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.

The Life Cycle of the Surge

I’ve always been really interested in life cycles, especially insects. All creatures grow and change, but insects go through drastic transformations… an egg, to a larva, to pupa or chrysalis and then adult. I find this especially interesting in science fiction, too, some of my favorite movies being the “Alien” films.

SURGE is an homage to “Aliens” no doubt about that, but I try not to rehash the same thing. Giant bug looking things in space are nothing new, but coupled with some of the ideas currently under development I might touch on some original ideas, or so I hope. At least the game will be fun.

Random Robot

Concept Sketch

I’ve had this idea (a whole series of ideas actually) about an epic board game which I’ve been piecing together in my head for a while. This is a sketch of an under water vessel that functions as an important part of the game. It is called the DR 01, or “Darwin” as a nickname.