6/4/2023 - 5/5/2023 | Week 1 - Week 5
Shofwa Alyadiena | 0350019
Environment Design | Bachelor of Design in
Creative Media
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Lecture Notes
Week 1 - Introduction to Fundamentals
Looking at existing work is the first step, as an inspiration and an early start to breaking down the fundamentals. Finding references and art styles that inspire us is important, as it's also one of the key things to figure out our personal style. Same as previously mentioned in other modules, using AI is encouraged in the ideation process.
We were also explained the minimum requirements for resolutions in our works which would steadily or drastically increase in a professional workspace.
Week 2 - Ideation
Start with deciding on what we want to do first, then break down the process by going down a process. Mr. Kannan showed us his way of breaking it down, which are the following:
1. Location
Decide on if the environment is an open or a closed space. Open spaces include mountains, fields and anywhere which you can tell has skies above. Closed spaces are interiors, such as inside a building.
2. Structural Design
Choose elements from real-life inspiration.
3. Setting
Choose a culture, but do not touch the real symbolisms of existing religions. It's always an option to take elements and inspiration from real life, but there are situations that can be extremely sensitive and causes controversies.
4. Experience
The experience includes Navigation, journey, and obstacles.
5. Theme
Such as Sci-Fi, steampunk, cyberpunk, or any other -punks. It's best to attempt a stylised art style, as hyper-realistic ones would bring about obvious mistakes, which could be extremely stressful.
6. Ambience
The ambience brings out the function and the feel of the environment.
"Hero assets" refer to where the story takes place, even if we're not directly involved. It's the direction that's direct yet a bit subtle to show where the main focus is. We can do so by first starting off with defining the eye level, then if necessary we can implement the rule of thirds as a guide. We can narrow down the view of the audience by adding elements to the sides, then show a sense of scale by adding a figure of a character.
Week 3 - Story and Cinematography
The base of a story's foundation is the concept and the design. Normally, elevated buildings and sceneries give players a more "wow" or amazed feeling, while buildings, where the player enters by descending, give out a feeling of ease.
We must know our location, where it's going to be set on- that's where your landscape is. If it's a rocky mountain, the sea, or the desert, the background will have elements of the landscape.
Instructions
Exercise 1 - Perspective Drawings
1. Perspective drawings
2. Composition
3. Value painting
4. Ambience
5. Color management
6. Vignette set design
7. Photo bashing
First week - Draw perspective thumbnails (1920 w 1080 h, Res 72) for perspective drawing, both real and stylized drawing images. Practice using three-dimensional basic shapes: cubes, spheres, cones, pyramids, and cylinders. 3 of each Perspective, then finally just draw in the end.
1-Point Perspective
The first step is to identify where the horizon is and then place a vanishing point to determine the perspective.
Fig. 1.1 1-Point Perspective Study (11/4/2023)
The main thing about 1 point perspective that I found out is that both horizontal and vertical lines can be dependent on a ruler. From the very first one as well I was able to figure out that most shapes are able to be deconstructed into a box, then further refined.
2-Point Perspective
Use the polygon tool on the vanishing point to help create an easier idea of the perspective since there are two of them.
For the 2-point point perspective, I gather that the horizontal lines are no longer straight, but the vertical lines are still moderately dependent on a straight line.
3-Point Perspective
Like a triangle. three vanishing points.
Using a 3-point perspective is a bit more challenging to me, mostly because it was impossible to rely on any rulers, but also because creating the grid and the grid itself can be a little difficult to read. However, it's a lot of fun to use and the challenge helped with understanding how to construct basic shapes alone.
Exercise 2 - Temple Scenes
This week our exercise is to draw:
1. A temple
2. 6 angles of
that temple
3. [Implied] Detailing and landscape
The temples were meant to be SEA (South-East Asia) inspired, so I took references.
The first one was done during class. The idea is that there's a huge temple centre connected to rooms where scholars or religious figures in display. I was imagining this scene in the universe of a comic I'm working on, which is located inside caves. It's difficult to figure out how the background would fit in though, with the sharp peaks of the temple.
For the second scene, I wanted to show the figures that were previously mentioned sitting in the rooms. It was just a different perspective, but I believe it shows nothing of the landscape.
I moved onto the third scene, with similar intent as the previous one; just a different perspective and to show just how massive I intended it to seem.
Finally, for a view of the roofs I used an "above" perspective.
I wasn't satisfied with these sketches, quite obviously so. I used the time after class to break down firstly the idea which I can then proceed to sketch on.
Feedback
1. Clean out the rough lines, break down the structure, and add background
details.
2. Get an overview and break down the detail of the scene.
3. Deconstruct and reconstruct accordingly.
Exercise 3 - Temple and Landscape
We are to focus on:
1. Last week's Temple, turn it into a Hero
Asset.
2. Values and lighting.
3. The environment it is
in.
4. Moodboard and references collection for the first project.
We were meant to proceed with last week's Temple, but firstly I got distracted by an example Mr Kannan gave us because I recognized the photo that was used for the artist's photo bash. It was this.
Moving on, I finished up the temple angles while considering how to adjust the values and environment.
Scene 5 is the first one I worked on this week. I wanted to focus on the 'cave' elements, where the
The last temple scene I focused on is where the 'protagonist' is entering the room with the first figure inside. The stairs from Scene 5 are visible, and some other bits from the caves are as well.
Feedback
1. Attempt different breakdowns on one building or scene by looking at
different and various angles.
2. Always be loose with our drawings and
put aside the hard details for later.
Ambience and Colour done simultaneously for Project 1 | Link
Submission
Fig. 4.1 Exercises Compilation (5/5/2023)
Further Reading
Fig. 4.2 Layout and Composition for Animation by Ed Ghertner, Page 10-18
This book was provided to us by Mr Kannan. There are of course differences between animation and concept illustrations, so I attempted to translate the tips from the book into a language I can understand and implement. Firstly, the time of day affects the ambient and mood at an immediate glance, if ignoring the other themes. Then, there's the path of action for a character. The path the character will take, be it in animation or in a 'game' (in which the environment design will be used hand in hand) is usually left as a sort of open space. Sort of like a breathing room, unless trying to convey a message that the character is trapped. The breakdowns can be continued into the atmosphere, mood, colour, and size of the layout.
The mood can be broken down even further-
Happy: Long shots with lots of air around the characters
Sad: Space above characters
Bored: Static, symmetrical
Excited/Chase: Chaotic
Claustrophobic: Tight shots, close-ups.
Reflection:
Experience
For the exercises, there were a lot of times when I felt as if it was too difficult, mostly figuring out how the Temple should look like. No matter how I broke it down, temples just looked strange to me. However, as soon as I get into the perspectives and colouring I enjoyed the process hundred times over.
Observation
As I was doing this task, there were references and examples given by the lecturer as a source of inspiration. There was a lot I could learn from them, but it was mostly enough to make me understand how to approach different ways to draw and create buildings or environments. Although, working with fantasy themes and references do make it difficult to get inspired by daily life, as modern buildings tend to have fewer characters to reference.
Findings
With the experience and observation I've done so far, I only just attempted to properly try the tilted perspective look. I originally believed that the first-person perspective could only work in a flat setting, but after taking multiple tries and seeing references I could see that not only do tilted perspectives work for first-person, it adds a sense of dynamism to it.
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