Annihilus

Game Artisans has a yearly "Comicon Challenge", where you take a comic book action hero or villain that already exists, and you do your "take" on that character. After a lot of prodding from a co-worker, I threw my hat in the ring with Annihilus, an old Fantastic Four villain. This is the initial sketch I did for that character. I ran out of time because of my work schedule ramping way up, so I did not finish the character for the challenge. But I will finish him and post the results on this blog for my own amusement.

A quicky color sketch in Photoshop

Well, sometimes I do little quick sketches in Photoshop too. This is one of them. Just some silly blue ogre with crazy hair. All blue ogres have crazy hair you know.

Subway Environment

Some images I did as a test for a Subway environment that was based off photos of an actual New York subway station. I worked a lot of tiled textures in with "decal" overlays for grime and damage and such. It was an interesting approach to try to get as much out of the textures as I could, without having huge ones. I had to "cut up" the geometry in such a way to be able to tile the same basic surface with different tiled textures.

Exploring a quick painting technique in Photoshop

Right at the end of the time I was at 5000 Ft., we were working on some pitches for various games. One of those pitches involved some classic Universal movie monsters. The top image, of Frankenstein here was drawn by my Art Director at the time Tomas Sisneros. He had me do the paint over on top of his sketch using an interesting and quick technique in Photoshop where basically each layer is a solid color, and then using a mask, you reveal color in the places you want it to show through. At any rate, the technique had me pretty jazzed, so I went home and painted up the Fly on my own accord, essentially using the same technique, although I did not start with a drawing as a base to paint over, just went straight for color from the get.

Aqua Teen Hunger Force, golf score card

Although I was not on the Aqua Teen Hunger Force title officially after we received the project, I did get the chance to do a little work on it here and there. A large part of the game was based around golf, and so I created this scorecard that was to be part of the UI for the game. Too bad I couldn't keep Meatwad's disgusting paws off it.

Aqua Teen Hunger Force

While I was at 5000 Ft., I had the opportunity to do these 3D concept models. Either in an attempt for us to land the project, or just after we did land it, I don't remember which. It's always an interesting challenge to take 2D characters and turn them into 3D game models, while keeping them "on model". I feel these were a pretty successful translation at any rate. I had a lot of fun "researching" these characters, in other words watching those insane cartoons over and over. Master Shake still makes me giggle.

I dont care what anyone says, sketching is fun!

Here's another round of random sketch work. The chimp was actually a ball point pen drawing, which I've become addicted to doing in the past couple years. My friend Will would have a fit every time I'd do a little doodle, then casually tear it up and throw the pieces in the trash. Hey, if I kept all those I'd have a mountain of post-its with doodles on them, and who wants that? Truthfully, I find it helpful not to get too attached to drawings, because they can always be done better, and by me not considering them precious, it allows me to work a little more freely, and do better stuff. Of course, I do and should keep SOME stuff, so I can show it here, right?

Law and Order

Some environment work I did while at Legacy Interactive in Hollywood. We had the Law and Order license and i was tasked with doing a bunch of things, including some environments, props, etc. In the end, this stuff was pre-rendered, and made into a vrml kind of set up with hot points you could click on while searching a room for clues. This is the locker room where the body of the victim in the game was discovered, and the attached bathroom that went along with it.

Squirrel in Time

Awhile back I did a little contract job illustrating a children's book / reading helper called Squirrel in Time. I did quite a few quick illustrations in a couple days. Here are a few of them. I can't remember the story's details very well, but it involves a talking squirrel with a crystal necklace, who enlists the two girls' help in saving an old tree. It was fun working in this sort of loose animated style.

And a few more random sketches

Ah, just a few more sketches. In truth, I have no idea what i was thinking when I drew these, at they were done at various times. I do have a tendency to just start drawing on occasion and see what happens. Sometimes, it's just a matter of exploring a style, other times just a random idea I felt compelled to get down on paper. You know how these things go.

Comic Character sketches, part 2

Here are a few more sketches from the comic I talked about in the last post. The main character; Nina was meant to be a bounty hunter who, in taking a job on a small time crook gets involved in something much much larger, involving the mercenary smugglers from the previous post and the warlord villain I mentioned. The last image here was a couple takes on what he might look like. The weird creature in the middle, well he's one of the flunkies.

Comic Character sketches, part. 1

These four guys are actually supporting cast on a comic idea I have had for awhile. They are actually a troupe of mercenaries that deliver a very special package to the flunky of an evil business tycoon and warlord. They themselves are neither good guys nor bad guys in any traditional sense, and I'm thinking about writing a story based around just them. I spent a bit of time thinking about each of them, what role they played in the group, what their unique skills sets are and so forth. Anyhow, these were the development sketches I did to get a sense of each one.

More TimeSword, Samurai

Here are the Samurai villains, and sidekick for TimeSword. I did some horses also from both the Hun and Samurai eras, but I'm not feeling inspired to post them up here. Maybe I'll show them in a later post. I did have fun with this project, even though it was a quicky. I am sorry that the company decided not to run with the toy line after all. I could have been a cool thing to draw up more Barecs, and his adversaries from different times.

More TimeSword, Huns

With each new era, Barec would have villains to face, and a sidekick. Here are the initial Huns designed for that purpose. I believe the idea was to release villains in waves, adding more figures from each era in time as well as adding new figures from new eras, as the line gained momentum. Although I didn't get the chance to draw any up, I think there were going to be weapons packs you could buy for them too.

TimeSword concepts

A few years ago I was approached by a friend to do some concept work. He was thinking about new action figure lines for the toy company he works for, and one of the ideas he came up with was TimeSword. It was meant to showcase historical warriors, but was wrapped around a fictional storyline centered on the character Barec. Barec, was a cromagnon warrior who was cursed to live forever, gathering the pieces of a shattered obsidian sword, the pieces of which were scattered along the timeline. Anyhow, I did these treatments for the main character based on Samurais, Huns, and his original cromagnon self.

Possessed Dog

This is a model I did some years ago after thinking about some concept drawings I had done in the past, when we had our own studio. We had the license to do a Cthulhu title, and I did a ton of drawings for it, along with about 80% of the game design (on paper). Anyhow, a few years later I felt the desire to do a 3D version of this poor thing, giving myself a medium to low poly count restriction and this is the result. Kind fun, but the blood need a little more work to be convincing.

Power Puff Girls 3D, part 2

A few more of the 3D environments and props I did for the PPG Gamecube title. By the way, that cart in the top image is made to hold enslaved humans! Inspired of course by Planet of the Apes. The early 60's Dodge Van / Truck still tickles me a little when I look at it. Goofy looking vehicle, but still cool. I want a real one, but with a built Hemi shoehorned into it!

Power Puff Girls 3D, part 1

Some of the various 3D pieces I did for the PPG Gamecube title. The cars done for the Mojo Age were a lot of fun for me as I love old cars. It was a bit painful though, having to create them so low poly. I really wanted to get more out of those sensual "rocket age" inspired shapes.

Power Puff Girls iconography and 2D work

Here is some of the UI and 2D work I did for the PPG Gamecube title mentioned in the previous post. Some of those icons had interactive uses, some were for mini-games within the main game, and some are just character health bars. The image in the lower right hand corner is one of the backgrounds done for one of the mini-games.

Power Puff Girls concepts

While I was at Sennari Interactive, I worked on a few different Power Puff Girls games, both for the GBA, and for the Gamecube. These two sketches were concepts done for the Gamecube title. The game featured different ages ruled by all the major PPG villains, each having their own age. These were for the Mojo age, in which most of the world had been overgrown by jungle, except for the 60's high tech capital city, ruled by Mojo Jojo himself.