Got Style?

I blaze ever forward on my quest toward a portfolio. Over the last week, I’ve done a lot of sketches, and even a few rough comps to see if the style I was planning is going to work. Check ‘em out.

I know the style is unconventional for a portfolio, but that’s exactly why I’m doing it. If I have to look through one more neutral colored overly crisp gallery style portfolio, I might just throw my hands up and give up on the world of design. It’s one thing to keep it clean and simple, and another to do exactly what everyone else is doing. It’s my hope that this portfolio will be able to first, attract attention and intrigue people, and second, be a showcase of good artwork and design in itself. Of course, I also hope it’s a good way to show of my work! This coming week, I’m moving on to some organizational things, like coming up with a site map and a master list of things to do in order to complete the site.

My internship is also continuing smoothly. You can check out one of the sites I’ve been working on [EDITED]. Mostly I’ve just done some tweaking and image prep, but it’s been nice to see things come together over the last few weeks. After tomorrow, I’ll have worked there for three weeks.

I have also, of course, done more reading this week. HTBAGDWLYS (that's almost as long as just typing the full title!) provided some insight on the design process from conception through to finished project. One point that was heavily stressed was the importance of good briefs, and the ability of a designer to find the core issues in a brief. Isolating and understand these issues will provide direction and guidance throughout a project. There was also a good point made about using drafts and iteration not as a means of collecting a pile of stuff you simply aren't going to use, but rather as a way of collecting materials that will inform your future versions. This made a lot of sense to me. Just because a given comp doesn't work does not mean that, by observing its strengths and weaknesses, it can't guide you in the right direction.

One pursuit I haven’t mentioned yet is the independent study I’ve been working on. I’m putting together some character animations in Maya. I figure that rigging, skinning, and all that jazz is pretty much the biggest gap in my Maya repertoire, and I aim to plug that gap. So far I’ve run through the appropriate tutorials in Maya at a Glance, and now I’m moving on to some more advanced materials. I’ve already done a walk cycle on a simple character, and while I’m not sure what kind of final product I’m going to strive for, I’d like to tell some kind of short narrative with a character.

Well, I’ve work to do, so I must be on my way. Until next week!