Entry 5 - Colour Theory

Hi, David Bush here. This is my fifth entry into my Games Art & Design blog. In this post I will be discussing the topic of Colour Theory.

What is Colour Theory?
Colour Theory is a system that unifies all the different colours in the colour spectrum that are visible to humans. By using this system we can find effective ways to use and combine colours to meet a certain purpose.

Ground Zero - The Colours
You will most likely have already encountered what I am going to show you at some point in your life but I am going to explain it anyway. 

There are primary colours within the language of colour theory. These primary colours consist of blue, red and yellow. They are the starting point for any artist as they cannot be made by mixing any other colour and are needed to begin making all the other colours in the colour spectrum. 

Below the primary colours are the secondary colours. These colours consist of green, orange and violet. The aforementioned secondary colours are made by mixing a combination of two different primary colours. Green is made from yellow and blue, orange is made from yellow and red and violet is made from blue and red.

The tertiary colours are made from different combinations of a single primary and a single secondary colour. There are six tertiary colours, and these are known by hyphenated names. These names follow as a combination of the names of the primary and secondary colour they are made from. For example the tertiary colour created as a result of mixing yellow and orange is called yellow-orange. Tertiary colours hyphenated names always begin with the primary colour and finish with the secondary colour name in logical fashion. Just to confirm the six different tertiary colours they consist of yellow-orange, red-orange, red-violet, blue-violet, blue-green, and yellow-green.

Analogous Colours 
The analogous colours consist of a any colours that lay next to one another on the colour wheel. An example of this could be blue-violet, blue and violet. A fourth colour of red-violet can be allowed to belong additionally in this analogous colour scheme. A fifth colour of blue-green can possibly be allowed to belong within the colour scheme. A colour such as orange or colours such as yellow-orange or red-orange cannot belong in this analogous scheme that I have described as orange is opposite blue on the colour wheel and the other two tertiary colours I mentioned contain orange which means they are also unsuitable for the example I have described. Analogous colour schemes can be seen quiet often in nature and when analogous colours are near each other in a composition it can appear quite pleasant to the eye.

Complementary Colours
Complementary colours are colours that oppose one another on the colour wheel. Complement which the term Complementary colours is derived from means "to complete". This ties into primary colours being needed to produce any other colour and any two complementary colour sets can be reversed and you will find the complete primary colour set. Also if you are to reverse engineer a colour that may seem millions of colours away from any of the primary colours you will find that it will likely contain the three primary colours. Using a complementary colour set you can bring the viewers attention to a particular element of an image. For example if you have dark blue walls and a light in between them if you were to make the colour of the light a dark orange colour then because it makes a complementary colour set it will stand out a lot.

Hue, Value and Intensity
Colours can be identified and recognised by seeing the three attributes of Hue, Value and Intensity within them. The reason for this is that the colours we see are almost never accurate to the colour pigments we believe them to be. 

Hue: The Hue is the colour that is the source or origin of the colour you can see beneath it. 

Value: The Value is the amount of light or dark you see to be evident within a colour. The Value can be changed by mixing white or black into the Hue. Below is a value scale.



Intensity: The Intensity (AKA Saturation) is the amount of brightness or dullness you see within a colour. The brighter the colour is the purer it is and the duller the colour the less amount of colour there is.



Warm, Cool and Monochromatic
To my understanding Yellow and Orange are always perceived as Warm colours. Blue and Violet are always perceived as Cool colours. Red and Green can be seen as both Warm and Cool colours. Warm colours can make objects appear closer and cool colours make objects appear further away into the distance. Below is an example of a blue monochromatic colour scheme.



Monochromatic colour schemes consist of a single hue and that hues variations of Value and Intensity of that colour. A monochromatic colour scheme can be created by taking a hue from the colour wheel and creating additional versions of it with a certain amount of black, white or grey (white and black) added to it. A piece of artwork that only has a monochromatic colour scheme within it is usually seen as boring as there are no other colours present to bring in additional feelings to the piece. 

Thanks for reading and take care. I'll be adding a new entry on Silhouettes soon. 

Entry 4 - Concept Art Comparison

Hi, David Bush here. This is my fourth entry into my Games Art & Design blog. In this post I will be discussing two pieces of concept art created for Assassins Creed II and Gears of War.

Concept Art 1: Assassins Creed II Square

This first piece of concept art is of Piazza San in Assassins Creed II. The media used is digital and was most likely created in Adobe Photoshop as that is the industry standard for creating digital concept art.

 The piece of concept art is trying to communicate the towering scale and the militant style of control over this certain area in Venice. The concept art is making me think that there is a high level of diplomatic control over the area hence there are nearly a dozen armed soldiers standing guard over the area and the large amount of regime based banners draped over buildings and mounted onto flagpoles and with very prescribed (possibly commissioned) artwork and architectural design in the entire plaza. There is also a stage for hanging criminals and this could be telling me that this is a very important area used for possibly corrupt control of the citizens of Venice by using this Plaza as a form of staging to scare and preach citizens into believing that potentially innocent citizens are the enemy in order for whoever is controlling this area or possibly all of Venice to maintain their control. The area appears to be very wealthy due to the prominence of a strict design on the buildings and the size of them compared to just a simple house in Venice. This wealth is also seen in the design of the streets with artistically designed tiling and expensive set pieces through the form of street lamps and the inherent amount of open space enclosed by these buildings. There is also a spectators stand from what I can tell where I can imagine figures of power and importance in this environments regime watch the hangings. The civilians are all dressed in what appears to be very upper class clothing. Overall this environment that is depicted in this concept art comes across as a rich but corrupt area.

The colour palette of this piece is very stale and can be summed but to variations of white, brown, blue, red and black. There are complementary colours to be seen such as greens, oranges and purples to highlight particular details to make them stand out within the piece. The composition of this piece is good as everything seems to have been placed and designed into the concept art so that it does not obscure the view of many set pieces. The piece displays a lot of visual information through the buildings, objects and people and this allows the viewer to create a good picture of what is occurring in this environment. All of the buildings lines point directly towards the bell tower which shows that that particular building is the focal point of this piece. The lighting has been thought over so that it highlights the bell tower which is as I described the focal point of the piece. You can also note that the light on the buildings as you move further along from the bell tower fades and gets gradually darker to lessen the importance of other surrounding buildings.

The style of this concept art is photorealistic. Photorealistic concept art is used to portray realistic and detailed games environments, buildings, objects and characters such as Gran Turismo, Rainbow Six Vegas, Crysis, Deadrising, The Elder Scrolls, and Final Fantasy VII. The style is used to make all game assets such as characters, objects, and environments as realistic and life like as possible.

I would not be happy to use this piece of concept art to work from to create 3D models. There are evidence of scale in this piece in regards to people, street objects and the buildings themselves and since these are all in the piece near each other you know how big things should be. This would only be used as a fall back image to gain an idea of what to model in 3D for this environment. A more appropriate idea would be to get the concept artist to redraw any elements you wish to create in 3D through an orthographic drawing with actual measurements of the chosen object.

I would like to note my criticisms. It is unsuitable for further development into a 3D model. The colour palette is very bland and does not excite the viewer of the concept art. Unfortunately most of Assassins Creed II is similar to this and is very boring to look at other than the sense of scale in the games world. Other than this it is a very good piece of concept art.

Concept Art 2: Gears of War Conservatory

This second piece of concept art is of the Conservatory level in Gears of War. The media used is digital and was most likely created in Adobe Photoshop as that is the industry standard for creating digital concept art.

The piece of concept art is trying to communicate the alien feel and atmosphere of the conservatory. The concept art is making me believe that the area is derelict due to the overgrowth of the trees and dirty textures present on the buildings structure and objects. The architecture itself makes me think that this was once some form of greenhouse or possibly an area for scientific experimentation on plant growth and this is due to the industrial feel given by the piping and electrical equipment leading towards the trees. The elevated runways supported by pillars make me believe that they could have been used for observation, but they are also fortified with barriers along the sides which could mean that creatures could have been roaming free in the area below around the trees and pillars. There is quite a lot of natural light entering the conservatory but this was probably only done to allow photosynthesis and make it a lot easier to observe the trees and structure surrounding them.

The colour palette used in this piece is fairly cool with a little bit of warmth. The colours consist of green, brown and desaturated yellows. There are complementary colours to be seen such as reds, grays and blacks to add extra detail and variation to the piece. The composition of this piece works as the lines coming across the buildings and pipe work make the trees the focal point of the piece and they are placed within the rule of thirds on the canvas. Nothing placed within the concept art obstructs any of the other important bits of visual information. Considering how close the viewer of the concept art is brought in towards the environment captured there is quite a lot of objects and design to look at and that give the viewer thought on the area. The lighting has been designed to bring depth into the piece and it also brings the trees out towards the viewer due to the contrasting difference which is better than the light being thrown onto the trees. The artist has also decided to make the objects closer darker than those further away which is what I would expect from a professional concept artist.

The style of this concept art is photorealistic. Photorealistic concept art is used to portray realistic and detailed games environments, buildings, objects and characters such as Gran Turismo, Rainbow Six Vegas, Crysis, Deadrising, The Elder Scrolls, and Final Fantasy VII. The style is used to make all game assets such as characters, objects, and environments as realistic and life like as possible.

I would not be happy to use this piece of concept art to work from to create 3D models. There is no evidence of scale in this piece in regards to objects and the buildings themselves. This would only be used as a fall back image to gain an idea of what to model in 3D for this environment. A more appropriate idea would be to get the concept artist to redraw any elements you wish to create in 3D through an orthographic drawing with actual measurements of the chosen object.

I would like to note one criticism about this piece of concept art and that is that it looks unfinished due to their being pipes that have nearly no texturing on them and instead just a flat colour with a gradient going across it.

Concept Art and the Artist

Concept Artists are responsible for creating art and textures that match the games tone, story, world and character design, and this means that they have to work to the lead artists specifications for the how all characters and objects look within the game. The specification that the lead artist gives them is first discussed and agreed upon the teams of artists in the development studio so that the best and most effective visual design can be agreed upon before the artists start creating the character designs, textures, and environments.  Artists are also used within the development team to create designs for the games website and promotional material that is used for advertising and marketing the game. Artists also have to manage and evaluate their own work so that it meets the high quality design that the producers and designers expect so that all the art assets can be implemented into the game for its playable state otherwise there will be a game with 3d models but no textures because a single artist could not produce their work in time to the rest of the development team. Concept artists have to be incredibly dynamic within the industry to complete their work. They have to always report to their lead concept artist or director within the department they are placed within to be able stay on top of what is expected of them.

Concept art is needed within the game and film industry to visualise, finalise and distribute visual ideas and details to members within a production team. Without concept art present unfortunately all you can use instead is words and the problem with communicating ideas this way is everyone can create a different interpretation of what is needed to complete the job at hand. The concept art could be used as a guide to create a visual effect, 3D model, film set or even to figure out how an actor needs to look or dress to be perceived in a particular way.

The first example above could be used for a 3D character model in a game or film or could be used to give an idea for the physique that is needed for a character role in a film and the type of clothing that would be worn by that actor.

The second example above could be used to create a miniature model for film, 3D model, choose a filming location to build set pieces on top of or just to give an inspirational idea of what kind of concept art should be made for a certain production.

The third example above could be used to create a 3D visual effect and texture for a game or film.

There are many issues with concept art though but these can be corrected with enough skill and experience. All concept artists have their own artistic styles even within the realms of photorealism, cell shaded and abstract. If the artists inherited style starts flowing into the concept art work they have been set it can detract away from the visual style that whoever created the design the concept art was created from has intended and this can be problematic during production. The amount of visual information that needs to be inside a piece of concept art is all down to the design that it is constructed from. A concept artist (unless instructed not to based on the design) should always strive to build as big a picture and vast amount of detail into any piece of concept art they create particularly landscapes, cities and architecture so that people can get an idea of all the types of items, architecture and other details that need to be covered whether for a game level or film set. Other pieces of concept art like an orthographic design of an item, vehicle or character should include all the necessary details so that someone who needs to create it can understand the physical size and scale of it or aesthetic elements big and small.

Thanks for reading and take care. I'll be adding a new entry on Colour Theory soon. 

Entry 3 - Tone

Hi, David Bush here. This is my third entry into my Games Art & Design blog. In this post I will be discussing the topic of tone.

What is Tone?
Tone (AKA Lightness, Shading and the art term Light Logic) is a summary word of light that falls onto or reflects off of an object or shadow that falls onto or is cast by the object. I am going to discuss tone here onwards in art terminology of Light Logic. I would also like to say at this point that I have gained my understanding of tone from life drawing classes, Betty Edwards Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, colleagues and teachers. 

Above is a sample I have quickly created to display a range of Value as it is known. Value ranges from high to low, and in the example above the highest value on the page is shown in the top left and this descends to the lowest value in the bottom right hand corner. The above is not a complete scale of value though as a complete scale of value ranges from pure white to pure black and in between these two high and low values is thousands of  tiny differences in gradient ascending or descending to one side or the other of the value scale. Below is another iteration of the Value Scale that I have made.

I have drawn a Cube, Sphere, Cylinder, Pyramid and Cone with light logic applied to each one to demonstrate the way light falls upon an object and shadow is created. If you observe the five objects the light source was directed at each of them from the top left. When you perceive the light and shadow on each one you will see that all of them have the same perceived light logic in common. 

Below is an example of a landscape that I have converted into grayscale to demonstrate more easily where the tone lies in the composition of the image. 

Below is the same image but this time I have blurred it and split the areas of tone into separate sections using coloured lines to make it easier for you to find where the main sections of tone are visible in this image. 

I have learnt during the process of creating this blog entry that tone is a very powerful tool that can be used to direct the viewers eyes within a photo, still frame, drawing, painting, or anything that has tone within a composition. It has become obvious to me that within a composition adding a sense of depth requires the artist to make objects in the distance appear lighter as the light reflecting off of objects in the distance becomes scattered due to the distance the reflected light has to travel to the viewers eyes. I have found that in order to create a tonal drawing of anything I need to start off building in the lightest or darkest tones into the drawing (which ever one you choose is a matter of preference) and then build the tone from that chosen point into the opposite side of the value scale to bring the illusion of light logic into a drawing, painting or photo.

That's the end of what I have in store this entry, feel free to comment below, thank you for reading and take care.

Entry 2 - Visual Library

Hi, David Bush here. This is my second entry into my Games Art & Design blog. In this post I will be discussing a topic generally known as a visual library.

What is a visual library?
A visual library consists of images captured by your mind during the years of your life. These images influence and affect what you can create when given a visual challenge such as creating concept art for games, advertisements and films. A visual library is very important if you want to become a good artist, BUT I will emphasise here at this point that understanding the fundamentals and practising your artistic abilities are just as important too if you want to be a good concept artist. A good visual library will allow you to gain an instinct for how objects should appear and look in your artwork. With a good visual library you will be able to create artwork more efficiently as you will already know how things look like instead of researching for images all the time. A good visual library will also make your artwork seem functional as you will have an understanding of how things appear visually and you will be able to use this understanding to solve problems when tackling issues in your concept art design.

What type of visual library do you have?
Typically there are two different types of people when it comes to a visual library. Those who have observed and seen plenty of different things in their life and know how things are supposed to look and have acquired a visual library with a lot of variety and information. Then there are those who have not spent a lot of time observing or seeing and understanding different things visually. The first type of person will be able to recollect visual information from memory and utilise the visual information to create artwork or depictions of things such as insects the way they are supposed to look. Then there is the latter who does not have that information in their visual library because they never obtained that information and will have a vague amount or absolutely no visual information on certain things, and this type of person will make artwork that is not designed well and vaguely looks like how that person would like it to.

How you can improve your visual library?
A visual library can improved by carrying out these five activities/tasks that I will mention. These activities were covered in a YouTube video by Feng Zhu that covers the same topic I am discussing. If I did not see his video then I would have nothing to discuss here today with you. Thanks Feng Zhu FZD - Visual Library Video. So I will pass on to you his advice in this section in numbered importance as it was passed on to me, number 1 being the most important and descending from there.

1. Books – These are some good books that Feng Zhu recommended: The Hobbit, The Road, The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, George Orwell's 1984. Books can take your mind on an adventure and get your brain thinking and force visuals into your mind of things that may never have existed before. BOOKS ARE VISUAL CHEATING as Feng Zhu put it. This is because if you read a lot of books you will never run out of designs. These designs you see from reading are genuine and belong to YOU as even though it is a copyright piece of text the image that results in your mind was created by your thoughts and this means that the writing in the book was a mental catalyst and nothing more. If you are wondering if you should read certain types of books to do this then do not worry because books from any genre are all good for your visual library.
2. Nature – Nature is seen very often even though we sometimes do not realise it. Nature contains existing designs that no one owns and you can reverse engineer these designs and features into your own artwork as for example learning the reason for why elephant ears are so big is for heat dispersion, and why zebras have stripes is for camouflage. If you are designing a creature or building which needs these details for it's functionality then you can copy it from nature as it is cool and plausible. Forms are very perfect you can steal forms and shapes since they work even out of memory with other ones in the design. ALL their features have a purpose and a reason. You could use zebra stripes on armour for example and this may be a bad or a good design but it is design.
3. Travelling – Travelling gives you a lot of retained feelings and images which contain visual information from the experience of seeing the scale of places that you can never feel through a photograph or a film such as Paris and being on top of the Eiffel tower, Hong Kong, Tokyo's Shibuya area and you apply this retained feeling when designing and criticising the function and details in your artwork. Another detail of travelling is the smell and sound for example you can recall certain things in say Paris that a certain colour or appearance of a river that is there adds a smell and you may put a certain smell in a piece of artwork and remember what things bring that to the piece for the feel of it.
4. Museums – Museums will give you understanding. Museums are built to show and explain and teach things they are not just pretty buildings with pretty things. These museums can contain anything useful such as art, tanks and planes. Museums will also give you a feel of scale of things that most people will never usually see. Feng Zhu recommended the London History Museum and Louvre in Paris. You can also find elements in your favourite games that are in museums like the renaissance in assassins creed.
5. Games and Films – These will give you an understanding of what technology is capable of, and you will need to understand the limit of current technology of the platforms you create artwork for by looking at what is out there currently. You can also see existing designs for example if you are looking at powers suits like in the game Crysis they are already there for you to look at. You will also notice industry trends for example if you look at Skyrim then you will notice it set a trend and consumers like that game and will want more so if you make something popular at the time then you can sell it easier as there is an active market already there.

What can ruin your visual library?
Unfortunately there are also activities that will NOT help your visual library as an artist and will waste your time if you are determined to become a professional.

1. AVOID – Playing video games - This is really bad and is a waste of time for students as they need to learn, go do one of the other FIVE things mentioned, professionals can play games since they don’t need to learn as much. Watch YouTube videos of games to do number five to see everything in the game instead of wasting money and time going through the games progress.
2. AVOID – Fan Art - Go and combine visual information from the five good visual library activities instead of copying other peoples work as it puts you under suspicion since professionals looking at your portfolio will notice the copied elements from existing characters. You are looking at someone else's design and you need to do the five visual library activities to get your own visual design. Fan artists are illustrators and not designers.
3. AVOID – Watching TV - BUT if you are watch discovery channel or something good and not crap.

That's the end of what I have in store this entry, feel free to comment below, thank you for reading and take care.