2012/12/03

Skinborough

My work for Max Stephen LLC's Skinborough project has been released. Max Stephen LLC hired me to design and paint 4 portraits of fictional characters in the Skinborough universe. Each character needed a visible skin mark / blemish, so the doctor has pock marks and Angela has a scar for instance.

dr. Lawrence, MD

Julie, an assistant

Priscilla, an assistant / receptionist

Angela, an assistant / receptionist

You can see the Skinborough project here: http://skinborough.com

2012/11/28

Just saw Brave

My BluRay of Brave arrived in the mail today! I managed to not watch it and wait for the BluRay. Encryption almost ruined it but managed to update the whatchamacallitkey. Although it didn't become my top Pixar movie, I did enjoy it a lot. Merida particularly made a great Disney princess and I just love her accent and huge mass of red curls. The scope of the movie was a lot smaller than usual, but it was nice to see a shift in focus. I think this is the first Disney animation focusing on a mother-daughter relationship. Still hyped, I had to do a little fan art.


I'll probably do some studies at some point as I'm trying to learn more from animations.

2012/11/25

Bingo Run

Some time ago TiniDream Studios hired me to provide some additional graphics for their latest game Bingo Run and Bingo Run HD. The game's been out now for a while and available at the Apple app store here: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/bingo-run-hd/id573749387?mt=8

Bingo game presenter. My personal favorite version had her with some cute freckles though.

The Vegas version required a different presenter with a more adult style. Other graphics by TiniDream Studios.


Direction by Rangel Spasov.

2012/11/22

Still on workshops. I took another CGMA course the semester after I took the perspective one. This time I took Environment Design for Games 2, instructed by James Paick. I did his other masterclass (Environment Design for Games 1) earlier, so figured this was the natural choice. I really struggled with this one as I was going through a learning curve dip. The approach was different than the first masterclass, as this one had a central theme: colony. I wanted to steer away from humans settling.

Some exploratory thumbs. I was thinking about insects surviving an apocalyptic event, wiping out the human race.

More along the same theme. Values really suffered in some of these.

Continuation on the 2 I found most interesting. Both depict a spider / ant hybrid race. One lives in an arctic environment, using ice crystals for their habitat, the other has an ant hill like structure over water. I imagine them building webs for hunting and living in a hive like structure.

More of the same. Same problems as before. I like 1 and 3 though.

A bit better result. Exterior shot of the arctic ones, hunting and catching some seafood.

Interior - nursery with detail call out and references. Workers gather liquefied food frozen into crystal shards and place these in feeding pillars. Heat travels through these and the liquefied food melts and slowly trickle down these shafts. Holes in the shaft allow portions to drop down, feeding the hatchlings beneath it. In the background the queen can be seen laying more eggs. 

Long time no post, sorry! I was a bit busy with various jobs and some workshops, as well as some personal scribbles.

I did another CGMA course: Intro to Perspective for Entertainment Design, instructed by Polina Hristova. Most of the work is a bit boring to look at, so this is a selection. The course was very informative and I really needed it (still do). The previous run however was instructed by a new teacher.

1P perspective thumbs, line art. Oh yeah, I was all excited about Diablo III. One of the Blizzard cinematic artists was also in the course, so that was fun.

First 3 thumbs of week 4, 2 point perspective.

Second batch of thumbs, also 2 point perspective.

3 point perspective thumb.

Translating points and curves, measuring (I estimated a few things because I ran out of time)

Another 3 point perspective one, with some color this time.

I'm glad I took the course as I tried learning from a book before and didn't quite got as much out of it.

2012/06/05

Recent work

I've been busy with work and another CGMA master class: Perspective for Entertainment Design. I've done some scribbles and painting a while ago, but haven't had time to upload them yet. These are the characters I've worked on in my off time, to warm up, or get in the mood before starting work.

A paladin, experimenting with a brush I haven't used in a while. The mechanical wing like shapes is probably very impractical, but I thought it would look nice for a figure who would be a symbol to inspire other warriors.

A female paladin, following a similar shape language, yet a bit more feminine. This is a WIP, as I was unable to continue at the time, but I intend to get back to it soon. Still thinking the wings, half halo shape on the back could use some other versions.

Chibi vampy, WIP, trying out a chibi style. I'm also trying to mix gothic with cute anime and other modern influences. I forgot about this one, but want to get back to it sometime as I still like the character, but think it needs tweaking.

That's it for now.

2012/05/05

Arms Cartel Global

The sequel to Arms Cartel, Arms Cartel Global, is now available in the App Store: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/arms-cartel-global/id504804197?mt=8

Go give it a spin, it's free to play!

I was hired to make 4 new character portraits: a cartel member, a geek, a Mexican official and a Saudi Arabian Official:

Cartel member
Geek
Mexican Official
Saudi Arabian Official

Furthermore, the game features 5 maps made by me and 3D generalist Joji Nomura (Coroflot portfolio). I made sketches of the maps and Joji would model buildings, add some base materials and textures and render it out at the required angle in multiple passes for easy editing. I painted the ground and added final paint-over and finishes to the renders. The result was as follows:

Mexico
Egypt
Saudi Arabia
Myanmar
Brazil

2012/04/16

Danfo Reloaded

I had the chance to work on a game for Nigerian company Pledge51 during February and a part of March this year. The game, Danfo Reloaded has been released now and can be downloaded for free: http://store.ovi.com/content/269408 


The game was optimized for the Nokia Asha series. Pledge51 is a pioneering company as Nigeria doesn't have much of a game industry, but does have a large user base of mobile phone users. For this game Pledge51 wanted a graphical update for their graphics, not a full new design. I based most of the work on the previous version and photographic references supplied by them.


The designs, splash screens and GUI is by me, as well as some final touchups on some of the city tiles and a few extra tiles. The vehicles and most of the city tiles have been made by Cecilia Favo de Mel (Cecilia's Deviant Art gallery), the pedestrians were made by Melvin de Voor (Melvin's Deviant Art gallery).

Here's hoping the game will be downloaded a lot!