Ladies and Gentlemen!
Welcome to Atlantic College's first ever Gladiator's Corner Mini Model Competition. This will be hopefully a monthly mini comp, where we will make a complete, game-ready model with all the trimmings of textures, weapons, and costume. If successful more competitions will be made and after participating in a couple the artist should have enough pieces to make a complete character modeling reel.
Brief:
You, as a Gladiator, will be making your own model. These are low poli models and should be worked on individually. Plagiarism will not be tolerated and you will be expelled from the competition. On a side note, if you find a piece of 2D art you would like to use as the reference for the 3D model that is totally acceptable as long as you credit the creator of the original piece of art.
Be creative. We will be setting up boundaries for the compettition, but within those bounderies you can do whatever you like. Don't be afraid to do something you've never done before. Even if the competition subject isn't to your liking, as a professional we don't have the choice in what we do, the art director tells us the parameters and we must stay within those boundaries. Who knows, you might actually fall in love with it and find a new area of interest. Show that as an artist you are diverse.
Do research. We will be choosing subject matters that are easy to research online (ex. google, deviant art, gameartisans.org, etc....). As any professional artist does, you must find more information on your subject matter so that you have a better understanding of the direction your model must take. Better informed you are the easier it is to avoid some of the nerd raging trolls you might be a little bit more knowledgeable of the subject matter.
Show your work. This is a community. There is no cash prize. We are doing this for the love of character creation. We recomend that you post your work in progress on the blog so that fellow Gladiators can critique it. Critiquing is an invaluable tool to the learning process. Also be respectful when critiquing and taking a critique. When you are critiquing, you are trying to help ( "That SUCKS!!!" is not a helpful critique) your fellow Gladiator, point out things you think can be improved and also make remarks on that which you like. As the critiqued gladiator, remember, its only a point of view. If you don't agree with it, don't flame and troll the person, simply thank the person for their opinion and move on.
This month The challenge is to make a Jedi or Sith. Not only any Jedi or Sith, but one that will fall in the parameters set up by Bioware's upcoming MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic.
Their are four Force using classes established in SW:TOR, two Jedi and two Sith. For more information about these classes you can visit their website ( http://www.swtor.com/info/holonet/classes ). Again we are only doing the force classes so trooper, smuggler, bounty hunter, and imperial agent are not eligible.
Here are the specifics.
Step 1: Choose the class of your force user.
For Example:
Jedi Knight
Jedi Consular
Sith Warrior
Sith Inquisitor
Each class has their own look and feel. Jedi don't just use brown and black robes, otherwise it would be a very boring looking competition. The melee classes (knight and warrior) tend to use heavier armor and the more force heavy classes (consular and inquisitor) use lighter armor similar to flowing cloth. The website has a large amount of information about the classes and their design. So i would start making research there. Secondly we have all the movies/ tv shows, comics, mangas, and videogames where we can draw further inspiration. The reason we are limiting the design to that involved in the game is that you have to learn how to use others art styles (do the best you can).
Step 2: Select a race for your character.
example:
Human
Bothan
Wookie
Mon Calamari
Twilek
Even though the website they are all human, it's is probably because they haven't released information on any of the playable races yet. But Star Wars has a wealth of diffrent characters that not only span the six movies, but also across their extended universe. Their is something there for everyone. Even though George Lucas says that Lowbacca is the only force sensitive wookie ever, we wouldn't mind some Sith fur balls ripping arms out by their sockets while slashing around with a dual bladed red lightsaber.
Following wiki is a list of all races: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Star_Wars_races
also check-out: wookieepedia (they work great together)
POINTS TO THINK ABOUT, THESE ARE NOT RULES.
1) Each class evokes a feeling. If you are doing a Sith make sure you get the evil, dark side mood across. Especially the inquisitors, they be some nasty bastards ( Think Emperor Palpatine from the movies. EVILLLLLLL!!!!!).
2) If you would like to give your Jedi or Sith a back story go ahead. Story helps you establish the look and feel of your character. Their is tons of Star Wars lore on the internet ( and some of your professors and fellow Gladiators might me Lore nerds too, wink wink).
3) Have fun!!! Star Wars is expansive. Even if your not a fan, their is enough there to find something to your liking. Their will be more competitions and if this wasn't your topic of choice, maybe the next one will. Maybe the prize for the winner will be to choose the topic for the next competition (wink wink). But the important part is we want you to get an idea of what it is to work under more limiting circumstances. We as artist have to be able to flex our creative muscle to tackle any obstacle. So get ready, stretch that creative muscle ( your brain jackass), and get to it.
The Model Specs:
- 6000 tri's *feel free to use less
- 1x1024² Diffuse (Optional:ANY/ALL are permitted :Normal, Spec, Gloss, Glow, Bump.)
Public Voting:
All Winners are chosen through a public voting system. Only those that are logged as followers will be able to vote. Voting starts as soon as final submissions are up (Sunday April 25th, 2010) and will end on Wednesday May 5th 2010, at 11:59 pm.
SUBMIT YOUR FINALS HERE https://gladiatorscorner.blogspot.com
please we are only receiving renders. AND REMEMBER TO SAVE THESE IMAGES FOR WEB, NO 100 Mb IMAGES PLEASE!!!! They should be under 1 mb.
If you're wondering what these submissions look like, you can see examples at www.gameartisans.org.
Soft Deadline: We will start accepting Final Submissions as soon as Sunday April 25, 2010.
Final Deadline: We will cease to take submissions after 11:59 PM on Friday April 30, 2010.
As always, backgrounds are optional. Pedestals are optional. Basically... everything is optional. This challenge is here for those desiring to practice their art and receive friendly advice from fellow Gladiators. So keep it easy, keep it quick, and keep it real. Good Luck!
Please do not make a new thread for your entry. Keep all w.i.p shots in this specific thread.
It's STRONGLY encouraged that you post progress images as replies this thread. We're not forcing everyone to yet, but half of the point of these minis are to help build up the community. If you're posting last minute without at least saying hello, then you're missing all the fun! Stop lurking!
