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Pixel Gif

This is a short GIF I made for some fun recently and I thought it would be relevant to this project because it could link to one of the themes giving me a better Idea of what I want to do. maybe Tea for Two, The Meeting, The crossing. I enjoyed making this GIF and I got a lot of inspiration from  Ivan Dixons and Paul Robertson GIFs. because I wanted to create a smooth flowing Gif and I knew the best way to do that was by adding more frames. 

But when making the animation I did it in sections to make it easier to navigate when you have so many frames. it was made from 120 frames but it seems shorter because some I had to speed up, like the bullet traveling speed. But im going to show you a short Idea on how I made it 

most of the frames are simple to make because you normally only change one thing because for me its easier for the next frame so you wont forget to change it again. because if I trying to move to people at once it sometimes get really complicated for me. 

This show a couple of frames from when the sheriff reaches for his pistol and gets shot in the chest.

This was complicated to make because I wanted to make the sheriff fall to his knees and beg for mercy. This was complicated to make because it was hard to make him fall to his knees without making him look stupid or out of place. So the way I fixed that was by speeding up the frame time so you cant see his knees move.

you may notice the bandit never moves in the frames. because people wont notice because there eyes are drawn to the man being shot.

This was enjoyable and quick to make because all I had to do was make one frame to show the collision of the bullet hitting his chest. 

When the bullet hit I only used three different frames for the blood gushing from his body. all I did was copy and paste past the blood into different places to give the illusion its moving . 

you may notice the bandit is still not moving, thats because you wouldn’t notice on the GIF because your eyes would be focused on the Sheriff

This was hard to make because his knees once again looked stupid because when falling they would go into a funny shape, I fixed this by speeding up the frame so its too quick for the naked eye to see.

This was probably the most movement the bandit would do because he is holstering his gun, I chose to do this because the sheriff isnt doing much apart from bleeding from his body.

you will notice at the end of the GIF it blurs and then repeats. the blur only happens for 5 frames but all it was was a simple effects that comes with the software. 

This is a picture of all the frames I showed in the presentation (This isnt all the frames I used to make the GIF) 

I used a pregame called Asprite to make this GIF, its dedicated o just making pixel art and easy to get the hang of, I make all my own colors and put them on a pallet and save them for late use. I always have that little preview screen at the bottom so I can always watch my GIF on repeat to see if it looks good. At the bottom it shows all my frames and layers.

I deiced to slow down the animation so you can have a better understanding of the frames and what I did to make it. I really enjoyed making this and it was a good opportunity to improve my pixel art skills. Nothing in the background changed because that would of been to complicated for me.

I really enjoyed making this animation and if I was to do it again I would probably make the environment change like a moving sun or tumbleweed. I wish I made the animation better flowing the way I could to that is by adding more frames .

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Project Evaluation

At the beginning of this project we were given eight phrases/ words to develop and create ideas to revolve around that certain chosen word or phrase. I made a mind map and Pinterest board for each word to display and show what I thinking. I chose segregation because I had a giant list of ideas I could create, mostly revolving around strange exotic creatures, monsters and aliens. Throughout my project I always knew I wanted to create something strange but I didn’t know what, so I began to look into SCIFI movies revolving around segregation leading me to watch Blade runner, District 9 and Avatar giving me the brilliant idea to create alien creatures. From the previous term I realized I was slightly more skilled in 3D workshop but I didn’t want to continue using for this project however this would later change. I began researching into historical events and wider world incidents involving racism and segregation, leading me to research World War 2 and the crusade. I chose to look deeper into the Second World War focusing on prosecution and killing of different religions mainly the Jewish people. I used this to develop stories and features for my aliens to later realise what I was doing could be very offensive.

From the previous term I really enjoyed 3d modelling on Cinema4D and Zbrush so I decided this was the media I wanted to focus.  So throughout the beginning of my project I began researching into 3D modelling artists, Tutorials and concept artists. Looking at different game developers and movie digital effects developers I found various videos and blogs showing me different techniques and medias to create cool 3d characters. By looking at this it pushed me towards Fausto De Martini, who was my favorite of the concept artists. However, despite this he didn’t give me much advice and knowledge on the different techniques and medias he used only his inspiration and ideas.

Once I had finished all the initial research into 3D Modeling I began to develop my own alien characters, firstly drawing an idea in Photoshop than using it as a reference for the character I was going to produce in cinema 4D. I began to create this only to realize that I wasn’t as comfortable with the program as I first thought, making the whole process slow and tedious. I soon came to realize after finishing this creature, that I was more comfortable with more hand based modelling, for I could physically move and see the progression as I went along.

After deciding I wanted to change my focus to using more materialistic medias, I was then taken back to the drawing board, coming up with new character designs. This was also the point where I decided that focusing on WW2 stereotypes that to certain people this could be seen as racist if not seen from the point I was seeing it at. Instead I decided to look further into the first crusade at the political/ religious side and historical figures. But later I found that parts of my research weren’t really used and didn’t fit with my creatures for I found myself exploring deeper into the crusade purely just out of curiosity for myself, rather than for my creatures.

I wanted to base my alien character on animals, such as lizards, having certain features that I brought into my designs. Each character based on a different animal. Therefore, after seeing latex used on other models created in the class, I found they gave a really cool texture that could be used on mine to give them a scaly, reptilian look. This also worked really well with my creatures because I wanted them to have a lot of flexibility and movement so that if I had time I could have made a short stop motion animation. I began by creating a wooden figure for the base and giving it shape on the sanding machine, the arms and legs are made from armature wire twirled together to give them strength but stil lretaining their flexibility. I built up the body and muscle structure using cotton wool and latex, the face and other really detailed figures where made from super sculpey, but once baked they kept snapping because I may have over cooked them. To fix this I super glued them back together and wrapped a bandage over the top to make it look battle scared. This worked fine but I still had to be delicate with my model because I feared I would break it more.When It came to painting I found myself splashing random cheerful water colours all over my model yet this didn’t work on the latex, it didn’t stick. Instead I found makeup worked better because its more oiled based. My second Alien went a lot smoother than my previous model because I had learnt from my mistakes. For my second model I decided to create cloths for it to give it more character and look more civilized. This was a struggle because I had very little experience with cloths and sewing but I thought it looked very successful by the end. I did create a third Alien but it wasn’t as successful because it was rushed and I was lacking time. So with little time I had left I decided to create small environment to display my models, creating a more finished look, it was pretty straight forward because I had a lot of experience in the workshop. With the overall look of my finished piece I was actually quite happy but I felt I could of improved on my landscape if I had more time. Because at the start of the project I was comfortable with the amount of time given but I felt due to some of the decisions I had made, they took up time trying to fix them, meaning at the end all the missed time caught up to me leading me to feel rushed. By the end of my project I felt I had created a successful piece, however I still feel there was areas I could improve on. I wish I had stuck more to what I knew at the beginning and was comfortable with, like using the workshop, because the digital stuff just took up time that I could have used to create more characters in.     

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Landscape Idea

For my final show I didn't want my models just standing there looking boring so I plan to create a landscape to capture peoples eyes, I think I wanted to create a House on the landscape for my merchant alien on some kind of dry arid platform that would explain a bit about his culture.I plan to roughly draw a idea before creating a landscape and research into areas where other lizards environments and reference back to my previous research research about the crusade, because I think some of the places where the battles took place could be interesting to create a landscape. Like the Siege of Nicacea, because its a fortress in the Center of a desert but the fortress is full of gold, merchants and wealth.

I actually really like the desert look because it match perfectly with the image im trying to portray with my merchant alien. I only wish I had more time to create a short stop motion scene and make the set for it, these images are how I imagine the set would look. When making this desert I plan to include the dry grass and the tilted rocks because they're some of the coolest features.

for the house I would want to made something similar to this but with wooden walls because stone would take me forever, Im aiming to create the straw roof because I think its the best feature and differentiates it from modern houses today. Therese many other house I wanted to choose from but I like the old rubble look of the building. I plan to use the same material, straw to create the roof because I cant think of anything that would give the same effect.

This is a link to my pintrest board where I look at different land spaces.

https://uk.pinterest.com/byronlambohills/land-scape/

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Winged Alien name ideas

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Lizard Alien name ideas

My Aline was inspired by a wide range of different creatures like, crabs, lizards and apes and many more. This is probably my favorite model I made because it has so much character and small detail. The face is very similar to a dragon but more balky, the face paint was a last minute choice but my favorite feature because it makes him look more tribal. The clothes are made from my kitchen cloth because the patter reminded me of a merchant also looked very Arabian. The arms are very basic, long on top short on bottom with very large hands. 

The clothes remind me of a merchant so I think the name of my character will be the Latin translation for merchant. Latin: mercator, Arabic: تاجر tajir.

I actually really like the Arabic translation for merchant, “Tajir” because it actually sounds like a name and fits the character perfectly. Tajir the alien merchant. In my previous blog posts you can see research on Arabic merchants being killed during the crusade for there wealth. I will reference this when I create his back story.

For the name of the alien species Im going to use another Arabic word, suhulia  سحلية, this is the Arabic translation for lizard suhulia I like the but I may change it later.

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Scale models

A scale model is most generally a physical representation of an object, which maintains accurate relationships between all important aspects of the model, although absolute values of the original properties need not be preserved. For example, a scale ratio of 1:12 means that every inch of the scale represents 12 inches, or 1 foot, of the subject.

A scale model is a representation or copy of an object that is larger or smaller than the actual size of the object being represented. Very often the scale model is smaller than the original and used as a guide to making the object in full size. Like my model is a smaller scale to the actual real life creature I picture in my head.

Its important for everyone to know the scale of your model in case you ever want to display and give people a rough idea of what to inspect. It’s very important for stop motions model makes, movie makers, prop developers army miniature designs.

for all of my models I would say they're roughly a 1: 2 scale because that should make them slightly taller and larger than a average human. I wanted my aliens to be bigger because to would make them more scary also its cooler to work larger.

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This is another model I began to create in my spare time, I wanted to create a alien witch doctor looking thing, I hadn't drawn a design so I was working from the back of my mind trying to creating something new.

I tried to cheat a litter by buying a wooden armature instead of making one because that would of consumed a lot of time. So I began adding tin foil to his head to allow super sculpy to retain its shape and eventuality cook without cracking, I wanted to create a four eyed bird looking gas mask and add wires later coming out of the mask (similar to Bane from batman) to make him look more cyborgy. I thought adding the eye sockets really deep would look cool and it did. Until I added googly eyes, Im a stung believer googly eyes make everything look better but it didn't work today, still I though it I looked better than painting the eyes,

I was very short of time, so I couldn't do cotton wool and latex for the body so I thought it would be cool to try sowing and making a cool outfit to cover the body. I was hoping it would making him look more mysterious. This model didn't turn out perfect, I did very little planning and it was rushed because Im short of time, so the result of all this showed in the model, you can tell because it doesn't look as good as my others.

I plan to improve on this model if I have time because I feel it has potential if I get the time to do it right.

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This is a couple of photos of my finished model outside behind the collage, since hes a bird looking creature I tried to stand him against trees and on branches and get a couple of photos, The pictures are nice but they could be better if I used a appropriate camera, I also tried to capture all angles of my alien creature to show off every small detail 

My model doesn't stand up on his own, he needs one of his hands to support him because hes very top heavy. Also his toes don’t hold shape because they're very thin armature wire, (they’re not two pieces twirled together like the others)

I added the chain because I wanted to show somehow he has a interest for shiny objects, But I also tried to tell a story within these photos, making both of the models look like their preparing for a fight. The very last photo is my favorite because it shoes my lizard alien wielding his wooden spear. 

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I firstly began coating my model in purple because I really like the colors of the alien creatures in the movie in Avatar, Im fascinated by there bright exotic neon colors so I've tried to create a similar effect with this model, I also tried to fix the eyes because before they looked bad. defining them in white was a improvement. Once I had finished coating it in purple I began to slap on random colors and surprisingly it actually worked and looked nice. As I was working his tentacles hair began to snap so I had to be more delicate and around the eyes I made darker so it makes the eyes stand out. I created holes in the wings and smudged red around it look like he’d been in a couple fights.

I plan to add to the character and explain his purpose for traveling to earth but first I wanted to finish this model by adding chains to show his interest for shiny, valuable objects.

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This was the beginning of my first  model, I began by making a quick basic wooden frame on the sanding machine in the workshop to create a organic smooth shape of a torso. The wings are made from a pin copper pipe wired thing, witch was strong and retained its shape, I used a heat puncher to melt them together. The arms a made from armature wire twirled together using the drill and pliers to carefully and slowly swirl them reinforcing the wire making it stronger (usefull if I wanted to create a stop motion animation). I used the remains of the would to create the balky parts of the arm, the muscle and the head, I spent a while shaping the head because I wanted it to be perfect.

The wings are made from paper mache, I chose black because I wanted to create a creepy bat looking effect, I personally really like wings but others disagree because they think it doesn't fit the design but I was hoping once I paint the creature if will all fit together.

The head was inspired from one of my previous alien designs, the multiple eyes is his most interesting feature, I wanted to create a plant, bug looking thing but it looked better in my head. Still its interesting to see and I think the face works well with his character, I didn't give him a mouth because I wanted develop on that when I create there back stories for my alien race’s. The face is made from super sculpy. 

My design and story for this alien is very inspired by magpies and religions because of there interests in gold and shiny things.

(the figures where so fin, it was a struggle glue cotton to them and make and retain the shape and actually look like figures) 

once all the appropriate ligaments was in place I began to glue cotton all over the body, I sadly didn't have enough cotton to do the entire body but I made do with what I had. I had enough to cover the majority of the body. Once the body was covered I layered the cotton with latex to hold its shape and allow me to paint over the cotton. this worked nicely. But I didn't get a smooth finish, it dried lumpy and was easy to peal.But looking past everything that went wrong I actually really happy with my first model and it turned out better than inspected.

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These are a couple of photos of my alien model outside looking more aesthetic Im not the best photographer but I actually really like these photos. although I feel this model is more suited to a desert scene I had yet to create that, instead I used the forest beside the collage to place my model in convenient places that looked nice. I tried to capture all angles of my model but it was difficult using my phone because I wouldn't get a nicer result, a camera would of been better. I tried to involve the spears on his back but camera on my phone makes it look blurry. 

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This is the second stage of my Lizard alien, I firstly painted over the latex with a bright orange similar to a salamanders lizard. The paint on the latex looked different to the paint on the super sculpy, the latex gave a different result. The biggest problem I had was parts of my lizard began to fall off like the toes and horns. This made it extremely frustrating working with this small scale creature and trying not to snap any more body parts. I used water colors the paint the body and add details. My alien looked very primitive so I thought adding cloths would make him look more intelligent, for the clothes I used a bit of kitchen cloth because I thought it had a very arid, desert merchant feel so I measured it too size and made him a poncho. 

I began to make more features to add to the clothes like the string belt and the blue scarf. I didn't realize but it would of been easier to fully paint my alien creature before adding the clothes. The cloths I wanted to create was a Arabian merchants outfits, but I was very short of time, materials and it was hard to create a detailed outfit witch would fit over his body structure. So I did what I would and Im happy with the result. 

parts of the hands and feet keep falling in half and off, I used super glue and red paint to fix that problem. 

I began to add more detail because I felt he was still a little bland and looked worn. The latex didn't cling to the sculpy like it did to the cotton so I had gaps between the arm and hands that looked really bad, I just had to paint over it and postilion the arms in a place you wouldn't see it. Where the horns and figures had fallen, I just painted over it with red giving it a blood effect. I didn't like the face so gave him a tribal face paint on the right side. The face paint is simialr to Papua New Guineas native tribes culture face paints, using bright colors sharp edges.

I thought to add some finishing touches and some equipment to give him more character and look like a traveler, I wanted to a mature bag on his back but I struggle to sow and it wouldn't hold. So I went outside and collected some appropriate sized twigs and sharped the end to make it look like a spear and attached it to his back strap.  

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The Thing

In remote Antarctica, a group of American research scientists are disturbed at their base camp by a helicopter shooting at a sled dog. When they take in the dog, it brutally attacks both human beings and canines in the camp and they discover that the beast can assume the shape of its victims.

The alien from the Thing is probably one of the strangest and weirdest alien iv ever seen, The alien has no name apart from what it is “A Thing”, but the most unique thing about these aliens are the shape and there ability to deform people to suit there needs, The Thing is less of a mammal but more of a practice or disease getting into your system and manipulating your body to its will, It’s also strange because you've never seen the Thing for its natural form only as the weird mutated creature it portrays. In the recent remake of the Thing they explore more in depth, trying to explain the arrival of the alien.  

The Thing (1982) is a amazing film, always surprising you and leaving everyone watching a scary suspense wondering who the alien has infected, The best thing about this movie is the creatures are physically made giving them that extra special look,something that CGI  cant do do.

These are two videos I found showing the production of the movie The Thing, showing me how the aliens where designed and made and its really cool to see the progression and methods used to create this movie.

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This is a wooden model from my previous term I never got to use or give a purpose, so I plan to strip it of all its parts to create a alien, I mainly just want the arms but I think the head and horns could look cool as legs.

Third wooden monster: Demon

I wanted to make a wooden version of a demon from scrap wood so I could get familiar with the work shop encase I need to use it in future. I made wooden model easy to dismantle and from dowel joints  so the arms legs and horns would move easy, it more of a giant wooden toy so I could get formilar with the place and I enjoyed making it 

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This is also one of my weird exotic creatures I created in the previous term, but I never got to give it a purpose so I plan to strip the lims from its body and use it to create a new and cool alien for this project.

Second wooden monster

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Ken Barthelmey

Ken Is one of my favorite artists because his aliens are so strange and unique, I feel like they should have a movie of there own. I wanted to look at the techniques and medias he uses to create there illustrations because if I could create something like these I would be very happy. 

Ken is a freelance Illustrator and Concept Designer, working professionally since 2011. In 2012 he got his first big design job on the film The Maze Runner produced by 20th Century Fox. Ken has also worked on many designs for the sequels called The Scorch Trials and Death Cure. Most recently he completed creature designs for several unannounced film productions and is currently working on his own IP project.

He always start with very rough scribbles. He does these illustraion mainly for himself in order to get ideas and to find a specific look. After that he start with more detailed pencil sketches which he present to his client. If a sketch gets approved he starst enhancing the design and color it in Photoshop. However in his recent jobs, he immediately jumped into Zbrush after the approval. Zbrush is a fantastic and very powerful tool, I always enhance my designs when I work in 3D.

He always consider creatures as characters. Even bloodthirsty beasts with long teeth should have their own soul and backstory. What is its motivation? What is its goal? What evolutionary functions does it need in order to survive The more thoughts go into a design, the better the result, he creates a whole world in his head.