Growing up in the 90's provided a great source of cartoons and shows to draw from. Original ideas like Pokemon, Dragonball Z, Rugrats, Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends, Reboot, and many others have lended a hand in my thought processes and creative tendencies. All the shows on tv seemed to have a different style, and although at the time I grouped everything that was drawn as "Cartoon", and everything that wasn't as a "TV Show", I would later realise the immense differences in artistic styles, story structure, and genre.
Being able to take small parts from each of these shows, and amalgamate them into new ideas is a great joy, and everytime I start thinking about how to take a project, I can see where certain ideas spawned from.
I loved my childhood shows, and I really want to be able to see a future filled with just as many for the new generations so that those kids can have just as much fun as I did.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Monday, January 24, 2011
Video Game Inspirations
My dream of level design came of course from video game level designs, growing up on the mid-late SNES, and being fully into gaming right at the start of the N64 made it a very impactful experience to see these imaginative worlds and locales be exposed to me over my early developemental stages of youth. Games like Super Mario 64, Banjo-Kazooie, and Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time all had such amazing places to see, it was akin to going on a vacation to a faraway place whenever I wanted within my own home.
Super Mario 64 and Banjo-Kazooie had such gorgeously themed levels, it really just stuck with me over the years, everytime I play a game that has a level or setting in a snowy area, I expect snowmen and igloos - period. Back when 3d level design was young, there was such a need for easy to communicate information so that the player would not be lost or confused - the fact it was 3d was enough to amaze, the whimsical world was the right touch to make different places feel different. A lava land has volcanoes, a haunted place has a dark purple and dark green colour scheme with crooked houses, a snowy place (Again) has to have snowmen.
Ocarina of Time was so starkly different from these games in the way that everything felt right, it made sense, it was real - or atleast as real as a game world could be at that time. A lava filled place was not plagued with volcanoes and lava rivers, but instead with things that a person could actually believe could occur on Earth, as in, it was a beleivable sense of level design. The forest area was filled with trees, it made sense. It sounds funny to write this down, because it's so obvious to everyone now, but at the time this had not been done (Or, I should say, it hadn't been done well) before - and it showed the world that video games were different than cartoons, they could be real, and have real messages.
These are big themes to extract from simple levels, but that's the thing, they aren't simple. In a game you exist within the level, the story hinges around the world, if the place your in doesn't make sense, nothing will - level design makes a game its own, gives it a place, makes it memorable. These games (And of course dozens of other N64 games) shaped my love of creation of space, and I hope one day to make another child think about how the space around him affects everything he does.
Super Mario 64 and Banjo-Kazooie had such gorgeously themed levels, it really just stuck with me over the years, everytime I play a game that has a level or setting in a snowy area, I expect snowmen and igloos - period. Back when 3d level design was young, there was such a need for easy to communicate information so that the player would not be lost or confused - the fact it was 3d was enough to amaze, the whimsical world was the right touch to make different places feel different. A lava land has volcanoes, a haunted place has a dark purple and dark green colour scheme with crooked houses, a snowy place (Again) has to have snowmen.
Ocarina of Time was so starkly different from these games in the way that everything felt right, it made sense, it was real - or atleast as real as a game world could be at that time. A lava filled place was not plagued with volcanoes and lava rivers, but instead with things that a person could actually believe could occur on Earth, as in, it was a beleivable sense of level design. The forest area was filled with trees, it made sense. It sounds funny to write this down, because it's so obvious to everyone now, but at the time this had not been done (Or, I should say, it hadn't been done well) before - and it showed the world that video games were different than cartoons, they could be real, and have real messages.
These are big themes to extract from simple levels, but that's the thing, they aren't simple. In a game you exist within the level, the story hinges around the world, if the place your in doesn't make sense, nothing will - level design makes a game its own, gives it a place, makes it memorable. These games (And of course dozens of other N64 games) shaped my love of creation of space, and I hope one day to make another child think about how the space around him affects everything he does.
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Sources of Inspiration Over the Years
I thought it would be a good idea to list a couple sources that put me on this path, so that people can understand where I am coming from, and what I am about. Below is a short list of movies, games, and other things that have pushed me in this direction of 3d modelling.
-Toy Story (And other 3d movies):
Ever since I was very little, Toy Story intriqued me in ways other movies simply couldn't. It was as if the imaginary world that I created when playing with my toys was realised on my tv infront of me. I love everything about this movie, and it definately was the first thing to open my eyes towards using computers to make things in 3d.
-Army men/Hotwheels (And other toys):
As a child I played with toys a lot, I didn't have a lot of video games, and most TV was beyond me at the time (This would be around 3-5 years of age). I loved the way my toys felt in my hands, the plastic of my army men, the metal of my Hotwheels, it was so tactile. I spent hours examining my toys, looking at how each part worked, how the person who created it thought about what went where, how they modelled it. I am certain this is where my desire to create with my hands came from, as for the next several years I played a lot with playdough, clay, and other maleable materials (Including some woodwork, which looking back on it really wasnt much more than nailing dozens of nails into a plank). The transition from these materials to the computer world of creation came naturally as I grew older, and realised that I was able to build whatever I wanted within a computer, instead of being limited by supplies or costs in the real world.
These things are peices of my past that will be with me always, influencing little things in my works and guiding my thoughts secretly when coming up with ideas.
-Toy Story (And other 3d movies):
Ever since I was very little, Toy Story intriqued me in ways other movies simply couldn't. It was as if the imaginary world that I created when playing with my toys was realised on my tv infront of me. I love everything about this movie, and it definately was the first thing to open my eyes towards using computers to make things in 3d.
-Army men/Hotwheels (And other toys):
As a child I played with toys a lot, I didn't have a lot of video games, and most TV was beyond me at the time (This would be around 3-5 years of age). I loved the way my toys felt in my hands, the plastic of my army men, the metal of my Hotwheels, it was so tactile. I spent hours examining my toys, looking at how each part worked, how the person who created it thought about what went where, how they modelled it. I am certain this is where my desire to create with my hands came from, as for the next several years I played a lot with playdough, clay, and other maleable materials (Including some woodwork, which looking back on it really wasnt much more than nailing dozens of nails into a plank). The transition from these materials to the computer world of creation came naturally as I grew older, and realised that I was able to build whatever I wanted within a computer, instead of being limited by supplies or costs in the real world.
These things are peices of my past that will be with me always, influencing little things in my works and guiding my thoughts secretly when coming up with ideas.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Projects Update
For Motion1 class I am planning on doing a visual effect heavy movie, since the max length is around 15 seconds, I think that I will be able to have multiple effects within that small amount of time. I plan to use a lot of particle effects, and green screen to make a really interesting scene.
For Writing2, my story is coming along, if mine gets chosen as one of the scripts the class will actually film, I think the hardest part will be animating the sandwiches. My story of course revolving around a person being locked in his apartment and being hunted down by man-eating sandwiches. I have been thinking about how I would actually move the sandwiches around, and I have decided that I will just use puppets, actually modeling sandwiches in a 3d software would take much too long, and puppets will help give everyone on site an interactive job,
I also have a class called "Discovery Project", where each student can do any kind of project they want over the 6 weeks, and at the end we present our data that we collected while working on the project, and also our final results. I have decided to do some concept art for 3d video game level design, as this is the kind of work I want to do in the future - not so much the concept art side of it, but the modelling. I understand however that you must walk before you can run, and so learning how companies go about making level from start to finish will give me a good grasp on what my future will look like.
These are my three big projects for the term, with all the other classes simply having smaller week by week tasks.
For Writing2, my story is coming along, if mine gets chosen as one of the scripts the class will actually film, I think the hardest part will be animating the sandwiches. My story of course revolving around a person being locked in his apartment and being hunted down by man-eating sandwiches. I have been thinking about how I would actually move the sandwiches around, and I have decided that I will just use puppets, actually modeling sandwiches in a 3d software would take much too long, and puppets will help give everyone on site an interactive job,
I also have a class called "Discovery Project", where each student can do any kind of project they want over the 6 weeks, and at the end we present our data that we collected while working on the project, and also our final results. I have decided to do some concept art for 3d video game level design, as this is the kind of work I want to do in the future - not so much the concept art side of it, but the modelling. I understand however that you must walk before you can run, and so learning how companies go about making level from start to finish will give me a good grasp on what my future will look like.
These are my three big projects for the term, with all the other classes simply having smaller week by week tasks.
Thursday, January 13, 2011
The purpose of this blog.
My purpose for having this blog is to use it as a creative profile. I will be displaying my works here and linking websites and other things that inspire and or interest me. I hope that people who review my page will find a better understanding of who I am, and what I am about.
I will try to keep this blog up to date with my current interests, hobbies, and work that is in progress. Since this is just the beginning, I will be adding old works to this within the next few weeks.
Thank you for visiting, and please feel free to ask me questions by leaving comments below, or sending me an email at:
Vzachata@gmail.com
I will try to keep this blog up to date with my current interests, hobbies, and work that is in progress. Since this is just the beginning, I will be adding old works to this within the next few weeks.
Thank you for visiting, and please feel free to ask me questions by leaving comments below, or sending me an email at:
Vzachata@gmail.com
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