This is where peer pressure gets you

So the steampunk sleigh is almost done, and I must admit I’m quite pleased with the end result.  The funny thing is that the only thign that really made me crank up the creative juices was seeing the raw creativity at work over at the gameartisans forum.  For comparison, this was my first sleigh design:

I know, the evolution is astounding.  Participating in forums and online competitions is the closest facsimile a freelance worker can get to the energy that exists in a room full of artists.  My friends kept telling e before to post on the forums but I was always too lazy to and never quite got the point of it all.  I went to forums to check out tutorials and basically once I got what I needed I abandoned them.  Now I know that they’re much, much more useful than that, and in the absence of a good teacher, “hanging out” with a group of talented individuals online is the next best thing.

A Steampunk Sleigh, and some news

I love/hate the peer pressure that comes from viewing other artists’ work.  On the one hand it inspires me to make my work better and forces me to churn out those creative juices, but on the other hand there’s the inescapable feeling of smallness when you gaze upon talent that’s far superior to yours.  Still, at least I feel like I’m competing, and getting better, and that’s the point rally.  So I dithced my old idea of just straping rockets to a sleigh and calling it “Turbo”, and decking out a whole new design, the Steampunk Sleigh.  I’m quite pleased with it so far, but I’ll sleep on it and see if anyone comments on gameartisans before adding the pilot.  I’m keeping one of the characters from my former post, the one witht he aviator goggles.

I’ve also cleared out my deviantart account.  I’ve had a love/hate relationship with deviantart for a while, because it’s UI is just ridiculously outdated.  However there’s no denying its reach, and as much as I’ll hate taking 5 minutes to upload every single artwork, I’m hopeful that in the long run it’ll help provide me with a bigger crop of possible freelance clients.

Lastly, but probaby most importantly, Movement for Good Governance, a well…movement, that my girlfriend is heavily involved with, has made the front page of the Inquirer.  MGG is mostly about educating the Philippine populace years before the elections, allowing them to make better decisions come election time (I’m sure it’s about much more than that, but my tl:dr syndrome kicked in again).  I’m extremely proud of her and the work that she’s done, and I can only hope that I can devote more time in my later life to activities like this, that help to make this country a better place for everyone to live in.

Pint-size Aviators

Most concept art is done with a more realistic, traditional style of painting, probably because games have been flogging themselves to reach realistic looking graphics for the past decade.  So recently I’ve been focused much more on achieving a realistic look, studying anatomy again and really trying to get that down.  The most recent contest on gameartisans had me go back to drawing something a little more cartoony and animated though, because the theme was “Turbo Sled” and I couldn’t think come up with anything “realistic” looking that wouldn’t end up really lame.  So I figured it was time to have some fun with the concept, and ended up with the idea of two crazy kids – a wannabe WWII fighter pilot and and a pyromaniac – hooking up fireworks to the back of a sled and pushing themselves off a cliff or something.  That would just look kind of ridiculous if drawn in a realistic manner, hence the choice of art style.

I have to say that I’m quite happy with how these character designs have turned out.  It’s not obvious but the practice on “real” anatomy does help even when you start to stretch the boundaries of anatomy to reach a more caricatur-ey feel.

Aztec Axe

This is my first stab (that would have been punny if this were a sword and not an axe)  at an orthographic sketch.  You’d normally use these as a reference when making 3D models, for the shape, and also for the 2D textures.  It was supposed to be a steampunk aztec axe, in line with my other post, but I found it hard to add any kind of steampunk element to it, aside from the odd dangling telephone wire in the back.  I was initially thinking of using this as a reference for learning 3D modeling, but I think I’d better stick to something far simpler first, with less decorative elements in it.

Delayed Gratification

It’s dawned on me that in nearly 3 years of making games, I have yet to see a copy of a game I worked on released (except some horrible game and watch ports and certain ABS-CBN properties that I’d rather forget) until now.  Well, it’s not quite released yet, but my bit is done, and it should be rolling out before the end of the year.  Sure it’s not a triple A game, but the fact that it’ll be out there for people to download and play does give me a sense of accomplishment.  And it’s a new portfolio section too, so hooray!

Steampunk Aztec

This is for another competition, this time on cgtalk, about reimagining myths and legends in steampunk form.  I’ve been very interested in drawing a character based on Aztec art, so I’m going for a steampunk El Dorado.  These are just preliminary sketches of what a steampunk Aztec robot or armor might look like.  Right now it looks more aztec than steampunk, so I have to figure out how to work the steampunk aspects in.