Thursday, December 12, 2013

2D Art - Fall 2013

Ugh, has it really been 2 months since my last post? (This isn't going to become the common theme of my blog, I swear!) This year is really flying by! I've just been so busy working on things that I keep forgetting to post them on here. Since I've got so many new things to share, get ready for a lengthy post!

The biggest news is that we finally finished our first project at Hyrax Games. The Amazing Jungle Rescue has finished testing and it's now ready to go. We're currently exploring various distribution options, so it should be available for download very shortly. Here's a promotional trailer. Don't forget to check out the website for more info!

The Amazing Jungle Rescue - Official Trailer from Hyrax Games on Vimeo.


In the meantime, I've continued working on improving my portfolio. I've been bouncing back and forth between 2D and 3D, so I think I'll separate those into two different posts. This one will focus on 2D and next week I'll share some of my recent 3D work.

First up is a sprite animation I did a while back. This is Shaw from a series that Michelle and I created called The Nays. I'd like to expand this into a lengthier pixel-animated scene with backgrounds and other characters, but it's not really one of my top priorities right now.



Another thing I've been working on is User Interfaces. I feel like I do UI-related work all the time, but for some reason that section on my portfolio was looking embarrassingly bare. So I decided it would be fun to make a mockup UI for a game concept that I created back in college called Freedom Disc Extreme. It's a medieval themed ultimate frisbee game that I'd love to turn into a reality someday if I ever had the technical know-how to make it work. So below is a sample of the UI that would appear in game, with a short animation explaining what everything is and how it would animate.



Freedom Disc Extreme - UI Mockup from Steve Rakar on Vimeo.

Recently I went on a reference pose downloading spree, adding about 200 new pictures to my collection. I've been trying to force myself to do some gesture drawings, since improving anatomy is always a good idea. This isn't the kind of thing I normally share with people, but if you like seeing unfinished work and ugly process sketches, then check it out! The bottom right one I'm planning to turn into a full-fledged painting, but it's still very far from completion right now so I won't even bother posting it just yet.



And lastly, here is some rough concept art from a new game project that I'm starting up. With the new Unity 4.3 update, I've become very interested in creating a 2D platformer in the engine. I've had a pretty cool idea brewing around in my head for a while now, but I won't go into too much of the details. Just know it's going to have a very Toe Jam & Earl vibe. This is the planned design for the main character.



And that pretty much sums up my 2D work for the past month or two. Stay tuned next week for a sample of my recent 3D art!