for this project we are creating a unique creature it can be any form such as fish or reptile however it cant be humanoid I looked at some mythological creatures and video games creatures to look at there anatomy my conclusion is even though these creatures aren't real a great deal of time and effort has been put into the bone structure and the muscles I will look at more examples to gather inspiration.
Mammal
Mammals are warm-blooded, furry, air breathers. that can vary from pandas to whales even though they have differences they still have the same generally bone structure just in different sizes and shapes
mammals will be my primary research type however I will be looking into types of species for comparison and for researching how there structure is different to other species in the other categories such as reptiles and insects.
This is experimenting with both photoshop and paper on shading and other practising.
This is my experimenting with shading with pencil and paper giving a two dimensional circle a shading so it appears three dimensional his will be important for my concept art because it will give my creature more form and definition.
using photoshop and graphics tablet requires a more degree of accuracy and concentration compared to the pencil and paper for me using pencil and paper gives a more easier way to shade compared to photoshop that gives more control. as the project progressed I became more proficient in shading in photoshop however i still think that pencil shading works better for me at the moment but as I get better using digital software my views may change.
Examples I have researched pictures of fantasy creatures and real life creatures represented in a mood board.
These is my research material i have compared both primary source materials and secondary materials.
using moods boards influenced my initial ideas and developments by
these are my primary research drawing pictures. and photos.
these are my primary source drawing for my initial research on drawing creatures forms using primary source makes the understanding of creating a 3d forms easier compared to trying to do it from secondary source research.
a primary source picture of a horse.
a primary source
picture of a dog.
a primary source picture of a pig.
I think that using both primary and secondary resources are invaluable when researching.
primary research offers a more in depth understanding on the chosen creature such as understanding it more within 3 dimensions because of seeing it in real life. secondary sources however offers a wider verity of creature compared to the primary sources however because you are only seeing them from a 2d picture it does not give you as much in depth understanding as primary sources so they both offer advantages compared to one another however they do also have disadvantages.
I will examine these creature and see what makes
using mood boards offers a quick reference to a large group of both fantasy and non fantasy creatures since that fictional are difficult to categorise into a type of species mood boards offers a better type of data collection for fantasy creatures. it also gives a better understanding on what emotions the appearance of animals give for example a lion might invoke a emotion of fear whereas a
squirrel would emote happiness.
these creature are interesting on how they communicate through visual elements to the audience what you should feel when you see them this is important when designing a creature because in order it to be successful it needs to convey a emotion pre chosen by the creator in order to invoke a feeling.
them different from animals from real life. From what I have researched when comparing fantasy creatures with real creature the majority of creature are creatures that bare real combined or altered to resemble creatures that don't exist for example a chimera are three creatures combined together.
These fictional creature were found from a website called creature spot these creature have inspired me in a different way than non fictional creatures because they are created my people so looking at these creatures gives me inspiration and gives me a direction when starting experimenting with different forms and shapes when going through the design process.
they created these forms the same way as i am doing now. they used he same skills and techniques so it is important to look at their experience on the process it took from ideas to an eventual concept. and looking t their thought process and comparing it to mine. these pictures and artists are my inspiration for this project. I have also looked at the descriptive creations of H.P lovecraft and his fantasy creatures.
Mind map of real life creatures compiled into types.
this method of collecting data of different types of animals offers
ordered , methodical data collection they can be ordered into categories so you can compare animals from both the same group and compare then to other species within different groups.
error the amphibians category should be fish.
mind map of fantasy creatures
mind map of fantasy creatures.
Using a mind map makes comparing different aspects of species to
see what aspects suits which type of species in there categories such as scales on reptiles and from that being able to compile ideal characteristics for your initial ideas on your designs. I think that this type of data comparison during the initial idea stages because it is very useful when generating initial idea because if offers a wide verity of choice during the creative stage when you find different aspects of creatures
to combine.
evaluation of research
using
Using these types of research has helped me greatly when I started my design process, because researching told me different forms and shapes with different types of creatures. Also the research has gave me evolutionary information such as what type of characteristics would suit a creature to its environment the most for example a cow has long legs and doesn't move around because it stands in fields thinking this was thinks is important so as to not have characteristics that would not suit the creature I plan on creating reflecting on my research I have found it to be useful in this instance.
researching creatures by using mind maps, mood boards, primary sources an secondary sources has impacted my initial ideas and development stages by allowing me to see how creatures are put together, there bone structure and muscle structures and how hey use their power distribution based on there muscles. also in conduction with the primary source research allows a deeper look into animals in a 3d prospective which in terns also a better understanding of depth this has impacted my initial ideas because it allows me to creature different forms based around different categories for example large mammals compared to small mammals from the research this is important when developing concepts for your final design.
Collecting this researched has also developed my still of understanding characteristics of different creatures and how they used these aspects to there advantage this is an important skill when developing forms for creature and by collecting this reference and research material i have developed this skill whereas before i never gave this sort of thinking much thought.
concepts and development ideas.
I like the idea of having a beast of burden type of creature such as a cow or a bull but also combining it with the from power of a gorilla with a rhino. so it has a aggressive frontal.
I think that this will be a good idea for a design.
even though these animals look different in shape and appearance all mammals share a similar bone structure this has to be conceded when designing a creature for a video game. are thy agile and how does that effect its bone structure.
These are some possible ideas for my creature.
This was one of my first basic creature that is a rough outline using a mouse type creature with added features such as legs and antlers I need to try and use a graphics tablet to create better detail on future designs.
This is another concept for a creature more detail and using a graphics tablet which is a piece of equipment that you can use to draw directly into photoshop make it easier to apply detail and build up the form.
The turtle type form was my first attempt to create a non mammal looking at my initial research and the different types of animals they have different bone structures compared to other types of animals e.g reptiles and they have similar bone structure within there own group.
I am new to creating creature where i have to thing about its anatomy and how that effects the creatures shape also i have decided on what texture i am going to have short fur the is thickest on the back and slowly gets thinner as its goes down the body towards the belly. Finally I need to decide on what tail I will put on this design.
this is a concept for my creature i am planning on doing in maya (the 3d software package) this is an idea of using wolf characteristics for he face with warthog body shape and tusks i think that this size of creature would not be a carnivore there i think that it would not have these characteristics.
In my opinion using paper rather than photoshop to create concepts is better for me because I find it easier to take ideas from my minds eye and put it onto paper I can then take that design into photoshop but when beginning to sketches a concept however using a graphics tablet does make sketching things on a digital format easier rather using a mouse it offers more precision however I rather use paper. in terms of how both paper and photoshop impacted my final creature I used both photoshop and paper to create and develop my final design I took a concept created by paper then put it into photoshop to continue its development and these became part of my autographics I used when I was starting my 3d model. so these different medias helped my development of my creature immensely.
Recently I have attempted to recreate a concept of a creature with using wire mesh and mod rock follow this link for details https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=949126432905814773#editor/target=post;postID=2981149774541288326;onPublishedMenu=allposts;onClosedMenu=allposts;postNum=0;src=link this link linked to another post which can be found on my blog. where there are pictures of the model with description about how the experience gave me a new perception on creating a 3d model both physical and digital.
I need to work on making more detailed fur however it it difficult on mammals with my design he will have short hair along his body and hard skin on his belly. However he could not have any fur at all and have just skin. This creature is a amalgamation of a gorilla with its front powerful legs and large rib cage with the overall shape of a bull with added.
creature forms with using different types of creature e,g reptiles.
Detail such as horns and tusks. I need to improve the shape of the front legs it looks unnatural and oddly shaped. this will be one of my possible final design if I decide to do a mammal.
This is a collection of concepts on basic forms that i have created using both hand drawn and photoshop these are my initial ideas.
These sketches can also be found in my sketch book.
from my experimentation of shading i have used this in my concepts to give a sense of the form and size of my creature this is important in order to give accurate forms I have not used colour because I think that i have no used for it on this project unless i was texturing my 3d mesh.
This is a improved creature from from my second concept on paper not on Photoshop.
I have recently changed aspects of this creature first and foremost the front leg have been changed to be more realistic and the feet have been changed to resemble bull's hooves. on a final note I need to create more designs in case this one does not work out I should also take the opportunity to look at reptiles and insects anatomy.
I have also began branching out into other creature designs using not just mammals but also reptiles and insects.
I need
to use Photoshop to develop my skills with creating muscle structures and bone structures i need sample of creature forms on both paper and Photoshop.
These are my aerial, side, front views of my creature these are called the autographics these are put into maya and are used as a reference when making a start on building the mesh. these are imperative that they should all be in reasonable proportion to each other so scale wouldn't be a issue during the early stages of creating a mean.
throughout my research I found that different characteristics and elements of creatures give meaning such as tusks for moving stuff out of the way and charging into things these small assets provide a creature meaning which t needs to convey to the audience when they see it for example when they se a cow they know that its a beast of burden.
in my creations I deliberately showed these elements so the convey meaning to the audience
Advantages and disadvantages of choosing a mammal as your 3d model.
one of the disadvantaged is choosing a mammal with fur is that it obscures the details of the body however this can be an advantage when you have to keep a low poly count because minor detail wouldn't show because of the fur obscuring it.
image I started off with a square and manipulate it to the outline of my image plains.
to start creating a 3d model you take your autographics and put them as image plain into maya these will act as reference point throughout the early stages of your creatures development then to start the model you take a square/ rectangular shape and insert edge loops and begin manipulating the vertexes to the outline of the autographics and from there keep adding geometry to create a blocky starting point.
I created more geometry by inserting loop edges to make it smoother and more rounder.
of he eventual mesh I have started my 3d mesh which is what the model is called a series of vertexes
and edges creating faces that make up my creature here is what I have got so far.
I added legs using the same process as the as i did with the torso.
The head isn't finished and the rear legs are still a work in progress I still need to add small amounts of detail such as teeth mouth and eyes. I also need to add texture a process that i am not fully familiar with. the process of creating a rounded shape is to insert edge loops to create more complex geometry and round the vertexes. this is a vital process of building the mesh from a simple square to the creature I want.
to make the modelling easier I created only one half of my mesh then once I completed it created a copy of the one half and created a instance so it will be easier when I go through the texturing process it also ensures that my creature proportions are both the same on each side.
I only modelled half of the model to create a instance copy which is a copy that can be changes as if they were the same mesh.
To make the head instead of making a separate mesh and them merging it to the torso mesh I extruded from the neck to create a head so its part of the torso mesh. rather than make a separate mesh and trying to connected to the torso which i attempted and failed.
this is a near finished model of my creature. with a added head that has been rounded to create it more like the creature I originally intended.
the mouth created a challenge I created by deleting faces where the mouth would be then extrude faces inside the mouth area to create a ending of the interior mouth.
i then focused on the head adding more detail such as horns tusks and mouth
This is my finished model. overall compared to my first designs compared to my finished design i have leaned a exceptional amount on how creatures anatomy is similar to creature of the same category e.g. reptiles. and how these features of there anatomy gives them an advantage such as a cats small ribcage and long spine gives them
the agile manoeuvrability they need. and even though mammals have different forms and shapes also in terms of scale if a creature is the size of a elephant it will have similar qualities this was a major factor to decide when considering a shape and size for my creature.
I have added a eye to do this I manipulated the vertexes on the the side o his head to resemble an eye socket then added edge lopes around the newly formed area and changed ti to encompass a eye which is a normal sphere and created a join to resemble a bulls eye.
I then added more geometry to the small details to give it more of a smoothness look and finished by adding eyes
Evaluation: I think that this 3d projects was very successful I completed the design onetime and have kept the poly count within an acceptable amount. My thought on the overall design is the mesh is not perfect there are a few places on the rear legs that are blocky and I wish i had time to improve the mesh further by adding texture. if I have done things differently I would have gone for a different type of creature such as a bird because they have interesting to me when doing things such as the feathers. also I would have done the legs differently I would have extruded them from the body so they are perfectly connected rather than make a separate mesh also if I had time to improve I would of connected the legs to the torso like a creature would have so the legs could be animated. anything thing i am happy with my 3d model is that it has a low poly count poly count is the amount of polygons being rendered per frame so it is as efficient as possible by not using too much geometry.
I
n terms on how the entire process from beginning to end i have leaned much during this projects the process of starting by researching different kind of creatures to creating concepts to the end of creating the final 3d model the entire projects have been an experience that is invaluable and will be helpful when doing other projects.
I also should of spent more time researching and developing ideas at the start of the project i should spend more time thinking about and put my ideas down onto paper before i get too far ahead and development half thoughts of ideas.
Also on the research I wish I looked more in fictional creatures during my research because looking into other works based off this project so I can look into where they got their ideas from and their design process and development.
To finish I changed the materiel to give it a reflective material to give it a decent finish. from my experimentation was also to add the shine to give it a shaded 3d effect when I rendered the 3d model into a 2d image. from the first concept i have done of this creature it has been altered at lot it no longer has the wolf characteristics making it look more of a herbivore but still retaining that original idea of frontal power.
I wanted to convey the emotion of fear toward my creature so it would be intimidating so it would be left in peace when their are predators.
from my research i would compare my creature from my research to be an amalgamation of a gorilla and a bull taken from the inspiration when researching fantasy creatures.
during my research and initial design and research I was interested in the idea of creating a beast of burden this interest influenced the design of my creature and because of this gave me the form and shape as well as the inspiration needed to formulate my final design. However I should of spent more time looking at other purposed and forms for my creature I think that I jumped too quickly into the mindset of creating a beast of burden too early on to I should refrain from doing this in future projects .
however overall I think I successfully conveyed the meaning behind the creature that this is a beast of burden because of the bulky form and thin cow/bull like legs and hooves.
Throughout this project I have used a wide verity of skills throughout the design process such as the skill of investigating when doing my initial research. The skill of designing for the creating of my final design and the concepts I created the skill of producing a final product and making it as good as possible and the skill of evaluating that i did good and bad and how I can improve. I think that all these skills have been effective throughout this design process because without these skill I would not be able to come up with the designs I have done therefore I think I have used these skills effectively and to the best of my abilities.
also using the techniques of being able to create forms in maya this technique is unimportant during the design process this technique i have done effectively because I have a end result of a 3d model also using other techniques when creating the concepts such as the used of a graphics tablet that i have not used effectually because I am unfamiliar with the using one also the different techniques of shading such as hatching in with I have shown in my experimentation sheet I have done effectivly although there is room for improvement.
smoothed version of my creature.
.jpg)
.jpg)
