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March 11, 2014

Finally calling my entry for The Comicon Challenge 2014 done. Most of my spare time the last month has been devoted to this and while I’m not feeling it right now I know I should be pleased for sticking with it to the end, something I’ve had difficulty with for some time now when it comes to personal projects. External motivation like a competition is quite helpful indeed as I otherwise tend to question my reasons for pursuing things, which seems to be a common thing among creatives. There’s so many ideas and so little time but even if you had all the time it would still be difficult to pick which one to execute first.

Below is the final presentation. If you’d like to see some of the process of creating the character check out the WIP-thread here.


February 22, 2014

Started working on the texture maps for this guy. Still quite some work left to do. Need to make a nice pedestal as well.


February 19, 2014

Still working on my entry for the Comicon Challenge. Will probably post an update pretty soon.
In the meantime you can always check out my WIP thread over at the GA forums which is currently being updated somewhat regularly.
http://www.gameartisans.org/forums/threads/62712-Comicon-2014-3D-AimBiZ-Spawn/page3

Anyway, here’s some pen and marker sketches I did a couple a weeks ago.

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February 2, 2014

Wasn’t happy with the armor design so I took things back closer to the original Spawn design. I’m always into finding the most simple and efficient solution to things and when it comes to design, even for a complex one, simpler shapes make a larger impact. Every time I get stuck in a design or building a model I usually find my way out of it by making something less complicated.

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January 31, 2014

Just a new improvised digital painting. Same workflow as some of the other recent ones. I build up the shapes with selections and paint inside with a simple soft brush. I also use some other custom abstract brushes to add structural texture to things or just generate random shapes.

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January 27, 2014

So after recieving some good feedback on the forums I had to come to realize that it was a bad idea to stick to the original Spawn design when the contest brief allows and encourages redesigns. In this case the character should have improved significantly or gained new powers.

So long story short, redesigned the character keeping at the grim reaper theme. The scythe will still be included. The costume has been surprisingly difficult for me to design but now I think it’s headed in a decent direction. All the parts are still very rough and next step would be to figure out some of the minor design elements then refine the meshes and get them ready for “sculpting”.

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January 19, 2014

Decided to take part in the Comicon Challenge 2014 over at GameArtisans. The goal is to create a character based on a comic book hero or villain and adapt them according to a given brief. This year you could choose to depict the character either in their last moments making a final strike or rising more powerful than ever after a long time of absence.
I chose the latter scenario and picked Spawn as the character. The idea is that he’s defeated death and received a powerful scythe to beat something even more powerful. Not sure if I’ll be  sticking to that idea but here’s what I’ve got so far. The model(s) are still quite rough as I’m still figuring out the design of things.

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January 8, 2014

Not much to say about these. Just some random characters.


December 26, 2013

I like mixed media very much and lately I’ve been liking the results I’m getting from combining marker pens and gouache on toned paper.
I do most of the sketch with marker then put in lighter values with paint, usually just white which can then be tinted with the marker color. Works well for creating a dirty/worn look or a color bleeding effect.

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December 21, 2013

So this is the type of stuff I’m doing at lunch breaks nowadays. Bought a really cheap sketchbook, basically a bunch of papers stapled together. I like it much better than the fancier sketchbook I was using before. I tend to relax more with cheaper material as I can just throw it away if I’m not happy with the result.
Additionally I’ve been going back to sketching with a ballpoint pen, the classic Bic pen to be specific. I really like this pen as it’s surprisingly easy to achieve a wider value range with. I’ve also found that the simpler tools tend to be more versatile. Working in permanent mediums is also a good exercise in confidence and covering up mistakes.

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November 28, 2013

So this is what I’ve spent the last two months on, developing an idea for a game and learning to code/script in the Unity Game Engine using C#.

The main idea was a multi-player 3rd-person combat game where players are given a basic frame of a mech-robot on which they spend a set amount of points equipping it with armor, weapons and other gear, resulting in a wide range of mech-types with their own pros and cons.
That said the project was solely about learning since I wouldn’t be able to finish something with that huge of a scope anyway. I’ve never finished a game before either so I wanted to get the skill-set to be able to achieve that some day.
So far I got a prototype with most things regarding movement and combat implemented although quite rough in some places, and no enemies. You can try it out HERE.

Controls
Mouse – Aim, Turn
WASD – Move, Strafe
Shift – Boost
Space – Boost upwards
C – Boost downwards
Left Mouse – Fire left hand weapon
Right Mouse – Fire right hand weapon
Middle Mouse – Fire chest weapon
Q – Fire left back weapon
E – Fire right back weapon
Pause – Pause the game and have the camera rotate around the mech

I will leave this project in its current state and move on to something that I feel is more doable. It’s been quite the challenge both in the technical and artistic aspects. I probably spent half the time designing and tweaking the mech-frame, which still can be considered to be a block-out, and I didn’t get to make any armor parts which is a shame really.

Apart from coding the gameplay stuff I also wrote my own shaders for the prototype which is also something relatively new to me. Wouldn’t say I entirely know what I doing but I managed to pull off some effects. I’m particularly happy the pattern blending on the terrain between different textures, a concept I stole from Massive Chalice.

Some screenshots of the prototype.

Finally it’s been a very satisfying project overall and I learned a ton. Lots of mistakes where made and that’s why I’m moving on, to repeat the process to get better at it. Unity is a fantastic engine and I recommend it for anyone wanting to try their hand and coding games.

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November 25, 2013

Or quick concepts could be appropriate as well. This is for a personal project about mechas, dry lands and impossible cities.

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September 29, 2013

Made from a mix of Super Sculpey and white Sculpey.

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September 25, 2013

Generated some thumbnails for potential mech designs.

Started by making a silhouette with marker, then sketching on top with a ballpoint pen, added some simple shading with another marker then any additional color with gouache.

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September 9, 2013

Felt it was about time I did some digital image-making again, additionally I wanted to further explore the workflow I used in making this piece.

I work in GIMP, using the lasso tool (or any other selection tool for that matter) to make shapes, adding tone using the softest “airbrush” that came with the package, thus turning the shape into a form. Additionally I use some custom brushes, mostly for generating abstract shapes or pattern.

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August 19, 2013

Was doing an entry for the recently held game-art competition VGRemix at Polycount. The objective was to make an old-school lowpoly diorama depicting a scene from a favorite game.
I picked Machinarium, one of my favorite games from an artistic point of view. My idea was to make some kind of fusion of multiple scenes with a bunch of the most familiar characters in them. Didn’t finish the project unfortunately but managed to get the characters together so I thought I might as well show them here.
Since they where originally in 2D there where some challenges reinterpreting them in 3D. Before even starting on the models I drew  front and side view of the chosen characters, just to get a better understanding of their form and address any issues that might occur. Usually one of the best ways to memorize forms is to draw them, much like the way you write things down to remember them, visual notes basically.

Each character is close to 500 triangles with 128×128 texture maps. Additional objects where at max 100 triangles with 64×64 maps or lower.


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