Kate Craig

2011 in Review

2012-01-03T14:13:00.000-08:00

I don't find myself doing art memes that often, which in some ways is probably a bad thing, as a number of them seem like really useful exercises. One that I do manage to complete each year is the thumbnail review, which I'm a fan of it that it tends to point out bad habits or overused colours real quick like. This one includes solely free-time work and excludes nearly all 3D pieces, as they're almost entirely created for work, and as such, not mine to post.

Yuko did a rockin' one, oh my.

2011 was a lot of fun on the art front. We, the second part of that being Ms. Carroll and I, attended TCAF, checked out some comic shops and art museums in England, had the good fortune of hanging out with the super talented comic artists of Vancouver, and between the two of us finished a number of comics and played/debated about way too many videogames.

Coming up - Quetzalcoatl be damned - attending another round of the shockingly awesome Toronto Comic Arts Festival and the smaller, newer and likely rainier Vancouver Comics Arts Festival. Also probably more videogame fanart and trying to wrap up some earlier projects, of the both two and three D variety.

One last thing on the game art front, the Dominance War results are in for character designs, and they're stunning. The only real bummer comment I might make about them is that the style that seems to win is always fairly... well, there seems to be a set look for what the judges are after - very detailed, very aggressive - and not many seem to break that mold. I just wish there was a little more charm in some of the character designs, but that's overly fussy, and the pieces created are, in a word, goddamn gorgeous.

The List

2011-11-06T10:35:00.000-08:00

Holy cats, this game.

Like a number of (lovely) people I know, I have an ongoing list of games that I'm really looking forward to in the coming year, year and a bit. Assassin's Creed, Bioshock Infinite, The Last Guardian, and Journey are all on there, and if I could pin down just one reason why, it would likely be due to the atmosphere and environmental storytelling each of these games has cultivated in the brief clips and screenshots I've seen.

Also, each has a strong singleplayer element included - something that games have been sort of veering away from for some time now. Understandably so in a lot of cases, but sort of a shame for hermits like m'self who shy away from voice chat and pick up groups and all the trappings that come along with multiplayer games.

Alright, time for waffles.

The Saddest of Skunks

2011-10-03T21:04:00.000-07:00

I ran across this skunk tonight on the way home, and felt super sorry for the little guy. He's doomed to look like a beautiful daisy until the end of days/the cup falls off. On the plus side, he didn't seem to be having trouble eating or doing... whatever it is that skunks do.

Monster eels from a D&D game that's being DM'd by Emily.

Also, Jon Klassen AKA the nicest of guys has a new book out, I Want My Hat Back. Jon's a gentleman and a scholar and everyone should own a copy of his book.

Heart of Ice (9-ish Pages)

2011-08-04T19:39:00.000-07:00

Though I've been working on this off and on over the last six months or so, a point was reached where I had to post this guy, learn from any mistakes and move on to the next project. Thanks kindly to Blambot for the font.

I went down some bizarre internet rabbit holes while looking into the wendigo/windigo mythology, but wendigo psychosis, and in particular this report is an upsetting avenue to look into, while at the same time being completely fascinating.

Also, Kenora Ontario is mentioned in a few articles as being the wendigo capital of the world. All's fair in love and cryptozoology, Kenora.

Ossuary and Float are two other comics that have been bumping around sketchbooks for awhile now, so those will likely show up in a few months. Hopefully not in another six though, oh my goodness.

Also, if you're not familiar with Brandon Graham you're missing out! Here's an interview with him that was hanging around Twitter this afternoon, and it's amazing.

Viking Study

2011-05-25T22:27:00.000-07:00

This is pretty ancient by blog standards, but I've been sorting through files recently and I realized I'd never posted it. It was my second go at a character in ZBrush (fall 2010), because - just between you and me - the first looked like some kind of ghoulish nightmare spawn.

The fur looks a little gummy nowadays, but it was good for learning.

Bath and Environs

2011-05-22T17:24:00.000-07:00

Spent some time in England last week, and it was fantastic. The jet lag, however, was less so. The city of Bath has some incredible countryside surrounding it.

Orange!

2011-04-17T12:55:00.000-07:00

In keeping with the single palette theme of the week, this morning was 'orangeish' morning, and in particular, the orange from Journey. If you haven't yet been introduced to it, Journey's a stylish game coming out, oh... I want to say this year, from That Game Company. Flower, one of their previous games, was a really interesting/beautiful bit of gameplay, but I haven't had the time to check out their earlier work just yet.

Where Did You Come From, Brushes?

2011-04-14T23:21:00.000-07:00

The compositions fell down the stairs a little, but I found two mystery brushes in the brush palette that turned out to be nine kinds of fun.

Speed paint purple mountains and Elena F. done up all in blue.

Also, less than a month until the Toronto Comic Arts Festival!

The Return of 3D

2011-03-05T21:27:00.000-08:00

3D is some tricky shenanigans, and anyone that says differently is a lying scoundrel.

With that said, Tony Cliff, who does awesome comics and equally as awesome postmortems on said comics, has been lovely enough to let me model one of his panels in Maya. I'll be spending the next few weekends trying to do his linework justice, mixed here and there with working on Heart of Ice. So far the greyblocking looks a little something like this:

Next, to finish the modeling, UVing, sculpting, texturing and then lighting, and it should end up looking like an entirely different beast. The brick texture was an early Zbrush test, but I'm going to sculpt something a little closer to the original subject matter. The sticks and shapes in the background I'm saving for next Saturday.

Emily, on the other hand, has been working on something so secretive I've been banned from looking at it for longer than a second. Preposterous.

Two Smart Ladies and Videogames

2011-02-20T21:24:00.000-08:00

Last week (as I'm perpetually late to the party) Emily introduced me to Hchom, the online home of Marian Churchland. If you haven't been before, she's a fantastic artist with a really lovely, earthy palette, and recently she's written/illustrated a series (seven to date) of posts on the subject of her ideal game.

A few games and game mechanics come to mind when initially looking through her work, but if you look at the project on the whole, it becomes something unique/fascinating in its own right, and her approached to crafting items and armour design is something I'm totally on board with.

If you have an interest in game design, I can't recommend the posts enough. I would play her game in a second, and love every goddamn second of it.

Also, if you've ever felt guilty after playing a game for a long stretch of time (or, in the case of Warcraft players, looked at your /played statistics), you should totally check out Reality is Broken, by Jane McGonigal. A really interesting take on the future of games and where they might be headed.

Heart of Ice

2011-02-17T20:15:00.001-08:00

When it comes to comics, I haven't actually done many of them in the past. Or... any, really. In addition to composition, colour, anatomy and all the other essentials of illustration, dialogue, pacing and character consistency get tossed into the mix, and it makes for an intimidating prospect. Anyone that can tackle all that, I tip my proverbial hat to you.

That said, I thought I may as well post up the first page of Heart of Ice, a thirteen page comic I'd like to try finishing this year. It's about monsters and arctic scientists from Montreal. Naturally!

Environment Sculpts

2011-02-06T22:58:00.001-08:00

Two environment sculpts for some textures I'm experimenting with outside of work. Nothing fancy, but hopefully they'll come together in a scene at a later date.

3D aside, my Photoshopfriend and girlfriend, Emily Carroll, was nominated for a Joe Shuster award last week. If there's anything more exciting than being nominated for a Shuster, it's watching someone be nominated for a Shuster, which is a delight. Congrats to all the shortlisted and nominated!

New Brush Test

2011-01-24T22:20:00.000-08:00

Despite the fact that I have a number of Photoshop brushes downloaded, they aren't used nearly as much as they should be. A quick and (more or less) monochromatic test.

Sketch Post

2011-01-07T18:50:00.000-08:00

Sketches! Older ones, admittedly, but sketches all the same. The beasty creature is a guardian from the Uncharted series, and the trees and plants and things were originally part of a 3D design pack that I was messing with last year.

Also, check it out! Giant strawberry!

Those Hieroglyphics Say Absolute Nonsense

2010-12-14T17:03:00.000-08:00

I don't think my sister checks this blog, so hopefully I can get away with posting this. She asked for a print for Christmas, and since they've had something like four feet of snow down thataway, she gets a picture of something a little toastier.

Mahsuri: Page Four

2010-11-28T13:49:00.000-08:00

I've given a little thought to whether this should be a well-researched, accurate representation of Malaysia, or take a more fantastical approach. As the story is centered around magical realism, however, I'm going to shoot for the latter. Which in this case means purple and turquoise shrubs. Essentially, it's Malaysia in the way that Prince of Persia takes place in Persia.

Also, experimenting with new fonts and positioning. In the end, I think previous pages are going to go this route.

Twitter PSA

2010-10-10T13:03:00.000-07:00

I don't post too too often - maybe once every few days - but if you're on Twitter and don't mind hearing about illustration-based things, videogame delight and cursing about 3D applications, my username is koalaparty! With things the way they are right now (AKA a little busy with work projects) I might not have all that much to post up here in the next few weeks.

Also, you should probably visit the blog of Alexandria Neonakis, because her stuff is absolutely wonderful.

Happy Thanksgiving Canadian ladies and gents!

Help Pakistan Commission

2010-10-04T23:06:00.001-07:00

This week I'm attempting to finish off a commission (for the nicest person, oh my goodness), and while one of the characters isn't present in this version due to some revisioning about, I thought it might be nice to share regardless. The commission itself was part of a project to help raise money for Pakistan, and the money went to the Canadian Red Cross.

Portrait-Dex

2010-09-24T23:47:00.000-07:00

My friend Steve is doing a great project on Tumblr! It's a place for cartoonists and illustrators to submit self portraits, but drawn as Pokemon. Admittedly I haven't played my copy of Diamond in a few years now, but that's just between you and me.

Featuring the talents of so many awesome artists, and it's only just started!

(Haha, my ban on yellow-green didn't last long at all.)

Sans Line Art

2010-09-09T23:04:00.000-07:00

Originally I had plans (see: schemes) of doing a character model, but it seems like nothing makes it past base meshes in the last little while. Or, in this case, the T-pose planning stage. Colour practice again! I'm banning the chartreuse/teal colour combination from this house from now on. BANNING.

Composition, Don't Be Like That

2010-08-26T22:09:00.000-07:00

The sketch below is not about to win any pageants, but it's a starting point for page four in the Langkawi story - and more importantly - a visual aid. Because honestly, I would love some advice. Love it like crows love staring creepily from the top of stop signs.

Long story short, I've always been super clumsy at composing shots. I'm trying to improve the readability and general feel of the composition, as this page introduces a character that creates the story's main conflict. I need to hit the following story beats with the page:

a) The introduction of said new character.

b) Establishing the town and townspeople.

c) Creating a scenario in which Mahsuri would meet the new character, and find him a likeable kind of chap.

d) Keeping the setting as Malaysian as possible, while still keeping to the general (cartoonish) tone of the world.

So far this version of the page (as lo, there have been many) covers all the bases, but comes across without any real flow to it. The focus, Mahsuri and sidekick, are just sort of hanging out in the middle, and many of the elements lack real contrast when it comes to size. Also, the low-contrast foreground framing was done in page three, and doing the same thing twice in a row seems like a one-trick pony kind of deal. ...plus, now that I think about it, I had a super similar shot in the Prince of Persia storybook from last year. Oof.

Some of the problems could be solved with colour, shadows and contrast, but others - are the children on the ground his? - need a different approach entirely. I think part of the answer lies with spokewheeling, as James Gurney puts it, but doing it without falling back on one point perspective again is really tricky for me.

All that said, if you've got a spare minute and any suggestions, I would love it to tiny bits.

The tiniest.

Page Three

2010-08-02T19:53:00.001-07:00

Also, Emily Carroll's Picture Book Report has been posted! For an illustration all about shapes, there sure is some lovely line work in there.

Mahsuri: Page Two

2010-07-21T23:27:00.000-07:00

Just ten more to go! :)

New Layout, Green is the New White

2010-07-04T14:15:00.000-07:00

The default Blogspot layout, while nice and clean, was a bit cramped when it came to posting images. I'm going to try this new format out for a little while and see if it works, but in the meantime, page one of twelve from a storybook project I'm working on for a Malaysian folk tale.

Also, happy Independence Day to everyone south of the border!

Ezio Auditore - Assassin's Creed

2010-05-15T13:41:00.000-07:00

Final Demo Reel

2010-05-10T12:44:00.000-07:00

Kate Craig - Environment Reel from Kate Craig on Vimeo.

Gladiators of the Game Industry - Piranha Games

2010-04-30T09:52:00.000-07:00

There was a sculpting challenge recently on Polycount with the main theme being gladiators of the gaming industry, and participants were challenged to create a warrior character based on a game developer's name. So like, say, Rockstar or Blizzard, only personified as the ass-kicking sort.

There were some awesome entries, but seeing as the end of term is about three weeks away, I just messed around in 2D.

Rock Practice

2010-04-24T16:06:00.000-07:00

Zbrush practice, like eating Wheaties, helps you grow big and strong.

The Art of Persuasion

2010-04-18T20:09:00.000-07:00

May 7th is our final grad show and party in Digital Animation, but it looks like the Game Developer's Conference (aka GDC Canada) is happening that night as well.

Fear not, fellow students! I've created an invite that will not only persuade those handsome and/or lovely game devs to come visit us downtown, but will wow them into letting us all find work at their fine studios.

Behold!

Demo Reel Progress 2

2010-04-11T14:11:00.000-07:00

After about a week of non-stop crashes and the loss of some assets, my scene has finally started to cooperate again. I'm not entirely sure what caused the problems, and even worse, I'm not sure what fixed them, but it's finally at the point where I can start rendering and compositing tests. Let's never fight again, Maya.

Less than a month until grad show! As the British government would say, keep calm and carry on, bro.

Demo Reel Progress

2010-03-19T15:08:00.000-07:00

There are a few placeholder textures in there, and the props and small plants are yet to come, but it's on the way.

A Cart!

2010-03-10T11:38:00.000-08:00

A cart prop for the demo reel. The demo reel which is going slowly, but still trucking along. Realistically, I think the prop needs more rocket launchers and sharks strapped to it, and some dogs with bees in their mouths, and when they bark they shoot bees.

Next time for sure.

Planes with Pinups

2010-03-07T11:10:00.000-08:00

This is actually from a week or two ago while I was hiding inside from the Olympic crowds, which were pretty insane on the size front. Some retro travel poster fan art for the Uncharted series! I love that plane's design. Style for miles.

Street Corner Environment

2010-03-02T14:22:00.001-08:00

2010-02-27T14:27:00.000-08:00

I've kept doing the ten minute dailies since starting a few weeks ago, but I'm not sure how interesting they are in terms of blog subject matter (woo more rocks!), so I'm only going to post the odd one here and there.

And, because we're supposed to keep up with demo reel updates, I found out the hard way over the reading week that my home computer just doesn't have the horsepower or monitor size to work on 3D projects properly. Cintiq, come back reeeeaaaaach

Flickr Credit: Explore the Bruce

Happy 20th Birthday, Photoshop!

2010-02-20T13:54:00.001-08:00

Oh, Adobe Photoshop. I remember coming home from school as a youth at the age of 15 and drawing awful, embarrassing fan art on you for hours and hours.

HOW LITTLE HAS CHANGED.

Many happy returns, you lovely piece of software, you.

San Francisco Street Corner

2010-02-15T16:18:00.000-08:00

I've been trying to make a street corner this weekend out of modular pieces, and so far it hasn't exploded or had too much wonkiness going on. It's a pretty straightforward design right now, but I'm hoping I can get back to it in a bit and throw some other props and textures at it. Either way, it's good practice!

Edit: Haha, holy cats that stop sign is a beast.

Ten Minute Dailies

2010-02-13T16:50:00.000-08:00

Reference credit:
Flickr Users: ImageMaker57, María Julia, LilFr38

Ten Minute Dailies - Happy Little Rocks

2010-02-07T18:43:00.000-08:00

Craig, our amazing and super dashing program coordinator/teacher* has been stressing the importance of daily 2D work in and amongst all the 3D, so I've been trying to do a little ten minute painting each day. They're not particularly fantastic right now, and some of the colour palettes are downright high, but I'm hoping that if I post them once a week, I'll be able to look back in a year and be absolutely horrified at how bad I was.

This week it turns out that I really liked rocks. Also, blue skies.

Also, some of these are based off reference I've shot personally, but some of them are grabbed randomly from the web. If you happen to see an image that's based off of your photo, internet, let me know and I'll totally give credit where it's due/take 'er down. Going forward I'll be sure to link to the original.

*cough totally not fishing for A's cough cough

Adobe Illustrator, You Handsome Bastard

2010-02-05T10:30:00.000-08:00

My sketchbook has been neglected this week in lieu of 3D projects and texturing*, so hopefully I can get away with posting older work. This card was one of nine illustrations for a poster design at a friend's place of work.

*also videogames

Vera I Am Stealing Your Old Trees

2010-01-24T23:05:00.000-08:00

How do faun legs work? How do they even cross their damned legs? One of life's great mysteries.

Unfinished, because that is how I rooooolll.

Environment WIP 2

2010-01-22T19:33:00.000-08:00

Slowly getting bigger! It should look a little nicer once all the plants and set dressing pieces are in, but for the meantime, structures abound.

Must Learn To Use Focus Pulls Aaaahh

2010-01-21T09:50:00.001-08:00

I meant to post this a few days ago, but then I mucked it up and had to delete it. A piece of fan art for Warcraft, though not my character, no sir and or ma'am. She's a picture for a nice gal here on the internet.

Week One - Demo Reel

2010-01-08T09:04:00.001-08:00

2010 means demo reel time! For the next four months I'll be working away at environments, learning to make things real purdy and compositing them into a neat little package.

I'm hoping to have two environments created by the end of the school year, with the first being a more realistic setting from Istanbul in the 1500's. So far the project is a whole three days in, but the environment, she will look better soon.

Art Books? You Shouldn't Have!

2009-12-26T08:31:00.000-08:00

If I was on my game, -yesterday- would have been sketchblog updating day. Unfortunately (or fortunately), there was chocolate to eat and research to do for demo reels. In addition to that, I was given two amazing art books for Christmas, Imaginative Realism, by James Gurney, and The Art of Kung Fu Panda, which is absolutely gorgeous, and full of the nicest character sketches around.

James Gurney was my favourite illustrator growing up, and his book is pretty much insane. If you don't have it and you draw fantastical subject matter, then you're totally missing out. Also, he seems like a really nice guy. When I was doing illustration research in art school he was thoughtful enough to not only respond to my letter, but also send a sample of his client mailing card for reference. Very cool.

Gus' Dock

2009-12-19T09:36:00.001-08:00

Holy cats. Three weeks of dreaming about fishing lines and 3D interfaces are over! This is a screencap from a short film (about a minute thirty) that my group made at school for an end of term project. We still have some tweaking to do, but for just under three weeks of work, I think it's pretty awesome.

Created with the artistic stylings of Bruce Chang, Eric Emard, Shyh Chai, and Eduardo Dioses.

Edit: Here's the YouTube link!

Friday Post #4

2009-11-27T09:21:00.001-08:00

More docks!

Gus' Dock

2009-11-24T22:46:00.000-08:00

Quick colour tests for a short film I'm helping with at school. My team's great, and I have a sneaking suspicion that it's going to end up being awesome.

Almost Huggable

2009-11-18T21:33:00.000-08:00

Post Nevada... Post

2009-11-15T21:47:00.000-08:00

Nevada's a pretty cool place as it turns out. The surrounding country is gorgeous, and I could've spent much more time in the Valley of Fire, but had to be content with just a day.

An older sketch from a few months ago, but I still like it.

Purple Arches

2009-11-08T10:19:00.000-08:00

Part of a book project that I'm attempting for fun. There are figures in the final copy, but I don't like the image nearly as much when they're in.

Also, this week I'm in Las Vegas at a wedding! Pretty exciting! I'll bump the blog update to the day before, or just slightly after returning on Monday.

Friday Post #3

2009-10-30T09:11:00.000-07:00

This one's not showing up very well on Blogger; it cuts off part of the side so I'm going to link to it for the time being instead.

A series of native American character designs, based on 1850-1930 reference from books and such. They're not all completely accurate, costume wise, but I'm mucking about until I can pin down something final.

Z Sculpt - Moose Head

2009-10-29T13:23:00.000-07:00

A prop for the environment in the last post, which is being done as part of a group project in class. The more pictures of moose I look at, the more they all seem to have different features. Overall though, they're adorable, goony looking animals.

Friday Post #2

2009-10-16T08:55:00.000-07:00

Oof! Blogger doesn't do a fantastic job of displaying images; in the future I'm going to need to find a workaround.

This layout was from our drawing and design class this week. Needs more rampaging yetis, frankly.

Flats and Textures

2009-10-11T09:29:00.000-07:00

Fanart for the newest Prince of Persia game.

Friday Post #1

2009-10-02T22:22:00.000-07:00

Scheherazade from One Thousand and One Nights, which is a great, if somewhat crazy, book.

Retro Stripes, Activate!

2009-09-30T22:08:00.000-07:00

That New Blog Smell

2009-09-27T10:39:00.000-07:00

Howdy,

I've had an art blog or two before, but typically because of limited time I haven't managed to be very good at posting regularly. But! I'm hoping that with the advent of school and its many assignments that that will change a little. I'm going to aim for a post every other Friday, so uh, let's do this thing! Starting with an in-class assignment for creating an ancient Egyptian throne prop.

Kate Craig

2011 in Review

The List

The Saddest of Skunks

Heart of Ice (9-ish Pages)

Viking Study

Bath and Environs

Orange!

Where Did You Come From, Brushes?

The Return of 3D

Two Smart Ladies and Videogames

Heart of Ice

Environment Sculpts

New Brush Test

Sketch Post

Those Hieroglyphics Say Absolute Nonsense

Mahsuri: Page Four

Twitter PSA

Help Pakistan Commission

Portrait-Dex

Sans Line Art

Composition, Don't Be Like That

Page Three

Mahsuri: Page Two

New Layout, Green is the New White

More on the Topic of Art Books

Ezio Auditore - Assassin's Creed

Final Demo Reel

Gladiators of the Game Industry - Piranha Games

Rock Practice

The Art of Persuasion

Demo Reel Progress 2

Demo Reel Progress

A Cart!

Planes with Pinups

Street Corner Environment

Happy 20th Birthday, Photoshop!

San Francisco Street Corner

Ten Minute Dailies

Ten Minute Dailies - Happy Little Rocks

Adobe Illustrator, You Handsome Bastard

Vera I Am Stealing Your Old Trees

Environment WIP 2

Must Learn To Use Focus Pulls Aaaahh

Week One - Demo Reel

Art Books? You Shouldn't Have!

Gus' Dock

Friday Post #4

Gus' Dock

Almost Huggable

Post Nevada... Post

Purple Arches

Friday Post #3

Z Sculpt - Moose Head

Friday Post #2

Flats and Textures

Friday Post #1

Retro Stripes, Activate!

That New Blog Smell