Sunday, December 7, 2014

Lanturn Night - process

If you know me at all, you know I like Pokemon. After playing Omega Ruby to the point where I could raise a Pokemon called Lanturn, I decided to draw a scene that kept popping up in my head while swimming with this oceanic creature.

Here's what it looks like in the game, on the calm waters of Route 120. In the daytime it reflects clouds or a sunny sky. At night, however, you float through a field of stars.


It's my favorite place. 

Lanturn is a mix of basic features between an angler fish, dolphin, and shark, only much more cute and featuring glowing orb-shaped lures (hence the name Lanturn). Unfortunately its sprite doesn't show up beneath the trainer. I thought it would be so cool to see Lanturn's glow illuminate your environment at night or deep in the dark sea. This idea caught my imagination on fire and I had to let it out.

This is the process, starting from a sketch without reference:


Rather simple idea, huh?

I decided to change the trainer's pose so she could hold a fishing rod, albeit absent-minded. I wanted the trainer and her Lanturn to be doing the same action (fishing); even though they're very different from each other, this subtle repeated theme is meant to bring them closer. It's as reflective as the calm water.

A note - a feature in Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire is the updated Pokedex. You can examine the 3D models of every single creature: rotate them, play their animations, do both at the same time, AND you can pause the animations as reference. You'll notice the Lanturn in my sketch is quite different from the one in the final.

I'm pointing this out because the tool was incredibly useful in finding Lanturn's correct physique. Reference online yields many results, most of which have conflicting colors and proportions, as shown. (These are official game sprites)
Lanturn  sprite from GoldLanturn  sprite from CrystalLanturn  sprite from Ruby & SapphireLanturn  sprite from Diamond & PearlLanturn  sprite from HeartGold & SoulSilverLanturn  sprite from Black & White
The tiny variations drove me nuts. So, turning to this latest game's Pokedex was very helpful.

To start off, I blocked out the Pokemon and her trainer (me).


Next, I quickly added the trainer's colors and the light sources. Lighting is my favorite part of any drawing or painting, and it's an imperative part of this scene, so it made me very happy. I reflected the nebulous starscape into the water.


Lit up the trainer and the Pokemon and put some misty light ambiance in the water, coming from the stars and the glowing lures:


Needed more glow from Lanturn's orbs, so next I put a warm haze around them, and had that light reflect moreso on the water. I also toned down the sky so it wasn't quite as distracting. Because Route 120 features ponds and small lakes (not an endless ocean), I added rock formations on the horizon to encapsulate the area:


The main piece is finished, but emptiness is not something I wanted to convey. The easiest way to get rid of that is to add more life to the scene. Here's the final; see if you can spot the other 4 Pokemon in the environment. Thank you for reading!


-Kez

Friday, November 28, 2014

Book

It's gonna happen. Look forward to it.


-Kez

Saturday, November 15, 2014

Hidden project - Elves duking it out (title TBA)

For a few months now, I've been making artwork for a multiplayer game where players are elvish characters who battle with bows and arrows. Since it's only Nick, Justin, Matt, and myself, production has been careful and slow, but we're almost ready to reveal the alpha. So, in light of that, here are some teasers!


First, we discussed style. In a single haphazard page of concepts and proportions, the first, basic elf character was set in stone. Here's the result:


Top - idle. Left - running w/ jump. Right - shooting arrow while standing. In-game he can run and jump and shoot arrows all at once (and he can jump REALLY high)!

For alpha release, you can play as either him or a dark elf, and since there are up to four players at once, I made slight color variations to differentiate players. 


The values are too close together right now, so I'm changing that once the alpha is complete. There will be more elf characters in the future, too - and each will have their 'home arena' that matches their look.

Speaking of arenas, here's the alpha draft of the first stage:


Complete with sunrays; everyone loves sunrays! I'm going to give this one a different background, maybe a forest thicket or waterfalls. Clouds make it feel restless and high up - perhaps that'll be more fitting for another kind of elf's home.

Stay tuned.
-Kez

Tuesday, October 7, 2014

Going on a trip

Last month proved rather productive, but in contrast, I will be off-grid for pretty much all of October. I'll likely post pictures on Tumblr / Instagram if you think you're keen on guessing my whereabouts.




Until then, Happy Halloween!
-Kez

Thursday, September 25, 2014

Land cruiser



The Kelvin-Bauer Daybreaker, model A. It's a land cruiser for the future speed junkie. It has three emergency landing wheels which it uses to take off, land, and park. But once you get it up to 200kph, it can soar over the ground, up to 20 meters in the air. Vehicles like this one are commonly used in races and often need new paint jobs.
-K

Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Friday, September 19, 2014

Maybe someday..






..I'll get a scanner. Here's a few sketches until then.
-Kez

Tuesday, September 9, 2014

Getting ready for autumn

Which means, scary things! Everyone's favorite!



Had all 4 wisdom teeth extracted recently and it conked me out for a good two weeks. Not a fun experience. Everything from blood clots to gaping mouth holes. Apparently that's what I get for not having the procedure done sooner (and also having been born with a mouth that's so small it should only support 28 teeth, not 32...)

So, one of these is going to be the next demon portrait- the demon of wisdom. (hur hur)

Wednesday, July 30, 2014

All manner of artstuffs









We've got stuff from How To Train Your Dragon, Monster Hunter, Pokemon, and Gozilla.

Bonus Drigglypuffagon:

Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Teaser poster #1 - Cerulean space


Teaser for my personal project. More to come.
-Kez

Baahgh the Anger




Related to Ghoar the Unfeeling, but they've never met.
yet.

-Kez

Monday, July 7, 2014

Summertime dragon

Thanks to help from Allison Theus on the wing design, I finally finished this guy. He's a kind of dragon who hunts by floating on the ocean surface, using his secondary nostrils (higher up on the tallest horn) as a snorkel so he can peer into the water for a clear view, without causing disturbance. They feed on anything from fish and crustaceans to seals and sting rays. On land, they use their wings to aid in walking, but in the ocean and sky, they're right at home.



Their jaw shape is best for tackling and skewering prey, while their agile feet can hold on to meals while they travel home. The males (shown above) have more jagged and outward horns, whereas females' are more sleek and streamlined.

But it needed more, so, beach ball!!

Wednesday, July 2, 2014

Dragonfest!

Dragonsssss








FIRE LAZORS