Offworld now out on the app store!

so everyone go out and start up you inter nets and navigate towards the Apple store and pick up your free copy today!

stay tuned for more roboty goodness soon!

The Road to Damascus

Goddess Warrior

from a recent project

And in Other News...

...after much bloodshed and gnashing of teeth, one of my longstanding side projects is now out! So if you're deathly bored and need to give your mouse a workout, checkout Pirates of the Stupid Seas HERE or wherever fine Flash games are shown!

Money on the table

Yes it's been ages. The life of a freelancer, as you know, is nothing but feast or famine, and since the start of the new year, it's been a continuous feast. While this may sound fantastic ( and to be sure, I aint complaining ) the downside of all this feasting is that when the jobs start to pile up, you have to pull alot of hours just to keep up.

Now when you pull extra hours, your efficiency starts to go down due to fatigue, requiring you to work even more hours to compensate. 2 months later you're a broken shell of the artist you once were.

Now the brighter ones of you out there may ask "But Jim, why don't you simply turn down new work once you've reached your capacity?" Well you've got alot of nerve. But it's a good question nonetheless, and the answer is: because a freelancer should almost never turn down work.

This is so ingrained into me that by now if I even consider it, I hear a voice in my head telling me what a jerk I am. I don't know whose voice it is, but it sounds like an old fat guy, the type of guy who's always lounging around in old fashioned delis in the afternoon, usually named Sal or Connie or something. " Hey Mr. Big Shot" Sal will say, " in my day we didn't leave money on the table. We worked until there was no more work"

"No, Sal, it's not like that..I only got two hands..." I think to myself, but Sal, he don't listen to nobody, so he keeps going on and on about the price of stuff and how all sports stink these days and how blessed I should feel to have work " Money on the table, big shot!"Around this time I give up and just accept the next job. 

So the point of all this is not to highlight my mental illness, but rather that I'm finally freed up enough to post something, and I'm choosing something from a job I really should never have taken, looking back on it all. But then again, the piece itself actually turned out alright so maybe Sal was right after all.

 And, now that I think of it, sports these days really do stink.

Rounding out the year

As usual in the life of a freelancer, this year has been a wild ride. New clients bringing new challenges, as well as trusted clients from the past returning to recreate some magic. Insanely busy and deadly slow. Onsite, Offsite, and halfway around the world. Teaching, learning and creating. All in all, not bad.

To wrap things up, here's a piece that was a departure for me in many ways, the most notable of which was that to create it, I went back to my old nemesis, Corel Painter.

more after the jump...

The humble paint over: more Skylanders

Sometimes concepting can be a less than glamorous affair, such as when you're handed a screenshot and told to spruce things up a bit. However, there's usually a way to give things a little magic if you have a solid idea in mind.

The screenshot:

The paintovers:

and the layers that got me there ( click to animate layers )

Freelancer's Guide part 4: Release

The best day for a freelance designer, aside from the day that the check clears, is the day that you get to show your work.

Usually this is a straightforward affair-once the project ships, you're in the clear to show your stuff. Sometimes, though, things aren't so smooth. The most common scenario is that the project is shelved indefinitely, which means your work is in limbo- you can't show it because in theory the project could go live at some point, but in the meantime it's just gathering dust somewhere. A canceled project on the other hand, though painful, usually means that your newly orphaned work is immediately showable. 

 Personally, I like to get a written release before putting anything up just to be sure. International release dates, "Art of" books and other ancillary material complicate your ability to self promote, so when in doubt, ask. I've seen more than a few artists drop something on their blogs and then get dinged for it within hours. This is especially true if your project is high profile.

 The reason for all these useless words is that Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure is finally out!! It was a great project to work on and gave me a chance to work in a different style from most of the projects I do these days. I'll be posting works from this game from time to time, but for now, The Undead Dungeon!!! Make the jump for some swell pics...

Viborg, sweet Viborg

Just got back from another teaching gig at the Animation Workshop. As always, very inspiring to be in a room with that much talent. I think I may get more out of it than the students  ( many of which were industry pros for this masterclass ).

Here's a small sampling of the trip

 much greener than the last time I was here! And slightly less cold!

more after the jump....

And now for some variety

just a bit of tinkering around during down time