Very recently I finished my Thor design for the project on Affinity designer. I think the end result looks great and over this blog I will be talking about how it all works and the way I created it. To start out the project I created a very clear orange border for the background. This is the way the operators are presented in the game and I wanted to replicate the game as closely as possible. I then created a shadow to fill the space using the pen tool as well as the opacity tool to make it appear more transparent to give off a shadow effect. I did this as in the game this effect is used in the background and gives offa a great look. Towards the bottom of the border I wrote my Xbox gamertag as in the game this is where it is displayed. This was a basic start but it worked well and I’m happy with the result.

I then used the pen tool to form a torso shape to fill the orange space. As I wanted the body to be blue I used a dark blue as I knew I would be colouring over this in the future anyway. Using the fill tool was useful for this as I could instantly make it one colour rather than having to paint it. By using the pen tool I could create shoulders on the body by using the node tool to form curves for the shoulder blades.

Next I created the detail on the body as well as adding detail. To do this I used an increasing brightness of blue colour to create a great effect. By slowly lowering the brightness of the colours I could create a great shadow effect as less light is being focussed onto the lower part of the body. As mentioned previously I used the blue colours as this linked to Norway and their snowy weather as well as the colour of the ocean. The FSK in real life often assault boats and rigs which have been taken hostage so the blue uniform would make sense to blend into the ocean and represent their purpose. I also added black strap to represent a body vest and eventually shaded this in to using the brush to to prevent it from looking to bland. The shading and colour is rough but I would polish this up later as you will see to make it much more professional. I also added some shoulder pads to the design to create some extra effect and break up the blue colours.

Next I created a little collar effect to the design to again add a little variation in colour and just create an extra little design. To do this I used the pen tool to create a simple shape and added the layer on.

I then created the head of the operator by creating a circle tool, contorting it until I had the shape I wanted. I then used the circle tool to create two small eyes. I wanted Thor to wear goggles as of course his gadget is an electric grenade. I wanted to make sure that his eyes were protected from harm and the best way to do this is to use goggles. I used the brush tool to colour them in blue by layering them and then used the Gaussian blur tool to create a slight misty effect as if they are slightly fogged up. I used the copy and paste tool to replicate these goggles which saved time and made sure they looked identical to each other.

I then created the straps of the goggles by using the brush tool to use the colour brown. This helped add another colour to the design and also looked great. This colour of course represents leather and when combined with the blue of the goggles it looks wonderful. I added the darker circles to the middle to add a little detail as there are often marks such as these on belts and watch straps.

The next step for me was to colour the face and create the helmet. I chose a great looking colour for the flesh and coloured the face. to create the helmet I used the pen tool to create the first side and copy and pasted this to create the other. I next used a rectangle to form the top of the helmet. I of course painted this black as this is a very common colour that is used often on helmets. I added a little rim to the helmet by using a lighter colour of grey. I also began to create the beard at this point by sing the colour grey. I wanted to make Thor look old and wise and the best way to do this was to create a large grey beard. I started by using the brush tool to paint little strokes downwards to build up a beard effect.

next I added some additional grey colours into the beard to add some ore detail as well as prevent it from looking dull. Adding extra layers adds to the realism of the design as well which was very important for me. I am glad that I used this effect as it helped to improve my Affinity skills. 

The next step was creating the mouth of the character. I wanted Thor to have a rather open mouth, almost as if he is laughing or growling at his enemies. I wanted him to have a fairly mad look to him to add some character and the best way to do this was through the mouth. I started by creating the lips of the character by making smaller lines of a different colouration. Then I created the inside of his mouth by using a darker red colour which I thought was suitable. The final look actually turned out quite well and I am pleased with this addition.

the next thing I had to do was add teeth. This was fairly hard for me as I didn’t really know how to create it at all. I didn’t want to use the rectangle tool as teeth aren’t rectangular so I avoided this approach. instead I used the droplet tool to create the teeth as they are much more rounded in real life towards the bottom. I used the shorter end of the droplet to act as the connector to the gums. This can be sen below. Later on in the project I changed the colour of the teeth as they were much to white. I made them slightly yellowed to represent his age.

The next thing I had to add was wrinkles to his face as of course he is an older man. To do this I looked up an image of wrinkles and then placed them in the correct place. One example was the eyes as these often get crinkled as well as above and below the lip. The forehead is also a common  place. I placed these by using a darker shade on the brush tool.

The next thing I did was add some pockets to his chest. These can often be seen on vests and other uniforms like these and I am very happy with this result. I simply used the rectangle to create these pockets as well as the circle tool to make some extra detail.  I finally drew some thin grey lines down the middle to break up the black colour.

The next thing I did was clean up the border by using the same orange colour. I wanted it to look cleaner and more neat and so I drew over any areas which leaked into the orange border.

the next step was to clean up the sides of the torso as some gaps weren’t coloured in and they looked very bedraggled. This doesn’t represent the FSK and their service so I decided to clean it up and make it much more aesthetically pleasing. This also makes it look much more professional and better to the eye.

The next step to this character was to create his grenade itself. To do this I created a hand clutching a ball shape on a separate document and then made it into an asset. Then I placed this onto my design. The next thing I did was colour in the hand with the same flesh colour as his face as well as the finger nails with a lighter colour to add some realism. I also coloured the sleeve in with the same colour as the body and tried to colour it in the same way as the torso.

The next step was to make the ball shape glow with energy. of course it is an electric grenade so I wanted it to glow with a white light. The inner and outer glow tools were great for this as they allowed me to make the grenade look real and functioning rather than a bland and flat design. By adjusting the glow siders I could make a brilliant look.

At first I made some triangle shapes and placed them onto the grenade but I didn’t enjoy this look and didn’t think it fit. I decided to scrap this idea and just stick to the glowing effect I had made previously.

As the final step to my project I remade his nose. I felt that it was to intrusive and the colour of flesh used was to dark. Instead I simply drew a line and then lowered the opacity to make it much less noticeable. I am happy with this result overall and feel it looks much better than the previous one.

Overall I am really happy with the end result of Thor and feel that it has gone really well. I will be asking for feedback from the community soon to see what they think.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next step of my project was to create a logo and the map for Operation Bulwark which I then combined into one by placing the map into the logo for the DLC. I wanted to create a dark and foreboding setting by creating a large and wild ocean as well as a heavy downfall of rain. I started out with two very basic steps overall, the beginnings of the sea and the logo. I used the font Condensed DIN to form the logo of the DLC and I believe that this really is identical to the font used in Siege which was awesome for me. Next I created a large rectangle and used the lock tool to prevent this from moving. By placing this on an angle I could create a great start to my ocean.

I also used the gaussian blur effect on Affinity to help make everything less visible and blocky. This gave off the effect that the rain was so heavy that it makes everything look very blurred which for me looks great. It was great to experiment with this feature and am glad I did to really up my project overall and what I could create. I ended up using this effect on everything in the end such as the sea, oil rig and even the rain.

I then started my work on the sea. I used the brush tool to create multiple layers of water effects with different colours of blue. I tried to use slightly darker colours to represent the North Sea and how it may appear in the night time. As mentioned previously I wanted to create a darker atmosphere for this project as Siege is set in a very realistic and downtrodden world so I wanted to try and reflect this in my work. I applied the Gaussian Blur effect to this ocean to make it appear much more natural and less bland.

I also created rain by drawing simple grey lines, selecting them all and lowering the opacity to create a faded effect. This helped add some detail to my background and added depth to the logo overall as it would most likely be much more boring. The final look actually worked really well and helped to create a more wild atmosphere which is great for Norway as it is a very chaotic place weather wise, especially when considering Vikings and Norse Mythology.

The next thing I did was creating 3 pillars in the ocean for the base of the oil rig. Due to watching movies, documentaries and seeing images of oil rigs waves often smash into these pillars and create spray. I wanted to replicate this to show the viewer how powerful this sea is and show how dangerous this environment is. I created this effect by painting white lines across the pillar in a sporadic pattern as well as lowering the opacity and blurring it to make it look more like water in a rainy world. I wanted the pillar to look fairly visible through the water to create a sense of realism.

I then began to create several different elements for the oil rig such as multiple pillars, chimneys, framework and a large crane structure. This was fairly simple as all I did was create a number of small rectangles and combine them together to make some different elements. This blended together with the rain looks really interesting and I think this is great for the project.

I was really pleased with my final result overall but I felt there was something missing. The design was great but for me the colours were very dark and there was little contrast. I wanted to add some light to the design to represent the side of good and hope within this dark and cruel ocean. To do this I created a light effect by using the eclipse tool as well as several triangles to form the lights path.

As a final step I created a massive triangle shape and placed this into the ocean to basically work like a searchlight in the sea. I turned down the opacity to make it look more like a real beam of light and then coloured over the bottom of the triangle with an ocean colour to blend it into the water. below is the final result of this design. I’m really happy with the result overall and believe that it is a great start overall for me.

 

 

As part of the project I needed to pick the right font for the designs. As mentioned in previous blogs I wanted to choose the perfect font which likened towards the font used in Siege. I originally chose to use Scout Condensed Bold on my project but I have decided to use another as for me personally I didn’t understand how to edit the font. I wanted to look on Affinity Designer to compare the different fonts overall and what I could use in my project. Below are the selection of fonts I chose which I thought felt good for my project due to several factors, how they looked on the black background, size, spacing etc.

Below is the font used in the game Rainbow Six Siege so you can compare the fonts above to the one used in the actual game.

DeviantArt. (2019). Rainbow Six Siege Logo. [online] Available at: https://www.deviantart.com/outlawninja/art/Rainbow-Six-Siege-Logo-542312155 [Accessed 2 May 2019].

The first font is called Arial black and is seen below. I like how bold the font is and it’s thickness is similar towards the one used in Siege. It also stands out very clearly due to it’s size on a black background. I do wish the font was a little thinner and taller as this would make it very similar towards the Siege font. It;s an ok font overall but definitely not my first choice.

The second font is named Benard MT Condensed. This font again is ok. It has a minor semblance towards the Siege font due to it’s height. I do believe that the font is to thin but I could alter this by making it bold. Compared to other fonts I have selected though this doesn’t work anywhere near as well as the others.

The third font is an ok choice. It has a nice blend of both height and width overall and it does look good on the background. It also looks quite similar in some aspects in my opinion but there is something off about it. I believe that the font isn’t tall enough as the font used in Siege is very stretched upwards which may be the reason.

the fourth font is named copper black and has no real semblance to the Siege font and isn’t something I would consider using. It is much to gentle in the way it looks and is very rounded and well designed. It looks far to much like a cartoon in my opinion and doesn’t fit the them of my project.

The fifth font is fairly basic but it could potentially work. It looks quite military in my opinion and very formal in general. It’s very bold and equal in all of it’s lettering as well as spacing. It is definitely one I would consider for my project and I could see this working.

The sixth font is perfect for my project and for me is probably the one I will use. It is named DIN condensed and really replicates the look of the Siege font. The height and width is perfect, the spacing between each letter is small and it is fairly cramped in general like the gameplay of Siege is. It also stands out well on the black background. It’s also a very formal font and is very well organised which links to the themes of military and command. This font is really well created and will work brilliantly for my project.

The final font that I chose is named HeadlineA and is a fairly competent font for the project. It is very thick, wide and stands out easily on any background. I really appreciate the font but it is a little to thick for my liking and I feel the bold look doesn’t work to well. This selection of fonts is great and I feel that in the right scenario all of these could work however DIN Condensed is definitely my favorite of them all.

 

 

 

 

 

After some time of experimenting with Affinity I created a design for Goliath’s icon and how it might look. For this design I went for a much more linear design overall for this icon, using a standard SWAT helmet for the icons design. This design is seen below.

I still decided to use the same blue border for this icon and have always believed it to be a great approach for the project. However in my final designs I have used a lighter colour of blue to represent the look of ice much better. I think that this choice really helped my final designs as the icon is much more eye catching due to the brighter colours.

I also don’t like the flat colour I used on this icon. It is bland to look at and doesn’t feel like a Rainbow Six Siege icon overall. It is much to simplistic in it’s design and there isn’t to much going on. There are also only two/three colours on this design rather than my final ones which are much more colourful and expressive. This just doesn’t feel like a great piece of work and I’m glad I decided not to use it for the most part. The only part I somewhat like are the bullet cracks in the top of the helmet but even these aren’t detailed enough and they just seem off. This may be due to the colours used as well as how blocky they appear.

I also attempted to create a shadow effect using the pen tool. I simply used the pen tool to create an outline of the helmet, made it black and then used the opacity tool to tone down the brightness which then means a shadow effect is formed.

I also don’t like the chipped effect in the helmet. Again it doesn’t look real at all and to me isn’t to a good enough standard for my liking. My newer design is much more aesthetically pleasing and the semiotics of the design makes much more sense to me. It conveys the theme of Norway, ice, snow and Vikings much better and I am a very big fan.

After creating the final design for my Thor icon I had to work on my Goliath icon. I wanted this one to represent the themes of power and aggression as well as the themes of Norway and Vikings. I thought that the best way to accomplish this would be to have Goliath represented by a Viking helmet as seen on my sketches which I will be uploading soon. I think this works really well to convey my themes and ideas which I wanted to get across to my audience as Vikings are viewed as strong, heavy, powerful and barbaric in nature which does link to Goliath and his behaviour. To start this icon out I used the same border as I did for the Thor icon as this worked really well I thought to represent the colour palette of Norway (Ice and water.)

The next thing I wanted to do was create a realistic and interesting looking Viking helmet. Although not accurate to history I wanted my helmet to have horns to really convey Vikings and their stereotypes as a whole to make it clear to my audience what I am creating. I found a great stock image of a viking helmet drawing which I traced using the pen tool to form my original helmet design. I chose not to trace the beard of the viking as this would take up to much space and I felt it was fairly irrelevant.

I decided to trace the simple elements of the helmet and not all of the details which are seen on the helmet as this was to time consuming and not really worth it as i could add all my own effects in Affinity Designer which was a better approach for me personally as it meant I could make it my own. There is a good likeness to the original helmet however I decided not to trace the skeleton as I only wanted the helmet. I didn’t want to overcomplicate things.

Next thing I wanted to do was colour the helmet and to do this I used the colour picker tool on an image of a real Viking helmet so I could maybe match it to a real life one. This colour worked well for my project as it was fairly dark in it’s tone. I didn’t want it to be light as I would be using golds and yellows later on and I wanted to contrast these with a darker colour which ended up looking great.

The next thing I focussed on was the eyes of the viking helmet. I wanted to make them appear as if they were glowing so I decided to use the same technique I did for the Thor icon by layering up colours in terms of brightness. It gave off a really great effect and added a lot of character to the eyes as without the layers it looked fairly bland. i’m really happy with how these turned out.

I then added a little effect to the space above the eyes using gold to contras the blues and yellows together. I wanted to add a royal effect to Goliath’s icon to show how important he is and what he is capable of. I used the same technique as with the eyes to create this look.

I then added another effect to the horn holders which I also wanted to be gold as the horns would be white and again I wanted this to contrast these two colours together as well as link to any royal themes. I also experimented with the gradient tool here to create a darker colour towards the top of the helmet and lighter towards the bottom to represent fading colour. This is important as it breaks up the blocky colours that the helmet would be without effects.

I also used the gradient effect for the horns to create a more professional look overall. I used a very plain white colour as for most icons in Siege the colours are fairly basic.

The final step towards the completion of the icon was the background. I wanted to create a vibrant and interesting background for the icon and felt that it would be very suitable for Goliath as he is a very strong and tough character who can withstand the mightiest of explosions and this for me was a great reason to make a bright explosion effect. To create the explosion effect I constructed a cloud shape using the cloud tool and replicated this 2-3 times. I then created a small selection of triangles and placed them at random points around the cloud, finally colouring the shape with reds and oranges. This explosion was then placed in the background of my shape (first being grouped together.) I love the colour palette of the icon and there is such a large variety of colours, some dark, some light and they all work together to create a great icon. I will be creating a primary research survey about both of my icons and will ask the community what they think of my designs.

This blog is essentially a step by step guide into how I created the first icon for my first Operator Thor. I started out by creating the border for my icon. As with the theme of Norway is often associated with snow and ice I decided to use dark and light blue for the background of the icon. The light blue representing ice whilst the dark blue represents the ocean which Norway is often linked to. I made the border fairly thin to add more detail for the icon itself but I still think it gives off a great effect overall:

In general the icons for Siege are fairly simplistic however they can provide a great message into what the operator can do. As Thor’s gadget will act as a taser grenade I wanted to create a large ball of electricity which is exploding to replicate this effect. The use of electricity links to Thor who in Norse mythology represents the god of thunder throughout time.  To start this out I simply used the eclipse tool to create a circle to represent the grenade, I made it black as I knew I would be painting over it later on. This is a good start for the project:

The next thing I had to tackle was working on the electricity and how I wanted to do it. To make the icon more unique and interesting I decided to use two sources of electricity, long streaking ones and shorter, sharper ones. I do this to break up the icon and make it more creative as there is more to the design then a copy and pasted triangle. I created the longer, sharper electricity first. To do this I used the pen tool to draw out an abstract and irregular shape and coloured it light blue. I then built up the layers of electricity in terms of brightness as in real life this is how electricity works, the light getting brighter towards the centre of the source. This actually turned out great and I’m happy with the final design. This design is below:

By using the group tool I could combine all of the elements together which made organising the project much easier. By grouping the shapes together I could still alter it by clicking on the button which displays all layers which allows you to individually select the layers in that group:

Next I had to space these sparks across the circle shape to represent exploding coils of electricity. I simply copy and pasted these coils and then placed them around the circle, making sure some of them linked up to the corners of the icon as I thought this aided the design:

 

I then had to create the light effect from the electricity. This was a fairly simple task and I used the copy and paste tool for the majority of this process. I created three triangles and made two smaller, placing it into the others. As with the previous electricity effect I made the ones in the centre brighter as again this is how the light would work in real life:

I then copy and pasted this around the ball shape, in between the longer sparks to create an exploding effect which is often used in cartoon shapes. I repeated this around the circle until all sides were complete:

The next step I took was layering colours onto the ball shape. This was very important for me as this was how the main effect would be presented. I started by using darker colours from the outside to lighter colours in the centre. The reason I did this was to present how the power comes from the centre of the grenade rather than the outside. This blinding light effect in the middle really works well as it seems as if the grenade is truly real and accurate to real life. I used the brush tool to do this and the effect looked great. I left some of the black border open to represent the casing of the grenade:

This final effect was excellent and all together I can really see this in the game of Siege and believe that it is a great start for my DLC overall. This icon represents the power of Thor in mythology and my operator due to the explosive nature of the grenade and what it represents. The use of blue also links towards the colour of ice and water which aided my themes and representation. This also links to Norway due to their climate. Overall I am seriously pleased with the first icon and am excited to continue with the project: