Nagle - 4th Marking Period Blog Post

My inspiration for my final marking period is to try to express how I felt mentally after injuring myself. I felt trapped in my own body, unable to do the things I used to be able to do. Therefore, I am creating two pieces to embody that trapped feeling.
My first piece is of a character meditating with chains on her wrists and ankles. This creates irony in my piece but I also feel as if it is more jarring, and is closer to how I felt. Here's the preliminary sketch:

The second piece is of a girl in fetal position made out of decaying silver. To me it symbolizes the rusting or the ruining of someone who used to be great (AKA the injury of an athlete). Here's the sketch:

In the first piece, I am painting with a triad of red-purple, yellow-green, and orange inks. I am also using silver and gold watercolors. For the second, I am using black ink for the "decay" and silver watercolors. If I do end up lining them, I am using my Pentel brush pen or my micro-liners.

Nagle & Bomboy - Artist Statements

Traditional Art:

The observations you make become your assumptions. However, not everything can be seen with the naked eye, for a person could be suffering mentally or hiding under their clothes.

I used my artwork senior year to explore concept art, character creation, and to take a critical view on an issue that has impacted me: perceptions on physical injury.

My interest in concept art and character creation stems from my love for games, especially the development of characters throughout them. I am majoring in game design at UCF, and these two categories could be my preferred job in the future. Therefore, my Astrological Signs series was created to explore my creativity and produce what I saw the signs as when using their globally accepted characteristics. I tried getting the characteristics across by focusing on color meaning and the animal associated.

The theme of assumptions in my artwork cropped up when I sprained my ankle this year and got kidney stones for the first time, after having surgery for a torn ACL a year before. I noticed that, when people could physically see my brace, they would make sure not to bump into me in the halls or not force me to do physical activity. However, once the visible brace was off, assumptions turned on and any “special” treatment went out the window. Why must decency be labelled as special treatment? I want to get this idea of mental or physical incapabilities across in my art by carefully thinking about the figure-ground relationship or the figure’s position in the composition. A detailed and crazy figure will usually have a more blank background, resulting in a clean look that I like. I believe it adds a power or a clinical quality to my work and, depending on what the background is, adds a level of light or heaviness.

My inspiration to pursue the arts and these themes, therefore, come from my love of games and my experiences with physical incapabilities, a tough situation for an athlete. I want to express the statement that the absence of my brace is not an invitation for mistreatment because there are still invisible chains.


Digital Art:

Video games always seem to be the source of disappointment from adults: “Stop playing games and do your homework!” says your mom. “Finish your projects instead of rotting your brain playing video games in your basement,” says your teacher.

“People who play games in their parents’ basement must be ugly, sad, and stupid.”

“Video games make children violent and isolate them socially.”

“Only boys can play video games; if a girl plays, they must be masculine or ugly.”

Hearing all these accusations, while games in my life have only led to happiness and bonding, made me decide to defend games, find the benefits in gaming, and dispel the falsities. This decision put me on the path for a game design major and` explore the abilities and positives gaming can provide.

To further the aspirations mentioned in the previous art statement, I also explore the digital art world. The character creation, instead of being shown through Astrological Signs, is shown in Sprites. I used Photoshop to create “sprites,” otherwise known as the art of video game characters, for the games I have worked on throughout high school (used Game Maker and Unity). The individual game I worked on was designed to teach people about assumptions and self-esteem, while the group game explores entertainment and challenges typical gender roles. I see games as a way to teach; whether it be societal lessons, a simulator for doctors, a game for special children to understand concepts they can’t grasp while others can, and so many more possibilities, games can be valuable if made correctly.

My digital portfolio classes were mainly focused on game design, character creation, and concept art; however, I fell in love with the digital arts from modeling and animation in Blender. Being able to create anything you can think of in a 3D space was exciting, and then turning those modeled objects into an animation that could tell a story only with movements made me realize that this is what I wanted to do.

My goal is to create experiences people will enjoy and not forget; games have meaning in my life and I want to create something that will make a positive impact in someone else’s. We only have one short and insignificant life. Why not spend it being happy, enjoying it, and doing what you love?

Bomboy - Using Optical Illusions to Become a Better Digital Artist

I read an article on optical illusions and the author kept making the point that our brains, after seeing a 2D piece of art, isn't looking at that object in reality; instead, you're looking at something that generates visual signals that are similar to what our brains associate with the actual object. Art is, therefore, an illusion.
What can we learn from optical illusions?
First, the brain uses an "autocomplete" function that can either fill in something that isn't there and we expect, or show us something that we know from reality. This suggests that drawing, and each line, isn't what your drawing, but just reminds you of something. I'll provide an example to emphasize this thought:

See this image? Tell me what it is. If you answered "oh, it's a house," you're wrong. Same with "it's a drawing of a house." No, instead, it is pencil on a piece of paper. It is not a house. You can't live in it, it isn't 3D, etc. It's just lines on a page that remind you of a house.
This concept was introduced to me in 11th grade IB English, and it fascinated me to also find something similar in an article.
Knowing that the autocomplete function is an ability, it is suggested to draw from general to specific. The first lines will remind you of something, and you can continue from there, making the drawing more precise to the real thing (however, as discussed before, it is never the real thing (talk about postmodernism)).
Second, brightness brings form. We use light to determine depth and whether or not an object is 3D. That is why a more realistic cube has shaded in sides--it is the emulation of light and realism. Therefore, a suggestion while drawing is to assign a light source.
Third, brightness is relative. Again, here is a picture to show what I mean:

The squares in the middle of both images are actually the same color. It is the differing amount of light around them that make us perceive them as different colors. Knowing this helps with contrast in your images (do not just have the extremes of black and white--have colors in between).
These are just some of the ways understanding optical illusions can help you MAKE a viewer see exactly what they want you want them to see. There are many other types of illusions, but these are the beginnings.

Bomboy - Schedule 5/1-5/5

Monday - Sprites
Tuesday - Sprites
Wednesday - Sprites
Thursday - Sprites
Friday - PROM

Bomboy - Marching Band Choreography Software

Ever wondered how marching bands generated the pages upon pages of choreography for their shows? For smaller scale bands, a director hand writes it all, but for college bands of hundreds of people? Well, here comes the power of computers.
There is an applet called SilverDrill (it's free) that can be used, or for more professional-level drill design, you can buy Field Artist.
Field Artist uses 3D animation to simulate drill the designer has created. They can customize the field, add customized props, put the exact number of each instrument/guard, and even watch the animated "marchers" to the show's music. This is very important for marching bands, drill teams, indoor percussion, and drum and bugle corps.
On Field Artist's website, there is a video that highlights and shows the features of the program:

My whole thesis for college is the way in which games or animations can help benefit mankind, and a whole discussion was on the use of simulation games. Field Artist is a realistic use of simulation to benefit some aspect of mankind--the music programs.

Bomboy - Schedule 4/24-4/28

Monday - Sprites
Tuesday - Sprites
Wednesday - DAF Talk
Thursday - DAF Talk
Friday - Sprites

Bomboy - District Art Festival

For my stand at the fest, I want to construct an arcade machine so students can play my games. I also am going to build a three-sided stand to hang all of my traditional art. There are more details written on the page. However, I would like to say I did all the measurements for both the stand and the machine and it looks great! My ideas to decorate the machine are to make it like the others in that it is colorful and has the name displayed all big... since I have multiple games I'll probably have to make the title more generic. For the stand, my plan is to either keep it brown and paint white shapes and accents all over it or somehow attach curtains to the whole thing. That's tbd because I need to either see how the first one will look like and if I can even get my hands on said curtains.

Inspiration:

Bomboy - Schedule 4/17-4/21

Monday - Sprites
Tuesday - OMG YOU WEREN'T HERE
Wednesday - ^^
Thursday - Sprites
Friday - Sprites

Bomboy - Artist Inspiration: Danica Sills

Danica Sills is an illustrator who is popular on her YouTube channel, Instagram, and Twitter pages. She's greatly inspired by songs and her favorite things to draw include hands, hair, and masks (since you get to push proportions to the extreme). She went to college for traditional art, and her main job is YouTube and commissions (she also goes to a lot of shows where she sells her art). Her preferred traditional media is water color, but she originally was a digital artist.

Danica has been my inspiration for a while due to her creepy, slender and thin characters. She's great at lining and knows a lot of useful techniques using different medias (she posts tutorials). I want to study her digital process using Photoshop to try and create my own works, maybe for concept design.

To check out more of her work, here are the links to her YouTube channel and her online shop: yt and store.

Bomboy - Schedule 3/27-3/31

Monday - Vans shoe project
Tuesday - Sprites
Wednesday - Sprites
Thursday - Sprites
Friday - Worked on the Vans shoe project

Nagle - Artist Inspiration MP3 - Danica Sills

For this marking period, I was inspired by the YouTube artist Danica Sills. Here is a link to her channel: DanicaYt.
She is my inspiration for this marking period because she is a savant in lining, using water colors, and using ink. All tools in which I want to know how to use. Her videos on using ink inspired me in making my creatures in "Background No.002" and her videos on water color helped me paint the girls in both "Background No.001" and "Background No.002".
Below are some of the pieces I watched her create that inspired me the most this marking period:

Nagle - MP3 Checkpoint

"When Planets Collide - Satan v Michael"

For Christmas I received two new art tools that I am very excited to have gotten. I asked for a Uni Ball Signo White Gel-pen and the Pentel Brush-pen. I asked for these two specifically because almost all of the artists I watch on YouTube have these in their toolkit to make beautiful art. Plus, I really wanted a brush-pen to work on the line quality of my art. I decided to sketch a scene from Milton's Paradise Lost (that we read in English class) where Satan and Michael are fighting "like planets colliding." So I sketched them fighting, lined the art with the Pentel brush-pen, water colored everything, and then used the gel-pen for details such as the stars, highlights, and giving a border around the two figures. I have to say I am proud of how this piece turned out in the end, but while I was outlining with the brush-pen I thought I was making a terrible mistake. The brush-pen was obviously not used to the best of its ability in my hands, but I hope to get better at using it. I think the first mistake I made was deciding to use it on such a small piece--brush-pens are good for larger, organic pieces. But now that I have attempted using it, I have learned how to use it better for next time and that's what matters.
"Gemini"

This is the last piece I did for my Astrological Signs series. I will continue it again sometime, but my interests have shifted to a different theme I will elaborate upon later. For Gemini, first of all I sketched the grils without a reference, and I needed that idea of balance due to Gemini's twins always balancing each other out. Therefore, I made them like a mirror image to each other, formally balanced, and I incorporated a reversed and complementary color palette to show how they are related but different (but also a mix of each other because I am reversing their wing color, to show you need a bit of both). I am incorporating experimentation with how I am mixing my paints to create the color scheme I want.  I did same techniques with acrylic paints like I did the last couple of pieces I finished--I used spray paint, acrylics, and my white uni ball Signo white gel pen. Overall I am happy with the end result.

"Background No.001"

"Background No.002"

(Sketches before the final product)

Now that I kind of tired myself out from the Astrological Signs series, I realized I wanted a more serious topic that actually affects me, that I have to deal with. The past two years have been really hard on me, and one reason is due to physical injury. Summer of 2015 I tore my ACL, had surgery, and am still not even up to my level of fitness/health I was before. I did not really realize how much it also impacted me mentally until I sprained my ankle about a month ago. I was training for my black belt, trying to get back up to my level of ability I was two summers ago, and then injured myself again. It was then something almost broke in my mind. It reminded me how, while I may look fine, I may not be--I'm not. The first day I tried walking without my brace from my ACL surgery, people would run into me in the hallways, my gym teachers for some reason didn't seem to understand that I'm still fragile and couldn't participate in gym just yet--it was supposed to be more than a year recovery and they knew that!--and so many more things. It surprised me that people would look at me and assume that I was healthy, and then for some reason decided to run into me or jostle me when people normally take special care not to hurt a visibly hurt person who has crutches/a cast/a brace/etc. The thing was--I was hurt too.
So that whole long introduction brings me to these sister pieces "Background No.001" and "Background No.002". For these, I wanted to show that, while that girl looks the same, you don't know what's going on in her mind or what her background might be. You don't know what she may be struggling with. So for the first piece, I made her in a galaxy cloud that makes the girl look like she's creatively thinking and content, calm (while trapped in isolation as shown with her empty surroundings). In contrast, the second piece has a horrific creature looming over her and she's literally in a box. She's trapped with her monsters.
All of these are basically following the theme "Assuming Makes An A** Out of You and Me" that I want to pursue.
To create these pieces, I sketched a girl and copied it onto two pieces of paper, lined them with a Pentel Brushpen, painted them with water colors, and then used my Signo white uniball gel pen to go in with details. I made the creatures using black ink. I cut the first piece out and glued it to a larger textured piece of paper, and for the second I constructed a box with a peeling-paint texture on it and am using wires for her to sit up in the box. I also made a wire "shadow" that I am attaching to the top of the box--it emphasizes their shared shapes and curves making it unified and covers up some of the box's empty space to balance it out.
These pieces have taken me a long time, and I am still not finished, but they feel significant to me know that they represent something that I believe is a true problem (everyone should be treated the same, no matter what people may see on the outside).

Wrap-Up:
I am pursuing a more relevant-to-my-life theme that I would like to deem "Assuming Makes An A** Out of You and Me". Next marking period, I already have another piece to show this theme and I am excited to start.

Bomboy - Marking Period 3 Presentation

First, it has come to my attention that my last MP Presentation failed to include my portfolio video I sent to colleges:

Now we can move on to this MP (whoops).

Intention Definition & Exploration of Ideas:

Since the beginning of this marking period, I have again shifted focus due to an opportunity I decided to pursue. With friends stretched around the world, I am in a game development team to remake the video game my USC Squad created over the summer. We've deemed our work Project Princess and we plan to have a final (or almost final) game by June. Since I am the main artist of the team, I am largely in charge of creating all of the sprites, and I have even created concept art of what the title screen could be.

Planning:

My team uses Trello, Google Docs, and Discord to connect and plan during the creation process. Trello is our calendar where our "Bricks" are all laid out (what we have planned to finish by a certain time). We also weekly team meetings where we talk about what we accomplished since last meeting; here we can give constructive criticism and assign new jobs. This process can be a little stressful because I have to depend on others to also complete their assignments if we are to move forward (and sometimes that doesn't happen).

Producing/Evaluating/Integrating:

Menu Screen/Desktop Background

I liked the last menu screen I made so much that, when I first heard we were going to remake The Rising Sun, I immediately altered it to fit that game. This is the result. However, straight away we decided to change the name so I saved another version without any text and it looks like a desktop background (that's what it is on my laptop right now). I am not that experienced with Photoshop so to make these I opted for a very simplistic yet impactful image. That is why I chose to use silhouettes and then a very detailed gradient for the background. I really like how these turned out; I feel like being able to tell a little bit of a story with such simple imagery is very successful, and I feel like the story of the game fits pretty well with my piece. I decided on these elements after analyzing some of my favorite games' menu screens and I noticed I was drawn towards the simpler ones. 

Sprites

After that, I've been deeply rooted in focusing on making sprites. My first sprite sheet you can see in my portfolio, and we decided that we still like the original art from the game. Because of this, I thankfully did not have to recreate all the sprites, but continue making more. The first assignment I received was to make a sliding animation for the Princess for when she slides down the walls. I created a couple of different versions. My favorite is the second one, we haven't chosen the true one just yet.

After that, I had to made a knight sprite. This is a new character so I had to make all of the actions the other characters already have. After much concept art, I finally made the final look (I do believe I am missing his jump sprites, but eh. Pretty normal stuff):

After that, we needed new enemies other than guards to battle. Here's a dark wizard and bats (I need to finish the bat flying and attack animation):

For the first level of the game, I also need to make a HUGE dragon sprite and its animations. After that, the Princess is going to be going through the castle gardens, so I am going to make a whole bunch of plant enemies.

Speaking of levels, we decided on our final narrative of the story and you can find it on a previous blog post here: Final Narrative.

Having made a ton of these in the past, making these definitely were not the most challenging project. The difficulty comes from HOW MANY there are. There are so many I have to make, and since it is in an 8-bit style it is also sometimes hard to get the level of detail you want to make it look good. I am actually having difficulty with that for the dragon sprite. It is absolutely MASSIVE so I'm a little scared to start on it (it is 3x bigger than the people sprites, plus all the animations will be hard), but I am determined and excited at the same time so it will get done... eventually.

Conclusion:

Character art is one of the most important jobs in creating a video game, and also one of the most time consuming. While it can get tiring and reflecting on this marking period makes me feel like I haven't accomplished much, I also know how hard to make and how important these sprites are to create this game. I definitely feel like an important part of the Project Princess team. I also got a lot of influence in on the story of the game, and I will soon be in charge of making the menu screen and animations (so that's exciting). Being a part of a team is a very important skill I need to learn, so practice makes perfect right?

Bomboy - Schedule 3/20-3/24

Monday - Sprites
Tuesday - Sprites
Wednesday - Sprites
Thursday - Sprites
Friday - Absent

Bomboy - Dev Team Weekly Update 3/19

Today, we finished the story of the whole game. This is a relief because we now have a set direction and have clear jobs on what to do/make. Sadly, we did lose an original member from the game, but we're still determined to finish this game early July.

Narrative:

Type of Conflict: Man vs Society
Antagonist: King

Overarching Message: “Female Independence”

Sequence

1. Castle (Different castle than King)
1. Escape the castle
2. Retrieve something important before leaving
2. Castle Gardens
1. Huge yard that needs to be navigated in order to escape the castle
3. Town (Villain Town - all the bad guys live here)
1. Knowing she can’t stay in the town, the Princess must now escape through the bustling city streets.
2. Some levels can be her attempting escape from townspeople and she eventually decides to try to get out by maneuvering through the sewers where she encounters rats and snakes or something.
3. The final boss here can be a Rat King or something.
4. Run down town
4. Dark Creepy Forest
1. Creepy beasts
1. Different enemy types
2. Uncivilized enemies
5. The Wizard
1. Wizard teaches her how to use new ability(ies)
2. Wizard knows where Princess mother is
1. Mother is forming a rebellion to overthrow king
2. Leave to join rebellion
6. Swamp
1. Enemies
7. Mountains
1. Enemies
8. Rebellion Camp
1. Finds out Mother is dead
2. Princess takes over the rebellion
3. Leads them to overthrow King
9. Princess overthrows King
1. Doesn’t kill King
2. Instead she locks the King where the King locked up the Princess in the beginning

Bomboy - Schedule 3/13-3/17

Monday - Enemy Sprites
Tuesday - Snow Day
Wednesday - Snow Day
Thursday - Enemy Sprites
Friday - Photoshop YouTube Research

Bomboy - Dev Team Weekly Update 3/12

Soooooo, while I have already started the sprites for some of these enemy ideas, I never actually posted the very rough concepts of the enemies. Here are some pictures of enemy ideas that were made a while ago.

All these images were made on an online whiteboard type thing... I have already completed the Dark Wizard and a bat. I have started on the bouncing, furry enemy (the first one). The others are still being debated just a bit, but all these enemies are thought of to live in different areas of the eventual world areas. Those areas were discussed in the last blog post in the narrative stories.