Flash Worklog #2

Reference Pictures and Objects in my flash final:

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Flash Worklog #1

Here was my idea to start of with on my flash work:
After an intro talking to your boss, he tells you about a killer - and you've to investigate to find him.
There would be three people at a bar, you have the ability to talk to all 3 but one in particular will open a door for you, if you choose to go through that door then you'll play a minigame to catch the killer.
In my second draft of the game I took out the mini game at the end and added "detective mode", where you can listen in to other people's conversations. Using this you can get the good ending of catching the killer, and without it you go through the door, leaving him to go as you've got no evidence. The idea of detective mode that if you listen in on all 3 people, then you get the good ending. The problem with this was that there were too many variable if you listen to one person, leave detective mode, enter it again and so on and so forth. To combat this I made it once you enter detective mode you may not leave until you have listened to all 3 people. Then no matter who you talk to or what you do you will always get the good ending of catching the crook.

Character Art:

I had the idea to have different dialogue still to give weight to what their saying and to show more of the character. (al la Phoenix Wright)
This was a very quick sketch on what I wanted to achieve with this effect:

Here are some more very quick idea sketches on what I wanted the Boss to look like:

But instead I settled for a different art direction, a cross between Homer Simpson and Bruce Willis from Sin City:

I just now noticed he looks like if Old Ben (Obiwan Kanobi) was a Simpsons character...

Maya Work FINAL

What I wanted to achieve with my final piece is an image of struggle and collapse. To take an iconic piece of architecture and have it suspended and fractured, defying laws and sense - is to show how important these structures are in our modern way of living, and how strong man's resolve to keep on pushing forward is. And it is that strength that is keeping this mystery afloat.

Maya Work Log #3

To achieve the cubic base of the empire state building I extruded a cube in to a mesh of blocks:
 

Maya Work Log #2

Here are the final buildings and reference pictures I used when building my Maya environment:

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(^ work in progress)

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(I took the body of this lamp post design, but not the head.)

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Maya Work Log #1

In order to achieve the same effect that the Monasse's Four Horsemen piece accomplished - I needed to make my Maya environment relatable to the viewer. To do this I studied modern urban buildings to see how they relate to their function ie. office space/flat buildings/skyscrapers. I decided that the main subject of my piece would be the most iconic and therefore relatable building in this modern day of age - the empire state building.

These pictures were great for reference when building the 3d model as they covered different angles and sides of the building as well as giving it that immense sense of scale, which is what I wanted to achieve in my piece.

After much deliberation I decided that I would break apart the structure of the building and separate it in to three parts, thus creating the fractured image. I also wanted to have parts of the building still hanging on or suspended in mid air as a statement to mans' resolve. Here was the plan:

 Here's when I started work on the building itself - using the reference images:

                                           

Maya work

Before beginning to plan my environment on Maya, I first had to find an artist that I wanted to base the environment on. Using his or her's format to creating a piece or just taking inspiration from them. I began to look in to abstract art, but the kind where the subject is still in full view. Soon, an artist named Carol Manasse caught my eye, this piece in particular:

The Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Not only was the juxtaposition of the colour pallet with the subject matter interesting, but also how they are broken and fragmented in to primitive shapes, almost cubic and minimalist. I interpreted it a statement on the broken state of mankind as the final hours draw near. It was this broken and almost cubic aesthetic that I wanted to achieve in my maya project.

Dynamic Communication Advertising

Recently I've also been thinking about how my brand would advertise in mediums like posters. I've cooked up a few ideas for .EXE but nothing solid - just some sketches.

As my mascot's main purpose is to be in danger - I thought that situations like that would be perfect for posters advertising aid;

Because he mascot's design is so simple, it's really easy to put in to a lot of different, dangerous situations - with it's small legs and arms giving it an inferiority complex. Gaining some empathy because of this, but still remaining humorous.
I've always liked the tongue-on-cheek way to advertise aid, just to show something that's wrong as to say; "We could fix this." Like you're friend who's annoying you when you keep on dying on a game. Just a thought.

Here's another few for good measure:

I went for the .EXE name as it related a lot with Computers and gaming as a whole. As I'm meant to brand myself, I only thought it fitting that I base it on my greatest hobby.

This is the final .EXE logo I decided to go for, as it keeps the same colour scheme and pixelated theme of the advert - which is great for a logo, having a tactile relation to the mascot and advert itself.

Dynamic Communication The Animation

The animation: After many a mind-map and logo designs, I decided to go with the "whacky" advert scheme of things. Á la E4. To have an advert that's nonsensical but leaves the watcher with a comedic value is a hard thing to do, and it's a niché. Because comedy is subjective - we need to appeal to a wide majority of people. "Things blowing up is fun, let's have that." I thought. It's a primitive display of comedy, to watch something fail and/or die - but it works. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-ug0X4W8J8&feature=related. This advert works because it plays on a naive sense of curiosity and the display of something dying (trying not to sound too morbid). That's what adverts need, a change within them. To tell a very short, 4-6 second story.

Me: To not completely plagiarise the nice people at E4, I need to have new sense of style in my advert. Again, after much deliberation I decided to go with a pseudo 8-bit art style. (I'll upload pictures of my sketch book later.) But, as adverts need change - the entire thing won't be in 8-bit, I'm going to have one of the characters explode and turn in to the logo, flying at the screen. This impacts the viewer, keeping their attention.

As the 8-bit style is tied to computers, I've decided to go with the company name ".exe", it's short and memorable - two traits of good company names.

Here's my advert idea: An 8-bit character is walking towards another, the other one is shaking violently - almost glitching in a way. This character then explodes in to a vectorised version of his old self. He then runs away, leaving our 8-bit friend on his own. The one left then tried this technique, only to explode in to the logo.

Dynamic Communication Logo Design

First of all, for my logo to have any effect or memorability whatsoever - I need to look at existing logos and how and why they work.

The apple logo is a simple design and it's literal to the name of the company.
Not only is it simple and easy to remember, but it conveys a playful image - which coincides with their computer's function, to be the more playful and friendly desktop computers rather than Microsoft's PC.

Again, the design is very simple - in fact it's something we're all familiar with, and with positive ideals. But it's the image it conveys that is imperative with the sports company; speed.

Good and successful logos have something important in relation with the company, reflecting on the image of said company.

Now, wanting to design my own logo I began to look in to how shapes can affect design. The round curves of logos can give an elegant and clean look about something. With straight and stagnant lines, it can give an imposing look but if used right it can look welcoming - and with triangles, because they are the geometrically strongest of all the shapes correlations can be drawn from that to the strength of the company it represents.












After looking in to logos, I started to delve in to the realm of Mascots - and how they can represent a company.

"Domo-kun", or just Domo to us Westerners is the mascot for Japan's NHK TV-Station. But his popularity spawned spin off TV shows and a whole Domo-themed toy line. "Why is he as popular as he is?" I thought. But it's simple, his design just works. From the simple curves of his body, to the fact that he has no defining features apart from his small beady eyes and mouth. It's the fact that it puts a spin on the small-and-cuddly cliché by giving the mascot features that are considered to be evil, such as an open mouth with sharp teeth. But because of his design he doesn't seem threatening.

Here we have everybody's favourite car-related mascot (perhaps the only one) ;  The Michelin Man. Look at him, he's subtly made completely from car tyres, and along with his cute eyes and welcoming smile it gives the impression that these tyres work  - and work damn well. Because if a living creature is made out of them, they must be good - right? The design choice to have him white and not black was chosen because he would not only stand out more and appear more of a "good guy"  -if he were black (like the tyres they sell) it's an unpleasant colour for your mascot to be, it gives the image of dirt and evilness.

So here's me looking at shapes again, but with a mascot in mind. I've decided to look at pseudo animal critters as they are popular with the right character design.

So, going with the 8-bit style (see previous post for more details) I explored with both mascots and logos. As the 8-bit theme is tied to computers, I thought a mouse would be a good logo to have, but the idea of an 8-bit character as a mascot kept on creeping up in my mind.

After developing the idea I settled on the simple character design of this little guy as my mascot, the simple lines and cute build make for a perfect mascot: