speedy_ship

Its been a while! As many know I started a new job at 'Futurlab' recently, and with all the job stuff and moving house and settling I haven't really had an opportunity to do any odd works in my spare time! Well tonight the net broke so I figured I'd spend a bit of time. I think I was at this nigh on 45 in total i guess-maybe less. A little rusty on the speedpainting, hopefully get round to more in the coming months, cheers!

Moonbase concept

Standoff

Stylised druid

Thought I'd mix things up by working in a different style. More cartoony and colourful...it's ok-have not done stuff like this for a long time as I've been concentrating on my speed-painting and realism. Was very aware i was tightening up when i was doing it, which has made aspects very forced and flat in some cases-mainly cuz i was been more mindful of the style rather than what I was doing. I'll do another soon with a more dynamic pose, think that will help things....i think i was fighting to make a boring pose look interesting...Right! Gunna redeem myself this weekend with a 'boss(street lingo)' posed character!

Outpost

Spent the afternoon on this. I started with the top quarter as the composition but realised quite quickly into the sketch that it was kind of boring so I extended the canvas waaay out and knocked up a duplicate, to help the depth. Could probably add a couple more tiny elements but I'll look at it with fresh eyes tomorrow...
Cheers

Industrial sketch

Just a sketch today. Have been ill with the flu this past week so just looking to get back into things with something that isn't really... anything :D wanted to go with quite a muted realistic palette. Maybe it's my mood or maybe it's the weather outside...

Some Great news though from a couple of days ago: I came runner-up with an honourable mention in MPC's digital Matte Painting Contest which was run on www.mattepainting.org. Really chuffed! :P

ORC character art

'Giant Orc' ,character art.

Scifi takeoff

scifi sketches

...wasn't quite sure what i should be doing today so decided to mess about with some brief compositions. Focusing here mainly on shapes, depth and lighting. I maaaaay work the top one up tomorrow.....

colour sketch

loosen up with a quick colour sketch..

Feral-Knight

Knight Sketch

Was just sketching and ended up here, will leave it for now and come back tomorrow so I can see everything that's wrong :D

New Website

Have re-done the website after I wiped the dust off the veeeery old one! Check it out:

www.chrisgoff.co.uk

Young Solid Snake

Meant to do this yesterday but was having a fight with HTML and JavaScript trying to code my new website that should be up soooon-pending I will aforementioned fight! :P

Snake WIP

Here's a WIP of a fairly detailed character design I'm doing of a young 90s Solid Snake before he's fully inducted into FOXHOUND. Tried to make him look quite young, with an air of cocky inexperience. Took a while to get the face right for I wanted, and some photo ref helped in the end. After this I'll do lots of character stuff and let environments take a back seat for a week or two to develop this side of my folio.

Trying to go very "Game Art", with it as an illustration. Will get around to finishing it some point tomorrow...

The Adventures of Captain Bad-Ass and his Clichéd Lightning Sword!

Fuelled with vengeance 'Captain Bad-Ass', enacts his revenge on the corporation that created him on planet something-or-rather...or something-I dunno? I made it up as I went...Cheers

Execution Concept

Quick colour pass, refine etc tomorrow...

The gallows

Sketch of an execution scene, will work up into colour tomorrow I think. Add more details and refine it in general...

Hawk Castle

This evenings sketch...

Dragon Forge 2

Something with more scope and drama.

Re-do

Ok so because purely i'm never happy with anything and can't leave it alone I'm starting again. The last one was fine in terms of mood etc and at the time I wanted a very humble looking workshop but then I decided to stick a dragon theme in and so its all 'outta whack'! Dragons require a certain amount of grandeur i believe so I've done a very quick sketch to start something with some scale and I'll make it up as I go as usual :P cheers

Dragonforge

Been a bit busy of late and didn't feel like jumping straight into my 'Metal Gear' project right away, so instead I got on with a concept this afternoon that I had an idea a few days ago. This one took a few hours-hence why some aspects are a little ambiguous :P It's loosened me up a bit so I'll be back at it this weekend for Metal Gear...

Metal Gear Crab :P

Thought I'd have a stab at a Metal Gear vehicle. The only criteria i really had was that it's a "walking battle tank"!

So, thinking back to the 'Shagohod' of 'MGS3' that was track based vehicle and then 'MGS1's, 'Rex'-which is based on a T-Rex('bi-ped'), so have opted for the missing link-something with lower ground clearance and multiple legs for support-as it's not quite there yet in bi-ped terms :P. Crab seemed like a great starting point considering it's a very armoured looking creature as it is and has the qualities I was looking for. I'll probably do more designs around this, but this is a great starting point!

The hanger where it is developed is in the jungles of Africa and rather than opting for the very grey, enclosed hangers of the past games I've opted to inject some of the location into this secret development base! Snake is obviously in the pose of "WTF", since he's never seen anything like this!

Big Boss...

Concepts for Big Boss. Big Boss is the FOXHOUND commander, but at the end of the first game it is revealed that he's been spinning the whole situation to his own gain and is actually in charge of Outer Haven-the terrorist site that Snake is infiltrating.

In the past he's always been depicted as a guy in a suit with a big overcoat. I did one design with that in mind ,but opted for leather, and decided it was kind of boring (and a bit cliche) as a costume design and not particularly functional-as in both games he is required to fight Snake! So I've tried to give Boss some uniform symbolising his command of FOXHOUND but at the same time allow for some agility for a life and death situation.

The first design doesn't quite have the look of an official military commander-however it does look good as a commander of group of "freedom fighters",(the sequel) with a very "hands-on-look", and would be a nice contrast as he's stripped of his authority in the United States Army by the second game....Thinking of exploring the Third design with some introduction of 'kevlar', for this first game concept as it's quite striking as it is.

Gray Fox

Concepts for Frank Jaeger AKA Gray Fox. Gray Fox is the best and most experienced member of Foxhound-aside Big Boss of course- but he's been captured by the enemy...not that good then :P So Snakes first port of call is breaking Fox out to aid in the destruction of Metal Gear.

Fox at this point is in his 40s, obviously I've tried to portray the POW side of it but also the strength and experience of the character as he becomes a mentor to Snake at the beginning. Also of note is some elements I plan to keep the same with Snake and Fox -as if it's standard issue in the the FOXHOUND unit, also the introduction of the 'bandanna', an aesthetic legacy of Big Boss. If I get round to the second game, snake will be bestowed with a bandanna in his design- again as a medal of Foxhound as well as a symbol of admiration & respect for Gray Fox. Through out the games the 'bandanna', has symbolised this Boss>Big Boss>Gray Fox>Solid Snake>Meryl & Raiden.

Metal Gear....

As a little project I've decided to take a premise and "REBOOT" it! Yes we love that word in today's film and gaming scene! Well I'm jumping on the band wagon and taking the original "Metal Gear", and possibly "Metal Gear 2:Solid Snake", and working up some concepts based around the characters, locations and vehicles -but brought up to date! These games haven't seen any polish since their débuts on the NES and MSX systems in the 80s.

I'm looking to put my stamp on it but be wary of the technology levels and character chronologies either side of these two games (i.e.MGS3/Peacewaler and ofcourse MGS1-4 on the other side). These are just some rough concepts I've done of a much younger Solid Snake, fresh from the Green Berets joining Foxhound. Time period is mid to late 90's and the locale is Africa, tried to take into account what he is 'gearded' to do on the mission, where it is and also the insurgent method (Parachute)-so I've looked at Swat Teams, Green Berets, American Military, SAS and Paratroopers but retain a stylised cool with some nods to the more hightech that follows in the series...

SciFi Editorial Office

Had fun with this, there's a few elements I'm still not keen on but I think it's time to put this one to bed and get on with something else. Cheers

WIP2

Well my Birthday weekend is over and the boys have left the country; I got no more excuses of distraction-so back to work! Another session and this will be done. Some lighting tweaks, details and sorting out that TV screen as it's still bothering me...

Newsroom WIP

A friend of mine mentioned i hadn't done any interiors for a while-he made a fair point :p and after watching bladerunner this afternoon I got a spark of inspiration! Decided to set it in a newsroom style setting so I could have lots of screens, lots of clutter(paper,files etc) smoke going around and moody lighting. Have opted to go a little more futuristic along the lines of 'Deus Ex', with the screens and such. Some elements are vary slapdash and will need tightening up as does the lighting but the directions good so far...

WIP2

Still loads to do, consolidating the lighting,colour, saturation and the clouds then a lot of atmospherics i think- to make you FEEL the wind! Plus the planets are waaaay over lit for the proximity of the sun-think i was just enjoying rendering the planets at the time..:S But all will be amended so stay tuned!

MPC Challenge

Mattepainting.org have just posted a challenge courtesy of MPC-thought I'd get involved and post a WIP. Still a fair way to go overall and still working on how the whirlpools integrate but there's a base there to work with...fingers crossed!:P

DMP

Since yesterday afternoon I got round to doing some  Mattes! I like Matte Painting but I do find I get a little involved in my world and then realise the suns gone down! Fun to mix things up from doing purely painting, hoping get on with some 3D projections next month to build some sequences- I've done it in Maya but like to have a stab at Nuke. As far as I can tell you have a little more control and it's better streamlined for the practise so that should be fun!

Warrior Nomad

This one kind of evolved. Was meant to do some rough other ideas for the guy on the right but then it kept on working as this kind of nomad warrior that could definitely take on the previously designed 'Orc Giant' and survive the harsh conditions of the climate.

Giant Orc

Some over due character work. The stages to this are in the portfolio bit to show my workings init :P Plan to colour this up and add some more details PLUS do some other characters to fit the scene....

A Silent Exit.

I waaaas going to go to bed, but figured screw it I'd stay up a bit late and work this up into some kind of scene. Heavy influences from playing Skyrim I think :-P

Colour Key

So i can post something today in case I don't finish what I'm planning to do tonight...

Just a very quick colour key to establish mood, lighting that i want to convey for what i plan to do next- which will be medieval themed :P

Ring City

Playing with shapes and generally messing around! Was quite fun not been constrained to any particular idea. Might do a colour up version if I think of a decent scheme....

Chase

More practising...

Yachts

Just a quickee...wasn't quite sure where I was going withit :S.....