Starship Sketches: Part 4

Imperial Inspection.

This image is a continuation of my recent themes and working methods. I used .25 Pilot Ballpoint straight to my book, no pencil. I did some minor line cleanup and correction in Photoshop, and added color. Perhaps I'll do some character work next, but I have to admit, starships are a ton of fun.

Explorer

This was a heavily modified sketch that started out in my book. Again, it was unplanned and was executed entirely in ink, and as no surprise didn't turn out how I wanted. So I brought it into Photoshop, edited, re-inked and redrew some parts, sprayed some color over it, and here ya' have it.

Starship Sketches: Part 3

This image was done the same way as the one in the post below. I sketched it all with a Pilot Hi-Tech .25 ballpoint on a 8.5x11 sketchbook page. There was little to no planning of the image (no pencils). I started noodling out the main ship, and just let the rest of the image 'happen'. You know, one of those artsy things. I cleaned up some of my failed and eyeballed perspective lines, and vomited out some colors...probably more than a sketch deserves, but it was fun.

Starship Sketches: Part 2

The black and white version was done with a .25 guage ballpoint, no pencil, straight to an 8x11 book page. I cleaned it up just a bit and slapped on some color.

This one is has the same story except I used a brush marker for spot blacks and a bit of white out.

Starship Sketches: Part 1

I've been in a starship mood for the longest time now. These are just a few pages from the old sketchbook. Pardon me while I wear my Moebius hat on the last one.

Colonial Defense Force Arrives at Coral

To say I've been impressed by the Old Man's War by John Scalzi is quite an understatement. This little painting is far from perfect, but I think you get the basic idea...things go boom.

Wandering Willows - Giant Post

Wandering Willows is the game I've been working on over at PlayFirst,Inc. You can also check out the snazzy reviews we've gotten over on Gamezebo. 4.5 stars! Not too shabby :) More reviews here, and here.

Below are a few of the pieces I did for Wandering Willows. It was my responsibility to set the style and tone of the game.

The images above represent how our characters look in the game today.

Just above are early character explorations. If I posted every character direction we tried I'd have to start another blog.

This is just a portion of the concept drawings done for our cute little animals.

This was a joint illustration by Jack Balingit and myself. Jack did the bridge and the space ship. I painted the scene and populated it with characters and trees I'd done at an earlier time. This was an exercise to showcase how the game could look...a visual road map if you will.

Here is an early version of the grasslands (upper left) before we switched to a tile based system. The rest of the images to the right are tree types and instructions for how to make trees. Erin Middendorf gave the in-game versions a pretty new coat of paint.

Here are some ideas for buildings and structures for the game. The Professor's Lab in the upper left set the style. The color version is the actual version in the game.

These little nuggets were made to set the style for the icons.

These are screen shots of the actual game. I also did the User Interface and the special effects/animation. I can't show the special effects here because they are animations, so...go download it here!

Wandering Willows was a mucho fun project, and one of which I am extremely proud. I must give props to my team, simply because they are completely awesome. Dan Chao - our games beloved designer. Dan is passionate, creative, and most importantly smart. He is one of the most fun people with whom you could ever have the pleasure to work. Erin Middendorf - She can draw like most people walk through the air. Do you like those cute animals? How about 98% of all the cool clothes in the game? Let's not forget those gorgeous cinematics! Shuffle on over to her blog and give her a pat on the back. Jim Brooks - Knight in Shining Code. When Jim get's on the case, all your troubles melt away. Nick Stern - Studio Art Director. This man let me run the the ball, giving valued input, and for that I simply can't say enough. Solveig Zarubin - Producer, all out organizer. During the entire game, I think I touched maybe 2 spreadsheets. She shielded me from so much red tape, it's simply astounding. PlayFirst management also needs to be given a big nod here. Hell, they paid for the game! They also gave us a lot of trust, and that's a special thing. For all you non-game developers who read this little old blog 'o mine note this: it takes an entire company to make a game, not just our little team. Quality Assurance, Marketing, PlayFirst Site Team...jeez, the list goes on. All fine folks doing a damn fine job.

I can't leave out the Drawing Crew. You keep a brother sane.