It’s a fast technique. I can finish a character in 1-3 hours. It’s what I used to do these demos for CTN-X, and it’s what I’ve used to do most of my artcasts.

It communicates texture, color and shape nicely and its fun to do.

Initially the designs were very specific to a classic Monopoly feel. I was trying to match the vibe of the Community Chest and Chance illustrations, and as a result the characters feel like they belong in pre-Depression American city. AS things developed it became clear that we needed a look that was either more contemporary or, at the very least timeless.

I was also asked by my Art Directer to start pushing the paintings to be more 3-dimensional and have greater dynamic range. In other words, give us an idea how the characters would look in the actual game.

I was pretty happy with my first attempt, although it took a lot longer than my previous process, and never really got to a point that I was totally happy with.

I wanted to try and see how quickly I could accomplish something similar. The next couple of images were completed in 2-3 hours. I discovered some cool things, but didn’t quite get to the point on wanted to with them. Sadly, this was near the end of the character design process, and I didn’t get to refine this approach any further.

And of course, of all these designs, only the cop, the kid in the suit, the soldier and the maid made it in to the final game with little alteration to their designs. But it was worth it anyway.  Another chance to learn a little more, and add a couple more pieces to my portfolio.

An early attempt to try and design around the established iconography of Monopoly. One of the goals of the game was create something novel that still felt immediately true to Monopoly. The block letters were one of the first things to go. When you have to translate a game into other languages, block letters can get very expensive.

My first attempt at the GO building. Taking inspiration from Tekkon Kinkrete and early Atlantic City architecture (the city Monopoly is based on). This was the one case where it was decided that the block lettering was worth it and had to be modeled in every applicable language.

The building below actually was modeled (and improved on by the talented Ken Lim). It didn’t make it into the default board but ended being salvaged for the “Monument City” board.

Another design that didn’t make the cut. Here you can see the two different rendering approaches I work with. In the approach above I build the structure out of shapes, then render over it. I like it because it gives a nice painterly finish, and is closer to what things look like in game.

The approach below is nice because its quicker, and still has a nice polished look.

The one that survived the cut.

I got to do four demos, but I only had an hour of time for each demo. The first two demos were pretty manageable, so I was happy with the end results. The last two demos we’re a bit more involved so I didn’t really take them to a finished enough state for my liking. So, I’m not going to show you the last two I did, but I’ll show you the first two. Hope you like ‘em!

And here is the finished art. I could certainly spend some more time adding details, but the most important stuff is here.

Here’s the beginning sketch followed by the in-progress painting. Still much work to do to figure this thing out.

Live TV : Ustream

Stuff mentioned in the show:

The Visual Story, Second Edition: Creating the Visual Structure of Film, TV and Digital Media

Project Waldo

Bernie Fuchs

I started with these quick sketches.

Here’s the full video:

Streaming Video by Ustream.TV

And here’s the still-in-process artwork. They asked me to put them into Kimonos instead of temporary clothing. I’ve still got to add one kokeshi and their kokeshi children.

You can download the PSD for you perusal here.

Here’s the full video:

And here is the final piece:

If you’re interested, you can still get the custom brushes by signing up the Whistling Cloud Newsletter in the sidebar.

The monitor mount that I use for my Cintiq is a combination of these two mounts:

Adding more texture and tone to the face. Working out the eyes.

Adding in a background. The wallpaper pattern is a custom brush I built then varied its alignment and duplicated it across the background.

Adding noise and texture to the background. The texture is a hi-res custom brush.

Adding a flame to the background and some color variation on the wall. Also painting in some reflected light on the suit

The finishing touch.

Voila! Apologies for not recording this. I’m going to be doing a whole different approach to coloring at the Artcast Network screening room, tomorrow night at 9 pm EST. Hopefully that’ll make up for it.

See you there!

Or see the condensed progress below.

The original sketch.

Flating in the colors.

Adding line work.

Adding gradients to the shapes.

Painting in shadows.

Adding texture.

Still a bit more work to do to finish this up. Tune in next week to see the completed piece.

Stuff mentioned in the show:

Adobe Photoshop Custom Brush Techniques with David Levy

Practical Light and Color.

Hans Bacher Here’s his blog. Contact him and see if he can tell you where you can buy his brush library. There’s some great stuff in there.