Personal project

I've been sitting on this stuff for a while and thought it was time to share them. This is some character work I've done for my personal project which I worked on in between my contract work, it's the same project that these environment concepts are for. I've been designing a side scroller shoot'em style game that's akin to the classic Metroid, Contra and Megaman games.

Before starting the project I had never work in pixel art but I've always had a tremendous respect for the style. In the modern age of gaming with stunningly realistic graphics, pixel art has proven to be a viable art style for games and it will always have a fan base. Learning to push individual pixels has been fun but often not as easy as I expected.

This was my first animation test, I chose the simplest creature to learn how to animate. My roommate during my time at the Academy was an animator and I picked up a lot of helpful animation tips from him.

                                                     

Here are some character sketches where I explored various shapes for the protagonist. I knew that a lot of detail would be lost when converting the design into pixel art so I focused on pushing the silhouette and shape contrast of the body and limbs.

These are the creature designs that I took to final polish. Although rendering these concepts to this level wasn't really necessary, I did want to flesh out these creatures to get a better idea of how they would move and interact with the player.

Trying out new brush set

Here, have some creature sketches.

Concept for unannounced title

This is was the first rough I started when I began concepting for a project I am working on. Once I got it to this stage, I didn't like the direction so I left it alone and started another painting which was ended up heading closer to the direction I had in mind. By doing this rough I realized what design elements I wanted to avoid in the world I was trying to create. The terrain was coming out too familiar and not alien enough, so moving on to other paintings helped me flesh out the alien planet and develop a color palette.

 Once I had developed the alien world, it was easy to come back to this rough painting and take it to a finish.

Reynisfjara beach

30 minute study

90 minute study

Finally back from the east coast and I'm getting back to work. Took a break from my project to do this quick study. I had a lot of fun working with a set of brushes that I got from shaddyconceptart.com. Shaddy is an amazing artist who is having a huge influence on my work flow, so big thanks to him and all that he gives back to the digital artist community.

More clouds

10 minute study

Quick study

Took a break from my work and painted some Florida clouds.

Current project

These are sketches and paintings I did recently for an unannounced project I'm working on. I planned on sharing this work when I was closer to announcing the project, but I'm going through a rough patch right now. I figured I'd get back to focusing on work by sharing some of it.

The painting helped me settle on the basic shapes of the landscape, but it lacks a sense of scale. That's due to me not being sure about how large I wanted these crags to be, my indecisiveness during the painting left design issues unresolved. But I did settle on some details, contrasting shapes and atmosphere. I then went back and did some value thumbnails and this time I was thinking on a grander scale.

Once I captured just the right atmosphere and feel of the planet with my second painting, the other two paintings came along quickly. Each painting informed the next one and gave me direction. I'll post more of this project soon.

Another speed painting

40 minute study, more to come.

Waitress

Happy new year folks! It's been a couple of months since my last post and now I return with my most recent art test. I've done a lot of art tests over the years and this one is one I'm particularly proud of. I was provided with a clear description of the concept and a great style sheet. From preliminary sketches to completion, I feel like I explored a lot of possibilities of what a waitress concept is. I'm happy with how it turned out. I think at this point I have to admit to myself that I am better at doing cute things than I'd like to think. This would be a difficult admission if I hadn't enjoyed the process so much. More to come soon!

Vacation painting

So here I am in Florida to visit my family. I never look forward to these visits, don't get me wrong, I love my family, it's Florida that I hate. People here are rude and will eat your face off (that reference will never be out dated in my book). I also don't enjoy flying, it's a big hassel and is an exercise in patience. My visits here are often not very productive. Luckily this time a friend lent me his laptop so my two weeks here aren't a complete waste, as an unemployed artist I can't afford two weeks of vacation. My first three days here have been pleasant, catching up with the family and going out to enjoy each others company. But today is the start of a new week and so it's back to business as usual, even if you're on vacation in Florida. So here is something I did today, it was supposed to be another quick 20 minute speed painting that ended up being a 90 minute painting. It's obviously much tighter than the previous speed paintings and the extra time invested in the painting was well worth it. This was done from photo reference and I'm hoping to snap some good photo reference while I am here. I have a couple of other bigger things I am working on, which I am hoping to finish by the end of the week, I refuse to let these Floridians and this muggy weather drag me down and lounge on the beach with a drink that has a tiny umbrella in it. Till next time!