#dgd220

[dontgetcareless]

Énouement

My biggest project of the year was creating elements for the virtual reality game Énouement. I was also a design consultant and helped with the story elements.

I created around 40 textures for the game, helped chose what colours/textures go where, wrote story letters, created the title logo, created posters and stylised 30 images.

Here is a bunch of the things I created:

Here is screen shots from the game:

This game was the biggest learning experience because I had to learn how to create animation textures, I learnt how to use unity to test/move objects and edit textures, I learnt how to mass edit photos through Automate in Photoshop, I learnt about polygons in unity and how to make a game run faster, I learnt how to make mock ups for animators and I learnt sophisticated organisation skills/programs such as trello and prioritising goals in google spreadsheets.

Overall I think this project went incredibly well. This is the most amount of individual things I have ever created for one thing and they were all of a really high quality for what we were creating. This project was the first successful VR game created at SAE Brisbane and extremely polished for only four weeks.

You can play the full game here: https://josh474.itch.io/enouement

[dontgetcareless]

Larry Dorrito

My third interdisciplinary project was creating a logo and an album cover for an audio student. This was probably my favourite contract for the whole trimester.

The client wanted a retro 80s style logo and a Sims style album cover. I was unsure about the logo but I knew the album cover would be right up my alley. Our communication for what he wanted was very clear and gave me a great picture of what he wanted:

I first started working on the logo because I thought it would take me a lesser amount of time. I decided that I wanted to create it in illustrator because then it would be a higher quality but this meant learning a whole new technique that might have been much quicker in photoshop. Creating it in illustrator also meant that I had the ability to make a lot of changes without ruining it's quality.

I was creating a chrome text stylisation of 'DORRITO' and a laser/neon lighting effect for 'Larry'. The lighting effect was impossible in illustrator so I moved to photoshop where I was able to create the 'Larry' and also edit the colours so I could create many variations for my client. This is what I ended up with:

Variations:

What the client chose:

I then started creating two different albums, one themed Sims 3 and one themed Sims 4. I did a good amount of research into the style of the game covers and artwork.

The Sims 3 album was a great learning experience because I had to copy the exact logo but spelt 'Simes' so there was no copyright. This means I couldn't just image trace the logo. I had to find the font and work out the styling which was various bevels, drop shadows and layers. I then started collecting different photos from the game that were interesting and turning them into stylised silhouette like shapes and putting them into each section of the layout I had created.

This is what I created:

The Sims 4 album was a very comfortable style for me because it's modern, sleek and simple. I had to also completely recreate the logo style without just copying the actual logo so it also taught me quite a bit. I needed to create different gradients in set shapes that were the same exact colours as the original logo. I then took a Sims house and photoshopped fire onto it and put the logo over it.

This is how it turned out:

My client was extremely happy with the work I had created and super impressed with the quality. He decided that the Sims 3 album was more suitable but still really liked the Sims 4 one. This project really challenged me to use both illustrator and photoshop, something that I always sort of tried to avoid. I now know that it works a lot more fluidly than I thought and can still create really high quality work.

[dontgetcareless]

Miscellaneous Work

Besides my major interdisciplinary projects, I have done three other things this trimester. A logo design, a graphic t-shirt and four business cards.

The logo design was for a market stall that sells mainly tie-dye blue clothing and glass jewellery. The main thing they wanted was a stylish font and a flower next to it.

These are some concepts I came up with:

At this point in time I haven't been able to move forward with the project because the client doesn't want to rebrand all their tags yet.

The T-Shirt is for a client that originally wanted some advertising work done but changed their mind. So I instead created a shirt to wear at work that was pink with their name on it.

The business cards were for game students who needed them for an exhibition. Each of their styles are very unique and reflect their personality. All of them were really happy with the results:

Even though these three projects were small, they all taught me some very helpful things. The logo made me more comfortable working with personal clients, the t shirt taught me how to rework old elements and the business cards taught me how to take basic ideas and grow them into something professional.

[dontgetcareless]

Mind State

My second interdisciplinary project was helping all the game designer in studio 2 create MindState. The concept was four different areas all having to create different emotions/feelings.

The main area I worked on was happy/lively/bouncy with my client Josh. This involved creating a bunch of different assets that stuck to a minimalist cartoon theme that could be used for all four different sections. I also needed to create a background that was inclusive and transitioned between the four different areas.

Assets:

The biggest problem was scaling the assets correctly and making sure they weren't too huge of a file size or pixelated. This was where I learnt the most. There was many technical issues that I had to trial and error before I got the right format.

I also created the title for the game which they wanted to fit into the environment. I created letter rock formations crumbling with different distances and heights between them so it was interesting for the player to walk across:

All the designers were very pleased with the work I created in the end and was super glad I was there every class to work through problems with them. This project was when I first really started learning about how to use unity and becoming more helpful than just a graphics designer.

You can download and play the game here: https://acrompton.itch.io/mindstate

[dontgetcareless]

Stutter

My first interdisciplinary project was creating simple artwork for a typing based video game. I needed to create different emotions for each of the two faces, a background and help pick out the fonts and colours. I also helped write the script. My first concepts were basic and messy. But my client really liked them and wanted me too keep going.

I then found heaps of inspiration and decided to keep developing my design.

Eventually I landed on these:

They fitted the theme and style perfectly. They also matched the handwritten style of the typography. For the background I used an image the client like but simply made it look drawn so it would fit in the style of the game:

Edited:

In the end my client was really happy with my work and his teachers thought that the stylisation enhanced the game. This project was different for me and taught me a lot because I normally don't incorporate original drawings in my work because I know it isn't my strongest skill but I ended up executing it really well!

You can play the full game here: https://josh474.itch.io/stutter

[dontgetcareless]

Brief 2 (Weeks 4-6)

I have always been a much better digital artist than an analogue one so experimenting with physical materials was harder than anticipated. The first medium I chose was surprisingly my most comfortable, white pencil on black paper:

I believe this is my strongest out the five analogue works I created. I really enjoy copying a well lit object to just highlight the the light beams and create a image from just that. It's about using negative space to make the mind fill in the gaps. I learnt this technique at Griffith and I am so happy I am able to implement it. The second medium I chose was paper craft. This is wildly outside my comfort zone but was the most fun because I was learning something completely new:

I went more abstract than literal so I decided on a butterfly for the lid and a rose for the bottle because they were the most fitting of the actual shape. The shadows it creates adds a whole new depth to the work when lit properly, especially when the work is displayed on a watercolour background. This work was probably my weakest but I still think it fits well in the theme of my entire brief. The third medium I chose was watercolour which I created three different works with. The first is the same concept as the white pencil on black except it is white paint on a pink watercolour wash. It is also more conceptual in that the shapes aren't based on light but are based on a butterfly and a flower:

The second was using 5 different watercolour techniques to create one image. A watercolour wash, salt, paint splattering, water pools and outlining:

The third was a more conceptual one and sort of the concept for my composited photograph. I believe this is my best watercolour work and the most interesting. The contrast of the sea with the space is very effective because it enhances both elements. This is also helped by the colour choices and the placement of each element:

The digital works I created were based on pop art. The first was the classic pop art inspired by Andy Warhol and created through simple photo manipulation:

Even though this was easy to make, I think it is very effective and interesting because the main colours are created from the light reflections. The second was a pattern created from image tracing and manipulating simple drawings of my four perfume bottles:

This one is my favourite because the whole image pattern is unique and not a repeated pattern. It is also super aesthetically pleasing to put on different backgrounds and I would love to use it for a product. Overall I think that these works challenged me and got me out of my comfort zone which I think was the whole point for this part of the brief. I am very happy with how it turned out and I learnt a lot which I can implement in the future.

[dontgetcareless]

Brief One (Week 1-3)

Photography has always come easier to me than most. Composition of a shot has always made sense to me. I have always known that it takes way more photographs than you expect for the right photo but digital manipulation can get around that. The first few weeks have been spent on experimentation and taking as many different pictures as possible. Here are a few raw photos that I like the most:

The next few classes were spent on the editing side of photography like the Perfect skin editing technique:

And this restoration of an old photograph:

Both these ultimately helped me for our actually photography brief. Our goal was to have 1 product shot, 2 portraits, 1 conceptual shot and 1 of our own choice. I had way too many photos I liked that could have been possible choices:

The main two I decided on was Isabel and Phil. Phil (Headwear/ Clothing Photography):

The contrast of his facial features and the fluffy hat reminded me of product/clothing advertising so I was interested in learning how to execute this well. The lighting I went with made the photograph much more interesting and gave it more depth. I edited his facial features more than you realise when looking at the final product just so I could create the illusion of perfection which is what we see in current media. Isabel (Model/ Showing off product photography):

This photo also creates the an illusion of perfection but I still wanted it too look natural by leaving her freckles. I then decided to experiment on one and bring in black and white to half her face which I believe created a sort of two sides to her and also has connotations of a deeper meaning emotionally. I personally don't like over editing photos to unrealistic perfection because morally I think it distorts the expectations uneducated people have on beauty. It's hard to find a balance between the physiological effects of this manipulation and my desire for perfection and an aesthetic quality. The next important editing was for the actual product, my perfume bottle:

The two photos I have edited seem like very subtle editing when you only look at the finished product but that is what I wanted to go for, light and dreamy like the perfume branding. I made both look perfect with no defects and then enhanced the colour and brought in colour filters to create a more interesting depth. I then looked back at my photos and decided to try one that I use with fur, this worked quite well and was a lot more interesting after I enhanced it:

After I finished these photos I then decided to go further and edit some more for the conceptual photo and my own choice which is advertising. Conceptual:

I created two different conceptual photos, both centered around a beach theme. One was the idea that the perfume was an oversized object resting on the sand. The other was an island paradise inside the bottle. Both would give the audience an immediate insight into what the perfume could possibly smell like.

Advertising:

The first advertising I did was poor and I instantly hated it, I knew it wasn't good at all and made me laugh. The second I spent more time on and looked at other advertising to get inspiration. I think this photo of Isabel and the perfume create a perfect athletic balance and looks like a professional ad even though I still think it could use some work. Overall I think in general photography is a pretty strong point for me especially in relation to Brief 2. I want to keep implementing photography into my graphic design and I also still want to get better at it. I could have taken 10,000 more photos but with the photos I did have I believe I have educated the first brief very well.