Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Thunderstone Update

Hey All,

Today we have a quick update on the recent work I did for AEG's Thunderstone Advance product "Root of Corruption". I painted 4 cards for this game last spring which I already posted on my blog here.  The thing is I was not able to post the complete painting until the product was released so as not to give away anything. No Problem.  Now that the game is out and I'm holding it my hands I can finally post the complete versions of the Weapon Mage and The Woodguard.  The main difference is that I am now able to show the little characters that accompany the main characters.

Check it out!



Also, AEG released another product with my work Nightfall: Crimson Siege is also out now. Check it out at the Link.

Thursday, November 29, 2012

Glorantha Kickstarter

Jeff Richard over at Moon Design Publications sent me this link to their kick starter campaign for their Glorantha campaign setting. So far it looks like they have done exceptionally well and have a lot of support to get the book made. Great Job guys!  If you watch the short video, you will see that they have featured 3 of my illustrations during the talk.

Go over there check it out. Also, don't be afraid to tell them that you like my art and want to see more. Wink Wink Nudge Nudge.

Cheers!


Thursday, November 22, 2012

AEG Interview Part #2

Hey all,

In this next installment of my interview with AEG I discuss my creative process and a bit about the evolution of the Assassin character.  Check it out Here

Or you can read it right here.
"Mike, do you have specific processes to your work? What’s something you figured out that’s kind of unconventional?
Specific process….  Whenever possible I try to stick to the tried and true method of developing an illustration laid out by the masters. That includes rough sketches, studies, finished drawing, color rough, and then the final illustration.
Let’s start with the image of the pig farmer. The development for this character went about as smoothly as you can get. Both the art director [ed.--AEG's own Todd Rowland] and I had a clear vision for this character. The only change required from sketch to final was that he needed to look a bit happier.
 
However, the Assassin was another story. Initially, the brief called for this character to be more of your back alley thug type. I would describe him as a “greasy knife in the back for a copper” kind of guy. The initial sketch pretty much nailed the concept but the team wanted to see options for a change in his pose.
At this point, there was some thought that this character could look a bit more “current,” and this is when we brought in the robes and talked about making him look younger.
We went through about five sketches and eventually settled on the posture from #4 and the costume from #5.
My process for painting is pretty straightforward. I start off with an under drawing and then paint over top of it like I would with traditional media. Then I start laying in the basic colors which is sometimes called “ flatting” to help establish my color scheme and basic value structure.
Once I’m happy with that, I move into modelling ( sometimes called rendering) the forms to establish the shapes and details. In this instance, you can see how the painting evolved along with the character. Initially I painted his legs thinking that he would be wearing hose as well as he had an older face. As the design changed, I had to paint over the legs and add in the robe and new face. Thankfully Photoshop allows me the flexibility to do this on the fly.
If I was still working in traditional media like oils, these types of changes would be doable but would have taken a lot longer. Once the rendering stage is complete, I clean up the silhouette, add a few adjustment layers to tweak the image, flatten it  and send it off to the client.
For more information on my work and for process animations and demos, please stop by either my website www. mikeperryart.com or my blog http://mperryart.blogspot.ca.
If you have any questions or would like to say hi, I would love to hear from you. You can best get a hold of me via email at mike@mikeperryart.com.
Cheers!"
 
For some reason, the process images that I submitted for this article were not posted on the AEG site but I directly refer to them which must be confusing to readers. Anyways, for clarity sake, here are the images that I was referring to.
 
As always, thanks for stopping by.
 


 

Electric Turnip Strikes Again!

Hey all,

My friend Owen over at the Electric Turnip has posted another thoughtful and entertaining article on video games his blog HERE. Check it out. I keep bugging him to submit these to a magazine or something but so far no luck.  Good Job O!

Friday, November 16, 2012

WKRP Studies

I've been playing around with new brushes in Photoshop and doing some studies on one of my favorite shows when I was a kid. I figure why not hit 2 birds with 1 stone?

So here we go with a couple of charcoal imitation studies of Herb and Les and a color study of Jennifer. The Jennifer one is about 1 hour all in.

Cheers!




Thursday, November 15, 2012

AEG Interview #1

The folks over at AEG just posted up an interview with yours truly here about my work on their game Guildhall.  Check it out.





Tuesday, November 6, 2012

James Bond Skyfall Contest

So I couldn't resist submitting to this James Bond Competition Here  to coincide with the new Skyfall movie. I way over did it but I can't help it. I love Bond Movie's, always have and always will. The tough part was picking a moment to illustrate, there are so many!

Here we go with a Nick Nack scene from The man with the Golden Gun



Thursday, October 25, 2012

Guild Hall

Last Summer I was contracted to provide the artwork for AEG's new game product Guildhall. I ended up creating the cover and six character illustrations for the various trade classes that the players use in the game. For more information, stop by AEG's site HERE and let them know that you love the artwork and you want to see more! Wink Wink ;) I've already begun working on the next version with 6 new characters and another cover so stay tuned for more updates.








Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Night Fall Second Series Card Illustrations

Hey Gang,

Now I'm finally able to publish some of my most recent AEG Night Fall illustrations from September / October. Again, we're dealing with things like Zombies, Ghouls, Vampires and Succubus's.

All of my favorites!

On to the Work!





Monday, October 15, 2012

Nights Watch RPG

Hey All,
I'm excited to be able to share some of my work I did for Green Ronin's Song of Ice and Fire " Nights Watch" Campaign Setting rpg.  I was pretty stoked to get an opportunity to contribute to such a popular IP like this one. Prior to getting this assignment I was only familiar with the HBO series Game of Thrones but since then I've consumed all of the books and I'm eagerly awaiting the next installment. My favorite parts of the series all involve the Nightswatch and I consider myself fortunate to be able to illustrate them.

Anyways, enough geek gushing and onto the artwork.

If you are interested in ordering the game click HERE.










Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Did I forget the Sethlan?

Well well. I guess I did. Back in the spring some fellow Geeks and I at the Daedelus Study Group decided to create a fictional creature character that could exist in the Mass Effect universe. It is a Fan Art gig but also a challenge to add some Sci Fi and creature/Alien characters to the portfolio. There was a big expansive brief and many iterations until I finally came up with a design that passed muster so without further adieu.... Behold the Sethlan!

For an in depth view into the whole development cycle for this character click here


 







Monday, September 24, 2012

Navy Seal Character

No I have not forgotten to post. I've just been busy! I did however fall off the daily portrait wagon due to scheduling issues but I'll get back to it soon.

However, today we have a new character to share. A good old fashioned Navy Seal. Recently a client asked me to whip up a character design that incorporated specific gear elements etc. The focus was both on character and technical precision. So without further adieu, here is my version of a modern US Navy Seal.

Final Image
 Character Design / Reference Sheet
 Cell Shading Process
 Animation of Illustration Development

Thursday, September 6, 2012

Another Cap'n
















Here is a page of studies that I did back in May but never posted. They are of the newest Enterprise Captain, Kirk 2.0 played by Chris Pine.

CAP'N

Not the best likeness. This time I used just a Bristle brush. 30 min.

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Earl

This one was 20 min. I'm playing with brushes right now and trying to stick to just one for each image to get a good feeling for each one and what it's capable of. This was with the Charlie Bowater Custom. It paints nicely if you like to use washes/glazes to build up color.

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Monday, September 3, 2012

Old Sailor

Today's 30 min portrait

Friday, August 31, 2012

Russian Army Woman

Today's installment. A little better than yesterday. This time in Photoshop. I'm trying to keep these in or under 30 min each. Also we have a page of sketchbook studies  and warm ups etc. Just trying to stay loose and keep the skills sharp.



Thursday, August 30, 2012

Because I said I would

30 Min or So . This Time in Painter
Head Sketch #2

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

So I came across this guy's Blog and pretty much every day he does a quick portrait painting. His name ( his web one) is BTANK and you can find his blog here http://ninnjapizzaburgers.blogspot.ca/

Anyways, I admire his JC Leyendecker Esq style and his dedication to do these almost daily. So with that in mind, I hope to incorporate a similar practice into my daily routine. So with that in mind here we go with my first go. I think I popped this one off in less than 30 minutes. We're going for both speed and accuracy.