My process of my screens that i drawn (except the main screen which was manipulated in photoshop)
- For the cities i found reference images to re-drew over them to suit my story as im crap at drawing cities.
- I sketched my screens, except for the main screen that image from the internet and manipulated in photoshop and then i adopted my character into it to look like my character is walking down the road.
- After sketching my screens, I inked/coloured it in with black and left the highlights white. -Re-scanned them in and put them into photoshop and really ramped up the levels particularly the black. - Then re-drew over my sketches in photoshop with my tablet ( wacom tablets are life savers!!! - true story) - Then painted in the colour of my main character, KAI.
The references for the poses for the human , there is a site is specifically for drawing character poses and er they are naked.
Here is the final outcome of the story:
This is the main screen which i didn't draw but digitally manipulated in photshop to suit my story. All the rest i had drawn.
The first screen where you enter ground zero.
The screen when you choose the bad option.
The screen when you choose the good option.
The good ending which you get when you choose the good option.
I knew what i already what i wanted to do, but i already had afew problems that i thought i could overcome, however in the time frame i had to scrap it.
-1 Even though i wanted to have a "Auto pan" that would move with the mouse to see the graphics, there wasn't much else for interactivity. For example , how would i get the user to see the different rollovers without moving the image all the time with the mouse, or to click on the choices?
-2 The layout, i wanted the viewer to be immersed in the story almost 3d but the big problem was how or what coding i needed to know for Flash.
-3 Personally for me having alot of great ideas and be limited with my experience AS3 coding. But i will be definitely teaching myself it over the holidays.
What i had to change .... I changed to layout form of my story i wanted to keep that story idea and make it into a graphic comic strip , so its a subtle immersion for the viewer.
What i looked out for my interactive layout :
Interactivity, "Auto Pan" would have been great but design wise, as to how the user would click on the other buttons and mouse over the "rollovers" would be annoying as the mouse would have the function of moving around the picture itself. I thought maybe to have the "Auto Pan" function with keys instead but i felt that would be abit tedious , going back and forth using the keyboard and the mouse, which i felt it would be too distracting and the viewer would be less involved with the story.
- I wanted to have some rollovers to show some environmental facts as well just to have some food for thought as our story was based on the BP oil disaster which had just a great affect upon environment and for the people aswell.
- Colour scheme - i kept it simple , black and white gives it the most dramatic effect and the colour would be only for the main character as he is the focal point of the story.
- Environment - It had to be set in "ground zero" atmosphere such as destroyed city/ post apocalyptic . Here are some of the inspirations i looked at to get started.
Sounds i thought about, but i felt my idea is a story to be told, the more sound effects i had, i felt to me would be more distracting. Personally for me when i'm reading a book i need a quiet place to myself to be immersed within the story. So i opted to find a music track playing in the background of the story that can be turned on/off to set the mood and feel of the story. Clicking soundSFX i found annoying so i opted that out, as the main focus is the story and the extras such as sound etc are there to enhance my main focus rather than to distract, so that is why i kept it minimal. Here is a track that inspired what kind of music track i was looking for, however this particular track is very loud but its the sounds of it what i'm looking for but on a subtle level. Autechre Gantz Graf is on a much harsher level but i admire it and it is what i'm looking for
My idea for brief 4 was to show an interactive story about my character, and make choices that affected the outcome of the character's personality/ending. At first i wanted to have the viewer use the mouse to scroll around the image , like a Chinese painting where the whole painting itself tells the story. The graphic style/feel i wanted was a grungy, dirty style yet detailed enough to be believable.
Inspirations i looked at :
- I wanted to have my story/graphic comic in this layout initially so that viewer could scroll around within the painting, to immerse themselves within the story.
The inspiration i looked at , as to what kind of style of drawing to adopt for my story
This style is what i was looking for, dirty grungy but a unique style that shows the viewer of believe able world. The setting had to be futuristic, post apocalyptic. Styles i looked at was Borderlands, and Fallout 3. As their storyline is based in same time frame and the style was exactly what i wanted.
