Marking Period 2 Blogpost

Intention Definition & Exploration of Ideas: For this marking period, I wanted to continue focusing on my theme for this year which is emotions and experiences. This marking period I began with the idea of multiple different perspectives on the same thing. In order to portray this, I decided to take two characters I created in my angsty middle school years who I created to be like complete opposites that get along. I wanted to make them look up at a skyline and their points of view be completely different. Later on, I moved to my next project which focused on relaxing and taking care of oneself. For this, I have decided I wanted to make a skeleton as kind of a joke of being dead inside.


Planning: This marking period I wanted to test out a more 2D and cartoon look to fit with my art style. To help me look for ideas on exactly what I wanted, I looked a the works of Yusuke Nakamura and found that I liked the lack of shading and the way Nakamura uses detail through his lineart. Then, I began to research how I could get this 2D effect in my art through both blender render and cycles. Ultimately I chose to use the method through blender render since it takes less time to render. I also thought about how bad my topology is for my models since I sculpt them rather than model them, so then I researched how to retopologize so I can animate models in the future when needed. Then, for the skeleton, I began to do research on the human skeleton so I could better understand what I am modeling. Lastly, I focused on putting more meaning into my art and making it look better with color theory so my art is more appealing to the eye.

Producing:

For this piece, I really liked the models and I thought they turned out well for the most part, but I do think I need to work on proportions. On the other hand, I really do not like the background and I think more detail and better use of color would really help. I also do not like how the outlines turned out and I think I need to research other ways to get that effect in blender that will look better.

I spent the rest of this marking period working on the skeleton. So far I have everything but the legs and hands done, but I do think that adding more detail to this and making it look less smooth would make it look better.

Evaluating:Looking at the first piece, I definitely think if I was more careful with my colors it would have definitely looked better. Along with this, I think if I put more research into what I wanted like their perspectives on the skylines and what they would be like the piece would have looked much better. I think in order to help with this, I will create blog post to help prepare for creating new projects and what I want exactly. Other than that, I think that this 2D method turned out nicely and I should continue to improve on this for future works. For the skeleton, I think it really looks like a skeleton now and with some touch-ups and more detail like cracks it is going to look more realistic.

Integrating: For the next marking period, I really want to focus on quality. Since I am going to be using this skeleton in a series, I do not have to focus so hard on modeling which will allow me time to work on this. I definitely want to improve on the lineart so it looks more appealing and I want to start doing animations with it and making gifs of the skeleton which means I am going to have to learn how to rig a whole body. I also want to try and stay away from shading or learn more about it so it helps my work rather than hurt it. I also want to focus on color theory more in my works and put more meaning and symbols. Lastly, in order to help me produce more works, I want to create some base models in my spare time while I am working on the skeleton so I do not spend like a week modeling.

Work Log:
Monday: Modeled Shoulder Blades
Tuesday: Sculpted Shoulder Blades
Wednesday: Modeled Hips
Thursday: Modeled Hips
Friday: Modeled arms and some of wrist