Idle Scribbles

Between wasting time with Mass Effect 3 multiplayer and getting my time wasted being sucked into things around the internet, I've been mulling over creating my own Minecraft texture pack. It seems like a pretty big challenge, from what I've seen, or at the least several hundred hours' worth of work. The toughest bit so far is coming up with a visual direction. I've seen so many different texture packs I'm not sure where to begin with ideas.

So I started by sketching interpretations of Minecraft's most iconic monster, the creeper.

You know, I really need to look into getting a new scanner. A better one.

So far, I'm enamored with the idea of a "window" in the Creeper that would show a pile of gunpowder and a lit fuse. I've always thought of Creepers as these bizarre constructs rather than living things.

After the jump, an unrelated monster!

Storyboard Results Round 3

All right, here we go: the last of the storyboards. Again, Mass Effect 3 has been a major distraction, this time because of the multiplayer mode. I enjoy just about everything about that game except the ending...
You'll notice that the last several pages of storyboards are just flat tones; at the time, due to some rather heavy time constraints, I had to aim for speed at the cost of rendering any shadows and highlights. I'm all right with that. I may yet go back and add those extra details I had to leave out.

As before, the rest of the pages after the jump.

Storyboard Results Round 2

Mass Effect 3 delayed a post again. I'd make a ranting aside about the ending, but that's already been done several thousand times elsewhere. Enough to say that it was bad, and Bioware made some very poor decisions at some point in development that were contrary to what they had said previously.

Now on to the second round of storyboards! As always, there are some I am happier with than others.

The rest after the jump.

Storyboard Results Round 1

Delays, delays. I got Mass Effect 3, it's been taking up incredible amounts of my time. Occasionally I pry myself away to do other things, like eat or sleep or make a blog post. So here's the first chunk of those storyboards I did, now that I'm not completely occupied by the game. Some of these panels I'm happier with than others, but time restraints called for speed at the time. The notes weren't added again for much the same reason.

The rest after the cut.

18-35

Got wrapped up in drawing these for a while and not posting anything, so the rest of the storyboard roughs are after the jump. The finals are done, too, (save for a few that were left as flat tones due to time concerns) but I'll save those for tomorrow.

Even More Storyboards

Rough boards, pages 14-18, after the jump.

More Storyboards

Storyboard pages 8-13 after the jump.

Storyboards!

I've volunteered to do some storyboards for a SCAD friend of mine for a short film, and I've been given the go-ahead to post the work I'm doing here.

R&C: A4O

Anyone who knows me fairly well knows that I love Ratchet and Clank. I started playing the series with the very first game on PS2, and I’ve played very nearly every title since—only the titles that were farmed out to another developer have passed me by. In fact, Insomniac inspired me to strive to work in game development in the first place and heavily influenced my choice when the most recent generation of gaming consoles first came out. When Ratchet and Clank: All 4 One was released, of course I was going to buy it.

That’s not to say I went in blind to the game. I’d known for some time it was going to be a different experience from the usual R&C fare, but that didn’t and still doesn’t bother me.

So how does All 4 One rate?

Locust Test Palettes

Haven't decided on any particular features yet, so the quick sketch here doesn't have any included. Pretty sure all this was done in an hour or less, but I've got a bad habit of not timing myself when I draw.

Testing out different options for colors and patterns here. I think I'm leaning toward the green one, at least for the palette. Then I just need to decide on the facial features and experiment with the thing a little, throw in some body armor, and I'll have myself a finalized Locust redesign. Phew.