I thought the best way to go about such a task, was to wright myself a false (yet realistic) E-mail and pretend that I was being set the task by an art director from a company that I was working for. Below is the mocked up E-mail and beneath that are the works that I was able to produce with the set time slot. (2 days and a morning) I was strict with the project and especially the times. I worked in between the working hours of 10am to 5pm (I picked up these times from my visit to Blizzard studio's)
Hi Lee, sorry I couldn’t see you today, but I’ll be over with the rest of the senior staff trying to finalize the agreement with Binary Step Publishing. Obviously, if things go well and I think they should, then we will be having a further meeting on Friday with a view to showcasing some of our existing game ideas.
Thats the reason for this late (my apologies) e-mail. Mike and myself think the idea we came up with last week about the 3rd person shooter/ animal warfare game, would really add another dimension to the other 3 game ideas that we will be pitching. I have e-mailed Simon and asked if he can provided a few rough backdrop/setting concepts and he’s been cleared to start a.s.a.p. i know your bizzy with Star Hammer, but, If at all possible could you quickly knock up a couple of reference characters to help strengthen and push the idea. I’m thinking two of the jungle warfare pigs that we spoke about and maybe a version of the Sentinel Power Pigs. Both myself and Mike think we definitely go for the cartoony/ realistic design approach with this.
I know it’s short notice mate, but I’m sure you’ll manage it. Like I said, keep it quick as at this stage we don’t need to much detail, but if you can get some attitude and feel into your designs that would be great. The meeting is at 1pm Friday, so you have about 2days in total. (need to be in colour also)
Thanks Lee, I’ll see you tomorrow
Regards
John Saddler
(Senior Art Director- Pixeltronic Games)
DAY 1:
Because of the time restraint I really felt the pressure on the first day (good practise for the future, I guess) I had really hoped to have the design's done by dinner time, but nerves and artist block kicked! However I ploughed on and got these 3 designed and drawn up by the end of the day. I really felt exhausted by 5pm.
DAY 2:
I went as fast I could and tried really hard to just focus on getting the basic's across on these paint up's. But, when your a natural detail junkie this becomes a really hard thing to do. You tend to want to overwork things, but when the clock is ticking you simply can't. I found this a really hard exercise to get my head around and know It's one of my flaws and something I need to work on. I guess with practise I will learn to not worry about the detail and focus more on the overall expression of the piece, but with this I did struggle. I think the characters have turned out great and given the time limit they do carry punch and character, without having to much detail. The one major problem I know had was it was the end of day 2 and I hadn't even started to paint up the other sketch.
DAY 3: ( FINAL IMAGES)
Ok, so I guess I failed. I didn't manage to get all 3 designs fully finished. But, with only having 2 images painted by the second day I made the decision (with the time left on day3) to focus on what was already done and not just start an image knowing I couldn't finish it properly.
Looking back, I now think that this was the right decision to take. I now think with the extra time spent on the top 2 images they have gone from being good images to now being really strong images. And I think there overall strength would then help mask over the fact that the other sketch, was still only a sketch. I think these 2 images are now at a stage were viewers could see these and clearly imagine the feel and look of the game idea without the 3rd sketch even being finished.
I can honestly say, I have never worked so hard or with such ferocity than I did with this brief. I really tried to make the whole project as realistic and professional as I could. There were times when I wanted to extend the deadline, but I knew this would take the project out of a real world situation and would thus make it pointless. I am definitely wiser as an artist for such a challenge and it has opened my eye's to having a less detailed approach with painting, I now know that practising in this way will be key for me to improve as a painter.
