Scattered Showers

Wait, who's this now?

2011-11-09T17:25:00.000-08:00

Before I go on about the modeling process, I should probably talk a little bit about what I'm modeling.

For those who don't know, I was artist/art director on a Nintendo DS game called Hands On! Tangrams. My brother, Matt, worked on the game with me, and we each did the art for two of the game's levels. One of Matt's levels was the Space level, which had a puzzle representing a rocket-powered robot, which could be seen after the puzzle had been completed. Everyone just fell in love with the design for this robot character. He appeared front and center on the box art for the game's first print run using Matt's original art. For the game's second printing, the box art was given a complete overhaul to better reflect the game's content. The robot stayed, however, this time appearing with new art drawn by myself so that the two characters on the box would retain a consistent art style, which was an issue with the original box.

Matt's original robot art.

Box art for second printing.

This robot had quickly become the mascot of Hands On! Tangrams. When it came time to start designing the game's spiritual successor, Hands On! Pattern Blocks, we knew we wanted a game that was more story-based as opposed to Tangrams' simple activity-book feel. And when it came time to choose our game's starring role, everyone on the team knew it had to center around this robot.

Early in the development of Hands On! Pattern Blocks, the robot was given a name: Orion. Pattern Blocks would contain a fairly large cast of colorful characters, and this time, instead of individual artists all working on different levels like in Tangrams, we created a more consistent art pipeline and had Matt do the initial character designs for all of the characters. I would again serve as art director on the project, but I would also be handling animation duties for a few of the characters. I developed a 16-color in-game sprite for Orion based off of Matt's concept art, but as I began to animate him, a lot of my own influences came out when trying to figure out how this character would move around in space. As a result, I think my interpretation of Orion ended up being a bit more "soft" and flexible.

So, at this point, we are far into the development of Hands On! Pattern Blocks, and all of Orion's 2D sprite animations have long been finished. Most of my duties at this point involve aspects of project management and testing, since the bulk of the art has already been completed.

This little side project of mine was born out of the desire to continue to create art with the game art still fresh in my mind. It's not something intended for the game itself, but could possibly be used for promotional materials or something like that. This won't be the first time Orion has been visualized in 3D--fellow IO artist John Little created a model in 3D Studio Max a while back to be used for a 3D-printed sculpture. That was done toward the beginning of Pattern Blocks development and is based more on Matt's original art, while the model I'm planning on making will be based on the style that evolved from animating Orion and will be built with animation in mind. It might be interesting to compare the two once it's been completed.

So, hopefully that will clear up who this little robot guy is. :)

Back to Basics

2011-11-02T15:59:00.000-07:00

The main goal of this mini project is to get back into 3D modeling after being out of it for few years to focus on sprite animation. I believe the last time I really spent any quality time with Maya was back in 2007 while working on some character animations for a game prototype in the early days of Island Officials. After we moved over to Nintendo DS development, we've been mostly focusing on 2D art. And while I love 2D art and animation, I don't want to let my 3D skills continue to get rusty!

Unfortunately, I've found that every time I leave Maya alone for more than a few months, I need to spend some time re-learning it. And this is probably the biggest gap I've had since I first started toying with 3D modeling back in college ten years ago. It's almost a bit intimidating going back after so long, but part of me misses it, too.

I decided to start with re-introducing myself to Maya 7. It's an older version, but it's the last one I used and the version I currently have access to. I know that Maya's seen a lot of changes since then, but I figure that if I have an opportunity to learn a newer version of Maya or another 3D package, it would be easier to locate the functions I'm looking for if I'm first able to refresh myself with what I was once so familiar. Plus, it's less of a barrier to actually creating the work if I don't have the added pressure of learning a new program, and right now it's all about creation and improving techniques that could be applied to any 3D package.

Fortunately, in my first day or so of modeling, a lot more has come back to me than I was expecting, so that's a good sign. :)

I decided to start with a basic box model and take it from there. I'd like to go into my thought process while creating this model going forward. But for now, here's a really rough version of the model!

Something New

2011-10-30T15:57:00.001-07:00

Well, that hiatus was longer than expected.

Fortunately, I've come back with a new perspective on things. Also, a new computer! I did enjoy the daily drawings, and I'd like to pick them up again in the future, but for now, I'd like to try something a little different.

If I didn't mention it before, the class I was taking over the summer was in project management. I haven't yet decided whether or not I'm going to go for certification, but in any event, it's already been extraordinarily beneficial in terms of my day job in IT, my work in game development, and also some of my personal work.

So, I think it's time to start a project. Just a little one, but hopefully one that I can see to completion in a timely fashion. The plan is to spend about a month on the project with updates at least once a week.

Still working out the project plan, but here's the first piece of art involved...

Daily Sketch Hiatus

2011-07-31T09:23:00.000-07:00

I was trying to avoid this, but unfortunately, I'm afraid I've gotten in way over my head this summer. Between my regular full-time job, trying to finish the DS game I'm working on before the fast-approaching deadline, moving to a new apartment, and taking a summer class, I've been trying to figure out when I'm supposed to sleep, let alone draw.

That's not to say that I haven't been drawing at all... in fact, I have at least a week's worth of unposted drawings that I still need to get around to scanning and uploading, as well as a bunch of random sketches here and there and some stuff related to my game. But with spending up to 14 hours a day at work regularly on top of my 3-hour commute, it's tough to find dedicated time to draw, and I'm generally ready to collapse by the time I get home. The summer class is what really pushed me over the edge as far as taking up a huge amount of my time. Definitely worthwhile, but with drawing and studying competing for attention, I think it might be best to take a little break for the remainder of the class.

The class is over in September, so the plan is that I'll be back to my daily sketches and weekly updates then! Sorry for the break... I was really hoping I could go uninterrupted all year, but like I said, I just took way too much on at once. I'm looking forward to September!

Daily Sketches 6/26/11 to 7/2/11

2011-07-17T14:04:00.000-07:00

Wow, sorry for the huge delay in posting these. Things just got insanely busy for me over the past few weeks. I'm still doing my best to draw daily, but I've gotten a bit behind on the posting part. Hopefully I can finish catching up soon...

Sunday:

IO work on Sunday.

Monday:

Cartoony koi.

Tuesday:

Okay, the story behind this one is that when I got home from work, I was really, really tired, but I needed to install tablet drivers on my boyfriend's computer. This is what I drew to test out the tablet and make sure it was working. But I was still insanely tired and crumpled into a sleepy pile on the floor halfway through this.

Wednesday:

And to make up for Tuesday, I tried to go all out on something on Wednesday. This is my "realistic" interpretation of a Koopa Paratroopa from Super Mario Bros.

Thursday:

Just wanted to practice drawing some human-type movement.

Friday:

More IO stuff.

Saturday:

Wanted to try drawing a slightly stylized horse. I was looking at pictures of colts and thought it was interesting how long their legs are compared to the res of their bodies.

And that's it for the end of June... Now I just need to play catch up with these posts!

Lack of posts...

2011-07-13T21:26:00.000-07:00

Sorry about the lack of posts over the past two weeks. I have a stack of drawings I need to upload, but with some recent scheduling changes, I haven't had time to format and post them yet. They're coming, though!

Daily Sketches 6/19/11 to 6/26/11

2011-06-26T21:05:00.000-07:00

In honor of Sonic's 20th anniversary this week, I decided to go with a theme!

Sunday:

So, I started with Tails since he's always been my favorite Sonic character. I wanted to try drawing how he runs in the Genesis games, since I always thought it was neat.

Monday:

Sonic is up next. I decided to keep going with the running theme. I wanted to try this one run from Sonic CD. I was trying to figure out what his feet would actually be doing to make that shape happen at top speed.

Tuesday:

When I think about Knuckles running, I tend to think more about how he moves in the Sonic Advance games than in the Genesis games, though I wanted to stick with all the characters in the classic style. I think I ended up going with something in between, though I don't think it's anything that ever actually appeared in sprite form.

Wednesday:

Amy has probably changed the most between her classic and modern incarnations. Her animations in Sonic CD were very limited, and her Sonic Advance animations seemed to be too much for her classic persona. I ended up just trying to think of a sort of trot or something that might fit with the look.

Thursday:

This is actually an older drawing that I recently finished up and colored. Happy birthday, Sonic! :)

Friday & Saturday:

Ended the week working on IO stuff.

Daily Sketches to 6/12/11 to 6/18/11

2011-06-19T22:14:00.001-07:00

I found my pencil...! Okay, I only found it after buying a new one, but now I have two pencils, so yeah. Two pencils! Still like the original one best, though.

Sunday:

Worked on IO stuff. Nothing to show.

Monday:

I never had a DSi, so I'm loving finally getting to check out DSiWare on the 3DS. I downloaded Shantae: Risky's Revenge the moment the eShop came up, and it totally justified the purchase of the system for me. I've been waiting for this game ever since not being able to find the original GBC game in any store back when I was in college. It's one of the most beautiful games I've ever seen on the DS, and the animations are just wonderful. I wanted to try drawing Shantae in her tiny monkey form. :)

Tuesday:

This actually didn't come out half bad considering how tired I was when I drew it. Kei go boom. I'm liking how the lines turned out.

Wednesday:

More DSiWare love! Tried drawing Alta from Mighty Flip Champs. I'd like to try coloring this one, I think.

Thursday:

I've been watching Adrian play a lot of Magical Drop lately. Though I prefer the individual characters collecting and throwing the balloons like in the Super Famicom version of Magical Drop II, the clowns are pretty cute, too.

Friday:

Spent the day working on IO stuff.

Saturday:

My friend Mary Ellen is moving to Europe... Saturday night was her going away party, and this is the drawing I did in the card we gave her. At first I was going for Care Bears, but then they ended up being different animals, and they didn't really look especially Care Bear like. Oh well, they're supposed to be me, Kat, Kristin, and Mary Ellen in cute hugable form. We'll miss you! :<

So, that's it for this week. I'm thinking that I might try coloring some stuff in place of sketching once in a while going forward. I think I'd like to see some of these end up in a slightly more polished form.

Daily Sketches 6/5/11 to 6/11/11

2011-06-15T18:22:00.000-07:00

Sunday:

Worked on some pattern things for the project I'm working on, but it wasn't working out, and I ultimately scrapped it, so nothing to show, unfortunately. :(

Monday:

Argh, I like the way this drawing came out, but I don't know if I should show it. It relates to the game I'm working on. It wasn't something I had originally planned to use for the game (though we still might...), but I probably shouldn't post until the game is "officially" announced. Doh. I had it all ready to go and everything...

Tuesday:

Doodled this at some friends' house while watching E3 press conferences, even though it has nothing to do with E3.

Wednesday:

My boy, Julian. Just trying to see if I can still draw a male figure without reference, heh. Didn't come out too bad, but it is a bit stiff.

Thursday:

Orion discovers these strange non-digital information sources...

Friday & Saturday:

Devoted my time to IO stuff. Here's a bit of mermaid:

There may be even less showable art in the coming weeks due to super crunch time... time. But believe me, there is much art to be done behind the scenes. Hopefully it'll all be worthwhile...

Lateness...

2011-06-12T23:01:00.001-07:00

I forgot half of my pictures again this week at the boyfriend's place. Doh. Though my showable stuff is fairly light this week due to spending a lot of time working on the game.

Also, I lost my favorite drawing pencil, which has me pretty bummed out. I've been drawing with the same pencil for the past 10 years, and whenever I try using another one, it's just not quite the same. I really hope it turns up somewhere. I don't think they even make that kind anymore...

Daily Sketches 5/29/11 to 6/4/11

2011-06-06T14:41:00.000-07:00

This week was kind of blah with the heat, and I spent most of my free time testing the game demo for E3. Please wish us luck in finding a publisher!

Anyway, here's the update!

Sunday:

Turtle Punch!

Monday:

Monday after work was too hot to do anything. The fans did nothing. I couldn't think, couldn't draw... all I could do was scratch out this stick figure with a marker on a paper towel and pray that the air conditioning would get fixed soon.

Tuesday:

Adrian's poor cat was a mess Tuesday night. She does not do well in the heat and was breathing really hard and panting. I decided to sketch her as I was keeping an eye on her. Fortunately, the air conditioning would be repaired later in the week.

Wednesday:

And... this is a baby elephant. Not sure what prompted me to draw one, but it's the first elephant I've drawn since the one for Hands On! Tangrams.

Thursday:

This is supposed to be a representation of the little stick figure-esque face in the lower right.

Friday

Drew this one between testing sessions. It's trying to climb up an imaginary tree.

Saturday:

This is me wishing I could figure out where I put Super Mario Galaxy 2 so I could finish it. I love the Toad Brigade and all the trouble they get themselves into.

And that's it. See ya next week!

Daily Sketches 5/22/11 to 5/28/11

2011-05-29T19:49:00.000-07:00

Sunday:

My brother and I were discussing Noby Noby Boy and how amusing it is to get him to tie himself up in knots. :)

Monday:

My boyfriend's cat is weird... for many, many reasons. Sometimes she just flops down on the floor in weird, uncomfortable looking positions and falls asleep.

Tuesday:

Spent Tuesday doing mock ups for the game. Nothing showable. (And not really that interesting, anyway.)

Wednesday:

This is one of the roses from the bush in front of the building where I work. They're so pretty. It's too bad that the rain this week took most of them out. I think there are new buds forming, though.

Thursday:

So, I've been thinking a lot about creature design lately. I was outside moving my car at work on Thursday and started thinking about the animals that live by the creek outside the building, and one of them was foxes. Then I guess I tried thinking of an animal that pretty much looked nothing like a fox, and I somehow settled on an ostrich. So, here is the result of their unholy union, the foxtrich.

Friday:

Started sketching a reclining figure, but then ended up being more interested in drawing the foot, heh. I need to practice foot drawing more, anyway.

Saturday:

Wanted to try a figure with a little more action this time.

And that's it for this week. :)

Daily Sketches 5/15/11 to 5/21/11

2011-05-22T15:12:00.001-07:00

Cartoony kind of week... and then I got sick... and then I got busy and sick...

Sunday:

This is my favorite My Little Pony, Glory. When I was a very little girl, my grandma gave me Glory one year for Christmas. My mom would go on to get us a bunch of ponies when we were kids, but this was one of my first. I unfortunately didn't get to know my grandma for too long, but I still have very fond memories of that day, and how she played with me and my sister and took interest in our pony-related ramblings. Glory has been my favorite pony ever since.

Monday:

And this is what it would look like if one of my favorite candies was a person. o_o;;

Tuesday:

I think I know this cow from somewhere...

Wednesday:

And then I got sick. Started feeling nauseated at work, and it just kept getting worse throughout the day.

Thursday:

I woke up on Thursday feeling even worse than I had the previous day, a sore throat and fever now added to the unending nausea. I dragged myself to work anyway, though, since I'll need the money if I end up having to see a doctor. I'm kind of surprised I actually made it through the day.

Friday:

On Friday I worked on some stuff for the game. Even if I could post it here, it's boring interface-related stuff that wouldn't really make sense out of context, anyway. ^_^;;

Saturday:

Saturday was GameLoop Philly! :D I had a great time and really feel like I got a lot out of it. I woke up early and didn't get back until really late, though. (And then immediately passed out, since I'm still not feeling well.) I doodled a bit in my notebook at GameLoop, but nothing really worth uploading to the blog (plus I forgot to bring my notebook with me today... oops).

And that's it for this week! Not sure what next week will bring, since some more game-related deadlines are approaching, and I'm thinking there will be some extra crunching going on. I guess we'll see!

Daily Sketches 5/8/11 to 5/14/11

2011-05-16T11:49:00.000-07:00

Annnd, here's last week's pictures! I should be up to date now. I need to try drawing earlier in the day when possible so I'm not all tired and sloppy when trying to draw. ^_^;;

Sunday:

I spent way too much time at work on Sunday watching the groundhog that lives on the hill across from our building dig new burrows and go on other exciting adventures, so I wanted to try drawing a groundhog. It was too far away to draw any real detail, so I had to look up a reference photo.

Monday:

A character design that I've been playing around with. It's supposed to fit in with the HOPB universe.

Tuesday:

Sitting on the floor, trying to think of something to draw before bed.

Wednesday:

I saw this lizard in a pet store a while back. Not sure what kind it is, exactly. I've always kind of wanted a pet lizard, but I'm afraid of owning anything cold-blooded since I've never been good with keeping the temperature consistent.

Thursday:

Adrian asked for a duck. Here's a duck. Probably not the type of duck he wanted, but oh well.

Friday:

My surroundings are full of people Watching TV.

Saturday:

This was the night PSN came back up. I'd been missing it. Still waiting for the store to come back, though. Need to download episode 3 of Back to the Future!

Daily Sketches 5/1/11 to 5/7/11

2011-05-15T21:34:00.000-07:00

Here's the stuff that I didn't have last week. This week's coming soon.

Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday:

Spent this time trying to finish some promotional art for our game in time for TooManyGames. I'll post it as soon as I'm able to.

Wednesday:

BIRD BLOCKS. I don't know where this came from.

Thursday:

I really need more practice with environmental stuff. I wanted to try an interesting tree shape.

Friday:

This is my cubicle monkey.

Saturday:

Mr. Lincoln is angry. Well, a bit irritated, anyway.

Oops...

2011-05-08T16:51:00.000-07:00

Looks like I may have forgotten this week's batch of sketches at my boyfriend's place. Doh. Only a few things I can show this week, though. Most of my time was spent working on a marketing piece for IO. We had it at TooManyGames this weekend, but we can't put it online just yet. I'll post it as soon as I can!

Daily Sketches 4/24/11 to 4/30/11

2011-05-01T13:40:00.000-07:00

Frustrating week overall. My laptop is still having all kinds of issues. Lots of work to do for IO, as well.

Sunday:

Just spent the day working on IO stuff. Nothing that can be shown at the moment.

Monday:

I had something in mind that I wanted to draw on Monday night, but I needed a reference picture. Did a Google Image search for it, clicked on a picture... and then my antivirus software started going all crazy from something on that page, and I spent the rest of the night scanning my computer for stuff. Forgot about the thing I originally wanted to draw and did this instead while waiting for a scan to finish. Bleh.

Tuesday:

I just remember being up late trying to figure out what I wanted to draw and then giving up and drawing my left hand, since it was sitting on the sheet of paper anyway.

Wednesday:

I've always been a fan of Rappies from the Phantasy Star series. I had ordered a Rappy plush and had just picked it up from the post office, so I obviously had Rappies on the mind. The cuter style introduced in PS0 on DS is pretty different than the previous incarnations, though it's definitely grown on me.

Thursday:

While I was introducing the new Rappy plush into the collection, I came upon a Moogle plush and started thinking about the Moogles in Final Fantasy VI (a.k.a. the BEST Final Fantasy). I wanted to play around with poses for that stubby little body design.

Friday:

I had gotten my tax return back this week, and I'd been thinking of using the money to get a Nintendo 3DS. Not too interested in the launch lineup, but I wanted to have one in time for when the eShop opens in May so I can catch up on DSiWare (I hadn't upgraded my DS since the original design). So, I caved and got it, just playing around with the built-in features for now. Aside from the 3D camera, the thing I had the most fun with was the AR Games, specifically one that allows you to draw a picture on the 3DS's bottom screen and then have it projected into your environment on the top screen. I decided to draw the robot mascot of IO's Hands On! series, Orion. Then I made him pose with Adrian, haha. Looking forward to playing around with this some more!

Saturday:

Trying not to get too distracted by the 3DS, but had to focus on getting some IO work done in time for a show next weekend. I have a feeling that this will be consuming most of my week next week as well...

Daily Sketches 4/17/11 - 4/23/11

2011-04-25T10:27:00.000-07:00

Updating a day late because of Easter. (And Portal 2 may have also had something to do with it...)

Not as strong as last week, but I did spend more time working on IO stuff, so here's what we have. No sketches for the end of the week due to IO work, like a couple of weeks ago.

Sunday:

Wanted to try playing with some more extreme facial expressions, focusing on where the face stretches and bunches up. I was going for something kinda gross/scary, heh.

Monday:

Bit of a cat movement study. I really want to do a cat animation sometime...

Tuesday:

Portal 2 Day!!! Wanted to draw something fairly non-spoilery to celebrate the occasion.

Wednesday:

I had been in the mood to draw a fish all week, for some reason. Based on a photo of a goldfish I found online. I liked the pose.

Thursday:

This is when I kinda started to go hardcore into IO stuff, but I did a little doodle of Mr. Saturn shortly before I started working, heh.

Friday & Saturday:

Worked on IO stuff that's not ready to be seen at this time.

And that's it for this week!

Daily Sketches 4/10/11 - 4/16/11

2011-04-17T14:12:00.000-07:00

To make up for a kind of blah week last week and a potentially very-busy-with-IO-stuff week in the coming week, I wanted to push myself a little harder this time. Some of them are even scanned. Holy crap. :O

Sunday:

This is the dieffenbachia that lives in my cubicle at work. I've had it for over five years now. It's crazy overgrown and has stalks twisting around everywhere, and that's the way I like it. :) This is just a small section of it.

Monday:

Adrian is waiting for his chance to fire.

Tuesday:

She wants to be a mad scientist when she grows up.

Wednesday:

I wasn't sure what to draw, so I looked through photos on my camera until I found one that had a bunch of people in a crowd. I tried to find a person in that crowd who seemed to be telling a story, and I ended up going with this girl.

Thursday:

I really liked the angles in this guy's pose.

Friday:

My sister is away this weekend, so my mom and I are ratsitting her three rats. This is one of her rats, Gwen (same rat, drawn three times). Gwen is such a sweetie. Here we have hungry Gwen, curious Gwen, and sleepy Gwen.

Saturday:

I had some delicious angel food cake with whipped cream and strawberries for dessert Saturday night. So, after eating that, I decided to draw Yoshi enjoying some delicious angel food cake with whipped cream and strawberries. I was trying to go for a more SNES-era Yoshi.

Daily Sketches 4/3/11 - 4/9/11

2011-04-10T13:50:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately, it's been kind of a blah week in sketchblog land. As I mentioned before, some of the stuff I'm working on is under NDA, so I won't be able to post it at this point in time. But, anyway, here's my week in drawing.

Sunday:

Worked on a box concept. First real one I tried putting on paper for this game, but it's definitely missing something. Can't post this now, though.

Monday:

Quick doodle while on break at work, based on a photo reference. I just liked the way the dog's paws were positioned and wanted to try drawing them. Nothing special.

Tuesday:

Spent more time studying boxes than drawing them, but I did mess around with our logo a bit. I didn't design the logo (logos are unfortunately not a strong point of mine), but we're trying to figure out a final version based on group feedback. Again, can't really post anything. I literally can't, in this case. I did try to put together some mock up stuff on my computer, but my poor laptop ended up bluescreening on me while trying to save it. I ended up getting frustrated and going to bed. Really need to save up for a new computer.

Wednesday:

I needed a break from boxes on Wednesday and decided to randomly study bird wings instead. I was trying to figure out the shape breakdown and feather layout. It's something I'd like to study further, especially if I ever want to try some decent wing animation.

Thursday:

On Thursday, it was back to trying out more box art ideas. Tried one with color, but ultimately, I think it was too busy and didn't direct the eye properly. Can't post, though.

Friday:

Another day of stuff I can't post. Did another pencil sketch box concept that wasn't really doing anything for me, and also tried my hand at refining part of someone else's idea, which I'm going to play with some more. We did some group critiques the following day of everyone's concepts, so hopefully that'll give everyone some more direction and ideas to draw from going into next week.

Saturday:

Spent a lot of time doing box critiques on Saturday, but I wanted to do something unrelated when I got home from our meeting. Just a simple sketch.

And that's it for this week! Hopefully next week will be more fun. Though I suspect it will still be full of box studying...

Daily Sketches 3/27/11 - 4/2/11

2011-04-03T15:58:00.000-07:00

Hey, I made it through week 2!

Sunday:

This is the boy with the balloon from Hands On! Tangrams. He gets bored easily and wishes he was out on an adventure.

Monday:

Quick character rotation sketches of the boy.

Tuesday:

I bought an Oswald plush at the Disney Store. I'm telling myself it's for Easter, but I really just wanted an excuse to have an Oswald plush. I had watched the old Oswald cartoon "Oh What a Knight" recently, so that's why he's holding the sword.

Wednesday:

Face! I really like the way his nose came out.

Thursday & Friday:

In response to Tomm Guycot's thingy on Talking Time:

"The all-ages saturday morning spinoff of Konami's premier horror series: Silent High"

Worked on sketches throughout the day on Thursday into Friday. Perhaps other characters will pop up eventually, too. I think my favorite is still Vice Principal Pyramid Head.

Saturday:

I think the only time Xena holds still is when she's sleeping. I took advantage of this!

Daily Sketches 3/20/11 - 3/26/11

2011-03-27T11:55:00.000-07:00

Hey, isn't this why I originally started this blog? Let's see if I can stick with it.

Unfortunately, I've been having computer problems, so this week, I've got pictures of pencil sketches photographed with my phone's camera. Sorry about the quality. ^_^;;

Sunday:

Forum challenge for Sonic's 20th Anniversary. It was supposed to be an image of a boss battle from a Sonic game. I picked the Metal Overlord battle from Sonic Heroes. Definitely not my favorite boss battle or favorite Sonic game, but I thought that it would be fun to draw, and I liked that Tails and Knuckles came along for the ride. :)

Monday:

So, I've been thinking a lot about yawning lately. Maybe it's because I've been so tired all the time. But I've always had trouble drawing a proper yawn. So, I was googling yawns and found this yawning dog. I love it. The photo gallery was from someone named Loo, I believe? Anyway, great dog. I wanted to try drawing it, so I did. Sucks that I'm so afraid of dogs (after getting bitten by an escaped dog as a kid), 'cause they're really awesome looking.

Tuesday:

I had a little more free time on Tuesday, so I decided to subject myself to cat life drawing. :) I love drawing my cats, but they never want to sit still long enough, so I usually end up with really loose line drawings. Then I went to my boyfriend's place and tried to draw his cat. She was a little easier, since she tends to just flop onto her back and stay in that position for extended periods of time. I wanted to draw my sister's rats, too, but the only way I could even attempt to draw them was when their little sleepy heads poked out of their hammock. Otherwise, they won't sit still for even half a second.

Wednesday:

I was really tired on Wednesday, and after I got off work, I just wanted to pass out. But I wanted to make sure I did my daily sketch, so it ended up being a weird cartoonish version of my foot. Tried to draw Adrian's cat again, but she wasn't upside down, so it didn't work.

Thursday:

On Thursday, I kind of wanted to make up for Wednesday's crappy drawing, so I spent a little more time on a picture of one of my cats, Haruka. I used a photo I had on my computer as reference, since she never sits still long enough for me to get her stripes down properly. I drew this way too small with too large of a pencil, though, so some of the finer details ended up looking a bit wonky.

Friday:

By Friday, I was back in a more cartoony kind of mood and wanted to try drawing the Easter Bunny as an epic adveturer. There is totally candy in that messenger bag. Lots of candy.

Saturday:

I spent most of Saturday night fighting with my computer. It was getting late, and I realized I hadn't drawn anything yet, so I looked around the room and drew the legs of someone sitting on the couch across the room from me, because I thought the lines were interesting.

So, that's week one! Over the next couple of months, I'm doing to be doing a lot of game related stuff, so I may not be able to post what I'm working on some days if it's under NDA. But I'll do my best to keep up!

In Defense of Princess Peach

2011-03-09T18:26:00.000-08:00

As I was browsing the web today, I noticed some conversations pop up about female characters in games, citing positive and negative examples. While the positives are easy to get behind, I had to call into question some of the negative examples that were being thrown around—Princess Peach, in particular.

Peach, of course, is a pink-clad princess with a tendency to be kidnapped by evil turtles in hopes of being rescued by heroic plumbers. The classic damsel in distress. That’s a terrible role model for little girls, isn’t it? Shouldn’t we all want to be like Jade or Samus or Alyx Vance?

Well, that’s one way to look at it, I suppose, but I think we’re doing ourselves a disservice by limiting the types of heroines that we consider to be acceptable and by discounting Peach’s influence on young female gamers. While I personally may have grown up the more tomboyish type and usually prefer those types of characters, that’s not to say that there isn’t room for a wider spectrum of female representation. I actually had to stop and ask myself, “Wait, why do I like Peach so much if she wears a frilly pink dress and is always letting herself get kidnapped?” The answer to that question starts with Super Mario Bros. 2.

When I played the original Super Mario Bros., I didn’t think much of Peach, then known in the US as Princess Toadstool. Reaching her was your goal, but the journey belonged to Mario and Luigi. That changed with Super Mario Bros. 2. Suddenly, she was a playable character, and even having the option to play as a female in the 80s was a rarity (prior to that, my experience as playing a female lead had been limited to Ms. Pac-Man… I wouldn’t get to play Metroid until later). As an eight year-old, I was thrilled to finally get to play the princess. With me in control, she wouldn’t be stuck helpless in a castle! And that was the case with Super Mario Bros. 2 and part of why it was one of my favorite games growing up. But sadly, as the core Super Mario Bros. series continued, the player was no longer given control of Peach, and she was doomed to be stuck in that castle again, game after game…

But fortunately for fans of the princess, a variety of Mario spin-off games would once again put Peach in the player’s control and also start to develop her as a character. In Super Mario RPG, following her rescue, Peach wasn’t content to sit idly by and plotted to sneak out of her own castle in order to join Mario in saving the world. In the Paper Mario series, Peach is shown to have a bit of a mischievous side as the player is able to take control of the kidnapped princess, reading Bowser’s diary and generally causing trouble for her captors. In the Super Smash Bros. series, Peach shows herself as a capable fighter, and in the various Mario sports games, Peach can definitely hold her own. And while the possible implications of the “vibe” mechanic in Super Princess Peach could warrant their own article, it was still very gratifying to finally see Peach not only get a starring role in her very own game, but also be the one coming to Mario and Luigi’s rescue.

So, with her alternating roles as damsel in distress and spunky, self-reliant hero, it’s easy to see how gamers are often left feeling torn over whether or not Peach is setting a positive example. In my opinion, she is, as long as she is being controlled by the player. A player-controlled Peach is no longer a helpless damsel. She is easily set up to be a role model for little girls who were raised on Disney princesses, letting them (and maybe more importantly, their parents) know that video games are not just a boy’s domain and that they are being welcomed and encouraged to play as well. While gender diversity among both gamers and video game protagonists has vastly improved since I was a kid in the 80s, there’s still a larger audience to reach. We need to capture the attention of those who want to play an armored bounty hunter like Samus Aran, a stoic soldier like Lightning, a voluptuous adventurer like Lara Croft, or a spunky little princess like Peach. She’s still got a long way to go in her non-playable roles (and I don’t know if I’ve ever been so disappointed in Nintendo as I am for eliminating Peach as a playable character in New Super Mario Bros. Wii over something as silly as dress physics), but every time I see a little girl in Toys R Us pointing emphatically at Super Princess Peach, I figure she must be doing something right. I can only hope that someday we’ll be given another game in the vein of Super Mario Bros. 2 where Peach is given equal status as her overall-clad cohorts.

Hands On! Tangrams Post Mortem

2011-02-03T10:31:00.000-08:00

Well, it's been over a year since the initial release of Tangrams, so I thought I'd take a look back at the many lessons learned from working on our first DS title.

Project Profile:
Hands On! Tangrams
(2008 - 2009)

Overview:

Hands On! Tangrams was my first published game project, developed by Island Officials and published by Storm City Games. It is a Nintendo DS game based on Chinese tangram puzzles, where the player must arange a series of seven shapes in order to form a picture. It is primarily targeted toward a young/casual demographic. As the player completes puzzles on the DS's bottom screen, the puzzle shapes are transformed into simple hand-drawn animations of the character or object, which then transfer to the top screen to complete a larger illustration. There are ten levels in the game, each featuring ten different puzzles, and each level is based around a different theme.

This was the first game to be completed by the newly-formed Island Officials, headed by Ryan Morrison and Ryan Harbinson. It was created by a team of roughly 20 people, mostly working in a part-time capacity, over the course of about 13-14 months. The game was released on November 24th, 2009.

My involvement:

I served as both a level/interface artist and art director on this project. My individual contributions were all of the art for the Zoo and Fairy Tale levels (levels 1 and 10), including all backgrounds and 2-frame animations, the interface design, and I also worked colaboratively on the Park level (level 6) with multiple other team members. As art director, I was responsible for establishing and maintaining the game's overall visual style and managing a team of nine artists. In addition to the in-game art, I also created the artwork used on the box and manual for the second printing of Hands On! Tangrams, which better represented the style and objective of the game.

Lessons learned:

This project was one lesson after another. It was my first time working with the Nintendo DS hardware, and the rest of the team's as well. Island Officials was a fresh, new startup company, and for most of us, this was our first professional game project, having previously worked on PC-based student games. We spent much of the first few months learning about the Nintendo DS's hardware limitations and how to work within those restrictions. We knew we would be limited to the smallest cartridge size available, so we had to make sure that we controlled our number of art assets and optimized our image compression. I think early on, we were approaching the art too much like we were doing PC development, so we had to change our thinking in that area before we could move forward.

This was also the first time I had really found myself in a leadership position, which is a role that I still find myself growing into. I was responsible for solidifying the look of the game, and in the end, I feel that there were definite hits and misses in that area. When we were tasked with creating a look for the first "Hands On!" game, I really wanted to draw from my memories of playing with tangrams back in elementary school and the tactile nature of it. I wanted to try to find a way to bring that feeling to the Nintendo DS, which, despite being a digital game system, is played with a stylus and still carries a hint of manipulating the puzzle pieces with your hands. I wanted to play on that idea, so that's where the interface design filled with construction paper and crayons and wooden blocks and shiny star stickers originated. We actually bought a bunch of craft supplies and experimented with them quite a bit before settling on the final look. Overall, I'm pretty satisfied with the style we came up with, though I do wish we had done more with the visual feedback to make it feel more interactive, such as having the construction paper buttons shift or crumble when pressed rather than just relying on the audio feedback.

As for the themes and level art, we were going for more of a picture book effect. We didn't just want a sterile series of shape after shape, but wanted to play on what that shape might translate to in a child's imagination. We had decided early on that we wanted a different look for each level, which resulted in most of the levels being drawn by a completely different artist. The idea was that this would resemble some of the storybook compilations that we read as kids, with different stories having different illustrators. I'm not sure if this was as successful in practice as it was in theory, and I largely blame myself for not exercising more control over the quality and consistency of the art. It wasn't until the end of the development process that a lot of the art team really started to find their strengths and use them collaboratively, and I imagine that if we had reached this point sooner, it would have gone a long way toward increasing the overall visual quality of the game. This is one lesson that we have definitely taken to heart while developing the next game in the series, however, and we have taken steps to improve our processes and documentation across the board.

Despite our stumbling blocks and the relative simplicity of the game overall, I consider this project to be a huge accomplishment for both myself and my team, and one that I am personally very proud of. We managed to balance our inexperience with passion and determination and were able to build an entire game from the ground up and see it published. The lessons we've learned as both developers and as a team have been invaluable and have strengthened us significantly going forward.

The Invisible Women of War

2009-12-14T14:34:00.000-08:00

I have a fairly lengthy commute to work, and on my commute, I have a tendency to brainstorm ideas for art and games that may or may not ever see the light of day (thanks to spending all of my time driving to and from work instead of drawing and making games, heh).

So, this morning I was mentally revisiting a scenario that I've been slowly building on for a couple of months now. I don't know what the hypothetical end result would be if this ever was to come to fruition (though in my head, I imagined the story being told in comic book-style panels), but I'm hoping that if anything, I'll at least get a picture of this still-unnamed character I've been slowly developing. I won't go into much detail since it's still very much a mental work in progress, but I'll just say that the main character is a woman who either has a military background or has at least been thrown into a battlefield situation by circumstance.

So, maybe that's why this article caught my eye as I was checking my e-mail this morning:

Back from combat, women struggle for acceptance (Kimberly Hefling, Associated Press)

In this article, Kimberly Hefling writes about the lack of understanding and acceptance of female veterans and how the American public in general does not see them as offering the same level of contribution as their male counterparts--if they are even recognized as veterans at all, rather than being assumed to be another soldier's wife or girlfriend.

Then later this afternoon, as I was trying to catch up on game news, I happened to come across this article:

Girls Night With the Most Male Game of 2009 (AJ Glasser, Kotaku)

With this article, we have AJ Glasser recount a recent "girls night" with a couple of friends where the trio checked out Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 to see "what all the fuss was about." The women finished the game and ultimately loved it, but still concluded that it was sexist. Not so much on the grounds that it was a war game, or a "typical male fantasy," but because there was next to no female representation in the game. Obviously the military is a male-dominated field, and one of the women replied to AJ's question of if she thought the game would be better with a playable female character with a "no." She mentioned that she just wanted to see more women in the game.

AJ ends the article with a comment that she just wants developers to give women "room to exist within the male fantasy." She continues, "I want to imagine myself there with them. I don't just want to know that women are in the Army by hearing their voices on a radio — I want to see them fighting for their country the way I would if the enemy were at the gates and my country needed me. I want developers to know that I play video games too, so they should pander to me as well as men."

While I could go on about gender exclusion in video games, this case in particular easily relates back to the earlier article about the invisibility and misunderstanding of real-world military women. Perhaps war games wouldn't have to be marketed exclusively to men if the world would realize that there are women fighting and dying along side them, even if they're not typically on the front lines. While female soldiers and fans of war-inspired games may both be in the minority, simply ignoring them is sure to keep them that way. Perhaps adding more female NPCs to Modern Warfare would do little to expand the game's audience, but at the same time, it could also increase awareness of our female veterans. Could this awareness possibly result in a greater interest among women of these types of games?

Personally, I'm not a big fan of war games. I'm not a big fan of war in real life. But at the same time, war creates some really deep, fascinating stories, because soldiers are people, and these are people in extreme situations. I've never played through a Call of Duty game from beginning to end, but every time I sit down to watch someone play, the story starts to suck me in. Would being able to relate to the world help to push me from observer to player? (Or would I already be playing if first person games didn't give me motion sickness?)

Regardless, the point is that real women do exist outside of what we consider to be traditional gender roles, and I would like to see this reflected in our fiction, because our fiction can influence our reality. And while I don't necessarily want to see more women going off to war... well, I don't really want to see men going off to war either, so that's a moot point. Despite my personal feelings on war, I have nothing but respect for those people who dedicate themselves to protecting their country, and I would like to see those people get recognition, whether in the real world or in video games, regardless of gender.

And since this is supposed to be an art blog, maybe someday I'll get around to drawing that picture I mentioned...

Hands On! Tangrams release - and a thank you.

2009-11-22T12:49:00.000-08:00

On Tuesday, November 24th, my first published video game, Hands On! Tangrams, will be released into the wild.

I'm sure much of the gaming community will view this release as another run-of-the-mill Nintendo DS budget title, but for me, this is a lifelong dream come true. The game is simple, yes, and that is because it was a young team's first game and first time working on DS hardware. The game received no outside funding and the dev team went into it with no expectation of monetary compensation. This is a game developed by people fueled entirely by their determination to break into the game industry... without even leaving New Jersey.

That this game is being published is nothing short of amazing. Island Officials formed nearly three years ago, and this is the first title we have been able to get off the ground. We have experienced countless setbacks and frustrations, and we have lost a few people along the way. But for those of us who stuck with it, we are finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. And for all of our past failures, we have emerged infinitely stronger and more determined as we plan for our company's future.

From a personal standpoint, I consider this one of my life's greatest accomplishments. When I look back at myself three years ago, it amazes me how far I've come and how much I have been able to push myself as an artist and as a leader within that time. This has been my career ambition since I was a little girl, and to finally be able to claim it is nothing short of incredible.

And I never would have been able to achieve this on my own.

Please excuse me if I get a bit sappy here, but I only had a few words of special thanks to include in the game, and that could never cover my gratitude to the numerous individuals who have provided me with support through the development of this game.

First and foremost, I have to thank Ryan and Ryan for giving me, and all of us, this opportunity. Thank you for bringing us all together and keeping us all together when things got rough. Thank you, both of you, for sticking with us and seeing this through to the end... and to the beginning of everything still to come.

Thank you to my parents, for raising me as a proper geek and for introducing me to video games at such a tender young age and playing them with me. Thank you for letting me know that I could do whatever I set out to do, and for encouraging me even when school guidance counselors told me that game development wasn't the most realistic career goal.

Kristin and Matt, thank you for your support and for ultimately joining the cause. Your work is incredible, and I can't imagine the team now without you guys.

Adrian, thank you for putting up with all of my ranting and sticking with me when I thought I was going to lose my mind. You have a big heart, and your passion for IO and game development in general continues to inspire me.

To the rest of the team: You guys rock. Thanks for not killing me and for not making me kill any of you. :) We've been through so much, and I look forward to seeing what comes next. None of us could have done this alone, and I love you all.

To Corvus and my fellow GDC CAs: Thank you for believing in us and giving us an outside perspective on things. You give me faith in the industry and our ability to push out in new directions.

To all of my friends at VGMM: Your faith in me has been an inspiration. Thank you for being the best home away from home on the internet. :)

And finally, to my managers and coworkers at CAI, past and present, thank you so much for your support. I can't tell you how much I've appreciated your understanding and allowing me to be flexible in my schedule so that I could help pull this off. Thank you for showing me by example how a company should be run and how a workplace can feel like a family.

Sorry to get all mushy on ya, but after all the ups and downs we've been through, the reality that this is finally happening is almost overwhelming.

Thank you, everyone, and may this game be the first of many!

Change... not always good.

2009-05-17T18:02:00.000-07:00

Okay, so this isn't the picture I was hoping to post today. I picked up the Wii remake of Klonoa last week, rekindling my love of the floppy-eared one, and had been meaning to do some drawings exploring how his design had changed between the original PS1 game, the PS2/GBA sequels, and the Wii remake of the first game. Well, I did start that drawing, but I forgot my tablet today, so I wasn't able to finish up the linework and start coloring.

Today's picture is related, though. Prior to the Wii game's US release, it seems that Namco Bandai was considering "updating" Klonoa's look to appeal more to Western audiences (or something). The fan and media reaction was rather negative. To be honest, the proposed redesign isn't bad. It's a rather attractive character in its own right, but with one major flaw: It's not Klonoa. The costume design is nearly identical to the one used in the remake, but they eliminated Klonoa's two most distinctive features: long floppy ears, and that big blue Pac-Man hat. I once saw someone dressed as Klonoa at a convention. It wasn't a full costume with some big scary furry head or anything, but instead just a big blue Pac-Man hat with some long floppy ears attached on top of a rather average human head. But it was instantly recognizable as Klonoa. Hell, even the lives icon in the game is simply Klonoa's hat.

When I first saw the proposed redesign, I immediately thought about the Goemon series and the (many would say "failed") attempt to make the series more appealing to a new audience by replacing the classic characters with their distinctive art style with "updated" generic-anime designs and futuristic settings. The couple of "New Age" Goemon games had abandoned the series' unique designs and quirky humor that had defined it in favor of appealing to the Digimon crowd. And on top of that, the games just weren't especially good. Konami did eventually ditch the updated designs and returned to the originals, going as far as to include the "New Age" version of Goemon as a prisoner in a jail cell in the DS game for his "crimes against the Goemon franchise."

So, in comparison, Klonoa didn't have it all that bad. But still, if it ain't broke...

Sonic Chronicles - Shade

2009-05-11T16:51:00.001-07:00

Okay, I've been slacking a bit, so this week I tried for something a little more polished. I've been playing Sonic Chronicles for DS lately and wanted to take a shot at drawing one of the new characters, Shade.

I also recorded the progress of the drawing, just for the hell of it.

Same picture, different part.

2009-04-26T16:08:00.000-07:00

A work in progress...

2009-04-21T20:19:00.001-07:00

Trying out some sprite work.

What is the volume of a rat?

2009-04-14T11:50:00.000-07:00

My mom and I are rat-sitting for my sister this week while she's away. This is one of her rats, Bart. Rats are really fun to draw.

Sick and alone in my pineapple bed.

2009-04-05T18:21:00.001-07:00

So, as I mentioned in my last post, on my way back from San Francisco, I came down with the flu. It sucks. I haven't had the flu in almost 10 years. As a result, I've been mostly out of commission this week, but I didn't want that to get in the way of my weekly art post. Usually when I'm sick, I like to use it as an excuse to play video games, but I was actually too sick for even that for most of the week (for a couple of days it was a challenge getting out of bed at all). But yesterday I was able to sit my ass down in front of some Animal Crossing (least stressful game I have, most likely), and I could totally relate to poor Mitzi who's been stuck in her house with a pretty nasty cold for the better part of the week. Oh, how I wish someone could just bring me some medicine and make it all better.

GDC Post!

2009-04-01T17:53:00.000-07:00

Little late in posting this one since I was away at the GDC last week and then came home to find myself deathly ill (I'm posting this propped up in bed after having been passed out with a fever all day). But I figured that the post for last week would most appropriately be something that I actually drew at the GDC. I had the honor of being a CA this year, which meant lots and lots of Witch Hunt! We were all encouraged to draw Witch Hunt cards to be put together into a custom deck. I did the Lovers (though now I know that the lovers aren't actually chosen through cards, but through the Cupid), but I thought they came out kinda nice anyway. I really wanted to do two cards that would go together to form one picture.

And as an added bonus, I also did the Lamplighter, one of the villager cards.

I only had pen to work with, so I did a few practice sketches first.

Xena model

2009-03-21T17:44:00.000-07:00

This is actually an older model from 2005, but I lost the finalized model in a hard drive crash, so I've been trying to rebuild it from earlier backups. Unfortunately, it seems that going back and forth between the PC and Mac versions of Maya has somehow distorted the UV maps. The model still isn't finished or rigged again, but hopefully I'll be able to put more work into it so that I can finally get around to animating it.

This model is based off of one of my cats, Xena. The current version is about 1540 polygons.

Self Portrait 3/14/09

2009-03-14T20:53:00.000-07:00

This week I've got a self-portrait, since I hadn't done a proper one in a while. Face could probably be more accurate... maybe I'll focus on that some other time.

Stumpy

2009-03-06T22:53:00.000-08:00

Annnd... two years later, I finally post my first sketch to this blog. :P

Gotta start somewhere, right?

Anyway, I'm hoping to try to post something on a weekly basis. Ideally a new sketch, but if I don't have time, I'll try to find an older drawing to post to keep me in the routine. Starting off with something I drew tonight, though. This is Stumpy. :)

Project Profile: Journey to the Oceans of the World

2007-07-12T09:36:00.000-07:00

(2001 - 2002)

Overview:

The goal of this project was to create a 360 degree looping animation intended as an installation that would border the cylindrical ceiling of an aquarium entrance way. The animation was rendered using six cameras that would all connect seamlessly, with the fish swimming from one camera view to the next. When projected, it would all appear as one image completely surrounding the viewer.

The "Fish Project" was the brainchild of my former 3D computer graphics professor, Russ Pensyl, and was created by a team of 10-15 people in a little under a year. The installation was featured at SIGGRAPH 2002.

More images and information can be found at Russ Pensyl's website:
http://www.pensyl.com/commerc/fish/installa.html

My involvement:

I modeled, textured, and did some of the animation for the hawksbill sea turtle.

Lessons learned:

As my first major team project, I covered a lot of new ground with this one. At the time I was still relatively new to Maya, modeling, and animation in general. The sea turtle was the first character I had created with the intention of going for a realistic, lifelike design. This project is also where I first got experience texturing and bump mapping a NURBS model. I think it was also my first real attempt at animation in Maya. I spent a lot of time watching nature documentaries to study how turtles swim. I also had to learn to animate along a path. The animation involved the turtle swimming through all six camera views over the course of two minutes and ending exactly where it began so that the animation could loop properly.

Aside from technical aspects, this was also my first time working in a structured team environment and facing strict deadlines. Of course, this would soon become the norm...

Software used:

Maya 3.0
Photoshop 6.0

Oops.

2007-07-12T09:29:00.000-07:00

Okay, so apparently, the whole posting-artwork-on-a regular-basis thing didn't quite work out. Now, I've been busy, no doubt about that... Only problem is that most of the stuff I'm currently working on is project-related and isn't quite ready for the public eye.

So in the meantime, I think I want to sum up some of my previous projects: what they were, what I did, what I learned from them. I'd like to someday add this as a section of my website.

The mission

2007-02-01T06:22:00.000-08:00

I've created this blog in order to have a public outlet for my work separate from my website. My intention is to post mainly sketches and works in progress, and feedback and critiques are more than welcome. I may sneak in the occassional rant or commentary, as well, either relating to art or certain aspects of the entertainment industry.

At the moment, my audience is mostly just going to be myself, though anyone out there who might be reading this is more than welcome to peek in over my shoulder. I really just want to encourage myself to draw (and model) more and really just put more critical thought into my work. So often my sketches end up in random piles of papers around my room, or I'm left with half-finished works abandoned in forgotten corners of my hard drive, and I'd like to have a more organized record of my little sketches and works in progress, whether or not they ever actually take on a final form.

So, for anyone who might happen to be reading this, welcome. And Karen, get to work. :)