Target
Using the book by Raymond E. Feist, I will be creating a series of artwork to accompany the epic fantasy story. A brief synopsis of the book is that our main hero (Pug) struggles to grasp with his magical talents, he's taken under the city Magician's wing (Kulgan). He is told to escort the Princess Carline, they come under attack by a couple of trolls, Pug is thrown into a panic in which he taps into his magical ability and kills them both without using scrolls/books. Himself and his bestfriend (Tomas) are alerted of a presence on the beach, they discover a strange warrior in eastern armour. Father Tully extracts the warriors name and home location (The Tsurani). They travel to Elvandar, they find out there has been strange figures spotted roaming the forests of Crydee. The go through the Mac Mordain Cadal, a dwarven mine that goes under the Grey Towers mountain range. They're attacked, Tomas is separated, later we find him with an old golden dragon (Rhuagh). This is where Tomas gets his armour and the Hammer of Tholin. Pug is captured and taken to Kelewan where he's a slave. One day a passing magician sees his talents and takes him for the Assembly of Magicians. Tomas is living amongst the dwarves of the Grey Towers fighting off and attacking the Tsurani. Years pass, Tomas fits into his armour.
Pug (Milamber) creates his own house, revolutionizing art and culture. He made one such trip to the Shinzawai estate, where he intended to liberate Laurie, and Katala. To his surprise, he found Katala the mother to his son, named William. Laurie, while touched by Pug's offer, refused to leave the Shinzawai estate, hinting at some political maneuver that the Shinzawai are planning with Kasumi and Laurie.
Pug
Character
Pug grew as a kitchen boy in the small town of Crydee, and learned reading by head cook Megar and his wife Magya who treated him like their son. Tomas their actual son was his best friend.
During a stormy night, he was introduced to the magician Kulgan who by use of a magical crystal sphere, noticed a great potential in Pug. Soon after, on the day of Choosing, Kulgan picked him for his apprentice. However although Kulgan sensed his potential and ability of the theory of magic, Pug was troubled for not being able to perform spells."
Design
Determining the fabric and colours was fairly simple, during this time period the clothing would've been fairly basic for people of Pug's social standing. The clothing he has is designed to look like hand me downs, he would've been able to get any new clothing when he was younger. The clothes that might have been made for him would've been made deliberately too large so there would be room to grow into them eliminating the need for new clothes as he grew.
The second set of clothing he has would've been given to him by the prince after he rescued the princess. The colours would've reflected the kingdoms colours and his new social standing.
Feedback
My initial designs for this character had a couple of issues, the head didn't quite sit right on the body and the body/clothing was too 'flat'. This was due to me focusing on each individual piece of the character rather than producing it as a whole.
Finals
Milamber
Character
Backstory
"Pug was cleansed of his memory by the teachers of the Assembly and after four years of training became a magician. He learned he was a gifted follower of the Greater Path, a magic unheard of upon Midkemia; Kulgan was a Lesser Path magician, the reason of his inability to teach Pug. Upon attaining the black Robes of a Great One, Pug was given the name Milamber. His teacher, Shimone, watched as Milamber passed his final test, standing upon a thin spire at the height of a storm while the history of the Empire of Tsuranuanni was revealed to him. There he was steeped in the first duty of a Great One, attaining the Black Robes: to serve the Empire. Milamber met his first friend in the assembly; Hochopepa, a shrewd magician who instructed Milamber in the pitfalls of Tsurani politics.
Milamber, returned to the Shinzawai estate to claim Katala, and discovered he was a father of a son born during his absence. He also learned the Shinzawai were involved in a plot with the Emperor to force peace upon the Tsurani high council, which was dominated by the Warlord. Laurie was to guide Kasumi, who had by then mastered the language and customs of the Kingdom, to the King, bearing the Emperor’s offer of peace. Pug wished them well and took his wife and child to his new home in the hills around Ontoset, on the former property of the House Almach.
In a day, Milamber attended the Imperial Games, given by the Warlord to commemorate his glorious victory over Lord Borric. Milamber was shocked at the wanton cruelty, in particular the treatment of Midkemian prisoners. Enraged, he destroyed the arena in a show of astonishing magical power, shaming the Warlord and thereby throwing the politics of the Empire into shambles. Milamber then fled with Katala and William back through the rift to Midkemia."
Design
Designing Milamber's clothing was interesting, their clothing is very loose in comparison to ours, lot's of room for movement. As Milamber is a trained warrior, the loose yet fitted clothing would've been essential should he need to go into action. The black robes he was given by the order stick with the traditonal styling. His belt is worn like a medal, symbolising his rank within the community.
Feedback
The primary feedback for these pieces was that the characters look a little too 'flat'. This was easily fixed with the liquify tool.
Finals
Kulgan
Character
Backstory
Kulgan was a Lesser Path magician known for his part as advisor to Duke Borric during the Riftwar and tutor of the conDoin sires Arutha conDoin, Lyam conDoin and the magician Pug.
Kulgan sported a beard and an ever-present pipe. He was thought to be overweight, but with cat-like reflexes that definitely did not suit his looks, but often gave him an edge when fighting an enemy.
- Bio -
Kulgan lived with his pet Fantus and franklin Meecham in a stone cottage located in a clearing in a forest outside Crydee Castle.
Kulgan had visited the Ishapian library at their temple in Krondor and browsed the shelves at the Abbey of Sarth, which was ten times as large.
- Pre-Riftwar
-He had friendship with Althafain of Carse and with a magical orb he gave him, Kulgan discovered young Pug during a storm.
He was friends with an Ishapian abbot, who once gave him a book. Bound in red leather, the book was a translation of aKeshian text that described the history of the land formerly known as Bosania. This book was used to test Pug's reading ability the night Kulgan first met him.
Kulgan picked Pug for apprentice at his day of Choosing and started to train him as a magician in his tower in the Castle, however something stopped him from assessing his full potential.
Great Ones from the Assembly pull Kulgan through a Rift.
Kulgan was handed Fanatha's letter found in the shipwreck by Pug but, during his attempt to translate it, he activated a spell which opened a temporary rift in his tower. The hands of Fanatha's colleagues in the Assembly then attempted to pull him through the portal while unconscious. Pug then dicovered the unconscious Kulgan and threw a spear into that void, in an attempt to save Kulgan, and they closed the rift.
Kulgan aided Duke Borric on his travels to warn nobles of the coming Tsurani invasion. With him he had an amulet for weather control in case they needed to sail. He made use of it in the Green Heart to hide from the Moredhel.
During a stop on the Sorcerer's Isle, he met Macros the Black.
- Riftwar
-When the Riftwar begun, he aided the Duke at his camp in Yabon. Whilst battling Tsurani at the rift, Kulgan was knocked from his horse. He was attacked by a Great One, but was saved by Pug whilst the two magicians fought. This however, led to the capture of Pug as a slave.
He remained in Duke Borric's camp for the rest of the Riftwar. When Borric died of a head wound, he continued to aidLyam. When it was revealed Pug was granted the property of Stardock (Later turned to a Duchy by Lyam), Kulgan decided to join Pug. It was intended to be turned into a safe haven and academy for magicians.
Feedback
I took my feedback from the last two character pieces and applied what I'd learnt to this final one, I designed the character as one piece and focused on the overall perspective rather than each individual component being perfectly formed.
Final
Design
Kulgan lives a very modest life and doesn't have many material possessions, hence his choice of clothing. He requires functionality over all else. As well as something that can be easily washed.
Rhuagh
When designing Rhuagh I had to take into account that dragons aren't a real creature, they belong in legends. However looking at creatures that do exist or have existed in the past you can design one to be anatomically correct as well as make it look like it would if it were to exist given it's environment. To begin with I studied the skulls of creatures that bare a resemblance to a dragon. Large carnivores such as big cats have a good skull to study, their's is one that's evolved for it's lifestyle; eating meat. Dinosaurs such as the Tyrannosaurus-Rex and velociraptors have skulls that's evolved for killing. A modern example that fits the criteria is the lizard. Looking at how their heads have formed gives a good idea as to how their bigger, non-existent cousin would look.
Although I tried to steer away from being influenced by dragons as they're something that doesn't exist I did look at Smaug from the original Hobbit tales. This dragon had a similar feeling to what I wanted to convey. An older, wise dragon that's already seen a lot of the world and has created a reputation for himself.
Backstory
"When dragons were driven to the south by humans and dwarves, Rhuagh decided to remain there, and settled in an ancient abandoned palace, connected to Mac Mordain Cadal
By magic he turned away those who sought treasure and killed those who foiled his clouding of their minds, until Macros the Black found him and learn his magic so that it could not be lost. Afraid that he came for his riches, Rhuagh battled for days but was unable to defeat him; Rhuagh then taught him as much as he could for three years and became his first human friend; Macros also taught Rhuagh about healing the wounds of the heart and mind, and how to respect all life.
Ruagh then sickened of the killing and vowed to take no more lives. Before leaving, Macros left a last gift for him, a magic rod to be used upon the dragon's death, so that no bones should be left for the scavengers.
After years he became blind and could see only by magic. He was discovered by kobolds who because of their religious nature, they worshipped the dragon as a god bringing him fish caught in the deep lake and treasure gleaned from deeper halls."
Feedback
The feedback I got for the two pieces was very helpful, for the first piece I simply needed to shift the angle of the head which was easily done. For the second piece there was some lighting issues, I expected this as it's the first piece I've tried with this style of under lighting.
Finals
While Rhuagh is described to be a slightly older dragon I still wanted to show that he's a mighty and powerful being who guards his treasure with ferocity.
Crydee
When designing the city of Crydee the main goal was to make it look like it's something that's cold and sheltered away. Getting a traditional medieval city feeling was key so the area around it had to match. For the colour palette I went with cold, sharp colours.
Backstory
It is perhaps best known as the birth place of Duke Borric conDoin, his childrenLyam, Arutha and Carline who were key players in the Riftwar, and also the childhood home of Tomas and Pug.
It is a rough outpost city on the western edge of the Kingdom, located at the mouth of the River Crydee on the shore of the Endless Sea known as the Far Coast.
Its vassal provinces includes the Barony of Carse and Tulan."
- History
-Pre-Riftwar
"The lands were once controlled by the Empire of Great Kesh. Combined with the Free Cities, the land was known as Bosania. Nicholas conDoin, the grandfather of Borric conDoin, conquered parts of Bosania to extend the Western Realm in the name of the Kingdom. In its early years as a Keshian fort, it was captured to become a Kingdom stronghold and a vital point of defense."
Riftwar
The Castle Crydee
"After the discovery of the Tsurani invasion force, Duke Borric went to Krondoralong with Arutha, Kulgan and Pug, leaving Lyam, with Father Tully, SwordmasterFannon and Horsemaster Algon as his advisers.
"During the Riftwar, Lyam joined Duke Borric in Yabon as his aide-de-camp. Arutha expected that command of the keep will be passed to him, but instead it was Fannon that is named garrison commander. They were then besieged by the Tsurani, the start of the Siege of Crydee. Fannon was injured and Arutha took charge defending the keep from the Tsurani. For twelve days they held the castle, even after the Tsurani's attempt to tunnel the walls. The Tsurani only raised the siege after some political upheaval back in their world of Kelewan when the Blue Wheel Party withdrew from the War Party."
Destruction
"During the sacking of the Far Coast, Crydee was attacked, along with Tulan and Carse, by mercenaries, slavers and pirates acting for the Pantathian serpent priests. The castle was badly damaged by fire and most of its population killed or kidnapped including the local garrison."
Location
"Commerce: Cities near water allow for water transportation, which is generally faster than land transportation. This is especially true in older times (before the invention of trains, for instance). Cities with access to water trading routes could deliver great amounts of goods for trade with other coastal cities, which ment more money and trade goods for both settlements, and allowed for cultural mixing. Landlocked cities, on the other hand, were limited to land trade routes only, which tended to be slower and in some cases more costly."
"Sustainability: Rivers, lakes and the sea provide food and other resources, which help the population of coastal cities to grow and expand faster than landlocked settlements. All cities require food, ant the more the better. While inland cities could only rely on agriculture, foraging and hunting, coastal cities ALSO had access to the flora and fauna that lived on the water bodies next to them. Plus, fresh, drinkable water is necessary for people to thrive, and building a city next to a fresh water source was a huge advantage over settlements built in other places, where they had to look for water sources, or build aqueducts to bring water to them, such as the city of Jerusalem. Moreover, water was also used as waste disposal, which allowed cities to remain "cleaner" that their inland counterparts, as the garbage and stools (sorry, I found no better word) of the people were washed away."
Finals
The Rift
Theory
"A black hole is a region of spacetime exhibiting such strong gravitational effects that nothing—including particles and electromagnetic radiation such as light—can escape from inside it. The theory of general relativity predicts that a sufficiently compact mass can deform spacetime to form a black hole."
With the rift I'm in a similar situation I was in with the dragon. As rifts aren't real or at least have never been photographed I had to use my imagination to a certain degree. A subject that i looked into for this was black holes.
This is, to date, the most accurate artists representation of a black hole we have. During the third year at university we had a lecture from the VFX artist for Interstellar. He talked about how a lot of math went into this black hole and how it looks. It's an incredibly complex subject.
Galaxies
"An interstellar cloud is the generic name given to an accumulation of gas, plasma, and dust in our and other galaxies. Put differently, an interstellar cloud is a denser-than-average region of the interstellar medium."
"After the discovery of the Tsurani invasion force, Duke Borric went to Krondoralong with Arutha, Kulgan and Pug, leaving Lyam, with Father Tully, SwordmasterFannon and Horsemaster Algon as his advisers.
"During the Riftwar, Lyam joined Duke Borric in Yabon as his aide-de-camp. Arutha expected that command of the keep will be passed to him, but instead it was Fannon that is named garrison commander. They were then besieged by the Tsurani, the start of the Siege of Crydee. Fannon was injured and Arutha took charge defending the keep from the Tsurani. For twelve days they held the castle, even after the Tsurani's attempt to tunnel the walls. The Tsurani only raised the siege after some political upheaval back in their world of Kelewan when the Blue Wheel Party withdrew from the War Party."
Destruction
"During the sacking of the Far Coast, Crydee was attacked, along with Tulan and Carse, by mercenaries, slavers and pirates acting for the Pantathian serpent priests. The castle was badly damaged by fire and most of its population killed or kidnapped including the local garrison."
Location
"Commerce: Cities near water allow for water transportation, which is generally faster than land transportation. This is especially true in older times (before the invention of trains, for instance). Cities with access to water trading routes could deliver great amounts of goods for trade with other coastal cities, which ment more money and trade goods for both settlements, and allowed for cultural mixing. Landlocked cities, on the other hand, were limited to land trade routes only, which tended to be slower and in some cases more costly."
"Sustainability: Rivers, lakes and the sea provide food and other resources, which help the population of coastal cities to grow and expand faster than landlocked settlements. All cities require food, ant the more the better. While inland cities could only rely on agriculture, foraging and hunting, coastal cities ALSO had access to the flora and fauna that lived on the water bodies next to them. Plus, fresh, drinkable water is necessary for people to thrive, and building a city next to a fresh water source was a huge advantage over settlements built in other places, where they had to look for water sources, or build aqueducts to bring water to them, such as the city of Jerusalem. Moreover, water was also used as waste disposal, which allowed cities to remain "cleaner" that their inland counterparts, as the garbage and stools (sorry, I found no better word) of the people were washed away."
"There are very important reasons why people throughout history have chosen to live where they do. If we look at maps of different places in the world, we will notice that most large communities and cities are located on, or near the water. Let's look some maps of two countries where there were early civilizations, and see if this is true."
"The map above is a map of China. As you can see, most of the cities are along rivers, or near the coast of the ocean. On the map of Egypt below, you will notice the same thing. We will learn the reasons for this, as we discover where people settle and live, and why."
"Around 5000 years ago, the first civilizations began to pop up along the southwest part of the continent of Asia. Today, this is an area we call the Middle East. Towns began to develop along river valleys, where water was available. There were some important reasons for this."
"The land along the rivers is fertile. If there is fertile land, then crops can be grown. Animals can also be raised if there is enough food and water for them. People learned that they could stay in one place and grow enough food to feed their community, if they were near a water supply."
"As time went on, waterways began to serve more purposes. Rivers, lakes, and seas began to be used for transportation. People built boats, and started exploring the area around them. "
"As people began to travel around, different societies came into contact with each other. Different groups of people could now share ideas with each other. People began to trade food, clothing, and other things. Many major waterways were becoming trade routes that people would travel to buy and sell goods."
"People began to build their homes where they could be close to food and supplies. Larger towns and cities began to spring up along trade routes. Let's stop for a minute, and think about the locations of some of the major cities, here in the United States. These cities have one thing in common. They are all near water. We will also learn why these locations were important to the growth and development of America."
"Many of the oldest and largest cities in America are located along the Atlantic Ocean, or on harbors that join the ocean. For example, New York, Boston and Baltimore all have harbors. When the United States was being settled, these locations were very important trade centers. These cities have large ports where ships can load and unload their goods. From these ports, goods can then move to other locations by land or river. Trade and shipping are very important to the development of towns and cities. Shipping creates jobs, and communities develop around these locations."
Design
The town of Crydee is a traditional medieval village. As well as the city itself, or a section of the city, you'll get a feel for where in the world it is. Researching into why cities are built where they are and why is fascinating. A city is traditionally built near to water as this is the source for all life. Most cities also grow organically, only the centers would be planned and the rest would form as the demand for new settlement grew. Crydee is also described as having boats, being near to the ocean would be a large advantage for food and other resources. Medieval cities would've also been self sufficient, having their own farming land for crops and cattle. This would then begin trading, exchanging goods would've been the primary flow of money/wealth. As trading was prominent , stalls where people would set up would've been much more popular than today as 'chain' stores wouldn't have existed as living in a city then would've been a solitary experience. It'd be rare to come into contact with another settlement/city. Crydee will have natural defenses, being a large city it needs to protect itself, being near mountains would've protected it from attacks from that direction.
Iterations
I tried out a couple of other compositions for this piece but they weren't working as well as I'd hoped. The first had too much of a foreboding sense to it and the second didn't show off the majesty of the city.
"The map above is a map of China. As you can see, most of the cities are along rivers, or near the coast of the ocean. On the map of Egypt below, you will notice the same thing. We will learn the reasons for this, as we discover where people settle and live, and why."
"Around 5000 years ago, the first civilizations began to pop up along the southwest part of the continent of Asia. Today, this is an area we call the Middle East. Towns began to develop along river valleys, where water was available. There were some important reasons for this."
"The land along the rivers is fertile. If there is fertile land, then crops can be grown. Animals can also be raised if there is enough food and water for them. People learned that they could stay in one place and grow enough food to feed their community, if they were near a water supply."
"As time went on, waterways began to serve more purposes. Rivers, lakes, and seas began to be used for transportation. People built boats, and started exploring the area around them. "
"As people began to travel around, different societies came into contact with each other. Different groups of people could now share ideas with each other. People began to trade food, clothing, and other things. Many major waterways were becoming trade routes that people would travel to buy and sell goods."
"People began to build their homes where they could be close to food and supplies. Larger towns and cities began to spring up along trade routes. Let's stop for a minute, and think about the locations of some of the major cities, here in the United States. These cities have one thing in common. They are all near water. We will also learn why these locations were important to the growth and development of America."
"Many of the oldest and largest cities in America are located along the Atlantic Ocean, or on harbors that join the ocean. For example, New York, Boston and Baltimore all have harbors. When the United States was being settled, these locations were very important trade centers. These cities have large ports where ships can load and unload their goods. From these ports, goods can then move to other locations by land or river. Trade and shipping are very important to the development of towns and cities. Shipping creates jobs, and communities develop around these locations."
Design
The town of Crydee is a traditional medieval village. As well as the city itself, or a section of the city, you'll get a feel for where in the world it is. Researching into why cities are built where they are and why is fascinating. A city is traditionally built near to water as this is the source for all life. Most cities also grow organically, only the centers would be planned and the rest would form as the demand for new settlement grew. Crydee is also described as having boats, being near to the ocean would be a large advantage for food and other resources. Medieval cities would've also been self sufficient, having their own farming land for crops and cattle. This would then begin trading, exchanging goods would've been the primary flow of money/wealth. As trading was prominent , stalls where people would set up would've been much more popular than today as 'chain' stores wouldn't have existed as living in a city then would've been a solitary experience. It'd be rare to come into contact with another settlement/city. Crydee will have natural defenses, being a large city it needs to protect itself, being near mountains would've protected it from attacks from that direction.
Iterations
I tried out a couple of other compositions for this piece but they weren't working as well as I'd hoped. The first had too much of a foreboding sense to it and the second didn't show off the majesty of the city.
Feedback
The primary feedback for these pieces was the snow, it looked a little dull in the shadows, upon further research into what snow actually looks like in the shadows under various lighting there is hints of purple in it. Applying this practice made it pop out more. The second point was just upping the contrast, because of the time of day the sun would make lighting things up a lot more than in this picture.
Finals
The city of Crydee is made to be a robust and stable place, a key point in the kingdom. Being near water and a forest allows the city to generate it's own resources and be self sufficient.
The Rift
Theory
"A black hole is a region of spacetime exhibiting such strong gravitational effects that nothing—including particles and electromagnetic radiation such as light—can escape from inside it. The theory of general relativity predicts that a sufficiently compact mass can deform spacetime to form a black hole."
With the rift I'm in a similar situation I was in with the dragon. As rifts aren't real or at least have never been photographed I had to use my imagination to a certain degree. A subject that i looked into for this was black holes.
This is, to date, the most accurate artists representation of a black hole we have. During the third year at university we had a lecture from the VFX artist for Interstellar. He talked about how a lot of math went into this black hole and how it looks. It's an incredibly complex subject.
Galaxies
"An interstellar cloud is the generic name given to an accumulation of gas, plasma, and dust in our and other galaxies. Put differently, an interstellar cloud is a denser-than-average region of the interstellar medium."
To give the rift it's 'other-worldy' feel I included some interstellar clouds coming out of the rift, as well as clouds forming in the sky above the portal.
Rock formations
"In geology, a fault is a planar fracture or discontinuity in a volume of rock, across which there has been significant displacement as a result of rock mass movement. Large faults within the Earth's crust result from the action of plate tectonic forces, with the largest forming the boundaries between the plates, such as subduction zones or transform faults. Energy release associated with rapid movement on active faults is the cause of most earthquakes.
A fault plane is the plane that represents the fracture surface of a fault. A fault trace or fault line is the intersection of a fault plane with the ground surface. A fault trace is also the line commonly plotted on geologic maps to represent a fault."
Final
Here we see the portal distorting the world around it but not too severely. The idea would be that it's pulsating and bending the world around it as well as sucking elements in such as the water and atoms from the rocks around it. I thought including the boat would be effective on two levels, firstly establishing a sense of scale and secondly showing how fragile the man made world can be and how much we're at natures mercy.
Milambers Home
Architecture
"Japanese architecture (日本建築 Nihon kenchiku?) has traditionally been typified by wooden structures, elevated slightly off the ground, with tiled or thatched roofs. Sliding doors (fusuma) were used in place of walls, allowing the internal configuration of a space to be customized for different occasions."
The house is an architectural marvel. When Milamber set out to create his house he was going to be using methods he remembered from his past of living in Crydee, as well as methods he has learnt living in the land of the Tsurani.
I chose a traditional thatched roof, something that's not apparent in Japanese culture. The house itself has two levels, the ground floor walls are made from clay lump, a heavily traditional building material of medieval structures, The first floors walls are made from wood, these walls use the wood from the surrounding trees. The clay and flint to make the ground floor walls was harvested from the valley below as it's a marshland.
Setting
I wanted to set it somewhere that look serene and peaceful, away from everything else, hidden in the mountains. I played with several compositions for this piece, whichever setting I went for I wanted it to be on a mountain, somewhere high up and cold, to re-enforce the feeling of solitude.
Rock formations
"In geology, a fault is a planar fracture or discontinuity in a volume of rock, across which there has been significant displacement as a result of rock mass movement. Large faults within the Earth's crust result from the action of plate tectonic forces, with the largest forming the boundaries between the plates, such as subduction zones or transform faults. Energy release associated with rapid movement on active faults is the cause of most earthquakes.
A fault plane is the plane that represents the fracture surface of a fault. A fault trace or fault line is the intersection of a fault plane with the ground surface. A fault trace is also the line commonly plotted on geologic maps to represent a fault."
As the portal has pulled rock up from the earth I wanted to find a process in nature where this can actually happen, this led me to geological faults. The portal has forced the rocks to crack and come up in an unnatural way, I've, once again, come across the issue of a rift forming not being an event that humans have witnessed.
Feedback & Iterations
Feedback & Iterations
When I set out to design the rift I had a fairly clear vision of what I wanted. In the story it's described to be on a coast line. The design at the top of the above page was my initial design, it had all of the qualities I wanted, except it's interaction with the world around it. With some feedback I generated the two images below that initial top design, these really helped to communicate what this portal was doing to the world around it. However I felt these were a little too severe and in the story Pug goes into the rift. If the rift looked like either of those I don't think he would've investigated it as it would've been too intimidating.
Final
Here we see the portal distorting the world around it but not too severely. The idea would be that it's pulsating and bending the world around it as well as sucking elements in such as the water and atoms from the rocks around it. I thought including the boat would be effective on two levels, firstly establishing a sense of scale and secondly showing how fragile the man made world can be and how much we're at natures mercy.
Milambers Home
Architecture
"Japanese architecture (日本建築 Nihon kenchiku?) has traditionally been typified by wooden structures, elevated slightly off the ground, with tiled or thatched roofs. Sliding doors (fusuma) were used in place of walls, allowing the internal configuration of a space to be customized for different occasions."
The house is an architectural marvel. When Milamber set out to create his house he was going to be using methods he remembered from his past of living in Crydee, as well as methods he has learnt living in the land of the Tsurani.
I chose a traditional thatched roof, something that's not apparent in Japanese culture. The house itself has two levels, the ground floor walls are made from clay lump, a heavily traditional building material of medieval structures, The first floors walls are made from wood, these walls use the wood from the surrounding trees. The clay and flint to make the ground floor walls was harvested from the valley below as it's a marshland.
Setting
I wanted to set it somewhere that look serene and peaceful, away from everything else, hidden in the mountains. I played with several compositions for this piece, whichever setting I went for I wanted it to be on a mountain, somewhere high up and cold, to re-enforce the feeling of solitude.
Iterations
Feedback
The main feedback received on this piece was the composition, the focal point is unclear, the subject matter is smaller than the detailed foreground which makes it slightly confusing as your eyes are drawn to two places.
I ended up creating two finalised compositions. The first of the two went through several stages, I struggled to get the grass looking right. The main issue was stopping it from looking like a texture-less green patch. To fix this I used a grass brush to add some depth around the edges.
Finals
Evaluation
This project has really helped me progress, having the time to fully develop a project in a large time frame has allowed me to learn new techniques as well as put my own knowledge into practice.
Elements of this project involved creating things to seem life like although they do not exist, such as Rhuagh and the rift. Visualising these things was fun, it involved looking up elements of the subject and linking them in.
For everything else there were external sources that aided their creation such as the city and Milamber's home. One of the most important things for this project was the mood and feeling of some of the pieces, primarily the landscapes. I really wanted to visualise the world Raymond E Feist explains accurately.
I created a small artbook when I was in college and being able to do it again was exactly what I wanted to do, artbooks for video games have always been one of my favourite forms of media.
There a few things I would've changed about this project, I would've liked to have done more artwork for the book. The amount I've done doesn't really do the story justice, it's a fantastic book with so many rich descriptions of environments and various characters. I also would've liked to have done more sketches, unfortunately most things had already been pre-determined by BA3a so there wasn't a huge amount of flexibility.
Incorporating some 3D aspects would've been nice too, if I could add anything in it would be that, I really enjoyed BA4 designing the GDD for the game, combining 3D and 2D elements works well. With the environments I could've mapped them out in 3D first and then painted over them to get the correct depth of field view.
Overall I'm very happy and proud of my work this year, there are additional things I could've done but I'm happy with what I have gotten done.
Feedback
The main feedback received on this piece was the composition, the focal point is unclear, the subject matter is smaller than the detailed foreground which makes it slightly confusing as your eyes are drawn to two places.
I ended up creating two finalised compositions. The first of the two went through several stages, I struggled to get the grass looking right. The main issue was stopping it from looking like a texture-less green patch. To fix this I used a grass brush to add some depth around the edges.
Finals
Within these pieces I wanted to convey a sense of serenity and peace. It's a very still environment with not a whole lot going on but it's still a totally breathtaking environment.
Evaluation
This project has really helped me progress, having the time to fully develop a project in a large time frame has allowed me to learn new techniques as well as put my own knowledge into practice.
Elements of this project involved creating things to seem life like although they do not exist, such as Rhuagh and the rift. Visualising these things was fun, it involved looking up elements of the subject and linking them in.
For everything else there were external sources that aided their creation such as the city and Milamber's home. One of the most important things for this project was the mood and feeling of some of the pieces, primarily the landscapes. I really wanted to visualise the world Raymond E Feist explains accurately.
I created a small artbook when I was in college and being able to do it again was exactly what I wanted to do, artbooks for video games have always been one of my favourite forms of media.
There a few things I would've changed about this project, I would've liked to have done more artwork for the book. The amount I've done doesn't really do the story justice, it's a fantastic book with so many rich descriptions of environments and various characters. I also would've liked to have done more sketches, unfortunately most things had already been pre-determined by BA3a so there wasn't a huge amount of flexibility.
Incorporating some 3D aspects would've been nice too, if I could add anything in it would be that, I really enjoyed BA4 designing the GDD for the game, combining 3D and 2D elements works well. With the environments I could've mapped them out in 3D first and then painted over them to get the correct depth of field view.
Overall I'm very happy and proud of my work this year, there are additional things I could've done but I'm happy with what I have gotten done.
