More art from DKCTF!

This level was an interesting challenge. It takes place on DK island but completely frozen over. Each level of the island takes place in a different section of the previous games world. So Aqueduct Assault had a good basis to build off of. However the assets used for DKCR couldn't be carried over. The textures were too low res (and didn't have normal maps) and the geometry was really low poly. So using the previous game as a point of reference I rebuilt the ruins structures. I even got to flesh out the look for the Ziggurat structures. 

Finally my favorite piece in this level is the DK statue. In DKCR there is a statue of DK holding a Wii Remote in the background. However it was only a image mapped to a plane of geometry. I got to completely remake this in 3D, and of course since Tropical Freeze is on the Wii U he is holding a Game Pad! In the screen of the gamepad is a little easter egg of DK's past :)

This level was quite a beast to make and went under multiple revisions. The fact that DK shoots into the background twice meant a lot of art needed to be generated. On top of that while the look for the stucco and the factory pieces themselves were already developed. We had nothing for the factory itself. I came up with the look using the pieces and textures made by other artists. This was then in turn used in other levels. In the end this level turned out really great and I'm happy to say I got the approval to hide and easter egg in the background. Fans of old school Nintendo, and Donkey Kong will enjoy it I'm sure!

This might have been one of the most difficult levels I worked on. There was only a very loose idea for the level and that was plunger based dynamite. I decided to make it a mine of sorts. In my mind this is where the Snomads mined their ice to make their buildings. The level went through a few iterations. I worked with fellow artist Reed Ketcham on some of the ice tunnels. I made the initial block out and he refined them with better textures. Considering the toughness of the level (in terms of creation) I'm glad it turned out as well as it did.

This level was a very interesting challenge. How do you merge lava and ice? The idea for this level is that DK shows up and basically "restarts" the Volcano thus causing the Snomads main fortress to start melting. Coming up with the look for the Snomads structures was a blast. I love architecture and making the Ice castles was some of my favorite work. I also got to come up with a look for the cooled lava. Which unfortunately you barely see in the level due to the lighting. The initial turn around for this level was pretty short compared to other levels I worked on, so the pressure was on to deliver something epic for the last level in the game, and in a short period of time.

It's on like Kong!

So Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze if finally on store shelves! I couldn't be more proud of the game and the team at Retro Studios! More than the great reviews we've gotten, the feedback from the fans has been tremendous! So here is some art from the game! :)

This is the first level I worked on solo, it was definitely a learning experience. The birch trees were an especially difficult piece to get right, but finally after working with our concept artist Toph Gorham we landed on something that worked. Toph and I also worked on the Brass instruments used throughout the level and I modeled and textured those. Again this level was pieced together by me, but a lot of the assets were created by other talented artists. Such as the awesome owl sculptures, the pine trees, and even the autumn canopy itself. The level creation pipeline at Retro Studios is very collaborative!

I didn't actually make a level in world 4 but I did work on the template that all levels were based off of. I worked with concept artist Toph Gorham to come up with the look for the ancient civilization seen in the levels. These pieces were then used to great effect by other Retro artists to create some truly incredible levels! I was inspired by the look of ancient japanese jomon dolls for the textures and look of some of the statues.

This is the titular windmills of Windmill Hills. This is one of the first assets I worked on for the Second Island. Ted Anderson and I worked on a couple of designs that are also in the level. This particular windmill went through a few iterations. It was a pretty fun piece and again, served as the basis for a lot of the structures in the Second Islands library of assets.

This is one of my favorite levels that I worked on. It is a massive level and the first one of the Second Island. So first off it has a short intro which I got to come up with. Now this level was built using a lot of assets created by different artists. Things like Pines trees, and certain textures. The owl statues. But the level construction is all me. I also came up with the look for the windmills and the Swiss Chalet style houses. Initially the interior of the giant windmill was going to be a bunch of smaller windmills, but I really wanted to do a DK take on the old Castlevania style Clock tower levels. . Over all I think this level turned out great!

This is one of the very first assets I made for Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze. It became the basis for all of the structures in the Mangrove Island, I made the initial textures and then Ted Anderson went over and did a color pass on top of them.

I'm pretty happy with this piece and even though it is an early one and not fully featured in the game (you can see it in a few instances in Trunk Twister). I am happy its pieces got so much use throughout the game!

Stay tuned! More to come!

Domo Arigato

Just some lazy Saturday Zbrushing for practice and a quick render/photoshop.

Late to the Party

So last month Polycount held a contest to create a low poly diorama based on a video game called VG Remix This challenge is right up my alley as I love low poly art and dioramas as well. Alas I am working VERY hard right now at work so I didn't have time to compete. The entries have been super inspiring and the winning pieces are amazing.

So while I still don't have much time, I have started planning a piece I want to work on when I have more free time. I'm going to be using all of the limitations and rules of the challenge. I think I can come up with something pretty cool.

I'm going to be basing my piece on Sword of Vermilion for the SEGA Genesis. If you've never played this RPG, it hasn't aged very well but I remember it fondly, especially the epic boss fights against the Arch Fiends! The music in this game is killer and the boss fights in particular has some awesome tracks



I drew up some rough concepts to help me get started as well as a reference sheet of my inspiration.

Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze!

So here it is! The next game by Retro Studios and the game I've been working on these past two years! Dixie is back, and so is David Wise (the original games composer)!!!!

Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze!



So far the reaction has been really great! We're super excited and can't wait for everyone to play the game. I've done so much work on this game that it is hard to call out anyone one piece, the same is true for other artists. In the trailer my main contribution is the snow level shown, but there are pieces in there from other artists as well. But the Temple stuff is all mine! :P

Here is the president of Retro Talking about the game:

And the producer from SPD group and Japan:

I am super proud of this game and it is to date the most passionate I've ever been about a game I've worked on! I really hope you all enjoy it!

Also... I got to meet Miyamoto-San at E3!!!!!

Substrata

Wow my last post was in March!? Well as usual things have been busy, but I've been fitting in time here and there to work on this Art Book project called Substrata. It's being organized by the amazing Paul Richards of Darksiders and Halo 4 fame (among other things)

So basically it's a no holds barred collection of art and one of the entries was concept I feel in love with by Max Gon

It's like a bad ass Pokemon evolution of a tree nut. Anyway here is my early progress of the first stage: KNOT NUT

Hey Wolf Moon...

don't cast your spell on me!

So this is from a few months back. Polycount had a Dota 2 contest to create an armor set for one of their characters. My buddy Sirio and I decided to take a crack at the Lycanthrope. However due to life and work I never got around to finishing the textures, but I figured I'd post what I had up here anyway.

These are Sirio's concepts, seriously the dude is a bad ass! Check out his stuff! Sirio Brozzi

Here are my models, the gray model is not mine. That is provided by the fine artists at Valve Software!

The contest brief called for two levels of detail

I started sculpting the detail....

And realized that the little details I was putting into it wouldn't read from a distance...

Thats about as far as I got before I had to stop. Maybe someday I'll finish this. :)