Speed-Drawing Video - Mario World 8-4 Illustration

Commission/request from my brother was to create a Super Mario Bros. illustration from the original NES game. That pivotal moment when you face against Bowser and you're about to cut the bridge away from underneath him. 

As part of my Patreon, I vowed to create one video-recording each month of a piece I work on. Only I'm an idiot and recorded in thee worst possible settings and quality - so apologies for how small and poor this is. Next time will be better! 

Tee Fury - F'ing Water Temple

My Legend of Zelda design, The F'ing Water Temple, is available for ONLY the next 24 Hours via TeeFury for only $11!

Grab it while you can! 

Maybe grab an extra one as a holiday gift for that Legend of Zelda fan in your life!

Kingdom Hearts

Ha, forgot to post this here.

This was my back-story for Riku’s hair cut in KH:3D -

In which Riku says, 'it’s really hard to fight with long hair in my face, hey Sora, can you cut it for me? And Sora is all surethingofcourse.’

Only Riku brought the latest issue of Spider-Man to read during his hair cut and Sora loves Spider-Man (because a hero that has to deal with school-work on top of saving the world is something he easily relates to?) so he’s not doing a good job of paying attention while cutting Riku’s hair. If this is how it went down, then I am perfectly fine with him having shorter locks.

I’m actually in the midst of playing Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance right now, and goddamn these two cute bastards. If these guys aren’t an official couple in KH:3, they’re doing the story all wrong. …I’m cool with ‘em as best bros too, to be honest.

But come on. You’re not foolin’ anyone, Nomura.

Shadow of the Colossus

This was a doodle that went a bit further and became mostly an illustration.  I never actually played the game. I sat and watched my boyfriend play it while I was working on various other jobs and sketching.  So technically I played through but my boyfriend was my hands on the controls. Let me tell you, I felt so bad for the kid, Wander. Because the absolute SCALE of that game... makes the player so diminutive compared to these hulking silhouettes that fill up the entire landscape.

Detail shot of Wander:

There's something about silent heroes in video games that makes them so incredibly compelling. They go forth and get the job done, to protect the world or a loved one. ...Even if there's an incredibly steep price to pay.

Link vs. Dark Link

Just a little doodle from last night. Maybe I'll get time to complete it one day?

I grew up with just an NES that belonged to my older brother. Zelda II: The Adventure of Link was the 2nd Zelda game, and a side-scroller. Apparently not many people like it compared to any other Zelda game. That’s fine, but hey, I liked it.  It’s the first appearance of Link’s shadowy counterpart. As a really little kid, I thought this was an incredible thing!  I thought WOW, plot twist. You went through all of this fighting, this silent warrior who needs to save the world, and you now have to take on YOURSELF. Are you good enough to fight a mirror version of yourself?! HE KNOWS ALL YOUR MOVES. AHHH!

As an adult that’s made art and animations for games, a second thought has occurred to me: HOW BRILLIANT! This character has all of the same animations as the Player, LOOK AT HOW MUCH TIME IS SAVED. …Sad. I know.

Ninja, please.

A commission of a character I was asked to do for the just-starting-up company QuarterCycle Productions.

Thanks to Mauricio for reminding me about thumbtack press and it's awesomeness! I hadn't looked at the site for a long, long time after my stupidity of not bookmarking the link. If you haven't heard of it or seen it, I definitely recommend doing a little perusing. If I get my act together, maybe I'll try to submit a few images in (when they're accepting of course).

The first listed illustrator is Bob Dob and that reminded me... I have to say I was upset by how underrated the video game Psychonauts, the one he did wonderful designs for, had turned out because the company kept pushing the release date back. I'd say go out and try playing it if you can find it. Welp... not like it held him back any. You go Bob Dob.

Lack of Funds

That's the terminology I'm given by small companies. While I have the potential to do freelance concept work for a video game company now, I am hoping for something more concrete. Full-time being the key words. Freelance work for publication just isn't going my way right now, and I think I can definitely blame myself for not trying hard enough in that department. I look at work by Yuko Shimizu or Rodolphe Guenoden and I become a bit discouraged. I have higher hopes of getting a career in NYC, probably working in Illustrator. While I dislke the program, I believe I can teach myself easily for a job. I used to abhor Photoshop and now I can't seem to tear myself away from it. Funny how programs grow on us like that... I just take a bit of time to resist technology I suppose.

Relocation!

I've signed on to do a children's book which I'm biting my nails over with giddy-ness; Copyright to Laura Saba as they are her characters. Here's a sampling 1st sketch of the kids. I know I'll be revamping about three of 'em.


After applying to a few places, it has come to my attention that Baltimore just isn't the place for me. The amount of boarded up/cemented shut houses, muggings, drug-deals, and prostitutes etc, are steadily creeping closer to the people I love, along with myself. It's time to hit the road.
...The road up north to NYC and... Central Jersey of all places.

I was recommended to check out Digital Embryo who is looking to hire all sorts of people to work on games they develop for Nintendo DS (and very recently XBOX live too). While Cake Mania doesn't sound NEARLY as enticing as God of War II, they've just been licensed to take on games for the Wii. Here's hoping the interview goes well.

Meanwhile, I am rooting for my friend Joe to be hired at World Leaders Entertainment because (I doubt I will be and) he's exceptionally talented for the job. If they don't hire him, I'm pretty sure he'll become severe competition for them in the near future. Congrats to all the MICA seniors who are graduating this year!
Cheers.