CC: Surface Color Studies

Getting back to working on Captain Comic. Now that I've actually seen the complete (sort of) walkthrough of the game, I learned that it ended with the Skrejgib stealing the Captain's space cruiser and the treasures onboard, living him stuck on a planet without space faring technology. They do have the time machine the Captain built, and he uses it to travel 1000 years into the future, hoping the technology has advanced far enough to let him leave. No one else who tried going through returned, which makes us suspects something's up. Accordingly, I have changed the name of the project to "Stranded on Chronia" and have to consider this back story in future work, which isn't a huge stretch really. On to the art: Picked my favorite bits and pieces from the value thumbnails, and tried some color studies out. Color picking always seems to work better than trying to come up with my own palette, just like using any other kind of reference in that regard, but less awkward. ;)

Cliff Castle

Remembering that I had few business cards left, and that I have yet to create a new back for them, I took a small detour to make this. Unlike my former effort, this environment should get a good read without me being there to explain what it is, and also works to show off what I can do in the area concept artists are most needed and often reluctant to do. Wanted to go the fantasy route this time, and keep plenty of space for writing things down. I also thought it would be a good idea to make it a cover photo for facebook, google+ and this blog, so I made it extra long, which caused me some trouble later on, and I eventually created different configurations for each application.

CC: Plant Enemies

Taking a break from the environments so I can look at them later with fresh eyes, I shifted towards drawing thumbnail silhouettes of walking plants, inspired by the first enemies you see in Captain Comic 2. The first 3 are based on the in-game sprites. For the rest I have been thinking about the plant life cycle and how it might play if combined with animal locomotion. I was also thinking about jungle life, to fit with my initial environment studies.

Captain Comic: Planet Nrober value studies

The first step of tackling the surface of Nrober is creating value studies in thumbnail size. I have been focusing on leading the eye through the jungle to a tower in the distance, the way the player would travel through the jungle as the captain. I challenged myself to do more of these then I do, and I think I've came up with some interesting ideas as a result. I'll let it rest for now though, work on something else, and see it with fresh eyes for the next steps. A month and a half before I leave the US, probably with a short visit to my aunt in Thornhill, Ontario (Toronto suburb) before I fly out to GDC Europe in Cologne. Signed up to be a CA on the very first day the form was up, and with my experience as volutneer at GDC Online, I think there's a good chance I'll get in, but I won't know for sure until July 6th, I believe.

Bekalou as Maeda Keiji

During my last anime convention, which happened to be Fanime Con in San Jose, I finally managed to gather the courage to ask a couple (and I literally mean 2) of the cosplayers for their pictures. One of these cosplayers happened to be Bekalou who gave a panel a day before (and at Animation on Display) Now I have permission to post the painting I did based on the photo I took of her as Maeda Keiji from Sengoku Basara. From my con experiences, I noticed that non of the artists were painting the cosplayers, and figured there may be potential there. What do you think? Would I have an audience if I offered to paint cosplayers?

Captain Comic: Planet Nrober

I'm redesigning Captain Comic (using the sequel as my primary source of inspiration.) If you aren't familiar with it, it is a classic 90's PC platformer. I started with gun silhouettes, trying to solve the problem of why Blasto Cola make the good captain shoot fireballs, and trying out some comical proportions (pun intended.) Rendered out some of my favorites, and I intend to get back to it with a final design. Next I worked on the Captain himself, drawing inspiration from different sources (from left:) the cover art for Captain Comic II: Fractured Reality, astronaut suits and motorcycle body armor.

BlastoGuns

Weapons powered by Cola can't help but turned out comical right? I feel like these took way too long, a clear indication I should do more of them. There's always so much that needs improving, but so many games that distract me from doing so ;_;

Choleric

This is the final animation of Choleric, done to show I can do animation and pixel art. I am now a subleasee in Berkeley, trying to make my last days in the US enjoyable and preparing for my next stage in life. It's been a good 4 years, and I would love to come back, but who knows when that will happen. Maybe someone will finally have enough interest in my to hire me to do game art, and that includes anywhere in the world.

Scapanus latimanus

Finally finished my illustration of the Broad-footed Mole's Skeleton. It was a lot of work, and feels great to finish, though I lost things when inking.

Choleric is still being tweaked, and I did something inspired by the cons I have been enjoying for several years now, but I'm waiting for a response from my unaware model. If she likes it, I'll keep you updated.