Brendan Deboy

Formulas

2012-02-16T22:41:00.007+10:30

Lately I've discovered just how much I rely on certain formulas when drawing in ways I'm comfortable with. For example, on a character piece I'd usually start with the head and work down to the legs in a nice, precalculated process. This piece, however, was chaotic. I'd never drawn a face at this angle and keeping the perspective consistent without a horizon line was tricky. I couldn't really work out the tilt at which the spider was supposed to hang or whether it was straight overhead, and I suddenly realised that despite drawing a quick study on this exact thing a couple of posts ago, I had absolutely no idea where branches were supposed to end and nice leaf clusters begin. All the stuff you never think about.

I felt much more at home with this:

And a Moleskine thing.

Sketchbookage

2011-12-31T17:12:00.003+10:30

Fashion Design

2011-12-16T22:59:00.005+10:30

Not something I really considered important in my line of work - until I tried to paint a character who:

a.) Wasn't wearing armour (fantasy)

b.) Wasn't wearing armour (sci-fi)

c.) Wasn't wearing armour (hot dog - see earlier post)

d.) Wasn't completely and deliberately ridiculous.

Developing this character tought me a lot about what I have been subconsciously avoiding, such as clothing folds. Good ol' plate armour. I learned a lot with this one - part of me wants to decribe this character so you can get the gist, the other part of me says I shouldn't have to explain it. Also, it's late and I can't be bothered.

Moving on: The other day I felt like drawing fish, then I felt like drawing guns, then I drew fish-guns. Now I'm sick of fish and guns.

Aaaand top it off with a nice, normal, gamey sketch. A bit of an anticlimax really.

Horned Helmets = Kewl

2011-12-04T22:28:00.003+10:30

Believe it or not, I actually began painting this before the Skyrim trailers were released. Ipso facto, they stole my idea.

Also, trees.

Site Update

2011-11-27T17:40:00.003+10:30

Now that Happy Feet 2 is out, I figure it's ok for me to share some of this stuff. Head to brendandeboy.com to see more from the series!

All art copyright KMM Games.

Chocolate

2011-10-29T00:06:00.005+10:30

Hello! Here are some new things:

First, a chocolate block cowboy thing. It might surprise you to learn that I spend significantly less time developing the initial idea than I do illustrating it:

Also, some studies and sketches.

And finally, a sketch of a horrible, horrible dream I had one night featuring a plane belonging to no airline in particular and even if it does resemble a certain airline it doesn't matter because it was just a dream I had and if you're the type of person who makes decisions about air travel based on someone elses dreams then maybe flying isn't your thing anyway:

Together at Last

2011-08-27T01:20:00.003+09:30

Hopefully this idea hasn't been done before.

There really wasn't any point to this other than I wanted to design some game characters but I'm finding myself pretty bored with space marine and/or black op motif. Game art is looking pretty samey these days.

Tumbler Study

2011-07-15T22:46:00.002+09:30

The Tumbler after recieving heavy chassis damage. Batman puts that thing through it's paces.

And some bus sketch I Photoshopped a little.

Reflections on the End

2011-07-04T23:30:00.019+09:30

The lead up to the end of Krome Studios was a stressful time for everyone involved. During the last year or so the Adelaide studio (my studio) felt particular strain for two reasons:

1.) Being the smallest of Krome's two satellite studios, the Adelaide team knew that it would be the first option should head office decide that severing limbs was unavoidable.

b.) Adelaide is a relatively small town, void of any high profile gaming companies. Krome (and previously Ratbag) had long stood as the solitary beacon of hope for anyone in this city who considered game development a valid means of paying their bills. Simply put, if Krome was to disappear, it would strike a death blow to the Adelaide games industry.

In spite of the constant, crushing weight of this soul-vexing dilemma, I couldn't help but notice that something about this whole situation made the concept art side of things quite exciting.

In fact, I dare say it actually made for some of the most enjoyable and varying artistic opportunities I have experienced.

When it looked like things were going bad, many people started thinking about original IP (Krome was known mainly for it's work on licenced titles, with a few exceptions). In my experience this wasn't something normally encouraged all that much, but when people began to smell trouble it wasn't long before the race was on to come up with the company-saving pitch for the best video game idea ever.

And who do you come to to make a pitch look all bright and shiny? That's right. The concept artists.

In my last year, I worked on many different pitches - some of which had quite a large number of people dedicated to producing them. I found these ideas to be fairly mainstream initially, but they certainly made for some fun and varying design pieces. Sadly, most of this art has disappeared, but here are a few remaining samples:

(See also 'Boon' Cotter's article on another of these projects)

As things dried up even more, Adelaide began to find itself feeling somewhat cut off from the other studios. Not wanting to remain idle with the threat of redundancy hanging over our heads, we began to talk amongst ourselves, throwing around some ideas for re-skin of a previously discarded project that we still felt had a lot of potential - enough potential to save our studio. I feel we actually came up with some of our most creative ideas during this time - It's a shame we never had the opportunity to develop these further. Here's a small taste of my contribution:

Even still, the situation worsened. In a flurry of last minute panic, twenty-something game developers crowded around the boardroom table, desperate to come up with an idea. Deep down I think we all knew this was the end, and in a strange way it almost felt like that by accepting that fact the pressure was slightly eased. We proceeded to hold what I found to be one of the most enjoyable, creative and hilarious whiteboard sessions we ever had. It took nearly all morning, but in the end, we came up with this:

We were closed down a couple of weeks later.

We've All Been There

2011-06-30T09:06:00.007+09:30

There comes a time in every artist's life where they think to themselves 'Perhaps it's about time I eased up on drawings of holographic projections of eyeball-headed, rabbit eared victorian era children riding on the back of goat-man creatures and focused a little more on studies from life.'

And friends, I am no exception.

Here are some studies I've been working on recently. Firstly, a photostudy. This pic incorporated many things I usually try and avoid: Movement, foreshortening, crowds, etc. I painted this one at the size of the .jpg in order not to get too bogged down in detail:

I'm not really a fan of the self portrait, but hey, all the cool kids are doing it so who am I to resist. Figured I could use some practice at the dreaded closeup:

Ugh. maybe that's too close.

Also, in keeping with the portrait practice mindset, I recently grabbed a few celebrity photos off of the net - nobody in particular - just people who I thought possess certain interesting facial features (more to come next post). I was having terrible trouble with this lady's left eye, so I incorporated some clever pro tricks to get around the problem. See if you can tell what I did.

Seamless.

See you next time folks.

Life Studies.

2011-06-17T21:30:00.007+09:30

Forgot I hadn't posted these yet. About 20-40 mins each.

Strange Things

2011-06-17T21:18:00.007+09:30

Hi. Not really sure what is going on with this holographic goat thing. My mind kind of wanders without a proper brief.

I also figured I should try some more industrial stuff too, so I drew a space ship hovering over a field. Then I put sheep in the field. Lots and lots of sheep. Also, Is there a drawing version of ADD?

Still waiting for some work stuff do de-classify then hopefully I can show you some more finished pieces instead of these lack-lustre half paintings.

Lunchbreak Drawing

2011-06-03T14:01:00.003+09:30

Some of my most successful pieces began as quick doodles in my lunchbreak.

In other news; here's a mediocre painting I did:

Wolf in Sheep's Clothing

2011-04-11T23:11:00.005+09:30

Not overly happy with this one. Had to rush it for a comp deadline. Bah!

Rock, Fortress, Deliverer

2011-03-16T13:55:00.002+10:30

Inspired by 2 Samuel 22:2.

Hooray!

2011-02-03T21:47:00.008+10:30

I am back!

It has been a long while since i've posted something, so I won't keep you with my good.. Writing...ness.

Yeah...

Here's a pic of some characters I've been working on. It is a WORK IN PROGRESS. 4 characters from the novel I one day plan to write (it's not going to happen). If you're familiar with my work you may find the first guy looks familiar - I designed him a while ago. The 1st two; very closed to finished. Second two, not finished. Crits are always welcome.

You used to be cool, Adelaide.

2011-01-13T15:15:00.006+10:30

Hi everybody!

Just a quick message to let you know that no, I'm not dead.

I have been busy moving house, and now, as I wait 'five to ten working days' for my router to be delievered to my internet-less home, I come to you live from my local public library.

I will post some new work once my internet is sorted out, but for now, just rest assured that I am alive.

See Mom, I told you I'd make it...

2010-11-17T21:50:00.005+10:30

...I just finished a picture of a man dressed as a carrot walking a duck-dog.

Dwarves (Dwarfs?)

2010-11-15T00:14:00.006+10:30

The C.H.O.W. topic a few weeks back was 'Fantasy Pinup'.

As predicted, there were a whole lot of sultry elves being drawn. I thought to myself; 'why does no one ever draw a sultry dwarf?'

I think I found my answer.

Also, a monkey WIP. Don't think I'll continue with that one - it was a sketch that just went outta control.

2010-10-31T23:03:00.001+10:30

R.I.P. Mustard

2010-10-28T22:01:00.029+10:30

I wasn't going to post this, but I haven't really got anything else to show at the moment.

This is a couple of quick watercolor studies of two of my pets back home. Mustard was a little musk lorikeet. He passed away about a month ago (I painted this about two months ago). He was a smart little fellow - used to talk and talk even though every expert we spoke to said those birds were not clever enough to mimic. He showed them. I often felt sorry for him in his cage. All he wanted to do was fly, but never had enough feathers. I actually got a little sad painting him that day. Poor old Mustard.

Mini is one of my parent's dogs. He's an old, surly, ridiculous creature. He's great.

More to come once I get a little more settled. I will be moving house soon. It's tough getting into a creative mindset when all your posessions are scattered over three different dwellings. Looking forward to getting the study set up so i can really start banging some decent stuff out again.

Stay tuned. I will make a point of getting some more digital stuff happening.

Sorry

2010-10-24T22:34:00.005+10:30

Hi Guys.

Sorry for not posting so regularly. I've been super busy with starting a new job and getting married and going on my honeymoon and stuff. Or is that not a good enough excuse for you? Seriously. Don't be so selfish for once in your life.

Here's a bird. I would explain it further but I'm not in the mood now. Nice one.

More to come soon!

New Homepage!

2010-08-24T21:51:00.000+09:30

Chock it eut!

brendandeboy.com

Krome :(

2010-08-16T12:29:00.002+09:30

So last Thursday our whole office found out that we were being let go.

You can read the whole story here.

I started at Krome in early 2008. I was fortunate to meet a lot of awesome, skilled, hilarious people right from the start. I was lucky enough to spend a lot of time in all three studios, and even got the opportunity to head to New Zealand in 2008 for the Wellington Massive Black conference.

I will certainly miss that place - especially the Adelaide studio.

Anyway, as a result priorities have now shifted. Expect to see some rearranging of many... Uh... Priorities. It's time my homepage had a makeover too. Maybe I'll do that now...

I'm afraid today's update is a little shabby, here's an illustration I've been working on lately. It isn't finished, and has had to take a back seat due to some more pressing issues.

Enjoy it in all it's half completed goodness. More soon. Promise

Ink

2010-08-15T23:05:00.001+09:30

As I've mentioned previously, I'm trying to get back to my roots a bit and work on some other of my long forgotten styles. This is a style I used to work in (and by 'work', I mean doodle in the back of my schoolbooks) a lot before I was introduced to digital media. It was a lot scrappier back then - I didn't appreciate the line variation ink and nib could offer and chose to tackle it with a .5 fineliner. My anatomy and drawing skills also were not as developed back then either. Given my abilities may have progressed a bit since high school, I decided to resurrect this style and see where it took me. It took me here:

... And just out of interest, here's one of the old ones. Six years old, to be specific (Calypso from the Odyssey - part of a school project):

*shudder*

Barnaby Johnsonson

2010-08-14T13:44:00.000+09:30

This character is actually pretty old. The llama is a new addition.

If this picture makes no sense to you, you're looking at it wrong, and you don't get art.

Natural

2010-08-08T18:23:00.001+09:30

For a while now I've decided to take a break from trying to become the world's best digital painter and get back to what it is i really enjoy about art. It's refreshing. And smooth.

Sketchbookage

2010-08-02T14:33:00.000+09:30

Pencil, paper, portraits, Posemaniacs.

And a desk.

'Tas Been a While

2010-08-02T14:19:00.000+09:30

Sorry Chaps. Here are some more pics. Some are old. Some are not so old. Enjoy.

Bugs on a Plane

2010-06-01T13:48:00.002+09:30

That joke never gets old.

Reluctant Post is Reluctant.

2010-05-30T22:06:00.002+09:30

Due to overwhelming demand, I have decided to provide you, the audience, with another post. That's the kinda guy I am. Today a watercolor experiment. I thought it quite successful in some ways. I consider it unsuccessful in many vast and varying other ways.

Snakes on a Plain

2010-05-24T23:53:00.000+09:30

...Well, marsh.

I was running low on ideas (three posts can take it out of you) so I decided to look up a list of Magic: The Gathering cards. I've never played the game, but I've always been fascinated by the art and ideas. I closed my eyes, scrolled up and down the list and picked a card title to recreate, just for the flipping heck of it.

The card I stumbled upon was Marsh Viper.

Team 2D Rules

2010-04-23T13:41:00.000+09:30

So apparently the lads over at Beyond Automatic are distributing my image on T-Shirts without my permission and coupling it with a slanderous slogan:

In other news, recently I've been looking for an image for a photo study. I think this painting turned out nicely, despite a few minor differences to the original pic:

TEAM 2D RULES!

Saving the Environments

2010-04-21T15:28:00.000+09:30

When I started this blog, I made a conscious decision to reserve it for my best work. There is but little room for amateurish art on a web log such as this.

I have relaxed that rule somewhat, as you'll see from these next images.

Below you'll find two environment semi-speedpaints, one was created for an environment of the week challenge on conceptart.org, the other was for 'fun'. I worked on the second picture between two computers that used different color profiles. If you're after a hassle-free way of painting, I wouldn't recommend it. If you're after a challenge, however, I still wouldn't recommend it. It's really, really annoying.

First!

2010-03-18T12:35:00.001+10:30

Hello there.

Welcome to my blog. Welcome to my blog. To my blog. Blast! First post and already in shambles.

Hello. My name is Brendan Deboy. These are my drawings.

Here are some old studies of various (two) people (person) and a painting (of a person).