Click here for a copy of the brief in Google Docs
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Search For A Star & Sumo Digital Rising Star 2018
Character Art | Stage 2 Brief
Core Brief
Create an original, game-ready character model and present them in a series of poses within Unreal Engine 4. All stylistic, thematic and aesthetic considerations are at the artist's discretion. The full development process must be evidenced, from pre-production, production, post-production to final presentation.
Objective
The goal of this piece of work is to demonstrate your ability as an artist to conceive, develop, create and present an innovative and emotive character. The process that leads to the result is as key as the final model itself; the creativity and motivation of the final piece should be evident from the foundation work.
Fixed Conditions
Your character model is based around one generalised, low-level character concept of your choice, e.g. ‘Royalty’, ‘Scientist’, ‘Warrior’, ‘Clerk’ etc.
Showcase your character in a set of four distinct poses with different emotive/action states appropriate to the concept, theme & style that you are working in.
For example:
A heroic warlord rallying their army, about to bravely lead them into battle.
A frightened monarch, pushed back & defensive against the onslaught of unseen enemies.
A surprised scientist, excited and overjoyed at an accidental new discovery.
A studious researcher, deep in thought over the terrible implications of their work.
Thematic and Stylistic Suggestions
A strong character piece will be able to evoke a story, with a background and personality uncovered through the character’s presentation. The theme and tone should act as strong motivators toward your choice of pose, attire, expression, render style, execution and your personal strength, as it’s your artistic judgment in these areas that will be on show.
The choice of theme and style is at the your discretion, but to help here are some examples to encourage a range of creative interpretations around the brief, using the example characters above: -
A warlord in a gritty WW2 theme: -
Realistic in rendering and surface detail
Realistic model in both form and scale
Bleak & weathered – motivation for colour palette and lighting
Realism in surface detail – demonstration in material creation and pipeline
A scientist in a cyberpunk dystopian future: -
Stylized in rendering and surface details
Realistic in both form and scale
Vivid and varied – motivation for colour palette and cultural influences
Hot and dry – Motivation for lighting and composition
A researcher in a dynamic South American city
Stylised form with exaggerated qualities
Stylised material finish with illustrative render style
Fun Vibrant setting – Motivation for colour palette and lighting
Stylized expressions and gestures - Opportunity to explore tone and humour through visuals.
Concept & Design
The pre-production phase is there to help solidify a vision and decide the motivating factors for the art being produced. In reviewing the final piece, the journey, influences and creative choices along the way will be taken into account.
Evidence of reference gathering, moodboards, collation or collage of specific designs, concepts or reference points will need to be produced and presented.
Whether the use of photo reference or concept art is more relevant when consolidating your design depends on the creative direction you choose, so long as the vision and compositional elements can be clearly communicated.
The pre-production phase is an integral part in both outlining and defining your objectives, as well as giving a reference point for your artistic and creative progression throughout the project.
We cannot understate the importance of good research, development, planning and documentation.
Textures & Materials
It is presumed that you will be creating your own textures and materials for your model. In your documentation, show maps/meshes/etc. for anything you've created. If you've used any tool defaults/presets instead, please include general notes covering any used.
Presentation of materials
The final piece will need to be presented alongside all the preliminary pre-production works, the layout and composition of all pieces should be well considered and clearly communicate your creative intentions.
Often strong work can be mis-represented when not demonstrated or composed effectively. Your ability to show good judgment when focusing your 3D creation effort and techniques towards specifically composed areas will be taken into account. Be sure to know the framing of your model to maximize your efforts and the impact of your final render(s).
Do consider the format and framing ratio of both your final renders as well as the preliminary works. A panoramic ratio may invoke a cinematic grandeur, or perhaps a slim portrait composition suits your environment and mood? Do explore and consider your dimensions relative to composition and focus.
Development Process / Assessment Milestones
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| MS1 | Pre-Production | Written intro, outline the tone and artistic motivations |
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| MS2 | references, mood board, influences |
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| MS3 | Concept design, Compositional exploration |
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| MS4 | Grey box model frame |
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| MS5 | Production | Base anatomy block out / refinement and composition set. |
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| MS6 | Character modelling, static mesh placement, UV's, Materials |
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| MS7 | Material / rendering set up, lighting and composition balance |
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| MS8 | Model posing, post process, atmosphere, VFX, Rendering |
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| MS9 | Post Production | Rendering of final frames (up to n? Frames), cropping and post render edits |
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| MS10 | Presentation | Present and discuss Pre-Production documentation and assets |
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| MS11 | Present and discuss Finished piece |
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Assessment Criteria
Concept design & development
Technical art
Creative art
Written documentation
Final presentation
Recommendations & Considerations
Industry professionals have been consulted throughout the SFAS process. Below you’ll see a list of the common threads and feedback points that often occur. Each point is worthy of consideration when defining your own brief, subject matter and executing on your own works: -
Aim for high quality - your best work
Show full concept development
Researching & Purposeful Mood boards
Know your strengths and build upon them
Show full process documentation
Demonstrate Compositional sense
Understand and Define your Style
Showcase of artistic ability
Showcase of creative ability
Showcase of technical ability
Dev Diaries
Clean topology
Ease of deformation
How are you posing the model?
Scaling & anatomical accuracy
A well selected colour palette
Use industry standards / pipelines
Detailing of aesthetics
Use of props & accessories
Layout and arrangement
Appropriate detail / resolution density
Use of mixed tools
Well composed Lighting
Consider use of post-prod’ FX
Meshes, maps, textures
Texture budget & poly count
Leverage Post Processing
Summary and Goal
Design and create a character based on a single low-level concept.
Define your own style, theme and tone.
The finished character presentation must comprise four distinct poses.
Format and present your final renders and supporting assets.
The goal of this exercise is to create a brief or framework that focuses your attention and skills into a single piece that demonstrates both industry relative abilities and your own personal creative judgment.
Submission Details
Development engine for presentation is Unreal Engine 4.
You may use any additional tools that you have access to (e.g. Maya, Substance etc.)
Finished projects must be presented as a series of image/videos, sketchfab models, and as a self-contained downloadable PDF project.
Projects must be submitted using the Itch platform (see submission guide below).
Submission Guide
Search For A Star & Sumo Digital Rising Star 2018
Character Art Submission Guide
All finished projects are required to be published on the itch.io platform and submitted to the Search For A Star 3D Character Art Challenge 2018 by 28th January 2018 at 11:59 PM GMT
You must join the SFAS Character Art page to take part : https://itch.io/jam/search-for-a-star-3d-character-art-challenge-2018
We advise that you set up a draft of your project page ahead of the deadline. To create your art project page, go to your itch.io Dashboard and select the ‘Upload New Project’ option.
Complete the submission form, in line with itch.io’s Quality Guidelines
- Set Title to the name of your asset pack
- This should be a name or description for your character, rather than a general project title or description of the project.
- A good title does not need to include any reference to Search For A Star, Rising Star or your own name.
- Set Classification to ‘game assets’.
- Set Kind of project to ‘Downloadable’.
- For Release State, choose an option that best describes your project, even if ‘prototype’ or ‘in development’.
- Set pricing to ‘Disable all payments’ - You can change this once all projects have been marked by the judges, if you wish.
- Upload your project files as a zip file, exported from UE4 (Package project > Zip)
- Your project file should contain your final project model, either posed or unposed.
- Upload a separate project PDF containing your intro, pre-production work, summation and any additional production documentation.
- Include the following on your project page:
- A cover image
- Your four posed key screens as the screenshots
- Sketchfab render(s) of your character model (either as embedded or linked)
- (optional) Video content of your model.
- The ‘Description’ text box should contain a copy of your written intro & final written summation from your documentation, as well as your embeds/links to the Sketchfab renders. It may contain further documentation if you choose.
- When your project is complete, set ‘Visibility & Access Settings’ to ‘Public’.
- To prevent your project showing up in public listings, choose the option for ‘Unlisted in search & browse’.
To submit your project, return to the Search For A Star 2018 page and press the ‘Submit your jam’ button
Select your finished project, fill in your name and challenge tier details and press ‘Submit’.
If you have any issues with the submission process or want to clarify anything, let me know either at dan@gradsingames.com or ask on the Grads In Games Discord : https://discord.gg/7ppfTnT
Please note that there is no ‘fail’ or ‘disqualification’ criteria. Do what you can & submit what you are able to. Even unfinished pieces and works in progress can be valuable.
Support & ResourcesSupport information, FAQ & resources, as well as a copy of this project brief, can be found on the itch.io community forum pages for the project. Additional help & guidance may also be posted here & on our Grads In Games Discord throughout the challenge, so it’s recommended you check it regularly. Community Forum: https://itch.io/jam/search-for-a-star-3d-character-art-challenge-2018/community Grads In Games Discord : https://discord.gg/7MxWWpe We’ll also be active in the community forum to help you out & answer questions. If you have any questions about the project or competition contact Aardvark Swift / Grads In Games at dan@gradsingames.com or call us on 01709834777 |