²

I have done some research since we got the brief yesterday, and that will come in the next couple of posts... This post is for my initial idea generation based on how I see the brief.

First of all, the limitations are crazy, 1 colour (+black and white) and 1000 polygons limits the result almost certainly to something that consists of more angles than a modern architecture convention.

My current ideas for ways around this include z maps and clever textures, for instance fur can consist mostly of a few complex alpha maps that make the model appear more complex than it really is. The question is will these (only slightly) advanced methods make my avatar look too different from the others that are going into the same deck?

The colour scheme limitation appears to be pointing towards a kind of sin-city-esque feel, where powerful colours push a strong message or theme, and excess detail or subtlety is discarded in favor of a clearer albeit louder visual language.

For this reason I am going to probably take a leaf out of Team Fortress 2's book, and aim for a model with a very clear purpose that is expressed almost soley out of its form, But with a view to including the other scene elements that make a tarot card so full of meaning.

As for working in a group, I am going to wait and see. I think my current level of planning is pretty flexible, but I am mostly just curious to see how this part of the brief is dealt with as part of the course. I understand the fofo principle (fuck off and find out aka constructivist learning), but as much as I appreciate the idea of working dynamically with a team of people; without a good constructive framework to encourage interaction and hierarchical team planning for this section I don't see this panning out very easily. Also for a consistent feel to the cards in terms of style the team should probably have individuals taking care of different aspects of the overall design, rather than everyone trying to take care of their own design in its entirety.

The initial task is to find a book, an image, a quote and 'one other media' to show the class (?) what we think 'avatar' means to us. To this effect I think I am going to take a subversive line and show that the concept of an 'avatar' is inherent to other cultures without having to be spelled out, although multiple avatars are more rare.

Then i'm going to research the first couple of steps in the direction I want to take, thus far I want to push in the direction of The Moon card, with an emphasis on the Wolf symbology. I will explain in detail my reasoning and why I feel this is a suitable avatar for me in this project later.