Art of Jordan Nelson

Wednesday 18 March 2015

I want to make comics.

In my last blog post, I mentioned that to get closer to finishing my first art piece, I had to cut back on some content I had planned. One of the defining things I wanted to do for The Classroom (now known as the Brampton Scary School) was create a comic.

This would have greatly contributed to the narrative of the environment. I would be able to explain more what the school was about, who the characters were, and how does everything progress and weld together.

But while doing that, it reminded me that it wasn't a recent idea. Making comics for me is something I've actually done a lot in the past. Since I was kid, I use to draw on paper a series of different panels with characters doing something. Whether it was some fight scene or a made up game.

But I actually considered making it a serious thing. Around Middle School, I did start to begin drawing more and eventually, I created my own cartoon universe. I called it "Donkeywagon", after a toy I got in a Kinder Surprise chocolate egg that contained a donkey pulling a wagon.

This cartoon didn't get far though when I somehow stopped pursuing it. But I was still interested in the nature of comics. I collected and searched for storyboards of cartoons I'd like to watch.

Even into High School, I still kept a strong love for the storyboard art. I would say my whole decision to pursue Environment Art comes from my years of drawing environments in all the storyboards I could come up with.

But on a more relevant note, I'm not giving up trying to get in games. That's not what I'm here for. But as something I would pursue on a sidelines, I want to reestablish my fictional universes I have been writing over the years, and even use them to get adapted into games.

There's a beauty I see in being able to do this. Creating a comic usually means having strong artistic control and say over the material. All the stories, characters, ideas can be sourced straight from the person writing them. It would be hard for someone else to tamper with it or steer clear from the vision that is planted.

But if I do comics, it wouldn't actually be like Marvel or DC comics kind of thing. I would actually like to have it be a webcomic. The content wouldn't be restricted to physical print, so anyone with internet connection could read it for free. It would also take place episodically. Super Effective by VGcatz is something close to how I vision it. Not the actual Pokemon story but like "I'll show you this character and you can read how the story unfolds in every new web post".

Sunday 15 March 2015

Taking my own advice.

Building my first environment has come with many challenges. By this, I don't mean the actual 3D modeling phase but rather, the whole idea behind it all.

Ever since revamping my entire portfolio, I've begun treating my environments as more than just "art pieces to get a job". I see something much bigger than that. I want everything that I make to be extremely memorable. Something that could actually be treated like a real video game, with all its development entails.

For example, while coming up with The Classroom, I began writing a short story for it. I wanted to explain everything about the setting and why I chose it. To better get this point across, I also started drawing some simple concept art. Eventually, I became so overwhelmed with ideas that it wasn't just a classroom anymore. No, it had to be an entire school!

So you are wondering "what does this all mean? What are you saying?". I've realized something about myself, and how it relates to my work. When I'm given a project, I want to turn it on its head. Nothing is "too simple" to me. I will and can try to make something much more bigger and interesting.

This type of interactive story telling has been both a pro and a con to me. The con is, I kinda take longer to get something done. Because I always aim for having a good first impression, it means I wont show something off till I think it's ready. Now, the pro means I'm giving myself more time to make my work better. I'm inspired to go research, or practice, or refine a subject.

As of today, my portfolio is still bare bones. I'm aware of this. I don't consider this as laziness, because I really am working hard right now. I personally want to fill my portfolio up with good work.

But as I stated in the above, I'm sort of moving at my own pace. It's not a matter of laziness but time. I put in a lot of time into everything I do just building my first environment.

However, I also realize I can't spend forever on certain assets or concepts. It's why I'm writing this blog post. With The Classroom, I had a lot more ambitious stuff planned. But I'm now cutting them until I can at least have some environments up. It's a shame, because I really think the stuff I cut would go a long way to leaving an impression on people.

But just like in the game industry, there are real restrictions that come with development when you are short on time. In a way, I'm teaching myself to get use that.

Monday 23 February 2015

Building A New Portfolio: The Classroom

For the past couple of weeks, I have been thinking about how I'm going to reach my ultimate goal. As I've never worked in the game industry before, I made it an effort to consult with experts in the art field. This means, getting a lot of feedback and criticism on what direction I'm taking.

I hold this blog as proof, that I can listen to those that are more knowledgeable than me, and I can apply their advice to my work.

I've decided for my portfolio, I want to have 4 very special environments. All of them are meant to convey a great story, meet certain job standards, and show my learning curve.

Before I came up with the first environment idea, it had to undergo a lot of changes.

Originally, I wanted to do a Bathroom environment. This was because, it was small and I would be able to push the visuals for the target platform (Playstation 4). However, I ultimately chose to scrap it, because it just wouldn't be interesting.

A work in progress, the bathroom didn't have a good story. It was meant to have a look 1:1 with a real bathroom, but this would be boring. Of course, I could have changed it, but I had better in mind.

Originally, the replacement for this environment, was going to be an underground bar. The new specs would be for mobile platforms (ex: Nintendo 3DS, PS Vita or iOS). This would be significantly more easier to pull off and allow me to focus on fewer assets instead of jumping head first into a large environment.

I changed my mind though.

Google results for this made bar settings appear very dark. Makes sense, since it's underground. But I just wasn't happy. I could have of course, modify the colors, but then I wouldn't be sure if what was left would still be a bar.

I had another idea though. I thought of doing a kitchen. There are plenty of stories that can be told with that, and it would fit in with some games. But I worried a kitchen couldn't handle a lot of variety.

Next up, was a restaurant. I did something similar before when I first played around with Unreal Engine 4.
http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=138724

I was feeling more confident with it, but I ran into a conflict. The next environment I had planned after this might overlap too much (a convenience store). I want my portfolio to be original and devoid of clones as much as possible. This was out.

I finally arrived closer to my dream portfolio piece, when I thought of doing a Classroom piece. I could immediately brainstorm many ideas for this. I'll admit, the biggest inspiration comes from Japanese games and anime, where the Highschool setting is actually popular.

However, I saw this as an opportunity to not only recall my own experiences in High School, but all those who graduated from it as well.

Look forward to The Classroom being about a very chaotic time at High School.

Thursday 1 January 2015

I've grown an appreciation for PS1 graphics.

For all intents and purposes, this blog comes a day after the official year of the 20th anniversary of Playstation.

I made a tribute to Playstation a while ago for the 20th anniversary, and it embraced the very same limitations that games made for it, were based upon.

While creating this piece, it had me thinking. There where a lot of limitations involved making this, yet, there was dedication hidden somewhere. PS1 game developers never had access to today's powerful computers or software. When developers wanted to claim "photorealism" back then, this was all they had. Despite this, they still managed to impress us. Games like Crash Bandicoot or Metal Gear Solid were still marketed to us as being "very real 3D looking graphics". Were they wrong for doing this? Not really, and here's why.

There are real limitations as to what can actually be achieved in real time. But, there is also a certain creative and artistic drive necessary for games to be considered real or "good looking" to us.

The PS1's limitations forced developers to pioneer their own attempts at realism. Think of it like the first building blocks of games. Everyone was on their own. Before a time we knew about documented shadows or lighting, you had to create those on your own. This is now what gave birth to "realistic" or "good looking games". You couldn't just hire any person and expect them to make the best looking building or monster at a push of a button. It required the person to have a strong understanding of the arts and the world around him or her, to actually present a model that looks convincing real or in some cases, not real (i.e cartoons).

Here is an actual photograph of a Playstation that my model is based on. It's free of all the the jaggy artifacts and other primitive subtleties you found in its games. However, could you not immediately recognize my Playstation model from the real thing?

There are differences, but it's not impossible to tell each model from each other. To get the best out of my model, I had strategize about everything. "Where will I put my polygons?" "What's the most important thing I want to showcase?" "What should the lighting look like?". It was all these things I had to examine closely and experiment with, to finally come up with the end result.

Because the PS1 offered no prior knowledge of 3D lighting and rendering, you could say the PS1 was the only time developers were left unhindered to getting close to realism.

For example, most game engines now made for PS4/XBO have made the move to physically based rendering. With previous generations, this wasn't as wide spread. Some games could go overboard with effects like bloom. Despite having more advance graphics, you couldn't really call these games "real".

Because the PS1 felt like the wild west of 3D, it was possible to avoid these pitfalls of wrongfully using visual effects like bump maps, specular lighting etc, that despite the claim of "looking real", it would later represent the opposite or age worse.

Now, I'm not saying the PS1's graphics are ultra realistic, and that no game since then has never been real. Only that, realism (for the lack of a better word), has always been in the control of the artist.

I could model a Playstation with more geometry and with more sophisticated textures and shaders and it will indeed, appear more realistic than it does with the crude PS1 graphics. However, it takes a real good lighting artist, texture artist, or modeler, to understand each discipline, to actually pull that off. Just slapping on "ambient occlusion" wont make it look better than my PS1 render. Having an intricate understanding of where and how exactly light bounces and diffuses off surfaces, is the only way throwing in AO would be an improvement, as opposed to a "downgrade".

As well as, not every game obviously has to be realistic. Crash Bandicoot on PS1, prided itself on having really impressive technical visuals, but at its core, it was still a cartoon. Many games since then have followed the same route and arguably, came out on top over the games did attempt "pure realism", depending on who you ask.

Pixar doesn't make games, but their example in the movie realm can still be a great influence for the game industry. There was a point where they were bottlenecked by hardware limitations, but they still manage to put out movies that can be enjoyed years later. That is because, they let their art do the talking first and foremost.

There has been no greater quote in the world of computer graphics than this,

"Art challenges technology, technology inspires the art".

While true photorealistic graphics are still years away, we can still enjoy what is being made now. Because what we make now shouldn't be created just for today. We should be making art that can be appreciated for for all of eternity.

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If you manage to read through this, congratulations. It was a long read but this is exactly the type of mindset I'm use to. I evaluate things in both a scientific and artistic way. I want to understand things in both objective truths, as well as unconventional thinking.