Doodles

   Some doodles from today. I have time to doodle. This is crazy.

Moar skin studying

Decided to try to apply what I learned from the previous studies. I’ve definitely got a long way to go but I think I learned a thing. 

Materials Study - Skin

I just wanted to increase my understanding of rendering skin, so I found some photos of people from the internet and tried to paint some spheres of flesh by observing how light played across their skin tones.  It ended up being a really useful exercise!

New York Comic Con and Dungeon Defenders 2!

I've been working as a Creative Director on Dungeon Defenders 2 for a few months now, and as a Concept Artist on DD2 for long before that, so this game means an awful lot to me. It means a lot to all of us on the team. This game has been a long time coming and it's something a few of us had been thinking about, hell DREAMING about for over a year now.  The entire team has poured immeasurable amounts of blood, sweat, and tears into this project, in spite of some very public dark times at the studio.  I really never thought that something as simple as a positive review would have such an emotional impact on me, but because of everything we've gone through, it absolutely does. 

We'll be showing the game at NYCC, and I would love it if anyone who will be at the con would stop by and play our game! Let us know what you think of it! What you like, what you don't like, what you think could make the game stronger, etc. Any feedback would be very appreciated. We've done everything we could to make the best possible game we could make, and it's fantastic to see that it's (so far) being well received. I've never been more proud of what we've accomplished and of the team that I work with!

IGN Review

Gameplay footage!

Above image done by the uber-talented Enrique Rivera

Basara Basara Deshi Deshi

I started this painting a few thousand years ago (pretty much right after I saw the movie), and finally got around to finishing it. Thanks a bunch to Enrique Rivera for helping me take the layout from crappy to less-crappy, he pretty much saved this one.

Pivotal Moments

Just some aimless doodling

More Dungeon Defenders Characters!

Here are some more Dungeon Defenders 2 characters and their in-game portraits.  As you guys can probably tell, some characters needed more iteration than others.

Dungeon Defenders Monk

              

This was some of the concept art done while redesigning the Monk character for Dungeon Defenders 2, along with a few of the in-game portraits.

Dungeon Defenders Prisoner

Originally, the Prisoner was going to be this hulking badass with crazy buff arms and a torn up shirt full of muscley muscles, but a few of us thought it would be more fun if this insanely powerful character was a little old lady, so we pushed really hard for this concept and ultimately made it through!

A taste of Dungeon Defenders 2

It won't be too much longer where I'll be able to start posting all the work I've been doing for the past year, so I'm pretty excited! Here's a sample of the DD2 barrage of artwork that's on the way, the Huntress' character select portrait.

Dungeon Defenders 2 page

Dungeon Defenders 2 announced!

Well I can finally show the game I've been working on for the past year and a half!  We invested a ton of time and energy into the project and I can say that we've been putting our all into developing the art style.  We really busted our ass and I'd be lying if I said I didn't have some emotional attachment to this game due the immense amount of contribution we all had with the story and art.  I feel blessed to work in a place where I get to have a sizable contribution to the visual decisions and not just be a wrist, churning out one drawing after another, because I think that above all else, that has had the most impact in my enthusiasm working here. Creating the art style and the visual design of the game was very much a group effort, and I'm proud to work with the people in this art team!

You guys can expect a gradual, but massive outpouring of concept art over the next few weeks/months!

Link to the article and stuff:  
IGN Article Link

Other Trendy DunDef art directors and artists:  
Ben Greene
Michael "Rusty" Drake 
Jordan Kerbow
Enrique Rivera
Mia Goodwin

CGMA Assignment!

So I recently just finished moving, and I finally got my computer and Cintiq up and running. Sorta. It's somewhat temporary because I still have to move them out of the room again as I get my carpet steam cleaned, but the moving experience + my job has unfortunately gotten in the way of my homeworking for my CGMA class, which I'm not thrilled about.  At the office, we're in crunch mode with material I can't talk about, but it's been a pretty hectic time there.

CGMA Class!

So like I mentioned before, I've been taking James Paick's Environment Design for Entertainment 1 class.  It's been going pretty well and I've definitely been learning a lot and practicing things I would definitely not have practiced otherwise.  I thought I'd go ahead post up my first two homework assignments for you guys to see:

    It's been a struggle doing these outside of my normal job, but it's been insanely worth it.  The first two weeks have pretty much been focusing exclusively on composition, value distribution, and lighting.  I think I spectacularly failed in some of these areas and I think I succeeded in others.  I notice that I'm falling into comfort zones in terms of how I organize my values, but for now I'm going to try to just internalize the lessons and deal with repeating myself after I'm more comfortable with the material.