Dungeon Defenders...Arena

As Trendy's first big title Dungeon Defenders grows and expands, addendums to the original logo are needed. I was tasked with quickly creating the "Arena" logo and design at the bottom of this image as well as adding the arrows and making the logo as a whole look a little more, battle torn. It was kind of a fun side project, a nice break from my usual fair at work (which is not to say that I dislike what I am normally working on :P)

Layout Fun

A couple of weeks ago a few of us at work had to run around like, well, chickens with our heads lopped off. We had to create a short animation that would be used to help promote a fun little ios game we made. With some hard work and fast thinking, we got it put together with a bit of time to spare! The game is called Chicken Coup. It was made as a result of Epic Games asking us to create a small demo game that would show off Epic's new mobile game engine.

While a good bit of my involvement in the video was art management, I also got the chance to contribute a little art. This was the establishing shot used to intro and and end the animation. You can catch the full video here: http://chickencoupgame.com/

Sucky Sci-Fi Sketch

I've never been very good at sci-fi themes, for the most part. I'm more of a horror and fantasy guy by nature, though I love robots and space ships as much as the next guy. I've just not practiced with it enough to get my own head around what makes cool tech, well, cool.

Normally I try to create and work with my own brushes but I have recently added and am experimenting with, several new brushes from a couple of different artists (or brushes that another artist or two have compiled from still other artists). This sketch-thing was sitting on my hard drive in a very early stage and in an attempt to both try out some new brushes and become more regular about making posts, I decided to see where it would go if I put a little time into it. Well, a couple of frustrating hours later I was left with what you see here. The original idea behind the image was much more original and interesting but as the night grew late and I became more frustrated with the sketch's lack of cooperation, predictability ensued.

Trails

Sealed for optimal freshness...

Seamonkey

Here, finally, is one of the illustrations I kept promising from before I moved, 5 months ago. I made some time and finished it up, cutting a few planned elements out of it in order to make it happen. I feel that the cuts I made ended up being for the best anyways. This image represents several years of development. I doodled the original ink sketch in 08 I think. I don't remember when I decided to turn it into an illustration but it was at least a year or more ago...probably more. Most of it's development has taken place within the last, eh, 7 months, when I would come back and pick away on it as I could.

Happy Birthday StAugustine, Fl

My studio is working on a side project for the Florida Natural History Museum. We're creating an interactive (game) display that will become a part of the StAugustine, FL 500th anniversary exhibit. I was asked to do a concept portraying the space the small educational game will take place in. I had to pull together reference from excavation photos and so on to try and capture the look of the fist Spanish settlement. The museum staff (including experts on the site) said that my concept was actually very close to accurate, groovy (home-school high-five).

BSFA Nomination!

I was recently notified that my art has made the short list for this years British Science Fiction Association awards! A very kind soul nominated the cover I did last year for Crossed Genres Magazine. Thank you!

Linkage!

Unofficial Announcement

Trendy Entertainment has been posting job openings around the web and a few of my concepts were used so I thought I'd share those pieces with you here. It feels good to have something to post!
Also, here is a link to one of the job posts for anyone interested: Trendy Jobs (I also designed the large, male creature shown there)



These images don't represent some of the latest and more exciting directions the game is now taking. Stay tuned for updates.

...So Where Am I?!

I am really looking forward to working on something of my own so that I can post it here, so that my blog doesn't shrivel up and die. Really though, this is a good problem to have. It's been great to have consistent work again and the guys I work with are all talented and easy to work with. I love the project I'm working on and Gainesville is a pretty cool town. I definitely miss the cooler fall air but I am close to family and you can't argue with blue skies and sunny weather almost every day!
Any ways, pretty much as soon as I got here, a million things happened and I was slammed with work, trying to meet a deadline while also getting adjusted to my new life. Things are calming down finally so mmmaaaaybe I'll be able to finish something I was working on before the move. I've got several "in progress" images just waiting their turn so keep checking back!

A Deafened Plea For Peace

A couple of months ago I was commissioned by Crossed Genres Magazine to illustrate the cover for their 21st issue. The issue was just released today so I can finally show it off. This piece worked as a wrap around cover in case you are wondering about its dimensions. I flipped the image here for compositional reasons however it worked better for the cover when flipped the other way.

This was my first magazine cover and the people at Crossed Genre were fantastic to work with. Go check them out here: http://crossedgenres.com/

Commissioned Work

This is work I was commissioned to do by a studio that will remain unnamed.

Recent Sketchbook Entries

I just started a new sketchbook and have been really loving the feel of felt tip pen and mechanical pencil. My wife and I are working on a story we hope to turn into an illustrated trilogy of books and these sketches have largely been the warm-up for wrapping my head around the project.




These last few are some older digital sketches. They represent nothing more than some random exploration.

Personal Project (cont.)

Personal Project

These are from a personal project I was working on (and still hope to get back to). A lot of what you'll see is shot, look, and pallet exploration. The project is loosely based off of the book Phantoms by Dean Koontz. My goal with this project is to concept out a hypothetical demo level as if the book was being interpreted as a survival horror style video game. I am hoping to get back to the project soon.

Photo Studies

These go from older to newer as you go down the list. The first one was done a couple of months ago and the bottom two being from different days last week.

Tears of a Forgotten Faith

Trying to get myself in the habit of warming up before work. Roughly 1.5 hours on this one.

Study

A study from a photo.

The Frustrating Progression

I began this image as an entry in one of the contests over on Sketchaholic.com. The incredible Dylan Cole was going to be giving a live interview and then choosing the winner. I found out about the contest 5 days into it so I had to get crackin! Having kids requires a lot of time so when I say that I had 5 days, what I really mean is 3. I did 8 rough thumbs in pen and then chose a few to explore in Photoshop. I got halfway through the third when I started tinkering with the color sketch that starts this progression.
I hadn't really planned on taking it to completion but I found myself getting lost in the image. So because of my lack of planning I ended up with the third image down in the progression as my entry piece. Needless to say, I didn't win. I couldn't let it sit so I continued to work away at it and finally, after much determination, pulled something interesting out of it. It still has it's share of problems but not enough to make me keep working on it now. On to the next image!

Asking the Stones sketches

Apearm

...I told you not to drink the water!

Godspeed

I think this is about as finished as it's gonna get. Time to move on!

By which I command you forth...

Just a sketch from this evening. Nothing too original, just needed to experiment a little.

Dreaming Final

Well, here's the finished product. As hard as it can be to be on the receiving end of critiques sometimes, never underestimate their power! This wouldn't have turned out half as well without some of the constructive comments I got back from some of my friends. Thanks guys.

Dreaming

Pencil sketch for new illustration I'm working on for a contest over on Deviantart.com. Only have a couple of days to work on it...we'll see if I can pull it off.

So I think I'll just start throwing whatever up here...need to change the banner to match.

Norm, the Gun-armed Beefcake

Huppy Ferth-o-Jelly everyone!

Mr. Squigglepants

A couple guys I used to work with. Unfortunately, the one was not actually wearing the Viking helmet.

Mr. Slurpy