FMP Evaluation

Evaluation of final major project

The theme throughout my project was Graveyards/Gravestones. I thought that I’d make it a little personal and closer to the heart by adding the little touch of Lemmy Kilmister – Lead singer to Motörhead. My ideas have been developed from simple and quick initial ideas for a gravestone to then going to the graveyard where my Nan’s is and looking around and older styled graves. Consequently taking my final idea from my primary research.

For reference images I got the primary research photo’s I taken and four artist research (one I done as a Maya experiment and artist interpretation). It was useful in ways because I was able to get the design I wanted for my final piece and ways to help me with learning Maya and doing experiments to see what I like and dislike about the research I done. Research that I done helped my skill development because I was able to do little experiments from some pieces like the Photoshop/Maya artist interpretation and the piece on my blog I took from my initial research.

Artists that I researched inspired me to try and use their techniques – hence the interpretations to try and find what I like about the way they work – and the Maya experiment helped me get an understanding of Maya along with a tutorial I used. The materials I used throughout my project varied depending on the software I was using or if I was using paper and pencil for initial sketches. For Photoshop the materials I mainly used the brush tool, pen tool (for the exact colouring I needed) eraser tool and the paint bucket tool. For Maya tools used were the different shapes, I needed but mainly was the cube mesh, I used Extrude, the multi-cut tool, an option allowing me to bevel an edge and for the Jack Daniels bottle I combined the two mesh’s I used to create it.

A technique used for my painting experiment was lowering the opacity and flow of the brush and take the main colours of an object then draw the object without looking at the picture or tracing it. The different techniques would’ve influenced my final piece because if I couldn’t find a side view of a JD bottle then I would have just taken the label and then painted the whiskey inside the UV’s.

Throughout my project my final piece was ever changing because I didn’t know whether to make the piece as a Concept piece on Photoshop or a 3D piece in Maya. The work was also changing through my primary research because at first I wanted it to be like my Nan’s but then found what I thought would be a better one to base my final piece off.

Personally I feel that the amount of research I had conducted is sufficient enough because I was able to find out enough of what I needed for my project idea.  An element of art used within my project was when texturing my final piece because I’ve done it so the Gravestone is grey and dark then the JD bottle is bright – It give an insight to what the person was like. Dark until he had a drink.

Some of the visual language used as said before was the transitioning from the black, darkness and grey to the bright contrast of the JD bottle with the orange colours. I used these elements because Lemmy is seen as someone that influence people to do wrong though they’re normal people that have a drink and are quite down to earth and like the common man just with a bass. I think I was successful in portraying this because as I keep mentioning the colour of the gravestone contrasts to the lightness of the bottle.

I am happy with my final piece because I feel like I was able to show as much respect as I could to Ian Fraser Kilmister Aka. Lemmy. I am particularly happy with my final piece as a whole but if I had to choose one thing it’d be the JD bottle because I had help designing and modelling except the bottle I was able to create that myself without help using two mesh’s and then UV it and texture it also. The stone texture I used when texturing my final piece after I had turned it black and white then inverted the colours in my opinion does look like the original stone texture I had found to use. There is nothing that I would change throughout my project because I’ve done my best and that’s really all I can do – so I will be happy with the outcome.