All posts tagged illustration

Tomb Raider Reborn

tr_contest On March 5, 2013 the latest Tomb Raider game was released, but it didn’t feature the seasoned explorer we’re used to. It’s focuses on the young Lara Croft. It’s about survival and the loss of innocence as she’s thrown into intense situations and pushed beyond physical limits. I was intrigued by the release, but I’m not the type to rush out and buy a game as soon as it comes out, especially with a $60 price tag and not having tried it. Well, I got an opportunity to test it out when I received a free Redbox game code and quite frankly, it rocked! It has all the things I love in a game: powerful storyline, stunning extensive worlds, action, adventure, problem solving and it kept me on the edge of my chair. There was never a dull moment, see for yourself in the trailer below. I didn’t complete Tomb Raider, but it’s now on my buy it list.

What drove me to discuss Tomb Raider was that I stumbled across a design competition held by Square Enix and DeviantART. They challenged artists to develop original artwork depicting Lara Croft’s latest transformation (her rebirth so to speak). The winners received some pretty hefty prizes and the competition was fierce. I was astounded by the amount of entries and the quality of the work submitted. I did not envy the judges, but I did enjoy scrolling through the entries. I’ve included my favorites below. Having played Tomb Raider, I was drawn towards the darker and grittier submissions which I think captured the game’s feel.

Battle by *tincek-marincek

Tomb Raider Reborn Contest by *Keevanski

Tomb by ~Msweeneyart

TombRaiderFinalNoLogo by ~ArchLimit

TombRider Reborn by ~Tinosukae

Tomb Raider Lara – The Rescue by ~frankiewCG

Tomb Raider reborn contest by ~chuyDeleon

Lara Tomb Raider Contestby ~Dedyone

Lara Reborn by ~Griever6260

Lara Croft Entry by ~benjamindeutscher

2 Comments

by pindsha21 on April 13, 2013 • Permalink

Posted in Art, Gaming

Tagged deviantART, digital art, digital painting, illustration, lara croft, square enix, tomb raider, tomb raider game, tomb raider reborn contest

Posted by pindsha21 on April 13, 2013

http://pindsha21.wordpress.com/2013/04/13/tomb-raider-reborn/

Pinterest, Beato, and that Silly Beast

So my best friend held a bat to my head and said you better join Pinterest or else! Actually it was more along the lines of “Have you heard of Pinterest? It’s a great way to visually collect things you find around the web. Check mine out.” I did and joined shortly thereafter. I’ll be honest, somewhere in the dark recesses of my mind I hoped that this wasn’t yet another social media site that ended up being more annoying than useful. However it came highly recommended by someone I trust, so it was worth a shot. Now, ten months later, Pinterest is an integral part of my life.

For those of you that don’t know, Pinterest is an online tool for visually collecting and organizing the things you love using boards. The “Pin It” button is installed in your browser and when you wander across something you like (recipes, clothing, or that fabulous 5 star hotel suite) you simply hit the button and save the image to one of your categorized boards. It’s so easy and many sites now have their own integrated “Pin It” button.

Now, Pinterest seems like a no-brainer. I learn better visually, especially by studying other artists’ work. So many spectacular pieces flood my inbox and now when I want to refer back to a particular image I simply go to my Pinterest board, rather than sift through hundreds of emails. It’s also a great way to coordinate with clients. I appreciate any examples they can provide which helps me understand what they like and what they are looking for. When they can present you with an entire board things really start rolling. Don’t worry, boards can be marked private if you’re not ready to share with the world. That’s another aspect of Pinterest that I love, the ability to share what you’ve found and repin from others. It often leads me on a whole new journey of discovery like finding the two artists mentioned below.

On Monday Pinterest announced some enhancements like bigger images, an even cleaner design, and finding other things pinned from the same website. I think they’ll be around for a while so, it’s not too late to jump on the Pinterest bandwagon. Join today or else! Just kidding, but now I’m going to ask you to check out my boards and follow if you like. Here’s a peak:

Now to the artists
André Beato is a London based artist with kick-butt typographic skills. He works in print and editorial with many published pieces in his repertoire.

Silly Beast Illustration is the work of Therese Larsson, a freelance illustrator based in Sweden. She specializes in character design and does storyboarding, sketching, and concept art. Her client list includes: Adidas, Google, McDonalds, Disney, Electrolux, Toyota, Digital Artist Magazine, Volkswagen, Coca Cola Zero, Cheetos, Sony Ericsson, Siemens, Tropicana, IKEA…

Intense Handmade Prints

tugboat_themoon2 Thanks to KoiKoiKoi I was introduced to Paul Roden and Valerie Lueth, a husband and wife team that produces beautifully handcrafted prints. Each print is based off of an original drawing that they hand carve (yes hand carve) in low relief out of wood. Then the carved block is rolled with ink and sent through the press with archival paper. They create a block for every color in each print. Depending on the piece, there could be up to 5 (or more) individually carved blocks that make up one print. I have a deep appreciation for the time and skill that goes into these pieces from start to finish. Paul and Valerie own and operate Tugboat Printshop where their prints are available for sale. Visit their shop.

tugboat_themoon

tugboat_bonfire3 tugboat_bonfire2

tugboat_bigbadwolf tugboat_process2

tugboat_bears tugboat_rv tugboat_leafboat tugboat_island tugboat_garden tugboat_farmbarge

tugboat_process1

“Our hope is that through our work we can foster greater public appreciation for the arts, cultivate greater interest in owning original art, & stir up newfound interest for traditionally printed works on paper.” – Paul & Valerie

4 Comments

by pindsha21 on December 30, 2012 • Permalink

Posted in Art

Tagged hand carved wood prints, hand made, illustration, paul roden, postaday, prints, tugboat printshop, valerie lueth, wood carving

Posted by pindsha21 on December 30, 2012

http://pindsha21.wordpress.com/2012/12/30/intense-handmade-prints/

Who I’m Following on Behance: Yuta Onoda

Yuta Onoda is a brilliant illustrator from Tokyo, Japan, presently residing in Canada. He received his bachelor’s degree in Applied Arts Illustration from the Sheridan Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning. Onoda has won numerous awards and his clients range from Scholastic to Wired Magazine. Paying great attention to layout, the way typography will be integrated, and balance in his pieces, his style combines the use of graphite, ink, paint, and photoshop. “My work is mainly a mix of linear, detail, and decorative elements. So, the advantage of using ink and graphite over mixed media for me is that they fit with my illustration/painting approach.“- from 2012 EK Interview. Onoda discusses some of his commercial and personal work on his blog and of course you can see more of his work on Behance.

The Behance Network is a major online tool for creative professionals to showcase their work. Access portfolios from a plethora of talented artists from all different genres. If you create a portfolio or a follower profile you can keep track or “follow” artists that you like. You receive updates whenever they upload a new project. The Behance Network has many perks for it’s users like job postings, competitions, and networking. Check out My Own Portfolio on Behance.

Stunner in the Summer Contest

Ads of the World and Veer hosted their first contest ever this summer! It was free and open to everyone with sweet prizes up for grabs such as an Apple Mac Book Pro®, Apple iPad®, Apple TV®, and Veer credit packs/merchandise of varying monetary value. The theme was summer festivals. You had to create a poster for any kind of festival that struck your fancy, but of course it had to take place in the summer. The other rules were pretty simple:

You must use at least 1 image or 1 typeface from the creative assets provided by Veer
Poster dimensions should be exactly 600px by 800px and less than 2MB in file size.
Only one entry per person is allowed.
The artwork must be your own work and should not contain the intellectual property of anybody else.

The contest consisted of 2 rounds. Round 1 was open to everyone and was narrowed down to 10 finalists. Of the 10 finalists, four were chosen to compete for the grand prize. They were given new assets to design another poster and the work is due this upcoming Monday, August 27, 2012. Alas I was not one of the finalists, but I’m proud of my entry below. I googled “weird summer festivals” and picked The Hollerin’ Contest as my inspiration from Gadling’s Top Ten List; sketching, and scanning, and illustrating ensued.

There were so many great entries in this competition. Check out some of my favorite posters from other designers. (I chose to insert a gallery rather the insert the images individually. If you would like to go to the original source please highlight the link, right click and then select Open Link. Unfortunately, right now WordPress.com does not have a feature for including active links in captions.)