangle
• Horns used on old medieval helmets, motorcycle helmets - to create fear, film design. Sometimes functional but often to signify bad guys.
• Spikes very useful because they protrude from the primary shape and silhouette. If they show from seperate angles then all the better.

Boat designs and implied function and character

• Smooth flowing forms, forwards-pointing say 'speed'
• Building-like, stable and steady looking boats say 'party, platform for parties' etc
• Here we have form vs function - a balance. The form was most likely pushed beyond pure functional use and into being signifiers of purpose. Not to say that form is always aesthetic - obvious functional usage of aerodynamics, etc.

Robot Design

• Gets given a verbal description of a robot that they need. Communications droid that does x tasks from a game-play standpoint.
• So have to think about what the design needs to say - what's his major emphasis? Back this up with visuals.
• Matt likes to start with adjectives

• Smart
• Inquisitive
• High tech
• Communications 

• So now - a blank canvas, then a series of choices.
• Come up with something as clear and obvious as possible.

Reference gathering and usage

• Gathers reference to get visual wheels moving.
• ICONS. This isn't a dangerous character - he just collects information.
• So references are smooth, streamlined, big eyes to imply intelligence and information gathering,
• Matt - best designs come from a wide variety of reference
• Reference - smart animals, dolphins, modern cute robots to add sense of realism joints connections. Helicopter, submarine, fish, communications relays. All aspects he wants to infuse into the character.
• IF TIME ALLOWS - draw your reference sheet or at least some of it. Warmup, internalise your reference material. Try to get all the details and little shapes as well as the overall forms
• Selection of refs can really be based on whether or not the proportions and icons of the references say what you want to say with the design.

Design

• Begin with a sheet of possible silhouettes. Just like thumbnails.
• Picks out aspects of references and works those in. Some choices seem to be taking aspects of those references only loosely related to the original character goal smart, inquisitive, high tech, communications - for instance taking the long slender frog legs and creating a rather athletic looking robot. Could be a way of generating ideas that can then be thought about more in depth later on - after all the aim is to generate ideas not completely finalise a design.
• Reference seem to be used and selected in quite an abstract way - of course the droid itself is quite abstract and not really based too heavily on any real-world design. He's selected images that have large eyes, streamlined or smooth forms, etc, to fit the criteria for what traits and forms display the intended message of the design.
• Given a more rigid design brief (creating a droid with some pre-set attributes (angular forms, etc) we'd have to be more selective in our use and integration of attributes.
• Uses the visual language of the references to inform the shapes he's drawing
• Interpreting a reference through the lens of design.

Proportion and Scale

• Proportion much more important than scale
• Proportion - the relative size of a thing in relation to other things
• As a signifier - an Owl looks cute because of its large head - similar to the proportion of a baby's head in comparison to the rest of its body. Eyes large compared to size of head
• EG1: Pokemon designs are great - oft very cute. Lots of good proportional relationships - head and eyes - to make cute. Very small screen on which to show pokemon therefore the designs are very simple yet effective. Efficient
• EG2: Alligator illustration proportions - head smaller relative to body to emphasise size of body and shoulders. Legs smaller to emphasise body too - torso bulk. Toughness emphasised. Still looks like an alligator but with a more refined character via proportion.
• EG3: Caricature - proportions of recognisable features changed to emphasise key features.

Principles of Design

• Contrast: Video game levels and visual design - using contrast (colour, value, etc) to draw the player's eye and lead them to where you want them to go.
• Contrast: Web design of CtrlPaint website. Very grey site with colourful icons for videos - draws the eye. Contrast of saturation to pull the eye to the most important elements (the products) first.
• All of these principles of design work in pretty much every creative product - character design, environment design, prop design, etc
• The goal of design is to achieve unity - we want to balance the principles of design within our design - blending the principles in a pleasing way.
• EMPHASIS A character that reads well has strong emphasis on relevant attributes and this gives clarity of read
• Sonic = emphasis on particular attributes. Emphasis created through scale, contrast, etc
• Emphasis as an information hierarchy. Especially in instances where we might only see something for a short period or where we have to react quickly to a new design (encountering a new character in a video game for instance) we have to be able to read the character quickly and discern it's function and whether it's friendly. 
• Emphasise the important parts so that it reads quickly. Remove or diminish the parts that aren't as important towards this goal.
• REPETITION used to create coherency between characters - to show they are in the same group. Repeated shapes, repeated colours, etc. RHYTHM comes in to play with how these elements are repeated on a character-by-character basis. Different rhythms and different PROPORTIONS in the repetition can create uniqueness within this group of characters.
• When Matt talks about UNITY in this video, he talks about it in terms of BALANCE. in terms of appropriate negative space with busy and non-busy areas. With dark colours and light colours balancing one another. Saturated colours surrounded by less saturated colours.
• Every point has to have a counterpoint - and in the balance you have a pleasing character.

Iterations

• A good way to ensure you get a good design 99% of the time is to build it up out of a lot of small changes in stages - iterations.
• Silhouette gives us the initial read and on a shape level tells us a lot about the character
• 2 favorites from the silhouettes. Both cloned across a document a few times.
• Detailed in one of two ways - value pattern and line.
• Value pattern: graphic shapes, just working with shapes. The dark and light can be reimagined later as panel/no panel or dark paint/light paint. At the moment it's just about a pleasing composition. 
• If character works in value pattern it will work with detail later on.
• Line: take silhouettes and draw interior lines. Just getting linear shapes.
• Both ways - getting more and more specific from the original shape.
• Took one from this series and took it further - did some variations with line, played with overall proportions a little too - so messed a little with the silhouette in proportion.
• Colour - did a lot of different colour palletes. Picked one to take further and think about material.
• Material - gloss, semi-gloss, matte, muddy, scratched, etc. What does it say about the character?
• Work in a modular way - a dirt overlay on a separate layer to copy and paste on different versions, etc.
• Can always rethink previous steps and go back and follow a different branch.

Final word

• Talked about a lot of rules over this series - you don't need to remember all the rules all the time!
• Most important thing to remember - design language as a visual hierarchy
• That is, the immediate read gives the overall character and most important info, then as we move down the hierarchy we see smaller details that flesh it out - supporting information and adds some context.
• Second most important thing to remember - your design isn't going to stand on it's own at the end. Will be part of a larger picture or larger story.
• Eg: Transformers video game - everything is shiny and spikey and shooty. Everything is equally loud and exciting, and now it's confusing level design - no emphasis to lead us around.
• Eg2: TF2 has very simple and well designed levels. Background elements aren't overly exciting - emphasis is placed on the things we need to pay attention to, while other things are allowed to fade into less-exciting.

Description

Reference

Silhouette

Line or Value

Colour

Materials/Surfaces

Research Source 4: Matt Kohr's Principles of Design Series

This is mostly stuff I already know, but I feel a refresher could be very useful!

Listed principles:

• Balance
• Emphasis
• Scale and Proportion
• Movement
• Rhythm and Repetition
• Unity

Video 1: Introduction

• Every image is the product of both Technique (mark making, edge control, texture, style, lines, realism) and Composition (subject matter, arrangement, camera angle)

Video 2: Balance

• Objects have visual weight and we want to create a composition that is balanced around the center.
• Uses a seesaw to explain balance
• Two equally sized objects placed equal distances from the center of the seesaw are balanced.
• A large object near the center and a small object further away is also balanced. Basic physics.
• Consider our composition like that seesaw. 
• One object right in the center - balanced. Moved to once side - unbalanced. Adding another object on the other side can re-balance.
• Objects have visual weight. 
• We can achieve harmony or unity in our image by having a balanced composition.
• Balance is not Symmetry - often an interesting composition is one that is balanced asymmetrically  heavy objects and less heavy objects balancing one another
• The effect of value on visual weight.
• He talks about value of an object and how that changes the visual weight of that object.
• Things that increase visual weight of an element - contrast (colour, value, texture, pattern), scale, actual perceived physical weight, density of a pattern, improve on this list

Video 3: Emphasis

• Putting emphasis on certain objects or areas to draw the eye
• Contrast used to do this  
• Value contrast, Colour contrast
• Use of brushwork - quality of edges (softness, hardness) to create an almost DOF effect. Reduces contrast between edges in blurred regions
• Detail in focal point to draw eye to focal point

Video 4: Scale and Proportion

• Differing sizes of similar objects to create depth and, via proportion, show scale of objects around the scene
• Proportion within an object - size of head vs body. Small head and large shoulders/body = tough guy. Emphasis on body and shoulders.
• Overlap to clarify depth and therefore scale

Video 5: Movement

• Use of lines to direct the eye around a composition
• Goal is always to point the viewer towards the focal point
• At the thumbnail stage of the image shown (1) he already had this flow in mind - all the rest was just polish.
• Eye directed down by the claws and arms, then back in and up along the body and towards the head
• The next image (2) was more complicated (more elements). Eyes tend to gravitate towards faces, so there's only one in this image. Lines of the wings lead us towards the head. Bird in top right is flying towards the big bird's head.
• Used proportion and scale to show depth - identical birds get smaller as further away.
• Sweeping motion of the flock of smaller birds leads the eye towards focal point too.
• In the third (3) image the gaze of the diver on the left could lead us straight out of the image. Matt explains how he illuminated part of the tail of the monster to sweep around and lead us down to where the neck (also illuminated) leads us back up to the focal point - the teeth.
• Image (4) shows a composition that has no movement in it - a still city image.
• My interpretation was that the vertical spikes lead the eye upwards, and then the curved arch led us back down  and around to other elements - a guided tour.
• Matt's interpretation is that it's a clockwise spiral motion, which I can understand. He says this spiral motion is pleasing to the viewer. He describes it as a shift from foreground to background as we go 'deeper and deeper into the canvas'
• We would start at what I'd call the dominant focus (the large foreground spike), then up and to the left (eye travelling from  lower contrast towards higher contrast) then back down the right side of the arch, then back up and into other elements. The eye is definitely held within the composition.
• The eye isn't lead to the dominant tonal or colour contrast here, but rather the tallest building. Therefore perhaps this is how it's established as the dominant element - through the way the eye is lead and it's dominance in height and diegetic scale.
• Also important to note is the extreme contrast at the top of the dome - do we exclude framing devices from our consideration of value-contrast dominance? Or perhaps this extreme contrast helps to draw the eye in towards the tallest building.
• Characters: in this example (5) Matt wants the viewer's eye to be lead to the face (it's where the acting is most heavily shown here). Therefore - forms in the background sweep towards the head, the top of the instrument points inwards towards the face. Shape of clothing and lines in the lute itself point towards face.
• Allowed composition to dictate some of the character design - design of the lute.

Video 6: Rhythm and Repetition

• Repetition of iconic shapes and forms within individual objects and throughout similar objects in the scene to create coherency
• Similar to music terms
• Repetition - repeated elements in an illustration are pleasing to the viewer
• Comfortable to see many similar looking rocks. 
• Visual shorthand - brain fills in the gap of lesser-detailed similar shaped objects. 
• Eg: large detailed rock in foreground, less detailed rocks in background, character pops out due to foreground detail, background still seems detailed because brain fills in the gaps.
• Repetition can be done with simply shape instead of objects. Repeating a spiked form on several objects around a scene for instance. Continuity through repetition. Things fit together - characters and environments.
• Same shapes within the same object or character to create a pleasing and coherent design.
• Rhythm is a type of repetition - more broken up and less rigidly ordered. Can alter size, shape, placement, overlapping, etc
• Rhythm good for less-ordered scenes - natural scenes etc.

Video 7: Unity

• Unity in a compositional sense is a 'nice mixture of the principles of design' - a good balance of all the principles. 
• Matt shows several thumbnails that he wants to take further. He wants to find the one with the most 'unity'. 
• Using the principles of design to critically assess which images are working the best and where problem areas are.
• Matt says that this image (6) is unbalanced, and that the left side and right side aren't quite balancing visually. I can see that the left side has a lot more dark bulk to it. I see that the shadow cast by the bridge sort of falls away and weakens the sense of strength that the bridge has - leads the eye down the wall instead of through the door. I also see now that the large blank part of the wall has little weight in comparison to the bulky bridge, meaning the right side feels heavier.
• Matt selects the final image in his set (7), explaining that in terms of unity it is the best - it has overlap, emphasis, motion, shape repetition, etc.
• Is checking for unity a way of ensuring that we are clearly communicating the message of the image? 
• One image he shows has good emphasis through centering the subject, but not a lot of motion, which he says makes for a composition lacking in activity. He says that's ok if you intend it - so we can discard some elements if they work. For instance, if we want to create a front-on view of a castle, really solid and without a lot of motion towards it, we could do a very bulky comp with not many movement lines.
• Not an exact science
• Use artist's eye to make judgement calls and find the best mixture of the various principles of design
• Don't want any individual principle to stand out above another - they should combine into a pleasant mixture.

Final comments: I still don't fully understand the idea of compositional balance, how to judge it and when or if it's supposed to not be used. Look into this more later on.

Images:

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5

6

Notes on this research entry:

Somewhat confused as to the points that Matt makes about 'unity'. In this Princples of Design series, he explains that unity

Research (drawing skills) - Perspective Theory

Been hearing a bit about a 'cone of vision' which isn't explained in Loomis' book on drawing fundamentals, Successful Drawing.

Found a short video series on youtube.


This video talks about the picture plane and how we can view it as an imaginary glass sheet that sits perpendicular to us, between us and the image we are drawing. We then draw onto the glass sheet and a 2D illusory representation of the 3D world beyond is captured.




Doesn't really explain the idea of the 'cone of vision' all that well.

If two objects fill the same angle within the cone of vision regardless of distance from the viewer, they will appear to be the same height.

Seeing the cone of vision as made up of planar 'optical triangles' that can measure edges by seeing the angle they fill within the cone of vision. Anything that extends outside of the max angle of the cone of vision is not seen.


More resources for study:

1. A blog by Russel Light, Senior Lecturer at Sheffield School of Architecture
2. 'Elements of Perspective' 

Design - Ankh Morpork aesthetic (research)

Decided that perhaps my process could benefit from quickly analysing some sci fi images, pulling out some moods or elements and briefly talking about why them.

Quiet, weekend evening
20th century reimagined in near future - some historical influences but contemporary road
Outskirts
Starting to become poorer area, more run down
Structures unaltered - any stylistic changes are attachments
Feels quiet, calm-after-storm, removed from bustle, well-put-together and solid underfoot, airy/breezy, coldish, damp,

More futuristic; distant city more unusual in form, more intricate and more structurally imaginative

Colder, more blue light (a 21st century sci-fi colour)

Midground outskirts more degraded - more blatant signage, hotel sign more run-down, 

Almost organic - tree-branches, etc

Transport between structures important

Historical base with Asian market-street-style clutter (red colours, hanging lanterns, dragon/roof forms, 

Less glamorous and less obviously technologically advanced future

Modern streets underwater

Hard industrial forms below, residential and commercial above

Added clutter increases vertically

Feels busy, crowded, noisy, solid center at the core but outer shapes rickety, not very windy,

General structural strength shown by neat patterns of load-bearing wires, etc

Also tension - firm

Project Planning - Revising Development Plan

Decided to add some more controls from my imaginary AD.

Cut back on the Pseudopolis Yard development and decided to go in and define the general style of the city first - break the task up into manageable bits.

Plan;
Compile two lists - things that must be included, and things that we are trying to explore with the design process.

Compile a list of adjectives for the character of Ankh Morpork that we are trying to capture

Take all of the references collected in Pinterest and set them up for easy viewing.

Sketch out a bunch of ideas - real blue-sky painting - while looking at references and taking inspiration.

Select three to present to the client. Clean these up and develop a little further. Create mood boards for presentation as well.

Deadline - Tuesday Morning
Stress and self doubt got in the way of this deadline. We're pushing it further onwards.



Elements to try to include (definite elements):

• Influence of European architecture (using Prague/Tallinn refs as well as general Medieval Europe refs)
• Elements that support the adjectives listed below
• 
  

Elements to experiment with (flexible elements):

• Aesthetics of technology
• Amount of visible technology
• Sophistication of technology
• How the European architecture and aesthetic is incorporated into the design
• The general aesthetic tone

Adjectives for Ankh Morpork from a previous post

• Dirty
• Smelly
• Shallow wells
• Mercantile city
• Service city
• Working city - factories, workshops
• Markets - cattle, veg, slaughter, spice
• Cabbage fields
• Some disrepair
• Some affluence
• Hidden dictatorship
• Thriving
• Increasingly Diverse in Species and Races
• Increasingly industrial
• Increasing Restoration of State Services
• Advancing with Technology
• A glorious past (no more)
• Skilled at being bystanders to dramatic public incidents 
• Welcomes anyone with money
• Cosmopolitan
• Thieves
• Violent streets 
• Regulated crime (Guilds for licensed crime, Watch for unlicensed)
• Squats on the Sto Plains
• Continually revised due to fires
• Rats, fleas, roaches
• Wood, thatch, stone
• Physically sloped
• Shades less controlled by Guilds and Watch

Links to the Pinterest boards to use for idea inspiration

• Ankh Morpork Historical Reference 1
• Ankh Morpork Creative Reference 1

Thinking I need to know what makes a european building distinctly european

Adjectives from References - elements common to European aesthetic

• Maze-like
• overlapping and non-gridlike views
• cobbles - perpendicular for road, parallel to walls for sidewalk
• stone archways in plaster walls
• wall mounted lamps
• stone and plaster buildings side by side
• quite light plaster tones - creme, white, yellows
• shingled rooves
• narrow winding streets
• some gothic arch influences
• some jutting buildings
• steps
• non-parallel buildings 
• tapering spaces
• cobbled squares
• mansard roofs
• gable roofs
• terraces
• wood and plaster
• Cobbled streets

What makes a building look non-European?

Asian

• squat roofs with prominent decorative ridges
• less dominant visual chimneys 

Rethinking the approach to the project.
Take the brief. Take

Design - Pseudopolis Yard (research, development)

Aim - to define Pseudopolis Yard

Essential adjectives - characteristics desired and what we know about it

• previously residential
• upmarket, posh
• city real estate
• protector
• growing, improving
• respectable
• Ankh-Morporkian (so still a bit grubby, etc)
• defendable, sturdy (?)
• blue lamp over arch outside
• pigeon roost
• multi-species but all 'one force'

My open/ongoing Pinterest boards relevant to this design

1. Ankh-Morpork Historical Reference - Tallinn and Prague
2. Ankh-Morpork Creative Reference
3. Pseudopolis Yard Historical Reference - Police Stations 

Adjectives that can be played around with in the design - mostly aesthetic and some mood

• How much visible sci-fi technology
• Intricacy of technology - bulky technology or more intricate and cluttered
• Seriousness/grittiness
• How visible is the original European-fantasy aesthetic

Create 3 distinctly different mood boards (pick 3 from the following list):

1. Less visible technology, bulkier, darker, grittier, clear influences of original European aesthetics,

2. More visible technology, intricate, less darker and grittier, clear influences of original European aesthetics

3. Less visible technology,  intricate, less darker and grittier, less influence of original European aesthetics

Project Research and Development - Notes regarding Technologies in the Story

Don't want to add technologies that would significantly alter the logic or opportunities within the plot. Some technologies do exist that we can design analogues for.

Technological limitations in Jingo to take note of

1. No conventional firearms - only bows and crossbows (longer reload times and/or physical strength required)
2. No instantaneous long distance communications - Clacks/semaphore not yet invented (conflicting information)

Technologies and props within Jingo that we can make analogues for

1. Imp-based cameras
2. Land transport (horses, carriages, camels, etc)
3. Klatchian flying carpets 
4. Sail ships
5. Street lamps
6. Military strategy sand tables
7. Libraries
8. Armours
9. Swords

Problem - a properly futuristic society would have many things that AM doesn't have in the books. Many of these things feel necessary for it to be considered sci fi (computers, electricity, etc). A whimsical computer (Hex) was created by the Wizards in one of the books.

Do I stay faithful to the books and figure out a way to make it seem sci fi whilst limiting the available technology, or do I take an 'alternate history' route?

I think that staying faithful will dominate far too much of my time at this point, given the vast amount of negotiation that will have to take place to ensure that things I add or alter do not have implications in other Discworld novels. Anything that is essential to the integrity of the plot as it is written here will remain the same. Otherwise, changes can be made.

Remind yourself of the purpose of this exercise: to explore the translation of a fantasy text into sci fi using concept art - the main focus being on developing design skills in response to a pre-written text and the creation of a series of designs that work together as a coherent whole.

Design - Ankh Morpork (research, adjectives)

Compiling a list of adjectives and small notes for reference for the character and mood of the City of Ankh Morpork as well as the character of the City Watch.

Sources: Previous notes, the book 'The New Discworld Companion' (approached with caution due to being released long after Jingo) and a flick through Jingo for some period-accurate information.

Ankh Morpork Adjectives

• Dirty
• Smelly
• Shallow wells
• Mercantile city
• Service city
• Working city - factories, workshops
• Markets - cattle, veg, slaughter, spice
• Cabbage fields
• Some disrepair
• Some affluence
• Hidden dictatorship
• Thriving
• Increasingly Diverse in Species and Races
• Increasingly industrial
• Increasing Restoration of State Services
• Advancing with Technology
• A glorious past (no more)
• Skilled at being bystanders
• Welcomes anyone with money
• Cosmopolitan
• Trading Hub
• Thieves
• Violent streets 
• Regulated crime (Guilds, Watch)
• Squats on the Sto Plains
• Continually revised due to fires
• Rats, fleas, roaches
• Wood, thatch, stone
• Physically sloped
• Shades less controlled by Guilds and Watch

City Watch Adjectives

• Quickly increasing size
• Increasing importance
• Increasing no. of duties
• Increasing multiculturalism
• Increasingly efficient police force
• Few specialists, mostly generalists
• Mismatched equipment
• Battered equipment

Pseudopolis Yard Adjectives

• Old upmarket city house
• Fronts large open space
• Blue light over archway
• No carpets
• stairs visible from door
• possibly largeish open room

Research List - Translations between Sci-Fi and Fantasy in various media

An open list of media products that are based on technologically driven fantasy, science fiction, or a translation of a text into science fiction. The list can be used later as a source to pick out a media product to look at more in-depth.

Aims:
to see how other people converted one text into sci fi
to spawn ideas for how to retain the feeling of a dirty, grubby, lived in world with the conversion to sci fi
to get an idea of contemporary cultural products in order to help create something that feels fresh
to see what other people are changing, leaving in, leaving out, etc, in their translations

The List:

• A discussion on Gamefaqs.com about books and literature that showed hybridity between fantasy and sci fi
• The translation of the Orc race in Warhammer Fantasy (tabletop battle game) to the Ork alien race in Warhammer 40,000 (tabletop battle game)
• Games in the Final Fantasy series often shows some sort of interplay between magic, mystical creatures and technology and science
• Lots of Steampunk (or similar) media that involves archaic technology (steam power, etc) being used to construct modern day and/or futuristic technologies (steam-powered computers, etc)
• A steampunk adaptation of Peter Pan
• The 2012 video game 'Dishonoured'

Project Planning - Thoughts on planning, research methods, etc - 8/08/13

Progress is slow on the Discworld project

• 3 days a week dedicated to this project
• 2 days a week at internship
• 2 days a week split between figure drawing, visual library development and design theory research

Might be good to compress the figure drawing/visual library/design theory research into ONE day and add another day to the Discworld project.

Currently time spent on Discworld project has been dedicated to planning my semester, planning the project and researching. 

Ideally, I'd like to begin compiling mood boards and maybe even start designing today. 

Need to remember that this is a compressed and not entirely realistic design schedule - some processes, like research, will have to be compressed and not perfected so that work can be done. Perhaps I will learn also how much research is enough, and what sort of research is essential.

So today

1. Finish preliminary research by 2pm 
2. Begin compiling mood boards and have these completed by 5pm
3. Pick a mood to continue on with.

Design - Ankh Morpork style (research, existing artwork and illustrations)

Research Key

• AOD - The Art of Discworld by Paul Kidby

Paul Kidby has been illustrating the Discworld series since 1995. Has done one-offs, cover art and fully illustrated publications for Discworld.

Pratchett states that Paul sees things his way about 75% of the time (and seems to imply that the late John Kirby, who also illustrated Discworld up until his death in 2001, saw things slightly less truely to Pratchett's own vision).

A Kidby illustration of Ankh Morpork streets. Unseen University's Tower of Art seen in the distance.

Commander Samuel Vimes of the Watch with Buildings and Stuff behind him

The general aesthetic fits with my view of Ankh Morpork - it's always been timber-framed houses for me.
However seems somewhat monotonous to have all houses in this style. Perhaps variation would be good.

Kidby's view of Pseudopolis Yard doesn't quite fit my image. I always saw it as a single building with a walled-off yard outside that one would enter via a gate (assuming that 'Pseudopolis Yard' referred to the building itself and not the street on which it was located).