Master Unit - The last MA unit

Today is the day where I start my last unit for my master's degree and what will I do for this unit? Good question. I will be recreating a Spitfire - not sure which one model yet but I shall do research tomorrow evening on what the different marks of a Spitfire.

Why am I choosing a Spitfire? Firstly, they are amazingly beautiful plans and amazing pieces of engineering but there's also a personal connection. Unfortunately, my Granddad (the person who I was named after) died when I was young, but he always liked his planes; always go to air shows; own a bunch of books and memorabilia for plans and the RAF and the history of the RAF. To me, this unit is a way of connecting with my Granddad.

I often believe that art is very personal as it's an extension of one's soul and emotions. It has this amazing and unique ability to show what your passionate about; who you are; your beliefs; what you love and who you love; to show your heart and to show a side of yourself or express emotions that you may not be able to put into words and give someone the ability to connect to others in a way they might not be able to any other way. To me, this is my definition of art.

This one of the reasons why I have always loved games and why they are an amazing art form - not only are they this (point above) for the artist but for the player too. Even though they may not be artists, the players can still partake in the journey of this art form. Though they didn't create the game, it's up to the player how they traverse this piece of art or how they interact with it. Games are art and the biggest purpose of the game is to be played - a game is not a game if it doesn't get played - it doesn't fulfill its artistic purpose. For example, for RPG's it's up to the player what happens within the game and how this final stage of this art form ends (This also creates Meaningful Play). They too can use this art form as an extension of themselves - to show their soul and help express emotions they may not be able too anyway else (this feed into my RIPU project on how games can help mental health issues such as depression and anxiety)

Theoretical bit aside:
As apart of my research, I got a Revell model kit of a Spitfire Mk Vb. This research has basically given me a great excuse to make models again and relive childhood memories (though I will admit I am a tad bit out of practice as this hasn't turned out too well) This has given me more of an understanding of how the Spitfire looks. This has also given me a great first-hand reference.

At the end of year one of my Games Art & Design degree, I did attempt to create a Spitfire - however this was long before I knew how to bake textures; to go high poly models; exporting objects in to Zbrush from Maya to add more detail to the high poly model; use Substance Painter and Designer for textures; how to lay out UV's properly and  PBR - basically a lot of things I didn't know what I know now. So this project will be interesting to see how much my work has changed/show how I've improved since then. Or how I leveled up since then. Once I finish the Spitfire for this project, I will show a comparison between the end of year one Spitfire and MA spitfire

Also, during the week I held a workshop for a lesson I was covering at a college. I was teaching them texturing, modeling and baking.
I got them to use xnormals for the baking and taught them the different maps for PBR (albedo, roughness, and metal for example). I used Photoshop on how to do the PBR maps and showed them how to unwrap models in 3Ds Max and how to export the UVs into Photoshop.
The month I was at Paston, I was helping students with their modeling (such as to work in quads, how to bake, UV unwrap, don't leave unconnected verts randomly placed around the model etc.) and explaining PBR

High and low poly renders are rendered in one of the renderers in Maya. The normal mapped one is just the standard viewport screenshot.

Note: I couldn't grab the screenshots in 3Ds Max whilst I was teaching, so I grabbed screenshots in Maya when I got back home.

Before I went head first into modeling the Spitfire, I wanted to do a quick painting on how I wanted the final to eventually look like. 

Also, I needed a break from research, I did a super quick painting study based on Papa Emeritus from the band Ghost. I limited myself to two hours for this as I know I would spend way too much time on this to complete it. So this is how far I got on it:

Note: Due to the very short time frame (We've been told to aim to get creative work finished by the week of 16th July) I'm going to be really strict with my work schedule. I am aiming to get most of the modeling done within a week, high poly for one week, Uv mapping and baking for one week and texturing and shorting out what I need to do for the rest of the weeks leading up to the 16th.
Also, I'm not going to create textures in Designer and gonna use either textures I've already created in my last units combined with texturing in Painter and use the smart masks for texturing the Spitfire asset. I don't think I'll create the high enough quality textures for the Spitfire. But I will try my best to create graphics for the Spitfire.