Artist Research | Ashley Wood

My brief for Computer Art's practice talks about concepting a character for a video game. This means that the characters I design have to be clear and distinct enough to ensure players always know where they are and what is going on in a busy, active environment. Very simple shapes and iconic design elements will be important in creating a character that players are able to recognise right away. So, bear in mind that when I critique Wood's art work, I am keeping my game design brief in mind.

I mean, to begin with, Ashley Wood paints lots of vaginas and it makes me feel uncomfortable, but, this does go about introducing a target audience for his work. It's obviously not aimed at children for a start, so I wont be using really bright colours and basic shapes. I'm thinking that the character designs from the artist inspiration suggestions in my brief will go a long way in informing me what sort of audience "my employer" wants me to target.

Both the games and game studio's I have been told to gather inspiration from (Bioware's Dragon Age Inquisition and Naughty Dog's The Last of Us) are triple A console titles. Because of this, I don't have to worry about cutting out intricate details and features to make the character read well on a mobile screen. Obviously the designs can't be overly detailed as they still need to be rigged an animated, but I have more leeway with designing for a triple A title than something more low key. Designing for high poly modelling is much less restrictive.

It is easy to see why Ashley Wood has been suggested for artistic reference when creating a more detailed piece of concept art as he uses very detailed facial expressions in his work. Both DA:I and TLoU have a strong focus on their characters respective emotions through facial expression.

Aside from the focal point of Wood's paintings (usually the face), the rest of the image is often completed with a very expressionist feel in oil paint (in a similar manner to a digital speed-paint). He comments on his blog that he creates his pieces by:"Pushing the paint around, searching for the right feel, trying not to draw with it!"And he seems to use ink for sketching things out in preparation for his oil paintings. The exception to Wood's traditional process seems to be in his comic book artwork. In this, he combines his ink work with digital colouring and overlays such as benday dots.




On his blog, Wood also mentions that a big inspiration for him as an artist, especially early on in his career, was Brian Sienkiewicz, and the styles of the two artists are very comparable.

• They both use (unusually) very fluid and expressive lines despite a lot of their work being "lineart" which is typically very neat and particular.
• Good use of positive/negative space. The backgrounds are left primarily negative, drawing focus to the foreground narrative.
• 3D form created through informed/knowledgeable use of lighting.
• Textural work. Flurried brush strokes create sense of movement.
• Use varied perspectives to draw attention/exaggerate action. This also creates a feelinf of visual excitement as the composition creates eye movement.
•  Both artists' work feature high contrast.Creates bold and dramatic feeling. Not soft and/or relaxed/calming.
• Despite harsh contrast work also contains a wide tonal range. Mainly used in background to offset dramatic foreground. 
• Rough brush strokes create leading lines controlling viewers interest.
• Emphasis mainly on characters, not on environment or surrounding landscape which is much less detailed and more impressionist, bringing focus to action.