More to follow.
maandag 23 februari 2015
First try!
More to follow.
Inspiring use of 2D paintings to tell a story
It seems that a 2D painting is just a 2D painting. We can trick people by making it look like a 3D image by using depth, perspective, athmosphere and light. But it's still a flag image in the end.
3D animators can make the most amazing shots with their software but can a 2D painting be more than a 2D painting? What about adding movement? Animation is something entirely different but there are some possibilities for 2D artists who don't specialize in animation. We can make our paintings look really cool, by moving them around, sometimes subtle movements can add great depth to our stories.
I especially like what the developers of Guild wars 2 did with their announcement trailer (and some other trailers) They took paintings of their concept artists and turned them into something more! It's best just to show you that trailer instead of talking on and on about it.
I believe this can be done even with Photoshop's animation tool and some smart layering while painting the image.
For the game mysteries most mysterious that my classmates Ernst-Jan, Joost and me were working on we also added 2D assets with a looping frame by frame animation that gave the world a little bit more life.
A shot example of this game can be seen here. I was responsible for the background art and animations as well as the character colouring.
https://vimeo.com/104927919
I think 2D animation can be used to like I said, breathe a little bit more life in images, reinforcing mood and story.
This is something that I would love to study and research for my graduation project. It's probably not entirely necessary but it will certainly give the whole project a visual boost.
I'm still reading Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud, that book defenitely gave me some great angles and ideas for further research. More on that in the next post.
3D animators can make the most amazing shots with their software but can a 2D painting be more than a 2D painting? What about adding movement? Animation is something entirely different but there are some possibilities for 2D artists who don't specialize in animation. We can make our paintings look really cool, by moving them around, sometimes subtle movements can add great depth to our stories.
I especially like what the developers of Guild wars 2 did with their announcement trailer (and some other trailers) They took paintings of their concept artists and turned them into something more! It's best just to show you that trailer instead of talking on and on about it.
I believe this can be done even with Photoshop's animation tool and some smart layering while painting the image.
For the game mysteries most mysterious that my classmates Ernst-Jan, Joost and me were working on we also added 2D assets with a looping frame by frame animation that gave the world a little bit more life.
A shot example of this game can be seen here. I was responsible for the background art and animations as well as the character colouring.
https://vimeo.com/104927919
I think 2D animation can be used to like I said, breathe a little bit more life in images, reinforcing mood and story.
This is something that I would love to study and research for my graduation project. It's probably not entirely necessary but it will certainly give the whole project a visual boost.
I'm still reading Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud, that book defenitely gave me some great angles and ideas for further research. More on that in the next post.
donderdag 19 februari 2015
New painting.
maandag 16 februari 2015
Prisoners dilemma (with zombies)
My classmate Jim and I collaborated on some tests.
We found a common interest when we were trying out his test.
He did a little test called prisoner's dilemma where two players are caught for some crime and they get a few options. Rat the other player out and win your freedom + a share of the loot, but the other player gets a 3 year sentence. If both players are silent they both get their freedom because their is no proof. When both players talk they both get a 1 year sentence.
So the choices the players made had a big consequence for the other player.
Players based their choices on what they would actually do. But what if the players received a little bit more information before making their choices. A role perhaps. Is the character a pickpocket who lost his parents, and is the other player his sister? That changes the game quite a bit. Characters are making choices based on their role and information which results in funny roleplaying discussions. I played the thief for example and my classmate Ernst-Jan was his rich sister. And he ratted my character out because he thought it would be a good learning experience for my character, a while in jail. So giving players a role or character often results in cool dialogues within a game.
The consequences were not that bad though. If I had to spend 3 years in jail it would be way worse than only suggesting it. So the players need more punishment if you really want to make them have a dilemma. Because now the players can rat eachother out just for fun, without risking anything.
That's when we came up with a small game for 4 players. The setting was a rather obvious zombie apocalypse world where players choices could mean the end of the other players. We wrote a small branching storyline with different phases. In every phase someone would have to leave the game because of choices made by other players. Sounds OK on paper but did it work?
We gave players roles and characters to make people interact with eachother, that went well. People based their choices on their characters. But there weren't enough choices and there was no way they could know what would happen if they made a wrong or right choice. Also there was not much room for improvisation or dialogue. So back to the drawing table.
Some other questions are:
Can I make people interact with eachother with a videogame?
Does a game like this need images to support the situations?
We found a common interest when we were trying out his test.
He did a little test called prisoner's dilemma where two players are caught for some crime and they get a few options. Rat the other player out and win your freedom + a share of the loot, but the other player gets a 3 year sentence. If both players are silent they both get their freedom because their is no proof. When both players talk they both get a 1 year sentence.
So the choices the players made had a big consequence for the other player.
Players based their choices on what they would actually do. But what if the players received a little bit more information before making their choices. A role perhaps. Is the character a pickpocket who lost his parents, and is the other player his sister? That changes the game quite a bit. Characters are making choices based on their role and information which results in funny roleplaying discussions. I played the thief for example and my classmate Ernst-Jan was his rich sister. And he ratted my character out because he thought it would be a good learning experience for my character, a while in jail. So giving players a role or character often results in cool dialogues within a game.
The consequences were not that bad though. If I had to spend 3 years in jail it would be way worse than only suggesting it. So the players need more punishment if you really want to make them have a dilemma. Because now the players can rat eachother out just for fun, without risking anything.
That's when we came up with a small game for 4 players. The setting was a rather obvious zombie apocalypse world where players choices could mean the end of the other players. We wrote a small branching storyline with different phases. In every phase someone would have to leave the game because of choices made by other players. Sounds OK on paper but did it work?
We gave players roles and characters to make people interact with eachother, that went well. People based their choices on their characters. But there weren't enough choices and there was no way they could know what would happen if they made a wrong or right choice. Also there was not much room for improvisation or dialogue. So back to the drawing table.
Some other questions are:
Can I make people interact with eachother with a videogame?
Does a game like this need images to support the situations?
Working with Twine
For my research I tried an application called Twine.
Twine is an interactive storytelling app. It's also open-source! And the great thing is, you don't have to be a programmer to understand this program! That's actually great for me because my programming skills are not exactly top notch.
So I wrote a little story in twine about survivors in an alien attack. I wrote it in dutch because that's my first language. And I usually have a problem writing and thinking in English.
The story is about two brothers locked in a basement with a few other alien attack survivors. Twine is made for one person experiences but I tried to create story for two players. This little game focusses on tough choices and interaction between players.
But did the players think the same? Not really. Joost, one of my classmates thought that there could be a little bit more interaction between players. There was not much room for interpretation.
He suggested that I made a test in which I described situations with images. Players then have the possibility to discuss their choices, focussing more on interaction between players instead of interaction with the game.
My classmates also suggested a rock paper scissor system. In which both players make a choice and the computer picks one of the answers based on variables.
In this game there was a narrator describing what's happening in the game. But it would be nicer if the players had more to say. More dialogue. Maybe there won't be a need for a narrator because the story could be told with images leaving things open for interpretation.
This little test was focused on interaction outside the screen. That didn't really work out in this first test. My classmates wanted more dialogue, where players do weird voice overs. Like in the Yahwg. (that game I talked about a little while ago)
So fun for a first test. And great feedback! So off to write some more tests, maybe something with images this time!
Twine is an interactive storytelling app. It's also open-source! And the great thing is, you don't have to be a programmer to understand this program! That's actually great for me because my programming skills are not exactly top notch.
So I wrote a little story in twine about survivors in an alien attack. I wrote it in dutch because that's my first language. And I usually have a problem writing and thinking in English.
The story is about two brothers locked in a basement with a few other alien attack survivors. Twine is made for one person experiences but I tried to create story for two players. This little game focusses on tough choices and interaction between players.
 |
| My story in Twine (dutch) a branching storyline. |
But did the players think the same? Not really. Joost, one of my classmates thought that there could be a little bit more interaction between players. There was not much room for interpretation.
He suggested that I made a test in which I described situations with images. Players then have the possibility to discuss their choices, focussing more on interaction between players instead of interaction with the game.
My classmates also suggested a rock paper scissor system. In which both players make a choice and the computer picks one of the answers based on variables.
In this game there was a narrator describing what's happening in the game. But it would be nicer if the players had more to say. More dialogue. Maybe there won't be a need for a narrator because the story could be told with images leaving things open for interpretation.
This little test was focused on interaction outside the screen. That didn't really work out in this first test. My classmates wanted more dialogue, where players do weird voice overs. Like in the Yahwg. (that game I talked about a little while ago)
So fun for a first test. And great feedback! So off to write some more tests, maybe something with images this time!
zondag 15 februari 2015
a few sketches to finish the weekend with
I made a few black and white thumbnails. I got inspiration from Coral Reefs and architects like zaha hadid and Calatrava.
Just some sketches to get going.
Just some sketches to get going.
A story to an image
I decided to do a little test for my research project. Can I tell a story with images? Is it the same story for everyone? Or does everyone have a different interpretation to the image. And do I want people to have different interpretations about the story in the image?
The image I chose is a digital painting that I posted a few times before.
I posted this image on my facebook profile and on numerous facebook groups. I chose this platform because I wanted to have as many reactions as possible.
The thing I wanted to know from people was: What's your interpretation of this painting? What is going on there? What's the relationship between those people and the structure.
I asked people to write their story down in the comments, hoping to receive some reactions.
And I did! In fact I received messages from over 120 different people! Some people were more serious than others of course, but still I was very surprised with the number of people that took the time to comment.
Reactions did vary heavily. From philosopher's quotes to "this reminds me of that game or this movie reactions"
Let me show some examples below:
"What once was their race's first space habitat now lies broken and desolate on the surface of a war-torn planet. The scouts gaze into what once held a powerful fusion reactor, supposed to light the entire habitat. Its light rekindled by the rising sun, where it once shone upon millions, it now shines on only three."
"An ancient beacon site. Before light transportation was invented they used masive molecular beams cannons that fire huge data packages on the atmosphere. Here lies some of the central rings, this place looks quite now but seems like when the machine was destroyed releasing a massive wave of energy that made the area radiactive for quite some time."
"A lost world, with a shining light that will bring them to something better. The travellers hesitate."
"Astronauts stumble open the worlds greatest discovery, a portal that will lead them on a journey to infinite universes. The portal is known as "The Destination". A portal with infinite possibilities and infinite journies that would take infinite life times to experience. The question is, are the brave enough to step inside this Destination? Who knows what journey awaits them on the other side."
"Standing in awe before the alien machine-god"
"The eye of a giant robot"
"They just arrived at a new planet, wich seems abandoned. While exploring they stumble on all kinds of broken down buildings and structures, this is one of them. They don't know what to make of it, what it could have been.. They approach it with great caution."
Just some of the many short stories that people came up with.
Another interesting thing happened! People started to discuss their interpretations with eachother and came up with their own collaborated stories!
"I think, wow Leon must have had a free hour to work , what I real think: Some people checking out an old SciFi crashsite, probaly lost their parents in the accident. The one at the left is named Bob for sure."
"I don't feel bad for Bob, he's got a kickass floatsy robot sidekick."
"The woman on the far right is jealous of Bob's drone."
"She's by herself, plotting a dastardly murder while the others are distracted by the stupid uninteresting ringthings."
Of course those people were just having a laugh but I thought it was quite interesting.
A conclusion is that everyone has a different view on a painting, but I think the stories varied so much because the image was not clear enough. I don't think it's a bad thing but there are things that could have been done better. Maybe the spectators need more information. If the astronauts were holding weapons or were running away from the round structure the story would have been quite different. There was not much clarity about the situation in this painting. Is it dangerous or are those guys quite alright?
So giving the characters a little bit more information, a little bit more of a back story. This is something a great artist named Lennart Verhoef suggested. He suggested to show more interaction between the characters and the object in the painting, that way the story would be more clear.
Even though all those different views and stories are very interesting.
Stepan Duquesnoy a gratuated student from my course suggested to work more with visual narrative! Good thing I'm reading framed Ink and Understanding comics at the moment. But you don't learn by just reading, you have to apply the theory to your paintings. So that's a good thing for me to do.
Stephan also suggested to dive a little bit more into the history of storytelling with art. Looking at Bierstadt or Carvaggio for example: Bierstadt wanted to make european people fantasize about America. And Carvaggio wanted to bring the bible to illiterate people, by creating art.
So I have to look at what I want to tell the audience. What do I want them to experience.
My classmate Jim asked me if I want to make people come up with their own stories by looking at my artwork of if I want to tell my own story with artwork. Because that's a pretty big difference in my opinion. That's something I need to find out but this is a good start.
In the end this little test turned out to be way more usefull than I thought it would be!
My classmate Jim and I also did some other tests regarding storytelling and tough concequenses. More about that tomorrow.
The image I chose is a digital painting that I posted a few times before.
The thing I wanted to know from people was: What's your interpretation of this painting? What is going on there? What's the relationship between those people and the structure.
I asked people to write their story down in the comments, hoping to receive some reactions.
And I did! In fact I received messages from over 120 different people! Some people were more serious than others of course, but still I was very surprised with the number of people that took the time to comment.
Reactions did vary heavily. From philosopher's quotes to "this reminds me of that game or this movie reactions"
Let me show some examples below:
"What once was their race's first space habitat now lies broken and desolate on the surface of a war-torn planet. The scouts gaze into what once held a powerful fusion reactor, supposed to light the entire habitat. Its light rekindled by the rising sun, where it once shone upon millions, it now shines on only three."
"An ancient beacon site. Before light transportation was invented they used masive molecular beams cannons that fire huge data packages on the atmosphere. Here lies some of the central rings, this place looks quite now but seems like when the machine was destroyed releasing a massive wave of energy that made the area radiactive for quite some time."
"A lost world, with a shining light that will bring them to something better. The travellers hesitate."
"Astronauts stumble open the worlds greatest discovery, a portal that will lead them on a journey to infinite universes. The portal is known as "The Destination". A portal with infinite possibilities and infinite journies that would take infinite life times to experience. The question is, are the brave enough to step inside this Destination? Who knows what journey awaits them on the other side."
"Standing in awe before the alien machine-god"
"The eye of a giant robot"
"They just arrived at a new planet, wich seems abandoned. While exploring they stumble on all kinds of broken down buildings and structures, this is one of them. They don't know what to make of it, what it could have been.. They approach it with great caution."
Just some of the many short stories that people came up with.
Another interesting thing happened! People started to discuss their interpretations with eachother and came up with their own collaborated stories!
"I think, wow Leon must have had a free hour to work , what I real think: Some people checking out an old SciFi crashsite, probaly lost their parents in the accident. The one at the left is named Bob for sure."
"I don't feel bad for Bob, he's got a kickass floatsy robot sidekick."
"The woman on the far right is jealous of Bob's drone."
"She's by herself, plotting a dastardly murder while the others are distracted by the stupid uninteresting ringthings."
Of course those people were just having a laugh but I thought it was quite interesting.
A conclusion is that everyone has a different view on a painting, but I think the stories varied so much because the image was not clear enough. I don't think it's a bad thing but there are things that could have been done better. Maybe the spectators need more information. If the astronauts were holding weapons or were running away from the round structure the story would have been quite different. There was not much clarity about the situation in this painting. Is it dangerous or are those guys quite alright?
So giving the characters a little bit more information, a little bit more of a back story. This is something a great artist named Lennart Verhoef suggested. He suggested to show more interaction between the characters and the object in the painting, that way the story would be more clear.
Even though all those different views and stories are very interesting.
Stepan Duquesnoy a gratuated student from my course suggested to work more with visual narrative! Good thing I'm reading framed Ink and Understanding comics at the moment. But you don't learn by just reading, you have to apply the theory to your paintings. So that's a good thing for me to do.
Stephan also suggested to dive a little bit more into the history of storytelling with art. Looking at Bierstadt or Carvaggio for example: Bierstadt wanted to make european people fantasize about America. And Carvaggio wanted to bring the bible to illiterate people, by creating art.
So I have to look at what I want to tell the audience. What do I want them to experience.
My classmate Jim asked me if I want to make people come up with their own stories by looking at my artwork of if I want to tell my own story with artwork. Because that's a pretty big difference in my opinion. That's something I need to find out but this is a good start.
In the end this little test turned out to be way more usefull than I thought it would be!
My classmate Jim and I also did some other tests regarding storytelling and tough concequenses. More about that tomorrow.
Abonneren op:
Posts (Atom)