h7lyx




Ambition Project – Disquiet

Abbreviations

jAD: Junior Art Director
AD: Art Director
sAD: Senior Art Director

[this project is currently in development]

Intro

This is by far, most exciting, engaging, and motivating project I have made so far.
In the ambition project I decided what I wanted to advance in.
What do I want to learn, make, how will i do this, where will i do this?
This was all mostly in my own hands, which already sparked a lot of motivation.

In this documentation you’ll find out what exactly I chose to learn.
How I got to that point, what research I have done, and of course the final project.

Table of contents

  • Final Project
  • Documentation & Feedback
  • Audio & Visual
  • Glitching Effects & Prototypes
  • Photography
  • Supervision Artwork
  • Character board
  • Mood & Style-board
  • Research Project
  • Concept Orientation

italic contents are scheduled or not yet documented.

This project is still in development.
Some sections to this documentation may be missing or incorrectly documented.

Character Board

As previously mentioned I am working together with Finn and they are making the artwork for this project.
Finn will be making a custom artwork guided by me for this project.
For this they requested some information to make sure they can make a good start.
This is what I ended up calling the “Character Board”.

For this I have done a ton of research in Arcane’s art style and characters.
I wanted the character that Finn was going to draw to represent myself.
This is what I focused on in the Character Board.
I did thorough research on what I look like, and tried to find resemblances in characters from the show.
Turns out, I look a lot like one of the characters called “Jayce”.
The biggest differences between me and him is a longer face, less body fat/muscle, eye & skin color.

The board put a lot of focus on facial features since Arcane’s style is known for very detailed face’s.
I also tried to illustrate what kind of outfit I wanted this character to wear.
But also what pose the character is in and what the scene is for this artwork.
Bellow you can see the full Character Board.

Heads up: the image on the left can be enlarged by clicking it.

Mood & Style-board

One of the things an Art Director does is create the creative concepts.
With this Mood & Style-boards also apply, however this process was fairly quickly.
Since Arcane was in the centre of this project I developed a mood & style-board based on the show’s art.
For the mood I approached the project with what feel it was supposed to have.
For the style I focused on faces and art-style aspects of the show.

Project Concept

Of course its good to have a concept to explain to a teacher so they know what I want to do.
Turned out that even after writing and sketching to my best capabilities this didn’t work out well.
An issue I have is that I can have a perfect visualized idea in my head but expressing that idea is very difficult.
Though I do still developed a document with the concept which I will showcase bellow.

What I will learn:
In this project, I will discover what it’s like to work as an art director.
Since this is the career path I’d like to pursue, I will take on two roles:
The art director and the designer.
This will allow me to experience how an AD operates, delegates tasks, and manages themselves.
Feedback is crucial in this process, so I will critique my own work (as the AD) and seek feedback.
I will do this from former SintLucas students, friends, classmates, teachers, etc.

What I will create:
I will create an animated video that explores the psychology of fear, chaos, and discomfort.
Through the use of color, mood, and metaphors, I aim to convey these emotions to the audience.
I am collaborating with my classmate Finn, as our ideas align well and share a common theme.
We are taking inspiration from the Netflix series “Arcane,”.
Finn will be adopting its art style, which I will combine with backgrounds that amplify the emotions.
As someone who struggles with anxiety, I want to incorporate this into the project.
Hopefully, I can create something that resonates with people who struggle with these emotions.

Research

Since my knowledge on both the Arcane art-style and the Art Director profession is minimal its time for research.
Here I will primarily focus on the role of an Art Director (AD).
Later on in this project I will research Arcane further.

I started out with creating a short and concise research document.
This was for me to get a general idea of what an AD does.
Also to understand what the differences between jAD, AD & sAD are.
The research document can be found bellow this paragraph.

(Junior) Art Director research

What is an Art Director?
An art director is the creative leader responsible for the visual style and image of projects.
Think of advertising campaigns, websites, magazines, packaging, and even the visual identity of an entire company.

What does an Art Director do?
Concept development: An AD comes up with creative concepts and translates them into a visual style.
Visual strategy: An AD develops a visual strategy that aligns with the project objectives and target audience.
Team leader: An AD leads a team of designers and ensures that everyone works together to create a consistent visual whole.
Client contact: An AD consults with clients to understand their wishes and presents their ideas in a convincing manner.
Budget management: Sometimes ADs are also responsible for managing the budget for the visual part of a project.

What is the difference between an AD & jAD?
Experience: A jAD is often at the beginning of their career and works under the supervision of a Senior AD or Creative Director.
Responsibility: An AD with more experience naturally has more responsibility and works more independently.
ADs lead larger projects and make key decisions about the visual style.

What are the requirements of an AD?
Creative talent: A strong sense of aesthetics (beauty), composition, and typography.
Communication: Good communication skills to convey ideas and provide feedback.
Software: Proficiency in design software such as Photoshop, Illustrator & InDesign.
Knowledge: Knowledge of design principles, color psychology, and trends.
Education: A relevant education; Graphic Design or Media Design is required.

Orientation

Of course as with any project, I had to orient myself on what to-do.
In this project I received absolute freedom in what to learn and how to do it.
As of recently I finished the Netflix series “Arcane” which received a stunning 9,1 on IMDB.
I was, and still am extremely inspired by this show, for numerous reasons.
The story was absolutely fantastic, but most of all the artwork was immensely stunning.
This inspired me to create a h7lyx “core” project with Arcane as its primary subject.

But of course I know how to make projects, that’s not new to me.
For that reason I started thinking on how to learn whilst creating this project.
This is when I found out that my classmate Finn was studying the art-style of the show.
This would be a perfect combination and opportunity for a 100% OC (Original Content) project.
A few talks with both Finn and teachers later we were approved to work together in this project.

I also started thinking as my position in Media Design, where do I want to go?
I started exploring different routes for my study and stumbled upon “Art Director”.
After researching quickly what a Art Director (AD) does I knew I wanted to know more.
Since I am working together in this project I could explore the profession.
With this I had a clear goal: create a Arcane inspired project and explore the AD profession.