My small group critique brought some things to my attention that I plan to implement in my process of creating my BFA project. The group commented that there was a more efficient way for me to make normal maps for my character. After explaining the method, I feel I have a better understanding for how to complete this process and achieve better results. Additionally, the group gave me some tips on how to make the menu system for my project more visually appealing and more intuitive. This included making some of the buttons smaller and finding ways to draw attention to their importance in other ways, such as through color. These are all things I am taking into account as I move forward with my BFA project.

Character 1

Character 2

Today I had a discussion with my adviser and BFA professors regarding my project. In my conversation with my adviser we figured out a schedule for what point I should be at by the end of the week. We agreed that I had spent too long on character 1 and needed to move on. Since there are tasks that need to be completed for character 1 I am dedicating the remainder of the week towards completing character 1. My discussion with my professors aided in me further developing my concept. I was told the aspects of my concept that our lacking, namely the story of the journalist. In this dialogue I was able to explain my concept better than I did in my presentation, and have a discussion about how it could be improved. Both of these conversations have made me feel a bit more confident about my project overall.

After my midterm defense presentation I had to evaluate the direction I wanted my project to go in. It was clear from the feedback I received that my concept wasn’t coming across to viewers and that I needed to do more research to develop my topic. I believe I made in error in my choice of words when describing my concept due to lack of research. For example, I used the term “Fake News” when I really meant “Sensationalized News.” I aim to further develop my project’s concept as I create the assets that will go into it. I also aim to increase the communication between my adviser and professors regarding my project and any issues I may come across. Additionally I need to be producing assets at a much faster rate. Character 1 should be complete by 10/22 and I should begin Character 2 the following week.

MidTerm Presentation

Sept 17 – 30: Environment Block-out

Oct 1 – 19: Character 1

• Model/Sculpt Character
• Retopologize/ Reproject
• Texture PBR or Cel Shade
• Animation

Oct 20 – Oct 28: Interactivity

• UI Design
• Navigation of Interface
• Voting System

Oct 29 – Nov 12: Character 2

• Model/Sculpt Character
• Retopologize/ Reproject
• Texture PBR or Cel Shade
• Animation

Nov 13 – Nov 30: Finish Environment

• Model/Sculpt
• Texture
• Place in Unity

After coming back from the Computer Art Club trip to Ottawa, those who attended met within a small group and received feedback from one another. A few comments stuck out to me regarding how I can improve my project conceptually. Upon discussion I realized the initial resolution I had planned for my piece would likely be overly convoluted and thus hard for viewers to get invested in. As I further develop the ending(s) for the dialogue trees for each character I will try to keep things simple for the player and visually clear for those watching. Additionally the resolution for the player character should match that of what resolution for a journalist would be, as that is the profession they are acting out throughout the piece. Another comment that made me reevaluate my project was that I had a lack of female characters in my sketches. While I did have one, that was a minority to the 5 characters I had that were either intended to be male or gender neutral. With the theme of my project being heavily reliant on a diverse cast of opinions from relatable personalities, it is crucial that the many different people are represented within the experience. The problem with this idea is that due to time restraints I may only have time to finish 2 to 3 characters. While I would like to have 4 to 5, that still isn’t a high enough number to represent every demographic that I would like. This discussion made it clear to me I need to be careful about which demographics I pick so that my larger message is being communicated through characters that are relatable to multiple demographics of people. These are the two big take-aways I had for this discussion. I found it beneficial in thinking through some of the details of my project as a whole.

My trip to the Ottawa International Animation Festival was beneficial to my planning process for certain aspects of my BFA project. One panel in particular, which focused on the production of the Wes Anderson film: Isle of Dogs, helped me in developing my world building process. Isle of Dogs shares a similar tone within its visual and spoken language that I wish to achieve with my piece. For starters, the time period of the piece is a hypothetical future with post-apocalyptic imagery and themes. Despite the dark tones that come from such a setting, the timing and dialogue of the film inspire a sense of humor (A very dry sense of humor, but a sense of humor none the less). This is something I hope to achieve with my piece. I fear if I make the tone too dark the characters will become unrelatable. While I want the characters to have rough situations that are indicated by their visual design and dialogue, I want these situations to have lots of personality that is unique to their character that may include some dry wit that perhaps comments on the metaphor they represent in a somewhat meta way. In Isle of Dogs, Wes Anderson establishes a future that progressed from the 60s, from the perspective of what people in the 60s thought the future would be like. This is something I am considering for my project as well. I want the technology of the world have parallels to how things are today, however to also have a more analog feel. Much of the inspiration I am arriving at comes from steampunk which combines technological imagery in old fashioned looking ways. The people in the world of my project don’t consider themselves to be in a post-apocalypse, so while they wear gas masks to filter out toxins this is just considered the norm for them. The Isle of Dogs panel gave me a lot to consider regarding the world building of my project.

Here’s some reference sheets I’ve put together for use when modeling some assets.

Here is a stop motion character I made in my principals of animation class. He is serving as one of the main inspirations for the character design for this project.

I gathered some pictures of fans to help with establishing detail on the masks for the characters.

I gathered numerous images of gas masks to aid establishing the overall shapes and designs of the character’s masks.

Here are some images of goggles and other forms of technology within the style I want to the technology of the masks to look like.

This is some reference I gathered for the attire for one of the characters. Each character represents a different socio-economic situation and this one is a recent college grad in an intern position.