MerMay 9

Mermaid number 9 for ‪#‎MerMay‬ and third in the MerHag series. This lady is based on the ever so sassy Nikki!

MerMay 5

 

 

Mermaid number 5 for #MerMay finished in the last few minutes of the working week! Colours inspired by the convict white cichlid.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Tiki Match 3 Game

This was part of an art test for a social games company gig that unfortunately fell through. My aim for this was to produce a 'match 3' game board, background and six unique icons for a game that has mass market appeal for all ages and that isn't gender specific. I'm really quite happy with the results. Please excuse the large watermarks but I really don't want this to be taken and reused elsewhere.

Merlin and Archimedes

This is an illustration, done as part of my portfolio project, showing Merlin and Archimedes together with their final designs. I've done a lot of development work with these two and I'm glad they seem to be working together. I'd like to think I've finally got these guys down now! Time to move on to the next task! :)

Merlin's Hut

Here's some more design work for my portfolio project of a Polynesian re-imagining of The Sword in the Stone. I'm really much more of a character designer but I'm trying to develop my skills in other areas. The bottom image was done a few weeks before the final image (top) I wasn't happy with the relatively flat composition so I went back to doing a few thumbnails with more dynamic camera angles. I moved the hut back into the edge of the jungle to make it more integrated with the environment and also used a bolder technique which I prefer to the original image. Overall I'm much happier with the final piece! 

 Final Image

Thumbnails

Original Image

Merlin Expressions

Some expressions for my redesign of Merlin as a tiki witchdoctor. I loved doing these! For more information have a look at this blog post. 

Merlin the Witchdoctor

Warning: Barrage of words coming up! Scroll down for arty stuff :)

At the beginning of the year I embarked on a big personal project to work on in between freelance gigs, that in the process will hopefully form my new portfolio in time for CTNX. As part of my 'Audacious Accomplishment', that I'm completing with the guidance of Chris Oatley, I aim to produce a visual development portfolio and redesign an established film in a completely different world. 

After many film nights and reading around, I settled on ‘The Sword in the Stone’. A film I haven’t watched since I was tiny, I revisited it after reading up on my Arthurian tales and thinking ‘hey, old legends and stories would be a great basis for this project!’ I'm referring to the 1963 Disney version. I also watched ‘Excalibur’ but I found it a far more complex explanation of the story, i‘d like to keep things relatively simple (story wise) for this project. I don’t fancy having to tackle all of Merlin’s history! I'm going to set the story on a Polynesian island, Merlin is a witch doctor and the kingdom rules over a tropical island…much different to England. Archimedes will be a more exotic bird and Arthur will be a small tribal boy.

I don’t intend to change the story beyond very small details. I’m no writer; the sword is still a sword and it’s still stuck in a stone. I love the focus on Merlin’s journey with Arthur and his lessons. I think Archimedes is a brilliant character, he is perfect as an owl but I’d find it a fun challenge to redesign him. Merlin, the eccentric witch doctor would be great fun too. I really feel more could be made of Madame Mim, I’d be tempted to make her more of a darker villain character and really add some more drama to her duel with Merlin.

Onto some artwork! I won't post all of my development work here, just final designs. So here's Merlin - the eccentric witchdoctor.