Making Mobile Games

Two years ago, I started a full-time job as a Mobile UI Designer with Pocket App Ltd. With a games design degree under my belt and no one at the company with games industry experience, I seized at the opportunity to upgrade my position and within a few months I became Games Producer. Since then I have worked on many exciting and challenging mobile projects, both game apps and standard apps with gamification design.

All of our projects are produced specifically for a range of clients, including some big names such as Panasonic and Square Enix, so I'm restricted on the graphics I can share on the web. However, there are some sneak peaks on my new portfolio website, www.alxbanner.com.

As much as I love the challenge of creating exciting solutions based on a clients brief, I am eager to work on an original indie game before I hang up my gamepads. Whether I'm lead designer, UI/UX designer or a character designer, I really don't mind what role I have. The most important thing is that I have a talented team to bounce ideas off and collaborate with. I've already been in talks with some cool developers so watch this space!

Red, White and Blue: House of Cards

Addicted to House of Cards and cannot wait until season 3. This started off as a doodle on my Samsung galaxy note 10.1 using Sketchbook pro, but then I got a little carried away :) Much prefer the version with harsh strokes and an absence of colour as it better conveys Kevin Spacey's ruthless character and is in line with the title of this post.

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.

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.

Daily Drawing Challenges

While on Google+ I did some quick doodles in response to a caption from artist, Carsten Bradley. Various entries including mine can be found on this blog: http://geeplusart.blogspot.com/
Will attempt to do these everyday as they are good practice for developing my creativity and speed drawing.

dragon with parasol

Cartoon character as a sea creature

Monster cereal

Interview with Ian McCaig

The great artist, Ian McCaig (worked on Star Wars), comes across as such a positive and knowledgeable person. Here's a swiftly sketched portrait while I listened to his wise words.