Unit 2 - Concept Art and Blender

For unit 2, I was told to create a photorealistic render of a bowl of eyeball soup along with a plate and ladle, using Blender. I also must create a piece of concept art for the environment that the soup will be placed in.

I looked forward to this challenge, as it would require a totally different skill set than the skills I worked on in unit 1, where I was improving my hand eye coordination while working with clay. For this unit, I would be challenging my drawing skills and technological competence. I was already relatively confident in my drawing skills, so I was not too anxious about this element of the unit. However, I had never used Blender or any software like it, so I was a bit nervous for this part of the unit but also looking forward to learning new skills.

The Concept Art

To begin, I needed to come up with a setting for my concept art. I happened to have recently watched Pirates of the Caribbean before being set the assignment, so I used that as a starting point of inspiration. I then went on to research 18th century pirates, ships, furniture and design. I decided to design an environment in which a pirate would live.

After doing some research and making a mood board, I made some initial sketches, specifically looking at which kind of perspective I want to use and at which angle I want to draw the environment from. I secondly focused on the placement of objects and ambience.

My very first sketch was extremely rough. At the beginning of this process, I decided to design a cabin in which an old, retired pirate lives, because I assumed this would be easier than having to work out the structure of a pirate ship. After attempting this idea, I realised that I shouldn't take the easy way out. The cabin sketch looked ambient and had potential, however it looked more like a fisherman's cabin rather than a pirate's cabin. I realised that I needed to change the setting to a pirate ship in order to really emulate a pirate's living space.

For my second sketch, I completely changed the structure of the environment, changing it to a ship setting. I decided to change my idea and design the below-deck quarters of a successful pirate captain. I kept a lot of the same furniture, as it still fit the 18th century pirate look, however I added more pirate objects like a skull and rope.

For my third sketch, I decided to try using one point perspective and refine it more. Next, I will take this sketch into Procreate and create a digital drawing in order to refine it and add more detail. I found that that so far, the environment looked very clean, neat and sterile. I aimed to give it more charm in the digital drawing by adding more small details to make the environment look more lived-in. I also wanted to make it look more dark, dirty and worn.

This was my first time using Procreate. I really enjoyed using it, as it made it easier to change details and redo sections that I wasn't happy with, by using the layering tool. I was also able to zoom in to different sections and focus on the details, which was useful.

I began the drawing by bringing in an image of my third sketch and tracing over it in order to lay down the foundations of the environment - the structure and large furniture. I had to change some things before moving on to the details. For example, I made the table taller, as it was too short in my original sketch. I then went on to add in the wooden slats in the floor, walls and ceiling and add details to the chest, map table and desk. I also added some elements, such as picture frames, the lights, some rope and small details like papers, coins and bottles. I think that adding the wood grain was an important detail in bringing some realism and charm to the drawing. I also decided to crop it and make it more zoomed in to make it feel more immersive.

After a feedback session, I made some very small changes to the drawing. I tried to reduce the detail in the background of the image by erasing the portraits in the picture frames and taking away some of the detail in the frame on the left. Another criticism was that the majority of the objects in the environment are very straight and I should try to include more objects like the skew crate full of bottles. This is something I will aim to do in the future, but am unable to change now due to time limitations.

Blender

I completed the other half of the unit in Blender. I had many Blender tutorials, teaching me the functions of Blender and how to create each element of the eyeball soup. I found that the software was actually quite intuitive, however there are lots of different functions which can become confusing. I also struggled a lot with UV unwrapping and how to add textures to objects. The actual modelling of the objects was not as difficult.

The first object I made was the eyeball. The modelling was not too difficult, as it is quite a simple shape. Adding the textures also wasn't too difficult, as I didn't have to do any UV unwrapping.

I did have one problem with my eyeball. I forgot to pack all of the external data into the file while I was working on it, which caused the eyeball to turn all pink and lose its textures. To fix this, I just re-added all of the files which contained the textures and my eyeball returned to normal.

The next object I made was the goblet. The modelling was simple, as it was just extruding a circle in the shape of a reference image of a goblet. I then had to UV unwrap the object in order to add a texture. I found this difficult, as the process is quite tedious and intricate and things can often go wrong. Lastly, I added a bumpy texture to make the goblet look more old and worn.

The next object to make was the ladle. This was quite a similar process to making the goblet, as I just extruded a circle in the shape of the reference image. I then made the object metallic and decreased the roughness to make it more shiny. I then added the same bumpy texture that I used for the goblet.

Next, I made the soup to go inside of the goblet. This was done by creating a plane and then adding a cloth modifier to it to make it look like a liquid. It was quite a tedious process to get the right look with the modifier. I used a cube to make indents in the liquid for where the eyeballs will be placed. I then changed the colour to brown to make it look more like soup.

Next I had to make the plate. I was nervous for this, as I had to do this without a tutorial. However, it ended up being a lot less difficult than I thought it would be. I used the same method that we were taught to do while making the goblet and ladle. I found a reference image to use and then extruded a circle to the shape of that reference image. I then made the object bronze and metallic and decreased the roughness to make it more shiny. I also added the same bumpy texture I used for the goblet and ladle.

I also had to make the table without the tutorial. I was less nervous about this, as it is just a simple plane with a texture added to it. I created a plane and then found a wood texture online and added this to it.

Finally, I put all the elements together to form my final scene. I resized and placed each object together, making sure everything fit together. I also added some yellow/orange lighting and an HDRI to create an ambience and the effect of lighting created by candles. I then added a camera in order to create a rendered image.

After looking at the composition I had created, I felt that it looked bare. Because of this, I made a bottle using the same method I used for making the goblet and plate. I then added a glass BSDF to make it look more transparent and reflective. I added it to my final scene in order to fill up the empty space. After this I took some photos from different angles.

Final Outcome

Overall, I am satisfied with my final outcomes. I feel that I learned a lot of skills in blender which will allow me to make almost anything, however I look forward to improving my skills in UV unwrapping and texturing in the next unit, as I'm still not completely comfortable with this. I also felt that I improved my perspective drawing in this unit, however I look forward to experimenting with drawing different viewpoints in different types of perspective and making the environment look more realistic.