A New Illustration Workshop

ThreeOhFour · Tue 30/07/2013 13:43:20

Quote from: Ilyich on Tue 30/07/2013 13:41:25
(and so is ThreeOhFour, which is why his opinion doesn't matter )

My opinion that "Ilyich is a pretty cool guy" has lost all relevance with this statement.

dactylopus · Tue 30/07/2013 15:00:18

Rather than choosing or assigning a game from the database, I'd be more comfortable with using the Video Game Name Generator, like a high resolution version of the recent Background Blitz. I thought that produced some great results.

This way, I wouldn't feel like I was intruding upon someone else's property. It also avoids the risk of designing a cover for a game we may not have played or enjoyed.

This would also allow for us to make something we could use later, should we decide to make the game.

Eric · Tue 30/07/2013 21:23:40

I would like to see a new illustration workshop that focuses on the creation of box art, whether or not it uses random games. That sounds fun.

What I'd like to see more is a three-part game-making "Master Class" focused on character creation that lasts roughly a semester and is guided by experienced adventure game creators from our community, with three projects and a "Final" that polishes and combines all three. I see the three projects being:

Project 1: Character Sheet -- Format can either be loosely prescribed or strictly decided by whomever guides this section. This is both a write-up of the character, their various qualities and history, along with some sketches to demonstrate their look. Emphasis here is as much on storytelling as visual illustration.

Project 2: Portrait -- This gets down the basic look of the character's head n' shoulders mug shot, and works toward visualizing both the physical and personality traits identified in Project 1.

Project 3: Model Sheet -- This would be a 360 turnaround of the character, ala animation model sheets. This gives a full head-to-toe view of the character, and a demonstration of how they'd look in an actual game.

Final Project: All of the above, with modifications to reflect communal feedback, plus a left-to-right walk cycle.

As I've structured it, the trajectory goes from conceptualization to visualization to actualization. I think this sort of thing shouldn't have a prescribed subject, ala the Monsters Workshop, but should be open to whatever participants see fit. That way, at the end, they'd have a fully-fledged character that could serve as the anchor of a new game.

miguel · Wed 31/07/2013 01:24:15

I'll go with Eric's ideas. Looks really cool to do.

Dropped Monocle Games · Wed 31/07/2013 10:14:56

Wow I love Erics idea, I would love to take part in that! I'm not sure using someone elses random game is a good idea.

ThreeOhFour · Wed 31/07/2013 10:20:28

I like Eric's idea, although it's a pretty big project. I wonder if we shouldn't do a couple more smaller workshops first before we dive so heavily into the deep end. A great idea, though.

miguel · Wed 31/07/2013 11:08:20

Why not make a workshop for each of Eric's topics?

ThreeOhFour · Wed 31/07/2013 12:20:01

Well, aye, but it's still a huge project when you look at it split up.

miguel · Wed 31/07/2013 12:39:29

True, but one week should be enough to design a character sheet, another one for a close up portrait and so on...
It doesn't look that ambitious or a huge project. A month-long workshop it would be. But maybe I'm wrong and not really getting the difficulty of it.

Andail · Wed 31/07/2013 14:15:19

I'm not personally interested in a character workshop, and spending a whole semester on one character is just not realistic (nor necessary). But if that's what people want to do, I'll just wait with my box art idea.

dactylopus · Wed 31/07/2013 16:00:21

Eric's idea is great, but very ambitious. It's a very large undertaking.

Personally, I'm still into the idea of randomly generated game box art.

selmiak · Wed 31/07/2013 18:28:48

Yep, Eric's idea is great, too great for me to participate, but I'll surely watch this ...

Eric · Wed 31/07/2013 18:52:38

Quote from: Andail on Wed 31/07/2013 14:15:19I'll just wait with my box art idea.

I was going to send this privately, but I may as well do it publicly -- I didn't mean to offer my pitch as a replacement for yours, or be dismissive, but going back and reading what I wrote, that's what it sounded like. And I also sound like a bit of an ass. I'm sorry for this!

Instead of saying "What I'd like to see more," what I should have said was "What I'd like to see eventually." I didn't wind up participating in the monster jam, because, while I would have enjoyed the communal critique, monsters aren't applicable to the projects on which I'm working, and so any time spent on that would have meant time away from my other stuff. I also would like to see more connection between the workshops and game making. I enjoyed the emphasis on storytelling that grew out of the monster work, but I don't think that was necessarily embedded from the beginning.

My proposal aimed to marry the craft of illustration with other concerns of game creation, and I anticipate the box art workshop would raise similar concerns of "It's not enough to draw a pretty picture, because that picture also needs to effectively represent the people/situation/story/emotion of the game." You're also probably correct that a semester is too long -- I'm currently working on my syllabi for the fall, so I'm in semester / three projects and a final thought mode.

Again, sorry if I came off as a jerk! I'm a big fan of your work, and Samaritan Paradox is top of the list for me as far as my most-anticipated AGS games go. Please don't hate me!

waheela · Wed 31/07/2013 19:09:32

Little late to the thread, but just wanted to say that I absolutely loved the last workshop. Great learning experience and made me push myself in ways I hadn't before. Strictly portraits doesn't really interest me too much, but I love all the concepts being discussed here (box art for random AGS games, character design...) I'ma take a back seat in this thread and watch the awesome idea development unfold.

Andail · Wed 31/07/2013 20:17:26

Eric, relax, we're just voicing opinions here, why would I be upset? If anything, I was the one sounding a bit harsh when I dismissed your master class proposal

Let's keep throwing around suggestions, and on Saturday I'll get something started up.

Eric · Thu 01/08/2013 00:25:20

Glad to hear it!

miguel · Thu 01/08/2013 00:49:34

I'll be happy to join in whatever you decide. I do love portraits, btw!
A random game from the AGS list sounds better to me than the random name generator. The results are always too extravagant and we'll end up mocking the title.

Miez · Thu 01/08/2013 16:10:13

Quote from: cat on Mon 29/07/2013 11:20:13
I'm not too much interested in portraits, but I think I might join nontheless. Please wait until after Mittens

Er yeah - what she said...

Andail · Sat 03/08/2013 13:46:15

Okay, I've gone ahead and fired up a workshop. I didn't exactly compromise very much on my initial idea, but hey, we can do the portrait thing next time

Also, about Mittens - do check out the Mittens clause.
http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=48770.msg636463932#new