Inspiration: Bob Ross

While he is an very popular artist known for his calming personality and afro, no one can deny his talent and skill when it comes to traditional painting.

When the stress of deadlines is drilling into my head I like to watch some Bob Ross, it calms me down and I learn a lot as he speaks


He also helps me calm down and not take myself so seriously, I need to just calm down and just paint and do what I love most rather then worry about the result at the end, just keep painting those "happy little clouds"

Inspiration: Feng Zhu

Any aspiring digital artist is highly likely to know the name Feng Zhu, His artwork is astounding, he has his own design school in Singapore and has gained much knowledge over the years of his career.

I watched his YouTube channel for many years, I have seen all of his videos that I know of. I love listening to his as he paints as he always talks about the industry as a whole and helps me understand the realism of design, what I mean is, design and art are two very different things.

In design the most important thing is to get an idea across, and help people understand it.

Inspiration: Xia Taptara

Xia Taptara is a artist with his own Youtube channel, he creates many different illustrations and talks though his process as he creates them, what he is thinking at the time.


Its amazing to see a painting form out of nothing in his videos and I have watched many of his videos and he has yet to disappoint me.

Amazing art that is almost photo realistic, the lighting and shade are very well done and I can't wait until I am skilled enough to create art such as this, (if it ever happens).

I plan on watching artists like Xia in order to not only gain their knowledge but also learn how they think. Xia has videos that help artists understand what a painting needs to be successful.

Inspiration: Fromsoft, Darksouls 1-2-3

Fromsoft are a video game company that have created another one of my most favourite franchises, Dark Souls.

These games are infamous for their difficulty, but I think its true likeability comes in its art style, the dark, gritty, lonely feel the game portrays adds so much to the game play that some people find the game hard to finish.



The art style of the concept artists that Fromsoft employ inspires me and I have used them as a reference multiple times throughout my university course and for my own personal artwork.

I love the lost, cold and ruined feel of the whole game , every single bit of art, game objects, characters help enforce the fact that the game is very hard, and there are no short cuts in the world of dark souls.

I love it when games art styles help enforce story, and mood and Dark souls is one of the best examples for this.

Inspiration: ArenaNet Guild Wars 2

ArenaNet is a video game company that created one of my favourite video games Guild Wars 2 they are a major source of inspiration, their loading screens in the game for example greatly inform the player of the style and mood of the zone that is loading.

The artwork is beautiful and I aspire to be this talented one day, I love how mood and emotion can be conveyed with something that just doesn't exist, like with the creature above.

Some loading screens are also a collage of images, a different art style that is effective and I think it looks great for just a collection of images and over-paint.

Inspiration: Josiah Brooks, Draw with Jazza

Josiah brooks is a popular artist with his own YouTube channel (Draw with Jazza) in which he creates character designs, environments, animations, emotional help videos and even tutorials.

He shows his process and even has his own How to: books and Photoshop brushes on his own personal website for sale.





He has greatly influenced me over the years and I have learned much from his videos, especially his character design videos in which he talks about all the key components of a good design.

Personal Professional Development

This module has been active the whole year and mainly involves this blog and its posts, to technically I am evaluating something I am doing currently...

But anyway!

This has been a very beneficial module to me, It has allowed me to create a house style and my own colour scheme which I now use for my own personal branding!

Check it out:

Logo/ Small version

Business card

Creative CV

Art Book!

SWOT

Strengths

I gained much from this module, Artbook, personal Blog, Branding, Buisness Cards, Creative CV, and the ability to create them was also gained.

Weaknesses

Took a long time to do the blog and alternative parts when other modules are going on.

Opportunities

It makes me seem way more professional, my own branding highlights and helps it greatly creating my own logos really helped me get my name noticeable.

Threats  

This was such a huge module, that it was daunting at first when it was first told all the parts we had to do, it also ran over alot of other assignments.

Digital Skills

This module was very open, we could choose our own brief basically. I wanted to create an illustration to show my digital skills but I also did a combination of caricatures and pixel art.

This was very fun and it is the most recent piece of work I was able to create after increasing my knowledge about lighting and distance.

This is my final for Digital Skills

This piece is called Woodrot mire, a creepy uneasy painting of a traveller traversing a wet swampy forest

I am very happy about the piece as it turned out.

SWOT

Strengths
I was able to show how good I can be currently with my digital skills, I was able to demonstrate my advancement over the last 2 years.

Weaknesses
I wish I did a better job with the lighting, only one source of lighting made the image seem a little unreal and blocky.

Opportunities
All art created in this assignment will make great additions to my art book for future employers to look at and enjoy.

Threats
This was a very board module, I could have gone in any direction, and it could have taken much longer than necessary.

Contextual Studies

Contextual Studies

This module consisted of a rather lengthy 2500 minimum word essay, I chose to talk about the battle between Traditional and Digital Art Formats and the controversy they both face, no artwork was really submitted for this module. It was an interesting assignment as it allowed me to understand the opinions of certain people who either loved or hated digital art, some people even believe its not "popper art".

I was able to give my own opinion and become informed on the great amount of effort artists go though in both styles to create their work.

On the subject of essay writing I was able to learn how to proper structure and complete a bibliography, using Harvard referencing, something I had never done before.

SWOT

Strengths

I learned how to Harvard reference, create bibliographies and structure essays, I learned a great deal about the battle between traditional art and digital art.

Weaknesses

No Art

Opportunities

This helped me prepare for my huge dissertation next year, and perhaps I can create structured writing more effectively now.

Threats

This was a huge writing task, I was afraid I was repeating myself and the time it took to finish took make days.

Alternative Techniques

Alternative Techniques
This module allowed me to gain more key skills and broaden my horizons, I learned many new skills that involve 3D modelling, a new design process and I also gained a lot of references involving space objects and soviet union.

I was tasked to create a 3D chess piece that had a combo of 2 themes, space and soviet union, I have posted about this previously but here I am going to evaluate the module and give my thoughts.

I loved it, prior to this module i did not like 3D modeling at all, but because we were forced to use alternative techniques within our design process I was able to learn more about 3DS Max and the work involved.

I was able to work more with silhouettes and this was something brand new to my process and I learned more about the technique, I ended up alot creating a nice illustration of my intended design, though at the time of this painting, I had no idea what the end result would actually look like.

I was also able to create a moodboard for the model this module helped me gain a more firmer grasp on the design process that is required in industry.

In the end the model looked like a 3D rocket/vodkabottle with a seal able lid.

SWOT analysis

Strengths

I was able to pull off multiple 3D models that I had previously not been able to create using 3DS Max, I learned new processes within the design phase, that involve the the use silhouettes to get many different designs down at once.

Weaknesses

I was unable to actually fit the top of the bottle to the lid, the indentions were both too small and did not fit, it would have been nice to create a larger version so I could have fit the design together correctly and see what it would have looked like.

Opportunities

I was able to use the 3D printer which is the first time I've ever done anything like that, it was very great to see my model come to a physical appearance and to be able to touch it was very great and in the future I hope I get more chances to do that again.

Threats

I spent lot of time doing the design steps as that is what I wanted to focus on, because of this I ended up will lots of designs  and only one final, I would have liked the time to create more of my designs in 3D model form, but this would have cost money.

Concepts and Illustrations by Ryan James Mutch

Concepts and Illustrations by Ryan James Mutch | Make Your Own Book

I am very sorry everyone for the lack of posts over the last few weeks I have been very busy creating my very own Art Book! which I am very happy with, it is up and available for sale right now, so check it out if you are interested in adding it to your collection!


I am sure to post more frequently now that this milestone has been achieved.

Weekly Update 10 26/03/2016 - 01/04/2016

Weekly Update 10 26/03/2016 - 01/04/2016

This week is my week off uni but I have been trying to practice  my sketching and just being chill and not taking myself too seriously as I have done alot in the past, I have been watching alot of Videos from Will Turner on youtube and alot of his advice is to just calm down and draw for fun and for my self, so I am going to add this to my digital sills assignment and talk about my sketches, I am still learning and I am still on my learning journey.

I am learning more and more each time, I am still not happy but I am trying and I will get it.