Like with clothes, we also had to figure out how we were going to simulate hair in Maya. WE are working on a tight budget, so purchasing 3rd party simulation software wasn’t really an option for us. We found that because we were using a toon shader, nHair didn’t really offer us the ability to create matching hair for Oriana. To remedy this, Thomas created meshes and used nCloth on them to create a more toon like look using blobs rather than hairs. Above is a video of some early tests with this technique.
Tag: project oriana
Developing a Character, Part 5
Every cute little girl needs a cute little dress! So I went into this with a basic idea to keep our dress design simple and flowy. As a team we knew we liked ribbons, we knew we liked long, and we knew we liked trim. On the flip side, we knew we hated ruffles (NIGHTMARE TO ANIMATE!!), we knew we hated extra amounts of cuts in the clothing, and we knew we hated pants (a burden on society if you ask me).
My very first design was the simplest I could make the dress; everything it had in the design was minimal. From that point onward I was making new designs that added a little more complexity to the dress each iteration, and then waiting for Blake to slap my hand and rein in my more complex and crazy designs. As you can see, in the beginning of my designs, I was still clinging to the poncho idea I had from the very beginning. It can be hard sometimes to let go of a design you had once you fell in love with it. But the reality is that you need to learn to let go as a designer and concept artist. It does get easier the more often you do it though, so no worries!
As I progressed through the designs, I started relying heavily on high-low skirts and dresses. They were suggested by Abi and the team really liked the direction that it could take our character. That landmark was what got me moving faster in the designs because it threw me into a new direction I hadn’t gone before; ergo, more material to pull from. Don’t get caught up in a narrow area. And if it feels like you’ve exhausted everything you can do, talk to a buddy, or a mentor and pull some ideas from them, it does wonders for injecting a new line of creative thought into your mind.
By the end of my fashion exploration for Oriana, we had decided on *drum roll*………………… Eggplant costume Ori! Just kidding! We picked a dress that had a square base and a tied ribbon in the middle of her chest. We all felt it had the right balance of flow and simplicity to get us to where we needed to be.
Dat Derpy Dino Though 🙂
3D Line Test
While our ambition is to have a fully 2D game in the end, we are currently using a 3D character model for our main character. Kyle Murray and Thomas Edwards comprise our 3D team and have been hard at work doing render tests and preliminary modeling. Above is an example render style that we have settled on for the 3D elements. We will be using a toon shader.
We were inspired by the look of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, particularly the lines that were used in some of the concept art for the game. This look and aesthetic will be key to the art that is incorporated into the game,a s well as the movement of objects. As you can see from the above render test, the toon line is not consistent or straight but instead varies sporadically.
This is just a test model that we used to figure out what we want the 3D elements to look like. There will be plenty more tests to come!
Developing a Character, Part 4
Both Dan and I have done some outfit designs for Oriana! I’ve tried to keep my designs extremely simple with small variations. With the exception of the overalls (which I threw in because they’re adorable) I literally just copied, pasted, and then changed a feature. Some dresses just have a bit longer ruffle, or maybe I moved down the waistband or changed the size. There are a couple I wrote little notes next to, just to make sure I didn’t forget what I was thinking while working.
Since I kept them all basic with little variations and evolutions it didn’t take a long time to bang these out, so I also took the time to color them. Keeping all three views shown and colored made it easier (for me at least) to see what was working, what wasn’t, what had a nice silhouette, and what looked like a potato. I don’t think any of these made it into what Dan did for the final outfit explorations for Ori, but we did go with a more high-low type skirt which was totally my idea so I’m cool with it.
Turquoises and mints and other cool tones (cool tones as in temperature) give me life, it was great to run with it and color all the things these shades. Adding the warm orange next to the cool blues/greens forces both shades to pop more, really stand out. The orange is going to end up in the weapons as opposed to the outfits, they are going to look wonderful next to each other. It’ll really force them both to contrast and yet compliment each other.
I hope y’all are having a great day!
Hail Hydra.
Sketches and Doodles
In the beginning, as we were still exploring Oriana more, I did many sketches in pen. It really pushed me, as I tried to put Oriana into backgrounds, having her react to various situations and not just posing passively. I didn’t have a particular method that I used. I’m more the type of person to just try to capture my inspiration as I find it, which can be difficult and annoying when drawing with pen, but rewarding when it works out!
I really enjoyed this process. It was slightly relaxing and therapeutic in a way. I love Photoshop and drawing in it, but it’s so nice to just sit down with some paper and just draw things out.
Developing a Character, Part 3
After further discussion about Oriana’s main look, we decided that the poncho wouldn’t give her a very strong silhouette when we start posing and animating her. So we scrapped that completely and I started doing more exploration. I did a number of new silhouettes for her design and came up with four key character types that I loved. Each of them had their own very unique personality and charm. At the end of it all we decided to keep long and flowy hair, and we wanted a simple design on a sleeveless dress for her. But for the most part, this entire process was just me messing around and scribbling to find some charm in her character. I didn’t want to focus completely on the practical things like I have been. So I threw weapons and random objects on her to see what she might look and act like.
I also was playing around with color on her. I wanted to add accent colors to the nice greens and blues she already had on her clothes. So whether it be a scythe pulsing with life, a necklace gleaming in the sun, or a feather in her hair, I needed to put in a complementary color somewhere in every design. And I think it worked out well.
I will forever miss the fancy orb hair things on the scythe concept. That’s just one more thing you’ve got to come to terms with when going into character design… you can only have one design, you will fall in love with many, your manager will almost always have a different opinion than you. Don’t let it get you down.
Hope you liked them! Keep coming back to see Ori evolve even more!
Testing! Testing! Testing!
Here’s a line test Daniel did a while back, testing out different render styles for future concept posters. Aquatic animals are definitely the best way to test out the various options of render styles! This particular style was inspired by Mœbius, one of Blake’s favorite artists.
Fan Art!
One of our friends, Katy Seymour, doodled up a picture of Oriana a while ago when Daniel was working on our home page construction image. Our first piece of fan art! Huzzah! She’s a super talented artist so you should all go and check out her work at the links below!
Yes friends, it is us
We are hard at work at many things, the big thing being this game. One of our huge priorities is making sure to keep everyone out there updated as we can! This week should be a big week for getting things done and putting things up and sharing with the world!
Above is a piece of early concept art depicting our main character standing between her perception of reality and her own paradise.
Stay tuned as we get super productive!
Hello World
Hello there!
We are a group of friends working on making a game, which as of now is called Project Oriana. We’re still in the concept and and early stages of development, and it’s really exciting to start on this journey!
Right now, the group consists of Blake, Dan, Alex, Thomas, Kyle, and Abi. We’ll all be posting as we go, and showing what each of us has been working on.
Hope to have more to show you soon!
