Update

I realised I'm updating various tabs every week or so and haven't established a way of anyone knowing if anything has been updated, so I will put it on this post if I have updated a tab:

31/03/14 - Production - Digital Model W.I.P Screen-shots
06/03/14 - Production - Digital Model W.I.P Screen-shots and final rendered video
28/02/14 - Production - Digital Model W.I.P Screen-shots
28/02/14 - Concept Art - Updated photo reference
18/02/14 - Concept Art - Sketches and emotion sheet
18/02/14 - Production - Updated and final photos of the maquettes
06/02/14 - Production - Updated photos of full body maquette
05/02/14 - Production - Updated photos of full body maquette
04/02/14 - Production - Updated photos
04/02/14 - Research - Character Design Process
27/01/14 - Concept Art - Added digital work of shield and lance
26/01/14 - Concept Art - Added digital work of hair colours
               - Concept Art - Added digital work of armour colour schemes
               - Concept Art - Added Full Body Turn Around

Proposal

Here is my proposal for my project:

Proposal

Creating a winner

Overview

For my project I am going to explore the process of designing and creating a character and then modelling it in both clay and in a digital program. My focus will be primarily on the modelling in clay as it is an area where I want to develop my skills the most. I will be making a champion for the game League of Legends made by Riot games.

I will start by doing research into the game, League of Legends, looking at previous champions and deciding what role in the game my character should fulfil. Once I have decided that I shall go onto writing their background story (Lore) and then proceed to designing the character once all the background research has been completed. I will then draw up a character sheet and a posed picture.

Once the pre-production work is finished I will go on to make a maquette (clay model) of the character. I plan to do a T-pose (standard pose for a model which will be rigged), an action pose and a bust. I will then 3D scan in the T-pose and the bust (head and shoulders), leaving the action pose as a maquette. I will then clean up the scan and add detail. The t-pose will then be rigged (given a skeleton) ready for animating in a cinematic.

Rationale

I have chosen modelling as my area of research for this project as after doing a module on modelling during my second year, it was the module I enjoyed the most and understood well. I particularly enjoyed the process of making a maquette. I am also looking to maquette modelling as my future career, but as those jobs are scarce I am developing my skills in 3d modelling as a backup.

I have chosen League of Legends as my subject for this project as, aside from being a fan of the game, they released about a year ago a cinematic trailer to promote the game, and more recently released a promotional music video, fully animated to hype up and promote their latest character, jinx. It's with these cinematics in mind that I want to make a digital model that could then be used in a cinematic, instead of a model for the game.

Areas of investigation

I'm going to research the game League of legends, I will analyse how the game works, and therefore what the players expect from the champions. I will explore the world that Riot games created its locations, characters and lore. I will look into any themes that occur during the game that I could explore and expand on. With this information I will be able to create a character profile so that the character would be ready for in game use in terms of pre-production work and ready for use in trailers or publicity hype cinematic. I will be referring to Riot's recent cinematics and a book called 'Creating lifelike figures in polymer clay ' by Katherine Dewey (2008) also for reference. I will be referring to Katherine Dewey's (2008) book as I explore her techniques for maquette modelling and using it as an aid into looking into the different makes and types of clay and which would be best for my project. Her book will also aid my decision on which tools to use, there are many available to purchase and choosing which will be relevant will also need to be an area I research. I will need to research the pro's and con's of 3D scanning and modelling straight into a program, along with which program to use, 3D Coat or Z Brush. As I have experience in 3D Coat, I will not need to look into learning the program, however Z Brush is new to me yet has many plus sides for being the program I chose.

Background Research

I want my character to be an appealing concept to existing players, so thorough background research is required. Research I have undertaken so far is to look into the game, I have looked into the champions that currently exist and how they work within the game to get a clearer idea of how my character would work. I also looked at a map of the world Riot games created for League of Legends and at the champions within each area of the map. I chose an area called 'Demacia' as the characters from this area had a very clear theme. Using the available lore on League of Legends I have come up with my characters background story. I came up with lore that ties in with the general lore of the map but also unrelated to the stories of existing champions. I decided to come up with her spells, as they would be required in game and I want her as an idea to be as game ready as possible. The next step is to create mood boards to aid the designing process. As I know she will be wearing armour I am watching documentaries on medieval armour so that I understand how armour works and what is required as I want to create a believable character. Once this initial research is completed then I can go onto designing the character, the process of maquettes and digital modelling will then start. To prepare myself for that I have started looking into techniques for both clay and digital modelling along with which tools, materials and programs to use.

Literature review

The first reference I am going to explain is the League of Legends Cinematic: A Twist of Fate. This link also includes the video for behind the scenes of the cinematic. It explains how they animated the cinematic. This cinematic was the deciding factor for me as to what I should do for my personal project. Having not looked into games modelling I wanted to keep away from it if possible and focus on refining the skills I have already, which is more aimed at pre-rendered animations. The next link I will be referring to is League of Legends Music: Get Jinxed which was released 8^th October this year (2013) on the Riot games YouTube channel and League of Legends Air Client. With the release of this video it confirmed to me that they are in fact delving into the animation side of things now as it is great publicity for them and their audience, the players, love to see their beloved characters brought to life. With these references having helped confirm my choice of subject I then had to start thinking about background research. It is important for me to look into the backgrounds and game features of other characters so that my own character will fit in. For this research I will be looking on Riots main page with all their champions’ information. There are a few things mentioned on this site that aren't expanded on, and for those few bits of information, like a map of the world, I will be referring to their wiki page. I will not be relying on this information too heavily as I am aware that Wiki pages are set up by individuals, not necessarily someone working for Riot games. For the design stage of my project I have been reading The Art of the Incredibles by Mark Cotta Vaz, it shows all the designing phases they went through before getting to the maquette stage, which is also shown. Even though the film and therefore the book is now almost ten years old, the methods of working still apply and it will help me to get my work up to industry standard. For the maquettes I have found a wonderful book called 'Creating lifelike figures in polymer clay' by Katherine Dewey (2008). She has been working on maquettes for many years and put down her work flow into this book. It shows which tools are useful. She explains the different makes of clays and which are better for what purpose which will help aid my decision later on. I am currently still deciding on whether to use 3D Coat, or to learn a new program, Z Brush. To help with this decision and possibly to help with my work flow I have found a really in depth book on Z Brush called Z Brush Character Creation Advanced Digital Sculpting (2^nd Edition' by Scott Spencer 2011). This goes into great detail about all the functions of Z Brush. The tutorials are clear to follow and point extremely useful tips, so this book very much makes Z Brush an option for me.

Methodology

For my methodology I will start by researching the game. By researching the game I can come up with a convincing background to my character and create a character profile that if handed over to riot games would mean they would have everything but the stats, which they will more than likely have a system for creating. Having everything but a game ready model would mean they could create ciematics with my model and have another modeller create a lower poly model for the game. Once my background research is done I then intend to do research on armour. I want my character to be believable, I have already decided that she will be a lance user and therefore will need to be in armour, I want to make sure I understand how armour works and all the components involved with it before designing my own. As part of my research I will also be making mood boards of images I collect from the internet to help inspire me. These mood boards will consist of collections of images or armour, weapons and existing League of Legends champions. After this the drawing work will begin. I will start by doing some sketch work of armour, weapons and I like to draw a page of faces, as the shape of a face can vary and really help define the personality. Once the sketches are done I will then go onto draw pose sheets to help me focus more on her personality and character. Character sheets will follow, with a front, back and side view of the character, I would also like to do the same for the weapon so that any design patterns on it can be followed along the pipeline and be kept consistent. I like to put together a texture sheet where I look at possible ideas for textures, to make sure I have considered all my options and gone for the right texture in all areas of the design. I will then finish the design phase with a final piece of art. I will attempt to mimic the style used in game. For maquettes, I will follow the process of printing my design on A3 paper to the scale I want to make my model for the T-pose. I will do this so I can draw a skeleton over the top, which will make the base for my wire. My wire will then sit in a wood base and I will start to apply the clay. My face sketches will help me model the bust of my character. I have invested in a pre-made rig for the action pose. This rig has a wire skeleton exactly as I would make it attached a frame to help balance it, which is what makes it perfect for an action pose. The modelling will follow the same process as the T-pose . Once the maquette stage is finished I can move onto modelling. If in my early investigations into Z Brush I get on with the program well I will model straight into the program with my maquette for valuable reference. Otherwise I will scan in and clean up, before moving into Auto desk Maya to rig. For rigging I will need help from books and tutorials as it as an area I am not as confident in but want to improve my skills on. Once the models are ready I will then rig in Maya and produce a turntable with a little animation included to show off the model and the rig.

Research Ethics

The only thing I will need to take into consideration for ethics in my project is I will be asking people who play the game for feedback throughout the project to make sure that my product is appealing to the right audience. I shouldn't need much clearance for this as I will simply be sending them links to my work with a small questionnaire to fill out with room for personal comments.

Project Plan

My project plan, I intend to have my research completed around the 11^th November as I have my research well under-way already. I intend to have my maquettes finished by 6^th January so that I can have a decent length of time to work on the digital models and getting them to professional standard. This should give me until around the 17^th February to have the products completed and then ready to show League of Legends players and get their feedback. If there is any critical feedback I will then have a couple of weeks to adjust the work.

During this project I will be doing another project with a group. I am directing, drawing concepts, animating and compositing, therefore I need time to complete these tasks as well. While getting my own research done I can be completing any research I need to do for the group work. My pre-production work for my group work will last till Christmas, as there are 5 of us in the group it should allow plenty of time for me to work on my personal project which is why I have chosen to get my maquette work done during this time, as I will have more time for my personal work that term, where as after Christmas I will be more involved with the group work, needed to do bigger roles such as animating and compositing, so working on cleaning up models and looking into rigging will be saved till later in the year.

Project Deliverables

The products I intend to produce by the end of this project are 2 or 3 maquettes, 1 digital sculpture and 1 digital rigged model. One maquette will be in a T-pose, one will be in an action pose and the last will be a bust (head and shoulders) of the character I create. Along side this will be an Animation Bible showing all my pre-production work and research and I will be writing up a blog to keep a personal track on my work.

References

Dewey, K (2008) Creating lifelike Figures in polymer clay, New York, Potter Craft

Spencer, S (2011) Z Brush Character Creation Advanced Digital Sculpting, 2^nd Edition, Indiana, Wiley Publishing

Cotta Vaz, M (2004) The Art of the Incredibles, Vancouver, Raincoast Books

League of Legends Music: Get Jinxed Available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nlJuwO0GDs

League of Legends Cinematic: A Twist of Fate and behind the scenes Available at http://euw.leagueoflegends.com/en/news/community/community/league-legends-cinematic-twist-fate

Background information on existing champions Available at http://euw.leagueoflegends.com/

Map of league of legends Available at http://leagueoflegends.wikia.com/wiki/Runeterra

Episode on armour from 'The Weapons that Made Britain' series Available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqoh0okQ6Ho

 

My Project

On This blog I will update all my work (hopefully) as I get it done.

I'm going to be working on designing and modelling my own League of legends Champion, by Riot Games (you can play the game here --> Play Free Here )

I intend to get 2- 3 maquettes made, made from polymer clay, wire and a wooden base. I will then make digital models, either straight in z brush or 3D scanned and cleaned up.  I will then attempt to rig one model in a T-pose, wish me luck!