Georgia Vassos Rookies 2024 Entry

Hello!! This entry will contain a compilation of work that I have completed throughout the semester that I feel comfortable enough sharing to the masses. It mainly consists of character design, which is my biggest passion, and concept art. Each of these categories contain skills that I would like to hone and further enhance in hopes of achieving an industry-level artstyle. Other skills that I wished to polish throughout these entries were perspective and lighting, as they are aspects within my illustrations that I feel that I am the weakest at. Additionally, I wanted to grow to become more comfortable with other software (Blender, Camtasia/After Effects, FireAlpaca) to gain a more diverse skillset that may assist me in future creations. I hope you enjoy the work I showcase within this entry; Developing characters has always been a process dear to my heart, and a specific process that kickstarted my artistic journey as a child. ☆:.｡.o(≧▽≦)o.｡.:☆

TIDECALLER - A Character Design/Fighting Game Project

The Tidecaller project was one I developed under the guidance of CDW Studios, as well as my teacher, Greg Turra, as a part of my character design focused class within my Digital Principles course. Our brief was to design 3 different fighters as part of a 'mock' fighting game, alongside a logo and character select screen for the assignment.

I wished to utilise this class to further refine my designing skillset, as well as to develop character designs that were brimming with personality and expression. Having a clear and defined personality or archetype, and developing a set of characters with varying archetypes, were both tasks that I wished to achieve during this project.

Below is my initial brief for the project, as well as some artistic influences that I was inspired by to further develop my characters and game!

Character Conceptualization

The character conceptualizing phase of the character design process is easily my favourite, as well as the most time-consuming part of my creative process. As I decided to centre my fighting game around marine life, which I was also extremely interested in, I soon realised that there were many directions in which I could take my characters- There is so much that we do not know about sea life, and I interpreted that fact into my character designs by splicing and combining an array of creatures to develop more refined designs that I would finally realise.

I tend to immerse myself in music and develop playlists when concepting characters to lead myself down the correct creative pathway...

Final Character Renders

Logo Development & Character Select Screen

Overall, I am quite pleased with how my final designs were realised! Though a final stretch goal of mine was to have more than 3 characters fully developed by the project's deadline, I am still glad that I utilised this time to instead refine my main fighters. Post-production, I did realise that my final character renders were not similar to the inspiration references that I had set for myself; Regardless, I am pleased with the artstyle that I selected, as it allowed for both more personality and detail to be expressed within my characters.

WOLF & LAMB - Summer School Intensive Character Design

My summer school course consisted of students selecting an intensive unit to further pursue over the course of 3 weeks, and I chose character design to further improve my skills within. During this course, refining skills such as rendering differing surfaces (such as cloths, furs, varying skin textures, etc.) and lighting were my two main goals. Additionally, creating designs that were outside of my comfort zone was also an objective of mine. I tend to stick to developing characters that are quite 'girly' or cutesy in tone, with brighter and more saturated colours. As my focus of this character design course was to 'revamp' an older character that I had developed as a kid, it was important to me that I put a large amount of thought into this design process- To develop a design that I would finally be pleased with (and to appease my child brain I guess).

Character Conceptualization

The following process views contain both moodboards/inspiration that I utilised for these designs, as well as the creative design process that would lead to my final renders.

Final Character Renders

Personal Artworks

Not much to really say here- Just personal artworks that I have completed throughout the semester's duration! Most of these are gifts for friends, studies, etc.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/MUwMWRVfb5E

Thank you for sticking around this long! If I could right now, I'd give you a big smile, $20, and a freshly baked cookie JUST for you. But I'm lazy and poor, which is awkward.