MrDoodles

When I've got the task of the next LlamaLAN poster, I try to draw on as many inspirational sources as I have available. Anyone who's familiar with the themes of any previous event will know where we begin - the number. Cyberdrac has always been very good at digging out a whole load of numeric-based references corresponding to our next event's sequence number; this list is often enough to get started.

I also have a few decisions to make. Not all of them I make alone. The LlamaLAN 8 poster was a brilliant example of a poster that went through quite a bit of consultation with the rest of the LlamaLAN team. Perhaps I'll post up the strip of first-draft-to-final images in a separate post sometime soon, to fill the gap.

I like to evolve what I do artisticly in line with how the LAN events themselves continue to mold into better and better shapes. LlamaLAN 11's poster is going to have quite a number of elements - more than any LAN poster before it - and here's where the decisions come in. How the hell do I fit everything on a portrait-oriented sheet of A3? How will they interact? What gives me the best drama? How can I be sure I have room for the titles?

Once I have this sorted in the form of VERY rough draft layouts in A4, I set to work on the A3 piece - what will eventually become the final line-art. I recently worked out the stages I go through for one of our discussions concerning LAN 11:

1. Basic lightweight wireframing in pencil
2. Final pencil outlining of all final line work, and erasing of any leftovers
3. Inking over these lines with Sakura Microns, adding depth and all remaining minor details
4. The fun act of colouring and enhancement effects in Photoshop

I'm currently working through the first stage of the poster and realised it might be fun to keep this blog updated with glimpses of the work so far. You'll have to wait till the final product to see the whole thing.

I hope that LlamaLAN 11's poster will be representative of how our work just gets better and better!

Clan FTD had a killer of a 'Goldrush' finale in our first WPTF2L Season 3 game against SSQ. It was so cool, I felt inspired to do a full on epic movie based on the demo footage!

Goldrush is a TF2 map wherein the Blue team focus all effort on moving a cart, filled with a ridiculous looking bomb, through three zones while Red try desperately to stop them. The final capture point is actually an atomic pit, filled with radioactive barrels, that will explode should the cart descend upon them.

Took me two weeks of all spare time which should have been focussed on other more necessary things, really. A bit silly of me. Still, it's done, and it's a darn fun video to behold.



If you fancy a preview or aren't fussed about full screen action, here's the YouTube version. This has been reduced in length because YouTube doesn't take videos longer than 10 minutes. The final version is actually 11 minutes and 8 seconds, so just consider that!



Enjoy!

It is but a gleam in my eye at the moment, but I'm hoping to make great progress this weekend.

The subtitle of LLXI is 'Turn it up to eleven'. Since Spinal Tap coined this phrase, it's come to mean 'take it to the extreme'. I'm attempting to follow this directive in the next poster design. The major challenge this time has not been what to do, but how to fit all the elements I want to while a) not making the image too crammed, and b) achieving an essential asthetic balance.

And I really want this one to blow your socks off...

Due to my work on LlamaLAN's posters, art has become a hobby. Since joining the http://www.incrysis.com forum community, shortly before completing the LlamaLAN VIII poster, I've been posting in their Off Topic Wallpapers & Art board each time I've completed a poster for LlamaLAN.

This eventually got me a commission from one of the forum admins for a picture of a Crysis chicken, but in a nanosuit.

Work like this, particularly when I posted the LlamaLAN IX set of posters, got the attention of a mod team leader known as the mysterious Taowolf. His team 'Wolfpack Designs' were seeking concept artists to assist with a mod they're building called 'The Creation: Aude Sapere'. It's certainly a very ambitious project, but one with some very talented people, and it's a project that I'm actually quite enjoying being a part of.

The story concerns a period of time when humanity is under the rule of the aliens we saw in the first Crysis game. Our hero starts out as one of the special forces used to eliminate the last remnants of any rebellious camps. I can reveal no more.

Anyway, to date I've completed two projects for them. The first was an image of a wolf for their modellers to make an animated ident for the team. The second was the concept artwork for the hand pistol(s) our hero will be wielding in the course of the mod's storyline. In this age of alien rule, the pistols are meant to display an 'alien flair'.

Now, I enjoy a challenge and I rather like the challenge of branching into something different. I've not done concept artwork of something technical to the degree of professionalism I wanted to dedicate to this work, so was looking forward to getting my hands on such a brief.

In my opinion, the result so far is very pleasing.

BUT! I'm not posting anything until our king and master Taowolf releases an update to the community that includes any work of mine, nor till the design is agreed and confirmed. Till then... well, you probably don't care too much. But you will, I'll make damned sure of it!

edit: The concept has been accepted and a modeller is working on it, so click the thumb for the finished product.

LlamaLAN has been an aspect of my activities since 2002, and is certainly moving from strength to strength. Each time a LlamaLAN event takes place, they seem to get better - and that's judging by the feedback we get! Kanonfodda, the LAN's webcoder, has released the blogs feature of the site. Now, regulars are able to have their own blog hosted on their favourite LAN website. That's here, by the way. If nothing else, this'll be a great place for the LAN staff to let the community know what else is going on that isn't quite 'newsworthy'.

I intend to keep this up to date with any personal news concerning computing, my activities online, gaming, and pertinently my art projects. I dabble in areas outside of drawing llamas (but not much!)