Friday 5 December 2014

Claire Hummel


Portrait of Clara Hummel. Image from audb.org


Claire Hummel is an American freelance illustrator and visual development artist.1 She has worked for central publishers which is part of Microsoft Studios 16, 20, 25 and has done concept art for the Irrational Games 18 and Cyan companies.34 She created the concept art for Elizabeth in Bioshock Infinite one of the best designed and memorable female character.18, 21, 22 When she worked for Microsoft studios she created concept art for most of Xbox 360/ Xbox one games ranging from Kinect Disneyland adventures to Ryse: son of Rome.17, 35 Claire is also well known for her historically accurate Disney princess designs.24 She currently works for HBO Digital Productions as a production designer.33

Claire Hummel became an illustrator after studying illustration at the Rhode Island School of Design.1, 23, 32 She focused on rending designs, storytelling and other skills to help her strive towards being able to work in the creative industry.31 She studied Artistic Anatomy classes with her professors Nick Jainschigg and Shanth Enjeti who gave her tips on character design.2, 4 She also was influenced in character design from handling bodies she studied at the Brown morgue.3 She says what prepared her to become an artist was her father working in the animation and film industry.5 Her career started when she graduated after majoring in illustration at university.26  

Claire Hummel operation of work is it starts with an idea or a prompt and she gets the necessary reference matters that she is using for her work.6 She looks for what she been given by a client such has what time period the game is set in. For example when she was given the concept idea for Elizabeth from the game Bioshock Infinite, 18, 21, 27, 28 she was given aesthetic pillars such as a general colour scheme and a youthful schoolgirl look. 29 With this information she then looks up young girl of that era given and 1910’s clothes.30 After she got the necessary references she then designs thumbnails and brainstorms in her sketch book to get a “raw, unadulterated idea for the character.”7 With them drawn down she then can reference to them when she in the designing process.8 In this process she starts to colour and creating multiple thumbnails.9 The thumbnails are designing in Photoshop.19 When she is producing concept art she does several variations of that character, but when it is her own work she just gets down to the design.10 What she does next is colouring with loosen thrown down colours which overlay the thumbnails and she also tries to get a basic colour scheme that projects the character.11

Once she has settled on a design and colour scheme she starts to refine it.12 When it is her personal illustration work she uses clear line art and flat colours.14 But when its work for a company they expect a finished piece so that they uses as reference when designing the character as a 3D model. 13, 15              

Clara Hummel Rough sketching process, image is from Claire Hummel website
The character design sheet for Elizabeth for Bioshock infinite, Irrational games. The image is Claire website 
  
Reference

  1. Randall, Claire Hummel interview, paragraph one, sentence one 
  2. Randall, Claire Hummel interview, paragraph two, sentence one 
  3. Randall, Claire Hummel interview, paragraph two, sentence two 
  4. Randall, Claire Hummel interview, paragraph two, sentences three to five
  5. Randall, Claire Hummel interview, paragraph three, sentences two to three 
  6. Randall, Claire Hummel interview, paragraph four, sentences one to three 
  7. Randall, Claire Hummel interview, paragraph five, sentences one to two 
  8. Randall, Claire Hummel interview, paragraph five, sentences four to five  
  9. Randall, Claire Hummel interview, paragraph eight, sentences one to four
  10. Randall, Claire Hummel interview, paragraph eight, sentences four to six 
  11. Randall, Claire Hummel interview, paragraph eight, sentences ten to thirteen  
  12. Randall, Claire Hummel interview, paragraph nine, sentences one to two   
  13. Randall, Claire Hummel interview, paragraph nine, sentence two
  14. Randall, Claire Hummel interview, paragraph nine, sentences two to four
  15. Randall, Claire Hummel interview, paragraph nine, sentences four to seven
  16. Randall, Claire Hummel interview, paragraph ten, sentences one to two
  17. Randall, Claire Hummel interview, paragraph eleven, sentences two to six
  18. Randall, Claire Hummel interview, paragraph twelve, sentences three to six
  19. Randall, Claire Hummel interview, paragraph twenty one, sentence one
  20. Marty (2013), AMO, paragraph one, sentence one
  21. Marty (2013), AMO, paragraph one, sentences two to four
  22. Marty (2013), AMO, paragraph one, sentences five to seven
  23. Marty (2013), AMO, paragraph three, sentence two
  24. Marty (2013), AMO, paragraph three, sentence five to seven
  25. Marty (2013), AMO, paragraph four, sentences one to two
  26. Marty (2013), AMO, paragraph six, sentence two
  27. Marty (2013), AMO, paragraph eight, sentence one
  28. Marty (2013), AMO, paragraph twelve, sentences one to two
  29. Marty (2013), AMO, paragraph twelve, sentences three to four
  30. Marty (2013), AMO, paragraph firth teen , sentences one to two
  31. Randall, Claire Hummel interview, paragraph one, sentences five to six
  32. Claire Hummel, paragraph one, sentence one
  33. Claire Hummel, paragraph two, sentence one
  34. Claire Hummel, paragraph two, sentence three
  35. Claire Hummel, paragraph two, sentences four to five






Bibliography

Reporter: Randall sly

Article accessed on the 19th November 2014

Website: Claire Hummel Interview 



Reporter: Marty Mulrooney

Article created on the 6th June 2013

Article accessed on the 19th November 2014

Website: Alternative Magazine Online AMO for short



Claire Hummel personal website

Website: Claire Hummel

Website accessed on the 19th November 2014







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