Sorry Sliders and Yahtzee

As promised here is more of the concept art I did for FGN: The Game Show. All images copyrighted by EA and Hasbro.

There are two games that occur in the same stage space in the game- Yahtzee and Sorry Sliders. It was fun to make sure each game had it's own flavor but not feel like the player was being transported to a different space.

 You may have noticed the changing colors of the pillars and spotlights. For each of the games I created a mini-color script to give variety and unity, that was fun. I was also asked to design in a Mr Potato Head statue that was never used. We were going to have a figure skating MPH figure, but we were asked not to have a cross-dressing potato. Go figure!

Kudos to the programmers on this one, they did some great work with the Kinect system to recognize all the different ways you could push a 6.5ft bowling ball and giant Sorry Slider.

Junk Fu= Whack-a-mole+Guitar Hero+Fruit Ninja

My latest game to be released, Junk Fu for the Kinect Fun Labs, was amazing to see being developed. What started out as an "urban ninja training ground" shifted to a "retail rampage," then "cosmic karate." The game solidified as a "martial arts trash smash-athon".  Everything was meant to look distressed and worn out, a futuristic junkyard with outrageous props for destruction. Here are some of my pieces from the game.

The paintings below were quick concept painting, no more than a few hrs. that show possible gameplay environments. I even painted donuts for one of the concepts! Note that the final and purple/pink one use strict 1 point perspective. It was decided to fake 3D and have either the world or the objects advance. In the end we did a little of both.

In gaming and animation you truly check your egos at the door, everyone is willing let their contributions be discarded/ molded to help make the whole better. Even though there were some wonderful ideas, we worked together to get the best option for out scope, team, and time. Casey D. and Shawn worked on the art with me (Shawn concepted the items to be destroyed and Casey made them look amazing as well as do the final UI elements)

All work it copyrighted by Microsoft. So don't be a hosehead and steal stuff that's not yours.

Family Game Night: The Game Show

Last year Wahoo Studios contracted me to develop and animate for Family Game Night: The Game Show a multi-console video game. The studio put a lot of trust in me letting me take first crack at developing it. I ended up doing all of the target art for development for each game. Here's the first concept I did for ScrabbleFlash.


All a concepts had to reflect the Family Game Night TV show on the HUB Network that features a variety of Hasbro games in a larger than life setting. Since the game was targeted to feature Xbox Kinect gameplay, I worked closely with our designers and programmers to get interface to work for both controllers and Kinect.

Connect 4 was my favorite game in terms of the Kinect gameplay.

Shawn Boyles and I did work on character design for Mr. Potato Head. I had so much fun working with his drawings and doing some design of my own for each game. These were the concepts I helped design that made  it through approval. For the record, nobody can as much draw personality into a potato as Shawn; a shame we can't show those here.

There are several versions of the concepts that got released online. If you google any of the games- Sorry Sliders, Connect 4, Scrabble Flash, Yahtzee Bowling, or BopIt one itteration or another pops up.I'll post about the other games soon.

All artwork copyright belongs to Electronic Arts.

Caricature of Shawn Boyles

This past week we had an art challenge at work to caricature a coworker. I was assigned to one of my great friends, concept artist Shawn Boyles. He is one of the great creatives I know; his sketchbooking explorations are prolific! Shawn's love with his work shows in every beastie, beauty, bug, and accessories he creates.

He's got huge appeal embedded in every line that makes me jealous every time he draws, and he draws a lot!

The Sound Secret: Painting 01

This was a blast to paint the sketch from the last post. Nothing fancy but I think it does the job. I invited my 3yr old son in for a critique. "Amazing treasures!" he said. So I'm calling it a success.

After he read the letters on the gem he asked, "But what's on the other side?" I think kids these days expect  interactivity when approaching anything on a display screen. Creating content that uses that expectation to direct and focus attention - that will be one of the signs of effective use of media.

What are your thoughts on media and attention?

Educational Game Concept

Right now I'm trying to help two of my kids to read. Needless to say we both get frustrated sometimes. Here is a little concept I put together today showing some of the tips and exercises I do with my girls. I'm going to finish painting it up tomorrow. I can't wait to show ya' more.