Thursday, July 21, 2011

Tree of Orna

The last few weeks I've been designing this set piece for Little Knight. I was excited about this idea when I wrote it in the script but was good and didn't do any design work until I got to it. Turns out it was a good idea to wait, because designing something new always invigorates my creativity. 
Outside view of the Tree of Orna, a mysterious giant tree in the middle of a clearing in the dangerous woods.



Citizens of the Tree of Orna


Early pencil sketch of the ground floor, and the first time I came up with the idea of having a source of water inside the tree. I wanted winding stairs and pathways that go up the inside of the tree to look like a vertical city block or something.


 The power and light source for the village is the glowing Orb of Orna at the top of the tree. It is also the source of the water, and is just above the homes of the Ornans that go into the branches. The idea of the water being more than a decorative thing started to come to mind here.

Cutaway of the Tree to show the pencils of the finalized designs. You can see here now the water goes a long the center, and also acts like a magical elevator for the Ornan's. I love drawing an entire place with people who are just living their lives, their little shops and homes, and the way their village works (magic).

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Udon's Megaman Tribute

Hey everybody! My Megaman illustration was picked to be in the Udon Megaman Tribute Book! I am super excited to get the book, and it comes out soon and isn't hard to get. The book is premiering at the San Diego Comic-con at the UDON booth (#5037), July 20-24 and for fans not attending the show, you can preorder the book at UDONstore.com. If you want to get the standard softcover edition, it is available to preorder now at amazon.com.

When I was a kid I used to draw Megaman a lot so I've always been a fan of the original design for him. He has a simple design, but I like how effective a solid simple character design can be. Plus he has a great cast of side characters and villains to draw. 

Even though I wanted to draw as many bad guys as possible, I also didn't want to do the standard Megaman fighting a giant robot/many robots bosses. I figured a lot of people would have covered that and probably really well. I was right. But this way I still got to draw a lot of different Megaman things and I thought it was a fun idea. 

This book is going to be cool. I'd be excited to get it even if I wasn't in it, so if you're a fan of Megaman, or good illustration check it out. You can find a lot of other pieces that are in the book online on DeviantArt or on Rampaged Reality.