Category Archives: Art

Bretonnia Hills

Activities, Art, Design, Level Design, Projects, , , , ,

Using Warhammar 2’s Map Tool Terry I’ve recently published Bretonnia Hills V1, a map for Warhammer Total War 2. I did this to practice my map development skills of using height maps, sculpting terrain, painting textures, and placing meshes. It’s on the Steam Workshop – so check it out here!

Development

The bones of this kind of map is its terrain. To start with a solid foundation I began by finding a height map to apply to the terrain. Ultimately I chose data from a location near Trout River in Vermont.

Next I obtained the height map data, processed, and imported into the map editor tool Terry.

Following this I smoothed out some areas, and did a first pass on painting.

Next I found some areas I thought to be interesting and added some meshes from Warhammer 2’s library to add some points of interest. Meanwhile I playtest the map, and made iterative changes to the configuration of the start point, and geographical features.

After a number of iterations I then posted the map on the Steam Workshop, and presented it to the map makers at the Warhammer Map Makers Discord Channel. The Warhammer Map makers gave me some great feedback, and rightly pointed out the map needs more polish work.

I released the bones of the map, which in itself needs more work having very little work in terms of detailing, and extensive playtesting. The detail work will make some good practice so I intend to do more on that side, and post some updated screenshots!

Jam-O-Draw – Building Virtual Worlds, Round 3

Art, Games, Projects, , , , , , , ,

Introduction: Jam-O-Draw is a game we created in the lightning round (single week round) of Building Virtual Worlds.

Platform: Jam-O-Drum | Time: 1 week | Roles: Producer – Game Designer – Programmer

Story: Jam-O-Draw was inspired by the classic etch-a-sketch game.

Design Goal: We wanted to create a multiplayer artistic experience with a fascinating reveal.

Design Challenges:

  • Adapting to an unfamiliar platform.
  • Creating an aesthetically pleasing experience using visuals and audio
  • Having the user interface during the experience be responsive and informative.

My contributions: My primary role on this project was as producer which involved making creative contributions, arranging meetings, coordinating our artists, programmers and sound designer to create the game in a timely manner. My programming responsibilities included assisting my fellow programmer with development, and preparing the game environment and assets.

Jam-O-Draw was featured at The Forbidden Forest in The Entertainment Technology Centers end of semester festival!

Festival Footage

Pursuit – A Painting Project

Art, Projects, , , ,

Introduction: Pursuit is a Japanese style decorative painting I designed, and painted with my sisters over the summer of 2016.

pursuit_unhung
Pursuit

Time: 4 weeks | Roles: Designer – Painter | Team Size: 4

Design Goal: To create an aesthetically pleasing well balanced Japanese style decorative painting.

My Contributions: As the designer of this project I researched, and drew the initial sketch of Pursuit as well as painting and supervising the whole of the way through.

Development

Pursuit started with a need for decoration, a desire for an oriental style painting, then a theme of the pursuit of ‘something’. Next a sketch with notes on elements that formed the foundation of this project.

Pursuit - Initial Sketch
Pursuit – Initial Sketch

Considering what I wanted, I paid Kuwait’s arts shops a visit for canvases. On finding said canvases I collected the dimensions of what was available.

Canvases
Canvases

Using those dimensions I created my desired layout with Google Sketchup, which I then printed to scale on A3.

Pursuit - A3 Layout
Pursuit – A3 Layout

With a layout I began the process of a creating a more detailed sketch, starting with drawings of more detailed items based on research of images reminiscent of Japan. Images such as Matsumoto Castle, the Cocoon Tower, Torii gates, wave styles, clouds, and villages.

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With a solid idea of various details for the painting I sketched up a detailed draft of Pursuit on a to-scale A3 layout.

Pursuit - Detailed Sketch
Pursuit – Detailed Sketch

Once the detailed sketch was complete, I next created a digital copy by scanning the document. Using the digital copy and a projector I traced each section of the painting onto its respective canvas.

pursuit_projector

Meanwhile we constructed a easel to hold every canvas in the correct layout. In addition I thought it wise that before the first brush stroke, to create a colored digital image to help in visualizing the final product.

pursuit_digital_color

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Night At The Park – Game Jam Project

Art, Design, Games, Projects, , , , , , ,

Night At The Park was a team project I worked on during one of Edinburgh University’s Game Development Society Game Jam’s. My team consisted of myself, an artist and my friend Sangseo Lee.

The Game Jam began with a theme which was Shadows. Games were required to include that theme in some manner.

My role on this project was as a designer. In addition to spearheading the game play and mechanics design, I hand crafted the following two levels using the Tiled map editor with assets our artist made, as well as free resources on the net.

night_at_the_park_level_1
Level 1

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Cave Troll Painting Guide – Games Workshop, Lord of the Rings

Art, Projects, , , , ,

Many years ago I used to play Games Workshops Lord of the Rings table top game. Naturally following this hobby I painted a number of models. One such model was the Cave Troll from Moria.

I spent awhile rummaging around the net for a good resource to remember how I painted the model and the best resource I found was from a Youtube channel which had a series of videos on how to paint a Cave Troll. I have written a summary to accompany the video series (paint name reference sheet).

Stage One: Assembly & Base Coat

To start first assemble your model, this involves:

  • Testing that joints fit together and filing them down if necessary (metal).
  • Making customization’s to your model and base as per your preference.
  • Gluing model parts together.
  • Attaching the assembled model to its base.
  • Applying a base coat of Chaos Black (can be done in White but I did it in Black).

Continue reading Cave Troll Painting Guide – Games Workshop, Lord of the Rings →

Spider Queen and Company

Art, Projects, , , ,

Here’s an painting project I did several years back when I was playing Games Workshop Lord of the Rings table top board game. The models are the Spider Queen (without her swarms) and four Giant Spiders.

Spider Queen and Company

To paint these models I followed the Fall of The Necromancer Sourcebook painting guide on page 25, so a big thanks to Games Workshop for such a great book. Unfortunately it’s no longer available, but there are of course still ways to get a copy…

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Diwali-Eid Poster for SASA 2012

Art, Poster, Projects, , ,

Here’s a water color Diwali–Eid poster created in 2012 for the University of Edinburgh‘s South Asian Students Association (SASA).

sasa-diwali-eid-poster-2012

I was responsible for the computer related art work (using Gimp). This involved adding a QR code, Facebook logo, the SASA logo, and supplementary text.

This project was done with the help of two individuals:

  • Punit Bhudia with his good advice and keen eye for editing,.
  • Anakral Frankenburger Bulhan the president of the society at the time, who as an amazing artist did a great job at designing and painting the poster that we used for our Diwali-Eid event.

I think it turned out well.

Pakistani Hindus

Art, Poster, Projects, , ,

Here’s a poster/leaflet I worked on whilst part of The South Asian Students Association (SASA) at the University of Edinburgh. It’s the result of a collaboration of three committee members.

The picture has an aura of elegance and simplicity and the efforts in making this poster was to complement that.

Poster

The prominent color of the temple is a beige white; as the temple has ‘streaks’ of blue, the sky becomes a great addition in balancing the photo, and an ideal place for text. We avoided placing any text on the temple as to not mar it’s appearance. The color was chosen to be white, the white text on blue acts as a pleasing contrast to the blue details on the temples beige background.

The two symbols at the top are the moon and crescent of the flag of Pakistan, and Om a common sign for Hinduism. Together these symbols we hope represents a unified duality of Pakistani Hindus.

I was responsible for the computer related art work (done in Gimp) as well as the posters design, which was done in tandem with the help of Punit Bhudia. The president of the society at the time, Anakral Frankenburger Bulhan took the photo (a temple in Pakistan).

I think it turned out well.