Notes:
Speaker: Lucy Kyriakidou Position: Freelance 2D Artist/ Art Director Women In Games Admin STEM Ambassador
Studied Computer Animation BA and immediately went on to freelancing after university which was stated to be a hard route to go and general unadvised to pursue straight out of university with little to no connections.
Getting into games requires networking. Meeting new people is a good way to know your worth by comparing skill levels with your peers.
Making Freelancing Work:
· Set Goals
· Work Your Craft
· Network: Events/ Online
· Know Your Worth
· Make Your Own Luck
Art Director:
· Setting The Style
· Holding The Vision/ Big Picture
· Setting Brief & Giving Feedback
· Overall Project Management
2D Artist:
· Follows A Brief
· Create Multiple Drafts
Character Design Process:
1. Research
2. Thumbnails/ Rough Drafts
3. Sketches
4. Detail
5. Cleanup
Consider Visual Storytelling Elements In The Design:
· Surrounding/ World Environment
· Personality
· Routine/ Day To Day Life
· Past/ History/ Backstory
· Goals/ Aspirations/ Dreams
· Foreshadowing
Throughout your portfolio demonstrate your understanding of your research and the influences it had on your process and show reflections on your ideas and why or why not it is not right for the current project. Don’t forget to show your passion!
Generalist, people with multiple skills, are good for small companies that may need one person to fill out multiple roles.
Speaker: Noemi
Position: Concept Artist
Company: Playtra
Noemi worked as a book illustrator before moving into games. Games being another medium for storytelling.
Since characters are driving forces in stories, it is important to create them with personalities that is conveyed through their designs. Experimenting through clothing or fashion expression of the character can portray their personality. When making several designs, you will encounter designs you dislike- carry on. Rejection may hurt but it is a part of the design process.
Art block will happen. It is a sign you are burning out and that you need a break. You must make peace with it; it is a part of the creative package.
Comics can be a good alternative to cutscenes in games to tell a story and more efficient/ cost effective due to technical and time constraints.
Discussing your work helps generate better designs and ideas. Feasibility and logistical elements must also be considered when designing.
Never disrespect peers’ works. When giving feedback, always make suggestions on how to improve.
For a small company, you need to be able to multitask and self-promote the studio as it is hard to gain recognition in the public’s eyes.
The main con of an indie company is the lack of resources. You are always thinking about how can I contribute more to the team.
What can you do as students?
Do not be afraid to speak up for yourself. Create an open conversation and learn your limits.
Reflection Essay:
During these many professional talks I’ve came to better understand myself in the greater context within the game industry. As I aspire to work within a character design or concepting role, I’ll be primarily focusing on speakers that falls within such area of expertise.
Working In Industry:
Surprisingly, Lucy’s methodology or workflow when it comes to character design is very similar to the approach I take [LINK]. The research phase being the most important as Lucy had iterated and a sentiment I can echo through personal experience. Through my research phase I gather source materials, whether that be in the form of mood boards/ references or research such as texts, to shape my initial ideas and begin contemplating how do I portray the concept I have in mind. Perhaps where our approaches differ most greatly is the added detailed considerations of storytelling elements such as routine, environment and personality of the character to but name a few that I had taken note off as seen above. While I do attempt to consider such elements in my designs, I did not consider them with such clarity as was explained by Lucy. Routine or scenario being the least I have considered. I have primarily focused on portraying the ‘idea’ of a character, focusing on aspects such as ‘strength’ or what they symbolize. Whiles through my research I may include specific resources on culture which may reflect routine or activities of the character in the designs, I did not often intentionally consider this element enough. As a result of the insight provided by Lucy, I have been given more lenses that I may use to scrutinize my designs and other approaches to consider moving forward.
Another point that was brought up that was interesting to learn was the nuances between the position of Art Director and 2D Artist. Art Director being able to direct the creative vision of a project while 2D Artist are usually given a brief to work towards. A difference between working industry members and students is that currently, us students are frequently in a position in which we both direct and work on self-assign briefs. I suspect that in a few instance cases with smaller studios, certain individuals may also have dual roles in such areas. As an artist, I do have my own visions and work I wish to create. In that aspect, the Art Director position sounds very appealing. However, I also enjoy the practical aspect of a project. To me, to be able to conceive of a vision and by my own hand realize them brings me joy. As such, my preference would be for the 2D Artist/ Character Designer role within the game industry as with my disposition I enjoy the more on hands work. Although at current, if it was possible a flexible role between these two would be probably more ideal, but I suspect my opinions will change as I look and work within the industry.
With Noemi’s talk, she stresses the importance of a character’s personality and how it is conveyed through them. A major factor being clothing/ fashion expression of the character. Clothing is a factor of a character design that I am most keen on as well. It is something I explore here [LINK]. I have found through my work that the more clothing or fashion style one is aware of, the more tools or resources you have at your disposal when designing characters. As with each culture, the style and ‘rules’ on how to wear certain clothing can be a great guideline when working on ones’ designs. Here are some recent examples of mine
Other factors to consider is that you never design in isolations, not just in-terms of what the brief specifies, but your teams needs or technical limitations. An example Noemi gave was an animation limitation which meant a proposed action concept could not be made feasibly. Taking a step further, I went into Playtra’s Discord to see if there were any designs I could inquire about.
A useful bit of insight is the communication between different people in different roles as well as the logistical constraints. Relating back to what Noemi said about critiquing while not disrespecting others’ work, reviewing your work with your peers is an embedded practice within industry that I also experience throughout my time on this course. I as a student, don’t usually think of the cost of a project. The constraints we are commonly concern with is the time available and technical limitations. One way I have done to help overcome or minimize said limitations is to consult those with more experiences in the given area or try to simplify and break down the problem into smaller parts. As an artist, I attempt to extract the useful parts out of a source material such as shapes, texture, or specific details. This I have done with my CURIOSITY ROVER CHARACTER’s design with their gauntlets. Using the drill of the Rover, I extracted the elements that was most prominent and adapted them to fit a design of a knuckle weapon. Coming from a computer science background, the process of abstraction or simplification and modularization is an important skill to not only create a working product but to also isolate any issues that may arise within a given modular component of the software. This approach can be applied to character design. Given the physical design of a character, hair, face, clothing, and body shape or large prominent shapes can be consider their own separate module. Within these modules are the details or components. These modulated parts communicate together to portray a character.
Jamie Blacknell, our course technician, introduced me to silhouette concept drawing. The initial process he gave was:
Further resources he gave [INSERT LINK]. Silhouette concepting being a method that focus on blocked shapes and making memorable designs. This reminds me off when I asked Noemi if there were any shortcuts or tools, she used to speed up their work for example, using base templates, and the answer was no. She normally works from a blank canvas. Having been shown this method I applied it to my current project: [INSERT IMAGE]
I’ve learnt that this is an incredibly fast method of turning out multiple designs and offer an extraordinary level of creative freedom- far more then my previous methodology. This method alleviated some of my concern about my work efficiency, the reason why I had asked Noemi that question. Given that I’m still new to this method however, I struggled to incorporate specific elements that I have come across in my research which reflects in the vast variation between iteration. And yet I found this approach to be very refreshing and I hope to better incorporate this into my methodology as I become more accustomed to it.
On being creative with ones’ work, Lucy brought up a very important point of considering the diversity of your designs, for examples ethnicity/ skin tones, age, or body shapes. Beyond the social concerns of diversity and inclusions, I also believe that a diverse set of designs is a lot more interesting and is a great way to ground your characters in their world- given that the context allows for it. Practical use of this is to allow for different contrast distribution in a design. For example, if the character skin was to be darker, this may allow for the clothes to be brighter. Different body sizes have different silhouette shapes which can help create a set of more memorable characters. This allows for a greater degree of experimentation and to better create designs that suits the brief better. However, while it is important to consider such factors in our designs, I believe that we shouldn’t be constrained by them either or meet a certain ‘diversity quota’. Culture, history, and fashions style- we should freely be inspiring by them and to use our creative liberty to develop new concepts. For my more recent example: [Entry 4: Curiosity Rover]
Through my process I have identified clothing pieces from my visual library that suits the Orbital Reflector character design. While with the Curiosity Rover I allowed the source material and the terrain of Mars to influence and inspire my designs. I feel this is an organic way to design and allow for all possibilities to be considered without an arbitrary standard to limit the designs phase and the iterations of the designs.
Portfolio: Getting Notice
For Concept Artist or 2D Artist a portfolio is an essential tool for getting notice or hire, both Lucy and Noemi stress that your portfolio should include your journey and process of your work and be tailored to whatever studio or role you are applying for. To paraphrase ‘No design exists in a vacuum’ – Lucy. As designers, it is important to be able to demonstrate our process and how we work to reach a conclusion. Final, well polish pieces are a nice way to demonstrate your technical skills but only shows a surface level of your design skills/ idea generation process. This would include showing your research, your sketches or rough drafts and annotations to justify why you added certain elements. On my social media and Artstation I use to post just final pieces that are nicely rendered:
However, through these talks it has made me aware of the importance and necessity of including the process within my portfolio. learning this, I have begun taking this into practice:
I have found that this helps to increase the amount of work I can include in my portfolio but also serve as works I can use as promotions on my social media. Noemi stated that one of the cons of working in indie is the struggle to self-promote the studio or game. To be able to multiple tasks is an essential-Noemi. As such, I have tried to upload a more consistently and with more work in-progress:
As well as uploading speed paint video onto my social media platform, I have also included my work in progress. This has led to more engagement with my content on my Instagram. Whiles it isn’t strictly needed to be active on social media with lots of followers, it does allow for more people to see your work and potentially someone who is looking to hire. Also, by having a pre-existing audience it means one can promote new projects and gain a near instantaneous audience without needing to start from scratch. In the game industry where word of mouth passes around extremely quickly, this can act as free marketing to a targeted audience that may be interested in your project. For an indie company, which usually lack resources and funding when compared with AAA companies, this may make crowd funding and the initial launch of the game be more successful. Furthermore, a dedicated audience or community can be an invaluable and free source of feedback and game testing for a product designed for them. This interaction resembles those of which I have with my classmates.
I have my work display on a board behind me in studio which allows others working in the space to see and interact with it, giving feedback whenever and is easy to quickly talk about my work without needing to open my folder to find the original. This has been invaluable to me as I have often gotten some insightful feedback from my peers. For example, with the Orbital Reflector character I had asked Adam what his initial thoughts on it was. To which he mentions that the cloak looks like it could open and allow for the character to fly. That had not crossed my mind and encourage me to go down a different trajectory for further iteration, including the ability of flight or gliding into the design.
Furthermore, I am proud of my work and wish to share them with others. As Noemi said “Don’t be afraid to speak up yourself. Create an open conversation. Learn your limit.” Also did Lucy said, “Show your passion for your work”. It has been stated on multiple occasion by both Noemi and Lucy that during interview or meeting new people and working with others, passion for your work and project is essential. Without it will be hard to effectively communicate with your team. In this recent project, I have had many discussions and debates with my team members about the project and have voiced all concern I may have, and they do so as well. Through which we have solidified the game idea and mechanics of the game and the vision we have for it.
Through these talks, it has been made clear not only by Lucy and Noemi but others as well that has been invited in for talks, that technical skills with for example Photoshop or Unreal Engine may be a bonus-but it is not strictly needed as training can be provided. Furthermore, the principles or design or the skills of one tool may be transferable between different mediums or tools. For example, drawing on a piece of paper versus using a digital tablet, the underlining knowledge and principal of for example foreshortening or anatomy is transferable no matter the tool used. However, specific knowledge of how to use Photoshop is only usable within the software and is not transferable. Given the diversity of the game industry or the creative industry, from indie companies with open-source software to AAA studio with in-house tools and engines, the ‘industry’ standard will change over time. To consider as well, studio and project may require specialist tools that are better suited for the project. Upon this point, Lucy, Noemi, and many other Speakers were clear on. As such, I more easily engage with my research and prototype ideas in different ways such as paper or look at fashion expression knowing that the knowledge of these area is more useful and for longer than the knowledge of how to use a specific software. With this foresight into the inner working of industry, I was given a level of reassurance. Long have I fretted over my readiness and skill level- if I could work in industry. However, these talks have given me confident to value myself more and be confident in my decisions.
Besides from the benefit of being able to share your work with others via social media- it is also a way to see others’ works and engage with them. As Lucy said, “Meeting new people is a good way to get to know your worth as you compare your skill level”. As an artist, I enjoy the work that others produce and am inspired by them, for example recently:
This I asked simply out of curiosity as I enjoyed the clothing design and was given the source of the design inspiration. Coincidentally, after following and liking a few games related twitter accounts to connect with those working in industry, I per-chance to see this opportunity pop up:
This was the moment that I realized that not only should I post my work for others to see and just look at others work, but I should also engage with it and more importantly with the community as well- A different perspective can lead to outcomes I could never have imagined on my own.
Looking back on these talks, I have been reaffirmed on my previous approaches to my work as well as learnt new lenses to scrutinize them with and gain a better overall picture of the industry and where I may potentially fit in. Through these talks it has influence my perception of the industry and how I should approach my work as well as how do I best communicate this with others. To take pride in my work and be passionate in what I do and not worry as much as I did. To not only focus solely on my work but to also engage with others to learn new perspectives and potentially skills. That it is also important to participate within this community and industry.
With a bit more confident I can begin to see myself as someone who can find my footing within the creative industry and know that both the ups and the downs is a part of the journey.