Happy Holidays

Something I wanted to knock up for fun to wish everyone who follows my blog, visits it regularly or just happen to find it by a lucky accident.

Have a safe and happy 'whatever you celebrate' and an awesome 2011!

All the best. :-)

Nuclear Dawn - EXO Class Promo Art

The 3rd Nuclear Dawn Promo art that I've done for InterWave Studios, this one focusing on the Consortium EXO class. The EXO class are like walking tanks and carry a huge amount of firepower, unfortunately they also move quite slowly on the battlefield.
This painting was completed using photo elements, 3D elements from the actual game and my usual digital painting and a lot of work to blend it all together into one image.
I've included a little Easter Egg nod to Kai Lim who designed the original suit for the game but as it sometimes happens with games, the 3D modeling team had to change a couple of aspects to get it working as a playable model.

Nuclear Dawn - Stealth Class Promo Art

Back with some more Promo work that I recently did on Nuclear Dawn for InterWave Studios. This is actually the first painting I completed but the last to be officially released (so far, I may do more yet). In many ways, it's my favorite of the 3 images I've done so far for the game's marketing as I used the least amount of photo textures on this one and relied mainly on raw painting. The look of the character in this painting is also a little closer to how I designed the original and not exactly as she appears in the final game - yay for artistic license. :-P

Back with more soon. :-)

Dino Speedie

I finally finished the 3rd Promo image for the Nuclear Dawn game (will hopefully have it up soon) and had some time at the end of the weekend to scratch this up. Just something quick (about an hour) and fun.

Not really a T-Rex, not really a Velociraptor... something in-between from another world or another time.

Nuclear Dawn - Assault Class Promo Art

InterWave Studios have now released this image on their Facebook page so it's ok for me to upload the original version of it on my blog now. This is the 2nd of 3 Promo images I've done for the game (so far), a mixture of photographic elements and 2D digital techniques.

I used reference for the pose and the FN2000 rifle (he's not holding the grip because that would be too dangerous while running and would look a little silly as it's a bull-pup configuration).

The Tower and Mindflayer

Just a couple of quick sketches I did over the weekend - about an hour or so each. I've been doing a bunch of promo images for the Nuclear Dawn game (which I should be able to upload soon) and I wanted to take a quick break and paint something for myself.

Something futuristic and Sci-fi while the other is a throwback to my days playing tabletop RPGs. :)

EDIT: Changed The Tower a little to give it a more dynamic perspective. :)

Race of the Giants

A piece I did earlier this year for a film currently in development about a child who is chosen to represent his village in a 'Giant' race. I really enjoy how the colors and brushwork on this one turned out.

Bellerophon VII - Updated

This is actually a painting from January 2009 but I'm re-uploading it for a few reasons:

1. It fits in nicely with the last 2 'places I would never live' paintings I've done.

2. I've gone back and George Lucas'd it a little, fixing up areas I wasn't happy with.

3. I just received my 3rd Daily Deviation on DeviantArt with it so I wanted to share it with everyone who follows my blog.

Enjoy!

Mountain City

Something I started last weekend - a semi-sequel to my Rock Cities painting but a little more inspired by Ryan Church's work form Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith.

Tried some different approaches to certain things on this one and used a different color palette to my usual thanks to the Gamut Mask that can be found here. A very cool little tool developed for artists who want to try something new with their color and free to use from this site (just take a screen cap of the one you like and sample from it in your painting software of choice).

Rock Cities

It seems like a really long time since I painted a good Sci-Fi/Fantasy Environment - one of the things that got me interested in painting again. I really tried to create a story with this one, things that had happened in the past that have shaped these giant rock spires which became the homes of people living in this area.

Started out as just a sketch but I kept working on it to flesh out the details and make it something I'll be proud of. I think this, more than any of my other work has a real Ralph McQuarrie feel to it which I'm really happy about.

HALO: Noble 6

Time for some more HALO fan art to boost my excitement for the release of Reach even further.

This came together surprisingly quick, probably 3-4hrs of work on my Mac and I'm reasonably happy with the end result. I took several liberties with the armor as I wanted to add a personal touch to the painting. You can change around his armor in the full game anyway so it shouldn't matter to most people. :-p

Bring on September 14!!!

Robot Speedy

I've been away form my usual PC this weekend so I decided to try some painting on my Mac notebook. I quite like the way it handles and got used to the few differences pretty quickly - the only real downside is the complete lack of real estate available on the screen.

Still lots of fun and means I can keep painting even when I'm traveling. :)

This is another one for my 'Ladybug' series and inspired by the awesome work of Goro Fujita.

Influence Map

Something a little different for this update;

Recently, there's been an internet meme floating around called 'The Influence Map' (found here) that's basically a page that anyone can fill in with whatever inspires them in life, work, creation, etc. I chose to do mine about my artwork and what inspired me to start painting and also what inspires me to keep going and improve.

I've also subscribed to Feng Zhu's Design School YouTube Channel this week. Feng Zhu is an awesome artist known for his Gnomon DVD series and his work on Transformers and the Star Wars films. His YouTube Channel consists of several free tutorials that cover a huge amount of concept design subjects - I highly recommend it and suggest you click on the link below!

FZDSchool Channel

Ma.K - Aim for the Soft Spot!

It's been a long time since I painted something from Maschinen Krieger so I thought it was a bout time I rectify that.

This is something that you don't see much of either in the original comics by Kow Yokoyama-san or in dioramas created by the fans - a squad of humans trying to bring down one of the AI walkers, much like infantry would do now with a tank or other similar armored vehicles. It's that David Vs. Goliath theme I really love to depict in a painting... but this time, David's got himself some HEAT rounds! :-p

This painting is the culmination of so many things I've been trying to practice the past few months and I loved painting every single minute of it!

Enjoy.

Tree

Maybe a little more boring than my usual stuff. I just saw this cool looking tree on the weekend, did a quick pencil sketch of it and then I though it would be cool to turn it into painting and make it look like I used traditional media (real brushes, canvas, etc).

I also played around with 'edges' and depth of field which I think much of my work has been missing.

Good practice.

LIMBO

Boy, this game came out of nowhere for me. Up until the last week or so I hadn't even really heard of it, at least I didn't think it interested me. By chance, I watched one of the video reviews for it and thought it looked pretty cool and then I tried to demo...

This game is so atmospheric, scary, funny, cute, grotesque and in a very strange way heartwarming that I can't think of any other game that comes as close to capturing all of these aspects in one package so well. It's a bit on the short side but once I finished, I couldn't wait to start it all over again.

This painting was nagging at me as soon as I started playing the game and I knew I wouldn't be able to paint anything else this weekend until I got this out of the way.

Really Quick Light and Color Study

I try to squeeze in some practice pieces whenever I can and I had a little time yesterday to get this one out. I spent some time in the park over the weekend and tried to take in all the different ways that light was interacting with the trees, grass and bushes - there was so much bounce light and ambiance that I really wanted to capture.

Untitled Sci-Fi / Space Fantasy Tease

I've recently been approached to do some work for a couple of films that are currently being developed for the big screen. I've been given permission to post some of the work from one of them up until the movie goes into production - at which point, I will have to remove them from my blog.

The concepts are pretty self-explanatory and I won't go into any details at all as to what it's all about, so please don't ask. ;)

Maschinen Krieger (Ma.K ZBV3000) - AFS NightStalker

I don't just do digital paintings of the Maschinen Krieger universe by Kow Yokoyama... sometimes (very rarely) I actually build and paint the real model kits. :)

This particular one is an AFS (Armored Fighting Suit) variant built for Night-Ops and stealth missions.

Nuclear Dawn - Concept Art - Part 1

I figure it's about time I start posting some of my concept art from the game I worked on last year: Nuclear Dawn: Modern Combat Rising which should release on PC and Xbox360 later this year.

This first piece is a design I did for the Consortium (Euro/US) Support Infantry. I was pretty happy with the design when I first finished it. I guess I still am now though I know if I had the chance to go back and redo it... well. :-P

Here is the initial rough sketch and the final design - the only concept I nailed on the first try. :-)

Weekend Dump - 2 Speedies

Two 'speed' paints that I've been working on the past week.

We've got a Kinetic Soldier concept: The more he moves and exerts energy, the more powerful his suit becomes.

... and a derelict ship that has crashed on a dying moon, the survivors have either since been rescued or have perished themselves.

Enjoy. :)

RASP

Who doesn't love giant robot velociraptors that are armed to the teeth?! This was a commission piece for a cat named Esiel based on a character created by RaptorFire.

Sorry about that 'cat' bit, I've just always wanted to refer to someone as that... sounds so 70's retro. :-p

Only 2 more days before I get my copy of Re Dead Redemption! :-D

Warm-up Sketches

A couple of quick warm-up sketches that took around 45mins each.

The Kraken

I didn't really plan on painting the Kraken, I was just messing around, putting down random brushstrokes and not really knowing what was going to be the final image.

I haven't seen the new version of Clash of the Titans but the original has always been a favorite even though by today's standards, it's a very goofy movie. The Harryhausen stop-motion animation is awesome and the Medusa scene is still one of the most tense and atmospheric scenes ever committed to film.

This was so much fun to paint, seeing how far I could push myself and really add in some story to the painting.

Release the Kraken!!!

The Crow: Process

Step by Step of my most recent painting to give you a bit of an idea to how I work (at least on this particular painting).

The Crow

This started out as a very simple anatomy and lighting study in my head and I just kept pushing it (and myself) to make it a finished piece that I was happy with.

I've always loved the story of The Crow and am a huge fan of the original comic and movie (I also don't mind the 2nd movie but the rest are 'less than special'). I based this image off the original comic version and like that version, used Iggy Pop as my body reference for Eric and the lead singer of Bauhaus for the face. The only deviation I've made from the original comic is by adding in an actual crow on Eric's shoulder as it appears in the film (in the comic, the crow was a meta-physical guide that never actually existed in the real world).

There's a bunch of little Easter Eggs in the piece for fans of the original comic too. :)

Rancorous!

So busy at work these past few weeks and I've also been working on a new film project that I've been doing a lot of concept art for. :-0

I recently received a copy of The Art and Making of The Force Unleashed from a friend working at LucasArts and it was signed by many members of the art and design team - I had the biggest shit-eating grin! :-D

I've been really inspired by the work in the book and have wanted to paint something 'Star Wars' for a while now... specifically, a Rancor and a Stormtrooper.

This painting fills both of those desires! :-)

Steampunk Captain

It feels like a long time since I last posted something. :(

This particular piece was commissioned as a gift for the client's fiancee - depicted as the captain of some kind of steampunk airship. Generally, I don't paint steampunk stuff... I just don't have much interest in the genre but I saw this painting as a nice challenge to ramp my skill level up a notch or two.

It's one of the more complex scenes I've ever painted and I really tried refine the brushwork on the main character to get an almost photo-realistic look to her.

Photoshop CS3, too many hours to take note of.

(Edit: Updated a couple of things as per the client's request).

Mass Effect - Archangel

Now on to my second playthrough of Mass Effect 2 - such an awesome game! Garrus Vakarian has always been a favorite character of mine in the Mass Effect series and I was very happy that he was, once again a part of Commander Shepard's team. I'm really hoping he makes a return in the 3rd chapter too.

This was completed using a googled screenshot for reference in about 5hrs or so - Photoshop CS3.

Pilgrimage

As usual, just messing around and throwing ideas down on the canvas as they come to me and creating a story as I paint. It's funny, I did a bunch of pencil sketches in preparation of doing a personal painting and ended up going in a completely different direction.

Around 2hrs, Photoshop CS3.

MASS EFFECT: Planetary Exploration

Now that I've finally seen AVATAR... I'm going to stay away from the cliche of painting something inspired by it. :-p Instead, I've gone back to ol' faithful Mass Effect for a little inspiration again.

Just a quickie. About 2hrs work, Photoshop CS3.

EDIT: I wasn't completely happy with the original version and I also figured; What the hell, I haven't ever actually painted something specifically from Mass Effect so I redid a few of the elements to completely ground the image in that universe as well as doing some general 'tidy-up'.

Now, I'm happy. :)

Terminal Velocity

I came across the awesome artist Randis' cloud tutorial on YouTube yesterday and it inspired me to do something similar to what he shows in the video but with my own story and unique touches.

About 2hrs of work, lots of fun. :)

Waterlogged

Happy New Year 2010 - I hope it's a great one for all. ;-)