Green Hill Zone. Act 1

the other day I was reminded of the original sonic the hedgehog. It's a game that really stands the test of time and as a fan I thought I'd play around with some of the original sprites and see what I get. so I used the green hill palm and sunflower and mapped the key points in illustrator so i got crisp vector version of the original designs. Then I went in 2 different directions. 

The one in the middle is the just the vector points coloured in to get that distinctive geometric look and in the more complicated version on the top I Tried to map out the curves and shapes implied in the design for a more smooth flowing graphic. I love how they came out so I thought I'd put them up here and share them with any Sonic fans out there.

 The smoothed rounded version of the vectored palm and sunflower

 And the more retro palm and sunflower based on the original sprites

the original sprites as they were in the original game

Tomothy and pals by Nathan Viney

This is another fan pic I've done of a comic from a university friend. Tomothy and pals is worth a read and I look forward to seeing the new book when it comes out.

Check out Tomothy and pals on nathanviney.com

A respectable Third Place

I come was written and illustrated by 2 guys I went to school with. So I thought I'd do a fan piece of one of the main portagonists  and provide a link to get some interest going, I like the take on the sword and sorcery genre and the character designs are charming. follow the link below to see the first 2 issues, I'm looking forward to more in the future. 

Click here for the comic

E-sting 2013

This year I entered The E4 E-stings contest, This is the entry I produced in photoshop and after effects Called "Horizon". I enjoyed working to a brief again and working on a specific project over the course of about a month from start to finish gave me lots to think about and work with.

Here's the finished Article, the HD versions are available on the youtube and Vimeo links below.

Click here to watch on youtube

Click here to watch on vimeo

And of course the entry on the E4 E-sting page.

Horizon E4 E Stings 2013

Bunnies In space!

Watch this video on Vimeo

Today I decided to animate a sketch I did ages ago while having a drink with my friends, We bounced characters around and space bunny was a popular concept. I did some rough sketched which I cleaned up on my tablet but Today I got around to animating the scene and I'm really happy with the result. I'm considering doing a short with the character but I think next time I wont be lazy and do the shading and highlights as well.

The photo shop sketches I took into illustrator to trace into vectors with the pen tool.

The Illustrator Vectors in Flash being animated as movie clips

 The original character sketch and the scene I sketched around The character. to give the sketch more depth I also added some shading.

5 minute speed paint with iPad

A speed paint I did using Procreate on the iPad, I love the brush options and how much tone comes across with simple brushes really easily and the ability to save files as .PSD files means it's so easy to take stuff over to my mac and experiment with it.

Lift with the knees.

Here's a 10 second animation I made in flash a while ago, I didn't plan any of it out but I liked the result. It was a fun couple of hours work.

Click here to watch on Vimeo

Dog a doodle

I did a sketch of my dog on my iPad last week and I liked it so much I decided to animate it.

The finished article

The original sketch.

Shameless fan service

I felt like doing something with a bit more finish this afternoon, so I got an old piece of fan art I did a while back and I thought I'd vectorize it in Illustrator, I'm pretty happy with the results and I might try doing some colouring experiments with it next week.  

Inked Afro

Afro in progress in illustrator I used the pen tool to trace over the original line work on a separate layer then just messed with the brushes and thicknesses until I got something I liked.

The sketch I did from reference ages ago, I liked the pose and how much of the style came through in the composition so i thought it was worth cleaning it up and seeing what I got. 

Full of Hot Air.

A doodle for a rag tag airship idea I had while looking at old fishing boats. I like the idea of building a project around this used and worn in sort of look. The mast like post in the middle and the use of multiple balloons seemed like a different take on a fantasy airship.

Sometimes, you just feel Arrrrrrrgh

My first doodle with my iPad.