NEXT-GEN Nescot week 8 - Jet-pack

During week nine we were tasked with creating a model of a jet-pack. For this task I decided to take inspiration for my jet-pack from the jet-pack in Fallout 4.
Firstly, I started by creating the upper half of the jet-pack, I did this by using extruded and edited cylinders to make a similar shape towards the shoulders, these would be used as smaller jets on the outer sides of the jet-pack; I also created straps which would later be modified to be more slanted inwards and would connect with the rest of the jet-pack.

Secondly, I created a cube that I connected to the central piece of the jet-pack using extruded cubes, I then used more of these types of cubes to add the appearance of ventilation on the cube, I also moved the previously outward-facing straps inward towards the cube. Alongside this, I added another cylinder connecting the main cylinder and central cylinders together. The central cylinders on top of the main cylinder also had small bolts on-top to give the impression of where fuel is entered.

Once I had done this, I then extruded the cube to a more unusual and waist-land like appearance and added more jets (that were larger) to the cube, as well as a wire connecting into the central cylinders and the smaller jets were then connected to the cube with (solid) wires.

Next, I greatly increased detail of the cube by adding cylinders, spheres and cubes. This was done by adding spheres on-top of the jets and cubes connecting into these spheres. After this I added cylinders to give an effect of fuel tankers and I added two cylinders at the front of the cube connecting into a smaller, flatter cylinder infused to the front of the jet-pack (I also added wires to the back but these were removed shortly afterwards).

Finally, I began detailing the jet-pack by making the main connecting cylinder smaller, adding small details such as small bolts in the sides of the larger jets, adding connectors to the wires and adjusting the back straps to fit a human mesh.

Over all I believe I did well on this task, however, if I could change anything in my design I would add texturing to the mesh in order to give it a more rustic metal look.

NEXT-GEN Nescot week 8 - creating and implementing ideas

During week 8 we were tasked with creating a tower after designing it in Photoshop. Using images off the internet, I created a design including images of chess pawns, a factory, a line of pipes and the CN Tower which is located on the border of Canada and America.

In Photoshop I arranged the images around the factory building in a steam-punk like manner with the pipes and bottom pawn representing oil pumps and the CN Tower and pawns at the top representing power silos/coils or lightning rods.

Firstly, in Maya I began by importing the photo and creating a cube to base around as the lower area of the tower. This was then followed by a smaller cube placed on top with one taller and three smaller cubes surrounded by cylinders to give the appearance of fuel tanks. Then, I added a triangle positioned in the middle of the square to create a central tower that would act as the peak of the structure. On this tower I added two spheres, one on-top of a layer of cylinders that, paired together, give the appearance of a steampunk lightning conductor.

Once I had finished with the main tower and spire, I began to add pipes by, firstly, adding cylinders at the bottom of the tower to show extractive pumps connecting into pipes made from more cylinders. These pipes then connected to the rest of the structure such as the fuel tanks. These adjustments improved the over-all design of the model by making it look much more steam punk and gave the impression that the structure was somewhat used to create or store fuel or electricity.

NEXT-GEN Nescot week 8 - Artist inspiration part 3 ("A Wheat-field, with Cypresses")

Vincent William Van Gogh is famous for his incredibly vibrant and colourful paintings. Another of my favourites among his paintings is the art piece called "A Wheat-field, with Cypresses".

This painting has multiple vibrant and well-toned-together colours, these are usually associated with Vincent's work. It is incredibly detailed and has a large complementary colour scheme, that gives the painting a cross between realistic and fantastical.

This painting is one of three almost identical versions of the composition. Another painting of the cypresses is believed to have been painted in-front of his original design. While still scenes with large multitudes of colours were common among Vincent Van Gogh's work, the cypresses fields were made very closely before his death. "A Wheat-field, with Cypresses" was painted in September 1889, when Van Gogh was in the St-Remy mental asylum, near Arles.

NEXT-GEN Nescot week 8 - Artist inspiration part 2 ("Sunflowers")

Vincent William Van Gogh is famous for his incredibly vibrant and colourful paintings. My personal favorite among his paintings is the art piece named only "Sunflowers".

Despite not having the multiple vibrant colours associated with Vincent's work, "Sunflowers" is one of the most famous artworks done by Van Gogh as not only is it incredibly detailed but it is also created with a minimal colour scheme, contry to his usual style.

This is only one of four paintings of sunflowers made by Vincent Van Gogh before his death. The flowers were made with thick brushstrokes in the formal design of "Impasto", This design evokes the texture of the seed-heads. This also gives a flow of texture for the petals and stems of the flowers, giving them a more lifelike appearance of positioning and makes the flowers appear as if they converge into one.

NEXT-GEN Nescot week 8 - drawing character perspectives

During week eight I was tasked with drawing characters from multiple angles, for this I chose to draw a skier, golfer, weight lifter and basketball player.

Firstly, I began by drawing the skier from the side, back and from a slanted angle, these positions allowed me to show mostly what the character looked like in better detail. My strengths in this drawing were the amount of detail I had added into the character and the accuracy in the sizing of each part of them at each angle. If I could improve upon these drawings I would add more shading and I would line up the objects being shown more accurately.

 Next, I started drawing the golfer at the same angles as the skier. The strengths of these drawings were the aligning of items and body stature

and the detail in clothing. If I could improve upon these drawings I would add more shading and I would increase the amount of detail in the faces, hands and feet of the drawings.

Thirdly, I moved onto drawing the basketball player at the same angles as before. The strengths in this drawing were the consistency of the angle similarities and detail in the clothing. If I could improve upon these drawings I would add more shading and increase the amount of detail in the faces.

Finally, I drew the weight lifter at the same angles again. The strengths in this drawing were the consistency of the angle similarities and detail in the clothing, objects and the consistent angling. If I could improve upon these drawings I would, once again, add more shading and increase the amount of detail in the faces.

NEXT-GEN Nescot week 7-8 - drawing perspectives

During week seven and eight I was tasked with selecting a room within my house and drawing them from a one-point and two-point perspective, for this I chose to draw my dining-room table.

Firstly, I drew the room from a one point perspective. While I believe that the drawing is good and I like the apperance of the drawing, I believe that I could have improved the shape and appearance of the table and chairs, as well as adding more detail to other large objects such as theChandelier.

Secondly, I drew the same room from a two-point perspective. Personally I think this drawing is much better despite the fact that some of the shapes could have been more refined (such as the bottem left chair). For this drawing I greatly improved on shading and detail, this made the drawing look like it had more effort put into it and that it blends together much more nicely.

In conclusion this task went well, even with the minor mistakes on both the drawings, and I think that I used one and two-point perspectives well.

NEXT-GEN Nescot week 8 - Artist inspiration part 1 (Information about the artist)

Personally, my favorite artist is Vincent (William) Van Gogh. Van Gogh is a famous dutch artist who, in just over a decade, created about 2,100 (most of which were made in the last two years of his life). His paintings mainly consist of landscapes, still life, portraits and self portraits, these are made with bold, outstanding complementary colours and impressive brush-work that helped shape the foundations of modern art. He committed suicide at 37 on the 27th of July 1890 due to years of mental illness and poverty. 

Vincent Van Gogh was born into a upper-middle class family on the 30th of March 1853. He was a member of the protestant church and first worked as an art dealer, but fell into depression once he transferred to London. He lived in ill health and solitude until he began painting in 1881 and he moved back home with is parents while his younger brother supported him financially and maintained a close relationship by letter.

At the start of his art career he mostly made still-life and depictions of peasant labourers, these did not show the vivid color that distinguished his later work and future fame. In 1886 he moved to Paris where he met members of the "avant-garde" (a member of this group was Paul Gauguin) who were reacting against the impressionist sensibility. As his work developed he created a new approach to still life and local landscapes. His paintings became brighter in colour as he developed a style that was realized during his stay in Arles (in the south of France during 1888). During this period he widened his subject matter to include olive trees, wheat fields and sunflowers.

Van Gogh suffered from psychotic episodes and delusions, however, although he worried about his mental stability, he often neglected his physical health. His friendship ultimately ended with Gauguin when, in a rage, Van Gogh severed part of his own left ear. This psychotic episode led him to spent time in psychiatric hospitals including a period at Saint-Rémy.

After he discharged himself and moved to the Auberge Ravoux in Auvers-sur-Oise near Paris, he came under the care of doctor named "Paul Gachet". Unfortunately, his depression still continued and on the 27th of July 1890 Van Gogh shot himself in the chest with a revolver. He died from his injuries two days later.

NEXT-GEN Nescot week 7 - rigging 2 part 2

During week 7 we were tasked with, once again, using the process of Rigging (Skeletal animation) to pose the previously given mesh in another two stances relating to different sports. For my submission I decided to create a rig of a goal keeper (saving a goal) and a basketball player (attempting to dunk a ball into a net (net not created)), for this part I will be showing how I completed the basketball player. I did this by, again, importing the given (rigged) mesh and rotating the head to face the way they would be jumping.

 

Once I had rotated the head, I began rotating the body's waist and hips, this was to make the mesh face further towards the way they would be moving, however, I did not rotate the shoulders because the arms would have been facing the same direction later. Afterwards, I began to move the feet and legs higher to give the effect of being off ground. When this was done I moved the directions the knees were facing and rotated the direction the feet were facing, this gave a smoother look and helped the rig look more like it was leaping upward.

Finally, I started rotating the hands to make the right-hand flatter as if it were wrapped around a ball (which was added afterwards) and to make the left-hand make the rig look like it was aiming their direction. I then lowered the rotation of the right-arm and contracted the right-elbow, this made then had the effect of the rig getting ready to throw/dunk the ball.

If I could improve my rig I would add detail to the hair to make it appear to be affected by movement (wind) and I would have improved the left-arm to be straighter and the hand to be more detailed as well.

NEXT-GEN Nescot week 7 - rigging 2 part 1

During week 7 we were tasked with, once again, using the process of Rigging (Skeletal animation) to pose the previously given mesh in another two stances relating to different sports. For my submission I decided to create a rig of a goal keeper (saving a goal) and a basketball player (attempting to dunk a ball into a net (net not created)), for this part I will be showing how I completed the goal keeper.  I did this by, firstly, importing the given (rigged) mesh and posing it onto its side, this would later be used to give the effect of the goal keeper leaping.

Then I moved the positioning of the feet and knees to align them with the rest of the body, this led me to rotating the feet to be pointing outward, moving the directions of the knees (changing the angle they faced) and I also had to rotate the waist to make the rigs body fully straight.

After I finished straightening the rig, I began focusing on the arms. Firstly, I rotated the right arm to be facing vertically to the rigs body and repositioned the hand to be flatter, this gave the appearance of reaching towards a ball (which I added in later after I was finished).

Next, I rotated the left arm and elbow, this made the appearance of the arm more contracted and further back than the other arm.

Finally, I then contracted the left hand into a fist, this gives an indication of tension or stress in the body language of the rig.

Over all, I believe I did well on my first part of the assignment, however, if I could improve upon it I would have increased detail on the hands and possibly changed the direction of the hair to make it appear as if it was affected by gravity.