I think you've cracked the mood, menace and 'twisted fun house' vibe of your artist, so well done. I can't help feeling that it's a bit odd that your 'street lamps' should be so important in this scene, with everything else being pushed to the margins of your composition - all the actual buildings etc. It's not that I dislike this composition, I just feel that it's all about the lamps and not enough about the more interesting stuff. I also think the high POV is diffusing some of the menace; Bowery was a big, looming physical presence and I can help wondering if it wouldn't be more appropriate to feel a bit dwarfed by those strange buildings, as opposed to hovering above it like this? If you haven't done so already, I'd consider block-building your set and experimenting with camera placement in Maya, as I suspect this POV is born, not from a design choice, but from your inexperience in terms of perspectival drawing. In scale terms, your street lamps are HUGE, or rather your buildings are small. I think you need to reconsider this and consider why it is that you're making every element roughly the same size. If you look at real world cities, you'll quickly see how varied the scales are, with much bigger buildings clustering with smaller ones etc. Again, the big issue for me is the POV, in so much as we're not truly 'in' this city, experiencing it at scale, we're floating above it, looking down as if on a collection of chess-pieces. I love the mood, the colour palette etc, I just think you need a more dynamic POV.
In design terms, I just want you to think more logically about the fabrication of your buildings; right how, they're just blocks with pretend windows on them, with no sense of what they're made from, or how the windows adjoin, or from what that 'hair' on the sphere is actually fabricated. Go back to the real world now, Jen - look at actual windows, look at actual architectural surfaces, look at the materials from which those hair-like elements might actually be constructed. I think your designs for the buildings have got stuck at an early stage because you're just very relieved to have an idea that's working finally. There's a stage beyond this I'd like you to think about.
So, you're nearly there, Jen - I just think you need to push everything on a little more and not stop asking design-led questions about the stuff you're producing. You've got the mood and you've got the menace and you're a million miles away from where this project started, but put me down in this street and let me feel the city pressing in on me.
Short version: reconsider the POV for something more immersive. Look at the streetlamps, both in terms of their scale and their dominance of your digital set. Think more carefully about the actual design and fabrication of your buildings; they should be so much more than just block shapes with painted on windows and refer out to real world reference in terms of thinking about the materiality and fabrication of your buildings, so when it comes to modelling and texturing, you've got all the information you need.
Thank you Phil. I have discussed with Simon who has helped me to understand the required perspective in Maya.
You are right - I have been so relieved that finally I am beginning to produce work that is of a better standard. Such relief sometimes means that I focus more on the mechanics of painting and less on design, texture and materials. I hope I'm getting there!
Really appreciate your help and support. Thank you :)
OGR 24/11/2016
ReplyDeleteHey Jen,
I think you've cracked the mood, menace and 'twisted fun house' vibe of your artist, so well done. I can't help feeling that it's a bit odd that your 'street lamps' should be so important in this scene, with everything else being pushed to the margins of your composition - all the actual buildings etc. It's not that I dislike this composition, I just feel that it's all about the lamps and not enough about the more interesting stuff. I also think the high POV is diffusing some of the menace; Bowery was a big, looming physical presence and I can help wondering if it wouldn't be more appropriate to feel a bit dwarfed by those strange buildings, as opposed to hovering above it like this? If you haven't done so already, I'd consider block-building your set and experimenting with camera placement in Maya, as I suspect this POV is born, not from a design choice, but from your inexperience in terms of perspectival drawing. In scale terms, your street lamps are HUGE, or rather your buildings are small. I think you need to reconsider this and consider why it is that you're making every element roughly the same size. If you look at real world cities, you'll quickly see how varied the scales are, with much bigger buildings clustering with smaller ones etc. Again, the big issue for me is the POV, in so much as we're not truly 'in' this city, experiencing it at scale, we're floating above it, looking down as if on a collection of chess-pieces. I love the mood, the colour palette etc, I just think you need a more dynamic POV.
In design terms, I just want you to think more logically about the fabrication of your buildings; right how, they're just blocks with pretend windows on them, with no sense of what they're made from, or how the windows adjoin, or from what that 'hair' on the sphere is actually fabricated. Go back to the real world now, Jen - look at actual windows, look at actual architectural surfaces, look at the materials from which those hair-like elements might actually be constructed. I think your designs for the buildings have got stuck at an early stage because you're just very relieved to have an idea that's working finally. There's a stage beyond this I'd like you to think about.
So, you're nearly there, Jen - I just think you need to push everything on a little more and not stop asking design-led questions about the stuff you're producing. You've got the mood and you've got the menace and you're a million miles away from where this project started, but put me down in this street and let me feel the city pressing in on me.
Short version: reconsider the POV for something more immersive. Look at the streetlamps, both in terms of their scale and their dominance of your digital set. Think more carefully about the actual design and fabrication of your buildings; they should be so much more than just block shapes with painted on windows and refer out to real world reference in terms of thinking about the materiality and fabrication of your buildings, so when it comes to modelling and texturing, you've got all the information you need.
Thank you Phil. I have discussed with Simon who has helped me to understand the required perspective in Maya.
DeleteYou are right - I have been so relieved that finally I am beginning to produce work that is of a better standard. Such relief sometimes means that I focus more on the mechanics of painting and less on design, texture and materials. I hope I'm getting there!
Really appreciate your help and support. Thank you :)