Baby I’m back!!!

I know it’s been a while… what, like two years or so… but that is how life goes sometimes… I don’t have time for playing games like I used to… but I want to get back into doing more interviews with artist in the industry and posting about some great games soon…

I have been more an artist who digs games lately… but believe me I am still a gamer who digs art at heart.

Here are some samples of the works I have done in the game area… as you can see there has been a big progression over the time.

This was my first digital piece done back in 2009 trying my hand with some fan art…

A sketch from Blue Dragon that I need to color…again done in 2009

Some sketch work from Team Fortress

Ryu from street fighter

A sketch of a jackal from Halo series

Kratos Sketch

Crack Down vs Infamous digital illustration

Mega man digi painting

Big Daddy sketch

Master Chief lite

Chris Redfield vs the infected from Left 4 dead

Little Sister from BioShock

Grunt Sketch

Gravity Hammer Grunt

Nariko sketch

Kratos vs Link Sketch

ODST sketch

Bayonetta digital illustration

Blanka and Sloth break Dance

The flood Tank Form

Elite

Johnson

Skirmisher

Halo Reach

Brute Chieftain

Han Juri

Bioshock

Gears

Locust Horde

Marvel Kombat colored by vic55b

Weekly Challenge!

Come join the fun! Every week at Gamersdigart.com we have members of  the site pick a new topic or theme and we have a week to illustrate it.  The purpose of the challenge is to push each other to create some new art about the games we love.  I personally love it because it keeps me busy with art.  It’s not a competitive thing.  Just an Art Jam Session on a weekly basis.  Here is the link.

And here are some samples of the goodies from the challenges…

Like I stated in the weeks since the Weekly sketches began I felt myself become a better artist.  Come join the fun!

My personal results for each week.

Week 1: Mario

Week 2 : William Wright (Creator of the Sims and Spore)

Week 3:  Team Fortress 2

Week 4: Mega Man (yes, by week 4 we started to add color)

Week 5 : Resident Evil

Week  6: Bioshock

Week 7 Abe’s Odyssey and Dead Space (Two Themes were selected during this week)

Abe from Oddworld

Dead Space

Which leads us to this week’s challenge Half Life.  This won’t be due till Monday (Hence the name Monday Challenge) So join in and Jam with some fellow gamers/ artist.  Check out the forum to see other entries to the challenges.  Artist we need you!

by the way here is how Half-life turned out!

The challenge for this week (Sept. 8) is Batman Arkham Asylum.

Join the fun here!

The Last post from the Gamer who digs art…

Yes it is true….but with the death of this blog comes life anew.  New site.  New features and more importantly new art!

The blog has been a blast…but when it’s time to move on its time…

Come visit us at Link to continue the stories and adventures of more gamers who dig art!  Thanks for all the support for those who left comments!

Meet dannlord!!!

I have had the honor and pleasure to have some great artist grace this humble blog…the great thing about it all, the one thing that united them all…even myself is the fact that we are all gamers/artist. 

The next artist introduced is a fantastic artist who has a serious passion for games and art as well.  He may be busy and not play as much as he wants to…but still he is a gamer at heart! 

Meet dannlord! 

The guy is super cool!  He was uber busy, yet still found some time out of his schedule to answer some questions about himself!  Thanks dannlord! 

Questions by me!  Awesome Art by dannlord. (some of his Gears of War colors’ by Protobunker) 

Hello Dannlord!  Thanks again for agreeing for the interview! Could you start with a brief bio about yourself… let the people know who you are, and what you do. also anything else about yourself as well.

I was Born in Monterrey, Mexico in 1977.  I am 30 years old, and have been drawing since age 3.

My professional career in comics  began as a digital colorist, working for Studio F in titles that include “Mystique”, “Thunderbolts” and “Incredible Hulk” for Marvel Comics, as some titles for other companies such as Dark Horse and Image. 

Later, I entered in a collaboration with Les Humanoïdes Associés in France, doing color work on the titles “Millenaire” and “Lune d’ Ombre”,  while doing that I managed to illustrate my first work in comics with the miniseries “EL ARSENAL: Unknown Enemy “, published in the United States and Canada by Arcana Studio. 

A couple of years ago I got together with some other colleagues from my hometown and founded Protobunker Studio, where I continue my work as a comic illustrator.

 

How long have you been in the art field? What is your background/school education in relation to art? 

I have worked as an illustrator since 1999, but back then I worked for a newspaper and magazines. It’s been only six years since I started working on comics.

 

Who are some artist that have influenced you to go into the realm of creating art for a living?

Trying to create art for a living was kind of a natural decision for me (I can’t see myself doing any other thing for a living) but seeing the works of Gimenez, Jodorowsky, Otomo, Shirow among others has always been like fuel for me.

I see that with a lot of your images…there is a living breathing world in there. Has creating a story with your illustrations been part of you since the beginning? I see that through it all you are a true comic book artist. 

I love detail and working in creating a good sensation of space and that my scenes have some kind of movement. Whenever it is possible to me, specially with my sequences, I try to work on as many different things happening at the same time as possible. It is very difficult at times. The (my) mind enters a labyrinth, thinking about so many things, but in some way that calms me and the hours seem minutes. Just can’t get enough of that.

 

 

What games are you currently playing? and What systems do you own?

Currently I’m not playing any games, I’m pretty busy right now, and I have only the xbox 360, but now that the fight between the HD DVD and the BlueRay is over and MGS4 is out, I am definitely gonna buy a PS3 and try to escape for a weekend at least to play it.

One word answers…

Gears of War 2=anxious

Xbox 360 =issues

PS3=Snake!!

Nintendo Wii=kids

Are you satisfied with your art=no

In 5 years you are=better

Project you would love to work on=batman

If you could pick anywhere to live it would be=space

Best artist in comics now=dunno

Favorite current comic series right now=none

Your sequential pages are nice. They tell a fluid and nice story… would you ever consider taking your skills to the field of animation? 

Perhaps in the future, so far I do not have plans to enter it, although I found it very interesting. You must recognize that I know nothing about the production process of an animation. 

Storytelling has been a part of society for ages. Comics have been a part of society for quite some time as well. As artist we all have stories to tell. In the future what project would you tackle of you had all the time in the world and money to fund it? (Really! This could be anything? Written, pencilled, inked, colored, by you!)

So far I have many of my own ideas and stories that I would like to tell, but that is a bit hard to think on producing other things. If you are  talking about Anything, being a lover of science fiction, it would be great to do a comic adaptation of Frank Herbert’s Dune. That would be huge for me.

 

Thanks for everything Daniel Perez! 

Thank you!

And the winner is…

Whew…this was a lot harder the second time around. Again thanks to all the artist who spent their time on creating some cool video game art! I appreciate it, and the readers appreciate it! I created this blog, and future site as something for the average gamer /artist could participate in.

You don’t have to be best artist in the world to win the monthly contest. Soon I will be adding some video game trivia questions in for a chance to win some other cool prizes as well so stay tuned for that! 

Ok…thanks to all that have commented on the pieces.  It’s good to see artist get support! As stated in the previous blog, the comments were used to HELP me decide (not decide) on who the winner will be.  

When looking at the criteria on who should win I looked at a couple of things. Originality. Not just in the characters chosen (people all chose fantastic battles and I would love to see them all unfold!) By originality I looked at the poses that the characters where in and the overall illustration. I am an artist so I love seeing NEW things.  Using poses that are pre-existing may look cool, however I see it as an easy way out…

If I am shelling out 60 bucks (plus tax and shipping) of my hard my hard earned cash I don’t want to see something that could have been photo-manipulated, by taking two pieces of art that already existed.  It may look cool, but I want to see artist push beyond what it easy…bottom line I want NEW art. Reference is needed but don’t just follow it, use it to create something totally brand spankin’ NEW! To anyone who submitted DO NOT take any offense to what was written. All the pieces submitted were great! 

Alright enough talk. And the winner based on my thoughts posted before is… 

yes…kalel06!! He took these characters and made them his own. At first glance when I saw it…I thought…pretty cool and left it at that. Then as an artist I looked at how I would have done this piece. It must have taken him forever (not that you have to work forever on a piece…) but the little details start to surface. 

The patterns in Nariko’s outfit, the scars on Kratos, the details on both their weapons. I searched long and hard to see if there was anything similar to this piece on the web, and there wasn’t. He went ground up and crafted a nice little VS piece. I also love the flames in the background and the lighting effects used on the characters and their weapons…the chains alone must have taken forever.  I drew both these characters myself long before this tournament, so I really understand the details in both.  (Nariko’s hair alone is amazing!)  

He took his time and was patient in putting together a well crafted piece for the contest. So congrats to Kalel06!   

As promised his game will be shipped and he chose…

The average gamer able to win a brand new 60.00 game for their hard efforts in creating some art…the is the reason why I created the contest! 

Once again, the contest for September is called Villains. Choose an antagonist, villain, thug, or bad guy from any game past or present to illustrate. Think about originality…don’t just send images that look like

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Because I can already see these poses done by the people who originally illustrated it. Don’t be limited by someone else’s ideas…push it beyond what is already done. Make it your own! Have your villain terrorizing a hero… it doesn’t have to be a single shot of a character. As long as the villain is the main focus of the illustration you have your shot at winning any game you want (60.00 max!!!) Deadline is September 30. 

Thanks again!  

Coming up…an interview with a Spook aka… the winner of the August contest Kalel06! 

Second Contest Results…

Hello! Thanks to all who have participated in last month’s contest and I hope more will enter this month’s contest. I mean it is a Free game on the line after all…I would participate if it wasn’t my own contest! 

Once again the contest was titled VS. Two characters from two different games in battle with one another! 

Ok on with the entries.  

This is an illustration from last month’s contest winner entry SangheiliArtist.  

Here we have Samus Aran from Metroid going against good ‘ol Master Chief from the Halo Series. This would be a good battle!  

Click me to see the battle unfold!

The Second entry was from GarfunkelTheApostle.

In this illustration we have Cloud from the ever popular Final Fantasy VII versus Bowyer. Who the heck is Bowyer? He was a boss in Super Mario RPG from the SNES (back in the day!!!) Talk about two unlikely characters meeting up! 

The third entry was from the being known as Kalel06.  Some say he was raised on a farm in Kansas by Martha and Jonathan Kent. I don’t know, but he does live in Metropolis! 

In the left corner weighing in at about 98 pounds we have the beautiful, but deadly Nariko from Heavenly Sword!  In the right corner, starting the ring on fire, weighing in at 235 pounds is Kratos from the God of War series. Let’s get it on! Ding! Ding! Ding!

The fourth entry was from Anasazinyx.

Here we have a spore creature from the game Spore VS Ragnaros from World of Warcraft. My money is on the Spore creature. Watch out for the little guys!  Hey four small ghostbusters took down the Giant Stay Puft Marsh Mellow Man!  

The fifth contestant was from the talented greenbeanbaby.

Here are two characters that look like they are having more fun together than actually battling!!!  I guess some people love fighting! We have Toadette from the Mario Universe and a character from Little Big Planet on the PS3!  

The last illustration submitted didn’t quite follow all the guidelines.  It was one character from a Video game…and the other character…from well who knows. It can’t be considered for the contest but I wanted to show it anyways! Remember read the rules! It could cost you a game! Thanks Eric for the piece! 

From the crazy mind of the digitalsnowmen.

We have a Mutant Pug Named Shiela vs a ODST Soldier from Halo 3. So bizarre, strange, yet I can’t stop looking at it!

Thanks to all who have made a submission to the second contest! Well who wins??

I will let the you guys and gals help me to decide! One vote per email is allowed. Voting closes Friday 9/5/2008 11:59 pm. When leaving a comment simply say who are voting for! Remember Pug vs ODST can’t count! (Sorry digitalsnowmen!)  I will make the final decision, but hearing from others will help! 

Moving on to this month’s Contest! 

September’s Contest is called Villains! Draw, paint, sketch, vector, or illustrate your favorite villain from any video game past or present! Due September 30th!

WIN A FREE GAME!!!

  

YES ANY GAME!!!***

Today is the deadline to win a free game for the month of August.  Any game (***60.00 base price max) The Rules of the contest were quite simple…  Titled VS you had to draw two characters from two DIfferent games in Battle with each other…  Simple…Very simple…Win Yourself a game!!  Submissions accepted until 12:00am Central Stand Time Today!  Look for September’s Contest to be announce tomorrow! 

Just send a Jpeg or Gif to Gamersdigart@yahoo.com! 

 

Win yourself a FREE GAME!!! 

Meet andy!!! (En Di)

Andy is an artist who has a ton of energy! You can see it in his work. I haven’t spoken with him in person (he lives in Malaysia!) but I could just imagine this guy having a good time and goofing around every chance he gets! He has a lot of personality and his artwork shows it! He was a little shy about being interviewed, but I am glad he did agree to it, so thanks a bunch for the nice chat Andy.  

Andy has a really nice style! His comic spreads have an overall nice free feel to them as well. One thing I love about doing these interviews, is seeing all the different styles and hearing about different approaches to art from different artist.

It is a true blessing for me that each artist interviewed has shared their valuable time to answer some questions and allow their art to be displayed here so a big thanks to all who have participated thus far! I also think

every interview so far has been a blast because of each person’s individuals personality! Everyone answers the questions differently..some answer with long statements… and some are short and sweet! Nothing wrong with either in my book! Without further hold ups…here is the interview!  

Questions by me…answers and ALL Art by Andy.

Well hello Andy, could you give a brief intro about yourself so audience knows a little bit about who you are….

Hi every one~ My name is Andy (Chong En Di) and I was born in 1986 which means I am 22years old now..haha XD I am from Malaysia, I am not good in studies (school), I always draw when I was in class, one day I discovered something interesting..it was “Comics”.. comics have changed my whole life..I started to draw my own comics when I was 11years old, because of that..I have my Dream..”To Be the best Comic Atist” Thanks so much~ and Welcome to My comic world 

Wow!! Great stuff Andy!!! Your style has so much energy, what things inspire you as an artist?

I love reading energy comics(fast-paced with action!!!)~ “Dragon Ball” was My 1st energy comic I read.. So I think is Dragon Ball (Akira Toriyama) who inspired me to keep on drawing full energy Art works XD

 

What is your background (education in art)?

I started drawing when I was around 4? ( my mom says that!!!) My latest education was Diploma in Illustration XD

What video games do you play? What systems do you own?

I am playing Final fantasy Crisis Core now~ system PSP XD

 

What are the popular games where you live? What systems are popular?

Hmm..the popular games where I live is Monster Hunter..Sony PSP was Popular around here~ XD

If you were part of and art crew for a video game/ or movie (animated) what project would you choose? Why?

I would like to be the character/monster/items design artist~because I am really enjoy designing and drawing the Original artworks from my own creativity not based on reality!!! XD

What do you plan to accomplish with your art? Dreams and goals?

I wish I can have a comic/illustration studio with my friends~So we can all enjoy our art and share are dreams together~ XD 

  

 What comics are you currently reading?

Naruto, Bleach, One Piece, eye shield21 and many many more~ haha XD

How fast do you work? (From start to finish on a full color illustration. Example how long did it take to start and finish Oniki XD? (pictured below!)

   

From sketch until finish the full illustration..”Oniki XD”took me about 8-10hours..

Nice hulk! What influences from western cultures show up in your work in any? 

Movies…because I like to watch Movies..and there are lots of great movies from the Western countries…

Favorite Game ever?

Ragnarok Online XD

Thanks so much Andy!  You artwork is really stunning, has a nice unique style!  Looking forward to seeing more from you! 

Click andy to see his full gallery!!

Meet lukedenby!!!

Another installment of meeting another artist on the internet who dig games! 

This artist has some amazing stuff in his gallery! lukedenby click the name and check it out! 

Like I have stated in previous post…these artist being interviewed have some serious talent and a love of video games past and present! I have either met them through deviant art, xbox live, or some other weird connection!  Well let’s get it crackin’. 

Questions by me.  *All fantastic artwork by the talented and patient Lukedenby! 

Lukedenby, please give us a brief introduction about yourself.

My name is Luke Denby. I am 26 years old and currently living in Portland Oregon with my wife Corianne. I went to school for Graphic Design and Painting at Indiana University. I once almost choked on a lifesaver candy.

 

Whoa…gotta watch those candies…

 

You are a fantastic traditional artist as well as digital one. Do you see traditional art (acrylic, watercolor, oils, pencils) dying out in the wave of these amazing new programs like photoshop/painter or can they be fused together to create a better understanding of each other? (long winded I know but man you have a sweet traditional gallery!) 

I don’t think traditional mediums will ever die. The prevalence of digital art no doubt will only grow as this and future generations age but the tangible aspect of traditional mediums will always trump them. But as technology continues to grow eventually you could make an amazing digital piece and have it print out with actual paint just as easy as we use an ink jet today. Even though these days my work is leaning much more toward the digital side of the spectrum I would like to think my heart is in the traditional world but the ease and speed of the digital world is amazingly tempting. Ideally I would do digital works as a springboard for finished traditional pieces.

 

Fan of the 80’s are we? Name something (tv shows, cartoons, movies) that 2008 can’t touch that was common place during the 80’s.

Everything I say is through nostalgia tinted glasses on this topic. Although many shows were just big commercials like a great deal of this generation of television there seemed to be a lot less pandering to the kids back then. To answer this honestly I would have to be a kid today. I think part of it is also those 80’s pop icons are so iconic now but that can be true of anything that stands the test of time. Maybe in some dystopian future Bratz dolls will be given the same regard as Jem.

  

I still say Voltron Whomps!  Original Transformers Whomps! GI Joe Whomps! And they all beat down the stuff that airs today! …sorry about that…feeling that old school feeling again! 

What video game systems do you currently own? Game you are playing now.

Xbox 360, Wii, Dreamcast, PS2, and Nintendo DS. Although I mainly play my 360 and Wii currently I can’t get rid of the Dreamcast because it still has some amazing games. I’m currently enjoying GTA IV, been a fan of the series since the first one on the PS1 Plus I’m messing around with Wii Fit. That seems to be how I mainly use my systems. 360 for more serious fun and the Wii for some silliness. I’m also looking forward to the new Animal Crossing, Resident Evil 5, and Gears of War 2.

You need to click me because I am full of detail! 

Yeah…still got my dreamcast too…and my wife really wants a DS…

How long have you been a gamer? How long have you been an artist? 

I have been a gamer ever since I got my Super Nintendo for Christmas in I think 1994, so 14 years. Before that I was incredibly envious of all the kids who had a NES and I was limited to my Amiga computer (which was part of the reason I enjoy digital art) One time I even told my mom I felt I was depraved because I didn’t have a Nintendo. She looked at me shocked, that’s when I learned the difference between the word depraved and deprived. I have been into art as long as I can remember though, so 26 years on that front.

Sorry had to throws these guys in!! We love halo around here! 

Has there been a game where it’s art direction made you want it?

I think a greater influence has been the art direction making me not want a game. I’m a big fan of Gears of War but it’s art style is just too heavy for me, it took some time playing the game before I could enjoy the great gameplay. 

  

Where do you think the future of gaming is headed? (Multiplayer/ online/ sequels/etc.) Are you happy with the games of today compared to a decade ago.

Community in games seems to be getting pushed more and more. While online seems to be the main area I hope the time of sitting on a couch with your buddies isn’t forgotten. One thing I hope is a future trend in more user created content. Like the forge in Halo 3 and what looks to be awesome in Little Big Planet. I hope consoles start playing with this more. I love games were you can make the game your own (was a huge fan of the RPG Makers on PS and Magic Pengel along with the level editor in the Timesplitter games).

Best game ever??? 

An impossible question but I may have to go with Guardian Heroes by Treasure on the Sega Saturn. Not a game I would really call high Art (a good example of me almost not getting a game because of the art is the American version of the cover) but it was amazingly fun. It was a mix of a Fatal Fury’s multiple fighting planes, a cool side scrolling beat ’em up, and RPG progression and leveling. Also it had an amazing 6 player fighting mode where you could use any character you had killed in the main game. So you could play as one of the different last bosses (it had multiple paths and endings) vs. a team of scrawny villagers and rabbits. I would love if this came out on the Wii Virtual Console.

Thanks Luke for the great interview and sharing your rockin’ awesome work with us! 

Don’t forget to see check out his gallery lukedenby!

Break down of my 1st photoshop painting…

Hello everyone…

I thought I would show a little of my art today.  This is a current series I am working on right now.  The series is called The Hunt and it stars three Jackals from the Halo Universe. 

Ok I am not a pro or anything at photoshop…but I can get by for a rookie in the medium.  I do have a background in painting some what so I used those skills in this digital painting.  I will go step by step on the first piece I did.  

The concept of the piece started with this sketch of a Jackal.  I liked the body structure from this sketch and decided to do an illustration on these characters.  Many people do halo fan art.  Many people do Elites and Grunts and Master Chiefs…but few jackals have had their own star to shine on them so I took it to task.  

So here we go three jackals all with weapons ready for action.  Simple pencil drawing…

After the pencils I decided to ink it….

I started laying in flat colors to all objects in the drawing then I started in with details using different size brushes, and different opacities…

Continued to add details…

 

Coloring all three jackals…and attempting to create some texture on their clothing…

moving on to the weapons and the foreground that they are all standing on…this may sound backwards but i do my middle colors first then go in with darks, then finish with lights again. Also starting the background rock.

More polishing and detailing the jackals and the environment…

Now here I thought I was done…but I felt something was missing so I had some people on HBN | LTM  take a look at it. (they follow the game and franchise pretty closely so if anyone could give me a tip or two it would be them!) 

So now my task was to add some ships in the background…

  

So I did two quick sketches on some Banshees…

 

Colored them in photoshop…

 

And here is the final…

 

Like I stated before I have a long ways to go in photoshop, but I do like it and hope to continue to get better.  All coloring was done with a mouse. (No tablet just yet)

I wouldn’t consider this a tutorial as I have so much to learn myself…this was just a peek inside of my way of creating art! 

Now I will finish with a “little” Master Chief! 

 

See ya soon!