RKTBlog

Since I listen to iTunes while I’m drawing and exercising every day, I have a tendency to listen to a song or album until I wear it out too quickly.  So I’m constantly on the lookout for new music.  The self-titled album of Norwegian singer, Annie, was one of these recent purchases.  It took me a little while to warm up to her, but slowly I’m finding the charm in her breezy, bubble gum pop.

Indeed, a song off her old album, Chewing Gum , describes her sound perfectly. Upon finding the video on Youtube today, I realized that I have heard this song before, and it just wafted through my mind without leaving much of an imprint. But now, I get it, and perhaps I like the video even more. It’s simple, but clever.

I probably should have posted these before yesterday’s color studies, as they came earlier the process, and the final Flash module matches the layout of the color studies.   Still, I  like these drawings, so I thought I’d post them as well.  They’re looser than most of my concept work, and a good study in mood, a good match for the serious subject matter.

Here is some concept art I made a while ago for my friend Eric, who owns his own multimedia company called Clearly Trained.  Clearly Trained (formerly known as Living Children) specializes in creating Flash modules for educational and training purposes.    We’ve worked together since we both graduated from the Columbus College of Art and Design in 2001.  Eric is one of my favorite people to collaborate with, and I’m very proud of the work we’ve done together over the years.

This particular piece was for a module based on a children’s book named “Freedom on the Menu”, which deals with the civil rights movement in the 1960’s.

Mike’s had the TV locked down on ESPN this whole week while the Australian Open has been going on, so  I started doing some quick sketches of tennis players.  Here’s one of the better ones.

Here’s a recent sketch I made while sipping coffee at Philz near the Castro.

A friend sent me and Mike a link to an article on the BBC website which used a picture of our Short North mural in Columbus. Kinda depressing subject matter- the housing crisis (and apparently they need a better editor.  They refer to the man and woman in American Gothic as a “couple”.  They’re actually father and daughter.)  Still, cool beans!  We’re international celebrities! ;D

Makes me a little sad to see the mural in its current state, though.  Unfortunately, its color has faded a bit since we originally painted it in 2002.  Worse yet, the folks who commissioned it glazed over the bottom half with an anti-graffiti coating which has degraded over time and covered it in a black haze.  Regardless, it’s amazing to know we left our mark behind us.

Click here to read the BBC article.

I haven’t shown off a robot in a while- except for the sexy lady robots (2)… they don’t count.  That’s a different series entirely.  For those of you who’ve followed me for a while, here’s a quick little sketch of one I did tonight in the old style of a guy named “Burnbot”.    Click to embiggen.

Another concept piece from Merchants of Brooklyn: This monstrous tangle of wires and monitors is the Jumbotron, which hangs above the fighting pit, waiting to come crashing down and let the fighters escape.

Here’s another piece of concept work for Merchants of Brooklyn.  It’s of the same building as my previous post, but from the opposite angle.  The fighting pit is on one end of the building, the casino on the other.

Sorry I haven’t posted in a while. Things have been busy at Pixar, so whatever free time I have is usually spent drawing these days. I’ve got a few things in the backlog to post, however, so over the next few days, hopefully I can keep the entries coming.

Here’s an environment I designed while I was at Liquid for a game called Merchants of Brooklyn.

This concept piece was drawn at the very start of development.  It shows a pit fighting area of a futuristic casino.  At the beginning of 2008, the developer, Paleo Entertainment, was looking to create a demo to build up interest among publishers. A big trade show was happening in the near future, so we had only a month to crank out an entire level. The game was finally launched not too long ago.

The overall look of the game has changed a lot since I worked on it, but I was pleased at how the designs came out. They weren’t drawn in my typical style; part of my job on the project was to help establish a look for the game. It was a challenge, but one that I welcomed!