MGS soldier concept studies

I admire the work of Masao Tsubasa on Metal Gear Acid; it's not an easy thing to play second fiddle to Yoji Shinkawa, doing art for an MGS game.

Studying some of the concepts here I was a reminded what a deceptively light touch many Japanese artists bring to their concept work--obviously they produce a lot of finished images, a lot of press images, but as a game developer I'm more drawn to the simple, workmanlike but extremely accurate/elegant colored line drawings. You see this style often in Japanese game design, even for design related to films or television shows.

Below is my own MGS-alike design with a few different attempts at color schemes. It's a rough first outing, the quality of the linework just isn't there yet. But I'd like to continue in this style for certain illustrations; once I master it, it'll be a lot faster way to produce concepts that meet certain needs.

Wise Man

Filthy Thirteen

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filthy_Thirteen

Concept Tagging 13: Day-Glo, 2007

Werewolves, 2005

Even earlier work with Painter IX. I forget who commissioned these, but they asked for werewolf designs. I wanted them creepier and more on the human side of things rather than the wolf side, so I did the male and female. The third picture was done, as I recall, when whoever I was doing them for wanted them a more animalistic take.