When considering the interior I personally leaned more towards showcasing the characters personal feelings and demeanor. I do this because I find that the home is where one can truly feel and be themselves… how slobby that maybe.
The images that I have chosen all have a rather busy and somewhat chaotic feel to it. There composition however is rather laid out and structured. A good composition always help to give a sense of structure and play upon the mood. I also believe it makes the scene rather calm and balanced.
Good, ordered composition I find makes interior design rather symmetrical and has a sophisticated as well as impactful tone. I believe directors like Wes Anderson are inspiration for this project. His structured and symmetrical style is always pleasing to the eye and has a strong impact.
Colour is key in these selected images. They all have a rather unique colour palette that sets a tone and a mood to their scenes. The contrast between the right side and the left side of the mood board is more so to do with the difference in high and low-key colour pallets. Whilst the left side has a rather bright and low key colour pallet that seems rather harmonious and minimal, the right side has a darker, somewhat clashing colour scheme.
This is to signify the mood and tone of the scenes. The ability to play on the emotions of a scene is important and can set the tone of a puzzle or level. I would like to experiment with gradually shifting between colour schemes to see how it changes the style and mood of a game, as well as change the pace.
I believe that keeping an eye out for the colour detail in the FMP is a must to showcase our talent.
Each of these images showcase semiotics that can be broken down to show the theme of a character. When studying each image I could deduce the demeanor of a character, this was done by studying not the details in the image, rather the possessions in the room.
For example in one of the images we can clearly see a large globe, an easel and a bookshelf. These all accumulate to show that this individual is well traveled and knowledgeable, whilst also being a person of great interest and wealth.
I believe each interior we’re to design should show a hint of detail regarding the one living there.
Overall each of these images have given me a rather detailed understanding of how to go about designing the interiors to our levels. I believe studying these further will help me to create a compelling and immersive interior that feels like a home.
The Secret World of Arrietty
The Secret World of Arrietty is a 2010 Japanese animated film based on the infamous novel The Borrowers. A story about a family of tiny people who live secretly in the walls and floors of a typical household, borrowing items from humans to survive.
These images are stills from the film.
The first one I chose for its rather distinct and quirky design. The idea that the room seems rather ordered and balanced whilst having a somewhat chaotic display is inspiring.
When studying more carefully, you start to notice the scale of certain objects and how they are used to make the makeshift house.
For example the pull ring of a can being used as a hanger for cutlery or a thimble being used as a light shade.
These details are intricate and support the narrative. They are meaningful yet make the scene feel more unique and eccentric. This also makes the viewer want to stop and wonder how peculiar this household actually is.
I believe that dropping hints and adding details like larger buttons as ornaments shows the depth of a character, it also shows how detailed and different we can make each room.
Another reason I chose this room was its use of shapes. On first glance one cannot help but miss the amount of round edged objects. Ranging from the arched doorway, the large to the giant clock.
All these round objects make the room that much more complex.
This is done to achieve a distinct and exclusive feel, think to yourself how often to you see a house with an archway or giant buttons on the wall?
Thus making the details stick in your head.
I believe that the shapes we could use could vary from room to room, almost giving each room a character. This could be beneficial to making them distinctive as well as setting the tone and mood for each room ant its puzzle.
The second still from the film is from inside the frameworks of the house. Juxtaposed from the chaotic and busy room, the frameworks have a rather subtle and dull feel to them. Nonetheless the detail is fit for its purpose, the way the still uses grime and dirt built up over broken bricks gives it a rather cold and lifeless feel. However life here does exist. Where the light creeps in through the grates plants grow.
This juxtaposition of colour show an almost life and death situation. The cold blues and greys work well with the warm greens and yellows. The pop colour here is the orangey- red pipe. This breaks down the image and make it more harmonious.
I believe this is done to achieve a more impactful scene.
When it comes to game mechanic and layouts, one of our goals as a sprite character is to move within the frameworks of the building. This image perfectly shows how I would perceive this.
If we could get across to seeing the framework of rooms, or within vents the ability to see the grime build-would be rather interesting. The juxtaposition of the lifeless gutters and sewers against the lively exterior would be a rather detailed goal, nonetheless it would added to a list of goals that we need to achieve.
Kim Smith Workshop
Kim Smith is an illustrator from Calgary, Canada. Graduated from the Alberta College of Art and Design and ever since then she has been creating amazing pieces of illustrative art that never seizes to put a smile on my face.
This piece is entitled Workshop.
When I came across the piece I was instantly drawn to its warm, limited colour palette. The image itself has a rather symmetrical feel to it, using grid structure the piece sets itself up to have a balanced feel to it, with the eye catching attraction sitting almost in the middle of it.
The chair is the first thing the viewer notices. Mainly due to its bright garish colour compared to the rest of the scene. As well as this is the size and scale of the chair is rather striking in comparison to the shelves and window behind it.
The exaggerated forms in this piece is what makes it remarkable and unique. Simply by slightly skewing the size of the chair the piece seems to have a lighter and more fun tone.
Personally I believe for FMP I’d like to keep the shape and relative scale of all the assets as close as possible to what they are in real life, nevertheless I would like to experiment with colour and how it can be used to draw the viewer into an asset or even down a path.
Another striking point about this image is how easily readable it is. What I mean by that is when you look at what makes it a workshop, Kim has easily placed an easel and blueprints amongst tools.
However she has also placed the vinyl player and the old kettle and pots to gives us a deeper understanding of who would work here.
To me this could easily be adapted to level design and theory and should be a must when creating compelling interiors. Looking at not just what lives here, but who.
Emmanuel Shiu Christmas Carol concept art
Emmanuel Shiu is a seasoned Concept Artist and Designer working in the Film and Video Game industries. Experienced in a widely diverse array of creative work, Shiu has done it all – from humble beginnings as a 3d artist at Lucasfilms, to Lead Concept Designer and Art Director at The Orphanage. Now free to actively pursue his passions, Emmanuel currently devotes his time to freelancing as a Concept Artist and Designer in the Entertainment Industry.
This here is one of his concepts from his Christmas carol selection. It is essentially a down shot of Scrooge sitting at his office.
The most striking thing from this image was essentially its composition. The way the shop is set up from a downward view instantly makes it iconic and remarkable. Setting up good composition in a scene is what makes it easily pleasing to the eye.
I believe this is easily achievable in games via dynamic cinematography, therefore setting up cameras to capture these playable moments. I would like to have some dynamic cinematography in engine to showcase our artist abilities both in games and cinema.
The verticality of this piece also plays on the composition. The idea that the room is small and compact making it feel tall and rather chaotic adds to the symmetry of the piece. This effect is rather easily achievable with cameras, nonetheless I believe this could also be used for dynamic and intricate vertical puzzles. Having puzzles up a book shelf where you could move across and get to a vent would be a rather fun way to approach level design.
Whisper of the heart background
Whisper of the Heart is a 1995 Japanese animated romantic drama film directed by Yoshifumi Kondō and written by Hayao Miyazaki based on the 1989 manga of the same name by Aoi Hiiragi.
The film follows middle-schooler Shizuku Tsukishima as she’s nearing her graduation. She’s a bright kid living a simple middle-class life in Tokyo who goes to class, hangs out with friends, gossips about who’s dating who, and entertains the fantasy that something more interesting could happen to her — like something out of the many books she likes to read for fun. She gets her wish when she follows a stray cat to an old antiques store and meets a boy who wants to become a maker of violins, and their lives hurdle together as a result.
The reason I primarily chose this image was due to its symmetrical design and layout. The shot is almost identically symmetrical, however one sides is chaotic and busy whilst the other side is clean and brightly lit. This composition and use of the rule of thirds makes for a rather dynamic contrast between the sides of the image.
It brings about directors such as Wes Anderson and how he uses structure and symmetry to create compelling composition. In order to achieve this sort of effect I must think about the level design and how id structure the room to be symmetrical, then I’d start to think about the position of the assets and id want the cameras to work.
Nonetheless it seems like a rather difficult shot to recreate for level design, unless the purpose of the level was this key shot.
Overall I feel like strong composition is what makes the scene and when thinking about blockouts I will strive to achieve dynamic composition and layout as well as cinematography to make for a rather cinematic gameplay experience… hopefully.