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.

"The Call" variations, 2006

Portfolio piece from that I had surprising trouble with. This unassuming older guy is a sleeper cell killer cyborg working days at a meat counter, until one day he answers the phone and before you know it, it's killing time.

I had trouble locking down how I wanted to sell the arms unraveling to reveal the skeletal razor hands beneath. None of them are meant to be "realistic," as the skin is synthetic, but it was interesting to explore different approaches. Several of these versions are unreleased.

Color study - Ashley Wood

X-Com sketches

Just some conservative takes on the X-Com soldiers and Skyranger-1. Never got around to doing the heavy armor; some day.

Quake Tributes 2006

These were done in 2006 as I was learning Painter IX. (I realize now I've already posted them on this site, but that was years ago). I found trying to do a new concept and come to grips with a new program's workflow and personality was counterproductive, so I ended up just painting some favorite old Quake characters with minor changes to their designs along the way.

The Mynx picture is previously unreleased; I was always intending on finishing it but it looks just fine to me now. Bonus sketch included.

(Full disclosure: Sorlag is not a favorite character.)

Tribute to Cryostasis

Tribute to Old Man Murray (missing 10th anniversary)

Concept tagging 13 and others: May 2007

Old portfolio ident; sketchbook scans

Sketches done over winter/spring of '06/07 in Japan, Singapore, Thailand.