Spring 2023 Semester

This was one of my final projects for a character class this last semester. In keeping with much of the work we did, I was practicing developing new work within someone else's sandbox (IP). My target for this project was to create a new set of armor for each class in Destiny 2.

I wanted to evoke a sense of nostalgia so I borrowed from and studied the form language of Destiny 1 armors while mixing it with the textural emphasis and small character stories that D2 armor sets emphasize more heavily. It was really important to keep them grounded as "vanilla" sets while ensuring that they had enough visual interest and variety to warrant their place.

In terms of process, I started with really rough sketches before moving onto some loose sketches with quick color. From there, it was just a matter of fine tuning and defining shapes from 3D all the way up through the paint over.

The armor set for the Warlock was based on mixing these ideas of a tactical and arcane sensibilities. What would a "tactical" Warlock look like? I rolled with this idea that maybe there was an order that traveled outside in enemy territory to secure important artifacts and experiment with them in a field. And opposed to their kin who studied tomes in the tower, they'd have this more rough-and tumble sort of approach to things.

The armor set for the titan class was based on an old lore tidbit about the "Peacekeepers", an old order that guarded the last human refuge. So my thinking was it would be great to evoke a more classic feeling set by referencing that lore. What if the order was reformed? In the end, I landed on a "People's hero" type of character, adorned with small trinkets and gifts from the city's people.

The Hunter's set is all about a single job: Codebreaking and electronic warfare. I thought it would be neat to really lean into the ad-hoc radio and survival kit aesthetic that forms part of the undercurrent of the class's themes. So he's got all these cables and antennas for picking up signals and jamming them.

In keeping with the final project, this one was a short-turnaround task to develop a mount in the same IP. I picked one of the enemy races and starting exploring different silhouettes and visual languages from floral to more insect-like. Ultimately I landed on a form that complemented the main enemy race and would believably part of their ecosystem at some point. Although it was beyond the scope of the project, I tried to squeeze in a few breakdowns, and would love to revisit and expound on this later. (Movement keys, variants, etc.)

This project tasked us with finding an older movie and adapting it for live-action use. My father had bought some low quality VHS tapes when he was living in Japan of the Patlabor series and I found them many years later growing up. So I thought adapting one of Oshii's lesser known films for a couple of characters would be fun. I tried to avoid a hyper futuristic look while keeping much of the shape language and utilitarian feeling of the original designs.

I also began doing daily paintings and sketches to help polish my fundamentals further.

This is a book-cover style painting I entered into a Rebelle contest and was happy to place in. The main goal was giving enough pieces of a narrative with both of the characters without explicitly leading the viewer. It was also great just to get back to more painterly pieces since I have been leaning more into photorealistic work this semester. Both have their merit to me as I student, and I think they both portray and elevate certain priorities at different points in the pipeline, so it's important for me to practice them each.

Despite focusing on characters this last semester, I did also test out an idea for a panoramic-concept using Destiny. The goal was to create a 360 degree panoramic environment concept with a sense of atmosphere. I painted on the interior of a spherical grid which was then projected onto a skybox in Unity to achieve a "3d environment concept". The biggest barrier with the project was bumping up against hardware limitations on the resolutions my comp could paint on in order to achieve a high fidelity piece. Unfortunately, the resolutions required to achieve the resolution and fidelity I wanted were much higher than anticipated. Even so, I think it was a fun proof of concept!

Check it out here for yourself: https://itsamdev.itch.io/environment-concept-pano-test