JUNGLE KARTZ

Over the summer I worked on a fun project.  I was approached by a company called Brain in a Jar (http://www.braininajar.co.uk/) and asked if I could design some characters for a game they were working on.  I looked into the company and was a bit skeptical, but furthered my talks with the art department head anyway.  After getting more information about it, I jumped in.  The results are below.

These fun characters began as mere words on a page and I was given the freedom to create them, give them bright color schemes and fun personalities.  The process was delightful and I really think that I learned a lot.  The little pictures I post here can’t do them justice.  This game is due to be released in the UK on Nintendo Wii (exclusively) October 15th and in the US soon after.

 These are the early concept drawings.  You can see they're all very rough, very movement oriented, not focusing on the design, but more the feel of the character's attitude.

These were the characters early color concepts.  They were merely colored straight under the prelim sketches, simply to get a feel for the brightness and vibrancy of the colors I felt needed to be used.

Here are the final designs, as well as headshots for all of the characters.  Some of the colors changed from the prelim color process to here.  I really enjoyed the creation of these characters and feel like I know each and every one of them. 

I know you look at this and see another 'mario kart' rip off, but as my first jaunt into the freelance world, I feel like this is the only kart game.  I hope you'll all look for this in your local stores.  Support independent game companies as well as independent artists!

Testing A New Style

Lately I've been trying out a new style of coloring.  It involves not using hard black lines for the majority of it.  I begin by blocking the base colors, then layer upward in Photoshop until I have the base colors all down.  Then I go back and shade on top of the layers.  Then I add more shading and some highlights and some effects until I get the final result.  In my mind I see these as tests, but I could really see these in books or as posters or something. 

Image: Blaez!
Notes: This is a portrait version of the new line-less style that I'm trying to work with. I believe they look like they belong in like a Golden Book when they look like this.

Image: Cougari in Pink
Notes: Cougari's a great character, and while she's not a 'girly girl' she does look good in pink. Here she is the second attempt at the line-less style.

Image: Pepper's Happy Easter
Notes: This was the FIRST attempt at the line-less style. I can say it was one of the hardest things I've ever tried to wrap my mind around, but I'm glad I tried it. There will be more in the future.

BIG DAMN HEROES, SIR!

In recent months I got into watching an old show called "Firefly". Joss Whedon introduced the world to an idea that Cowboys could exist in Space. There weren't 'aliens' so to speak, but when the Earth had been used up space missions resulted in the discovery of hundreds of new planets that were terraformed into new Earths. These New Earths ranged from barren wastelands to the highest of Technological advances. You follow the crew of a Firefly Class ship as they survive in the unruly galaxy the only way they know how. Wild West gun play meets futuristic sophistication. Its a fun mix of drama and comedy with a rather deep following across the world. One of my favorites and sorry that its no longer on.

Anyway, In celebration of the show I made these badges for myself and my friends of their characters dressed in the style of Firefly.

Image: BLAEZ: BIG DAMN HERO
Notes: It all started here. I drew my friend Greg's character, Blaez dressed as Mal. He looks like he's aiming to misbehave. When I drew this one I tried a new technique in coloring where I colored the outlines. The results were pretty cool.

Image: SID: BIG DAMN HERO
Notes: Here's my guy Sid dressed as the character Jayne. Because of Jayne I named my car Vera and have a strong dislike for guys like Simon. Jayne's a tough guy with a teeny tiny voice of morality way down deep.

Image: COUGARI: BIG DAMN HERO
Notes: Of course I couldn't do these badges without drawing Cougari. So here she is dressed as a version of Kaylee, but more of my own version where the Jayne Hats went mainstream. She's wearing her Jayne hat and has a little cookie print t-shirt under her flight suit.

I've done about 20 of these and have a few more left to finish, but this is a taste of them. Hope you all enjoyed.

They were all sketched in OC1.1, inked in OC 4.5 and colored and arranged in PhotoshopCS2.


All logos, fonts and characters are (c) their creators

New Year, New Me

I can't believe I neglected to post here for so long.  I said to myself I would post here every day.  Since I neglected to do that, I will make some sort of new promise.  I will post at least ONE sketch every day.  It could be anything from a quick pass at a particular toon to a full blown development series on a character I've created.  My new pledge is for a Sketch-A-Day style blog with some finished works mixed in.

I have a TON of sketches to post, so I will start with something awesome.

Image: Cougari Expressions
Notes: A short time ago I laid eyes on a piece by Tracy Butler called: Lackadaisy Expressions . When I saw it I was recently in a funk wherein I found my inspiration fading. So I picked up my stylus and started doodling. Before too long I had a page of expressions that simply worked. I like to think Cougari is the most expressive part of my mind. I stretch her, squish her, pull on her and somehow she always turns out 'this way'.

Drawn in Open Canvas 1.1 and put together in Photoshop.