The Spirit Warrior

Another painting for Dungeon Defenders 2

Art Director- Rusty Drake

Character Designer- Danny Araya 

Basically this is what I get from the company with some art direction and then it becomes the painting you see above.

Danny Araya Designs

Comic Page Directors cut

So, This comic has taken a bit of time I'm putting together.  Getting close enough to run a kickstarter campaign but a ton of great freelance and jobs have made the personal project slow at times.  Only so many hours one can devote creatively....  Since it's taken so long and I haven't worked full time on this comic the style and my general design sense has changed since I started.  I am now going back through the first 3 pages and directors cutting them up.  Here's s sample of the way I am changing and hopefully "fixing" the issues I see I want to fix.

8 months Ago

&

YESTERDAY

Hopefully you can see it too.  Getting there.  I ave about 6 fully unique stories in my head so hopefully after this one, if successful, I'll just keep going and transition into doing this on a regular basis.

Orc

Another Image I created for Trendy Entertainment for Dungeon Defenders 2.  The character design was already done.  If I'm not mistaken the character designer is Danny Araya and art directed by Rusty Drake.  I got to "beef him up" and put him into a scene.  So all this artwork is mine, but design wise this was a task I usually find myself doing the pre-production parts and not this part.  A fun and very different task as I am normally working off of my own designs and such.  I got to do a few of them.  I will reveal the paintings I did as they do ;)

Gamma Worlds

You know, I have no idea if I ever posted these.  Done years ago for Gamma Worlds for Wizards of the Coast.  One of my first freelance jobs.

The Drawing Club Sessions (Cruella)

Daniella Traub as Cruella DeVille

5-15 minute poses.  

Check out the other artists at LINK

Dear Internets,

Yes, you heard it.  Yet another installment of Dear Internets and things I learned.

 PROJECT REDWOOD

Here is a game that died.  This was back in 2008.  Along the way, many challenges both professionally and emotionally were met.  This job made me realize that you can truly see the very best and worst of the same person.  You can fight, bicker, heal, and figure your way though a ton.  We had many many great artists, designers, and staff working on this game but it all came together a bit too late to sustain what we were hoping to accomplish.  This was the project that I probably learned and grew the most from as a human being. Since the videos are all published and on the web, I will show you but a small section of the work I got to make and some lessons along the way.

Be confident/a go getter but not at the expense of other humans

Aw, my first lesson.   I had just gotten off a game studio full of attitudes and everyone telling each other (in not the most constructive matter) where they could "stick it".  In many ways I brought some of this with me and have taken away many lessons on how to let that attitude and problem go.    I foresaw many issues regarding where the game was headed and even though I turned out to be very right in this case, I  had a case of young man tact.  Ergo: none.  So lesson one, you can be right and you can be wrong but people will respect and allow mistakes if you handle any situation with integrity and constructive communication. A very hard lesson to integrate and fully comprehend at first.  Basically, the sum outweighs the part.

You are only as good as the last great thing you did

I think this was a healthy dose of understanding how much work truly has to be done on a project.  This is where I learned that there are 2 types of artists/designers/writers/producers/etc etc.  Those that reminisce about how awesome they once were or that one time they made a cool thing spending far too long patting oneself on the back.....and then the other type.  The ones concerned with pushing the proverbial rock further uphill.  The ones outdoing themselves, trying to outdo the expectations of others.  Asking for a clear path to growth and bettering a project.  Plus -ing it.  A valuable lesson to see my Art director and art lead push me and try to break me out of any comforts I found myself in.  As a freelancer and entrepreneur now, I try to adhere to the same ideals we set up then.

Politics Suck

Yeah, inter office politics are the worst.  Hands down.  To the point of high school cliques.  It was a strange and damaging system.  By the time we found the right people to fix it, lines were drawn and people had sided.  A real shame since we had so much coolness and great people.  As a bonus lesson: don't hold grudges, it's silly and there's not enough time on this planet to carry that weight with you.  If you are on the front end of this political game, try to ease up, not that many people are truly out to get you.  If you are the receiving end, don't flame the fires.  Inter office personalities is a big piece of the puzzle called a career not many speak about. To pretend that inter office squabbles and politics isn't around is sheer lunacy if you have any group that meets beyond just one person.  Sheesh, even one artist can have dual personalities.  I often find it strange that so many artists know this part of the job but rarely acknowledge it's existence.  I believe you are fooling yourself.  To me it's better to acknowledge and find healthy ways of dealing with it then pretending it doesn't exist.  Worst yet, you create a naivety that allows yourself to either be manipulated or abused.  Stay alert and always do the right thing.  How you handle adversity, others, criticism, and interactions all stem from you you are as a person.  Studios will test this.  Learn about being an artist and your craft but not at the expense of being human.  You can't be an artist without it.

ALWAYS DO YOUR BEST

At times this project hurt.  To the point of going home and gnawing away finger nails in failure and fatigue.  Other days, dizzying highs.  This is where I learned that production is a fickle and crazy beast.  I believe you must find a way to deal with that stress.  We changed styles often, changing full levels and directions mid sentences.  If you do your best each day given the information, ability, and chance you have, you MUST accept it and yourself.  You will improve both mentally and physically as an artist in time.  Everyday, put your best foot forward.  When that day is done, be happy and move on.  There is always more to life then that screen and that job.  

So there you go.  Some lessons, some art. 

If you'd like to see the game in action before it's cancellation, here ya go.
https://vimeo.com/groups/86640/videos/11283871


Have a great weekend.

Cheers,

Bean

A little risque (click at your own discretion)

Just a little sketching in between breaks.

Inspired by Hattie Watson.

A blast from the past...

Backing up old files and finding old hard drives you find stuff from years and years ago.  Here's some of that....  It's an old game that years later would be turned into a mobile MMO.  It was originally called Blackstar.

Basically if you've made it to the bottom of this post...congrats.  This was only a smattering of the work I got to do on the project back in the day.  My first concept art job and I moved to Texas to do it.  I met some great friends and after all these years I continue to work freelance for the company off and on when the chance arises.  The game changed drastically.  So here, ya go.  Some good, some bad.

A morning walk to get the Monestary Times

Dark Minions part 2

The 2 other characters I got to work on over at Shadowmachine.