2D Art - Term 8
In Term 8, we had to take our art to the next level and create art under a professional context. We had to design 3 concepts for weapons in a certain time period, switch one of the designs with a classmate and then create their weapon in 3D.
Assignment 1: Weapons x Big Medium Small
The time period I got, was Mongolian Empire. I had no idea what that was, so I did some research and made a moodboard, focussing on what weapons they mostly used in that time period.
I decided to make a small dagger, a bow & arrow and a big, dual wielding sword. I really wanted to make a spear as well, but I wasn't quite sure if that would fit in the medium or big category and I already liked the options I had for those.
For the big sword, I kept the traditional shape of the blade and grip and I really wanted to bring back that original type of detailed decorating. I noticed these 'Chinese dragons' were also small decorations on some swords, so I made that the main focus of the weapon.
For the bow, there were too many small details to draw on paper. So I just drew the traditional shape of the bows they used to have in that time period and came up with the details while making the digital sketches.
And then for the dagger, I wanted it to match the big sword and make it in the same style with the same theme obviously. In my moodboard you can see a lot of these curved blades, so I used that shape for the dagger's blade.
I drew the lineart for all 3 weapons. As you can see, I made a sword case for both the dagger and big sword, but also drew the blade of the weapons. I also came up with a somewhat simplistic design for the bow that is light but still matches the theme. While researching Mongolian Empire weapons, I saw that they used different types of arrows, so I drew 3 types.
For the colors, I picked out a faded gold and a dark grey from the moodboard, because I really liked how these colors looked together with the big stones. You can also see that the grip of the big sword is made out of some sort of gemstone, google said it was Jade.
I decided to give my bow concept art to my classmate, because that was probably the easiest one to make, since it has the least amount of details. I drew all the different angles of the bow so that the 3D artist knew how big all parts were from all sides.
Assignment 2: 2D x 3D x Teamwork
I switched my concept art with the concept art of another classmate and he gave me a drawing of a dual wielding sword in the Western theme. He drew the front and side of the sword and explained to me what all the materials were.
I imported the concept art into Blender to get accurate sizes and started modelling. I started with a cylinder and rectangle, and carved out the middle.
I subdivided the objects to make sure all the lines added up for the different materials, and then made them the right shape.
I then gave all the parts exactly the same color as in the concept sketch. I decided not to add the wood & leather textures, because I couldn't remember how to do that. If I have time left by the end of this term, I will look into it.
I did give the blade and the gold side a metallic shader so that whenever light shines onto those areas, you can see the reflection. And then I made a few renders.
Evaluation
The first assignment was pretty fun. I was kind of scared when I got my theme because I had no idea what it was or what it looked like, but I found out that the style is actually very pretty and I am very happy with my 3 concepts. The second assignment was alright, the modelling of the sword wasn't too difficult, it's just a little disappointing that the wood and leather textures are missing.
Working with a classmate went pretty well, his concept art was pretty simplistic and he explained to me beforehand what all the materials were. The only question I had to ask him, was what shape the golden sides were. During the process of modelling the sword, I showed him a few times how it was going and when I showed him the end result without textures, he said he was fine with that. He did not make my bow in 3D yet, I will add the end result of that whenever it's done.
Feedback
My teacher was very positive about this project. "Anouk, respect girl! Amazing job. Always high quality work and concepts and process."
