Weekly Report – 2013-12-17

This came a bit late. Sorry about that! Not that there is much to tell frankly. The previous week was mainly about line drawing and making a clean image.

Put simply, I now understand why the teachers insisted on us practicing circles and lines. I regret not spending more time on it now. Though I’m fairly confident in my coordination, the problem I faced was more of a technical one. Being a complete newcomer to the workings of Photoshop, I had little to no idea of what kind of pencil to use, let alone its settings. I just couldn’t find an adjustment that did what I wanted. I kept changing between sizes trying to find some proper match, with mixed results if I am to be optimistic. If I did everything right it certainly doesn’t feel that way. Not a single line seems properly straight. I tried at first to do entire sides of objects in one stroke, but I could never get a hang of it so I divided it up in smaller sections. I managed to get it mostly right I dare say, but I could definitely have done better.

Due to probable complications with writing a report next week (holidays and all) I might as well just tell about the current week as well, which focuses on lighting. Again, it’s been pretty straight forward thus far. But then, we’re only doing the basics. It can be a time-consuming process, but it’s well worth it, especially when you can see results after just a couple of strokes with your pencil. As with most other things, concepts such as shadows can be deceptively simple. It’s not just about figuring out a source of light and where an object’s shadow falls, but how the environment affects it. Everything is connected in some way. All I have to do is to learn to follow the strings.

This report became painfully short, but there really isn’t anything else to say at the moment. I’ll try not to be too unproductive during the holiday. Until next time!

Björn Erik Berndtsson. Graphics and Game Design.