The Video-Gamer

Just a fast illustration I cranked out yesterday. I was inspired to do some more brush 'n ink work for a change and wow, it felt great.

It's really interesting to hear guys talk about video games or watch them play video games (don't get me wrong, I enjoy them as well). But there's a certain look that they get on their faces and their gestures become much more animated. I think it's a special sort of love!

Monstaaas!

More work! From.... well... my full-time work. I've been busy doing a lot more typing and writing than drawing for the past two weeks, finally putting together the complete story of a graphic novel I'm hoping to put together. In the meantime, enjoy these cute 'lil monsters that are in the process of development. The backgrounds are just some test styles; very different from the usual!

More Monkeys

This was actually a commission from about 2 YEARS ago by an old co-worker of mine. She had simply asked for a Buddha with monkeys. I promised to get it done and while moving from NJ and then NYC set me back a bit, I finally came through with my promise (albeit extremely late)! If she doesn't read this blog, then she'll be in for a nice surprise when I send her a poster print of it in the mail!

Fuzzy

Just some unused animal designs from work; the target audience was for preschoolers. I'm without internet until Tuesday so I won't be able to publish any personal work until then!

Crazy

This was on Nickelodeon's website for my company's game. Apparently we had a small TV spot for it as well? It's pretty exciting to see our work on their site!

Things will calm down once I have my internet set up in the new apartment; I have to say, things have been hectic. I've finally moved into an apartment that isn't a sublet and it's a full year lease. Hooray for not moving for at least an entire year! I'll post a new Mission: Replace Portfolio illustration by the end of week. Cheers!

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!

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.

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...

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...

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!