Category: Prototypes

For my third iteration of my prototype, I decided to make a character utilizing the techniques that I learned from watching Samurai Jack. I decided to create my version of the Japanese Monster Shuten Douji. While the design isn’t exactly what I want to do for my project, it is definitely a step in the right direction. I decided to still keep elements that you would find in the respective culture, such as giving the character samurai armor. However the design is entirely in my own style and heavily inspired by the lineless character designs that are utilized in Samurai Jack. The reception I received from this design was overall positive. People favored this style much more than my original drawing not only because it aesthetically looked better, but also because it was a style I would be interested in exploring. There were a couple of things that I would like to change. Most people were immediately able to pinpoint that I was inspired by Samurai Jack. While I was happy that the style I was experimenting with was able to portray where I got the inspiration from, I also took this as a sign that I need to refine my style even further so it becomes less of a copy and more of an original take inspired by the piece of media. I was also giving some tips on how I might want to animate the characters once they’re designed. The program I plan on using is Adobe Illustrator, but I was told that I could try playing around with puppet animation rather than frame by frame like a traditional animation would. Also this style of animation could help further differentiate my style from Samurai Jack.

Elevator Pitch: Mythology has been a part of world culture for centuries. There are many rich and fascinating stories that have been passed down through time. However, stories don’t need to simply be told through word of mouth or through texts. My project plan is to create an interactive exhibit that showcases mythological heroes and villains that have appeared throughout Greek, Japanese, Hindu and Norse mythologies. I plan to have motion graphic videos that detail each character’s respective stories along with 3D models that one could interact with. My goal is to have an interesting interactive experience while teaching the viewer about mythological characters and their stories in a fun way.

Unfortunately, I was unable to come to class and show off a prototype for the second portion, due to illness. While I didn’t have a physical prototype, I was able to do a bit more research on the stylistic approach I wanted to do for my project. A lot of my research mostly pertained to the mythology of the characters I wanted to portray rather than stylistic approaches. So I decided to research a bit more by watching different media and seeing how they stylize character. In particular, I decided to watch a lot of the show Samurai Jack. I really love how the characters use very limited outlining and how most of the characters are made from very simple shapes. Specifically the first scene of the first episode was very interesting. It was a montage of Jack growing up and learning fighting styles from cultures all over the world. Each culture had a unique approach and color scheme. This gave me the idea that I should differentiate the characters from each culture, but still develop a unifying style that is recognizable as my own.

For my first prototype, I decided I would attempt to create a design for a character I plan to use in my project. My initial idea was to replicate the art styles that were used in each culture in the past and put my own creative twists on it. I decided I would test out this plan by drawing out a greek mythology character while also trying my best to emulate greek pottery art. Just to try and challenge myself, I wanted to see how well I could create a character without sketching the idea out first. The results were admittedly less than stellar. To be quite honest, I wasn’t too happy with the result, but I figured that any prototype is better than no prototype. The feedback I received was pretty much what I would’ve expected. People weren’t too keen on the designs either, but they didn’t really think they were as bad as I thought. However, doing this, I did gain some more insight on how I can improve my design process. I feel as if my biggest flaw was that I was relying way too heavily on trying to emulate the culture’s art style that I neglected the aspect of adding my own flair to it as well. At the end of the day, this is going to be my project, so I need to add my own flair to it somehow. I received a lot of insight on how I should go forward with my designing process. Stylistically, the show Samurai Jack has an interesting art style that is quite interesting. A lot of my peers have told me that getting inspiration from this with my art may help me come to a design that I really like.

For my third prototype, I spent most of my time reworking my story and figuring out what ideas can stay or what must change now that I’ve been researching a new program to use. I will be sticking to Quill to create the paintings and animations I need to tell the story; Unity may be optional if I have time to program any extra features that Quill may be limited in. I know there’s a way to export the paintings I create in Quill, so it can be an option. I know what I want the environment to feel like and the kinds of moods I wish to depict based on different turning points in the script, so I’m hoping once I get into the Oculus (Rift/ Rift S/Quest, depending on what I can get hold of), it won’t take me long to start mapping out what I’m doing. I’ve been working on editing the script to be as short as it can to allow users the option to get the point of the story in about 10 minutes, and maybe others can search around the environment more to get more details of the story if they wish. I know with the way I can configure the audio in Quill, I can probably make extra storylines play if the user decides to walk off the typical path to hear more about each stage. I have a breakdown of an outline of what points need to be made within the storyline to represent the “typical” cycle of abuse. I’m reworking the story to make sure it focuses on that gray area people seem more concerned about where the user may not realize the events are considered abusive, just like the main character during the relationship. I’ve also looked at poems and even slam poetry to see how people tell stories like this in a short amount of time. I’m leaning towards letting the user explore as much as they want to find out more, like if someone wanted to explore more examples of subtle gaslighting, while also having a way to hear most of the important details and main points of the story in a short time. It would all depend on how interested the person is in the story and learning more about what it is like.

Elevator Pitch:

“I am creating a Virtual Reality experience to show what being intimate partner violence can be like and how it can affect a person long-term. I want to bring awareness to the situation, how serious it is, and the effects it has on a person, even in a short amount of time. Any kind of intimate partner violence can affect a person for years, mentally, financially, academically, and in their careers. In the VR experience, the user will be exploring a forest environment that will change as they progress in the story and hear more about the main character’s life and what she went through. It is based on true events, so there are real stories behind this idea to show what going through intimate partner violence can be like.”

My third prototype that i was unable to show at class because i was in the hospital is a recreation of the card shoes dealers use to deal cards at an efficient rate

The designs on the side are us the host of my game and their two sides of their face

for this prototype i decided to show off two of the character designs i was making for the game and some of the color design choices

The model is modeled after my father’s mom and how she would dress like a rich Russian lady

The brown and cream design is the base design while the other three are some extra choices and there will be more

Currently I’ve been working on only one prototype since I am ordering a 3d camera for Christmas and will not have the portion involving unity or After Effects up to this week. So far I created a shortened version of my storyboard without the settings, where a baby grows up to be a toddler and a child and adult and so on. I will be basing the story line about my life and how I grew up to be an artist. I am unsure about continuing with AR as I may move into VR based on the materials I am using for my future thesis project next semester.

I have made a stop motion video as my main animation for the rendered video that will be uploaded as a mp4 file. Eventually I will place the video as a texture onto the object like a sphere and center the camera in the middle of the shape on Unity. I promise you this will all make sense in the end after I finish the details to my pre thesis piece. I will then render my animation video as a texture file and use a 360 degree camera to create my settings of the story.

Not everything has been set in stone but mostly everything that came to mind are thoughts and a bit of illustrations along the way.

Chance Gayles

IMM 498

November 25, 2019

Prototype 3 Write Up / elevator pitch

For my third prototype, I decided to draft a streetwear design using hand-drawn graphics that takes elements from both design philosophies of Manga IP merchandise and streetwear. I created the graphic using photoshop, mocked it up using an online generator, then brought it back into photoshop to add finishing touches. The purpose of this exercise was to attempt to balance elements of the two styles in an attempt to breakdown the aesthetic differences between the two and create my own. I could have even gone as far as creating a physical version to demo but distance circumstances don’t allow that.  

Examples of IP merchandise (top) and Streetwear Merchandise (bottom) 

Elevator pitch 

“How do we bring freshness to a beloved storytelling medium while also having a hand in the fashion and streetwear scene?  My goal is to combine the two creative mediums and create a project that will utilize both in tandem to push a narrative. This will be done by running a digitally created manga publication that will run simultaneously with merchandise releases that will deliver the same high standard of design and concepts as well-established streetwear brands and online shops. Fans will be able to interact with story concepts like never before. I aim to solve the issue that Manga and Anime companies have with making their own items and apparel that can be deemed fashionable and be worn by the streetwear community. Combining the two mediums will create a new experience that while open more doors into other industries that other publishers have never had before.”  

For my final week of prototyping, I created design sketches of two other cryptids I hope to include in the museum, the Loveland Frogman and the Chupacabra. This time around I also included some facts about the cryptids that will be included in the museum to garner feedback on what should and shouldn’t be included – basically, how much of the label card should be fact and how much can be jokes. The feedback I received was very positive; everyone liked the designs, especially the Loveland Frogman. One of my feedback questions was about color palettes – here, viewers disagreed. While most people imagined the Loveland Frogman as the classic bright green of tropical frogs, some imagined him in darker shades of brown, much like a common toad. People were also divided on whether his scrubs should be the classic blue color or if they should be an ugly print to enhance the comedy factor. However, from last week’s round of feedback, I know to stick to what people recognize, so I will make the scrubs blue for audiences to better understand his occupation.

It was suggested once again that the cryptids have the normal museum space environment and then at the flip of a switch be transported to their “natural environment.” While I have put aside this suggestion multiple times, I am starting to become concerned. It makes me worried that without the alternative environment my museum will not have enough content or enough of the “wow” factor to attract players. However, I’m not even sure I’ll be able to finish the laundry list of assets just for the museum space, not even mentioning how that list would be doubled or tripled by a second environment for every cryptid. On this one, we’ll just have to wait and see for winter break. If I have enough free time and motivation over break, I may be able to include it, but as of now the second environment remains a pipe dream.

Prototype 1

For my first prototype I thought mostly about what images I want to be shown on the sphere. I was deciding between animated and real graphics, and the best way to convey the story I am trying to tell. The feedback I received was that real graphics of the earth would convey more of a message than animations. I also was trying to figure out how I wanted to go through the story of the process of electronic waste and display it throughout the earth. A classmate suggested highlighting the country that I wanted to discuss next in a darkish grey color and zooming in on it as the shade got darker until the clip I wanted to show was played. The main outcome of this prototype feedback was that I needed to figure out what storyline I want to have in order to create the projection and how its going to make the sphere important to the show. 

Prototype 2

My second prototype was a mini model of what I imagined the room to look like. It was constructed out of cardboard and painted black with a white foam sphere hanging from a thin piece of cardboard that laid at the top of the box. The feedback that I received was to consider constructing a larger scale model of the room and using a small projector to look at how the light will act on the sphere. Also, I talked about what the sphere should be made out of and was debating if it should be something that’s already the shape of a sphere that I can find or building it myself. One idea was getting an inflatable beach ball so that its light and hollow, however the concern was that it would have to be spray painted white and the creases in the balloon could be distracting. Another idea was to create it from styrofoam like what the model ball was made out of, but the surface isn’t smooth and might alter the projections.   Classmates also suggested having some type of projection/screen display on the back wall behind the sphere for the audience to look at after the presentation. 

Prototype 3

My last prototype I built a larger scale model of the room and used a pico projector to display an image of an earth. While talking with my classmates there were several questions that I was asking/brought to my attention: 

1. Will there be a start and finish? 
2. Is the earth going to be projected on both sides? 
3. How will the audience watch the video? 
4. Video display on one half/black on the other side with statistics 
5. Projectors? Screen displayers? A static visual that incorporates the screens?
6. Where will the projectors be in relation to the sphere and screens
7. What will the sphere be made out of 

The conversations during class struck a lot of questions and things to think about while I continue to do research and build on my idea. We discussed having a display in the back of the room that’s built and static and the two screens in the back would be connected to the display but have motion to them. Someone also mentioned the idea of only displaying the earth on half of the screen for the audience to watch when the show begins, and on the back half have other statistics that run while they can look at the display. I personally think that would be a better approach since I was still trying to figure out how I was going to project the earth on both sides of the globe and then realizing that either the audience will have to move or the globe will have to spin so they see the whole show. After this last discussion I felt more confident how I want the show to progress and my main focus now is continuing to do research and plan out/create what I want to be projected. Along with creating a design/logo for the print materials I want to have on the other sides of the room and what I want the title of the show to be called.