Using the photos for inspiration.

I put my character cow in this photograph to create a contrast between the reality and digitally created. Although I did not manage to photograph a cow whilst on the moors but I know from previous trips that they are found there. 

To create the back drop to my game I took inspiration from this photograph. I made the hills roll into each other and used different shades of green to create depth. For the final illustration of this in the game I simplified the hills to only two shades of green as I though that with more the background would become cluttered.

For the taller hills in the background of my game I took inspiration from this tor. Instead of having it with a rocky appearance I chose to make it green to keep it simple. Once again I refined this shape for the final game.   

Dartmoor Photos

I took these photos to get a bigger look over the possible scenery options that I had. By doing this I can take elements form all the images to create a more authentic backdrop to my game.

Although I didn't use any rocks in my game I took these photos as I like the angular shapes that they create. For the game I used vector graphics that were very sharp and angular.

I took these two photos as I knew that I would have a cow in my game. Although I didn't see a cow I thought that showing animals in this environment would give me inspiration as to how to show the cow in the game.

I took many photos of trees as I like the different shapes that they can create. I used these trees as a basis of the trees that I used in my game.

In the style that I wanted to use for this game I knew I wanted to include clouds, also from previous projects I knew it worked well. Therefore I decided to take many photos of landscapes with the clods in view.

Game Story Board

Click to see a more detailed version of the game.

This is my story board for my concept game. The idea of the game is to fling a cow through the air, whiles collecting tokens in the shape of tomatoes and pineapple rings. There are two arrows on either side of the game that control the cows assent and descent. The player losses when when the cow has eaten too much, the cow becomes heavier and the down force increases so it is harder to keep it up in the air.
|Once the game has ended the player is presented with their total, this is represented by how much milk the cow produced based on the objects collected, and the number of points associated with each object.

Here are some close ups of some of the icons and objects in the game. They all have the same style so that there is a consistence through the game, which is very important if you want to make subsequent editions of the game.   

Close-ups

When creating a character it is important that a lot of detail is given so that the character can be seen from many angles with consistency of its characteristics.

Road Signs

When cars became more popular the inconsistency of road sign design meant they were unnoticed. There therefore had to be a change and standardisation.   

Road signs can be categorised in certain ways, above shows some of these. 

Mandatory:- These signs are usually circular and red. They contain a graphic that is easy to see at high speed.

Cautionary:- These sings are usually triangular with a red border and contain a graphic in the centre that further explains the caution but is simple enough to be read at speed.

Informatory:- These sings provide details about the road ahead.They are usually blue (motor way) or green (A roads) with white writing. The designers discovered that these two colours with white writing were the best and easiest to understand at high speed.

 Across the world the UK standard has spread  and the font 'Transport' is used.

"Draw Me a Story" at Plymouth Museum

The Art of Illustration for Children

http://www.flickr.com/photos/plymouthmuseums/5646273426/

The illustrations were simple in there content, this can help the child relate to there own art work as the style is very similar and give a direct meaning to the illustration and the story.

The emotions of the characters make it easy for a child the recognise and relate as they are usually over express, for example an angry character would have a large frown and the eyebrows will change position.

The majority of the illustrations shown had a limited rage of colours to convey there meaning, the advantage of using few yet bright colours is that a child is attracted by them and will be more indulged in the artwork. 

With many of the illustrations things are missing from the scene. For example if the story read about the description of the character, the character would be on it's own page with a limited background to further emphasis the subject and the meaning becomes very focused.

Many of the Illustrations on display had the same style of line drawing. Many consisted of a thing black outline then coloured in with either water colours or pen. By having this consistency across many publications the child becomes used to the style and is able to interpret the mean a lot easier.

The Best Way to Visually Record

What a cow!

This is a visual recording of a toy cow which I photographed and then traced in Illustrator. The advantage to this method, over sketching by hand in my opinion is that it is much more accurate and if a mistake is made it can be easily corrected in a short amount of time.
In the image above I have done three views of the toy cow, top front and side. I have also done them in different styles (left to right) line drawing, colour and grey scale. By creating all of these variations I can ensure that, if another designer was to take part in the project, they would be able to under stand the style and characteristics of the character.


What an interesting looking cow!

This is my attempt at drawing the toy cow by hand. I tried to include as much detail as possible but due to the size of the toy and my lack in drawing capabilities it did not turn out how I would have liked. Despite this drawing by hand has it's advantages, such as it is much fast than drawing digitally.