Self Promotion

Promoting myself to potential employers is something I have been concentrating on for a matter of months, building up followers on twitter to communicate with and keep up with job vacancies and also following some of the companies artists on Tumblr. Because of this, many of the technologies today have allowed me not only to promote myself for the end of year show, but also to promote myself for jobs within these various companies.

As previously mentioned, I have created a targeted PDF portfolio to send to employers along with a CV promoting my new skills acquired in this project. Through following these companies on social media, I have been able to invite quite a lot to attend the show, through promoting the show to them and getting the chance to meet them, my job application may then hold more weight as they will be able to see my enthusiasm and motivation in person.

Some of the companies I have invited are;

Rebellion - http://www.rebellion.co.uk/

Rebellion are a game design company based in Oxford. Having created many iconic games such as the epic Sniper Elite series, they are one of the most inspirational companies for me as a designer. Taking on entry level designers in both 2D and 3D art is one of the reasons I wish to invite them. Meeting them at the show would allow me to properly introduce myself to their recruitment team in the hope of an entry level position

Creative Assembly - http://www.creative-assembly.com/

Creative Assembly are a game design house based in Horsham, having created some iconic games in the strategy series Total War, they are a company I am keep to meet. Having already applied for one of their traineeship roles, I think meeting them would only help my cause. As they are always looking for new talent in both 2D and 3D design, I feel Creative Assembly wouldn't just be a great company to work for, but they would allow me to progress in my chosen field.

Riot Games - http://www.riotgames.com/

Riot games are a company I have been following for a very long time. Having been the creative force behind League of Legends, their company obviously put their players first. Having entry level roles available has prompted me to apply to work within the company creating 2D concepts. Their presence at the show would not just be something that would benefit me, but being the designers behind League of Legends would benefit everybody involved.

SpaceApeGames - http://www.spaceapegames.com/

Based in London, SpaceApeGames create games for mobile devices. With todays modern technology, the world of mobile gaming has become rich in visual theatrics, now being able to support 4K video on some devices and support fully realised 3D environments, mobile gaming is now on track to compete with some of the bigger branded consoles. Because of this, I think meeting someone from SpaceApeGames would be of great benefit me to, as I could present myself as someone that can work in this typical 2D platform and begin to learn what it takes to take this new platform of mobile gaming into this new direction.

Inertia Games - http://www.inertiasoftware.com/wordpress/

Inertia Games Studio are a UK based company working out of London. Their creations consist of pixel based mobile games to richly populated computer games. Having the opportunity to meet them and discuss what goes into creations this vast would allow me to further learn what skills I need to acquire to progress in this field.

PlayJam - http://www.playjam.com/

PlayJam are a game development house working on coding for games and their distribution in the industry. From scouting talent in order to complete projects and arranging publishing for different games, I think meeting a member of the PlayJam team would help me understand more of the industry as a whole, learning what I would need to do in order to approach a big company and help myself stand out.

Hello Games - http://www.hellogames.org/

Hello Games are a company that creates cross platform games, from Mobile to Next Gen consoles. I think being able to meet a member of their team would give me the opportunity to understand the different disciplines that make up a company of such size. Learning about the way a company like that is run would help me decipher more in what way my career should progress.

Criterion Games - http://www.criteriongames.com/

As a branch of EA, having Criterion at the end of year show is something I think is unlikely to happen, but given the chance that they do show up, I think this is a massive opportunity to learn all I can from the company. Working under EA, the company will have so much information about the industry, how to succeed in it, the application process, the do's and don't and what makes a good portfolio that this opportunity is a massive one for everybody at the show. I do hope that they can take the time to come down and have a chat about the different ways to build a career in this industry.


Of all the companies I have approached, they are all yet to get back to me about attending, although I am still holding out hope for the job applications I have submitted. I feel that regardless of who turns up to the show, I will be able to learn an exceptional amount from those that do.

Career Pathways

Through my work in my Independent Project, I have begun to realise where my true potential as a designer lies. With my love of conceptual artwork and my new passion for creating 3D character and Environments, I think i would be best suited to a job within the gaming industry, mainly looking at the creation of character concepts and environment artwork.

Going through many of the gaming careers on creativeskillset.org I was able to match my skills with those laid out on the website. The role that stood out in my skillset was Game Artist.

The Game Artists role being to "create the visual elements of a game, such as characters, scenery, objects, vehicles, surface textures, clothing, props, and even user interface components. They also create concept art and storyboards which help communicate the proposed visual elements during the pre-production phase."

Having previously looked at jobs in this sector, I know that many of the things I have been learning during my Independent Project are specialist skills in some areas. Due to this, I began looking up different roles I could apply for at the moment.

Current open vacancies were for;

• Creative Assembly
• Rebellion
• SpaceApeGames
• Hello Games
• Inertia Games
• Riot Games

Among others. Looking through these vacancies, I wanted to put my name forward for the position. Putting together a Digital Portfolio in was of a PDF and creating a new CV, I put my name forward for the position.

These two documents will be included with my submission for the professional practise on the server.

The games I had chosen to apply had shown me that my skillset was not only useful in 2D and 3D artwork, but other areas too. Some of my skills fit other work, such as;

• 2D Animation
• 3D Animation
• Character Rigging
• Scene Colour Studying
• Graphic Design
• Junior Designer
• VFX Artist

Not only are these roles open to me, but many of them also come with an entry level program which would allow me to continue honing my skills while I worked. I think after this research my heart is really set on Game Asset development. From using software such as ZBrush and it being seen as a specialised skill, I don't think this is something that I can pass up when moving forward. Although the knowledge I have will allow me to move into many different areas, I think putting my time into my portfolio pieces will allow me to progress into a career that direct me towards Game Asset creation.

Creating 3D Props

As laid out in my concept artwork, I really wanted to include some intricate stairs into the model. Through not having any tutorials I had previously used to follow, there were a few on youtube that i felt I could take from. Viewing a few, I came across one that used the deformers in maya to create a curved staircase. To use the tool, the idea is that a rod would be placed in the centre of the model and bent. Rotating and moving the rod would give different results. In the case of the video, this was a spiral staircase. In my own work, I don't think a spiral staircase would fit, but the tools would allow me to create something that could fit with the work I had already created.

Using the stairs I had already made for the walls, I duplicated out a set and began to play with the deformer.

As in the image below, the rod was situated at the top, using that as the pivot point to bend the stairs, obviously this isn't what I was after, but it did give me something to refer back to with future stair models.

Moving back to the video I tried to work out how the creator had laid his pole to bend from. Having this knowledge would allow me to go back in and create my own set.

Using the details from the tutorial I managed to find the correct place to add the curvature. Unfortunately the stairs themselves didn't actually contain enough edges to bend the entire shape. When the stairs were made, I did not include any length edge loops, only the one I eventually merged together. Because of this, the stairs would not deform properly in the direction I wanted them to.

Because of this issue, I took a different approach. This time modelling each step separately with a bevel at the end. Having each step separate would help me to bend the overall shape later on and create a set of stairs that weren't only curved in the right way, but had the same distance between them.

Using the same duplicate function as creating the grate for the drain, I extended the steps upwards.

Selecting all the faces on either side allowed me to create a new lip, or curb that I could use as an edge for the stairs. As they had become so long and wide, I felt they would be good to use for the sloping section inside the entrance.

With the basic plane created I could combine and move the piece into position where I wanted it and use the deformer to bend it round.

Using the deformer proved to be a lot easier than I thought, but a very powerful little tool. Completely changing the object and it's geometry in a matter of second with a few commands helped me create something very interesting to look at and really did live up to the expectations I set myself.

With the basic form set, I could begin manipulating the points to fit the walls around it. Although it isn't necessarily needed, I wanted the stairs to seem as though fitted against the wall instead of inside it. This way I could aim for a more authentic and realistic look.

Having made the stairs on a flat plane, they did not fit with the deformed ground level I had created before. Not wanting to have to redo the ground, I further extruded the faces of the newly created stairs down into the ground to give it a very earthy and rough feel. Having this angling on either side of the stairs gave a very hand on look to the whole section.

With the stairs established, I could begin to more vertices on the stairs themselves to give a very worn and beaten down look.

With the basic shape established I could begin to work on the stairs for the other side. Although both sides weren't symmetrical, it did give me a solid foundation to build from.

Mirroring and separating the stairs helped me get the basic shape with the new deformations in the stairs to begin to add the other side. The process itself seems very simple this far down the line, but the learning curve having been so steep in the process has allowed me to acquire this common sensical knowledge in this complex 3D program.

Separating them out, I was able to perform the same task as before in moving the vertices to match the geometry of the other building.

With the stairs now firmly in place, I could begin to move the other props around it. With the arches I had created before, I could not position them to look as though the stairs were connected, having a tall archway that connects the entrance passageway to the rest of the lower level.

Duplicating them on both sides really helped to separate out the overall space.

With the stairs embedded, I went back to working on the mid level. As before, the normals were coming out slightly odd compared to the rest of the model. Because of this I decided to completely redo the mid level of the piece with something more simplistic that I could change later on. Having the stairs set in already helped me establish a base shape with consistent and workable geometry.

On top of this, I wanted to add a higher, more platform-like higher level. With the new triangular shape on top, I thought it made a good contrast to the piece to have a kind of battle arena in the middle. Adding to that the motif's created on the walls below, I was able to keep this new level stylistically cohesive.

Having already created the arch for the drain, I wanted to embed it further into the wall I created for it. Although I had already decided not to use bricks to show the texture of the wall, including this on arches would be a little simpler as I could extrude the faces outwards to give the idea of brickwork that would have flowed round the drain.

Selecting all the faces, I could extrude them inwards by scaling them and again to create the illusion of brickwork. Showing the in their baser linear format would give the sharp contour of bricks that would help me keep this subtle texturing.

Using the extruded faces, I selected and moved them outwards from the model to create each individual brick. As the bricks in this model would not be laid the same way as regular bricks, this works quite well. Looking at the wall model for instance, having this technique used would mean all the bricks would be aligned, and structurally it doesn't make too much sense.

I did the same with the inside lip to give a bit more on an interesting look. As I wanted to create a grate this would help later on.

At this point I wanted to crate a hole in the wall for the drain to fit. I combined them and tried to isolate the face, which unfortunately did not work. I tried using Maya's booleans, but not having experience with them, I did not really know which direction to head with them. Knowing what I wanted to create would help with my deduction of tools.

I went back to the Maya forums and looked up how to cut out faces from different objects. Many of the questions posted were slightly different to my own, but it did seem as though I was heading in the right directions working with booleans. Because of this, I went back into Maya and messed around a bit more.

As I worked with booleans, I soon realised that, much like Adobe Illustrator, using two objects that will intersect, after cutting them away, the objects disappear. In that if you were to place a cylinder on a cube, after using the cutting tool, you would be left with a new shape entirely. Because of this, I duplicated my drain for later on. Knowing it would be deleted in one of the processes, I wanted to have another to use in the new place for the hole.

The first boolean I used was Union. As in the picture below, it has completely removed the section I wanted. This would have been great if it wasn't for the shape it left behind.

The shape left behind was a completely hollow shape with no geometry to it. As below, the hole it being held open by an unreinforced curve. Because of this I tried another.

Using the difference function gave me what I needed. There was a new geometry inside, as well as the faces I could delete on the outside.

Removing the faces from the bottom section allowed me the space I needed to move the drain into place.

Much like before, I came up against a similar issue. Where I had used the boolean function, the object had turned green.

From my experience before, I knew this was easily solved and that the object had just lost it's default material.

Wanting to be sure I was doing the right thing, I looked back over the webpages I had used before and followed the same process I used with the characters face.

Creating a new cube and grouping them should have left me being able to assign the current cube material to the wall.

After combining, the material assignment didn't actually stick. Because of this I had to try another option, being exporting the objects as a whole and reimporting it in place, hoping that it would reassign it the material.

Exporting and reimporting the selection is obviously a lot more of a long winded way of doing things, but in this instance it worked. Following along with the tutorial on the website, I managed to reimport the object in the same place, giving it the default material type in the process. Not only this, but with reimporting it both the drain and the wall had been merged together, allowing me to now have this wall with the drain in place as one complete object.

With the drain now in place, I wanted to create a grate that would cover the drain and not allow creatures in. Using a polycylinder, I increased the height and and decreased the radius to give me a fairly realistic bar shape. Using the duplicate command I could move the new object over, then using the duplicate again command it would create a new object, but with the same transform properties as the original.

Using this tool I could create the basic vertical poles for the grate.

Duplicating and rotating one of the existing poles, I could then begin work on the horizontal ones. Using the same tools as before, I could move the pole into place and begin duplicating.

Creating a rather oversized grate was not so much of an issue as it could be scaled together to fit. Also, because of the ground plane I had made, I could move the grate into place using the plane as the 3rd edge for the poles to sit against. Having the freedom to move the poles sticking through underneath would save me a lot of time as I wouldn't have to match up all the points exactly when positioning it.

Lining up the grate with the lip I had created earlier proved to be the most challenging thing. Using the wireframe mode to sit it in position allowed me to see the construction of the whole object. This is by far the most interesting object I have created so far. Looking at the model as it is progressing, I can see the knowledge I have gained growing and allowing me to play more within the work. Because of this, although I don't think going into the Unity Engine is practical anymore, I do think this is the career path I will end up pursuing. From the short time I have had to work in these types of software, I have been inspired, motivated and challenged during the entire process. This in itself is something I feel is very necessary for me in a working environment. When moving onto my professional practise, I will bear this in mind and follow my progression and approach to companies accordingly. Without challenging myself through this project I would not have realised my love for 3D form and the artwork that can be created. So far this project has pushed me further than ever before, but i'm so very glad I took the leap.