May/102
Alan Wake
If you’ve been hurting for a good Silent Hill game to come out, you’ll probably enjoy Alan Wake. In fact the more I played it the more I became convinced that the makers of Silent Hill: Shattered Memories ripped it off.
I know SH:SM came out first, but Alan Wake was in production for 4 years, and there was a good chunk of info on it as well as footage and images during that time. Of course this long production cycle shines through in what is inarguably a gorgeously designed game. Even though the levels are linear this fact is expertly disguised, and the game never feels limiting or repetitive. And where it may not be as scary as an SH game, it is as intense. Too bad it’s kinda short with little to no replay value.
Apr/100
Art – Mountain Elf
So this is no particular character, I just wanted to finalize the design for this variety of elf. The costume was inspired by Thai hill tribes like the Akha people, and… a John Galliano fashion show.
The creative process is weird sometimes.
Apr/102
Inks Timelapse 3
Here’s another quick timelapse video. No voice over or anything fancy for this one, just the inks for my recent artwork. You will notice I’m using the rotation option in Manga Studio this time. It does help, after all if I were traditionally inking I’d be flipping the paper this way and that constantly.
Mar/101
Art – Desert Elf
There I go trying to get even the fraction of the texture of traditional art in digital again.
Mar/100
More On Coloring
My second coloring timelapse that doubles as a tutorial! My Rhode Island accent comes out BAD in this one, see if you can spot where I slip into it. I did slice and dice the footage on this one a bit because I didn’t want to make another 10 minute long video. I’ll try to keep them around 6 – 8 minutes now.
Sorry that it’s a bit jumpy at the beginning, getting used to some new capture software. Stick with it, it smooths out!
Feb/106
Coloring Tutorial & Timelapse
This is my most complicated video yet! I even have voice over now! Footage and audio taken over several days, this would have been done sooner but… heh… um… Mass Effect 2 came out.
This video comes close to 10 minutes long, but I pop in now and then to explain some techniques I use or why I’m doing certain things and narrate while constantly losing my train of thought, so hopefully it’s informative to someone out there.
And here’s the finished image:
If you like, feel free to comment! I crave feedback!
Jan/107
Mass Effect 2
So Mass Effect 2 came out on the 26th. I got it at a midnight launch and played it until 6:00 am. I have since been playing it at least 2 or 3 hours a day. Suffice to say… I like it.
I found the first Mass Effect pretty addictive too, which is strange because I don’t really like sci-fi, especially Star Trek-esque space operas. And that’s exactly what Mass Effect is. And yet these games suck me right in, it helps that you can design and direct your own Commander Shepard, getting to pretty much decide who this person is. And I have to say when I got to see my Shepard again (because you can import your ME1 character) I was elated. I guess I got pretty attached to her over the course of the first game, and she hasn’t changed. She’s still a Vanguard and still a crazily equal mix of Paragon and Renegade.
Jan/106
Digital Ink Timelapse 2: The Artist’s Bane
I was really struggling with this drawing. You don’t see the very beginning of it because I thought I shouldn’t record it. But then it occurred to me: timelapses make people look far more competent than they really are so it might be fun to watch me messing up and erasing and getting frustrated as artists do (also didn’t help I was working on that arm like an hour and a half before I had to go to work.) So that’s basically the beginning of the video. This one comes in at a whopping 6 1/2 minutes as the rest of it is nearly the entire drawing so it’s twice as long as the last two, but it’s also funnier so I hope you enjoy it!

