eliott lilly: conceptual growth.

Have much to show... but can't show yet..AAARRRGGGH!

2011-12-31T20:30:00.000-08:00

I've been slaving away on some really cool personal projects, but for various reasons I cannot display them to the public just yet. (All in due time I suppose).

In an attempt to post one last thing before the new year, I offer this instead.....BEHOLD!!!

Another collaboration with FlyingDebris straight from the archives (a few years old, but still classic.)

Apologies... and a gift

2011-11-14T20:07:00.000-08:00

Errr.... remember how I promised more RAGE WORK to come... well I haven't been able to get the approval from Id. soooo that is looking to be on hold until after the holidays. Sorry. But, it will be worth the wait: promise!

Having nothing else to share with you this week, I offer this exchange instead:

A friend of mine always gives me shit about drawing mechs with gunz. ( Apparently it's the "easy way out" and "anyone can put a gun ona mech and make it look cool"). So, on my lunch break one day I doodled this in response. TAKE THAT, sucka!!! you aint nevah seen a mech on vacation before, 'fool. mwhahahahaha.

RAGE: Authority concepts bizzare

2011-10-22T18:35:00.000-07:00

My time on RAGE was primarily spent working on the last level of the game where the player assaults the Authority base: Capital Prime. The level was built in modular pieces and as such they did not need fully rendered interior concepts, rather sections that could be repeated and tiled. Here are some examples of the modular exterior architecture elements found before the player enters the base.

A few "techno babble" floor concepts used within Capital Prime.

modular wall design:

Signage was used to brake up the uniformity of the level and I was tasked to develop an entire language of labels and designations to not only guide the player, but to breath life into the facility as well. Here are a few examples.

You can see it all come together in this one hallway concept. Also worth noting, is that this was the only complete concept that the modelers got. Apparently it was all they needed.

Finally, here are some place-able objects that were needed throughout the level.

And that about does it, folks. Thanks for taking a look at my Authority work. Will be posting more RAGE (non-Authority) work, soon. (oh yes, there's more).

A few RAGE concepts...

2011-10-10T00:02:00.000-07:00

Because I joined the id team towards the end of RAGE's development cycle, all of the cool stuff ( characters/ environments/ weapons, etc) had already been concepted (mostly anyway). Therefore my talents were mainly used to establish and flesh out the "Authority" (the evil government soldiers in the RAGE universe) which had yet to be defined. And while I did a ton of visualisation passes on what that would look like, I would first like to share with you a few random environment and prop concepts that broke up my time with the Authority. I think they might be of some interest.

My take on Apophis ( seen in the opening cinematic of the game

Jackal Canyon entrance

Satellite dish from end cinematic of game.

Will do an Authority concept dump next. Stay tuned.

Rage hits store shelves today: get your copy now!!!

2011-10-04T10:08:00.000-07:00

I was fortunate to be a part of the creative team and spent the past year working on this labor of love with some truly talented folks here at id Software. I hope you have a chance to check out the Anarchy Edition of the game, if for no other reason, than to get the Crimson Elite Armor ( concepted by yours truly. hehe).

wow.. its been a while

2011-09-27T00:01:00.000-07:00

I glimpsed at the calendar and realised that it's almost October, and I haven't posted any new work for this month. (whoops). This is mainly 'cuz my computer at home is currently on life support, barley hanging onto consciousness in my office. Any day now I am expecting it to go towards the light. Sigh. Needless to say, the joy of drawing at home is gone, but here's what I was up to before my computer took a turn for the worse.

I am looking to get a new computer soon, and hopefully pick up where I left off.... hopefully.

Rapid deployment

2011-08-22T23:45:00.000-07:00

In an effort to finish up some old drawings I have laying around, I've decided to merge them into one image and play around with their composition to find something that I like. It's a work in progress... but you can see where I'm going with it. Will update again as it progresses.

Quick update

2011-08-14T22:22:00.000-07:00

Here's a quick sketch I did for a friend in need of inspiration. Nothing too fancy, just a good 'ole 'beater mech.

He is currently modeling it for a vehicle competition on the Eat3d forums. Check out his progress here: http://eat3d.com/forum/contests-and-challenges/high-poly-vehicle-raul

And a WIP of the MK5 (because i know that's what you're really here to see).

F.E.A.R the end! (thank goodness, cuz I was running out of clever titiles...)

2011-07-18T00:49:00.000-07:00

Here are A few ideas and environments that didn't make the final game... but still worth showing.

Side note: this was my first digital concept EVER! I submitted this for approval to Day 1 Sudios about 5 years ago. Up until this point I was strictly a traditional artist, but due to tight schedules and several iterations, I had to learn Photoshop on the job. Thank goodness for Tim Coman, my Art Director, who gave me one on one lessons in PS and opened my mind to the beauty of Layers and Undo.

And that's all folks. Next up... H.ARM suit MK5 WIP's?..... maybe.

F.E.A.R. SOME MORE....

2011-07-11T22:00:00.000-07:00

A few concepts of suburbia and Costco-like" warehouses overrun by Alma crazed psycho's. It was my idea to have them scribble on the walls with blood and guts. muhahahahahaha.

A few different approaches to the same end sequence. Trying to determine the look and feel of the last level.

more F.E.A.R. concepts

2011-07-04T07:25:00.000-07:00

A few enviro pieces from the second interval in the game and some color studies at the end.

F.E.A.R THIS!

2011-06-26T21:58:00.000-07:00

Of all of the concepts generated while I worked on F.E.A.R. 3, I am most proud of the weapons. (Well, those and the one mech I did). Here are a few examples of the standard weapons:

Uzi

Sniper rifle

Handgun

The Combat Auto Shotgun was designed basically like a P90... but with shotgun shells. The animators rigged it so badass, that you could see the shells roll down the magazine and into the breach. When fired on full auto, this was incredibly satisfying. Sadly, as the game developed and the weapon was changed to semi automatic, the magic of watching the shells disappear down the mag was lost.

At one point, to present a cohesive package, we even tried matching the gun to the soldiers uniform. note: the soldier in this image was done by my buddy (and at the time, co-worker), Grant Hiller. you can check out more of his stuff here: http://artjunkiefix.blogspot.com/

Beam rifle... um, shoots a beam.

Rocket launcher

This was an early attempt at a Flechette gun (later renamed the Penetrator). It shot out a high volume of pointy spikes in a buckshot manner. Real nasty when used up close.

This is the rework of the same gun, but done later in the project. I think there is a drastic difference in quality from some of the earlier guns to the later ones. The more weapons I concepted, the more comfortable I became at making them and ventured out into unknown territory. Here's an example of a fully realised concept. It shows the Penetrator in side, front and first person view. To add to the lore of the gun I fabricated a little blurb describing the guns purpose, ammo type and firing/ reload sequence.

And last but not least, the mech. It's the first mech I ever made.. so don't judge too harshly.:P).

F.E.A.R. 3 OUT NOW!!!

2011-06-21T22:15:00.000-07:00

F.E.A.R. 3 was recently released to the public and so far it has been received well by the gamers and critics alike. I am very proud of the work I did on the game and being that it was my cherry popper into this industry, good, bad, or ugly, it will forever be my first game and therefore my first love. I hope you guys check it out and enjoy it. I will be posting some of my concept art from the game at a later date.

some mech sketching

2011-05-22T18:45:00.000-07:00

Linh Mai, Writer and Director for The Last Cause, approached me and asked if I could join his team as a mech and weapons designer. But because I currently have a full time job, to do so would be impossible. However, I have joined the team as a consultant of sorts and to show my support for the film, am lending him a few of my old designs that I had lying around. I am not sure in what capacity these will end up in the short film he is producing, but I am excited to see his project come about.

The Last Cause. Check it out!!!

2011-05-13T19:48:00.000-07:00

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/thelastcause/the-last-cause-feature-film

Donate if u want to see this movie happen. As a mech enthusiast, I can't wait.

Its been a while... but worth the wait ( I hope).

2011-04-19T23:15:00.000-07:00

The Mark 2

Right Arm Loadout:

Heavy 32 mm Anti material autocannon outfitted with drum soft ammo pouch (150 HE/AP rds). Mechanical Support arm also serves as shock mitigation system to reduce felt recoil on sustained fire engagements.

Mounted electronic optic includes FLIR system, threat identification and automated targeting assist.

Left Arm Loadout:

Automated speed loader carries and loads spare ammo as needed. Currently holds 2 spare drums. In an event of ammo cook off, drums can be ejected.

Also worth noting:
Both arms feature a quick release pull tab in case pilot needs to ditch the arm (for whatever reason)
Also new to the H.ARM Series: ROPS (Thanks Roman)

a few quick guns

2011-03-20T21:59:00.000-07:00

Taking a break from the H.ARM series for a sec, I got the urge to mess around with some gun designs over the weekend. I designed a prototype weapon loosely based off of a rail gun and came up with several looks that I figure are worth sharing. I haven't thought thru the logistics of it ( what it fires, how it reloads, etc.), this was really more for shitz and giggles. I am kind of fond of number 5, so I will prolly flush it out one day. one day. lol.

The MK. 2

2011-03-08T23:17:00.000-08:00

After hitting a wall on the LE version of the H.ARM suit, I decided to take the elements that I like from it and instead use them in the MK2. Being a very early prototype I envisioned the creators and engineers struggling to find the balance between protection vs. mobility. To solve this their answer was to experiment with both soft and hard armor plating. I've ruffed in my first thoughts... will refine and clean up as I go.

MK4 Law Enforcement Version?...

2011-02-27T21:58:00.000-08:00

Mmm.. no not really. I got excited at the idea of an alternate LE version.. but as I sat down to think about how this would work and what tools and weapons it would need, it became clear to me that a police version would not be too practical.

At first I thought it could be deployed instead of SWAT, but the suit is not designed for close quarters combat. Its larger size and width would make it difficult to walk through doors and turn around in confined spaces. OH and do i need to remind you what happened to ED 209 in the stair well... yeh. not good.

So then I thought about it being used in a crowd control scenario. Outdoors would be its ideal playground, but you wouldn't use a Gatling gun to quail a bunch of protesters. (or would you?! hmmm.. JUST KIDDING) At first I replaced the heavy gun with tear gas launchers/ tazer's, emergency tools etc. But as I developed my idea I realised that it would still need to carry a lethal weapon as a last line of defense. So I brought the large gun back.

And that was the problem I couldn't solve. Because the rules of engagement are different between police and military, a 20 mm cannon deployed in a civilian environment would deal too much unwanted collateral damage. Even a 7.62 fully automatic machine gun would cause more harm than good in these areas. And as the weapon of choice got smaller and smaller it became a bit ridiculous to see this large machine hold such a small weapon.

So I've put the LE version on hold for now. Im not saying that I couldn't design the H.ARM Suit to be able to do these things, rather that in its current state, the suit has its limitations. However, there is definitely an idea there worth pursuing, because I can easily see the benefit of its ability to carry heavy cargo. And after I have completed the rest of the suits in this series, will prolly go back to figure out the logistics of an LE version.

H.ARM MK4 SUIT complete.

2011-02-04T20:25:00.000-08:00

some college work.

2011-01-31T01:44:00.000-08:00

I recently gave a lecture/ demonstration of my work process and techniques to a mixed audience of students and professionals at Collin Community College here in Dallas,Texas. I also spoke about the importance of developing good work ethics, being critical of your own work, and how to tailor ones portfolio to get a job in the industry. The event went really well, and I think everyone left with useful information.

Anyway, during the presentation I used some of my old work from college as teaching examples and pointed out the things which I did right as well as those that were not so right. I figured it would be a good idea to post those images here on my blog for anyone who may be a student/ up and coming professional in hopes that they can relate to it. I believe the images will serve as a good reference point for self evaluation, as well as a reminder that talent evolves over a long period of time, and not overnight.

Anyaway, I hope some of you find this intersting. For the rest of you......
H.ARM suit Mk.4 Work In Progress.

Enjoy.

A friend in need...

2010-12-20T12:24:00.000-08:00

I thought this might be fun to share...

Alex Iglesias (a.k.a. Flyingdebris) is a good friend of mine and DIE HARD MECHSPERT. (And I do not say that lightly). All this guy does is eat, breath and shit mechs. I am consistently amazed at his solid understanding of design, form and function and often curse myself for not being as ingenious. You can view his online gallery here: http://flyingdebris.deviantart.com/gallery/

Anyway, occasionally we will send each other a mech sketch for comments/ crits and approval. He is currently working on this badass mech:

I love every part about it... except for its color scheme. I told him it was too much brown, and wanting to see what it would look like in black, spent a few minutes doing a quick paintover. I suggested to him some more material breakup, texture changes and an alternate color scheme. (He doesn't have to stick to this, mind you, its just a suggestion of what could be) Here's what I pitched to him:

I think the result is a step in the right direction, but I can't wait to see what/ if any changes he makes to the final.

Going a bit further and having some fun with it, I shamelessly added my H.ARM suit in there and for cheap thrills, unified their color schemes to suggest they worked as a unit. Its a hack job admittedly, but my curiosity was satisfied. And voila... I now have my new desktop image.

great mech art books for anyone who loves a great mech

2010-12-12T10:04:00.000-08:00

I came across three books that have some of the best mech material that I've ever seen. They are in my library collection, and I seriously encourage any mech enthusiast to add it to theirs.

(it may be hard to find on retail shelves, but u may have some luck on ebay or something)

Izumo Jyuki's Industrial Divinities Art Book http://store.animebooks.com/izjyindi.html

Armored core, a new Order of Next http://store.animebooks.com/arconeworofn.html

Master Artworks of Metal Gear Solid 4, Guns of the Patriots:

http://store.animebooks.com/megeso4il.html

H.ARM SUIT complete.

2010-12-05T01:26:00.000-08:00

A quick write up for shitz and giggles.

The H.ARM suit is a robotic load-bearing exoskeleton designed to be a force multiplier on the battlefield. It extends the arsenal of any grunt war fighter by allowing its wearer the ability to operate and deliver heavy munitions into any theater of operation. Because of its relatively small size it is not only lighter, "quieter", and more energy efficient than most mechas, but it offers major advantages to war fighters in confined urban areas.

Because it is mission adaptable, the H.ARM suit can be outfitted with various weapons and attachments. Its current loadout is:

LEFT ARM:
primary: Modified Bushmaster Mk44 25mm dual fed auto cannon with air burst technology.
secondary: none
support: Thermal imaging camera/ IR flare x2/ CHAFF grenade x2

RIGHT ARM:
primary: Vulcan .50 cal BMG mini gun. w/ 2500 round drum magazine
secondary: Laser guided STT missile X7 with Tri mode guidance
support: smoke grenade x3 flare x1 (not pictured)

Will be posting more mech goodness soon. Stay tuned....

NEED... MORE... TIME...

2010-10-26T23:23:00.000-07:00

I appologise that I cannot post new works as frequently as I would like; free time is hard to come by these days. But here are 2 sketches that have been started off-and-on over the past few weeks. At this rate they'll be completed ina few months. lol. sigh.

Some published work

2010-09-28T22:07:00.000-07:00

Ambush Alley makes very cool 15mm sci-fi miniature games and rule books. They recently commisioned me to do a cover for their "Tommorrow's War" series. You can check em out here: http://www.ambushalleygames.com

a quick art update

2010-08-23T09:34:00.000-07:00

So, for the past 4 years I have been working at Day 1 Studios here in Chicago as a concept artist on the video game project F.E.A.R 3. The concepting for that project is done (game is scheduled to release early next year I believe) and I am proud to announce that I will be relocating to Dallas Texas to work on a new video game with the talented individuals on the Id Software team. While there, I plan to help them realise their vision on "RAGE". ( This game: http://rage.com/home.php) and probably a little bit on "DOOM" (Their other game). I think this will be a great opportunity to learn and grow as an artist so I am especially excited and really looking forward to it. (Although I am not looking forward to the hot weather. :P)

Because of this I haven't had much time to do any personal work, but I can post some black and white studies I did a while back. Enjoy.

Sawed-off shotgun!... not really, no.

2010-06-22T01:13:00.000-07:00

Ok, double barreled, sci-fi blaster is more appropriate... but you get the idea.

It's been a while, since I've had any free time, been busy busy, busy... but not too busy to draw a gun. hehe. I swear; it never gets old. Early on in development I was playing with the idea of this being a revolver (which works as well), but I decided to make this resemble a shotty cuz its not something I draw too often.

Sorry... no art this time...

2010-05-04T20:51:00.000-07:00

BUT I can finally say that I am working on the next sequel in the F.E.A.R franchise. (I don't care how they announced it, it will always be F.E.A.R.3 in my book). Mike: good eyes. I am still waiting to get permission to post some images from work here on my blog.

Amongst other things, I was responsible for the environments, a few vehicles, and most importantly... THE GUNS. So I can promise you that they will look awesome :P Stay tuned.

2010-04-22T20:56:00.000-07:00

I know its been a while, but here's what i've been workin on: a few environment pieces.

2010-03-07T22:24:00.000-08:00

I just updated my portfolio site, with a few images you have seen, and a few you may not have. Swing by, relax and check it out: www.eliottlillyart.com

In the meantime, enjoy this sci-fi blaster in progress.

Warhounds Assault: Finished

2010-02-24T00:59:00.000-08:00

Warhounds Assault: process

2010-02-23T22:39:00.000-08:00

So, a while back I had this idea about two bad ass robots, tearing shit up and just doing what badass robots do. This was the start of that idea:

I had to put it down for a few weeks, and when I came back, I looked at the image, still feeling strong about it's intentions and goals, but felt scale was needed to ground the image to realism. After adding a few soldiers for support and possible narrative I ended up with this: (note... this would have been the best time to address the retarded perspective issues... whoops).

This image was always about the Mech, so that would be my main focus. The problem with that vertical composition was that the mech 1. has to get scaled down in size and 2. seemed whimpy and less of the focus. Using "big against small" as my rule, I began rearanging the composition to get the mech large and in your muther f*ckin face. The only problem that created, was that becasue this mech was supposed to be 2 and a half times human height (from its feet to the ammo drum on its back), there was no easy wat to show everything I wanted in the scene (unless I zoomed out). I could show the ground troops standig next to the legs of the mech, or the upper torso of the mech, but only the soldiers heads. The dirty solution there was to fudge it to make the shot work. Whatever.

I found a bolder composition that worked for me, slapped down a photo I grabbed off the internet(a screenshot of Farcry 2, I think) and used it as my color base. It doesn't matter what photo is used really, its just to get color that works.

As I was filling in the spaces, I was still struggling with the composition. Not happy with my dirty little compromise, I tried another approach. Zooming out a bit, puting more of the mech in the image I began developing my horizon line and atmosphere. In my opinion however, that only severd to show that my composition was foreground heavy with no middle or background elements. Great. So basically, after cursing myself for being soo lazy, I decided to accept the prison I created and embrace the suck.

I met the two compositions in the middle, shrinking the mech slightly to allow more to be shown, but remain as the focus of the image. I began defining the shapes more clearly, getting some textures on the mech and establishing the light source, etc. From that Far Cry photo , I got the idea to have an explosion going off in the distance, causing a bright hot spot on the leg of the mech and soldier standing next to it.

Next thing I know, I'm drawing exploding vehicles, other mechs walking in formation behind the lead mech, foot soldiers running off in the distance, etc. What the hell?! This was supposed to be about ONE MECH!

Added atmosphere to push/ pull foreground and background elements. Fixed the second arm, added lighting, a treeline, and smoke trails. whoot! Some of the action elements in the scene really started working together and it was all comming along nicely. There were several times when my girlfriend laughed at me making "pew, pew pew, kabooom, barakakakakakaka" sounds while I was drawing. To which I replied "mechs are no laughing matter; they will f*cking kill you!"

I darkend the overall image a bit for added ommph. Made small tweaks here and there, looking at the image as a whole; figuring what works and what doesn't.

I decided that some of the sparks and flying debris in the scene were too distracting, so I shrunk it in size and knocked it back a bit. I went on to alter the gun arm slightly, punched up the light sources, smoothed out a few edges, changed the color of the sky to a bluere hue and gave the mech a bit of battle damage. horray.

And there you have it. A quick and honest look at how this image came together. While I think the intent of this image definately comes accross, the narration is hindered by not having a solid sense of perspective and scale, nor a good understanding of where this battle is taking place. lesson learned. (but its still pretty damn cool in my opinion. hehe)

Warhounds Assault

2010-02-22T01:46:00.000-08:00

Worked on this over the weekend. It's just about finished. (Actually, since the subject matter is all there and the idea reads well enough; I guess the concept is complete... but as an illustration, its only 85% there. I have a few areas that are currently offending my artistic senses and will address them within the next few days).

And before you judge me... I KNOW THE PERSPECTIVE IS WACKY!! yeh, yeh; polishing a turd. My mistake was that I focused on the mech too early on in developement... then later decided to expand the canvass and put more elements of interest in it. That meant my composition took a hit and so did the perspective. The ground plane was an afterthought. Lesson learned.

I have saved my files along the way and will post the various stages of development so u can see my thought process. (coming soon)

Battle Tank completed??...

2010-01-24T23:16:00.000-08:00

Not sure how much I like it since it varies greatly from the original color and texture pallets; but I may be too close to it. I think it reads pretty well and the mood is there, but if I had time to do it all over again I would definitely do a few things differently. I guess that's why they call it "learning".

And in case u forgot where it started....

What's this?... Another gun you ask?.. Why Yes. YES IT IS!

2010-01-24T22:57:00.000-08:00

This gun sketch started out as a futuristic design, then somehow ended up being a older bolt action rifle with a high powered scope. I like the idea of mixing new technology with old and figured this would be a great opportunity to switch things up a bit. If i wanted to proceed even further with this idea, i am sure i could really push a few concepts to untapped areas. (will save that idea for later).

The bottom sketch is only 80% done. In my opinion, the scope is too clean for sucha heavily worn rifle. The next thing for me to do will be to add scratches and such to the scope in hopes of unifying the fiction between old and new. Will keep u posted.

2009-11-07T14:34:00.000-08:00

Here's a quick environment exercises I recently did. The goal was to come up with an interesting environment and a bit of narration. I spent a few hours doing black and white thumbnails. (Quick brainstorming ideas). Then a few color ruffs, and then the final. Not sure how much I like the end result, but it was a learning experience non the less.

progress is slow, but steady.

2009-09-08T21:13:00.000-07:00

For the record, working on 4 different concepts at the same time is ruff!... but damn is it fun. This one is far from being done, but is looking solid already. I'm still redesigning the guns (which I hope to have completed soon) and that mech piece (with the soldiers looking all bad ass) is on the back burner. There just isn't enough time in the day. Sigh.

the adventures of gun development

2009-08-27T23:19:00.000-07:00

I started doodling a few guns on my ride to work. They are done very quickly and are quite crude, but gave just enough info to get the thought across. Looked kinda like this:

After giving them some Photoshop loving, they begin to take shape, and a few potential candidates stand out.

once I've found a form that works for me, I begin to add the details.

It doesn't feel as hefty as the rough sketch, nor am I happy with it, so I alter a few proportions resulting in a completely different gun...but its damn cool anyway:

ok. ok. ok. Now that that's outta my system I go back to my original idea... (still a work in progress, but u can see where it is heading. The form is truer to the original sketch. This makes me happy.

More images to come as the iteration progresses on this gun. Will keep u posted.

Warhounds/ Battle tank update...

2009-07-30T21:05:00.000-07:00

Been busy. started detailing the battle tank. lighting and color pallet is beginning to fall into place nicely.

I reorganised the layout of "Warhounds" and thew in some foot soldiers for scale and %25 more bad-ass-ness. will work on this after the battle tabk is done.

explorer-man

2009-07-30T20:40:00.000-07:00

Quick sketch. Don't think it makes much sense, but whatever... its a doodle: they don't have to make sense.

Holy Crap... more mech goodness!

2009-07-12T23:33:00.000-07:00

at it again... ill try to bring this to a finish... no promises tho.

Emergency Service Unit 08

2009-07-06T00:25:00.000-07:00

A few quick ideas of First Responders with a slight sci-fi twist...(they're in Space). The first one is more of a hazard suit focusing mainly on protection for the wearer, while the second one is more of a medic like unit, meant to administer treatment to another person. (not so much emphasis on personal safety here). I envisioned each one having a tool of sort that they would uses to accomplish their task. Whatever. interesting exercise.

More Mech Goodness

2009-06-21T12:30:00.000-07:00

The sketch is Finlay done. With the base concept finalized, all that's left to paint is the fun part....

To see the final image colored and all sexy looking, please visit my portfolio website. www.eliottlillyart.com. Thanks.

2009-06-17T22:23:00.000-07:00

A few quick and dirty robot sketches. If I had more time in my day I would bring all of these babies up to a finish... sadly tho, only one of these will reach completion. sigh.

I will post the final image on my Portfolio website once completed... stay tuned. :D

3D Sniper Rifle

2009-06-02T22:16:00.000-07:00

Aren Voorhees did an awesome job modeling the sniper rifle. You can view more 3D goodness @ his site: http://www.artisticvendetta.com/gallery.html

War Hounds/ Battle Tank

2009-05-19T19:53:00.000-07:00

I've been bitten by the "Mech Bug". These are a few personal projects I am working on... just for shitz. Both are works in progress.

2009-05-07T20:03:00.000-07:00

These are two studies that sadly will probably never reach maturity... there just isn't enough time in the day. Sigh.

Pistola

2009-05-07T19:22:00.000-07:00

Started this pistol sketch over the weekend. Gonna finish it up soon and post it on my website (www.eliottlillyart.com) when its done.

Redesigning the Gun 01

2009-04-21T23:59:00.000-07:00

ok. here we go.

I've had this gun study lying around for a while now and it never felt quite right. While it has the makings of a "signature" weapon it falls a bit short. The ergonomic curvy elements are a good start but they are not integrated with the rest of the gun which is fairly generic in design. To make things worse, there is an invisible line that splits the gun in two parts. (another sign of poor design... i don't know what i was thinking). The front end is too large and there is not enough room in the back of the gun for the mechanical parts to cycle. Any gun enthusiast would spot this and rip me a new one because the weapon is unbelievable and therefore fails. sigh.

So I set out to improve the standing of this weapon. I wanted to bring some of the curvy elements into the non rubber parts, fix the known issues and try to find a more unique shape and look. At the very least my goal was to make it a bit More dramatic with a stronger design language. (Yes.. I could quickly and easily have just shifted the proportions in photoshop and that would have been it... but then where is the fun in that?)

After I've blocked in my shapes and figured out the angles, all that's left is to add the details.

I'm not sure how "signature this weapon is... but its 100X BETTER than what it started out as. It has a strong design language, tackles all of the challenges and most importantly still holds the same feel as the original concept. WHOOT!

So you wanna draw guns.... (for video games)

2009-04-11T22:41:00.000-07:00

Well... guns are tricky! In a first person shooter the gun is the thing that the player will most identify with because it stays with the player throughout the duration of the game. It represents you, (the player) and is the main way to interact with the environment and characters therefore serving as the 'voice of the player. The trick to concepting for video games is to make that voice (your gun) as distinguishable as possible so that you can look at it out of context and immediately place the game it belongs to. This is called a 'Signature weapon and needless to say, is the Unicorn of video games. If designed well signature weapons can be as unforgettable as the characters in the game; no pressure.

SIDE NOTE: It takes more than just a concept to make a signature gun. (Trying not to dive too deep here) basically the gun has to be tuned right by the Design team so it is balanced and handles well. Animation needs to give it cool movements. The Sound dept needs to work its magic while the Effects team perfects the muzzle blast and hit effects that will empower the player etc. When all of these things come together the results is an identifiable and memorable weapon... but it starts with an awesome concept.

Here are examples signature weapons. (If u don't recognise them... well, good luck getting into this business).

1. The Gears of War LANCER. The first time you used the chainsaw you knew you would never forget this gun. The design is very sci-fi... but it has familiar elements to it. (hand grip, vent holes, sighting system..) U can see the barrel and instantly know its a rifle of some sort.

2.Halo (1,3) Assault Rifle. Very sci-fi and stylised also. Has a simple but recognisable shape to it.

3.The plasma cutter from Dead Space.
Another example of unique look and function. It was extremely satisfying to use and if you were up for a challenge you could play the entire game with this weapon alone.

There is no surefire way to make a signature gun. (heck, I'm still learning) but I can tell you that that there are several things that I take into consideration before beginning a gun concept and setting out on my quest to find that unicorn.

THE THINGS I NEED TO KNOW:
1.What type of weapon is this? (pistol, shot gun, sniper/assault/battle riffle, etc)
2.How does the gun work? What are the moving parts? (reload, charging handle, switches etc.)
3.What details are needed to convey this gun successfully?
4.Does it have a distinct shape and feel? Is it aesthetically pleasing?
5.Is this gun believable? (believability is partially relative to the fictional universe the gun resides in, but is also relative to the players expectations of the gun. I'll explain ina bit).

WHAT TYPE OF WEAPON IS THIS? Usually on a project I get a specific task to "concept a shotgun". Design hands me a document with the weapons specifications on it. It will usually state things like: Two handed semi automatic shotgun. Has a magazine that holds 10 rounds. Is meant to be a close range weapon with ballistic drop off after X meters... yaddda yadda yadda. There are usually limitations imposed on me such as: how much real estate the gun takes up. (how much of the gun you seen on screen at once). There is also the problem of precious memory space within the game, so I am told that the shotgun will have to be held like an assault rifle. What this means is that in first person (your character) will hold and grip the shotgun and assault riffle in the same way. Therefore I have to draw the grips of the weapons in the identical spot which, at times, can be somewhat of a challenge. Once that has been established however, I am left to play with the overall design. Will it be a sleek and lightweight weapon or a heavier beefy gun? I set my goal but am not afraid to explore unexpected variations.

HOW DOES THE GUN WORK? Good question; learn your shit! Understanding how guns function/ disassemble, what their moving parts are etc. will go a long way to enhancing the guns believability and THAT is crucial when developing a signature firearm. On my free time I spend countless hours staring at guns (seriously... u can ask my girlfriend) and have a workable knowledge of guns and their function. Moving parts on guns is always cool. Animators, given the time, love to make things... animate. It is important to have the gun workings figured out in my head before I pass the assignment along. I need to know: how does the gun reload, where is the mag release button, is there a bolt handle, etc. I identify the moving parts of my concept and flag them for the animation department. (Because the animators will ask, and I need to have an answer for them).

WHAT DETAILS ARE NEEDED TO CONVEY THIS GUN SUCCESSFULLY? A shotgun will always have to look and feel like a shotgun! (no matter how sci-fi it is). And that is because there are certain expectations that a player is accustomed to when handling a shotgun in video games. They expect it to look like a shot gun and perform like one.
In order to look like a shot gun the artist needs to have an understating of what elements makes a shotgun different from other guns and infuse these elements into the concept. A good concept will convince the player that it is a shotgun at first glance. If u are basing your design on a real world weapon then it has to look like it is from this world... if it is an alien space cannon that ACTS like a shotgun... then it is NOT a shotgun: its an an alien space cannon that acts like a shotgun!

THIS IS A SPAS 12 SHOTGUN. It is a real world weapon.

This is the ISA M13 Semi-automatic Combat Shotgun from Killzone.
THIS IS A SHOTGUN that reads as such right away.

The Flak Cannon from Unreal Tournament 3.
THIS IS NOT A SHOTGUN... but it acts like one. When fired the projectiles spread out over distance and suffer from ballistic drop.

If I find that my concept is looking more and more sci-fi while my goal is to maintain a real world principle, then I will try to reel it in by adding modern and familiar aspects. Giving the weapon a pump handle, a foldable stock or even shells that load beneath the gun is a good start. I notice that the most popular way to affix a sci-fi gun to reality seems to be giving the weapon double barrels (either side by side, or one on top of the other).

The Gnasher Shotgun from Gears of War 1, 2
It's short stubby frame instantly reads as shotgun. Has double barrels and vent holes.

The shotgun in Doom 3 is a thick sci-fi blaster.. but is recognisable as as shotgun because of its pump handle grip.

The shotgun in Halo 1,2,3 is also successful because it too has a sci-fi feel, but retains several real world elements. ( pump handle grip, shells that load from below the gun, lit iron sights, etc.).

That being said, there ARE some exceptions where games can establish a signature weapon without that weapon being accurate to its real world counterpart. The Unreal 3 Flak Cannon is a perfect example of a weapon that doesn't resemble a shot gun at all, but is unmistakable as an Unreal weapon. But in my opinon the gun fails becasue if a player has never played Unreal,he will not know what to expect from that weapon just by looking at it. My experience has taught me that having a distinct and easily identifiable weapon is the strongest way to get the player to pick up the weapon durring the heat of battle. Its the classic case of "Crap I'm getting shot at from this dude right behind me... do I wanna experiment with this alien gun on the floor and take my chances??..." vs. "Crap I'm getting shot at from this dude right behind me.. ohh, there's a shotgun...YESS!!"

DOES IT HAVE A DISTINCT SHAPE AND FEEL? IS IT ATHEISTICALLY PLEASING?
Creating a signature weapon usually means the artist will need to have a good design language. Angles need to play off one another, be aware of aggressive shapes and bold design. I usually start by doing simple black and white thumbnails to get the basic shape of the gun. If the silhouette is strong at the thumbnail stage, then it will work larger. In video games, silhouettes are very important because they offer the player the first impression of a weapon. Therefore the silhouette of a shotgun MUST read as a shotgun when it is laying on the floor five feet away from the player. (This is why it is so important to have familiar elements interlaced into the gun design). In general, when I design an entire armory of guns, I try to give each weapon type a distinct feel and shape so that the player can distinguish the weapon the enemy is carrying. Even if the weapons are made by the same fictitious manufacturer there needs to be some cohesive unity between them, but at the same time they need to feel distinct enough not to get confused. Vary the thickness of the weapon, it's overall shape and length... but keep the design languages between them unified. (Same color scheme, same decals, same styling).
After the black and whites, I mock it up larger and start filling in the details. (I reference real world guns to put that BELIEVABILITY in there!).

IS THIS GUN BELIEVABLE?
At this point.. if I have followed my recipe, there should be no question about the nature of the weapon. (but I'll usually call someone over to my desk and ask them what they think it is...) If my colleague doesn't recognise the gun as I have intended it, then I have failed as a person and condemn myself to low mumbling and swears... but then I make it better.

DISCLAIMER:
These are just my thoughts that I have affirmed through my daily experience... I'm not so steadfast in my ways to be proven wrong, I am always open to learn a new way of thinking.

OTHER THINGS I'VE LEARNED. (Don't ask me why, just take my word for it!!!).
When designing a gun for a video game, curves are usually bad.
Never put circles or expensive geo out of frame or covered up by a hand grip (unless there is a chance it will be viewed at some point. (like during a reload).
If you draw in first person perspective, ALWAYS GET A BLOCK-IN that is accurate to the games Field of View (FOV).
Always put details towards the camera where player will be looking. (the back of the gun).
From concept to modeling, something ALWAYS gets lost in translation... your gun on screen may be 5-15% less sexy than concepted. (and that's' with a damn good modeler).
It doesn't count until it's running in the game!
It's not personal... just do it over.
and my personal favorite "we want THAT... but different"

2009-01-06T15:44:00.000-08:00

BEHOLD!!! My first uploaded image. (This is so exciting)