Sketch on a Plane

A couple of biro sketches while on the plane to Sweden. I stumbled across the bearded guy in a magazine. Think he's a music composer. Totally forgotten his name :/

Zero to Hero

A teaser of some character designs for a potential mobile game. A bit of a Tiny Thief influence here.

Canabalt HD: Desperado

The Godfather of endless runners, Canabalt HD, has a new update which includes new levels, two player competition and a female character.

I've just had a play and 2-player mode is ace but the female character, apart from longer hair, is void of femininity and looks like Antonio Banderas in Desperado.

Ice breaking

Hey people!
I've been away from the blogging for a bit so let me cut to the chase and tell you about some things that have been happening in my life...

Dark Cow Rises
In my previous posts you may have remembered I was working on a CG animation for a TV production company in Sweden. Well, production on that was suspended due to some major technical issues.
The good news is that the Cow will return as all the technical shizzle is now sorted!

DIY PC maintenance

She's back! Much more to come!

Graphic Design projects
I've been designing publications for a few businesses. It has been a worthwhile experience and challenge (especially when working on an office PC with 1gb of RAM!) and I've met some truly wonderful people. My most proud achievement was creating and designing a mascot for the children's cancer charity, Neuroblastoma Alliance UK.

Mascot for Neuroblastoma Alliance UK

Character development

3D version of their logo for possible 'bouncing ball' animation

Drawing, drawing, drawing
Recently, I've been asked to design a tattoo of an Egyptian sphinx (the part female, bird and cat one). Surprisingly, I haven't designed a tattoo before so it's a new challenge that I'm excited about completing.

Initial design for tattoo, flying lady with deadly sharp nipples

'Team Edward' cartoon. What's life without humour?

Run Forest, Run!

I've always been keen on fitness and challenging my physical limits but never keen on going for runs outside as a supplement. I usually preferred running on the treadmill in the gym as it put less strain on my body. However, since the beginning of 2012, I've totally scraped the gym and decided to go for regular runs outdoors as well as use breakdancing techniques to stay in shape. It's much cheaper anyway!

I'll also be dancing at the Paralympic ceremony (missed the main Olympic auditions) and rehearsals have been a lot of fun and met some cool people. That's all I can say on the subject at the moment because it's proper top secret and I'll be kicked out if I reveal more!

taking a breather after a run in the local park

strawberry picking my way!

3 is the magic number!

Quad-biped cow designs

Some more character development for that cow that has now invaded my dreams.
Research on quadruped anatomy, not just cow anatomy, was essential.

closer to final design

Cockney Cow

Cow concept art for a recent project.
A cow with the personality and style of Pat from the British TV soap, Eastenders. A bit muddy and rushed, but just a concept. 'Av it!

Moo cow - caricatured designs

These are my early character designs for a recent project. The initial project brief didn't specify the characteristics for the cow so I explored many ideas. None of these will be developed further as we have now gone for a more realistic look.

very animatable

Yes, it looks more like a pig

??? Odd, but one of my fav designs

safe

Brody: Speed painting and Character Design

Here's a quick speed painting of Adrian Brody. 

Previously, I had only used Photoshop's default brush set for painting but I decided to explore something new. This Brush Set worked wonderfully for my speed painting. I mainly used the brushes in category no.4 with pen pressure turned on.

I used a couple of Overlay layers to give it a little more depth and texture.

The last design in the image above is actually based on an old character of mine that I'd like to revisit. If all goes well, there's an animation in store for this chap.

Feng Zhu Digital Art Tutorials

If you're into your concept art and design, I can't recommend these tutorials enough. Feng Zhu is an awesome concept artist and his digital tutorials are in-depth and easy to follow.  All of his episodes are invaluable and FREE! Subscribe to his YouTube page for more...

This is one of my favourite episodes where he shows how he adds colour to game character line art as well as giving general advice for budding digital artists.

Freshers: 3-Panel Comic Strip (pilot episode)

"When I grow up, I want to be a Comic Book Artist"
When I was a young boy, I was fascinated by comic book stories and one of my goals at the time was to be a cartoonist or comic book artist. (*start the violins*) It's a shame that I didn't get the support and encouragement I needed at that tender age and to be honest I was constantly told it was not a respectable career path. I often stuck my middle finger up at the disbelievers and continued to draw, but when it came to key decisions for university/college and high school, I often chose a Scientific or Mathematical option. I wish I was more stubborn, but I guess the negative comments had a subconscious effect on me. (*tears*)
Fortunately, I still have the passion for visual story telling. My degree in BSc Interactive Systems & Video Games Design may not sound like an 'arty' course, but due to the eclectic disciplines within the games industry and understanding tutors, I was given greater control over what subjects would be beneficial to my career path. I studied programming, web design, game design and scripting but I found my true calling in my 3D animation and concept design modules. In these modules, I was able to awaken and develop my dormant artistic skills. I feel like a kid again, with a finger in every artistic pie and the confidence to delve into new things, like Comic creation... (*cheers and applause*)

I'd just like to make clear before I move on: As this is my first real comic strip, I regard myself as a rookie comic artist so I don't assume I'll conquer the world with my strips. It's just an enjoyable hobby and part of my exploration and growth as an artist.


Freshers
This 3-panel comic is loosely based on my experiences while at university/college in the UK.
I created a stylized character design for my characters. I've called it Freshers, but the name of the comic isn't set in stone yet so I'm open for suggestions.
I shared the completed pilot with friends and contacts via email, twitter, Google+ and Facebook and received a lot of positive feedback, especially from, comic artist, John Sanford and games designer, Louis McLaughlin (he doesn't know this but the slim character on the right is based on him!).
My main concern was getting the humour right so I'm glad it was funny for the majority of viewers. The background could do with some more detail to give that student bar atmosphere and youthful character.
Alex, the one on the left, is an older student with a bipolar personality. The other dude (hasn't got a name yet) is a cynical brain-box with a dry sense of humour.
I have already created sketches for new comic strip stories so it shouldn't be long before episode 2! In later episodes I will develop their characters a bit more and introduce some new younger student characters.

Short and sweet: Twitter feedback from John Sanford

Louis McLaughlin's feedback on Facebook

Original rough sketch of comic

Character Design - Animal Mashup

I designed this creature while in the waiting room in a hospital in Sweden, looking through a wildlife magazine.
It's a cross between a cat, a mole and an eagle. The instincts and speed of a cat, the wings of an eagle and the digging ability of a mole. I imagine it's habitat to be a forest or cave. Pretty random concept, but was just a bit of fun. I may develop this character further and create a 3D rig for animated short.
Below is a copy of the initial sketch and some quick colour tests.

Wicked Princess - Concept and Idea Development (CID)

Recently, I have been working on a project where I will create conceptual art for a potential video game. The game is based on the story of 'The Wicked Prince' by Hans Cristian Anderson and the artwork will be finished by May 3rd.
Here are the list of the assets:

Environments
-Magnificent Ship Interior
-Magnificent Church Interior
-Devastated Peasant Village Exterior
-Heavenly Exterior

Props
-Prince's Primary Weapon
-Magnificent Ship Exterior (as vehicle)
-Prince's Army's Tools of Destruction
-Statue of Prince
-Prince's Treasure Item - inanimate or dead
-1-3 x Mundane Props from Devastated Village

Characters (one non-humanoid)
-Prince/Princess Protagonist
-Numberless Angel
-Priest (impoverished or otherwise downtrodden)

I've been wanting to design something that has influences from West African culture so will use the culture/traditions/people/architecture as my main reference. However, I want this to be a fictional game world so will combine with reference from other sources too. At the moment, I have created mood boards (see below for examples) for each asset and  made some initial sketches.

Village Exterior

Priest

Wicked Princess

Princess Statue

There's a lot of free-flowing experimentation at this stage - no idea is set in stone. Below are a few of my initial thumbnail sketches (I've highlighted my favourites) for my version of the 'wicked prince'. As you can see, I've gone for a female protagonist.

Silhouette thumbnails are good for focusing on the form of the character and less on the fine details. This is a new technique for me and not what comes naturally to me, but I have given it a try in these initial drawings. Still needs improvement but I can see the benefits - a strong silhouette is a key asset for any character concept.

My recent projects

Hi guys,

Here is a collection of some of my project work from the past year.
In Nov 2010, I completed work on the Xbox Live game, Big Tidy Up game, for the environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy. For this project I was lead artist and animator. Louis McLaughlin (Lead programmer), Tim Newsome (Team Leader), Chris Trott (artist) and Chris Owens (programmer) were the other members of the team. As well as our main duties, we all had a hand in the game design process which was a fun and fruitful process. We won numerous awards for our game and were very close to winning a year's contract with Rockstar North at the Game Republic Event.

In Dec 2010, I created an animation short with the focus on lip-sync. It was my first attempt at lip-sync, but it was a fun and challenging process. I also designed, modelled, textured and rigged the character, Francis the 'Lion'. I'm happy with this first attempt, but I feel the animation could be a lot stronger with a few more tweaks.

An on-going personal project of mine has been an original cross-platform product called, Sacred River. The project has been put on hold many times due to lack of inspiration and change in art direction, but I'm hoping to show you more very soon! Here is a concept image of the main character.

Let's get cracking!