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Task 3.2 - Student Portfolio Planning
Task 3.2 - Student Portfolio Planning
Evidence will need to be provided here to demonstrate that your portfolio has been planned in advance by showing:
Sketches
Layouts
Project Plans & Ideas
Lists
You should be aiming to include as many examples as possible.
Project Ideas
For this Unit, I need to create 6 small projects that I can use to display on my portfolio. These are some basic ideas for projects I could do that shouldn't take too long:
Character concepts & designs
These would be a great addition to my portfolio, allowing me to experiment with different character body types, personalities and unique features, as well as allowing me to show a basic understanding of human proportions. However, it might be quite time-consuming and difficult to finish, especially when I need to complete 6 projects.Weapon concepts & designs
This is another idea that would be a great asset to my portfolio, giving me the opportunity to experiment with colour ideas as well as photobashes and silhouettes to brainstorm different ideas for how handles, blades, etc. could be shaped. They would also not take as long to complete as character concepts so I think I should try and create at least one project focused on weapon design.Pixel art tilesets or assets
A pixel art focused project would be faster to complete than a standard 2D digital drawing due to the much more confined and limited space used. However, this also means reduced room for experimentation and ideas generation, aside from methods like colour ideas and potentially turnarounds for assets or props. Therefore, I don't think a pixel art project would benefit my portfolio too much and I will probably only do one if I find myself running out of ideas or limited on time.3D model
This would be quite a risky choice for me to create a project around, as 3D is not my main pathway and I am not as experienced in it as I am in 2D. However, I have already made a project centred around a 3D model with my catapult model that is already featured on my ArtStation. Creating something similar comes with the risk of being time-consuming and the end product not being very impressive, however if it turns out well it could be very beneficial for my portfolio, showcasing that I have skill in not only 2D, but some in 3D as well.
Idea Brainstorm:
Character Designs:
Human character themed around sea life (Jellyfish, turtle, starfish, coral, hermit crab, octopus, anemone, clam, urchin)
Hero/Villain character (Dark/light, learn what makes roles visibly apparent, swap/alter stereotypes)
Cyborg/Mech Character (Experiment with inhuman shapes and proportions, blocky or round)
Character themed around mundane objects (Potential powers based on inspiration, tape measure, keyboard, anything I see)
Elemental themed character (Fire, Water, Ice, Earth, Air, Cloud, Metal, Plant, Light, Dark, Radiation)
Inhuman character (Alien, animal, objects, planets, plants)
Own interpretation of existing character design (real or fictional)
Weapon Designs:
Based on character design or vice versa
List of weapons: Blade (Katana, Sword, Knife), Bow (Longbow, Crossbow), Shield, Bludgeon(Mace, Hammer) Gauntlets, Spear, Gun (Sci-fi, Pistol, Gatling, Shotgun)
Katana (Blade shape and style, decorated sheath, handle and grip)
Shield (Shape and size, patterns and decorations, material, offense vs. defense)
Unconventional weapon (Random objects into viable weapons, creating new design entirely, fantasy elements, instruments)
Large mechanical weapon (Tank, cannon, turret, mech designs, consider portability and traversability, defense & protection)
Gauntlets/Gloves (Balance between damage and weight, hidden weapons, guns in fingertips or on back of hand, consideration for grip and usability)
Own interpretation of existing weapon design (real or fictional)
These are my six projects that will be displayed on my portfolio:
Medieval catapult 3d model
Medieval shield 3d model
Sea-life themed 2d character art
Elemental themed character pixel sprites and animations
Gauntlets/gloves 2d weapon art
Elemental themed pixel weapon designs
Portfolio Cover/Banner Layouts
These are some concepts for how I could display my artwork in the banner that stretches across the top of my portfolio. I need to make sure that this showcases some of my best work and immediately presents myself as professional and experienced as this is most likely the first thing people will see when opening my portfolio.
This is my first concept for my page banner. I will include four pieces of artwork as well as their less detailed sketches. I will blur the edges between the artworks to help them fade into each other and to make the separation between pieces less noticeable.
I really like this first design as I think the slanted parallelograms give each piece of art a unique shape that stands out and catches your eye. Furthermore, I think the slanted lines will help to mask the divisions between each piece of artwork helping them to blend together better.
I also quite like the idea to divide each drawing into their final pieces as well as their rough sketch, as this will not only showcase my best work, but will also display my process and how I start off my drawings, which I think could make my banner more interesting to look at whilst also showcasing more of my knowledge and ideas generation in my work.
Something I'm not quite sure about for this layout is that I fear that including rough sketches in my banner comes with the risk of making it appear more messy, less colourful and more unprofessional if I do it wrong. However, I think with the context of the finished pieces above the sketches, this risk is lessened.
Overall, I'm really happy with this first design for my portfolio banner and think it will be a good contender for my final choice as I find the unique shapes of each piece of artwork as well as the idea to include my process quite unique and interesting.
This is a more simple idea for my page banner, dividing the area into quarters allowing me to display four finished artworks.
I quite like this design due to its simplicity, as I can easily display four of my best projects in a very visible and understandable layout. It also provides ample space to display the entire artwork without any details needing to be cropped.
Something I don't like about this design is that I think it might be too simple, as just placing 4 drawings in a rectangular shape together isn't very unique and probably won't stand out as much as some of the other layouts I could use.
I might use this design if when I display my images like this it turns out really nice, however I probably won't be using it due to its simplicity.
This design is similar to the one featured above, however I have rotated the quarter division to be diagonal across the screen, rather than straight lines.
I like this design more than my first 4-quarters layout because by using a cross, the presented artworks will be displayed in a triangular shape, which I find to be more dynamic and eye-catching than rectangles.
This design could also allow me to do close-ups of artwork in the larger base of the triangles, whilst leaving enough space near the smaller point of the triangles to include additional details such as backgrounds and environments, drawing your eye towards the main focus of the artwork whilst still ensuring any background information is not lost.
However, one issue this layout may cause is that it too is still relatively simplistic with 4 repeated shapes making up the entirety of the banner. Furthermore, it might be difficult to fit my projects into triangular shapes as I might have to scale or skew them strangely to ensure all the information I want is displayed whilst still filling the entire area of the triangle.
Overall, whilst simple, I think this design could work quite well as my portfolio banner as it is unique enough to be eye-catching whilst giving each piece of art a good portion of the page to be displayed on.
This design for my banner will prominently feature 1 main project I have done, surrounded by other, smaller examples of my work.
I think this design could work quite well if I make something I am really proud of and consider some of my best possible work as I will be able to make it stand out by showcasing it at a very large scale.
However, I don't really like how small the other pieces included in this layout will be as fitting any artwork into a space that small will either force me to make it too small and therefore unrecognisable, or alternatively crop out a lot of the image, which will maintain readability but will show off less of my work.
Therefore, I think I will only use this layout if I create a piece I am really happy with over all my other projects and if I can manage to fit 4 projects into small yet readable forms.
This design is similar to the one above, however I have significantly reduced the size of the centre artwork to allow for more space for the other artworks.
I am really happy with this design and think it is a big improvement to the previous layout as I can still prominently feature a piece of art I am particularly happy with large and in the centre, however this design also leaves enough room for 4 other projects to surround it whilst not being confined to a small cramped space.
One thing I don't quite like about this design however is that unlike the design above which utilises an oval, this design uses a perfect circle, which might be slightly harder to display my favourite piece in due to artworks rarely being circular or even square, as they are usually displayed in portrait or landscape. Therefore, this design risks being forced to crop lots out of the main project I am displaying in this banner, which could potentially remove parts of the artwork I am particularly happy with.
Altogether, I think this is probably one of the best potential layouts for my portfolio banner due to the contrast in shapes as well as the placement of the circle being very effective in drawing attention to the main featured artwork, whilst also displaying various other pieces I have done.
Thumbnail Ideas
These are some concepts for how I could display custom thumbnails for my projects in my portfolio. These are important as the thumbnail will be the first look people get at each of my projects, so I need them to highlight the best features and appear impressive to draw people in and convince them to look further into my art, or to give a brief summary of my projects at a glance.
Thumbnails are confined to a 400x400 resolution size, so I need to be able to include enough important information in this space without overloading it with too much detail, which could make it too hard to read or comprehend.
This is the layout I used for my 3D catapult model's custom thumbnail. I include the title of the project bordering the top of the thumbnail, as well as my model featured largely in the centre and finally my name in smaller print in the bottom right corner.
I think this layout works quite well as both the title and main artwork are large enough to be easily visible even in the small resolution given. I ensured the main focus of the thumbnail, the artwork, would be placed directly in the centre to make it immediately visible and obvious as to what this project is.
One thing I'm not too happy with in this thumbnail layout is how the title slightly overlaps with the main artwork, as this hides some of the model and therefore slightly detracts from the main focal point of the project. I could have also swapped the order of layers and had the title go behind the model, but that made it too difficult to read, so I left it as it was.
Overall, I think this layout was quite effective as it displays all the necessary information in the limited space at a scale that is visible and readable.
This thumbnail layout is unique in that the artwork goes across the entire thumbnail with the title and name intentionally overlaid on top of it, similar to the example thumbnail shown for 'Spider-Man 2 Prop Designs' by Ian Galvin.
I like this design because I think the idea of intentionally overlaying the title and name across the artwork is unique and interesting, whilst also being an effective way to provide as much space as possible for the artwork, making both the artwork and the title stand out whilst not distracting from each other too greatly.
Something I need to be careful with if I choose this design however, is that if I make my title too obstructive, whether in font size, colour or font, it could become too visible and make the artwork itself harder to see. To avoid this, I will need to make sure I use a font that isn't too bold as well as ensure when I layer the text over the art that it doesn't cover any important visuals or information.
Altogether, I think this layout would work fine to showcase a project as long as I can ensure that the main areas of the artwork are visible and not covered by my name or the project title.
This is another concept for how I could lay out a custom thumbnail for any projects on my portfolio. The artwork takes up the majority of the page, aside from the bottom of the screen which displays my name and the project title.
I like this layout as I think it would work well for a really detailed piece that I am particularly proud of as the main artwork takes up a huge majority of the thumbnail and is hardly overlapped by any text. This means that any work I display in this layout will be very visible and noticeable, so it would probably work best with artwork that is colourful or very detailed to help it stand out further.
However, I'm not too sure on the area I have provided for the name and title on this layout as they might feel quite squished and small at the bottom, which could make longer titles more difficult to read.
Overall, I think this design would work well if I'm really proud of a piece of work or if I think it would benefit from having a large inclusion in the thumbnail to showcase smaller details. Furthermore, the issue with the limited space for the title shouldn't matter too much if the project title isn't very long.
Album Ideas
I will sort my artwork into different albums on my portfolio to better categorise them and to make different pieces easier to locate. Here are some ideas for albums I could sort my projects into:
Class Projects
Personal Projects
Characters
Environments
2D art
3D models
Pixel Art
Concept art
Objects/Props
Although both were made following a tutorial, I still created moodboards themed around shields and catapults for my shield and catapult models respectively. These helped me when texturing to understand where different materials would be placed and how they would be damaged or weathered. Furthermore, they helped me to gain an improved understanding on common designs and variations in many of these designs, helping me when creating the models to understand the purposes of different elements of designs and to not leave out any important features.
This is the layout plan I came up with for my character sheets. I wanted to ensure the main drawings got large portions of the page to appear impactful whilst still leaving enough space for everything else to be readable and visible.
These are the initial ideas generation and design processes I used when creating my sea life character concepts. I started by collecting a moodboard of interesting sea related creatures and objects then photobashed them into rough character-like shapes. I then silhouetted those photobashes and made rough sketches over the top of them to get an idea for how these characters could look. Finally, I made some more developed sketches which I then added colour to and presented.
Task 3.2 - Student Portfolio URL
Task 3.2 - Student Portfolio URL
Please include the link to your portfolio here - you should check to ensure that this link is accessible by anybody online.
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