Quick test

Gearing up for something. testing out matte painting. Spent about fifteen minutes on this. Complete shit, but a good test. Original phot (a cell pic from our hotel room).

 

That is all.

Doug

Pumpkin

 

A character from something I'm writing.

More Skeetches

Skeetches

Promtheus fanart fun

Been awhile since I dinked around for a few hours on something for just me.

Guillermo del Toro

A strigoi from Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan's awesome The Strain trilogy (the third book is coming out soon). I love these books, they're really fun with super great characters. I won't give everything away, but you should really check them out.

So that leads into my next thing, that book of my art I gave to Guillermo totally paid off. I won't go into the whole story right now, but in short, I ended up working on Pacific Rim with him and a crew of other amazing artists for about two months.

Guillermo is tremendous to work with. He worked so damn hard (staying all night at times), he was fun to be around and he really knows his shit!

I'll go into more later, when I have a bit more time, but I can truly say that it was one of the most fun experiences I've ever had. I really owe Guillermo, he's truly an amazing and generous guy.

Doug

Rachel Beckwith

Breaking the wall a little bit today. I had always planned on my art blogs being a place were people could escape the world for a little bit and have some fun. I promise to keep that alive here, a place were we can have fun and I can be a crazy drawing fool, but just this once I'm letting reality pour in. I have two little girls, so it's easy to see why this story hits me so hard. I have not been able to really shake it since I read about it.

On July 20th there was a major accident near Seattle on I-90. I had friends who drove past it, and said how awful it looked. They were amazed that no one was killed. Then the reports started coming in of a critically injured little girl. Then shortly after that, even with all the hopes and prayers of everyone who had heard the story, she was taken of life support. She hung on just long enough for her parents to hold and touch her one last time. Her name was Rachel Beckwith, and she had just turned 9.

It seemed like another sad story that we hear too often nowadays. If you ever watch the news, it feels like the world is coming apart at the seems. What hope do we have, what hope do our children have, when our politicians would rather bring our economy crashing down in a dick measuring contest rather than work together for a national good. When corporate profit is placed over human lives. Humanity sometimes feels like it's on it's last legs, and that we're coming to a close. But then little girls like Rachel Beckwith come along and obliterate all those fears.

At age five Rachel heard about Locks of Love and asked to have her then long hair cut and donated to help children with cancer. Her plan was to continually grow out her hair and cut it to donate, and she kept that promise. At age five.

Then when Rachel was going to turn nine she asked that no one give her presents, but instead donate nine dollars to an organization called charity:water for water projects in Africa. Rachel's own words;

On June 12th 2011, I'm turning 9. I found out that millions of people don't live to see their 5th birthday. And why? Because they didn't have access to clean, safe water so I'm celebrating my birthday like never before. I'm asking from everyone I know to donate to my campaign instead of gifts for my birthday. Every penny of the money raised will go directly to fund freshwater projects in developing nations. Even better, every dollar is "proved" when the projects are complete, and photos and GPS coordinates are posted using Google Earth. My goal is to raise $300 by my birthday, June 12, 2011. Please consider helping me.

She raised 220 dollars, a lot for a nine year old girl, but just shy of the 300 she was hoping to raise. She was disappointed, but decided to just try harder the next year. Sadly, that would never come.

When people heard the story of a nine year old girl, who would rather give to others she had never met than receive material gifts herself, they flocked to the site and donated. Currently at the time I'm writing this she has raised 1,256,180 dollars, that will help an estimated 62,809 people in need. Not bad for a nine year old girl.

Her gifts go beyond that though, her organs were donated and a man who had been waiting five years for a kidney was a match for one of Rachel's. “I received a gift that you can't even describe how big it was. I had my life returned to me and as repayment to Rachel, I plan to carry her charitable torch for the rest of my life.” Mark was given life; and for this cycnical Dad of two little girls, she gives hope.

So this is why I decided to post this here, ultimately this isn't a sad story. It's a very positive one, because if a nine year old girl can figure this out, then there's hope for the rest of us as well.

We're better than we think we are.

Rachel's donation page, there's four days left.

Rachel's 9 Birthday Wish

(http://mycharitywater.org/p/campaign?campaign_id=16396)

Sketches 9 22 2001

More sketches from the other night. I really need a home office. I literally have to drag out my laptop and scanner from my closet anytime I feel the need to scan something (I won't even go into my bitchfest about dragging out the Cintiq...it's like breaking down and setting up your PC whenever you want to use it). The whole photo's from my phone thing was cute in the beginning, but it's getting a little old.

Sketchbook 9 20 2011

I've been sketching tons on my bus trip home lately. It makes for an interesting line quality. I get about an hour a trip, so two hours a day. Pretty fucking slick.

The Marquis

I'm finally getting some art time again. Here's a quick image based on Guy Davis' The Marquis. It's a great book. I worked with Guy recently, and he's like the nicest fucking Guy you've ever met. He's only the second Guy I've met, but still, great Guy. I've been a fan of his for awhile, so being in a carpool with him TyRuben Ellingson and Wayne Barlowe was pretty much my own personal heaven. Probably their personal hell.

Brush test

Quick shit messing with some new Photoshop brushes.

Here are some quick bus sketches and descriptions.

Top to bottom.

Random paint splatter. Ripping off Ashley Wood...poorly.

12 page story idea for Greg Broadmore's brilliant Lord Cockswain character. He gets swallowed by a sandworm thing.

The sandworm thing...farting for some reason, and some images for a puppet-ish flick I'd love to make one day. I was thinking it would be live action, shot like an old PBS special. It was odd. Basically the sun had it's head stolen years ago, which threw the world into darkness, then this crater faced little fella frees it and puts it back on the sun spirits body (after a long trek and battle). The sun returns and chases out the dark beasties that stole it's head in the first place. Then she (oh yeah, the sun's a gal) grants the little crater-faced guy immortality as the night watcher; he rises while she rests at night to make sure the beasties of darkness can't plot anything against her ever again (the sun reflecting off the moon).

Dumb quick squiddy things. I hate them. Also some panels for a quick D9 prequel thingy (involves some fungal zombie prawns, I listened! ;))

'Pappy' character sketches. This is one of my most compete stories in my mind, possibly my favorite of them. Although, I have one new one I like a little more...

Random-ol-ee-o Sketch

Shiny.

Francisco Ruiz Velasco

Click the image

Hey kiddos! I'm here to pimp out a friend's short film. I had the pleasure of checking it out a few months ago, and was amazed, but it looks even more polished now.

Click the image and check out his flick, this is going to be one of those, "I saw this guys short years ago" instances. Plus, he totally has a filmmakers name, and it would sound awesome pronounced by Antonio Banderas.

Another thing about Francisco is that he's an amazing artist as well. Seriously, this guy is the real deal. Check his blog at: http://fruiz-fruiz.blogspot.com/

Go, GO NOW!

Doug

Naming shit is hard...

Buk Wus? Buk Was? Bookwas? Bukwas? I'm ready to call the thing Wildman.

Anyway, here's some bush sketches for the actual fella' in the title. And a door idea.

Doug

PS My camera phone is utter garbage.

Hey kids! We released a screenshot of the game I'm working on. So...here it is. (PS, I'm cannibalizing my Blomkamp post...because of time).

Oh, and here's a tiny movie showing our day and night cycle: BOOYAH!

A big thanks to my amazing art team, you're doing amazing shit, there's only four of you, but you're making a world that rivals worlds made by teams of hundreds. You are all truly incredible. Especially with your ability to put up with my shit on a daily basis. Thanks so much.

To Jeff Stain, thanks for giving me this chance, I hope I'm doing you proud. And thanks for always having my back and supporting our compelling game location.

Thanks to the rest of you Undeaders for all you do as well. Even though I don't understand most of it.

I also owe a certain someone I worked for recently a big thanks for teaching me not to be afraid of color, and to adopt his love of light beams. Not to mention, how to have a back bone, and say what I want. If he's reading this, and he'll know who he is, thanks man. For everything. And I'm not lazy. Well...maybe a little lazy.

Well Neill, that's it for today. Drink a beer, and have a good weekend.

Doug

First totem...

I think my Cintique runs too bright. Any body have calibration tips?

Buk Was

Might be a bit yellow. Quick keyframe from the short I'm hoping to find time for.

Cell Goblin

Why the interlace? I grew up on the X-Files.

Bak'was

This image is sort of crappy, a quick photochop. So I'm finally doing it. I'm going to start on my short film (10 to 15 minutes). It's based on the Bak' was. You can read more about it here. It's name is sometimes spelled differently, but I think this version looks the coolest.

So this blog will slowly become a production blog for a little bit.

If you're too lazy to click the link...shame on you. But here's a description of the Bak'was:

Ba„was is the Wild Man of the Woods, literal translation "man of the ground embodiment". He is small in size and is the Chief of ghosts or spirits, the spiritual embodiment of everything in the forest. He has a green hairy body and skeletal face with prominent cheekbones and a hooked nose that curves to touch his upper lip. He lives in the country of ghosts and is the Chief of Woodsmen and keeper of drowned souls. It is unusual to see a Ba„was but be careful if you do because it is said that he will entice you into his world by offering you food. Ba„was especially likes to find warriors and hunters and capture them by luring them to eat his cursed food. The food looks appetizing like smoked salmon or berries but is poisoned and when a starving hunter comes along and eats it, he will become one of the Ba„was spirits. Ba„was eats slugs and snails, but his favourite food is cockles, found only in our area, and dug from the sand on the beach. Generally he is shy and afraid of humans.