Inspired by the Tarot

One of the things I mentioned in my first presentation when I joined this course was my interest in Tarot cards. One of my favourite games that wields this concept is the Persona series. And i've taken a lot of inspiration from this game so I thought i'd share it and g through some aspects of the game I really like. I'm only going to focus on Persona 3 though. 

This game is a card based game and is inspired by Tarot cards. The enemy designs are really well thought out and each represent a certain class of tarot. This is the first game that i've seen that has tarot based designs and I never thought about how much of a great concept it would be and I really loved the way they incorporated that into the game.

This is some concept art of one of my favourite characters called Koromaru. I think for an animal he has such a great sense of personality and that really goes for all the characters in persona including the 4th game. I think they combine a great mixture of characters that have different characteristics and different backgrounds and it's really nice to see how their relationships evolve as the game unfolds. 

This is some concept art for the Personas which are basically symbolize each character. As well as having such amazing designs I really love the fact they change and evolve when the character does because essentially they are all in a situation where they have to confront a side of them who they reject. This also teaches you a really valuable lesson in life which is to not let others change the way you are and just to accept ourself and be comfortable being you. 

From this you can see that I really love digging into the meanings of storis and story telling is something i'd like to be a big part of my work in the future. 

These are some environmental concept arts from the game. The atmosphere created in these areas using lighting, colours and sound is amazing. I have to say that this game in particular has a really great soundtrack.

I really like the architectural side of environmental design so this is something that I really want to take on board and perfect by giving myself some independent projects over the summer.

Dream of Butterfly

While exploring different media for the Context of Practice final piece I bumped into a really nice kinetic typography video to one of my favourite songs from the wonderful Persona 3.

The visuals for this and the layout is really stunning. I love the use of tonal colours because it keeps in fresh and clean. My favourite part has got to be this part where these hills are created and then the japanese characters fall off the sphere like leaves. It's a really nice effect and after looking at a few tutorials online it seems quite simple so i'd like to practice kinetic type at some point.

The editing and syncing with the music is spot on but at times I think its a little too fast perhaps but the song has quite a fast pace anyway. Maybe it's just me?

Overall, a really stunning piece of kinetic type. The fact i's done to a soundtrack to one of my favourite games is just a bonus.

Red

I really love this animation. It's one of the best spins on the Little Red Riding Hood fairytale i've seen. The simplicity of the different shades of red is really nice and soft on the eyes and also ties in with the title and the theme. The characters in this piece re really sweet and have a great sense of character. The wolf is adorable and it looks like a hand drawn animation and given that the fighting sequence is very nice. Again very good story telling and the use of red in all sorts of different tones and saturation levels is something i'd definitely like to co-operate in my own work.

Life a Short Love Story

This animation I found quite interesting because it uses a mixture of different kinds of animation. The house scene and the characters being in 3D and some features being in 2D. I always thought that you had to specialise in one or the other but now i've seen this I'd like to perhaps have a go at trying to create and find a balance of the two worlds of animation.

Oveall this animation hasbeen very inspiring and is a good idea for an independent project or something to take into consideration when I move into the 2nd year of this course.

Invention of Love

Back again with another tear jerking animation. I know i've said this in the last few posts but this is verrrryy beautiful. Again, taking on an important concept, in this case, pollution, and creating a story with it accompanied by great visuals. This animation for me really highlights the importance of silhouettes because of the Tim Burton-esk/steam punk style.

ClockTower

This is another very beautiful piece of animation. The style on this is quite unique and got me thinking about how I could improve my creative skills and put a stamp or signature in my work. At this moment in time I don't really have a distinct drawing style which is something I'd like to work on over the summer and the years to come.

The texturing in this animation is really nice~ It reminded me of the Comfort adverts with the fabric textures and patchwork. This is something I really like and perhaps when developing a style, this is something I will take into consideration.

Anyway back to this animation!

This animation is another emotional journey and is again quite story riven. A lot of the animations I seem to like the most are story orientated so perhaps I could look into what makes a good story.

The idea behind this animation, the concept is really good. I love the idea of her kind of finding her purpose in life and what path to take and such and I think I was moved by this piece because it reminded me of myself an my situation with a career path so.. creating something that has deep meaning and appears relatable to your audience is also another important aspect in any creative industry.

Pixar Short: Partly Cloudy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAbiJPGHeV0&feature=related

Sadly I couldn't embed this video but I bumped into this rally nice Pixar short on Youtube after digging up some of the animations I wanted to blog about.

This animation has such a good story and sense of playfulness. It really touched me and I think that being able to move your audience is really important because it's one of the ways of capturing who ever is watching or in terms of games, whoever is playing. This is something that I really want to master with the years to come on this course. I'd rally like to tell great stories and be able to trigger certains emotions.