John Kim and I went to visit Zach Montoya, a senior illustration major. We talked to Zach about character and environment design and got his feedback on a few of our pieces. Zach also gave us an hour tutorial on how he approaches creating his own environment. He created a quick futuristic city-scape (pictured below) and talked about how he was creating it and what tools he was using.
Zach uses photo-manipulation in the beginning stages of his concept pieces to get general shape and value down, and then proceeds to manipulate the images to suit his own interests and needs. The above image started as a cityscape image and then he warped it multiple times and created overlaying copies of it at different angles to create an abstract image. He then pinpointed parts of the picture that he liked and worked more into them with varying tools. The above image is a completely different composition than the starting photo. I found it amazing how quickly and efficiently he was able to create a readable image. The images below give a genreal idea of his process:
I tried using Zach's technique to create my own image, but found it incredibly difficult. I think I will try using Zach's technique a few more times before, but I can't see myself using it very much in the future. It doesn't seem to be in my comfort zone.
This is Zach's Blog: http://zachmontoya.blogspot.com/ He mainly does editorial and book cover pieces now. Here is an example of his work:
I also worked on a few rough clothing sketches on a character model that I have been working on. I plan on changing the character's body type; however, I am pleased with the face I created.
The color schemes of the clothing are not very good right now, and the clothing designs are very rough. I'm going to get some feedback from my friends that are developing the game and see what they think.
