Matthew Buchanan | Koogar : Digital Marketing

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Matt’s Diary : Day 6 – Digitizing the map

Mar 4 | by Matthew Buchanan | Student Work Placements

Today I added the finishing touches to the latest image of Koogar. As usual I started off the day by writing a new task list and viewing plans from the previous work day for the day before I beginning practical work.

One of the most distinctive features that I added was the black markings around Koogar’s eyes and muzzle. I recycled imagery from an older image of Koogar. They markings did not fit straight away. They needed quite a lot of adjustments, resizing and rotating as well as some clipping here and there. The important adjusment I made to the markings was with a tool called ‘mesh warp’. Mesh warp is a powerful tool, it allowed me to stretch and compress the layer into a shape bespoke to the image of Koogar.

Another alteration I made to the image was lengthening Koogar’s legs, giving her greater height and emphasizing her upright position differing from previous images of Koogar. I added the dark tones to the shirt and the trousers using old images of Koogar as a reference, to keep her looking stylistically consistent. And last but not least I added Koogar’s tail to complete the image.

After finishing the latest image of Koogar. I continued digitizing the map. I gave all of the streets a 16pt stroke to lift them off the page and increase contrast. Utilizing the layer effects I added a cyan Inner glow to the roads, which to make the map a little more visually interesting. Moving further away from that plain monotonous look that most maps have.

I placed circular frame over the map, which blocked of extraneous information so as the viewer could focus the important features displayed in the map. The frame also contributes towards the aesthetic style of the map.

Matt’s Diary : Day 5 – Adding the detail

Feb 27 | by Matthew Buchanan | Student Work Placements

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I started the day off by writing a new task list. Detailing what had to be done over the course of the day. I added the notes I made from Day 4 to the task list. To avoid any issues being overlooked.

I made a lot of progress to the image of Koogar standing up, facing the camera. The image used to be just a digitized head on its own facing the camera. I digitized the body and limbs with colour fill layers and line. I recycled a lot of layers from the previous image of Koogar sitting down for the new image. I copy and pasted them into new layers onto the new image of Koogar. Amongst some of these copy and pasted items were the black markings on the outside of Koogar’s ears.

Another feature which I copied and pasted was the dark shading within her ears which adds the depth and the shape. Both of these features took a while to make the first time round and needed a lot of feathering out. I managed to side step most of that work by recycling what I have already produced. I had to make quite a lot of alterations to the layers that were copied and pasted but this still saved valuable time and most importantly made sure the features in both were matching and succinct throughout. The standing image of Koogar is now just shy of completion needing only the shadow layers added and a little touching up here and there.

Today I gave Koogar a suit jacket on seated position. I had sketched a couple of drawings of Koogar in a seated position. Using a light box I sketched the suit jacket over the top of an older drawing of Koogar sitting down. Creating new images this way leaves you with very similar and more accurate drawings. I had scanned all of these sketches in so I imported the one with her wearing the jacket into a Photoshop image of Koogar. I then digitized the jacket using the drawing as a reference. Having a reference can make life a lot easier and increase your work flow.

I gathered some more reference material for the Koogar twitter bird, which is half cat, half bird. I searched for some mythical creatures such as griffins and some other fantasy creatures. I then drew up a sketches based on the new reference material I had collected.

I also drew up a couple of sketches of maps and well known landmarks in close proximity to the Koogar offices. I added some arrows pointing to the location of some well known landmarks which are not visible on the map itself. This is to give the viewer a better sense of their orientation when using the map. These maps are being created for potential clients to help them find their way to the Koogar offices.

Matt’s Diary: Day 4 – Structured list for the day’s tasks ahead

Feb 19 | by Matthew Buchanan | Student Work Placements

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The first thing I did today was to write a structured list for the day’s tasks ahead. So as to ensure that I will complete all of the objectives intended to be met that day, at the very least. The list sets a minimum output for each day, it also gives a quantifiable volume of work to be completed that you can gauge yourself against. I find this helps, keep a steady workflow and enables the project to remain within a constant progression throughout the days and the weeks.

Today I added all of the shadows and tones to Koogar’s body and to her facial features. I duplicated the fill layers for Koogar’s trousers and shirt, dropped the brightness the new, duplicate layers. I then just cut out large areas of the dark layer to reveal the lighter layer beneath and toggled the opacity to make sure the tonal difference was just right. This gave her a fuller and life-like appearance and brought the image a lot closer to the finish line.

I gave Koogar some black markings on the tips of her ears and tail which feathered out into her lighter, fawn coloured fur. This distinguished her from a your everyday household feline and presented her as a cougar mountain lion.

I subtle adjustment I made today was to reposition her right hand to better match the supposed temper of her character in this image. I thought the hand hung a little too low and loose …so I lifted it up and tautened her wrist. Koogar now looks relaxed instead of fatigued.

Koogar’s eyes, they needed to hold a stronger presence within the image. I began building this presence by first adding the muscle tissue fibers to her eyes with the paint brush. Using first a broad and then a fine brush, loosely painting on the fibers. I then added a couple of blurring effects to soften and refine the image. And shrunk the pupils down a little which were covering a lot of the interesting details of her irises. I kept the old larger pupil layer and took the opacity down to around 10% which served a shadow giving eyes a touch more depth. These elements really gave depth to her eyes completing that glossy three-dimensional look. A combination of different layers and effects, utilizing both manually created and preset effects is what really gives that appearance of realistic depth to characters eyes.

Koogar’s eyes are much more detailed than the rest of her body. There’s a reason for this; the extra detail draws the viewers attention to her eyes, engaging her as the web site guide rather than simply just the image of a cat in humans clothes.

Matt’s Diary: Day 3

Feb 17 | by Matthew Buchanan | Student Work Placements

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I was working from home again today. I’ve been a lot making alterations and new additions to the original image I drew of Koogar sitting down.

I removed the fur from the hands to give her a little more femininity …and avoid any “Sasquatch like” similarities.

Koogar is supposed to be wearing a belt, which is yet to be seen so I added that in. I have been trying to keep to a very limited colour scheme consisting of only three base colours with just a handful of tonal variants from each. In keeping with the colour scheme, I chose a solid black tone to distinguish it from the charcoal coloured trousers.

Another alterations I made when I resized and then reshaped the left foot to sync it in better with the right. I gave her the tail a quick bit of lipo-suction, reducing its width as well the weight of the line encompassing the tail. Koogar’s left foot did not completely match the right foot. Aside from being a little larger than the other foot it was much too angular, the composition was over pronounced. This needed to be amended, so I reshaped it into a more organic form, which bore a much closer resemblance to Koogar’s right foot

The image is not at the point of adding the shading and tonal depth just yet but Koogar was looking a little too much on the flat side. She needed something more to bring her forward. I drew some linear work, suggestive depth and shape to remedy the condition, still keeping a simplistic style but reducing the look of vacant space.

Some of the colours of the have been refined such as the eyes and belt buckle. The buckle was temporarily a garish blue to make it stand out so as I had a better view of the overall composition. Like the buckle, Koogar’s irises were looking too much of harsh colour. I changed them to a fern green which looks much more natural.

This is the first digital image of Koogar and will serve as good a reference and model for all following digital work. It has already come in very useful today when, working on another digital image of Koogar at a different angle. One of the things that I really like about doing this type of work is that the deeper you get into the project the smoother the project runs.

Matt’s Diary: Day 2

Feb 12 | by Matthew Buchanan | Student Work Placements

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I was working in Koogar, on site for the first time today. In the morning I was adjusting one of the more human like designs of Koogar. She was looking a little too casual to fit the company image, so I drew Koogar in more formal attire. Dressed in a long sleeve button shirt and another dress image of her in dressed in a suit jacket.

It was decided that Koogar was to have paws to emphasize the animal side to her so Amanda and I developed a big-cat paw with the dimensions of a human foot. This was a straightforward enough task, which though adapting the pad pattern on the soles of the feet fit the proportions of a human foot was not quite as easy.

Amanda and I have been talking about possibly animating Koogar. Drawing her at different angles gives you a reference to work from, making it easier to animate her. Having multiple angles of Koogar eliminates the static nature of the character in the form of a still image. This way potential clients viewing the web site will not get bored from the repartition of the same image.

All of Friday’s pictures were scanned in, ready to turned and to digital versions. One of which is well on its way to the finished article.

Matt’s Diary: Day 1

Feb 10 | by Matthew Buchanan | Student Work Placements

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Today I continued working on the character development of Koogar. Focusing on the development of her facial features and head.

This can often prove to be a difficult task as the images that you create sometimes become distorted. This is due to the constant re-designing of the character you try to pull through to your sketchpad.

Once I was starting to feel comfortable with the appearance of her head and face, I began trying to match it with a body. Utilizing the outlines and specifications I have acquired during discussions with Amanda.

Developing a body to be paired with Koogar’s head should be an easier task, as the figure is not as complex to work with as the head or face. I am glad that my workflow can now gather more momentum.

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