Last week, I showed off some character concepts for a project I worked on during the autumn of my junior year in college. The idea was to create a protagonist for a game where the player switches between three different kinds of attacks, which we later decided would be the colors red, green, and blue. We actually did have some progress on that game, enough to make some sprites for it, like these.
This top image shows off Paint Boy himself, rocketing through the level in typical space-shooter style. Admittedly, it was all recolors of the same green set, but I wanted to color Paint Boy myself. He was meant to switch between the green, red, and blue power-ups, but we also had an idea for a power-up that would essentially let you shoot two colors at once. This double color idea led to planning magenta, cyan, and yellow palettes, too.
Here we have some enemy sprites for what was planned to be the first level: the calculator program. Enemies could be eight different colors, where using a different color than the enemy would make it easier or harder to beat. Secondary-color enemies (like the 9s here) were meant to fight with multiple colors, too, and the key there was to beat them with the opposite color (use blue to beat yellow, for example). Black enemies could be beaten by anything and didn't shoot, while white ones were indestructible.
I made these in Microsoft Paint back before I started using Photoshop regularly, and I still find Paint to be handy for sprite work even now. This was supposed to take place in a computer, so despite the paint bucket appearance of our hero, our system was based on additive color (colors of light) rather than subtractive color (pigment colors). We also decided to stylize the art, and I tried to create an impression that the sprites were originally crayon or chalk drawings. That is why the colors start bright but end up more pale, as well as why the edges are not straight.
I still have a bit more to show off that details more about where this was and where it was meant to go, but this could give you a taste of what the game was like. Next week, a look at the process of making these sprites, as well as one of the biggest things from this project.
Back when I opened this blog up, I was mainly using it to show off some of my artwork when I didn't have my portfolio online yet. I just needed a space to show to potential recruiters to say, "Hey, I can draw!" Today's pictures are ones that I'm actually surprised that I did not post here back then.
One game project I worked on during my junior year of college was a space shooter game (i.e. games like Gradius or StarForce) where the player had to shoot using the primary colors of light: red, green, and blue. After we decided that the game would occur inside a computer, I was tasked with drawing up some ideas for our hero.
The top page shows a few potential ideas we could have used, including a masked man on a surfboard with a paint brush. Honestly, though, I really wanted the character to be some kind of flying paint bucket, as shown on the bottom page. The game was computer-themed, and the paint bucket was not only a common application in paint programs for the computer (like MS Paint and Photoshop), but also the one that I thought at the time would yield the widest variety of ideas. They ranged from just flying buckets with snouts to buckets carried by hand icons. Eventually, I came up with the character in the bottom-right corner: Paint Boy. Not only did the paint bucket form the basis of Paint Boy's body, but I also incorporated other painting program tools into his design: a pencil / crayon to act as his blaster, and the hand tool in order to hold the other colors when he wasn't using them. This is the design the team eventually settled on.
We actually did make some decent progress on the game, though we only managed to make one level and didn't fully incorporate a boss despite the fact that I actually drew one. Yes, I actually drew sprites for this project, and I was happy to be given that chance. Will that be what I show off next week? Maybe, I haven't decided yet.
If you like what you see, then let me know below. I look forward to hearing some feedback.
I love the art style used in the video game The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. That game, as well as its sequels Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks had a unique style to them that made the game seem more cartoony and colorful. When images of Wind Waker were first shown, many fans of the Legend of Zelda series were outraged after seeing the somewhat haunting art direction of Majora's Mask before it. Over time, however, I have seen more people lauding this game, if not for the gameplay, then for its art direction. I did not even play Legend of Zelda much until 2007, and I kind of liked this game's colorful, chibi-populated art direction back then. Then again, I'm usually drawn toward cartoony art styles.
So, here's an image I drew back in the summer of 2011 of myself as a Pokemon trainer, done in Wind Waker-style. The Pokemon at my side here are Larvitar (the green dinosaur), Infernape (the fiery monkey), and Staraptor (the hawk), all Pokemon I envisioned myself training. Back in college, I was part of a Pokemon League that gave badges to challengers, and I chose to specialize in Fighting-type Pokemon like Infernape. I was inspired to choose that type partly because I was excited for the new Fighting-type Pokemon that I heard would appear in Pokemon Black and Pokemon White, which seemed to have a history of being heroic creatures.
Thus, I wanted to tie my Pokemon persona to this group of Fighting Pokemon, resulting in the avatar on the far right, a hero in a red hat and coat wielding a cane like a sword. These Fighting Pokemon also had a hand in the creation of the background, since each of them also carried a second element. One represents Wood, another Earth, a third Metal, and their protege stands for Water.
I would like to do more Wind Waker-style art at some point.
Both The Legend of Zelda and Pokemon are games owned by Nintendo.
Last week, I showed off one of my older pieces that I still use in my portfolio. How about I share a newer piece this week?
When a special occasion rolls around for someone in my family (birthday, Mother's Day, what have you), I try to whip up a card for the person of the day. I think they usually turn out alright for something I crafted in about an hour or so, but they are usually nothing really worth showing off. This time, however, something just clicked, and I made this for my little sister's 20th birthday.
Here we have the front, inside, and back (from left to right) of this birthday card I made yesterday. For those unfamiliar, this is based on the anime Death Note, which I have been watching with my sister for a few weeks now. The creature on the inside is our favorite character from the show, a Death God named "Ryuk". He mainly comments on the events of the show from behind the protagonist's shoulder, and he loves eating apples from the human world so much that his body contorts if he goes without one for several days. On the back is the Gothic letter M (the first letter of her name). This is meant to reference another character from Death Note who originally only communicated with the officials he worked with using the Gothic letter L as his avatar.
It took me about an hour and a half to make this card, and then another half-hour to scan and edit these images. Even though it didn't take long to make, this is probably one of my favorite cards that I've made. Sometimes, the idea just comes and yields results. Hopefully, the next card I draw can come this easily.
Death Note is a comic that ran in Shonen Jump magazine. It was originally written by Tsugumi Ohba and drawn by Takeshi Obata. Any credit for Death Note or the character "Ryuk" goes to them.
