Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Gamer Stuff



During the months of April, June, and part of July, I had been working on a game for Nickelodeon's Avatar: The Last Airbender during the 'ole full-time job. It's titled "The Path of Zuko." I somehow earned the title of 'environment artist' for the game. It was a fun experience; Nickelodeon sent us the series to watch for research, plot-writing, and reference for the artwork. The game is supposed to go to retail in a few days, but we're still working out the last kinks and bugs. All of the artwork for in-game shots were created by my lead artist Mike and myself. For a 20 level game... that's a TON of artwork for two artists to make in a 2 months' deadline! And a bit of background on the style of the game: it's a tile-based game. Which means the ground is created by 32x32 pixel sized squares... So those "ground squares" you see in that library are actually 4 tiles each. For exteriors, tiles go from full grass, to half grass-half sand, full sand etc, for all turns and straight lines. The game used a total of 776 tiles I made along along with over 8 sets of walls, with over 200 different objects between Mike and myself. It was pretty fun to create all of the interiors and exteriors!

Saturday, August 23, 2008

More snow


Okay, so it wasn't too early to make more snow. I think the lack of AC is definitely getting to me. Here's an illustration I started and got halfway through while at work (shhh, don't tell).

It's funny when making some sort of remotely mythical creature and then think of all the mechanics and physics on it. I'm well-aware that the rider could quite possibly poke his eyes out on those antlers... but I like to think they're a bit softer and spongy than hard and pokey.

Monday, August 18, 2008

Scissors Cuts Paper v2.0!


I opened the old file/first version and thought to myself... dear God, what was I thinking? I guess that happens to lots of artists. You look at something you drew yesterday and want to go over all the lines again to make it better.

That, or destroy the entire thing and start anew!

This feels a thousand times better; I also felt it complemented styles with Paper Suffocates Rock.

I apologize if my colors are WAAAAAY saturated on your monitor! I really need to take a look at my settings...

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Way Too Early


To be thinking of snow, that is. Thanks to Mauricio for telling me about Hallmark's (red) card contest! The theme is 'holiday' and I guess I kept the origami trend going. Still going, going...


Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Sketch Drop











Dropping in some sketches from the plane ride/airport. I plan to redo my Scissors Cuts Paper illustration into a v2.0 now that I have more time and have developed the Scissors girl a whole lot more. And Rock Crushes Scissors is here as well!

Sunday, August 3, 2008

Operation: Replace Portfolio

Yes, Operation: Replace Portfolio is now in effect. This mission is just about exactly as it sounds. I will begin to replace the very old illustrations on my site with new ones like this:


I guess it can stay as 'Kite River' for now. It should truthfully be entitled "NJ Transit," because the landscape right outside of NYC looks like that. Finally finished!

Honestly, I don't think I could ever be one of those digital painters who do 'speed paintings.' While this illustration went a lot faster than other digital ones I've tried in the past, it's going to be a LONG while before I feel comfortable enough to crank out a just-as-detailed piece in 30 minutes or less.