Com_OtterTribe_Pt.3

Ok, to wrap the series for our EchoOtter avatar set, here's the background work for the piece.

I used one of my favorite paper textures here, but modified it a little so it could sit back with the composition a little better.  Here's the flat background without the texture.

And here are the lines for the final background.  This piece hummed along quite nicely since the Wind Waker style calls for quite basic lines and flat colors, which was quite a relief, since my back and neck were in a bit of rough shape during production.

Here is the rough sketch of the background, which was based on the cover image to the actual Wind Waker game box.
 

Ok, now the おまけ, I pitched two versions of this series from the initial request of a Wind Waker or Secret of Kells style avatar.  These last few images are the Secret version sketches, starting with the default otter design.

Here's the Link from the set.  This style was also nice and "primitive," but perhaps even more so than the one we ended up going with.  The shapes are rougher and more brutal, which I found to be a really neat space to spend time thinking in.

A great example of this weird style of thinking was getting the complexity of the Indy hat to work in the Kells style.  I went with just absolute tangents, as the source material seemed to be completely unafraid of bold choices like that, even downright embracing parallax lines.

And speaking of complex, Jill's logo was a little tricky to figure out in this style, but it ended up being the basis for the Wind Waker version once I cracked it.  I also thought the limbs were thrillingly outrageous, it almost felt like Hannah Barbera or something.  Anyway, this series was quite something, I feel like I gained an appreciate for these two styles, and had a great time hashing it out.  

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Com_OtterTribe_Pt.2

Continuing from last time, here are the remaining hats for our EchoOtter avatar series, starting with one based on Indiana Jones.

Here's the sketch of the Indy version. This was a little tricky because it's actually two pieces--a front and a back--which made this one just slightly more complicated than simply "drawing a hat on" our hero.

And finally, here's a version inspired by Resident Evil's Jill. I only have super vague familiarity with RE, as we were more of a Nintendo house growing up, so PS games didn't really connect with me, but I do fuzzily remember playing one of the titles at some point, though I believe I got frustrated with the finite save system and the static camera angles, so I just never could really get into it.

To wrap this session, here's the sketch version of this hat, which features a Wind-Waker simplified logo design, customized with "ECHO" in place of Jill's "STAR." You know, a weird connection I realized these two series have is that both Indiana Jones and Resident Evil go by different names in Japan--they call the good doctor "Indy Jones" and the horror series is simply "Biohazard." Anyway, that's it for the core of this piece. Next time, we'll check out the background, plus some alternate sketches.

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Com_OtterTribe_Pt.1

Ahoy-hoy. This week I'm going to be posting a series I did for EchoOtter's Twitch and Twitter pages. The core idea was to have his mascot--a playful otter, of course--wearing different hats to coincide with whatever game he might be playing at the time, so what better hat to kick us off with here than one from the project's guiding aesthetic? Thusly, here's our friendly neighborhood otter sporting a Link hat.

And here is our default otter, who will be the wearer of various hats this week. We based the entire series look on the Windwaker style, which was a real treat, as you get to have really chunky and "primal" lines to work with. Not to mention, Zelda holds a special place in my heart: Ocarina of Time was huge to me as a kid--I'd study and draw art from the game manual for that and Majora's Mask, plus their coverage in Nintendo Power more than any other series.

I also liked that I got to use one of my absolute favorite paper textures, which I've had since college, I believe. You just find some nice, crinkled paper that sings, scan it up, and you've got a trusty ally at your side. This one has so much character to it, I knew it'd be a great fit. This is what our piece looks like with just plain, ol' base colors, though--no texture!

Again, thanks to the "primal" vibes of our source material, coloring was also nice and straightforward. Windwaker style has precious little detail or noodley workings, so it's liberating just to have a few colors you need to stress about and then you just go with them, not too much space to lose yourself in second-guesses.

It was quite fortunate that the coloring wasn't too intensive, actually, because right as I was preparing for this piece, my chairback started falling apart, so while I had been trying to make do, I had severe back and neck pain from the new sitting arrangement I had improvised. I've been in a similar situation before, and if your body starts hurting like that, you just have to stop--do not try to slug through it, it's not worth it.

We eventually made it through and everyone lived happily ever after, but what a little adventure this series was. Happy memories of desperately doodling after old game key art, horrific memories of suffering through old injuries, tons of adorable otter pictures googled for reference--this project had it all. Anyway, more art from this run to come throughout the week.

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