Safari in Oregon

So I drove to Oregon last weekend with my friend Maria for my friend Aaron’s wedding. On the way we saw a sign that said something about a Safari park. It was the most amazing thing. Unfortunately I was driving so I could only snap a few pictures whenever we stopped. But the way it works is you actually drive your car into the pens with the animals. I’m talking rhinosauruses, giraffe’s, grizzly bears, all kinds of animals. It was amazing. Here are the best of mine that actually turned out.

(Sad side note: My battery died before we got the the really interesting animals, but I still think what I got turned out nice, photo wise.)

A Lot Can Happen

When I first got this blog, I was very excited about it. I tried to post something every few days to really get my creative side going. But then life strikes and I start feeling the major levels of distraction seep in. Well, I’m back and I have new stuff to put up here.

First of all, here’s a shot of a bunch of little miniatures I recently painted. I’ll take some closer shots soon, when I get around to setting up a nice display.

These are from a GREAT little game called Nexus Ops which I might say is one of my favorites. It feels, in theme, very similar to StarCraft. But its a board game in which players represent corporations strip mining an alien world of its valuable resource (rubium) with the help of “enlisted” indigenous species. I love the game but the unpainted pieces are difficult to look at, due to their slightly transparent nature, which makes them look more like gummy snacks then usable playing pieces. I intend to paint all the rest of the pieces, right now I only have the blue guys done.

At work I often have little flashes of inspiration. I don’t know exactly how this character came to me, but I’ve had an idea for a while to make a board game that feels either like some sort of futuristic sport or like an old SNES game. So this guy might be the main character in a game of this nature. Just a concept sketch really, touched up in photoshop.

This is a storyboard sketched by Jon Schaferkotter for his next film. I might be helping my taking his sketches and sprucing them up with my tablet, doing some inking and color in Photoshop, Flash, and Corel Painter. Heres my first attempt:

Not too shabby. I’d like to experiment more to get a better look with my drawing / coloring. I cruise around on Deviant Art and stuff and see such amazing work. If I could be half as good as some of the artists out there, I’d be happy. Still lots to learn.

GUB ADVENTURES

So, this is a project I’ve been working on for some time now…

Shown Above: Mock-up hand made Gub pawns, gem markers, and custom dice

GUB ADVENTURES has gone through several iterations, which I feel is a very normal thing if you’re trying to create something. This is to be an adventure board game set in the world of the GUBS. It has under gone three major revisions and seen endless experimentation. My good friend and fellow game designer Matt Griffin has helped me a great deal, and at the moment I am preparing a playable prototype so we can get to the fun part : endless hours of play-testing!

I’m pretty excited about this project. It will be a major jump for GUBS and give the fans of GUBS something new to play with, plus flesh out so much of the world that is only hinted at in the card game.

Photography

This is a photo I took today, playing around with my camera. There is a lot to learn on that thing so I’m trying to learn by doing.