Lecture topic:
Character & the
Military Entertainment Complex
Character Designing:
Matt Musante emac ‘07
Screenings:
Gamer Revolution
http://characterdesignlinks.blogspot.com/
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/01/business/media/01disney.html?hp
Making of La espera by
Jorge Suarez
http://www.3dm3.com/forum/articles.php?action=viewarticle&artid=176
http://www.3dtotal.com/galleries/
Character
Design: 
- Briefing
Covers the inception phase, the phase of gathering requirements and analyzing the profile of the work. - Looking
for references
The phase where we’re getting more familiar with the design requirements. - Drawing
the character
We take a look at some basic principles in the corporate design of mascots and draw first sketches of the character. - Coloring
the character
We make the character more vivid and pretty colorful using plain colors, shadows, lighting medium values, lights, reflection and lines coloring. - Designing
the logo
The stage when we design a rather amusing logo which fits to the character. - Final
presentation
We introduce final changes and finish the design combining everything we’ve created so far.
http://characterdesignlinks.blogspot.com/
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/01/business/media/01disney.html?hp
Techniques:
Vector character design:
http://vector.tutsplus.com/tutorials/web-design/learn-a-professional-workflow-for-illustrating-a-comic-style-header-image/
http://www.blog.spoongraphics.co.uk/tutorials/illustrator-tutorial-create-a-gang-of-vector-ninjas
http://pinkzap.com/tutorial/drawing-a-characters-face-in-illustrator/
Digital painting:
http://www.studioqube.com/tutorials/painting/index.html
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/02/13/drunken-monkey-photoshop-tutorial/#1
Comic strip approach: Traditional Drawing, then digital painting Tutorial
Environment painting http://airage.deviantart.com/art/Inside-Environment-Painting-2-29149738
http://concept-on-mac.deviantart.com/art/Speedpaint-step-by-step-34278775
Digital
Painting Tutorial by Vitaly Alexius
Clouds http://tutorials.epilogue.net/tutorials/perfect-clouds-in-5-easy-steps
Wet Canvas Digital Painting Overview
Digital Paint Portrait Techniques
A Concept Artist Daniel Dociu
Combining photo and digital
painting
http://fantasyartdesign.com/free-wallpapers/digital-art.php?best=1&i_i=241&u_i=68&srt=3&count=1
Feng Zhu Design http://www.fengzhudesign.com/tutorials.html
Digital Games and the Military:
Amusing ourselves to death: “killer entertainments”
the military industrial complex and gaming:
Games are:
* interactive & participatory (not passive)
* Immersive: physically, spatially
* playful
Play:
v. played, play•ing, plays
v. intr.
1. To occupy oneself in amusement, sport, or other recreation: children playing with toys.
2. To take part in a game: No minors are eligible to play.
b.To participate in betting; gamble.
3. To act in jest or sport: They're not arguing in earnest, they're just playing.
4. To deal or behave carelessly or indifferently; toy.
5. To behave or converse sportively or playfully.
6. To act or conduct oneself in a specified way: play fair; an investor who plays cautiously.
7. To act, especially in a dramatic production.
8.Music. To perform on an instrument: play on an accordion.
ludic space
French ludique, from Latin ludus: of, relating to, or characterized by play, playful
Pretend
Suspension of disbelief
Two contrasting ideas about Play:
Play creating culture
Homo Ludens "Man the Player," the play element of culture, written in 1938 by Dutch historian, cultural theorist and professor Johan Huizinga. It discusses the importance of the play element of culture and society. Huizinga uses the term "Play Theory" within the book to define the conceptual space in which play occurs. Huizinga suggests that play is primary to and necessary (though not sufficient) condition of the generation of culture.
He believes that "play-instinct" emerged very early in human prehistory - in fact, he sees it as one of humanity's primary instincts, one which provides the fundament for other elements of society, such as religious ritual, war, and poetry. He has an esthetic approach to history, where art and spectacle play an important role. He was held in detention by the Nazis where he died in 1945.
The Ambiguity of Play
by Brian Sutton Smith, a New Zealand play theorist who studies the cultural significance of play in human life. He demonstrates that children are not innocent in their play and that adults are indeed guilty in theirs. In both cases play pretends to assist them in surmounting their Darwinian struggles for survival.
Play shows us the dark underbelly of the world
Catharsis and inoculation against the dangers of reality
Symbolic side of human culture
A child gets the chance to make mistakes
Adaptation, teaching skills
Introducing us into certain communities
Fate, power, communal identity, frivolity, the imaginary, the self
The Oxymoron of “Virtual Violence”(J. Baudrillard)
Jenny Terry: Killer Entertainments: Conditions and Consequences of
Remote Intimacy. The project theorizes remote intimacy by tracing the
relationship between entertainment technologies and militarism in the US,
during the 20th century to the present. Chapters focus on case studies of
military uniform design, fashion, and wearable computing; surveillance
technologies and remote tracking devices; weaponry design; psychological
operations; USO shows; and computer gaming. The technologies analyzed, share
capacities for entertainment and aggression and are tied to new forms of
commodification and governmentality.
The technology brings its military weight to creators
Rendition: Guantanamo
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rendition:_Guantanamo
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/06/01/tech/main5054176.shtml
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLf0saVg4fs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mR_8fkAmuEc&feature=fvw
we take our virtual characters
seriously:
SPORTS | July 04, 2009
College
Stars Sue Over Likenesses in Video Games
By KATIE THOMAS
Two quarterbacks contend the N.C.A.A. and a video game manufacturer should pay
college athletes for using their likenesses in popular electronic games
Are
we constructing our game characters or are they constructing us?
From Sun Tzu to XBox (Introduction)
by Ed Halter
Extra readings if
you are super interested:
Theaters of War: the Military-Entertainment Complex
By Tim Lenoir and
Henry Lowood
Saving the World, One Video Game at a Time by
Clive Thompson New York Times article
Studio skills: using the tutorials create an original game character in either Photoshop, Illustrator or ….
Project:
Using the lecture
material about:
Briefing
Covers the inception phase, the phase of gathering requirements and analyzing
the profile of the work.
Looking
for references
The phase where we’re getting more familiar with the design requirements.
Create your own, original new character
with a one paragraph description and spec sheet which includes:
Name
Age:
Height:
Weight:
Eyes:
Hair:
Facial Features:
Color Scheme:
Characteristics:
Task:
Create an original
character with a short bio and description.
Deliverables:
An original drawn and
colored character including a one paragraph description and comprehensive spec
sheet.
Grading Criteria:
1. Assignment
completed on-time
2. Adherence to the parameter
specifications
3. Appropriate use of
techniques
4. Exploration and
application of creative tools
5. Quality and
clarity of class presentation
6. Quality of
Inventiveness, expression, and imagination in your character