Week 11, 12 and 13 Summary!

In these 3 weeks we had a specialism project is which we where given the choice to do 2D concept art: Product design or Anatomy, 3D Asset Creation: High poly modelling, baking and PBR, and Interactivity: a prototype game in Unreal engine 4.
I choose to do the 2D Anatomy project, the task I was asked to do was to create a plan for the next 3 weeks, research 5 job roles in the games industry and 3 professional portfolios related to the chosen project.  Once I had sent off what I was planning to create, I started my research for this project.

The 5 job specs are as follows:

Concept Artist (Various Roles) (In Random Order)


1: SR. ARTIST: BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment America Inc. is looking for a Senior Artist to work closely with all members of the mobile development team to deliver high quality art for our mobile games. (This is for a mobile game, but gives me an idea of what BN are looking for)

JOB RESPONSIBILITIES

• Produce concepts and comps to establish the art style of games
• Create in-game assets, including UI, characters, and environments
• Work with internal and external teams (including outsourcing) to track, document and provide feedback on all game art
• Create guidelines for new projects, as well as uphold existing art guidelines
• Work with marketing to provide or create source assets for marketing materials

REQUIREMENTS/QUALIFICATIONS

• Excellent portfolio demonstrating your skills
• Strong sketching, illustration, concept art and story board skills
• Ability to create 2D and 3D art, as well as pixel-level graphics
• Experience with Mobile UI/UX design
• Experience developing games with an internal team and working with art outsourcing
• Experience with 2D/3D art applications, e.g. Adobe Creative Suite, Maya, 3DS Max
• Broad knowledge of art and design including classic and mobile games markets
• Ability to creatively resize/rework artwork
• Understanding of how art requirements change on different devices and platforms
• 5+ years of experience in a professional capacity
• Experience managing people and teams a plus
• Video editing/Motion Graphic skills a plus

EDUCATION

Associate or Bachelor's Degree in a related field preferred.
Please send resume & cover letter to: jobs@bandainamcogames.com

WORK ENVIRONMENT

The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by employees in this position. They are not intended to be an exhaustive list of all duties, responsibilities, and qualifications of employees assigned to this job.

Website Link: http://www.bandainamcoent.com/company/careers.html?career_id=388


2. Ubisoft: Concept Artist

Job Description About Reflections

Reflections, a Ubisoft studio is a video games development company based in Newcastle, UK. Collaborating with Ubisoft's international creative teams on projects such as Assassins Creed Syndicate, Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon, online open-world RPG "The Division" as well as the adventure platformer "Grow Home". With a host of other top titles to our name such as open-world action adventure 'Watch Dogs', MMO racer "The Crew" and the latest instalment in the world's No.1 dance game franchise 'Just Dance 2015' Reflections' objective is to combine technical expertise, flair and innovation to create and contribute to successful and memorable games. We are looking for Pioneering, Obsessive Humans to cement its reputation as an industry leading studio within the UK and the world.

Summary

The Concept Artist will be responsible for the creation of 2D assets that will constitute the graphic representation of ideas, provide inspiration and become references for all the artist’s in the project. He will be responsible of carrying the art director vision throughout his work.

Main Objectives

Produce sketches, paint-over and/or mood board to make the art director vision;
Supporting the Art teams like UI, Characters, Props are Environments during the production to produce assets on quality and according to the creative vision.

Responsibilities

Assist in establishing style for production art like environment, characters, 2D or objects ;
Maintain consistent style under the direction of the Art Director and be able to iterate on them;
Work with production leads to create concept art relevant for project;
Actively participate in technical and artistic problem solving;
Able to identify inefficiencies in the concept-to-production process and help formulate resolutions;
Produce environment concept art and in-game mock ups, focusing particularly on lighting and post effects;
Actively seek feedback from the Art Director in style and mood;
Communicate with co-workers, including designers, programmers, and other game artists;
Follow the schedules set by the Production Team;
Carry out all other related tasks.
Skills and Knowledge
Excellent drawing and conceptualization skills with an ability to adapt to established styles;
Anatomical knowledge;
Architectural knowledge;
Understanding of fundamental illustration skills including composition, perspective and colour theory;
Digital illustration skills with an advanced understanding of Photoshop;
Understanding of form, composition, and use of detail;
Solid interpersonal and communications skills;
Self-managing, organized with good time management;
Understanding of 3dsMAX modelling and texture tool sets;
Minimum 1-3 years’ experience in concept art, in the games industry.

Opening date: 21st December 2015
Closing date for applications: 19th January 2016

Salary: Competitive + Relocation.

Location: Newcastle upon Tyne, U.K

Website Link: https://www.linkedin.com/jobs2/view/86302200?trk=vsrp_jobs_res_name&trkInfo=VSRPsearchId%3A3985543421451516830726%2CVSRPtargetId%3A86302200%2CVSRPcmpt%3Aprimary


3. FFXV/Concept Artist

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

(Position Summary)

The Concept Artist will be tasked with visually interpreting and portraying the vision (culture, civilization, inhabitants/characters, living objects, landscapes) of FINAL FANTASY XV, the latest instalment in the acclaimed FINAL FANTASY franchise.
This role will be responsible for an array of art-related tasks which include, but are not limited to, designing visual assets for use within the title and creating visuals for use in advertisements.
We have consistently placed an emphasis on creating and bringing unique and alluring worlds to life throughout the course of the FINAL FANTASY franchise.
The art team continuously challenge themselves in their creative efforts with the themes of “fantasy based in reality” and “a fusion of art and technology” driving their endeavours.
This is an opportunity to be involved in a highly acclaimed and renowned title with the potential to become a forerunner within the video game industry.
Join us in our efforts to create a new world in the FINAL FANTASY universe!

(Essential Duties and Responsibilities)

・Firmly grasp the context and settings detailed for the game and create vital in-game visual assets as well as key concept artwork to bring the game’s world to life.
・Create designs based on requests received from the planners. (“Design” can refer to background design, character design, monster design, or mechanical design, but an applicant is not required to be able to handle all of these types of designs. Specialists are also welcome.)
・Prepare reference art (materials detailing texture, shading/tones, shapes, etc.) for use when creating 3DCG.

Requirements

(Required Skills & Experience)
・Experience with 2D applications such as Photoshop.
・Experience designing or illustrating for games or film.
・Highly technical expertise and intimate knowledge within the field and ability to incorporate that knowledge into alluring designs.
・Grasp core aspects of story and themes, translating those concepts into images that deeply move viewers.
・Basic 3DCG knowledge and expertise.

Position: Contract employee

Office location: Tokyo

Application Procedure: For timely consideration, ensure that your application meets the following requirements:
・Clearly state the job title you are applying for in the subject line of your email.
・Please submit documents in any of the following formats: doc, xls, ppt, jpeg, jpg, gif, or zip.
・Each file should be no larger than 2MG.
・File name: CV_[your name]

Website Link: http://www.jp.square-enix.com/recruit/career/group/2bd/eng/art-concept_ffxv.html


4. NetEase Games: Lead/Senior Character Concept Artist

Job Responsibilities:

1. Design game character art style; develop character design template and specifications;
2. be capable of character concept designing, organize concept artists and 3d artists to carry out the work;
3. Participate in specific character design and production process; review and guide outsourcing character production;
4. Participate in the character concept review process according to the design procedure;
5. Control the ultimate game effect of characters by using engine editor;
6. Accumulate and share character design experiences, compile courseware and facilitate new hires, share design experiences.

Job Requirements:

1. Have strong passion for video games, pay attention to gaming experience, can cooperate with product developers in gaming experience improvement.
2. Bachelor’s degree or above, art related majors, solid and awesome art skills;
3. A minimum of 5 years’ experiences in character concept design, those with experiences in leading a team to carry out the design work are preferred;
4. Strong ability of comprehensive analysis and innovation, precisely understand work demands and can accomplish it efficiently;
5. Strong sense of responsibility, high commitment to work, good cooperation spirit with team members to achieve goals;
6. Master necessary software for this position, strong learning ability, take the initiative to research and apply new technologies to work.

Location: Guangzhou / Hangzhou

Website Link: http://art.jobs.netease.com/en/careers.html



5. Concept Artist/Illustrator: Division: Arkane Studios Texas | Department: Art | Location: Austin , TX, US

Arkane Studios is currently seeking a talented Concept Artist/Illustrator to join our team in Austin to work on our next AAA title! The Concept Artist/Illustrator will report to the Art Leads and will assist in establishing the visual style for production art. All interested applicants are required to include a link to your online portfolio.

Responsibilities:

Collaborates with the Art Leads to establish visual direction for items to be used by Environment/Character Artists, Level Architects and outsource teams to model and texture assets
Concept a range of environments, characters, scenes, and assets
Paint over top of 3D geometry as needed to define concepts
Create high quality compelling illustrations and paintings

Requirements:

Strong traditional artistic skills
Must have at least 3 years’ experience concepting for video games and/or film
Work should illustrate a style similar to Arkane’s games and be detailed and polished
Excellent communication and time management skills
Previous AAA game experience a plus
Must be awesome

How to Apply

To apply for this position you will be redirected to the job submission form at Taleo.com, our third-party applicant tracking system. While Taleo.com is not hosted by ZeniMax Media and does not fall under our Privacy Policy, only employees of our Human Resources department will be able to view your submitted information. Information collected via the job submission form is subject to Taleo.com’s privacy policy.

Website Link: https://jobs.zenimax.com/requisitions/view/811

Portfolio’s:

1: https://www.artstation.com/artist/axl99

2: https://www.artstation.com/artist/vinhillart

3: https://www.artstation.com/artist/donovanvaldes

Once the research was out of the way, I was able to focus on the anatomy drawings, my plan was to create a number of various anatomy drawings in dynamic shapes and poses, to improve my speed and skill in drawing the human body, I originally wanted to start with drawing characters, then create my own character but bend the anatomy laws a little, maybe give him another set of arms, in the end I decided against it and thought about drawing a final piece of 2 characters fighting.

I looked at references of people doing dynamic poses and put my favourites here:

I decided to jump right into it, and drew a picture of a character doing a dynamic pose, I unfortunately traced out a rough sketch of the body shape to get the idea of how to get the pose, after talking to other students about it I felt bad about tracing it and made sure I wouldn't trace any more, so as to get a full understanding of where I am when it comes to drawing a character.  However the colour was all from looking at the reference.

This next piece didn't really go far, I started to work on it, but due to the image size I couldn't pick out much detail and various skin tones of the piece, so I ended that piece.

This third piece is one of my favourite ones, I attempted to do another full body drawing, and go into as much detail as I could, here is the initial rough sketch:

Next up came the colouring, although I only spent a few hours on this piece I do like how the results turned out, I started doing basic colouring to the body, when I got to the head I focused more on it, and then decided to go into as much detail to make it look at realistic as possible in those few hours.

Here's a close up of the head and reference image:

On that piece I felt like I had improved a lot since the summer project, however I still know this picture isn't complete, the head does look a little out of shape, and I need to work on the nose and eyes more, I will work more on this piece in my spare time.

While I was painting the head, a tutor gave me some advice on looking at the muscle structures individually to get a better understanding of the human body, so first I looked into the arm muscles on some of my references 

I choose to shade the image rather than colour it to save time, as the end of the first week was upon me, I had to show how fast I could get the image done.  I spent a bit longer on these arms than I hoped to because I wanted to see how well I could get the drawing to match the reference,  I later added the skeleton drawings to see how the bone structure worked.  I also did a couple of hand sketches I found in a book. (image reference below:)

Next up I worked on leg muscles, like the last piece I did it it shading rather than colouring, to save time I decided to do a basic sketch pattern, unlike the last piece, I spent a lot less time on this so as I could move on to trying skeletal sketches.

For the skeletal sketches I attempted to draw out a skeleton from looking at images on google, this proved to be a really tough challenge, as I had never drawn skeleton's much and had no idea on how the anatomical structure was supposed to look like. In the end I decided to draw a skeleton under a human pose, then without the first skeleton reference draw that same pose next to the human reference, now attempt to draw out the human pose with the second skeleton.  After a couple of attempt's this seemed to work but in the end I ended up getting frustrated with how they came out, so I left it to move onto the next piece. Skeletal anatomy is something I need to work on outside of uni work.  

At this point I was ready to begin my last piece for the project, I decided to quickly sketch some poses that I thought would be relevant to my final piece, but like the skeletal sketch's ended up with a layout sketch, and leaving it at that instead of going into further detail. 

In the last week, I decided to use what I had collected from my anatomy drawings to do a dynamic combat concept piece.  I set out with the rough image in my mind that one character would be preparing to counter the other's advance attack on him then blocked it out in thick shapes.  

I began work with the poses, I started with my first character in a lunging position with the help of my wooden mannequin, focusing mainly on getting a basic male form and then altered around the legs and arms to make it look right. 

Once I had the pose down, I moved on to creating the clothing and giving my character more of a story, giving him the sense of the good warrior.

Next up was rough layout for his opponent, creating a pose I liked, then flipping it round so it works better.

This part like with the other character got me fixing the pose to make it look more anatomical correct, as well as getting his dynamic pose ready.

Now that the pose had been created, I moved onto what my character might be wearing. Looking at various traveller/assassin robes, armour plating, and cloaks.  One thing I always made sure he was wearing in each outfit was the scarf.

Getting my characters into their positions in the painting, to get a dynamic shot I added some speed lines to show the martial arts character is jumping to attack the assassin character at the front. 

After receiving feedback on the shape of the bodies, it was suggested that I alter the assassin's forward leg, as the leg and foot wouldn't bend like that, so I redrew the leg, and removed the far hand as the arm lengths didn't match up, now that the lineart is done, it's time to add detail to it. 

Once the lineart was done, I moved onto giving the characters a shadows layer, I imagined the assassin character having mostly dark clothing, while my goggles martial art character having more brighter colour to counter his opponent.

Adding the first colour layer, I originally had the assassin's hair black, but changed it to white because the design looked better. 

I was pressed for time when I was doing this piece, so I decided to do the colour details in one layer to save time in making numerous layers, I started on the assassin first, this was pretty simple, I just darkened the bright colour's like the skin and scarf, and 

I attempted something new with my background and just fiddled around with soft brushes to make the characters stand out more, I noticed that when I put the background in, the martial arts character needed to be tilted a bit. At first I was painting randomly, until I saw that the background turned into a blurred mountain setting, after that I stuck with that idea until I was happy with it.

I finalised the painting by adding in faint fog around the area, and making the various areas glow a bit, like behind the martial arts character, and the assassins blade so the viewer will be drawn towards that. Ultimately I will go back to have another go at this piece, but at the moment I am handing this piece in at this stage, to show that through learning more about anatomy, I was able to come up with a dynamic duel between two warriors. Plus the art style I used I’m still new at, so I’m proud of my skills to produce this piece in a couple of hours, rather than 7 or 8.