Production Art

Production Art

Once the design  is more fixed production art is required so that the design can be given to modellers, texturers and animators to be produced and put into the game(or created to be animated rendered and integrated into a film sequence say.)

Production art could include orthographic views (front side top, 3/4 front and 3/4 back) often called "turns" .  these are the plans for the character or creature. Sometimes skilled sculptors only need one or two views to create a model of a design, but generally all of the visible form needs to be described- particularly if you won't be around for the sculptor to ask what you had in mind for bits you didn't have a drawing of.

When you are drawing the different views the aim is to try as much as possible to make the views match up or line up. Which can be tricky with curved things or radial symmetry or lots of legs like a spider- drawing a spider from the top is ok drawing from the side or front to match the top can be tricky.) When doing things with pencil and paper its handy to do the roughs on graph paper sometimes. These days of course people would do a rough model in 3d- even one made up of cubes cylinders and spheres and extruded shape- and cheat(Hooray). If an object is symmetrical you can save time by doing half and flipping the drawing and drawing the reverse side using the flipped outline. Its also good to have in mind which of the views is your "hero" view . So what I mean is a key, more accurate and reliable view to refer to if for some reason you've made mistakes in other views- so for something like a dragon that would be a side on view because its an easy view or draw and shows how everything is laid out- whereas the front view might have a lot of foreshortening(like the head),and  is tricky. Sometimes people will 'remove' an arm or legs on a turn and put them next to where they are attached if there is important detail on the body that needs to be seen in a drawing.

With things like the folds in clothing (I guess you call it drapery) its important to try and get the major forms/folds  lining up and to draw them so they look like cloth (and for extra points the type of clothits meant to be).  However  you should keep in mind that for a lot of the cloth detail the sculptor  will probably create their own based off your plans- so bear it in mind before you work out that drapery and project every minute curve and fold across 3 views and go mad or blind or both. 

The degree of detail in the drawings  is greater when the work is to be sent outside the company for others to do, because the work is to be done without direct supervision, and in general  the idea is for the people to do the work not spend time asking what needs to be done.

Types of Design Art

Story or development art.

Exploratory- exploration of idea at the start of a project to define the look or think of what might be possible. Can be rougher of more varied in the search for solutions while trying to nail down what or who the characters are

Can be used to inspire

Mood pieces that match environment or character with a the story, or show atmosphere or drama to sell the project..

Thumbnails

 Thumbnails are small quick sketches which convey the idea of the character of creature. Thumbnails are great because normally they have a lot of life- and overall gesture to their action- because of the scale you normally do them. Sometimes theres a really beauty of line or expression you get thats very hard to get in a fully realised drawing.  The down side is they suggest so much but nothing is too worked out or 'nailed down'(I think the saying is - they promise the world but deliver nothing)- sometimes it's hard to draw through the smog of suggestion you created to capture the true lines you were after. I f you are wanting to refine your thumbnails using pencil and paper you could use a lightbox, or better yet a photocopier to blow up the thumbnails bigger and then trace through and clean them up. On computer though you'd just add a new layer in photoshop and draw over the top(and maybe reduce the opacity of your thumbnail layer so you can see better. I often do my roughs or thumbnails on computer in a cloudy hazy brush and then sharpen it and darken the lines and add shadows(or I just use a sharp line like a pencil and then add shadows etc.

Silhouettes,

Roughs in line or greyscale, or in  colour if you are tricky..

The great thing about doing roughs or putting ideas down in pencil or pen on paper  is that it forces you to think more about what you are drawing or what you want- more at least than a computer. There are a lot of techniques you see on computer where they use a semi random -kind of ink blot style of creativity. People will create an odd and interesting shape with funny or random or custom brush strokes and then go in and try to make sense of the design or try to refine it. the good thing about this is you can get some great interesting shapes and wacky spun out looking designs quickly-except they probably make no sense in a design sense- or its a struggle to make them resolve into a 3d shape. Why do they need to be a realisable 3d shape - because for a game or film- someone needs to make the design into a 3d shape. I f the drawing is to stay a drawing then it doesn't matter and probably the mood or impression is the key thing you are after.

When you are drawing sometimes changing your medium canchange the way you approach drawing and give you different shapes and designs- for free.

When you cleaning up roughs the sort of things you might do is introduce proper perspective and correct anything that doesn't follow the perspective of the view. You might lay a basic grid over or under the drawing- or even just some "eyeballed" converging perspective lines and use that to  make all of the drawing 'agree'. Particularly tricky things like ellipses and concentric ellipse shapes are cleaned up either with templates, or with an ellipse tool in photoshop, or by aligning a quick 3d model in photoshop or a 3d package and tracing over that. Ellipses are the shapes circles and circular cross section forms take on when seen in perspective(sort of like a squashed circle). Ellipses are located in perspective drawings by placing them in a square the same size, and oriented by lining up their minor axis with a perspective line to the horizon(major axis is a little offset from the centre of the perspective square the ellipse sits in).

When you are cleaning up or fixing drawings (or even when  you do them in the first place) its useful to flip the paper (or your computer image)and look at the  reverse image.  Adding in a centre line(like a moulded 'part' line) to the character or creature you are drawing can help with the placement of symmetrical features and can help when you are drawing curved shapes. (Particularly for eyes and determining the visibility of  'far' shoulders)

In the long term its a good thing to keep a sketchbook of roughs or at least ideas book. Even doing a few thumbnails or roughs on paper can be good preparation before hitting the computer- again because it focusses you on what you want to achieve. Even animator who work on computer will do a bunch of small rough images of the poses and attitudes, and shapes  they want to hit before starting on the computer proper.

Refining a design.

Variations might be developed for details such as colouration texture, or variations of accessories.

Sometimes when the basis of the character or creature is defined a common or duplicated base drawing is used and the different options or variations painted on top to save drawing the character again- this is where computers are handy. This make things quicker  but has the danger of producing variations for the sake of variations.

A base drawing of a generic character or a standardised human or game character  is used  when creating clothing or amour variations for customisable characters. Sometimes in these cases a bases predrawn stock human figure is the starting point,- sometimes in a game its the rendered stock human model that you  then "decorate".

Different States.

If a character has different states in a game or through a story  these will need to be visualised like damaged or powered up states. The more extreme example is the case of a boss type creature which might change or present in a number of way in a fights.

Research

Research-

Research things related to the ideas. Learning about environments a creature might live in help you think what a creature in a related environment might need. Understanding the principles or why an object is shaped the way it is or an animal adapted the way it has

Different types of locomotion, communication,- types of animal defenses or weaponry. Even mechanical things could have an organic equivalent.

The greater the pool of ideas or things to draw from the more you can think of interesting connections or using an idea in a new,interesting situation. This is key. If you spend your time practising to draw without giving yourself fuel to draw from if imagination is your objective, or if you only look at what others have done for inspiration, you are using something that has already been diluted and filtered.

The best source of reference and ideas is the world around you. In the case of animals or creatures  actually seeing the real thing is massively helpful- at once you can see the creature- you can see how the shape changes as the creature moves and turns- you see the behaviour, and you get a feel for what its about- the feeling. Often there are a lot of things about the form of an animal that are easy to spot in the real thing are difficult to figure from disparate photos or anatomical drawings. Sometimes it helps to look at anatomical drawings first so you know what things you are unsure about and to look for when you see the real thing.

Second to the real world I think are good books  with big clear detailed pictures specialised on the topic. Often you can get really great reference books on different environments for not much money- which is awful for the book creators but great for us.

Third on the list is searching the web.you can find good reference on the web but remember that everyone else might be using it too. There are some pay sites which sell sets of photos,- but what I do is whenever I'm in a city with a zoo I go to the zoo and take lots of photos.

When you are working on a game or film you also need to find out what the rules of the fantasy universe are that you are working in.  Sometimes these will be detailed in an art "bible" that someone has produced , or you can learn from  the story  how things work.  Knowing this stuff will help you create things that fit in to the world or universe,- or look like they belong.  In the case of games this sort of  consistency helps stop the player getting confused and keeps them  playing- because you want them to be drawn into the world not snapped out of it by thinking about how the art doesn't sit together or make sense. Basically if you make up rules about how the world works (even if they are magical fantastical rules- then you should try to be consistent.

Creatures

 Researching animals- the specific- try animals from similar environment to see what sort of adaptations are made(different animals often make similar adaptations/bodyforms- or solutions to the same problem).-

Researching details to help sell the ideas -Eyes feet- hands- skin types /- how it folds or sags- textures and types of patterning. Faces hands and feet generally say a lot about a creature and how it lives.

Finding out what has been tried before or what has been done before by others can be useful, particularly in terms of knowing what not to do in order to create a unique take on things. Unfortunately if you take only this approach- and  decide to do what the others aren't  it dooms you create something identical to what all the other people employing the same approach will do- strangely.

Unfortunately also the sort of creatures or character you might design are described in terms of reference to a combination of pre existing designs. However we are focussed on fun and trying to go where no man has gone before.

Clothing and Accessory thoughts

Clothing/costume.   

Form follows function.  Character have a specific function or a job,

What is the environment- hot/cold, wet, high pressure, low oxygen, irradiated, amount of light /visibilty- affects clothing. How do they get in and out of clothing themselves- are they assisted., do they use gloves- ergonomic considerations of the clothing,

Do they need to blend in to the environment or stand out. If they need to stand out- if they are on different environments/backgrounds- do they get colour costume change or do you need to pick colours that sit well on different environments.

Flowing robes and capes  and dresses can present problems when they are realised in a game environment- mainly in the interaction or collisio with the body of the character and in obtaining a believable deformation or cloth effect. Often it's a visual compromise that must be reached.

ornamentation/decorations,

Accessories or tools or weapon. Signature accessories.

When a character has tools or weapons they carry its important to place them in areas for ease of access and so they don't interfere with the characters movements, or potentially create difficulties for characters next to them, or create difficulties when the character falls under procedural control(like physics). There's a whole field of ergonomics you could study- but basically if you imagine its you carrying whatever it is and then think of the easiest place to grab something from- like your chest- upper arms- outside your thighs- your waist. In games its easiest if things are attached to one rigid part only and not spanning across two parts.  The bulk of things at the tops of thighs near where they join the hips are a particular area to allow free movement for.  The arrangement and articulation of armour particularly at the shoulders needs careful attention to ensure it allows the movement the character needs- or that the animation setup will allow for any specialised movement.

When a character is carrying something heavy it is natural for them to adjust their posture to maintain balance. Having a character demonstrate the weight of objects like this is great for making world believable. Often though characters have giant swords that they wave about which seemingly weigh nothing which is fine in a cartoony game but not so good for a realistic type game. Large swords and guns look cool but can be a problem to animate and can limit the range of movement of characters- in particular hold it so it does not poke through the ground or themselves or their neighbour, or get in the way of an Oscar winning performance  when they are falling dead.

In a realistic game the answer for large weapons or objects is to wield them with two hands- however this can reduce the reach of the player or his weapon if he is to keep both hands on the sword or object.

The advantage  if large swords or guns and the like is they look good and imply the character is heroically strong to wield them, and allow the character to strike opponent at a greater distance- which can speed up combat and make it easier to target many enemies or large enemies.

A consideration for characters with guns or weapons potentially is how they might restrict the pivoting movement or rotations the character uses to target baddies(or goodies)- particularly if the animation control for the pivot is programmatic. Of course there could be specific key poses or blends the programming might use to avoid these issues but its safest to minimise them i the first place.

Dude looks like a Lady

Distinctions of Sex

Width height of waist trunk- breadth of chest- to hips, 

Male  heavyness build male/a more rugged skeleton- female more slender rounded.

Female head smaller, forehead smoother/rounder, much less brow ridges, collarbones shorter more downward, females longer trunk(mostly stylised with long legs ). 

Female elvis shorter wider and deeper- can have more tilt, 

Hip joints a bit further apart. 

Female buttocks reach lower level. Female humerus shorter than male.Carrying angle greater. 

Thighs more angled to knees. Elbows more hyperextension.

The Little People

If the character is more stylised or cartoony it is important to consider what actions the character needs to perform- if they had cute tiny arms and a big head or round body it presents problems when the character reach or tries to scratch its head or hold something with both hands. Fortunately cartoony characters can have bodies that deform or flex in a similarly cartoony style. On the positive side again- the way the character meets the challenge of its short arms etc can be part of its character or charm.

Short stubby legs- particularly combined with long feet can be a problem when the character attempts to walk(consider how hard it is when you have flippers on your feet. Hopping however is fine.

The Eyes have it.

The size of the eyes is a good visual cue to the size/scale or age of a creature or character. The few creatures with relatively large eyes  are generally adapted to see in low light conditions- in humans the eyes a the same size and dont really grow as such- so in a child's face they appear large and in the adult- everything has grown around them and they appear smaller. Generally childlike or human baby proportions are like a pre programmed formula for cuteness or youth.

Proportion Footnotes off the top of my head

Proportions.

Head as a unit of measurement.
71/2 Usual- adult Midline crotch, one head to nipples- another to belly button, another below crotch.
2yr old 4.5 heads high,

8yrs 6.5 heads 

at 10 brow ridges undeveloped,angle of jaw sharper., 

14 about 7 heads.

Young kids more squarish forehead, at birth jaw more horizontal, lips compressed lower corners, big cheeks.
8 1/2  Heads highSlender and Fashiony-
9 more heroic and epic sculptural- even up to 12 (Michaelangelo).

Within that is the length of the spine and length of arms/legs.

Africans tend to have longer arms and legs versus the length of their spin- whereas Japanese say tend to have a longer back.

Lead by the nose

Another tactic is to match a dominant psychological trait with their posture, and let that dominant part of the body lead the character. So a brainiac type guy might lead with his head, guy who eats a lot might  lead with his stomach, muscle guy leads with his chest,  ladies man leads with his crotch.

Animal lovers

It can be helpful sometimes to base a characters appearance on an animal likeness,  people can easily associate the attributes of the animal to the human character. Even thinking about the animal while you are drawing can help put the feel of its character into the drawing (because of course you are drawing the character not the animal). Sometimes in the case of designing creatures you might do the opposite and suggest different human characters into the facial features . The most obvious forms of this are called anthropomorphic, having a bipedal creature almost immediately creates a human association. In games and in old funny science fiction films and series its more about saving money- (like lost in space having someone dressed up as a giant carrot).  The advantage of anthropomorphic  creatures is the familiarity and acceptability they bring.

Hierarchy or levels

With any sort of design its helpful to have a hierarchy of details, so that you have broad areas or the overall shape thats readable and then details or parts that  have their own structure but don't disrupt the whole.  Again some creatures have a purposely cryptic pattern to disrupt the outline or disguise themselves, but often when designing a character or creature you don't want pattern or detail to upstage the part of the character its applied to so that you can't see it or "read" it.There might be a key feature you want to draw people's attention or focus to, which is hopefully readable in the silhouette , but also having detail or contrast with adjacent areas  can help draw attention to things.

Guilt by Association

In the case of scary creatures people think up often an association with a body plan of an actual creature people find unsettling- like a spider or a snake or a bat- particularly when it comes to robots and spaceships. If you were to draw an Orc say- there are a bunch of animals you could use as a source- bats faces, hyaenas or other wild doglike things, some of the really fierce baboon faces, maybe the stocky musculature of some fighting dogs.

Archetypes and gesture- or the Same old sameold

Stereotypes/Archeypes.

What do you think of when you think of a hero- a villian? Sometimes its because its what you've grown up with think of those Disney villian with hooked noses and angular cheekbones- other aspects are probably more primeval. Mind you I read somewhere that people get more fearful as they grow older.

Think for example of the archetypal  game character like scientist, medic, engineer grunt, heavy weapons guy, good looking slinky femme fatale types.

Iconic shapes- in terms of recognisability,and being distinct from other characters.  Again the visual distinction is often through contrast- fat vs thin short versus tall curved vs straight, but again you should be thinking about character and ways conveying the personality rather than just making wacky shapes that are distinct from one another or obvious opposites.

Shapes can be aggressive and suggesting action, submissive and languid. Tall successful, fat untrustworthy, unkempt- wild and unhinged. Neat and tidy- ordered methodical.
Dangerous shapes are probably more sharp.  Rounded shapes are not threatening (unless massive).

But I remember Faces

Nature-the world is your source-world of ideas is your source. (Americans would say Special sauce).

Observe the real if you can and distill it down- to a gesture or shape or attitude that conveys the character. It is better if you  can draw from the world or things you've observed and find the truths you want to communicate or stylise than to just think of a shape and try and retrofit a character into it. Why because there's a richness of detail to be had if you take the time to look about the way people look,stand move, the way they talk(same applies to animals) which people may not "know" about will recognise when they see it(more likely they'll recognise somethings missing when its not there). The bits of truth in there will help sell the fantasy, or the character- or the lie as it were.

Characters grow and develop over time, and are gradually refined,- a lot are revisited and reinvented to suit the current time. Remember the character is not just what they look like but how they sound and move as well as what they do and what they say.

Things you might like to ask or try to convey about the character via their appearance.

For a game obviously it is  what is their function in terms of gameplay.

Age?

 Where they are from?

What they do(their profession or job type of clothes, or uniform, tools of trade, expensive showy clothing, sporty)?  

What they have been doing( have they been walking through mud or been rained on- are they damaged or injured or sunburnt?),

What is their  psychological state?(proud, careless or untidy, their social status(rich, poor, revered, destitute),

Their gender?

 What do they believe in or value ?(no possessions, lots of expensive clothes,  a few things but good, practical reliable things etc, lots of high tech things, things made out of natural materials.)

Programmer Art

The things to keep in mind with 3d characters is their interaction with their environment and other characters standing by. If they were real characters there would be no problems at all. However in game worlds the awareness  and interaction between things is stripped down to the rules the programmers  write. Thus, although you have a model of a dragon, it is effectively blind deaf and dumb and completely oblivious to the perils and activity around it  and either stiff as a board alternately gliding though things like a ghost and  bumping into things like a plank(things also seemingly invisible).

Unless the programmers allow it.

What does it have to do with design?

Well the problems that arise are often when you put big things next to little, or long things like tails, or awkward things like winds, or turning big things or putting big things on slopes.

Or putting big things with tails and wings on slopes turning in a crowd of little things.

Or when big things with tails and wings fall over dead.

Or when big things need to navigate narrow turning passages or bottlenecks where the AI of game leads a lot of characters to navigate (choke points).  In computer games they may possibly be called choke points because the player has a sudden urge to choke the designer or the programmer responsible when their characters  or units are stuck in a traffic jam and getting annihilated by the enemy.

so before you go nuts drawing cool things with long tails and wings you often need the approval of programmers- but often you were drawing these things for a game designer.  So either the programmer is excited about something neat finally getting into the game or you have to get them to sit down first and maybe promise that someone a lot better looking than yourself might rub their feet or something in gratitude.

The things programmers might use to figure out how bit things are when they need to bump into things or not fall through things, or interact  are a large quick initial guess say like a forcefield like sphere and a simpler version of the character thats invisible that moves with the character called a collision mesh or collision volume. The collision mesh is attached to the skeleton like the skin of the character so it moves with it. Basically the more inefficient these simple versions are at describing the space a character takes up the more difficulties the character might have navigating and interacting. Collision meshes also don't like concave forms very much.

One Bone to Rule them all

In 3d characters and creatures have an invisible node or bone that is often called the root (the hierarchy of bones it controls is like a tree). This root node is used by programmers and movement is applied to it to drive and control  a character around the 3d world. The root might be on the ground (then called a ground bone) or in a position at the creature or characters centre of mass or centre of gravity. Centre of mass is basically the point the whole thing might balance or turn around as opposed to the visual centre or middle. Generally character is positioned about the root bone or ground bone for ease of movement and turning (in the most visually agreeable way).

Long  horizontal animals and creatures or things with long tails say can be a problem when turning.

(Turning 4 footed creatures on the spot can be tricky/time consuming to make look good, 'driving' 'creatures around to make them turn places a burden on computing and pathfinding you might not want.)

Sprite rambling

Bounding sprite.

In an isometric game (tilted at angle everything is parallel and no perspective(faux perspective)) characters or objects might be on a little tile of its own with a transparent background called a sprite. If its animated or rotates about it will have a frame for each of these animations in each rotation. Often these will be modelled in 3d  and rendered out into the frames and collated into an array or sheet so the programmers can refer to it with their programs easily.

The design limitation here is the placement of the character in the tile so that as it rotates about to look or move in different directions it appears to pivot naturally(and not a funny picture being rotated at an unusual offset).  Generally this means the character or creature is centred to the sprite, but it can effectively half the size of sticky out bits like guns or tails. Also it can limit the animation you can do without programmerly help(like things rearing up or jumping .

If you have made the character small in relation to the sprite it can make some gameplay programming tricky with  things like collision and pathfinding. Basically when trying to quickly figure out if a character can fit through a door you might use the size of the sprite for example- so you'll send your player into a fit when they see their character going the long way because the programming thinks they won't fit through a gap that visually they could easily manage. (also you might have a custom specified collision radius to avoid this)

Do you have anything smaller?

Game requirements or limitations -

The  number of joints of a character or creature - can be limited by game engine. In a game creature or character mesh driven by skeleton or hierarchy of  invisible segments/joint/pivot - bones . The number of characters or creatures on screen at a time is limited by processor speed/compute power. It used to be that you needed  the ability to process the movement and deformation of the creature meshes in a game view at 30 frames a section to give an appearance of smooth movement- but also so the game doesn't chug or slow down-interactivity responsiveness suffers- its just not fun.

so what  this means is the importance of a creature or character- how many you are likely to see on screen at once has an effect on either how complex the creature is in a skeletal sense, or how nicely the design is realised.  Generally the player character and bosses and hero enemies have a lot of detail and enough bones/segments to  make sure they move and deform very nicely.  Even though computers are getting faster and programmers are cleverer than a fox with a can opener it still pays to be mindful.

Often you will be given an idea of the sort of 'budget' some creatures cost to have in the game engine and to bring to life in terms of AI and animation.

 So things like long necks- long tails, chains, wings, lots of floppy dangly bits, billowy robes and dresses, cloaks hair sometimes have to be limited, avoided, or done with knowledge that although they might be modelled alright they might not be floppy dangly or billowy as planned.  Sticky outy bits or long tail (or any tails) look super cool when they're animated about and add a lot of visual value to a game but require a lot of consideration, animation and housekeeping to take careof the various special cases of interaction in the game world.

Wings in particular present a problem because you want them to either fold away or spread to fly. Often the compromise to have them held semi spread. The problem is the complexity of the skeleton setup to control the wings, and sometimes the way the mesh deformation or skinning is calculated. Alternatively sleight of hand is sometime employed and a quick switcheroo between furled and unfurled wing models might be used. Computer math controlled or procedural  effects are sometimes used on wings to create a rubbery cloth or billowy effect for loose or ragged wings, or to randomly move feathers on a wong moving travelling fast..

Alternatively if your game is low on computing resources your beautiful winged creature might materialise as a kind of origami bird. (This is often the fate of incidental creatures added to give  atmosphere to a scene and as hapless gun fodder for trigger happy players.)

Movement is part of the character- and so if there are parts that don't move when the player expects they should it takes them out of the game- breaks what you'd call their immersion or "suspension of disbelief"- which is what you don't want (people tut tutting about how something looks sucky.) Films don't generally have this limitation- the limiting factors are more money and time- plus theres a fixed viewing angle (even if its dynamic or 3d) so theres a lot more cheating to be had to make something look like something its not.

Leg talk

When drawing the legs or arms of a creature its important to keep in mind the animation and degree of movement the joints might need. Often you see hind legs on bipedal creatures drawn with hugely muscled areas which really  restrict movement -unless the animation system can deform the mesh or stop the parts intersecting- and if it does it can be a lot of work to set up.  One answer is to adjust the cross sections so they overlap and sit together nicely when the limb is 'closed'. Alternatively the angles one joint makes with another can be adjusted to allow the leg to close.

Keep in mind again the function of the particular limb.

Predators like big cats and dogs have forearms that are a bit similar to ours and can turn the palm or paw about the long axis of the arm, to assist with gripping prey , whereas horse and other prey animals  are more focussed on running.

The number of legs a creature has can affect its speed of movement. Seems obvious- the longer the legs the bigger the stride. four legged animals use the flex of their spines  to increase speed/stride , however if you have too many legs and as they increase in length (to increase stride and then speed) you can get problems with legs interfering with each other.  Giraffes are an example of a very large long legged animal- they have an unusual way of walking which might be to reduce this. At asmall scale there are fast moving centipedes that sort of push the limit of lots of long legs.

Legs aren't simply straight but have slight angles between them- sometimes its more pronounced. Often the bulk of the muscle is on the outer side of the bone (ie horses and dogs). Again the bigger and more massive earth creatures are the straighter their legs tend to be to support  them without lots of energy required.

Even in humans  as the legs get thicker on the inside the person has to adopt an unusual stance or way of walking. Bodybuilders muscle development forces their arms out in an at rest position for example. Obese peoples legs tend to appear to splay out or straddle because of a combination of the normal joint angle at the knee and the fat betweenthe thighs. Often characters can be drawn in a pose for modelling without enough leeway for free movement of the legs- so that when they are brought together in a more natural standing pose there are problems with the legs intersecting.  On the positive side having legs or body that forces a creature to move or stand in an unorthodox way could be part of its character that you want to keep.

Its also to keep in mind the range of movements a creature will adopt- and its helpful to do any explanatory drawings or pictures to explain how a creature moves or functions- but also to show its character. when adding spikes or horns its important to place them such that they don't interfere or restrict movement you want.

Life loves laziness

For characters and creatures that are meant to be realistic one aspect to keep in mind is the tendency for natural shapes and body solutions that minimise energy consumption. In humans and animals the bulk of muscles is kept closer to the body away from the end of the limbs. Doing this is much less strain and means the limb can be moved or accelerated much quicker- its sort of the difference between holding a brick out at arms length and holding it in to your chest- of having two bricks in a backpack versus tying one to each foot. Often animals have things at the end of limbs that appear broad but are not bulky- or broad and flat say. In the case of characters for games  the need for visibility at small on screen sizes means that extreme and impractically sized hands feet or claws are needed or acceptable.

When inventing a creature that has muscles it is useful to remember that it takes at least 2 muscles to operate a joint (because muscles operate by contracting) but you could perhaps invent some other way a limb might works say(pneumatically , hydraulically or telescopically).

Blocking in

It can be helpful to divide the creature into head ribcage and hips when you are blocking the creature out.  Principally these are rigid parts of the animal that are flexibly connected- so it gives you something to "hang on to " when you are posing or adding limbs to your creature. Often I'd do the head trace out a spine, add other rigid section as rough volumes- then  put in cross sections, core 'gestures' of limb bones or their volumes and then outer contours of the animal.

Ugly goes to the Bone

Drawing creatures.

A lot of characters and creatures you might do will have an internal skeleton- muscles and fat attached to bones. The shape of these or how they appear is quite affected gravity . Additionally if drawing limbs be aware of the changes in shape as muscles /fat are compressed. Most muscles tend to span across/between bones or joints- as the joint is rotated it can affect the thickness you see.

A lot of bones have curvature to help with  mechanical function and for spring, and for strength and this curvature is seen or expressed in the limb or part of the body. it can be useful to suggest the curvature of bones in the simplified skeletons  you might draw as a basis for  drawings

If you are detailing the anatomy or studying it is important to learn certain areas where there is no muscle and little fat- called bony landmarks.

sometimes it can be helpful to regard the skin or an animal like a cloth envelope in terms of the wrinkles  and folds that are generated- and the behaviour of masses at the eye of the folds.

How much is that Creature in the window?

When you need to design a creature its best to find out how it features in quantitative sense,

Are there meant to be many on screen at once?

How large on screen or how close do you mostly encounter it?

If there are many do they need variations?

How often do you encounter it and its variations?

What is the complexity of the environment or scene its in?

What is the level of animation and programming resources allocated to its completion into the game world?

If some parts of the creature require procedural control to deform or animate what is the 'budget'.

Things to ask or think of while designing a creature 1

How does it live,

What/where is the environment it lives in?-the conditions- what are the characteristics or adaptations that enable it to live where it does. Here is where you can borrow aspects of earth animal to sell the idea.

Does it live on a surface, in a fluid, in a gas/air.

How hot or cold is the environment it lives in.

Is it subject to radiation even/ no magnetosphere.

What are its defenses?- armour . camouflage /cryptic patterning, 

What does it live on to survive- is it a predator or prey animal?

How does it gather food or the things it lives on ? or Attack?

What senses does it use?- vision- can extend into UV spectrum or infra red/heat(snakes), some creatures have pressure sensors - like crocodiles, others like some fish and sharks sense electricity in animals. Sense of smell- maybe even smell vision. Could extend into radio or transmission frequencies, microwaves.

Does it make noise or communicate/signal in any way- to the player (in a game say) or between other creatures. If they have good vision possible might have colourful bodies- birds, mantis shrimp can see in a wide spectrum very colourful.  Colour to signal creatures state.  Warning if its dangerous or poisonous.

some deep sea creatures are red because red is one of the first colour of light to be lost as you go underwater,- making them effectively black and hidden in the depths.

How does it move?- is it fast or slow? Faster streamlining to reduce drag- in wings and fins you can see the difference- slower much broader-larger camber to section.  In the case of earth land mammals and birds might have longer legs and fewer toes- think of the horse, the ostrich and the kangaro0. Quadrupeds- like dogs and horses - bent hind legs allow them to start off fast. Straighter front legs, locked by tendons  take most of the weight. Bent legs take more muscle force/energy to maintain posture- much harder to maintain the larger animal- try walking around with bent legs!. Smaller animals more crouched.

What is its Structure or body plan?  How does this assist its lifestyle or functioning? Internal skeleton or exoskeleton- or none/cartilaginous or like an octopus.  Is it symmetrical- might introduce asymmetry - horns  broken off for interest.  A lot of earth animals are bilaterally symmetrical- few are radial- particularly seacreatures- jellies,starfish.  It could just be me but creatures with radial symmetry seem more mechanical and less organic and unthinking.  Does it have a front end and aback.

Consider effect of gravity/scale of the creature  in design-how big - how small?. Some creatures- particularly very small ones in a fluids don't really have an up direction or sense to their bodies- a bit like space, whereas large animals its very apparent and a limiting factor- legs straighter and under the weight/not sprawling. A consequence of gravity is the shape of creatures for stability. Distribution of weight and their cross section is affected.

How old is the creature?

 

Does it change shape or metamorphose in different stages of its life cycle or are parts of the creature evident through its life but which grow or develop?

Are there structural or surface or colour changes according seasonal variation or for breeding purposes.

Are there any unique aspect to this particular creature that distinguishes it from others- stronger- bulkier, diseased, or damaged/scarred?

Silhouette-an outline

One of the trendy key aspects in the look or design of a character or creature is the silhouette-  In terms of readability, interest, and contrast with other characters and the surroundings.  I think the weight of interest in using silhouette as a tool comes from animation staging for clarity.

Although silhouette is kind of the flat visual cut out shape its important to remember that things must be considered from all angles in 3d. Most creatures or characters need to be considered as a 3d form.  In fact a lot of creatures the top view versus the side view is radically different, and the cross section. Funnily enough a lot of animals do their best to try and disrupt their silhouette with markings or colouration like zebras or tigers, or lose it altogether with countershading.

Of course in games there are some views you will most likely encounter, often front on attacking you in the case of humanoids so it is probably wise to put the weight of detail and interest and recognisability where it will be seen most. 

That said one thing to keep in mind when placing crazy sticky outy detail to make your silhouette exciting is to  the effect on collision surfaces and dynamics-so things play nice when they play dead.

Contrast is key

Contrast is key.  You might call it the figure ground relationship or signal to noise ratio of what you want to see versus its surroundings.

what sort of contrast can you have?- (or things you can vary)  shape, colour/tone, luminosity, saturation of colour,  shinyness (specularity), reflectivity, movement, scale, pattern/texture,line, position and rotation. Translated to 3d some of these become volume and surface texture , roughness or details like bumps spike and horns  or tentacles, or feathers.

Games dimensions  you might use visuals, sound, colour, lighting, texture , movement(how they do it ),  action(what they do).

Totall Recall

Visibility and recognisability are key aspects in the immediate sense for designs,  but also being memorable is the overarching goal. Being  memorable is tricky though- so much is borrowed is visually from other sources these days- sometimes you are asked to make something similar so that people accept or "buy in". Often something is described in terms of a mix of pre existing things(like movies). Its a problem because in my opinion its our job to show what could be and shake people up a little with things that aren't there- so they might take a better look at what is around them.

One of the ways things become memorable is if there is some kind of emotional response triggered in the viewer, or a connection made.

Whereas a lot of people want something recognisable, safe or easily understandable- dumbed down, banal. But anyway thats not what we're about- we want to find something new.

Prime Directive= Gameplay

Generally for games a creatures primary feature or function in terms of gameplay-

as a result the need to communicate the idea or meaning of the character or creature, as a game piece, and the need to be able to see and understand what things are and what they do can take precedence over  the reality of a creature or person (if it were real). That said any fantasy elements of modifications to common sense you make should be self consistent in their fantasy logic- otherwise confusion and frustration and lack of immersion is the result.

ie attack or special attack- as a mode of transport- as a prey animal or something to collect, and the way you communicate what that feature is dictate the look of a creature.

In games you are what you do- so often the trick is conveying to the player what something does- and how that piece fits into the game or how it should work in terms of gameplay is a goal to keep in mind.

Big vs Small

How do you make up the distance when they fight?
Easiest is using a range weapon,- usual you stun 'em and run up and clock 'em.

Otherwise a special attack or finishing move- otherwise it looks silly chopping at the ankles.

Form Follows Function

  This means the shape is determined by its function, or the the combination of parts that create the function. Its a saying or way of working  originally applied  to designing products or buildings , but it works for anything you want to design and is a good way of choosing or deciding the success of designs. It sounds a bit dry and featureless- sort of no frills, but it does incorporate decoration and styling for example if that serves the function of what it is you are designing.

Natural things and living things are almost the ultimate example of things refined for their purposes of the organism, although not exactly designed, it aplies even the most extravagant and flamboyant looking creatures  or plants.

Natural things often behave or function in a way to minimisation of energy expenditure, or make it as efficient as possible.

Seacreature-shark  fast moving/efficient-  streamlined to reduce drag- VS weedy sea dragon- doesn't have to move fast- camouflage of ornate fins looks fanciful but help it hide.

Greetings Earthlings

On this blog we will explore and create ideas for the World of Tartarus V!
 I am a friendly observer from the planet.
The hapless human Lachlan Creagh who I have chosen to control as my puppet through the expanse of space will assist in documenting the planet Tartarus and the troubles that has beset our world. Using your own psychic powers you will recieve images from the planet and create markings on flattened trees (called paper).