So long Relic...

Well I said it once before I'll say it again (actually this is the 3rd time in 6 years) "all good things must come to a end".  So back at the start of April I along with a bunch of very talented people were let go as part of a round of layoffs THQ had.  Which sucked, cus I genuinely enjoyed working with everyone at Relic. It was one of my most productive years of my career, and I will always remember my time there with great fondness. I hope to work with a company or team that good one day again. It was a fun ride while it lasted, and it's shitty that's it's over.
However I am free lancing now, so that's a new career move I suppose, and also I finally updated my portfolio with new work, and Space Marine work, so that's good too. Anyways, exciting and nervous times ahead.

Also some studies I've been doing to warm up in the mornings and I revisited this old painting. Changed the colours a bit,  it always bugged me but now it bugs me less.

journey

a perfect game, loved it.

woods witch

started with just a simple gesture and just went with it.

Titan Gate

Saw the plants documentary series form the BBC and got inspired with all the planet talk. Titan one of the moons of Saturn.

Racing yeah...

Been busy with work stuff, but here is a slightly inspierd sketch of some racers. Think F-Zero (N64 version thank you) meets rally racing.

Blitz

There's only a couple of games that I would ever say that I love.  Ico and Motor storm PR are the easy ones to mention. The original golden eye, Free space 2, Ocarina of time and Vice city are in that love zone and orbit there proudly with a couple of others. But the all time leader in amount of time sunk into, is the original Blitz for the N64, and sits squarely at the top of that pile. And I don't really follow foot ball making my love for it that much more impressive. So just after the new year EA release a update to it on the download services. Aside from a  difference in play speed it's a very good and accurate reboot that  has captured my attention like the original did. It's great and frustrating (in a good way) fun.
In the reviews of the game they mention (a lot) the lack of late hits in this reboot. A trade mark of the original,  it has gotten a lot belly aching about it's absence form this version. I personally miss them a little but I don't think the game suffers that much from there absence. Besides the NFL has been clamping down on that type of crazy behavior. However Playing the game I often think that it would look weird for the players to give the late hits in this update. I think that unlike the old Blitz I don't find the players wacky or cartooney enough to be doing that. This is not a knock against EA by the way, I think they did a great job all around. I just think since it's a download they probably needed to design the players to take advantage of the more realistic madden engine's animation system or the NFL had a say on there look. Regardless when I love something I want to paint it.
So I thought how would they have to look for it not to seam odd them doning late hits. I thought they needed to be more distinct in difference according to the positions they play, not unlike what team fortress 2 did. Looking a the N64 one I couldn't help but notice that because of the graphics you could not see there eyes on the players making easier for them not to look real. So I tried to caricature the face, and hide the eyes more in shadow. I tried to make the defensive line men more lumbering slow but powerful the tanks of the field. The quarter backs/ defense men  thicker good all around but squarely in the middle in strength and speed, arms built for throwing. And the wide receive/ running backs more lean and built for speed but not that strong.  Blitz is a arcade game so I simplified the types of player types to just 3.
And again this is not a knock against EA I really think they did a fantastic job and I love this version in it's own way. I just thought it would be fun to paint some football players. Also like I said I don't really follow football so I didn't research the who wears the numbers on there jersey. So excuse the inaccuracy of said numbers.  Crazy 81 followers thanks for looking folks.

 I only play in big head mode!

happy 2012

200 hundreth post, crazy. I wanted to start simple this year, dark scenes are always easier then  light scenes to me at least. I find that it's easy to find that right balanced of colour temperature, images tends to be a lot bolder since it's almost mono chromatic.  Inspired by a photo of a friends winter trip. I also finaly swiched to CS5 after my CS3 finaly forced me with it's horrible lag.
Thanks for lookin.

2011 on to 2012

Can't believe it's the end of 2011, I feel like this year flew by. I enjoyed this year, moved to a new place in the world, joined a great studio and shipped a pretty rad game (40K space marine). I hope that 2012 is good year for everyone and thanks for checking out my work and leaving comments. Thanks again and happy new year folks.

seasons of VAN

been here a year got a nice view of the mountains out my window.

Study time

Studies the top one is a Richard Schmid, I really love that paining. I tried to replicate the brushstrokes as best as I could. He (like many Masters) has a effortless look to his brush strokes, almost as if his brushed danced around the canvas. I admire that look and strive to have all my paintings look that effortless. However effortless is far from how a painting like that is accomplished.
The second is a photo study just like the way it looked and the reflective light on the rock.

Friday speedy 01

Did a speedy at after work yesterday (1hr) got some time today and just pushed it a little further. Theme was "the wall". 

DOW 2 retribution DLC

These are portraits done for some of the DLC character packs. They were super fun to do and based on some fantastic models done by the 3d character artists. of course THQ copyright

here`s is the link 

lunch racing

roooom, roooom, eh I mean vummmm,vummmmm.

Lunch

mmmmm cannon

locke

Been jonesing to do a character but didn't want to do something sci fi or fantasy. How do you make the ordinary interesting? I was also trying to refine a process for character sketching. spent about 2 hr and a bit on this. And commit to the weekly updates I've been so inconsistent recently.

looking out my window

Took the train to Seattle for thanks giving weekend (Canadian thanks giving). The vistas taking the train were pretty awesome and inspiring. also love taking trains, no traffic.

Morning Raid

Water Towers

Trying to make it feel like a hot sunset. kept the pallet simple, and the painting in general. working on colour temperature.

This is some thing

Last year I drew these character (bottom) last year. just found them again recently and got back to them. It's a idea for a idea I have nothing much to say until I have other things to show. thanks for checking it out.

Sunday

refining my brushes and having some fun.

Collateral studies

 

I've been verry lazy and not posting anything in a week and a  bit now. here's a couple of studies I did in the course of a week in the mornings to warm up. I want to paint the way this movie looks.