Vision Riders Entertainment Blog - Paintings

AetherFall: Dante

nospam@example.com (Dale Johnson) — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 09:01:47 -0700

This is Dante, the character you will be playing as in AetherFall. He is a star gazer that studies the night sky along with the many sages and scholars that live in a small community on the far side of Laurooga. His adventure begins when he is sent across the continent to deliver a message. You control him directly in the field as the other units under your command tag along. Dante can fight to some degree using his knife and baton, but his power and hit points are low, so you want to keep him out of trouble as much as possible.

Still can't quite capture the charm that the militia unit had.

Inked with pigma micron markers on 12f animation paper. Colored in Photoshop.

AetherFall Skirmisher

nospam@example.com (Dale Johnson) — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 12:50:51 -0700

If there's one enemy you don't want to have, it's the Kingdom of Venn and their mercenary skirmishers. Lucky for you, these elite troops only fight for their allies, and it just so happens that Dante is one of them. These guys are much stronger and swifter than the simple militia units, and they can take a real beating without giving up ground to the enemy. But that power comes at a price: they're far more expensive to call up. Skirmishers will be a solid mainstay of your forces throughout the game.

Not quite as satisfied with how this one turned out compared to the militia art. Redrew the head heaven-only-knows how many times, and it still doesn't look right to me. The shading just isn't as sharp either.

Inked on 12f animation paper with pigma microns and colored in Photoshop.

AetherFall Militia

nospam@example.com (Dale Johnson) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 19:37:50 -0700

Project Legion has finally gotten a proper name: AetherFall. The first bits of promotional art are also coming together, the first being the militia unit you may have seen in today's Sketchbook Monday feature.

These militia are cheap to produce and don't pack much of a punch compared to their stronger allies, but their spears allow them to attack from a distance, shielded by their tougher companions. Consisting primarily of farmers and laborers, these little guys have put everything they have on the line and are relying on you to protect their homes and villages by securing victory in the campaigns ahead. Don't let them down!

I actually ended up doing the line art for this little dude twice. The first time I did it in pencil like the in-game graphics--but after scanning it I realized that the line quality just wasn't consistent enough for use outside of the game (web site, print, advertising, etc). In the end, I went back to my good old Pigma Microns. They don't "flow" as well on paper as a pencil, unfortunantly, but they do give me a solid, dependable line. Well, most of the time anyway.

Inked on 12f animation paper and colored in Photoshop.

Have You Hugged Yourself Today?

nospam@example.com (Dale Johnson) — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 20:58:05 -0700

"Get away from me, dreck! You smell funny and you can't even walk right. Hey! Don't hug me!"

Young Asch and Luke from Tales of the Abyss. It's been done a thousand times before me, but seeing these two as "brothers" in their youth simply strikes me as cute. And, for once, I'm satisfied with my own coloring job. Used the same cel shading wannabe style here I've been using in Swordmaster Odyssey as of late. Gives me some practice if nothing else.

Line art done on 12F animation paper with a Pigma Micron art marker. Color in Photoshop.

Merry Christmas 2008!

nospam@example.com (Dale Johnson) — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 15:20:45 -0700

Merry Christmas, everyone!

This is the wallpaper that will be included in December's download pack here soon. Their eyes are bigger than they really should be (if I'd caught it when I should have, I could have fixed it), but otherwise it came out surprisingly well. The characters pictured are (from left to right) the kid from My Brother, Jessie from Swordmaster Odyssey, and Iccari from... well, he's not really from anything yet.

Line art was done with a #2 pencil (I should have gotten my pens out so I'd get more line variation), and everything else was done in Photoshop CS.

This wallpaper's download pack should be up by Friday.

More Iccari Concept Art

nospam@example.com (Dale Johnson) — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 10:13:04 -0700

Here's a piece that I forgot to upload here. Naomi is tending to Iccari's wound, though he wishes it wouldn't hurt so much. It's not actually a scene from the story, but I felt like sketching it out one day.

Line art was done with a simple #2 pencil, then cleaned up and painted in Photoshop.

Iccari Concept Art

nospam@example.com (Dale Johnson) — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 11:57:16 -0700

Forgot to put this up here ealier.

It's Iccari, who's shown up in a Sketchbook Monday or two. Had the urge to toy around with his design a bit in color.

Did this concept piece to test a painting style I want to use for the illustrations in a story. Only problem is, it turned out nothing like the painting style I want to use. I want a very light and low-contrast look to it, almost like a watercolor. Guess I'll have to keep trying--not that I don't like this piece, of course!

Lineart done with just a simple #2 pencil with some slight modifications in the computer. Painted using Photoshop CS.

Oh, and speaking of Sketchbook Monday, I should have that up in a couple of hours.

General of the Winds - Vayu

nospam@example.com (Dale Johnson) — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 17:11:39 -0700

Haven't done one of these in awhile. There's supposed to be six in all, so I have one more to go. Started this one ages ago, but never got around to finishing it until here recently.

General of the Stars - Nyota

nospam@example.com (Dale Johnson) — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 13:26:38 -0700

Fourth of the six generals. Yellow is a very hard color to limit yourself to since there's only so much you can alter it before it becomes too greenish or too orangish. Her staff is about as half as cool as I imagined it.

General of the Grass - Phezi

nospam@example.com (Dale Johnson) — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 11:50:02 -0700

Third of the six generals, he turned out very differently from how I first invisioned him. For the record, his rifle is roughly modeled after a Springfield M1903 (although it looks a bit more like an M1 Garand methinks). I meant for it to have a more "fantasy" feel about it, but in the end it just ended up looking more modern thanks to the fact I could only use shades of green.

I'll get Sketchbook Monday up later today. This will be our last one for the year!

General of the Flames - Blaise

nospam@example.com (Dale Johnson) — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 19:38:39 -0700

Second of the six generals. Those who follow the blog might recognize her; a sketch of the character was featured in Sketchbook Monday #5. I'm especially happy with how the blue backlight turned out.

General of the Mist - Kirimaru

nospam@example.com (Dale Johnson) — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 20:18:30 -0700

One of six generals created for a non-Vision Riders related project. Each of the generals commands a team of a given color, so I went about designing them with a single color in mind. Notice that even his hair is tinted blue!

Painting on the Front Page

nospam@example.com (Dale Johnson) — Sun, 16 Dec 2007 16:16:19 -0700

This is the full version of the image used on the Vision Riders homepage. I tweaked Kevin's skin color since putting it up so that he would look (mostly) right.

Speaking of the Vision Riders site, I really need to get around to updating the about page. The current version sounds so... Corporate...

Artwork: Cody

nospam@example.com (Dale Johnson) — Sat, 06 Oct 2007 11:44:53 -0700

Yesterday's sketch was so bad I had to make a new one to make up for it. Here's Cody, and he's turned out much better (for a sketch, anyway).

Mai and Cody

nospam@example.com (Dale Johnson) — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 12:34:34 -0700

Another quick Photoshop sketch today. Cody is telling his sister, Mai, a story of some sort. Not completely happy with the faces, but when am I ever happy? These two siblings are from a story of mine that I've become very attached to over the years. I want to tell the story, but I'm such a perfectionist that I get frustrated and often decide that I should do something else instead and come back to it when my skills have improved. But then I miss working on it and come back, and then I put it aside again, and so on, and so forth, in a never-ending loop.