Narrative and Character - Character Presentation

Proposal - Legends of the New Year

Character: Village Painting And Sketchbook Progress

  I worked on the vilalge environment today. Due to the mythology of Nian's attack happening at night, I decided ot creat a night-time scene. Some elements were not fully realised and perhaps the mountains at the back came out better than the ground at the front or the roofing. But a concept image is meant to portray the environment to give an idea to production artists. So to an extent, I don't think this looks too bad.

  As well as some concept art I also managed to photograph what I had been working in my sketchbook recently. The quality of the photos could be better however. But I think I am slowly gettign the hang of drawing faces but I think I still have a long way to go.

Character Project: Character Turnarounds

With a deadlien looming I have attempted to put aside some of my time to continue the character project. These took slightly longer than I had hoped, as this week has involved juggling a few other things, but as well as these I have a number of sketches, particularly face studies of each character which will be displayed in a later blog post. 

  With the hero I wanted to give him bulk but I also wasn't fully satisfied with making him shirtless. I wanted to keep some distinct featres although in drawing out his torso I may have neglected any girth. The idea was he'd havep lenty of strength within his abdomen to lift his sledgehammer. I think I might have finally settled on a more distinct look. He's not truly authentic to the period due to the hairstyle but the style I had initially drawn didn't look that distinct.

  The larget benefit to drawing Nian was that I was able to apply the gaseous look to his mane and tale. The front and back protrayals were left out partly it is possible the smoke could be an effect rather than a part of the character's model. This is also why the Sha's lower body was drawn in a vague way - his lower body is smoke that will be fluid and would be as flexible as a snake's tail.

Character project: A New Style Hero

  I have had a good break but now it is time to get back to work. I'd say I am getting close with an idea for my hero character - a large figure with long hair who wields a sledgehammer. To give distinctiveness I considered exposing his torso and arms. It may not be too appropriate but I the altenative is a larger version of the previous character. To emphasise this character's strength, I plan to give him a decent gut, which would be visible on a side view (yet to be drawn, but on the to-do list), The other idea I have is instead of bandages around his abdomen, he wears a vest of some kind.

  This is one of the first attempts outside of my sketchbook. More work will hopefully come in the coming days.

Character Project: Refining the Sha

  I have investigated some tweaked versions of the Sha for the character project. I think giving him a shorter neck was a good move as it does not feel as disconnected from the character's body. I also did some testing with Hokusai-stylesmoke doe the lower body. Because of the upper body, I imagined the lower body would have a similar flow to the spine, meaning the line of action can extend though the lower body.

Character project: Developing Card Designs

  Along with a workshop on interface design I gained the chance yesterday to develop more on the aesthetic of the Character project. I mainly looked at how to make the cards would work and stand out. At present I believe I have my rules established: Cards can either be good fortune or bad fortune, will have a predetermined strength and can be visually identified based on their colour.

  I looked at elements that I could use within the cards and one pattern stuck to mind that I will need to look at further: A knotted disk. Something about this pattern is distinctly Chinese but I will definitely need to look at it in more detail to get a better idea of just how to design it as that is one of my struggling points at present. Rather than plus and minus icons drawn with a brush, there was the idea that instead of these (which could be placeholders) I look at graphics that would more accurately fit my theme. The use of the disk is useful because the current rules mean that the fortune cards can be no stronger than +4 or -4 and there are no "zero-strength fortune" cards, and these disks that I have in mind can be easily divided into four corners.

  I also took some time yesterday to experiment with Hokusai's style of smoke. Nothing major but it does have a much less 'permed' feel to it. It definitely looks like something strange now. Though I do feel more refinement is needed.

Character Project: Spirits and the Village

  As mentioned in an earlier blog post, I spent time today developing the character project. Looking at what was needed I decided more stuff was needed for the environments that could be used within the setting. I don't consider the first attempt (above) very satisfying aside from maybe the fish fountain. It just didn't look right though even though I started out with basic blocks. The roofs just didn't' look right.

  To resolve my dissatisfaction I looked online to see what villages in China looked like to discover they were something of a far cry from the stereotype of upward-sloping sky-blue roofs and whitewashed staccato walls. I was happy to find that they were more earthy and simple, but had their own degree of intrigue. I was partly inspired by the overhangs that these buildings had. On some buildings these could be tiered not too dissimilarity to the balconies found on more modern tower blocks.

  I kept the pond from the first image because well I though it was a nice feature. Looking at the images below, I might have to look into making my village more 'messy'. There is a lot of string and junk about.

Referene 1: Three-story house (Guidry, 2011)

Reference 2: A waterfront village. Seems a little clean compared to Reference 1 (Wade, 2011)

  The other main thing I did today was work on the Sha. I kept expressive with the outlines to reflect the supernatural nature of these creatures. But while I was originally considering shapes like 1-3, 7 and maybe 14, I realised that maybe I could try something else after constantly giving the designs clouds for lower halves. COming up with a few more haunting-appropriate looks. The lack of faces on some of them is intentional - I played with the idea that these things had no faces in order to keep them inhuman.

  Before all this however I was working on developing my hero character. Drawing him in preparation for a turnaround. I found it useful to start of with an undressed figure, so I could get a better idea of what all the fabric would be doing and how it would hang over his body. Also I wanted to get the proportions right, hence the stack down the side.

Image References

• Reference 1: Guidry, A., 2011; [Three-story house]; China 19; available at http://stevegarufi.com/china19.jpg (last accessed 2nd November 2015)
• Reference 2: Wade, S., 2011; [A waterfront village. Seems a little clean compared to Reference 1]; Chinese Village by Yorick R.; available at https://chinadigitaltimes.net/wp-content/themes/cdt/timthumb.php?src=https://chinadigitaltimes.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Chinese-Village.jpg&w=&h=600 (last accessed 2nd November 2015)

Character Project: Expressions Practice

  Halloween is a time of celebration, dress-up and parties. I myself spent a little time this afternoon working on expression ideasfor two of the characters for the character project - the hero, and Nian. As one of the components of a character profile is expressions.

  Nian was a lot of fun to draw this time around, I found there was a lot I could do with those big eyebrows of his to express emotion, The angle of the head also helped convey emotion. I attempted to convey fear in 15 and 16 but I think I got sadness out of 15 instead of fear while 16 conveys it a lot better despite both being attempts at the same facial expression. Faces for the her however, was slightly harder due to the the design I had come up with and the fact he was a somewhat realistic human. Tried stretching it a little with 6 but he feels like a definite zone for improvement. Like with Nian, I think eyebrows are going to be a prominent component in his emotions.

Character Project: Developing One of the Strangers

  Today I decided to make progress with the character project. I've narrowed down the hero silhouette to flesh out for the final character bible to a warrior wearing a conical straw hat and wielding a bo-staff. I decided to experiment with  variations of how the armour and clothing were worn. The key thing I wanted to keep in mind while making the outlines is that the character is a wanderer, so his outfit would likely be an assortment of things he has bought or collected. With this in mind, I might keep away from the more soldier-like outfits (1, 6, 4 and 5) but perhaps the hero does wear at least a little armour to protect himself from bandit or wild animal attcks.

  When it came to the face I liked the style I had discovered when making the body outlines. And I tihnk it has helped in hilighting the core features of the face. WHen it came to a hairstyle my research suggested that among men there wasn't that much variation - many men in ancient China went for tying their hair in a bun on the tops of their heads, while facial hair often had a wispy quality to it.

  The style for the eyes were inspired by one of the Chinese artworks I had discovered during my research, which poretrayed two men in the middle of discussion. 1 and 5 attract me the most. Though I might do some exploration involving scars - if this wanderer is connected to Nian or the Sha, it's possible or perhaps likely he's had a few scrapes with them in the past. Confronting such a beast as Nian is unlikely to avoid some sort of struggle. So I might look into some facial markings later on.

Character Project: Nian Design Elements

  After doing some work on the adventurers I decided to look back at Nian, the monster lion spirit that is the central antagonist of the game. I took into account what Justin said about shape. This is a powerful, monstrous, spiteful creature so I thought to myself that the design needs to have a lot of squares and triangles to accentuate the creature's strength and hatefulness. I looked back on how the mane could be represented as an artistic form of smoke to either make it seem more frightening or link it to the Sha. I also looked into how I could make the eyes terrifying. In colour I imagine them to be quite bold, golden or silver. But I wanted eyes that would chill a viewer but also link with the elements of the character. So as well as detail around the eyes I also looked into how I could make the pupil intimidating; spirals, concentric circles and even a 4-point star.

  Just to see how it would fit with the rest of the character I did a little experimentation with a forked tongue. 3 is not to bad but I think I exaggerated the tongue too much on 4. The more chaotic manes (11, 4 and 10 for instance) I think make the creature look more threatening whereas the orderly nature of 21 makes him look regal rather than imposing.

Character Project: Further Art Inspiration

Figure 1: Sketchbook work

    I drew some sketches today for the character project to investigate possible player figurines, peasants and a few Sha designs as well as an initial idea for the layout for the village.

    For the designs for the villagers I looked a little at how Chinese artists portrayed the human form for ideas on costume, fashion and even faces to get a feel for the setting. WHile they do convey a level of realism, there is also a degree of stylism, the two people pictured below achieve depth though interacting with 3D objects and perspective but while the objects they use are shaded and given depth, they are not.

Figure 2: "An Ancient Chinese Poet"

Figure 3: Animal portrayals in ancient China

    These two animals are likely for ma different era of Chinese art but what struck me was the very distinct eyes that look like they belong on other animals. However looking at these two artworks, Chinese artists appear to give an animation or posing to their subjects that might be rare or uncommon in real life.

Image References

• Figure 2: Robinson, S., 2012; ["An ancient Chinese poet"[; An Ancient Chinese Poet, Facsimile of Chinese Scroll; available http://cdn.mhpbooks.com/2012/07/making_of_jonathan_spence_pic_chinese_scholars_mj2010_1000px.jpg (last accessed 7th October 2015)
• Figure 3: [Unknown] [Animal portrayals in ancient China]; 9286520 orig; available at http://mmsamee.weebly.com/uploads/1/5/0/7/15074704/9286520_orig.jpg (last accessed 7th October 2015)

Character Project: Influence Map

    For my project's influence map I looked mainly at style but also at games that I could use as the basis for my game. The inclusion of wraiths and smoke in the influence map were a development of the idea that cards could be gained by vanquishing bad spirits. In Chinese, the translation of "Ch'i" or "Qi" (the life-force as described in Buddhist teachings) is "breath" or "wind", so it might make sense that its negative "bad luck" counterpart is also related to air. Because bad energy is seen as pollutive, I got the idea of portraying it as black smoke, which in both Eastern and Western cultures is seen as unsightly and toxic.

    I am tempted towards colouring my Nian white, as this is a colour that in Chinese culture relates to death. While I have found images portraying Nian as green, I feel certain this is based off the copper statue that dominates my influence map. It seems inappropriate to colour Nian green as Chinese jade (generally a light green or dark green colour) is and was a highly-desired material in Chinese history, comparable to how gold, diamond or possibly marble has been treated in European aand African culture.

Character Design: Thumbnails and Art Style

    To help my thought processes I decided to do some thumbnailing. Along with these I looked at some art from the earlier eras of China's history to investigate the art-style. "Chinese Art" however covers over four thousand years of history so there was some challenge in narrowing down the art for the era appropriate to the setting. Which is both good and bad as there is no specific date as to when  the celebrations started.

    While making the thumbnails I had considered that maybe I don't have to stick to one particular era. Myths and legends are often told using oral tradition, which could mean that each retelling and portrayal could have been done in a style that reflected the era it was told.

    There's also the issue that the story involves firecrackers which I'm not sure the Chinese had back in 3000 BCE. They've known the recipe for a long time, certainly, but "4000 years before the recipe reached Europe" may be pushing believability a little. Then again this could be the product of oral hand-down as discussed in the paragraph above.