Kayle WIP

Here is a work in progress of a study that I did of Kayle from League of Legends.

This piece below is by Enijoi

After realising that I drew the wings entirely wrong from the start due to lack of concentration and self-analysis of my own work, I had to figure out how the wings should look. I experimented with editing the perspective, brightness and the size and angle of the left wing before finally deciding it would be best to just redraw parts of it and rotate some of the wings. I am much happier with the final image (directly above), however I still feel that the whole image could have been better if I had got the wings right in the first place. 

After trying to add a suitable background, I realised that this is one of my weaknesses. The character looked very detached from the background no matter what I tried. I need to improve this and learn how to draw an entirely cohesive piece that has an overall focus on the character, yet features a simple background to make it look like a complete image. I would love to perfect this piece, however I have already spent so much time on it and am at a place where I am adequately happy. I will hopefully come back to it at a later date to improve it. 

I used Stanley "Artgerm" Lau's artwork to inform the way I painted the fair and face. I tried to use his techniques to map out shading on the face and neck, and also to make the hair flow. I also used reference photographs from Google to aid in my understanding of the way the body looks and how shading would appear on the muscles and curves of the body. I think this has improved my technique, as the final result looks a lot better than earlier works in progress of this artwork. 

What Makes a Good Video Game Hero? (TechnoBuffalo article)

http://www.technobuffalo.com/2012/08/11/what-makes-a-great-video-game-hero/

Joey Davidson: 

"The best heroes are silent or brief with wit... Master Chief keeps his exposition exceptionally short and... you'll never see Solid Snake run on a four hour diatribe of conviction before taking on a Metal Gear."

Eric Frederiksen: 

"The most interesting [heroes]... end up making a lot of poor decisions along the line. Max Payne struggles with addiction and depression while trying to protect the people he's paid to watch." This is due to the narrative of the character, the actions they are written to carry out. Evidence of character narrative creating more interesting characters." 

"If things are too easy and straightforward, it's hard to believe what's going on. The hero simply becomes an archetype instead of a human being. If the hero is just an avatar for the player to interact with the world as in Skyrim, even saving the world can somehow be less moving than simply surviving." 

Ron Duwell:

 

"As the idea of an immersive video game experience takes off more and more, the presence of a characterless lead becomes more and more important. To totally inhabit a world, the main character of a video game must be our avatar to explore with, not dictate what we are to believe."

"Chrono Trigger, Suikoden II, and Alundra; all of these wonderful games work so well because their protagonists keep their mouths shut and let the plot take centerstage."

"Nowadays, RPG's offer so much customization to characters that giving them a personality is nearly impossible. Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Dragon's Dogma, Dark Souls, and Mass Effect all put the burden on gamers to fill in the gaps, an art that embodies what imagination is all about."

Literary research: An Examination of Violence and Gender Role Portrayals in Video Games: Implications for Gender Socialization and Aggressive Behavior

An Examination of Violence and Gender Role Portrayals in Video Games: Implications for Gender Socialization and Aggressive Behavior. By Tracy L. Dietz, 1998


"This project illustrate s that the portrayal of female characters in popular video game s is overwhelmingly stereotypical when they are presented at all. Furthermore, the females portrayed in these games, even when they occupy the role of a hero, are often depicted as subordinate to male characters or are presented in terms of their sexuality. It may be argue d that even though these female characters are depicted as primary characters, they represent negative role mode ls of women at the same time, teaching that the contributions of women are somehow subordinate to, or less important than, those of men." It gives "the idea that women are to be viewed as weak, as victims, and as sex objects."

This piece by Dietz also touches upon the portrayal of women as victims or damsels in distress, which reminded me of a video I found on YouTube:

https://youtu.be/X6p5AZp7r_Q

Costume Design by Deborah Nadoolman Landis

Jenny Beavan: "My process begins with breaking down the script on sheets of paper. Then I go through the script until I know it by heart and have lived and breathed each of the characters. The film I am designing now is contemporary with a crowd scene at the Savoy Hotel, so I hang around the Savoy and watch who goes in and out of the lobby. I am a people watcher. For Alexander (2004), I looked at vases in the British Museum; for Sherlock Holmes (2009), it was a mixture of old photographs and artists like Leslie Ward and Gustave Doré."

Leslie Ward (1851-1922) was a British portrait and caricaturist. Some of his work is below and you can see the influence that it has lent to Sherlock Holmes (1887):

  

As for French artist, illustrator, sculptor and printmaker, Gustave Doré (seen below), his "seamy, slimy side of London... etchings also seemed appropriate for [Sherlock Holmes]."

   

Beavan puts "together a notebook to remind [herself] of the different clothes that might be suitable for each character."She states "costumes should support the actor's performance. Costume design has far more to do with storytelling than to do with clothes."

Yvonne Blake: "if it's a period film, I may be inspired by paintings; for The Three Musketeers (1973) it was the paintings of Van Dyke and Rubens."

Self portrait of Van Dyke above, and of Rubens, below.

"Whether the film is contemporary or a period piece, as a designer I show the fashion of the time in which the film is set. Fashion is what people wear in any given time. The design reveals the social standing of the person I'm dressing; this is a statement of that time and in sociological terms. I think it's very important that costumes look like they're lived in, they mustn't look like they're fancy dress costumes."

Mark Bridges: "with a contemporary screenplay, I try to figure out who the characters are and what style of garments they would wear, where they would shop, how they feel about themselves. Their shoes, the way they wear their pants, will speak volumes to the audience." "If I'm designing a look that's 

Sketch inspired by The Fashion of Architecture by Bradley Quinn

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""Plot is overrated": game narrative is all about your characters"

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/213337/Plot_is_overrated_Game_narrative_is_all_about_your_characters.php

In an article on Gamasutra, written by Mike Rose, Tom Abernathy, the "narrative lead at Riot Games, and Richard Rouse III of Microsoft Game Studio, discuss structure for narrative in video games." They "not that in games, when we say that a game has a great story, we're usually talking about how great the characters are, rather than the plot itself." I am not sure I fully agree with this point, as I do appreciate games for the story, a good character on it's own may not grab my attention enough if the story is boring. When I think of my favourite games, Final Fantasy VII, IX,  and Metal Gear Solid, to name a few, I remember both the story as well as the characters. I suppose what made Final Fantasy VII a memorable game to me, and many others, was perhaps indeed due to the characters, especially Aeries, due to her death being very emotional. Additionally, the twist of Cloud's memories not being his own, was another memorable moment. I suppose you can't have a good story in games without the characters, as the characters further the story, thus the two are interlinked. Aeris on her own was not a particularly interesting character, neither was Cloud, however what happened to them or what was revealed about them made them interesting and memorable. This is seen in the newer Final Fantasy games, where the similar character archetypes are shown, for example Lighning being similar to Cloud, however, the characters and story are considerably lacking in comparison, which is why they are less successful in my opinion. However, when you look at other games, such as The Witcher, you see more of the character development, and you form more of a relationship with Geralt, and in some way that overshadows the plot. This shows the difference between a story-driven RPG and a exploration-driven RPG.

"People remember characters, and they care about them... Focus on character first, and align character motivations with player motivations."


Concerning character design, I came across this image highlighting the issue of copying other artists' work. The new League of Legends character, Kindred looks incredibly similar to Chiara Bautista's characters of the moon lady and the wolf. This has caused a bit of a stir for Bautista's fans, thinking that Riot stole the artistic ideas from her. However, the idea of black and white, yin and yang, wolf and lamb are not particularly original, nor new. This highlights the struggle of creating original work and avoiding copying other artists.

http://imgur.com/gallery/8hONl

Inspiration from Asian fashion

Since the majority of games that I play are from Japan (e.g KoF, Street Fighter, Dead or Alive, Metal Gear Solid, Final Fantasy etc), I thought I would look into Japanese street fashion, as it is also something that has always interested me due to how interesting some of the styles there are. 

I found these photos on http://tokyofashion.com/photos/ 

I chose these photos in particular due to certain elements in them which I liked, for example, the first photo reminded me of the League character, Yasuo: 

I liked the cape and hat, however the under clothes look quite casual. What reminded me of Yasuo was perhaps the blue of the cape, and how the cowl looks like Yasuo's. Additionally, the shamisen that he is playing reminded me of the flute that Yasuo plays, and the hat worn is connotative of a typical Asian, which is also the vibe given off from Yasuo as well.

I liked this photo below, as it is a very simple outfit, yet the designs and colours make it appear more extraordinary and eye catching. I also like the hair style coupled with the glasses, it makes it look effortless and casual, yet there's something extra there. I think this type of outfit would be perfect for a costume design for a fighting game. It is also something typical that a girl could wear, if it was her style. 

I liked this one because I liked the colours of the girl, the hair coupled with the dress, it's cute yet edgy, again something that could plausibly be in a fighting game. I also liked the hairstyle, it's girly and cute, but the girl looks a little tough.

I liked the floral eye patch in the following photos, I thought it was very cute and original, and interesting. I also love the dress in the second image,

 The floral eye patch reminded me of Zero from Drakengard

 I liked this one due to the cape and the boots, combined with the mask, I found it somewhat elusive. It also reminded me of Bucky from Captain America (directly below), due to the mask over the mouth and nose, and also Erron Black from Mortal Kombat, I guess due to the cape.

Below is Minori, who specialises in Shironuri makeup, which means "white painted face". Her art, and her makeup explores natural themes. Some of her makeup incorporates flower petals, and she had a series featuring the four seasons as a makeup look. On top of her amazingly artistic makeup, her fashion sense, and costumes, are very extravagant and over the top, so they match her makeup as well. I find her to be a very interesting person to take inspiration from. 

Below are two links about Minori and shironuri makeup.

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/meet-minori-shironuri-fashionista-making-waves-streets-tokyo-1450199

http://gloomthzine.com/2013/04/17/shironuri-makeup-tutorial/