Tag Archives: games

Fashion magician Jacob Kok

May 9, 2014 Julia

Dutch Jacob Kok proves what research already knows about the characteristics of an innovator – double degrees. Having background in animation he stepped in to the role as a fashion designer ending up winning the Dutch version of the well-known tv series Project Runway. However his journey in to the high fashion world did not end up just building a ready-to-use fashion line but followed the path concept of an “Evolution” – the name of one of his collections that brought him in to a groundbreaking collaboration with software company Autodesk.

– How did you really end up working with Autodesk Jakob?

– After seeing a demonstration of the 123D Catch application I was instantly intrigued and impressed Autodesk is able to offer such complex technology in such an accessible way. I contacted them to work together, and they were up for it, curious and excited like me.

Using the app 123D Catch the Evolution collection is brought to life letting the user rotate and interact with the model, zoom and examine the garments in detail. A digital fashion experience far from convention.

It is not the only virtual collaboration Jacob has taken on. In 2013 he presented his “Paradise” Collection, a both physical and virtual fashion experience brought to the runway as well as on the famous game platform The Sims by Electronic Arts. Without compromising his psychedelic, spectacular aesthetics he entered the game industry.

– I’m generally very attracted to the game aesthetics, and I like the idea of interaction. Fashion is very personal, but fashion shows can be distant and impersonal. I’m working towards a similar playful interaction between fashion and the wearer.

Lover of aesthetic “tackiness” and “awkwardness” his specific style in fashion entered the virtual every-day life in the Sims. As a concept, you downloaded Jacobs collection to use on your very own Sims character.

Your aesthetics differ from most of the art in the video game industry, what were the reactions to the Sims collection?

– As a statement it worked very well, and people in fashion were excited about the project, but obviously people that got to play with it were mostly gamers. They were, to say it mildly, not into it at all.

You have now been making collections that both have a physical and a digital life, claiming that virtuality gives fashion new dimensions. Would you consider only making the garments digitally, or are they mutually dependent?

– Fashion is in essence about people wearing it. Even though the core of my work is about visual stimulation I tend to find it necessary to also work towards a physical purpose. I would like to state I can fully let go of the physical and investigate solely the virtual, but something inside me tells me I need to work on both.

You are working in an innovation landscape of virtual technology with many possible directions such as art, computer games, online retail, product development etc. What path would you want to take from now if you could choose?

– At the moment I’m working towards a broader interpretation of my vision, approaching my brand as a design studio. Doing so I don’t restrict myself to any field. The vision and the fascination need to be guiding me.

Jacob Kok

futureoffashion.nl

Sergi Brosa – Punk gangs and bikers in post apocalyptic adventure

March 29, 2014 Julia

Catalan Sergi Brosas’ biker gang illustrations brings you into a playful, punky world after a possible apocalypse. The characters are a part of an upcoming title from Canadian studio Kemojo. As the project still is at an early stage of development, we can only enjoy parts of the artwork so far, imagining the story growing.

– These are children of the wasteland. At this stage, we are producing my own concepts. So I’m allowed to choose what I want to do with each character. They are choosing if they want more girls or more boys or when we change clan of people. I’m just starting with a new clan, kind of different from the Biker Crew.

Living and working as a freelance artist in Barcelona, game concepts was not an obvious choice of career.

– I ended my studies some years ago not feeling professional enough to start working for the industry. I guess that happens to many students. So at that time, I was working as a freelance artist. I started doing commissions on DeviantArt while I could do freelance work for some companies. The one that offered me a permanent job at that stage was a toy company. I was working on a variety of things; tiny toys, advertisement stuff, cards… Meanwhile I was trying to finish off comic projects for a French company, a project that failed. So, I decided to focus on other areas, like video games. I believed video games wouldn’t get me stuck on the same topic, so I would fall into a routine. Video games is also one of the faster growing industries where art have an important place.

How are you proceeding with the material and turning them into 3D characters? How much of your artistic expression gets lost in the transition?

– As we are at an early stage of development, I can’t really say. But I guess we will lose some expression. For example, in the visuals I am using a strong cell shading style, mixed with dark lines. This gives the characters an attitude that 3D rendered colors will lose. And this is why I love cell shading because I can express this fluent.. this flowing look to the final piece. This final expression could also be achieved with fast and messy brush strokes. Thing that 3D can’t offer at all. I am talking in general 3D terms, not this game in particular. I’m sure that in the next years there could appear some 3D software that would generate this hand made look. I know there is a cell shade look for 3D, like in video games like Dragon Ball. But they still need to be more fluid in the forms.

Do you see any trends in character art right now looking at game studios around the world?

-I am not sure. If we take a look at the final visual style (color, lines), I think this kind of style is being used for old school role playing video games, and old school fight games. I’m not really seeing too much of this style in modern video game art. Usually everything is looking more painty, in games I like to play, looking very realistic.

-About the topic of the game, this postapocalyptic stuff is hitting big. Many movies have been made on that topic aswell as video games. The game Rage was the trigger that pushed me to produce postapo stuff. I always loved sci-fi, but postapocalyptic is for me on a different level. I love how everything is wasted and I love the freedom of doing what I want to do without social acceptance. Many of the things I have in my head..it’s accepted in this crazy no laws world.

If I let you predict the future of game production 20 years from now, what would it look like? What would you want it to look like?

-Haha, good question. I imagine an ungravity room where you can wear 3d view glasses and have your whole body covered by a some kind of armour to be able to move your it to control characters. Run, Jump, etc.
If we travel to a more futurist moment in time, directly connecting video games to your brain to feel everything, to make it as real as reality. But watch out for viruses.

Sergi Brosa

Kemojo

virtual prototyping

February 25, 2014 Julia

-It’s as if I was in a computer game. Once you know the rules, you can play for hours’, explains Design student Jennifer Droguett. This virtual “game” is 3D virtual prototyping software developed by Lectra. Designing clothes with this technology can feel like playing a game with an avatar

Software for garment prototyping seems to continue winning ground in the fashion industry and fashion schools worldwide are preparing their students for a new, 3D oriented craft landscape.

Tech company Lectra recently collaborated with dutch AMFI in letting the students innovate with their virtual 3D software. High function aswell as more experimental suggestions were made.

AMFI teachers stress the fact that a fashion designer of today need to know the physical craft aswell as keep up with new technology.

-For companies such as Adidas and Nike the virtualization of their collections is already implemented. By reducing samples they reduce costs, that’s a fact

-Fashion companies like Dior Homme and other fashion brands are following. They will all need the 21st century designers that graduate with these 3D skills in their portfolio. (AMFI)

AMFI

Lectra

steampunk – a digifashion phenomena

February 25, 2014 Julia

Are there visual styles with a stronger digital connection than a physical one?

Steampunk might be an example of subculture grown strong in digiculture, a phenomena at the fringes of pop culture.

Steampunk as a term bloomed in the eighties having grown out of a vast referencial system in literature and film. Cyberpunks sci-fi sibling has been described as “what the future would have looked like i it had happened sooner”. It is a pseudo Victorian dream with attributes of industrialism playing with element of air balloons, steam-powered machinery and mechanical computers.

“Steampunk may also, though not necessarily, incorporate additional elements from the genres of fantasy, horror, historical fiction, alternate history, or other branches of speculative fiction, making it often a hybrid genre. The term steampunk’s first known appearance was in 1987, though it now retroactively refers to many works of fiction created even as far back as the 1950s or 1960s.

Steampunk also refers to any of the artistic styles, clothing fashions, or subcultures, that have developed from the aesthetics of steampunk fiction, Victorian-era fiction, art nouveau design, and films from the mid-20th century.^[2] Various modern utilitarian objects have been modded by individual artisans into a pseudo-Victorian mechanical “steampunk” style, and a number of visual and musical artists have been described as steampunk.” (Wikipedia)

Still with cross media popularity it still is mostly appreciated in video games while having a movement like analogue life. It is a popular subcultural manifestation outside the fashion spotlight still evolving finding new visual expressions.

The Steampunk Tribune

Casual Steampunk

Steampunk Fashion Tumblr

Demons and Deities by Mike Corriero

February 8, 2014 Julia

Sometimes you come across work that is hard to categorise, that walks on a thin magic line for one to really know if you are looking at a game concept, illustration or an advanced fashion sketch. Mike Corriero’s project “Demons and Deities is reminiscent of a high fashion moodboard, still being part of a completely different work field.

– I used a very different technique to tackle the specific Demons and Deities for this personal project. It involved fashion design as the base and using a lot of real world tribes and various cultures all across the globe as reference. Runway models helped establish the basic lineup and a few of the general silhouettes.
The majority of the concepts were built upon multiple layers of lasso tool selections and gradient fills. A lot of custom brushes were used as dominant shapes and patterns and most of the designs were created through graphic and abstract shapes with hints of real world armor, cloth and trinkets. This was a very experimental process that turned out to be quite relaxing and fun to explore.”

Mike has nearly 10 years of experience as a freelance Concept artist and Illustrator for the Entertainment Industries. He has worked for companies such as Liquid Development, Radical Entertainment, Applibot Inc., Paizo Publishing and Hasbro Inc among others. One of his specialities is creature design and his Da Vinci like way of sketching creates interesting tension, considering the computerized context.

“I’ve always been intrigued and mesmerized by all of God’s creatures in this world. Whether I went fishing with my Dad and my brothers or whether we were camping, I was always wading in swampy water, weeds and flipping over rocks searching for “creepy crawlies”. I would collect all sorts of insects, frogs, toads, salamanders, snakes, newts, turtles, lizards and anything I found interesting. I always released them but it was fun to observe and study them even at such a young age.

– My interest in animals is what feeds and fuels my desire to create and design fictional creatures. It’s something that’s so natural to me that it’s become second nature. As far back as I can remember I had an interest in films that explored vast and exciting worlds with abundant and believable ecosystems. I love watching nature documentaries like BBC’s Planet Earth, Life, Madagascar, and Africa.

What are you currently working on?

– I’m currently working on world building with an idea about a vast array of cultures, tribes, creatures and exotic environments. It’s a joint collaboration in which I’ve invited a small handful of other artists I respect to join me in exploring this concept. The project will be driven and steered in whichever direction the work takes it, but the current topic revolves around “Demons and Deities”. Exploring the mythological, tribal and biblical beings and using those as a base stepping stone to design a fictional world where these beings exist in reality and remain a mystery to the cultures and tribes that worship and fear them.

– The thing that drives me as an artist personally is the basic principle behind creation. I am happiest sitting down in front of my computer or a sketchbook, with a cup of coffee and listening to music or watching a good movie for some inspiration. I could sit and sketch until the day grows old and lose myself in the world and ideas that come pouring out of my mind. To be able to fill a blank sheet of paper or a digital canvas with creatures, environments and all the crazy thoughts that run through my head is such a great feeling. It’s an addiction that fills my every thought and waking moment.

www.MikeCorriero.com

Conan inspired Concept art by Christoffer Lovén

January 26, 2014 Julia

Christoffer Lovén studies at Future Academy in Stockholm, an aspiring Swedish 3D artist. In addition he already works as a Concept artist for Machine Games.

Christoffer’s work has a softness and subtlety to it and the theatrical expression of it reveals a great interest for filmic and scenic art.

What was your inspiration developing these characters?

-My fantasy characters are a part of my creative process in developing interesting individuals for a book. My inspiration for these came from different ancient cultures mixed together and spiced with influences from the fantastic world of Conan.

What are the most important thing to think about when designing a character for a game?

-To let the characters convey their history and culture through how they look. When you have established your character’s back story it’s then easier to come up with designs on how they dress and to find a place for them in the world.

Looking at Concept art sketches it may seem like a world with endless possibilities. In opposite of working with real life, product design it’s a world of fantasy, storytelling and artistic freedom. However, the technical framework requires a specific artistic mindset.

What are the main challenges transforming concept art into real, functioning 3D characters?

-To create a character which is easy for the player to read in terms of silhouette and colors and that fits within the rules established in the game. It’s also very important to know and understand how the character that you are making is going to move. The animators should be able to get a feel of the motion of the character just by the concept art.

Read more about Christoffer Lovén at loveusart.com

Chris Wells’ amazonian women for Gears of War 3

January 16, 2014 Julia

Third title in Epics cover shooter Gears of war sold over 3 million copies during the first week at release and has over the years grown into a legendary title in it’s genre. It holds a lot of the characteristics of a classic shooter game and has despite of criticism of “dude bro” masculinity and excessive violence quite a large audience of female gamers.

Chris Wells, Senior Character Artist at Epics art team has over 16 years of experience as an animator for game development and played an important part in the process developing the characters for Gears of War. It might be hard for an outsider to imagine the creative process of an entertainment product of this scale; the technical skills and massive team work where with the level of detail a game character holds today.

Chris, if you were to describe for a kid, a five-year old what it is that you do all day. What would you say?

-If I were to describe what I do to a child, I’d say that I make puppets on the computer. In simple terms, that’s really all that I do. It takes a team of artists and animators to bring them to life.

A skilled 3D artist of today has the opportunity of designing concepts, environments and people that don’t exist in real life. At a technical level where cloth, textures and physique looks fairly realistic that is an extremely powerful tool, even outside of a game context. In game production there’s very little room for mistakes, going back to the drawing table would mean throwing away huge amounts of work.

To look into the actual visual possibilities is like a “God’s particle” discovery. Although the technological evolution in the game industry has not as it may seem made the process quicker and easier, it has actually raised the bar for the developers at a time when gamers get used to more detailed and advanced graphic experiences.

Gears of war has been criticized for the lack of female characters och decided in it’s third entry to introduce playable female characters. The result is amazonian in comparison to a more sexualized definition of femininity.

When you decided to female characters into the third title, what was your starting point? Did you just transfer the attributes from the male characters or did they have other characteristics?

– As with all game projects, it really is a team effort. The idea started with Cliff as I recall. As he and other developers traveled to comic con and other events, they (myself included) were surprised to find that in addition to male cosplayers in COG costumes, there were several female cosplayers doing the same thing.

– So once design brought the mandate down for female COGs, it went from the Art director (Chris Perna), to the concept artist (James Hawkins), to me. We wanted to make sure the women were heroic, like Ellen Ripley of the Aliens movies. For me, it took some time to get the look right, and I would find myself continuously revising and polishing the female models even a year after they were technically complete.

-Some of the hurdles were technical, because hair in UE3 at the time was best if it was dark. Anya is a blonde of course, so that required a lot of attention to detail, as well as coding support for new tools specifically for hair. Aesthetically, Chris Perna had a clear vision of what he wanted, but gave me a lot of room to explore and add to the look.

The guys were really strong, armored and heavy, so we needed to keep the females to be believable as well. I figured that we could sell it if we had ‘pockets of femininity’, for lack of a better term. Basically alternating the bulky, hard surface forms of the armor, with a graceful curve in the waist area and the hips. I also tried to make their faces as attractive (yet still strong) as possible, and I used inspiration from fashion models athletes, and even the final fantasy series for cues. In addition, Maury Mountain and Mike Buck did amazing work texturing the bodies of Sam, Anya, and the Queen. I’m really proud of what we accomplished as a team, and thanks to all the fans who enjoy the series!

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Chris Wells

Epic games

Marvelous Designer brings real pattern making technique and 3d software together

January 14, 2014 Julia

While as the majority of the worlds cg artists still make character outfits in traditional 3d software manner, Marvelous designer is a software that rather uses traditional pattern making to create virtual clothing. Because of it’s compatibility with other 3d software it is already in use by 3d artists at game and film studios around the world as in Weta Digital’s the Hobbit and Ubisofts Assasin’s Creed. The company claims the technique to both make outstanding fabric and detail replicas and at the same time save time for the CG artist. If this new approach to virtual clothing hits it big remains to be seen.

www.marvelousdesigner.com/

MAGIC FABRIC