visualbabel

Work In Progress Centaur

2011-03-21T08:23:00.000-07:00

I was working on this thing to start my day. I was never satisfied with it, never able to let it go as a failure. I think I have found a way to save it....not done yet, but crossed over into some new mental territory.

Peacemaker

2011-03-20T08:49:00.000-07:00

This was just an idea I had about symmetry. I think the crown needs a little more design. Peacemakers used to be 'traveling judges' in the Ancient world. In the Great King Darius' time they were also called the 'King's Eye', and they wore a seal around their shoulders that showed their authority. They were extremely powerful politically, but not warriors. They were political officials and had the power to make spot judgments in disputes and crimes. The one I imagine here is a hybrid character of the King's Eye from antiquity and a wandering Ronin type guy.
Black, White, and Tuscan Red Col-Erase pencil on cheap cardboard backing of a common pad of lined paper. 5"x7"

2011-01-19T15:13:00.000-08:00

This was some sample work I did to show students how to manage color and value in there rendering. Students usually have a hard time controlling value, and they over-render form and the results can be distracting. Sorry, to see the rest, you have to enroll!

2011-01-19T15:12:00.000-08:00

OK, I PROMISE NOT TO WAIT SO LONG

2011-01-19T15:08:00.000-08:00

It's been about a thousand years since I posted. Here are some in class demos I worked on last semester to make up for it.

re-working Thor sketch

2009-10-11T13:19:00.000-07:00

These are some of the changes I worked out on tracing paper. For some reason when I try to do this in Photoshop, it takes forever and I don't solve anything. I think it's because I grew up and learned how to do things with pencil on paper and tracing paper. My hand and brain know how to solve it. The computer is alien to me. I should be able to solve it and do it easier and faster in Photoshop, but I can't. It takes three times as long and never turns out any good. So that is just the way it is. Pencil. Can't really do anything without one!

re-working a Thor sketch

2009-10-11T13:11:00.000-07:00

I did a quick sketch of Thor earlier this year. It was just for fun really, but then I went back to it and wanted to throw some color on it. The more I tried to put in color the more problems I ran into. shapes weren't good, too many tangents, value scale missing....I realized that I was drawing like an amatuer! I stopped and took a deep breath....there is no reason why I have to be the fastest guy on earth, and no reason I should get it right the first time every time. Back to basics! clarity of form, edge control, value scale, definition, and step by step. No skipping or being impatient!

re-working a Thor Sketch

2009-10-11T13:10:00.001-07:00

2009-09-10T17:38:00.001-07:00

2009-09-10T17:37:00.001-07:00

2009-09-10T17:36:00.000-07:00

2009-09-10T17:35:00.000-07:00

Mummy lurking nearby...

2009-09-10T17:20:00.000-07:00

This is a quick little fun sketch I did to show the steps I go through when I'm drawing on the Cintiq. My course on Digital Character Development I teach at the Academy is the venue. I tried to keep the action and weight I liked in the original quick sketch. I did several pose sketches working at 99 dpi so that I don't get too carried away with the detail and force myself to work fast. I picked the one I liked the best and scaled it up a little, but still kept the dpi low. I use multiply layers as I do the line work and put the tone on with a normal layer underneath. Fun!

After a long bit of work....

2009-09-03T14:23:00.000-07:00

The fall semester is upon us here at the Academy of Art's new School of Game Design! I'm posting a couple things we are doing in the Cintiq Lab today. The Lab is looking good. First time the Academy has had this kind of equipment in the hands of students. Should be a great course.

Teapot Ted

Bring a teapot or coffeepot to life. See example

a) Pencil on paper, line and tone only.

b) Focus of assignment is understanding and examining design shapes, repetition and variation, simplicity of form, recognizable form and silhouette, and expression. Students will anthropomorphize pot to have character and facial expression, and depict it in ten distinct emotional states.

c) Submit 10 drawings of character in different states, 9x12 300 dpi, labeled with emotion, project, date, name.

Equestrian sketch

2008-11-04T18:53:00.000-08:00

Just a fun guy on a horse. My sister is a professional Equestrian, so I am sure she will have plenty of critiques on my horse anatomy and all that!

Night LIfe

2008-11-04T17:23:00.000-08:00

revised version

original version

Old school markers. I took a sketch I did when I was in development on Multiverse' "Places" game.

http://places.multiverse.net/index.html

The sketch was never used. Well, it influenced some decisions in the office at the time, but we never built anything that is in the drawing. Anyway, I always liked it for some reason, don't know why, and I wanted to fix it up a little. As usual, one thing led to another and I had basically redrawn the whole thing and added some odd figures. I liked the idea of the old style dress juxtaposed against a somewhat modern city. Once I had started on the girl in the dress to the lower left, I knew I should put an airship in and something else...yes, floating figures....that's the ticket. I did the whole thing with pencil and grey marker on 2 ply bristol. The original is all pure grey, and then I added slight color tints in Photoshop. Normally I would not, but I found the scan did not live up to the original, so I had to go in and 'turn up the volume'.

The Dringot, TM

2008-10-30T14:32:00.000-07:00

Color on a quick ballpoint pen sketch. Sometimes I love photoshop and sometimes I hate it. This time it worked out OK, had to spend a lot of time messing with colorizing layers and playing with saturation and hue. I did this sketch several years ago when I was working on ideas for a Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Game called Kothuria when I was employed by The Multiverse Network. I did a lot of creatures and costumes and such that never went forward because of the vicissitudes of corporate life. It was one of those unfinished things lying around that I always liked. I saw it in passing yesterday while I was updating the website and started throwing some color down on it and one thing led to another....

Spygirl 2

2008-10-08T18:54:00.001-07:00

Spygirl

2008-10-08T18:52:00.000-07:00

Hooray for generic names! I was just messing around with some old sketches that I did when I was working on a James bond game. In it there was a character not unlike the Black Widow from Marvel. I re-drew her and added a little something something. Then I threw some color on it in Photoshop and voila!

one more Barbarian

2008-09-15T19:04:00.001-07:00

is it possible to have too many?

old work

2008-09-15T18:59:00.001-07:00

I've been trying to go through all the piles and piles of sketches and half-done images lying around the studio....here are a couple of Conan-type things. I finished the face and decided I had ruined it, so I did another. Cleaner, but maybe not that much of an improvement.....

character type inspiration

2008-09-15T14:50:00.000-07:00

I did these four male faces as inspiration to my production artists. The idea was to create several different head shapes that can be used interchangeably with hairstyles, facial hair, skin color, and eye color to give the player as many options as possible for creating their avatar. I did this in a couple hours all on my little Cintiq I have here in the office. The color was just a way to have fun.

Production Girl

2008-09-03T13:05:00.000-07:00

As very few know I have been working on a 3D game for over a year now. Part of the production, actually a very big part was trying to establish a sense of the figure. How cartoony, how realistic, how exxagerated. This is the thing we finally decided on. I am a big fan of the Loomis way of figure drawing. Idealized, but realistic. Really the only thing I did was make her waiste a little skinnier than is normal and her legs a little longer. This is the pre-cursor to Violet, and done more in my 'style' than Dan's. Also here are a few notes I made after we built the first version. Everything changes when you go from 2D to 3D!!

Dan's version

2008-09-03T12:52:00.001-07:00

This is the concept peace that Dan Panosian did for me. In my guise as Art Director at The Multiverse Network I hired him to do some splashy full color promotional boards we used to sell the idea to our board, the boss, others who shall go nameless. Dan is awesome! Thanks Dan, your stuff ended up being very influential in the game which ended up being called 'Multiverse Places'. And now, as of today, Places is live and anyone can register and log in.

I've been away

2008-09-03T12:42:00.001-07:00

A long time since I put anything new up. I have no excuse except that my dog ate my homework and I've been working on too many secret projects and I had to move and my studio was in disarray....OK, I have quite a few excuses. None of them any good. I promise to put more time into the blog from now on. Here is a little thing that I did at the last minute. She is a made-up character called Violet that functions as a mascot for the Multiverse Places virtual world/game (http://places.multiverse.net/about.html). I based her on a girl that Dan Panosian did for us. It's kinda silly and backwards, but basically I hired the Amazing Mr. Panosian to do some concept boards for the project way back in February or something. He did such a good job and we were so behind in production that his couple of pictures ended up being used for the website and other promo stuff. Again at the last minute we discovered we needed another shot of our mysterious and sexy 'Violet' for the game, so last night I whipped this up. I had to sort of mimic what Dan had already done, which is pretty hard for me since I don't know all his Photoshop tricks, not to mention his line! He says so much with one stroke of the pen. Anyway, here is what came out of me last night.

Mr. Brian Is Thinking

2007-07-01T13:32:00.000-07:00

Yes, you can here the clickety-clack of those circuit-breakers opening and closing! This is Mr. Edenfield at the Drink and Draw (San Francisco chapter), considering what to order on his hamburger.

Failure

2007-06-19T18:21:00.000-07:00

I just lost it on this one. What started as something good turned into something garish, horrible, brutish and mean, so to speak.

My Favorite Painting Ever

2007-06-19T18:16:00.000-07:00

Yes, I know. I have no good reason for it, but this is my favorite painting I have ever done. It's about 4 inches across, guache and watercolor. Did it two weeks ago. I wish everything I did was this good.
C

Last Night's Drink and Draw

2007-06-12T09:27:00.001-07:00

The Computer Age

2007-06-10T18:35:00.000-07:00

Does not favor my preferred medium of watercolor and guache. No matter how I scan this sucker I just can't get the colors to reflect what is on the original. Anyway, another that may go into the show. I did the drawing I guess a couple years ago and it's been sitting around all this time.

Revised this one

2007-06-10T15:24:00.000-07:00

I'm thinking of putting this one into my show in July here in Oakland Ca, so I worked a little more on it. I didn't really change anything, I just made the background more detailed, putting in trees and roads and little stuff, and I punched up the contrast on the center of interest where Saruman fends off Gandalf's attack. For those who have not seen this before, I did this as part of my work on the Lord of the Rings/Return of the King video game for Electronic Arts. I was envisioning a new unlockable level wherein Gandalf and Saruman fight it out atop Orthanc after Gandalf is rescued by the Gwaihir, the King of the Eagles. Needless to say, this was never put into the game. Sad, really.

Fallen Skye sketch

2007-06-07T10:59:00.000-07:00

Many thanks to Brendan for his patients on this one. It's been sitting on my plate for a while. His character Fallen Skye from City of Heroes

World Browser Icon

2007-06-06T17:02:00.000-07:00

Amazing how much work it is to get a decent desktop icon. It has to look perfect. It's almost the same as designing a logo. This is my third day on these. I am starting to like them.

watched Forbidden Planet

2007-06-05T17:55:00.000-07:00

and did this version of Robbie. Love that film, especially all the fish sculptures in the mad scientist's house.

Still More!

2007-06-05T17:05:00.000-07:00

Sometimes you have to try a lot of different things to find one thing you like. Sometimes you never find anything you like.

They go on Endlessly

2007-06-05T16:57:00.001-07:00

yet more

2007-06-05T16:55:00.000-07:00

How many of these have I done? I cannot say.

complaints

2007-06-05T16:49:00.000-07:00

Dan was complaining at me that I haven't updated my blog lately. And, being Dan Panosian, he's always right, damn him! But here you can see why: My life has been consumed by these icons. Icons for everything under the sun. I hate them! Hate! Such is the life of an Art Director with no staff. I have no one to do the jobs I don't want to do

slight changes

2007-04-22T12:39:00.000-07:00

Or, not changes, but I added a few little touches. I love the luxury of a sketch that can 'hang around' for a little while before it's done. this one, still not done.

James Bond--From Russia With Love

2007-04-12T10:48:00.000-07:00

Working on the EA James Bond game a couple years ago--or maybe a year ago--I never remember--this is a short cinematic we made at the beginning of the game. End of the first level I think. The shot they asked for was to have Bond fly through the middle of a spinning, burning out of control helicopter. I never thought they would be able to do it, because it's so hard to get the camera into that kind of tight space in the 3D environment--but they did it. Looked pretty cool too.

The King

2007-04-12T10:35:00.000-07:00

Jack Kirby. Just the name says it all--I love kirby and his amazing creations and sense of style/action/power. More than anyone else, he made American comics what they are today. I saw a half finished Cap sketch in an issue of the Kirby Collector, and I loved the pose. Here is my 'homage', albeit just a quick sketch.

Old-Style Landscape

2007-04-12T10:22:00.000-07:00

I did this as an exercise in remembering why I wanted to be an artist. Purely done for me; no other reason. It's easy to forget when you're working every day in a job with deadlines and technical/computer hurdles and other issues that drawing and painting is an end in itself. I showed this to some friends and they said it looked real old-school, like something done back in the 1930s. I guess I have a traditional/retro hand--all I did was start drawing with a black colored pencil on a scrap of matte board that I stole from my friend Eric Joyner(http://www.ericjoyner.com/), and then some black and white guache. After I did the whole thing, it looked lonely so I put the boat in. I like it enough I may do a big version.

Drink and Draw North

2007-04-12T10:14:00.000-07:00

I live on a desert island. It's called the San Francisco Bay Area. None of my old pals from the Work-In-Progress Studio still live up here....sob....they've all moved away to get high-paying prestigious jobs in the animation industry. So I am left to my own devices--namely stealing the Drink and Draw Social Club idea and going out on the town with other artists and drinking and drawing. Here is the recent result.

more little sketches

2007-04-11T13:28:00.000-07:00

little sketches

2007-04-11T10:58:00.000-07:00

I'm back after a long absence. It's hard to keep posting when you're moving, looking for new jobs, and having girlfriend trouble. Hah! but now I have had a chance to draw a little more. Drawing just for yourself is the best medicine in the Universe.

Zunessa

2007-01-22T20:39:00.000-08:00

This is a sketch of one of the nazi-amazon women from my run on Tarzan. One of my favorite sketches.

and One More

2007-01-09T23:02:00.000-08:00

Drawing Tarzan always makes me feel nostalgic!

at Kate O'Brien's

2007-01-09T22:53:00.000-08:00

It was the Drink and Draw SF chapter last night--here's my contribution.

End of the Road

2007-01-07T22:58:00.000-08:00

The road continues by the lake and ends at the ruins of a stone circle. Just on the other side of that hill are more orcs!

Lake and Distant Trees

2007-01-07T22:46:00.000-08:00

Beyond Tomtopia the road runs north past a large lake. In the distance you can see the trees and hills as they fade off. These effects are controlled by matching the skybox graphics and the lighting settings and the fog settings to create a harmony. One problem when you're working in the current tools is that there are no shadows in the World Editor. I think the new release is scheduled for the next few weeks. i have seen them working in a tip version of the World editor and I can't wait to get my hands on the new one. In this shot you can barely make out some column structures just to the right of the lake. The road goes past them. In this shot they are hard to see but when shadows get enabled they will be more easily seen from this distance.

Road forks

2007-01-07T22:42:00.000-08:00

There is a fork in the road here that leads down the hill to the swamp area.

Tomtopia

2007-01-07T22:38:00.000-08:00

After it passes through an area with orc huts the road leads eventually to a small group of buildings called Tomtopia; the main human area named after programmer Tom Weinstein who is working on the gameplay emchanics. It has a few buildings and a tower.

Orcs Live Here

2007-01-07T22:32:00.000-08:00

On the north/south road are some orc huts. Up the hill is the human town. This screen shot is taken from our main Level building tool, the World Editor. The oraange, red and yellow flags are markers that indicate spawning points, regional boundaries and roads. They only show up in the Editor, not when you are playing the game live using the online client/server hosting. You can see a particle effect of smoke drifting up from the orc hut in the distance on the left.

Fantasy World Demo

2007-01-07T22:26:00.000-08:00

Here is a shot of the sample Fantasy World. I'm going for something that is radically different in the finished look from the Social World. I have limited resources in terms of 3D assets because we are not a production company. But I was pretty happy with the results I can get using only a few types of trees, grass, ground textures and objects. Since the World Editor gives you control over all lighting and fog in the environment you have great potential.

Building Worlds

2007-01-07T22:03:00.000-08:00

This is a shot of the ground texture, distant fog settings, and skybox for the Social World which Multiverse hosts. I've been working on a couple of worlds that showcase what we currently do in the Multiverse technology. If you're interested in what Multiverse Network does or is, you can take a look here: http://www.multiverse.net/index.jsp?cid=0&scid=0 My main goal in working on these worlds is to create cohesive environments that each have their own consistent feel, hopefully something interesting. I currently have two worlds in progress, one is a kind of relaxed social resort feel, sunset, or late afternoon at one point, though now I have changed the sky to night. The other is a fantasy world which will host a sample combat game with orcs and zombies and such.

Jungle Pod

2006-12-30T17:09:00.000-08:00

At virtually the same time I was also enamoured of markers and the work of Vaughn Bode, a far cry from Coby Whitmore! I did this and several like it. For the most part this kind of thing was much more successful for me. The values are terrible, but at least the composition gets your eye where it is supposed to go. That floating pod thing is actually pasted on top. I added it in after, not sure why, and I did a very competant job of cutting out where the vine goes across it. I did not, however, manage to make the thing square....it's off by almost an eighth of an inch! Dumb. markers on paper, 1987

Blue Kitten

2006-12-30T17:02:00.000-08:00

Back when I was in school I had a bunch of new influences I wore on my sleeve (as opposed to now!). I also thought that I had to sell out to make a living. I tried desperately to sell out, not realizing that nobody was buying. I did this kitten as a sample for advertising jobs. The drawing is terrible, as is the paint. I think I was looking at a bunch of Coby Whitmore stuff at the time, and as anyone who is familiar with him will know, his paint application and draughtsmanship were impeccable. Guache on board. I have long ago lost the original, which is not doubt a good thing. I just stumbled across this in photographic form and thought I would post it as a point of refernece. Glad I have improved a little since I was in school....

Conan-King of Conquerers

2006-12-24T12:47:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas to all--hand over your loot!

I did this on the inside of a card--hence the seam across his sword. Pure fun inspired by a sketch from Mark Schultz.

Closet book cover

2006-12-24T02:08:00.000-08:00

I found this in my piles and piles of artwork. I vaguely recall doing it for a book cover of horror stories for some writer and publisher that I had never heard of. Don't think I ever got paid. It's kinda hokey, but I like it for some reason. Acrylic aprox 9x12

Wondergirl

2006-12-22T22:05:00.000-08:00

Another from the same night.

Drink and Draw

2006-12-22T19:53:00.000-08:00

Some buddies of mine including Eric Joyner, Brian Edenfield and Anselm Yew, get together from time to time to drink beer and draw whatever comes to mind. This is a sketch from a couple weeks ago. I was going to add some high lights with my white-out pen, but it clogged! ...sob....

A bowel of fruit

2006-12-19T09:05:00.000-08:00

I found this the other day. I did it when I was in school and markers were the thing. No Photoshop back then, and illustrators had a chance to get work drawing food, and everything else. PS changed all that...

Gollum

2006-12-18T21:41:00.000-08:00

Even though I spent nine months working on that game, I very rarely got to draw Gollum. It just worked out that other guys on the team would end up doing the boards with him in them. This is one of the only times I did any shots of Gollum, and I really liked it. He has one of those 'it draws itself' kind of designs. This was a part of the cutscene for the game showing how the hobbits and Gollum escape from Osgiliath after Faramir decides to let them go. In the film you never see how they actually make it out of the city. Pencil on paper.

The Lord of the Rings

2006-12-18T14:59:00.000-08:00

At the end of the gig on The Return of the King video game at EA, I did a bunch of concept drawings for a possible spin-off game that would expand the play to areas that were not in strict keeping with the original story. One place where this would have fit pretty well is when Gandalf escapes from the tower of Saruman. I imagined a great battle with Gandalf riding the giant eagle. I suppose it's best this was never done. I think some people would consider this a perversion of Tolkien's vision.

three

2006-12-18T14:38:00.000-08:00

Version Three
At some point I hit upon a sketchy little brushstroke that I liked. This gave it some energy that I liked, although I may have overdone it....

two

2006-12-18T14:36:00.000-08:00

Version Two
I was very unhappy with it, except for the 'sky', so I started to get rid of everything I didn't like.

Color Harmony

2006-12-18T14:12:00.000-08:00

Version one

Some attempts at being a 'real artist'. I think I do better as a comic book storyteller. But it is a lot of fun to let the paint tell you what to do.

Carboy Canyon poster

2006-12-18T13:20:00.000-08:00

Back in the San Francisco web-bubble of the late nineties I worked for a company that did flash animation cartoons for kids. Like most of those companies, they had no business plan, and no way to make money. Surprisingly, they went out of business. While I was there and before the paychecks started bouncing I did development for a cartoon called 'Carboy Canyon'. This is a B&W lineart version of the part of the poster that I liked the best. Someday, I tell myself, I will color it....

More Chickens, what is wrong with me?!

2006-12-18T13:09:00.000-08:00

This is the best of my oil paintings. It's a new medium for me. Easy to make a mess, I have discovered.

Alien

2006-12-18T12:58:00.000-08:00

A little alien sketch. Pencil and watercolor, I did it a couple years ago. aprox. 4x6 in.

The Guns of Avalon

2006-12-18T12:57:00.000-08:00

An old, old character sketch from the book 'The guns of Avalon', which I drew for DC Comics back in the day. I had a great time with that book, as I had read the Roger Zelazny novel it was based on when I was a kid. Great fantasy stuff.

Chick

2006-12-18T12:51:00.000-08:00

I pulled out a convas and started painting. It's big for me, about 24x36, and no drawing or anything before hand, just direct paint and observation. I think it turned out OK.