Goblin Story- Dart asset concepts and turnaround

Goblin Story- Dart asset concepts and turnaround

For one of the scenes our goblins have to face a dart trap, for this we needed some darts designed. I looked at a range of shapes and styles before we deiced on one we liked best I then drew this up into a turnaround so it could be handed over to a modeler to make.

Goblin Story- Palm Tree concepts

Goblin Story- Palm Tree concepts

With a very dense environment we needed alot of varied assets in order to bring our world to life, with this in mind I created a range of tree concepts in different shape and sizes so we could create a range of models for our backgrounds. 

Goblin Story- Bridge scene background

Goblin Story- Bridge scene background 
With a deadline around the corner we began to create final pieces in order to comp together a scene. For this I produced this background, using concept pieces as reference. Unfortunately because of time restrictions proper layouts or colour scripts and not yet been produced and it meant that alot more work was needed to make this background match the models. This is my original background before it was work on more by another member  of the team, in future we will not skip these steps and make sure it is clear for all team members so no time is wasted.

Goblin Story- Hanging trap texture

Goblin Story- Hanging trap texture

I also started work on texturing the props that where produced, now that I had a better idea of how texturing worked I enjoyed the task.  This was the basic texture of the model, with more work being made to it later, in order to vary colour and add textures.

Goblin Story- Temple entrance layout

Goblin Story- Temple entrance layout
With models being made, environment layouts where now greatly needed, so I produced this layout for one of the scenes, using a concept piece as reference. For this piece I ensured to create a layered environment, so comp artists would have more layers to play with, as well as 3D people being able to model the foreground. Making a clean layout was fun and it proved useful in setting the scenes and a guide for other to work from. 

Goblin Story- Palm Tree texture

Goblin Story- Palm Tree texture

I produced another texture painting for another asset, this palm tree. Learning how to create textures on the models,  was still proving enjoyable. 

Goblin Story- Queen Turnaround

Goblin Story- Queen Turnaround 
As well as statue designs we also needed design for what we named the 'queen', or the statue that would be holding the final gem in place. The queen herself were designed by our art director, I then used this as reference and produced the turnaround. The Queen proved a little more complex when it came to logistics and how she would actually sit in the scene/ have the characters interacting with it.

Goblin Story- Mirror and wall Gem concepts and turnaround

Goblin Story- Mirror and wall Gem concepts and turnaround 
As the project is 3D all the props and assets for the film had to be designed and clear turnarounds needed to be made in order for modelers to work quickly. I produced a range of sketches for both the gem and mirror that was going to be used in a trap scene. I then produced the turnarounds and once they were checked off we handed them onto modelers to model.  

Goblin Story- Statue Turnarounds updated

Goblin Story- Statue Turnarounds updated 

After discussing things with my art director we decided to alter the statues slightly by having them all kneeling instead, to match out temple inspirational material, as well as increasing the scale of them and make them look more stable. 

Goblin Story- Fern Texure

Goblin Story- Fern Texure

Along side other concept pieces I also continued my work on texturing and produced the texture for one of our plant models.

Goblin Story- Locryn Texture

Goblin Story- Locryn Texture
As well as doing concept and design work I also started helping out as a texture painter. I started with our second main character Locryn, this proved to be a little ticky getting used to Maya again, but I really enjoyed the process and was able to experiment with tones and textures and how these looked on the models in real time. For this model I used photoshop to create the basic texture map and then brought the model into Mudbox in order to fix the seams and add any extra detail. Getting to understand Mudbox was a fun process and I look forward to using it more in the near future.  

Goblin Story- Statue Turnaround #3

Goblin Story- Statue Turnaround #3

We also wanted another statue that was identical to that of the first statue but this time holding a weapon, after doing some research I created this turnaround. 

Goblin Story- Statue Turnaround #2

Goblin Story- Statue Turnaround #2

After the first statue was completed we decided we wanted another in a varied style to give the temple variety. I mocked up a concept based on two sketches from different team members and after everyone was happy I moved onto creating this turnaround. I wanted to create something that felt similar to the first one, but also had a more chunky feel to it.

Goblin Story- Bridge scene concept art

Goblin Story- Bridge scene concept art
With modelling underway we needed more concept pieces done so we could play around with colour and how we wanted the overall film to look. For this piece I played around with painting in photoshop, using a range of brushes to create texture and experiment with tone.  I particularly enjoyed looking at colour in this piece and looking at how the light would effect this.

Goblin Story- Statue Turnaround

Goblin Story- Statue Turnaround 

With the concepts agreed I moved onto creating the turnaround for the asset. 

Goblin Story- Statue concepts #2

Goblin Story- Statue concepts #2

After the first concept was done I continued to work on the designs and came up with something else to use as the statue design that the art director and I was happy with. I looked mainly at alien and game influences, much as metroid to get this design.  

Goblin Story- Floor plan test

Goblin Story- Floor plan test 

As the film progressed and the storyboard stages were well underway we deiced we needed some kind of floor plan to help us work on character placement and scene layouts. I started with a quick sketch using the animatic we had so far and then moved on to a 'garden builder' software (http://mygarden.gardena.com/ca/fr/#/designer/draw) that let me build a landscape of sorts. This builder helped me quickly build up the layout I wanted and it was useful and clear for the rest of the team.

Goblin Story- Lowen walk cycle test animation

Goblin Story- Lowen walk cycle test animation

With the turnarounds sorted we began trying out some test animation to figure out how the characters could move and how we could give them personality. because I wasn't a 3D animator I began with 2D tests for our main protagonist Lowen, giving him a bouncy care free walk.  

Goblin Story- Statue concepts

Goblin Story- Statue concepts 

Because the design of the film had alot of background assets and props to be designed I moved onto concept art. Producing some statue concepts to start with, we were going for a bug/alien like design for the statures to give the temple for of an out of place feel and not do something that had been done before. Although I liked my design I decided it would be too complicated to model, so it needed more work doing.

Goblin Story- Gem turnaround

Goblin Story- Gem turnaround

While other artists created concepts I also produced more turnarounds of there work, creating something that could be quickly used to, model our gem so it could be used for lighting tests.

I found doing a turnaround for a prop hard then that of a character, cos of the randomness of the surface, but it was a fun challenge all the same.

Goblin Story- Character Turnarounds

Goblin Story- Character Turnarounds
As well as directing I needed to take on other tasks, so I moved onto producing detailed turnaround for the modelers to follow. As character concepts had already been done I didn't need to worry to much about design work, more on the logistics of how I could get them to work and how they could best be modeled. The art director was happy with my work and they were easy for other to follow through the modeling process.

Goblin Story - New Director, New project

Goblin Story - New Director, New project  

After the pitching of 27 projects 14 were chosen and unfortunately my film was not one of the chosen few, which where deiced by a panel of external professionals. My tutors however still highly  recommend that I still direct a project, as they thought I'd be well suited to the role. After some looking around I found a project that needed a new director. The film Goblin Story was a 3D film, about the tale of two Goblin brothers and there quest through a temple to find a Gem. The current director was not up to the task and the person who had come up with the idea did not want to direct, only to help the film as art director. With this in mind I came onto the project as director and brought my own producer Fern, to help me mange the project. The existing film team responded well to me coming onto the project, and the film got off to a good start. As it is a student film and we all need to do as much as we can, I would also go on to help with cinematography, texture painting, background painting and character work.      

Afterglow- Couple concepts

Afterglow- Couple concepts

To finish off my pitch I also choose to draw a few extra characters together to give the written slides a warmer feel and give people something to look at, it was also a good way to draw out how character would interact with one another

Afterglow- Animation test

Afterglow- Animation test

To help bring everything together I produced an animation test shot partly to show the mechanics of my world and partly to show how the character and backgrounds would work together. Given more time I would have liked to go back and make the animation more smooth, but I was pressed for time and as test, it worked fairly well. 

Afterglow - Concept art pieces

Afterglow - Concept art pieces 

With the pitches fast approaching, I created a change of concept pieced in order to help we explain the story and my characters development, I produced most of the background myself but got help from another team member to create the classroom and bedroom scene. I enjoyed creating the backgrounds as I played around with block colours and textures again much like the characters I was happy with the results. 

Afterglow- Couple colours

Afterglow- Couple colours 

From El I branched out into other possible characters and began to try out different colours and the couple types they stand for, using the rainbow flag to help guide me I came up with a series of colours and a range of couple poses. It also gave me more of a chance to play around with the style.