Task 5: Analysing Concept Art

The image I have chosen to analyse  is a piece of concept art created by Anthony Wright. The image is from an area in the game 'Assassins Creed: Black Flag'. Assassin's Creed: Black Flag, or i'll now refer to as AC4 (Assassin's Creed 4) was created by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft. It was released world wide for Playstation 3 and Xbox 360, on October 29th 2013. This image was published on March 8 2013, unfortunately no information on when the image was created was provided by the website.
(http://www.gamingenthusiast.net/assassins-creed-iv-black-flag-concept-artwork/black_flag-1/)

The target audience for this image is definitely gamers, mainly console gamers. Although I play AC4 on the PC, there is no denying it was created for consoles. In this particular case, the designer of this image is not trying to attract customers, but if the image was created by Ubisoft, a target audience would definitely be potential customers.

Moving on to the image itself, i'd like to first talk about the lighting, you can see the main lighting is the sun coming from behind the clouds in the top right of the image.  The light shines across the water, and the seal, but not on the dock area towards the bottom left of the image, I imagine this is due to the tall tower like building blocking the light from shining on the docks.

The colors used in this image vary, but are generally quite dull, old fashioned colours, such as dark oranges, dark greys,dark blues and browns. The image as a whole doesn't necessarily have a focal point, nothing particular stands out and catches the viewers eye immediately, however I think the sail to the right is a part of the image that stands out, due to it's unique color.

I believe the artist who created this image, was trying to show off the natural beauty of towns from this age, but also show the lifestyle of those who lived in these times.  He uses nature like things, such as trees, birds, natural lighting, and of course the ocean. All these things add to the beauty of the image. Despite this image being concept art from AC4, I think the author is more interested in portraying the architecture and lifestyle aspect of the game, rather than the game itself.

My personal response to this image, is that it's been beautifully created, and it is a really inspiring image. This image inspires me to both develop my ability to create concept art, and my will to play the game itself.

The artist could have well been influenced by more than just AC4, he may well have been influenced by games such as Skyrim, Pirates of the Caribbean, or even games such as World of Warcraft.

Task 4: Practitioner

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Video Game:  The pirates of the Caribbean is a popular set of film. It was designed into a video game for the Xbox 360 and PS3 by a company named 'Akella' and was eventually published by Bethesda Softworks. Although Akella is not a single practitioner, it was a company involving multiple practitioners, and therefore each and everyone of them inspire me.


"Pirates of the Caribbean is an action role-playing game in which the player, as Captain Nathaniel Hawk, goes on a series of quests for any one of the countries that control the islands of the Caribbean in the 17th Century. The player can buy new ships, recruit a crew and hire officers who will follow Hawk on his quest and help him in battle. The game features gameplay that takes place both on land and at sea, and allows the player to upgrade their character by earning skill points and gain new abilities."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirates_of_the_Caribbean_(video_game))

Task 3: Your Specialism

My Specialism: The aspect of the course I enjoy the most has got to be 3D game design, and architecture. I've always been a huge fan of medieval styled architectural structures, and those of the pirate age, such galleons, taverns, forts and general pirate styled buildings.

Here is a few examples:

Although my knowledge of 3D game engines, and 3D modelling is not yet that advance, I hope to carry on working on my 3D work in the hope to expand my abilities.

My Heroes: I don't necessarily have any 'heroes' related to 3D game design, but there are many people/companies who inspire me. Blizzard for example, a company that is dedicated to mainly creating MMORPG styled games. Blizzard inspire me because they're so into what they do, and they're so dedicated to what they've created, that they release more and more game play each year. This inspires me because I want to create a game that I enjoy playing myself so much, that I feel the need toe expand more and more!

What Makes A Good Practitioner: As I mentioned above, a good practitioner is someone who enjoys what they do, and gets so creative when designing a game. A good practitioner needs to be proud of what he has created, and he/she needs to know that other people playing the game will look at what he has created and think one thing... 'epic!'.

Task 2: Using Research Sources

The Library: A library can be very helpful for finding out various information about artists and designers. It may well be the most tedious way of gathering information but if done correctly is by far the most effective and RELIABLE way. Books tend to give the most truthful and reliable information on a certain topic, however you must be careful not to start reading magazines and newspapers as these can often be more bias than truthful.

The Museum / Art Gallery: A museum or art gallery is a much more practical way of gathering information. In my opinion it's not the most effective way, due to the lack of information via text, but if you're more of a creative and imaginative person, a museum is a great way to gather information on artists and designers.

The Internet: Everybody knows the internet has the answer to everything, however everyone knows that 'everything' is not always reliable or truthful. In my opinion the internet is more of a quicker approach to finding information. The pros are searching for information via the internet is very fast and very easy, however the cons are the information won't always be reliable, this is a risk you'll have to take.