Speedpaints 1-8-13

30 min, from photos. Opaque hard round brush only.

Also Umbrella Party is up on Indie Speed Run now. Vote for us here! And because I'm not too proud to promote entries that aren't mine, you should also play Caesar's Day Off, it's hilarious.)

WoW Interview and Indie Speed Run

So here's some stuff.

My interview was just posted on WoW Insider. I talk a little about my contest entry and what makes a good environment artist. I also own up to my deep dark secret: not actually playing WoW, something I intend to fix in the near future...

If you like the article, Jess and Peter's interviews are well worth reading, too.

Here's some hand practice. I didn't get it until tonight because I was.....dum dum! Making a game all weekend. I joined Jordan, Jon, and Adam for IndieSpeedRun. It was my first jam in over a year, so I was rusty to say the least.

The art I was going for falls somewhere between Every Day the Same Dream and Thirty Flights of Loving (both excellent, excellent games). Going low-res 3d + pixel art allowed me to do modeling, texturing, and half a dozen character animations in 48 hours without going batshit crazy. Overall, the game is a nifty foray into DDR-style rabble-rousing. Rally the people! Just don't say the wrong thing.

You can play it here.

Dingleberry, the confectioner elf

This is the first thing I've painted since last summer that isn't a study, although it DOES draw an awful lot from the goblins in Allods. That's completely intentional, I'm crazy for that style of painting.

His hand is crap, I know. Guess what I'm drawing more of tomorrow?

I also painted a horse. 40 min, from a photo.

Daily speedpaints, 1-2-13

30 min. value studies. The one on the left was done painting at full opacity, something I should do more often.

New Year's Resolutions

1. Paint and draw more. 2D really took a back seat to modeling and texturing last year, and I think staying too far within in my comfort zone has caused my work to stagnate.

2. Post more online. Fail more, and visibly. 

With that in mind, here are some 30 min studies to kick off the year.

Happy Holidays!

What better way to celebrate the season than with oversized pixels?

A (Growing) List of Recent FPEs

FPE = first-person explorer = A 3d game with a first-person perspective and emphasis on exploration. Mechanics and goals are either downplayed or absent, and special attention is given to aesthetic and mood. Sometimes also called "walking simulators."

Dead Esther - The Chinese Room - Dan Pinchbeck - dearesther.com

Korsakovia - The Chinese Room - Dan Pinchbeck - www.thechineseroom.co.uk/korsakovia.html

Elevator: Source - Pixeltail Games - pixeltailgames.com/elevator

Stanley Parable HD - Galactic Cafe - Davey Wreden - www.galactic-cafe.com

Radiator Series -Radiator - Robert Yang - radiator.debacle.us

Level with Me - Robert Yang - rockpapershotgun.com/2011/12/23/level-with-me-level-with-me/

Trip -Team Cosmonaut -Axel Shokk - teamkosmonaut.com/trip/buy/

Gravity Bone and Thirty Flights of Loving - Blendo Games - Brandon Cheung - blendogames.com

Antichamber (previously Hazard: The Journey of Life) - Alexander Bruce - www.antichamber-game.com

Fract OSC - Phosfiend Systems -Richard E Flanagan - fractgame.com

Kairo - Locked Door Puzzle - Richard Perrin - kairo.lockeddoorpuzzle.com

Miasmata - IonFx - Joe and Bob Johnson - ionfx.com/product_pc_Miasmata.php

Amnesia: The Dark Descent - Frictional Games - amnesiagame.com

Slender: The Eight Pages and Slender: The Arrival - Parsec Productions/Blue Isle -  Mark Hadley  - www.parsecproductions.net/slender/

Gone Home - The Fullbright Company - thefullbrightcompany.com/gonehome

Animal Memory - Gausswerks - Jack Monahan - http://forums.gausswerks.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=302

Dinner Date - Stout Games -Jeroen D. Stout - stoutgames.com/

Hubris and Four Keys - Andrew Yoder - mclogenog.wordpress.com

Proteus - Ed Key - visitproteus.com

The Witness - Jonathan Blow - the-witness.net

Judith - Steven Lavelle and Terry Cavanaugh - distractionware.com/blog/2009/04/judith/

Radio Silence - Terry Cavanaugh - distractionware.com/blog/2010/04/radio-silence/

Cradle - Flying Cafe for Semianimals - flying-cafe.com

Sunset - Tale of Tales - http://www.tale-of-tales.com/Sunset
TRAUMA -  Krystian Majewski - traumagame.com
NaissancE - Limasse Five - naissancee.com
Eidlon - Ice Water Games - icewatergames.com/about
The Old City: Leviathan - PostMod Softworks - postmodsoftworks.com
The Rapture is Here and You Will be Forcibly Removed From Your Home - Connor Sherlock - connorsherlock.wordpress.com
Marginalia - Connor Sherlock - connorsherlock.wordpress.com
Myst - Cyan - cyan.com/games/myst
Mirrormoon EP - Santa Ragione - mirrormoongame.com
Return of the Obra Dinn - Lucas Pope - dukope.com
Wooden Floor - Fabien Zech (pheenix93) - wooden-floor-game.com
The Moon Silver - jefequeso1 - desura.com/games/the-moon-sliver
Bad Day on the Midway - The Residents - wikipedia.org/wiki/Bad_Day_on_the_Midway