Bubble Bobble 2014

Awright..back to work. Bubble Bobble 2014! This is a rework of a piece that I posted years ago (4? 5?)
An interesting way to track progress. Hope you guys enjoy!

Here is a little WIP video previous posted. Hope you guys like!

Castlevania2: Simon's Quest- WIP

I am working on a new painting and after going mid way through the process, I learned a few things.
First it's better to keep the painting into two main groups, the characters and foreground in one group or layer. Then a mid group/layer and then finally a background layer for sky/cloud and background elements. I can then create groups for the foreground, mid-ground and background pieces, and can add as is necessary.  I also can add in adjustment layers (multiply and overlay and screen etc.) and "merge the group" but still keep the three pieces separate.

I use a modeling program called Daz studio to model the human characters. It's a process that is pretty lengthy yet helpful. Instead of modeling the entire scene and then painting it, I can just model the parts that I need help with. Hands, head, face etc. It's a much more effective use of the program and of my time.

I used all of the above on the above "Castlevania 2: Simon's Quest" piece. It's a WIP, but I will be adding more as I go along. I will post the final once of course.

Mega Man -redo WIP 3rd times the charm

Redoing this one again with what I have learned from the OA.

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Trojan Redone

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Nintendo Tribute: R.O.B.--(Don't do any art)

It's been a while folks, and the reason for that is that I needed to take a break. Not for anything serious, but more because I was not happy with what was coming out. I would try and rush different pieces, over and over, and in the end it would look like crap. So I would spend a lot of time  pouring over a piece only to throw it in the trash (lame).

A friend of mine said to me, "Why are you trying to hard? Why don't you take a break?" The only one that is really going to see this is you any maybe a few people that happen across this blog. So...last weekend I decided to not pick up a pen, not a stylus (well I might have worked on something for a little bit) but that was for about 20 mins. I literally did nothing art related. I saw some friends, played a lot of video games, I went to a party, watched a lot of Netflix....but no art. You know what? It really worked.

Sometimes when you are stuck the best thing to do is to not do anything. If you push too hard, then you might just push the creativity away and that's not the desired end result. So....when you're not sure what to do, sometimes the best thing to do is "nothing".

So, I took a break, did more lessons and study during the week and then came up wtih the portrait of R.O.B. (Your Robotic Operating Buddy from the old school Nintendo days).
I wasn't even planning on doing this one, but it came out pretty well.
In the middle of working on this one, I also figured out some process things to make the end result look a little better.Woo! This one is going in the book!

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Nintendo Tribute: Ring King

 

This week's post is "Ring King" from the NES. I played this one a bit, but I did NOT play this one as much as I played Mike Tyson's Punch Out (Ring King didn't even come close). This one was especially difficult for me, because of the issues with anatomy. In addition I am finding that for some pieces, there is a discrepancy between the initial sketch (which I am pretty happy with) and the final execution. For example, you will note that the width of the character between the sketch and the final piece are dramatically different. This is because between the two, the tricky part is making the painting look convincing, while keeping the energy and dynamic action in the final painting. It's tricky. So much so, that I had to start this one over at least 3 times. In the end though I like it, and it's going to go in the book. After this one, I just have one more left to do, "Legend of Kage", and then i'll be done. Then it's on to the cover, and the surrounding promotional materials. 

p.s.

I love the fact that the game is tested and proven by Ray Leonard Jr.! What?!?!!?!?

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Nintendo Tribute: Ducktales

This week tribute is Ducktales, which is a game that I played a lot and was surprisingly addictive.
I don't think this one was as popular as the other main Nintendo games, such as Metroid, Mike Tyson, etc. etc. however this game was still a fun one to play. Nothing really special in terms of process that I did for this one, just the same basic steps. Hope you like!

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Nintendo Tribute: Elevator Action

 

This week's post is of Elevator Action, which is not necessarily a game that I so much played on Nintendo per Se, but more a game that was still fun from the 80's. So I figured "why not include it in the book".  There are some things that I tried in this piece, that I think worked out pretty well, however there is always room for improvement (in this case namely with the color). At any rate, below are the steps for how I got to the final piece.

Below: I wanted to come up with an interesting composition, so as always I did a number of composition studies, but they were all of the side view. I finally realized that the best view would be to have the main character shooting/looking/interacting with the viewer. Much more interesting than a boring side view. So after a few sketches, below was the final composition that I came up with. I wanted to have him running away from enemy agents, and shooting over his shoulder to have a feling of action to the piece.

 

Below: Now depending on the idea/subject matter, etc. I normally just skip right into drawing, etc. after doing some research etc. but...in this case I realized that in order for this to not* look like crap, I would need as close to a live model as possible. Since I didn't have one of those handy, I decided to just use myself. I set up my camera on my mantle, used the self timer setting and then took one or two shots of me looking over my shoulder while "dashing".(I used a pair of scissors as my "gun"). Despite the fact that I do NOT look like a super awesome secret spy, I decided that this would be a good reference to start work. As I go I am realizing how important research is, because without it, your drawing is just not going to look right.

 

Below: I did an initial sketch, then did a basic line sketch on top of that, and then started filling in the shadow layers and the highlights.I wasn't sure who to make the character look like, so I used Errol Flynn as a model, which I thought worked ok....I of course gave him a face scar...because....really who is going to mess with a guy with a face scar, would you? The lesson learned here is that structure, form, value and lighting are pretty much the most important parts of your piece. Without it, the rest of the piece is going to look sucky. It took me a couple of tries to learn, that, but hopefully I just saved you a lot of work.

 

Below: Now the biggest issue that I had with this one was how to apply color. As a matter of fact, I got to the point where I would add the color, and then get to a certain point, and I would hate it! A lot. I was getting bogged down in the order of whether to apply color first, and then shadows, or* whether to apply shadows and then color. On top of that, I was also getting bogged down on HOW to actually apply the color in the piece, because I would try a number of tactics, and it would not work.

It took a couple of tries, but I finally figured out the proper order for how to apply each (it still needs some finessing, but at least I have the basics down)--for now until I find a better way.

 

Below: From there I went in and I worked on top of everything, using various combinations of multiply, softlight, overlay, etc. and layer adjustment settings to get things to where I wanted them.

 

Again the biggest challenge here was the lighting (it always is). I wanted parts of the piece highlighted, and other parts not as prominent, I think it works, but again there is always room for improvement. 

I also learned that painting metal is def. not easy. I will need to work on ways to make it not look so "chalky". Anyway, Elevator Action is done, and is def. going in the book!

 

 

p.s.

Small piece of trivia...I just discovered that the name of the character that you play in the game is "Agent 17: aka--Otto"! Who knew...

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Back from Central America (Art Book cover sketches and more..)

Hey gang,

I'm back from Central America after a week of shaping and molding young minds. It was a really great week, and I feel so lucky to have been able to share time with those students.
You can see some of their wonderful photos on the Design 4 Kids Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/Design4Kids

While I was there I had some time when I was not teaching class. I managed to start work on some cover designs as well as complete the final list of pieces that will be included in the book:

Here is the final list (in no particular order and not all necessarily Nintendo games:)
-Megaman (2)
-Clu Clu Land
-Pro Wrestling
-Mario
-Ducktales
-Elevator Action
-Legend of Kage
-Ring King
-Mighty Bomb Jack (gonna fix the cover)
-Sonic
-10 Yard Fight (if I have time)---I never really played 10 Yard Fight that much but it seems to ba a favorite. So if I can make it happen I will fit it in.
I managed to complete all of the composition sketches so now it's on to knocking these out one by one. 
I plan on starting that this week, so I am pretty excited about that.
As a quick treat below are some logo and cover sketches (kinda early but this will give you just a quick idea of the cover layout).

Below are some sample logos ideas:

Below are some cover ideas:

I'll start posting as I work through the ideas.
See ya soon!

Nintendo Tribute: Mario

A little surprise this week as I did an extra mini piece. You can't have a Nintendo tribute without Mario. Even though Mario has been done over a million times I haven't really done Mario before, and so I figured "why not". Here is the final!

(Final!!)

Here are the steps:

I started with a basic round brush, and then instead used different brushes that I created from an actual paintbrush. I noticed that the end result looks a lot mote textured and not as flat. In addition I used a color palette from an already existing Mario image, so that I can get the colors right (before they were looking really pastelle-y and too soft.

Next Up: Double Dragon! Yee Haw!!!

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Nintendo Tribute: Bubble Bobble!

The Nintendo Tribute for this week is "Bubble Bobble". Another game I played endlessly, it was super fun and involved dragons, bubbles and fruit! How fun! Below is the final piece, and below that are the steps! This one is going in the book as well! Enjoy!

1. Sketch

2. Values and shadows

 

 3.

 4.

 5.

 6.

Final!

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Nintendo Pro Wrestling: Step by Step Process

The next entry in my Nintendo tribute series is "Pro Wrestling". This is another game that I played for hours and hours on end. It was and is still one of my favorites to this day ("A winner is you!").
Below is the step by step to the final piece.

1. I wanted to do something that included all of the wrestlers naturally, so I did a couple of different sketches, of all the wrestlers in different poses, and finally settled on the one below. It basically has all of the wrestlers in the front, and Great Puma (the Champion of the VWL--Video Wrestling League) in the back overshadowing the rest of the wrestlers. (below)

2. Then I added a base black and white color and started to block in the shadows (below)

3. I added a background color to give the painting an overall sense of color (purple seemed to work well in the color scheme of the rest of the wrestlers in the group shot) (below)

4. Then I started to add the flat colors over all of the wrestlers (I used the original game instruction manual as a basis for the colors (below)

5. I next started to do the paintover layer, and went over all of the details and the edges. I had a little trouble with Starman's arms as they were folded over each other. So I had to spend a little time going over that some more. Also, now that I am looking at it Figher Hayabusa's shoulder (lower left next to The Amazon) looks a little humpy and weird. As always the biggest issue that I had was anatomy, although I felt that with this piece I am getting a little better. The key as always is practice (below)

6. Finally I added final shadows, and lighting, and used the text from the actual Pro-Wrestling box and voila! Done...it's going in the book.

Next up, Bubble Bobble!!!!!


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