3D I, Week 2

This week in 3D we discussed IPs and visual styles. During the workshop, we were instructed to create three models of crates, each with a different theme. The themes we had to choose from were sci-fi, urban contemporary, post-apocalyptic, medieval and cartoony.

Crate A: Cartoony

The theme I chose for my first crate was cartoony. Of the different themes we were assigned, it’s definitely the one I’m the most comfortable and familiar with.

I’d say simplification is the basic trait of cartoon art. This ties back to the style’s origins in animation and comics, where omission of details in designs of both characters and objects make them quicker and easier to draw multiple times. Simplification, if done well, also leads to elements in a scene being more recognizable at a glance. With less detail to clutter up the silhouette and surface area, the basic components of a character or prop should shine through much clearer.

Left to right: Super Mario Sunshine, Crash Bandicoot, Kingdom Hearts 2, Psychonauts

Another characteristic of the cartoony style is exaggeration, which ties back to readability. Exaggeration in silhouettes is used to make the characteristics of a design clearer. For example, a weightlifter might have a huge upper body several times the size of their lower body to emphasize their strength, and a full suitcase might have a rounder shape to show that it’s packed so tight it could explode.

The four games pictured above all incorporate simplification and exaggeration in their visual styles. There’s no overabundance of details in either environment or characters, and silhouettes and proportions are played with in all designs.

To go with everything I went through, I gave my cartoony crate an incredibly simple design. It’s just a box with planks going around its edges. I made the planks incredibly thick for clarity, both in the surface area they take up on the box, and in how far they go out from the box.

I also made the upper side of the box bigger and a bit slanted, to give the box a bit of a curved, uneven look. This was to make the silhouette more exciting to look at, to give the box a more distinct look and to give it a bit of character.

Crate B: Sci-fi

Sci-fi is something I’m not very experienced with, but I find it’s a very identifiable visual style. The most definitive traits of sci-fi are futurism and technological advancement. It’s fantasy, with a focus on designing machinery and architecture that looks more advanced than what we have today.

Left to right: Portal 2, Halo 4, Metroid, Star Wars The Force Unleashed 3

What I personally find is that designs in sci-fi are often made to look sophisticated and “clean.” This means less visible seams, screws and construction elements in general. Silhouettes in modern sci-fi tend to incorporate hexagons and other rounded shapes in their designs. I believe this is to make structures seem more sturdy and to give a more organic feeling to the designs, illustrating the familiarity these fictional, advanced civilizations have with technology.

With this in mind, I started my crate with the same simple box shape as my cartoony crate. Instead of planks, I outlined my box with round, tube-like borders. The tubes connect to thicker, rounded plates at the corners of the box. This gives my sci-fi crate a less pointy silhouette. As explained earlier, I think this makes my crate seem more organic and sturdy. I believe that this, and the lack of contemporary structural elements, makes it a simple sci-fi crate.

Crate C: Post-apocalyptic

This is where things got difficult for me. The remaining themes to choose from, urban contemporary, post-apocalyptic, and medieval, are not as distinguishable to me as cartoony and sci-fi are. While cartoons and sci-fi have very distinct design elements, I feel like many characteristics of contemporary, post-apocalyptic and medieval styles lie more in details rather than the broad strokes of silhouettes and the like. With these three themes, I think it would be easier to distinguish them with the use of textures.

Left to right: The Last of Us, Wasteland 2, Enslaved: Odyssey to the West, Fallout 3

After a bit of pondering, I chose post-apocalyptic as theme for my final crate. The characteristics for post-apocalyptic visuals for me would be decay and imbalance, given the nature of this sort of setting. A ruined civilization would lend itself to survivors relying on mismatched scrap materials and a lack of maintenance would naturally lead to man-made things falling apart. In terms of silhouettes, this can be portrayed through designs being broken and crooked, incorporating diagonal lines which can bring a sense of discomfort and imbalance.

I made my final crate a simple box, again with planks on the edges. I gave this crate a lid on the top that’s hanging slightly off the edge to make it seem insecure. The overall shape of the crate is slightly crooked and bent, to show wear and tear.

I’m not very happy with this design, and I think it shows I didn’t have a good grasp of the theme I was working with. The design is so simple, the silhouette so weak, it doesn’t really look like I was trying to convey any particular visual style at all. I did try more complicated designs before this one, like one which consisted of several mismatched plates put together to form a box. My very limited 3D knowledge made this difficult for me, so I dialed down and went for an easier design, which was a mistake.

Summary

I think this assignment did a great job making you have to consider what basic design components can convey certain visual styles. It was a good, simple exercise in working with different themes, and of course good practice with the software. I only have gripes with my own work, but that’s all hindsight. Knowing what my mistakes were, I can keep them in mind with future assignments.