Bibliography

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http://www.learner.org/interactives/renaissance/ . Accessed October 2012

Barber, B (2008) Anatomy for Atrists: A Complete Guide to Drawing the Human Body. Arccpubb

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Beatty, S. et al. (2008) The DC Comics Encyclopedia. London: Dorling Kindersley.

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Kelly, F.M and Schwabe, R (2012) European Costume and Fashion 1490-1790. Dover Publications Inc

Kingslien, R (2011) ZBrush Studio Projects: Realistic Game Characters. New York: John Wiley & Sons

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Spencer, S (2010) ZBrush Digital Sculpting Human Anatomy. New York: John Wiley & Sons

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Wickham, Chris (2009). The Inheritance of Rome: Illuminating the Dark Ages 400–1000. London: Penguin Books

Wise Bauer, S (2010) The History of the Medieval World: From the Conversion of Constantine to the First Crusade. London: W. W. Norton & Co.

Images

Front Cover

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Contents page

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Superman

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Blue Bettle

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Wonder Woman

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Aquaman

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Batman

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Green Arrow

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Flash

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Robin

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Joker

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Harley Quinn

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Darkseid

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Captain Boomerang

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Mister Freeze

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Doomsday

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Scarecrow

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Wonder Woman: Amazonia

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Kingdom Come

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The Dark Knight Returns

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Last Son of Earth

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At Earths End

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Superman Red Son

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Bloodstorm

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The Nail

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Worlds History Background

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Ancient Egypt

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Ancient Greece

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Roman Empire

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Middle Ages

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Middle Age Castle

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USA vs Russia Flag

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The Renaissance

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Venice

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Black Death

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Plague Doctors

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http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l7dr2cm0Sz1qdqp8yo1_500.jpg

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Renaissance Fashion

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Drawing Anatomy

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh38SDe8yJ1Y3FAgjVnyqo0NGI-rYL57mNoxd3daVQhUjkxGiwTIVkrt1fWfrOruCVl4TAKSzYx8gebFbnHJW9-xBBNcn5DIGa-W05ZjeGnHKnXtiDNtXV-ZtG1GZXp3s3cRTDBv80FME/s1600/abstraction.jpg

http://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/images/06-Mar-2007/18153-imagewiz71670.jpg

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Drawing Workshops; Anatomy Essentials, Imagine FX, DVD

Cotton Fabric

http://lkcwipl.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/cotton-fabric-rough.jpg

Silk Fabric

http://files.myopera.com/fernandiinho22/albums/8050982/silk-fabric-texture-3.jpg

Velvet Fabric

http://www.specialtytheatre.com/sites/default/files/velvet-3.jpg

Seven Folds

http://www.mightyartdemos.com/mightyartdemos-bradley.html

Digital Sculpting

http://www.zbrushcentral.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=315622

http://www.pixologic.com/zbrush/gallery/2012/2/

http://www.zbrushcentral.com/showthread.php?87085-BATMAN-redesign

http://community.us.playstation.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/35723iE7787D848D7B7D86/image-size/original?v=mpbl-1&px=-1

http://www.zbrushcentral.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=172073

Aquaman background cover

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Scarecrow background cover

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-qxdTa6TEjS0X_1mWFmiDlmjEnRBbXvJtFXr5KL7sJDWGtLDnjWMso4lGRyPVF128ibxX9dPazg6yX2SYAuvKGTp_wx6kAWMFN1ozFPt33Wa3R0V1vkLnxCpyxkKGldqP6ZrAB2oc2o_f/s1600/1440+X+900+SCARECROW+DC+Universe.jpg

Tension and Slack

Drapery is influenced by what is underneath it. The body influences the clothing by putting tension on the active side of the motion, while the other side of the limb, or trailing side of the action, is the slack side.

Tension Folds

In the diagram showing the seated trousers, the rear and the knee holds the major points of tension. The back of the knee and the anterior side of the pelvis are the slack side of trousers, where the material gathers and the most extreme pipes occur. The slack side is made up of the material coming from the tense side of the trouser, thus the lines of influence point to the tension.

Slack Folds

The next example is a sweat shirt both at rest and pulled up. Pulled up there are a few folds that are caused by the elbow or the ridge muscles influencing the surface, but nothing too significant or demanding by design.

When gravity takes over we see all sorts of interesting clusters of material switch back and forth down the length of the arm with several mini half-locks within them. And from the shoulder where are several drop folds descending in a spiral fashion until the material bunches up at the elbow.

Combined folds

Due to the dense nature of the material with a lot of weight attributed to it, the material falls quickly to the inside of the elbow an as the arm flexes further, more material blisters around the first few half-locks. Every flex starts with a primary fold that half-locks, then secondary folds form and depending upon the type of material and the folds form the clothing will determine how many extra folds and how dense the pipes become as they form.

The Seven Folds

Drapery worn has distinct architecture to it sue to it's continuous or tubular nature. The seams are caused where the folds occur and depending upon the thread size and number of stitch lines, the seems will have more or less of an influence on the folds.

There are seven folds types.

1. Pipe Fold

All folds are more or less a pipe of some kind, flattened or heightened depending on  the material you are drawing. The name is the visual reminder of how they should be drawn. 

2. Diaper Fold

Diaper folds occur because of two tension points that are closer together that the cloth is wide. The folds alternate and if you can imagine a sleeve is a complex series of diaper folds traversing from one side of the arm to the other it makes drawing this often complex piece of clothing easier and more accessible

3. Zig-Zag Fold

These diamond or triangular looking-like folds can create what looks like a serrated edge to the material and are often seen in crumpled sleeves or at the back of heavy trousers and jeans, just behind the knee.

4. Spiral Fold

A bunch of drop folds, pipes or zig-zags all spun or wrapped around the form create these spiral folds. This fold is dominated by a series of S-curve rhythms as the material falls.

5. Inert Fold

Inert folds are folds that have no activity underneath them. Usually the material is the architecture for the material we see in a jumbled mess, such as a messy clothes pile, a scrunched scarf or a crumpled handkerchief.

6. Half-Lock Fold

This is seen in material that turns back on itself. Half-Locks occur in the elbows, knees and the hips. When these parts of the body are bent and tension forms at the joint.

7. Drop Fold

This can look pretty much like a pipe fold, but this is vertical by nature, dropping with gravity towards the floor. It's found in heavy fabrics, such as formal dresses and curtains. 

Material Properties

There are different types of materials, therefore we want to be able to recognise the special properties material has on it's surface to generate stronger illusions in our art. Highlights on different types of material are tircky, especially when it comes to differentiating velvet from silk. Imagine a light source directly facing a model wearing a silk shirt and velvet pants. Because velvet is made up of thousands of hairs facing upward, the ones facing directly towards the light absorb the light, while the once facing away act like mirrors reflecting the same light. So the centre where the light should be is now dark, while the sides of the figure look lit.

Silk is the opposite, the centre will shine brightly and depending upon the thread count, the silk will have more or less reflective surface to it emulating a metallic surface. Cotton is the least reflective and more or less absorbs the light.  This material gives us very dull highlighted edges.

Cotton

This is a soft, brushed material with a traditional woof and warp weave perpendicular to the light source. It has no reflective properties, as the matte surface absorbs light and can also be influenced by the colour of the light source.

Silk

This has a glossy surface appearance and a woof and warp weave perpendicular to the 'common' light source. This is highly reflective, but means the shadow spaces absorb more light so when painting darken down it's shadowed surface like a metallic material.

Velvet

This has a traditional base weave but the material is woven into the mesh perpendicular to it, so the fibres all face upwards at a height. These are semi-transparent fibres that absorb the light at their ends and reflect light at the edges. Reflections are controlled by the fibres direction. This is similar to silk but softer.

Drawing Clothing

Here I am looking at how clothes behave when folding so I can get a strong understanding when it comes to sketching my characters, who will be wearing thick heavy clothing to some extent, and this way I shall also be learning about how I could use these skill when modelling.

What makes a fold?

Material is made up of fibers travelling in two directions, laterally called the weft, and longitudinally called the warp. These two directions help influence the architecture of the fold. The bridge or the link that connects one fold to another is influenced by the warp threads. Folds are a pipe shape by nature although the ones that spread out wide, and the ones formed by a tight thread count will not appear like a pipe fold, but by nature they are rolling pipe forms much like a wave in the ocean that has not yet curled.

When folds switch back, or half lock on themselves, this is when then material traverse back and is called the eye of the fold, it has it's own billow shape to it. This is caused by the warp and weft creasing in three spots causing the end to open up like a letter T. The spaces between the pipes are polygon or triangular shaped and can be mechanical and rigid or organic and curvilinear. The flats and the pipes are connected together by a transition or a ramp that varies based upon whether it is topside or on the bottom, what type of material and how loose or tight the fit of the clothing.

ZBrush

ZBrush was created by the company Pixologic Inc, founded by Ofer Alon and Jack Rimokh. Zbrush combines 3D/2.5D modelling, texturing and painting. It uses a proprietary "pixol" technology, which stores lighting, colour, material, and depth information for all objects on the screen. The main difference between ZBrush and more traditional modelling packages is that it is more akin to sculpting.

ZBrush is used as a digital sculpting tool to create high-resolution models (up to ten million polygons) for use in movies, games, and animations. It is used by companies ranging from ILM to Electronic Arts. ZBrush uses dynamic levels of resolution to allow sculptors to make global or local changes to their models. ZBrush is most known for being able to sculpt medium to high frequency details that were traditionally painted in bump maps. The resulting mesh details can then be exported as normal maps to be used on a low poly version of that same model. They can also be exported as a displacement map, although in that case the lower poly version generally requires more resolution. Or, once completed, the 3D model can be projected to the background, becoming a 2.5D image. Work can then begin on another 3D model which can be used in the same scene. This feature lets users work with extremely complicated scenes without heavy processor overhead.

Uses of Digital Sculpting

Digital sculpting is still a very new method, but it has become very popular in the few short years it has been around. Sculpting can often introduce details to meshes that would otherwise have been difficult or impossible to create using traditional 3D modelling techniques. This makes it preferable for achieving photorealistic and hyperrealistic results.

Sculpting is primarily used in high poly organic modelling , the creation of 3D models which consist mainly of curves or irregular surfaces, as opposed to hard surface modelling.

It can create the source meshes for low poly game models used in video games. In conjunction with other 3D modelling and texturing techniques and Displacement and Normal mapping, it can greatly enhance the appearance of game meshes often to the point of photorealism. Some sculpting programs like 3D-Coat, Zbrush, and Mudbox offer ways to integrate their workflows with traditional 3D modelling and rendering programs.

High poly sculpts are also extensively used in CG artwork for movies, industrial design, art, photorealistic illustrations, and for prototyping in 3D printing.

Digital Sculpting

Since I have set the task of modelling a character I will need to do research on the program that I shall be using and then go forth and practise what I have learned about the program. I will begin by looking into what is digital sculpting and looking at tutorials by Pixologic.

Digital sculpting, also known as Sculpt Modelling or 3D Sculpting, is the use of software that offers tools to push, pull, smooth, grab, pinch or otherwise manipulate a digital object as if it were made of a real-life substance such as clay.

Digital Technology

The geometry used in digital sculpting programs to represent the model can vary; each offers different benefits and limitations. The majority of digital sculpting tools on the market use mesh-based geometry, in which an object is represented by an interconnected surface mesh of polygons that can be pushed and pulled around. This is somewhat similar to the physical process of beating copper plates to sculpt a scene in relief. Other digital sculpting tools use voxel-based geometry, in which the volume of the object is the basic element. Material can be added and removed, much like sculpting in clay. Still other tools make use of more than one basic geometry representation.

A benefit of mesh-based programs is that they support sculpting at multiple resolutions on a single model. Areas of the model that are finely detailed can have very small polygons while other areas can have larger polygons. In many mesh-based programs, the mesh can be edited at different levels of detail, and the changes at one level will propagate to higher and lower levels of model detail. A limitation of mesh-based sculpting is the fixed topology of the mesh; the specific arrangement of the polygons can limit the ways in which detail can be added or manipulated.

A benefit of voxel based sculpting is that voxels allow complete freedom over form. The topology of a model can be altered continually during the sculpting process as material is added and subtracted, which frees the sculptor from considering the layout of polygons on the model's surface. Voxels, however, are more limited in handling multiple levels of detail. Unlike mesh-based modelling, broad changes made to voxels at a low level of detail may completely destroy finer details.

Interaction with digital sculpting tools can vary from the standard computer mouse to a digital pen tablet that provides pressure sensitivity, which can provide added functionality for most sculpting software. Some tools even support sculpting with haptic input devices, which allow the sculptor to feel the digital object while sculpting.