Week 09:

Peer Review Actionable Feedback:

For this part of the project we had a good opportunity to seek feedback from others during an allocated Peer Review run by Louise. As with any creative pursuit there is only so much you can garner from looking at your own work constantly, thus it's often essential to seek views from others as they will often see aspects that may not have been considered or assist with focusing efforts away from relatively inconsequential tasks that you may personally deem essential. So for my feedback:

Texture Improvements:

Some more shine on the floorboard would help add some more interest and help them read as wood.

Glass material is reading as plastic in some places and isn't present in others especially noticeable on the main door.

Breaking up of textures/ Decals Decals Decals:

The main point of feedback was how breaking up the main textures I currently have would help sell the reality and make the house seem lived in.

This is most evident on the floor where adding some scratches/wear from moved furniture and creating damaged wallpaper would breakup the main 2 repeating areas.

Another idea was adding some stray raised floorboards to further breakup the ground which will absolutely add more intrigue to an otherwise dull zone.

Additions:

Place pictures in the empty frames.

From this feedback my next steps will be: creating the pictures that will be going into my frames. Followed by breaking up the repeatable elements using decals or other methods. This has been something I've putting off as is my most favorite aspect of this style of workflow but the time for wear and tear is rapidly approaching only confirming its necessity by this session.

FTI COSTUME COLLABORATION

To bring in another skillset and utilize the talents of those I've met at university I approached a friend studying Costume. In doing so I had access to the costume stores, a vast collection of garments usable by costume students in projects ranging from film, TV and now Games! Having cross discipline and industry connections can be an invaluable tool for everyone involved as provides new opportunities and perspectives that may never have been possible otherwise. To begin this process I sat down with Libby Barritt and planned what style and time period I wanted to aim for when dressing my to be models and we decided on a general 1920-1940's esque appearance whilst accuracy is important I wanted more of a project feel that perfect timeline correct attire which is apparently a common choice to make within the world of costume for film/tv.

Hunting through the vast collection in the FTI building was the next step and with the guidance of Libby we selected a variety of garments to be used and then eventually photographed. One of which being an old wedding dress which due to it's inability to be taken off campus was photographed in the building. Once everything else had been booked out I headed home and setup a vey professional photoshoot.

Many photos were taken and poses referenced from others taken around a similar time resulting in a nice collection to be edited and taken forward into my scene. (As you may notice I didn't escape playing dress up and collaborated in choosing an outfit based on the titular Arthur Spiderwick's appearance from the movie). Big thanks to Joe Byfield and Sean Nelson for being coerced into being my models your efforts are greatly appreciated!.

The next step for these photos was taking them into photoshop for editing. The process for this was editing the images' curves, colour balance and applying a range of noise filters and layered grunge to make them look suitably aged. A more intensive process was giving Libby a period appropriate hairstyle, given she is presumably married (explains the dress) the hair would need to be up as having it down was reserved for young girls and those unmarried. (A nugget of great knowledge acquired by multi-discipline collaboration)

To conclude filling my frames up I made another atlas similar to my books, this time filled with my taken pictures, some pieces of artwork found in my own home and other pieces found online. (These again would be all created by hand in a studio scenario) All of which chosen to sell the believable fantastical biologist feeling combined with old possible family photos a favourite of which being a drawing of an Ichthyosaurus skull discovered by Joseph Anning and Darwins drawings of finches.

Biodiversity Heritage Library. (2015). Uncovering the ‘Fish Lizard’: Ichthyosaurs and Home. [online] Available at: https://blog.biodiversitylibrary.org/2015/10/uncovering-fish-lizard-ichthyosaurs-and.html.

Brown, D. (2021). Darwin’s Finches. [online] editions.covecollective.org. Available at: https://editions.covecollective.org/content/darwins-finches-0.

‌Once collated onto a single sheet I used Substance Painter to add normal details preventing them from looking uncharacteristically flat in comparison to the rest of the scene. Ultimately creating a pleasing extra dimension of realism which may go unnoticed to most. To frame these pictures I made a trim sheet aligning with videogame appropriate workflows and aiding with the constant pursuit of good performance.