Week 2

Γνῶθι σεαυτόν (Know thyself)

-Thales of Miletus (626/623 BC)

With the reveal of which games were chosen for creation and the teams, I was given the role of Character Artist.

I believed that it was safe to assume that my job is simply to draw characters and be carefree afterwards.

I was naive.

To understand my role, I watched an interview of Lynell Forestall who worked on:

The Boondocks
Johnny Bravo
Iron man(comic)
Kulipari
etc

Some of the key insights I got:

Lynell’s fascination with drawing began from watching a single TV show hosted by Tom Hatton, demonstrating how early exposure to art can ignite lifelong passions.
Exposure to both Western cartoons and Japanese anime helped broaden Lynell’s artistic perspective.
Lynell advocates strongly for life drawing classes and traditional art techniques such as background painting.
Lynell points out that animation encompasses various specialties beyond character design, including prop, vehicle, and background art.
The advice from Gary Hardle, “Do what you’re told,” emphasizes discipline and teamwork as critical components in the animation industry.

The last point will be difficult as communication between the team is suboptimal.

Research for the characters

Everything is going to be alright

-Basil (OMORI)

I tried to meet Maria’s expectations regarding the art style of the characters for the game. After reading through her GDD and talking with her, the art style that was the desired outcome happened to be something that is similar to OMORI

A problem I see with this is that all the characters featured in OMORI are all children and I find it difficult to make characters that are either middle aged men or women. So I will have to figure something out in the following weeks

Another thing I notice is that the horror in Omori heavily relies on jumpscares and cheap scare tactics

To get a better understanding of “good horror” I turned to a horror enthusiast friend of mine for some recommendations for media ranging from

Youtube horror (analog horror, ARGs etc)
Movies
Shows
Games

I got great recommendations and failed to sleep peacefully.
These are some of the recommendations I got:
(Images will lead to youtube videos)

Youtube horror	Local 58, Portrait of God, Gemini Home Entertainment, Greylock tapes
Movies	GONJIAM, Senritsu Kaiki File Kowasugi! series, Blair Witch Project, Lake Mungo, Noroi, Invisible 2: Chasing the ghost sound
Shows	Strangers from hell, The guest
Games	Darkwood, Siren Blood Curse, games made by Chiila’s Art, SOMA, Lidar.exe, Proximate