Architecture inspiration pt 2

I really liked the Zaha Hadid building styles as the were very bold and quirky. I thought these would give an interesting feel to the environment and break up the monotony of having just square skyscrapers looming over the plaza.

Architecture Inspiration

Started looking at some architectural reference for my surrounding buildings of the plaza to get more of a feel for the look I want to achieve. I liked the works of richard rogers and some of his designs which I have seen around London, which is where I would like to gather research and reference materials from to help as basis for the plaza as well as the imagery I have collected along the way.

Cry Engine 3 is a GO!

Just got the green light today to use the Cry Engine 3 to construct my FMP in if I wanted to. I think the benefits of possibly using this engine could really pay off.  I'm going to look at some of the tutorials for both engines though I have already had some experience in UDKand have a better knowledge of what cab be achieved in it. I will also conduct some more research into the pro's and con's of using either the Cry Engine or UDK for my environment specifically and take an objective approach to ensure I will be using the best tools for the job.

Gathering images

Just compiled some images I like the look of. Mainly looking at architectural styles and colours in the environments. Just trying to see what I like first to get more of feel in where I'm going in terms of actual plaza layouts and how the surrounding buildings play a role in containing the area and adding a sense of life outside this smaller area.

A New Hope

Started out on some new ideas. It was quite funny how inspiration came from sitting in my room bored and started playing SKATE! I suddenly realised I wanted to create an environment that was lived in had culture and style and also would hold my interest. I was a big fan of the Tony Hawk skate boarding franchise for years (until project 8...erghh) then my attention was drawn to skate with the great emphasis on creating a city built to skate in! It made me realise I wasn't creating something static I was creating something the player would want to explore and use. I started to research into the backgrounds of skate and the interesting Plaza designs they had in the game. I also noticed some really nice warehouse areas that were meant to be put together by a band of skaters. So I looked at areas that I could use as first hand reference to try and create my own plaza or skate-able warehouse. I put together these images to help explain my ideas in the presentation and highlight the direction I wanted to go in. In the presentation was a very quick digi sketch of mine showing a rough idea of what was going on in my head.

Idea 1-3:- Back to the drawing board

After the presentation I discovered a like for the ideas, though perhaps some not ambitious enough or perhaps too similar to other stuff out there to stand out and warrant spending a long time on it. I also needed stronger attainable first hand reference for the projects in order to limit the amount of concepting and testing I would need to go through adding an extra heavy weight to the already difficult task of building a believable environment.

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So I went away and pondered again to what interested me not only personally but also in terms of what I want to create as an aspiring environment artist . I also tried to start with a small idea and then gather stronger reference material to help reinforce the smaller idea and help set up a stronger foundation on which I could build upon. I felt more relaxed when tackling it this way as I found I wasn't having to create entire country's, back stories and universes in which these places needed to exist and have in order for them to become real to the audience. It also gave me the opportunity cut out some of the harder concepting stage as stuff in the real world you can find is actually as cool or cooler than the pretty, shiny concept art I was looking at for inspiration to my favourite games and films. Also it's probably that stuff that inspired those concept artists and the lime to create those great pieces!

Idea 3

This last idea was based around the theme of a semi-dystopian trade market. I kind of had Mos Eisley from Star Wars in my head with the cool cantina bar and a place where smugglers and traders came to do business free of trading laws and full of backhand deals and illegal smuggling. I wanted this piece to be more stylised environment, though as I was putting together the slides I started to feel the idea stretch a little to far away from anything I could reference as it was more sci-fi. I found Leadenhall market (a covered market in London) to be an interesting source I might be able to reference for this scene. Though I really wanted to go back to marrakech in Morocco for reference for this idea as the souks I visited there were really out of this world and amazingly colourful and had such immense thriving trade culture in it. I thought if I managed to capture even 10% of culture it would really sell the environments believability.
 I still think it's an awesome idea and the concept art I was lucky enough to find really captured the feeling and vibrance of colour I wanted to inject into this environment. But I just didn't think I would be able to source the reference I wanted with my budget and time scale.

Idea 2

The second idea was inspired by a few scenes and concept art I had scene in Deus -Ex:- Human Revolution. I loved the cyber renaissance style they created lead me to want to create an interesting apartment interior with a couple of rooms with different functions. I wanted to mainly focus on interactivity and the quality of lighting and assets for this scene. I wasn't sure on first hand reference with this idea, though thought of going to some quirky furniture stores and also show rooms with modern interior designs. Wasn't as keen on this idea but here are the slides that went with it.

Idea 1

I started to come up with ideas and gather reference early on for each idea I wanted to explore and pitch. The first idea I had was a Neo-Tokyo style street scene based loosely around on one of my favourite artists work Syd Mead. I wanted to try and capture the feel of the existing chinatowns around London, Birmingham and Manchester, due to the fact they feel very artificial and would also give me the opportunity to gather an easy source of physical first hand reference material. I toyed with the idea of adding an interesting disused subway that had been turned into a bar/ lounge area. I particularly wanted to create a disused train carriage that had been converted into a bar much like the ones in America that have been turned into diners. Here are the presentation slides showing some of the imagery I gathered to try and explain the direction I wanted to go in with the piece.

It begins.

Now I have sorted out my previous ideas and work into a format that works on here I'll re-post everything to get this blog on the move!!!