Art School
thedenrei posted in Uncategorized on July 13th, 2006
I finished my summer sculpture class today. This second project went very well (I’ve mentioned before that the first one stunk). While it might have been frustrating at the time, I do feel like I’ve learned quite a bit from this class and the other fine art classes I’ve taken so far. “Digital artists” like myself often think of fine art as a waste of time, that we are above or at least aside from it. And I still think this. But in being forced to buckle down and work in common artist terms, and be critiqued by their standards – I’ve sort of expanded my appreciation for what they are trying to do – and where they might have strengths I lack.
Everything I work with digitally is very complex. Not referencing the technology of it, or the math or huge learning curve of the tools. The nature of the art I am creating has many limitations and requirements. My job is to make pieces which are, if not “realistic”, certainly convincing, representational presentations. I cannot really call them “compositions” because I really have little guarantee on the details of how the audience member will experience them (its built as a dynamic, interactive experience). So I’m always working within the “stylistically realistic representational” realm, within an unpredictable environment. This unpredictability exists everywhere – how the character will be rendered, what graphical settings is the player set on, what level is he in, which frame of which animation, has the player seen them before… Also, there is a story which needs to remain coherant to the visuals. The model has to actually represent a character in the progression of the game (go figure). So this is what I mean when I say game art is “complex”.
In this art class I was specifically told not to make my work iconic or representational. It had to operate completely on abstract form. Again, my personal feeling is that no hunk of nonsensical plaster can be as cool as a convincing character. But in having to narrow my tool set down to the most basic visual elements, (and introduce the awkward limitations of actual physical objects) I was forced to really come up with a brand new way of thinking creatively which I had never thoroughly tapped into before.
A concrete example of what I mean. If the character I’m working on looks odd to me for some reason, my natural progression would be along the lines of “What cloths is he wearing? Should they be more futuristic? Is his body defined properly? Do his gloves make him look more like a ninja or a pilot?” when perhaps I should be simply asking things like “Is this balanced? How do the forms here and there relate? Which elements here are dominant?”. I mean, I’ll never explicitly think those things. But I think my eye will be keen to it.
To mention the game, my work has remained in the world scene. Its definately improving, but I’d really like to see it in game soon, with in game lighting and such. That would help… 0_o
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