Wario Design Adjustments and Mad Mario Update

After I created the concept image for Wario, I placed Mario in the same image and began making some minor adjustments to each character. These little tweaks helped bring about some unity. I thought I would share this with everyone.

I also thought I would update you all on the overall Mario project. I currently have the entire Mad Mario story outline complete. I've been over it with a fine toothed comb and finally have it in a place that I'm very happy with. Its been extremely difficult but well worth the trip.

Each night I have been sitting down to a notebook and work on 2 to 3 pages of the script. So far I'm done Act 1 (out of 3) and have moved on to Act 2. As I'm working on writing, I'm typing up what I have so far, editing, and plan on sharing the story with several friends for feedback.

This has been a real creative journey. What started out as a fun, quick, artistic experiment has become something very deep and personal to me. I'm committed to bring my vision of these characters to life and don't feel that I can tell any other story until I get this off my chest.

Wario Concept

This is my second pass at the character. I love working on head profiles, inking, and painting.

A New Medium?

I desire to discover a new medium of artistic outlet.

...not because I feel as if I've mastered all other mediums.

I've learned from video games the power of interactivity. I can enter a completely new world and explore, if the game allows me to do so. There something so powerful about this. We has human beings have a passion for discovery and exploration.

We want to know whats around the next corner, under that rock, hiding in those trees. We want to know how something functions over time. How does each organism survive? What does this landscape look like at night? I believe as our world becomes smaller, the virtual world will expand. I think this is why our video game worlds are becoming massive. We have less to discover on this world (or atleast that's what we are telling ourselves). Until we push deeper into space, I believe this will continue.

What if we took this interactive nature of video games and applied to to traditional art. Or film. Or comic books. I feel as if now we have mediums trying to do the job of other mediums. Take motion comics for example. Motion comics are one of the worst ideas I could imagine. Why would you want to "watch" a comic? A comic book is for reading and taking time to observe each panel's artistry. Adding motion to the comic doesn't help tell the story. I doesn't help to engage the viewer either. If anything I think that motion comics hurt the original intention of the art.

In many ways, I think 3D movies are trying to do what I'm describing, although they are unaware of it. They are trying to immerse the audience in the world. The problem is that film is intended to be 2D by nature. It's not designed to let the audience meander.

I'm not suggesting that artists just move directly into a 3D worlds to tell their story. I'm saying that we have some deep thinking to do. I think both video games (and theme parks, for that matter) have something to teach us about our human desire to explore and interact and that should be applied to art. There just might be a new medium here.

Modern Day Shaman

For the past month I've been really rethinking what it means to be a digital artist. Obviously it means that one creates art using digital tools or manipulates their art with the aid of these computer tools. But what have these tools done to artists? What does the artist do with the tools? How has it affected us as a community?

I believe that to be an artist in the truest sense is to share a "gift." This gift can be an idea, a thought, a feeling about something the artist has experienced in their own life and shares with others. It should be personal; something of deep truth the artist has realized about their time on Earth.

Most digital art I see lacks a gift. It simply does not have a truth to pass on. I think their are many factors in this. Perhaps one fact is that most artists have turned into commerical artists, and create art based on someone elses gift. Have we passed the gift creation on to others and allowed ourselves to only become crafters?

Maybe in the mass migration to digital tools we left behind the human element. Maybe we are so busy creating art containing another's truth that we forgotten what our role is. Artists are not just storytellers, we are modern shaman. It is our job to experience dreams, dive into the spirit world, and communicate these universal truths to anyone willing to listen.

I don't think that being a digital artist means any more or less then a traditional artist. To me, it's just another medium. I feel that we as digital artists are just wrapped up with making the next great piece for a showpiece, so we can secure a job and thus, survive. Digital tools help this process go much faster. But I think we really have to ask ourselves, why are we artists to begin with? Do you really want to SAY something or do you just want to MAKE something? I believe there's a monumental different here.

I've had a bit of an awakening. I myself am guilty of falling to the category of making art for art's sake. I have made things because they simply "look cool." Although I put my soul into the character, illustration, or design...am I really communicating an idea from deep inside me? Not all the time, but I try.

Now that I've completed a new demo reel (it's being scored this week). I'm taking some time out to better myself as an artist. I want to pass on something deeper then a character model. I realized that I have so much to say, that's not being say. You as a reader probably have no real idea of who I am and what I have to say about this world. That is something that I want to fix. That's what I feel I should be doing.

Demo Reel -Title Screen

Still tweaking but I think this works. A little more then 1 week of work left.

Reel Rough Cut

I'm please to announce that my 2010 Demo Reel is completely rendered and has a rough cut. At the moment this is coming in at about 3 Minutes and 45 seconds. That seems much longer then I originally intended, however this is a specialized character reel showing off three specific characters.

I'm in a stage of reviewing what I have in the reel and trying my hardest to objectionably cut entire shots. I feel at this point that every shot I rendered is critical to the reel, so its difficult. My other option is increasing the speed of the shot to 1.5x or 2x it's base speed. I fear that if I do this, I will have to over compensate the speed in other areas. This whole editing process is a juggling act. However, editing is one of my favorite things to do.

I have a few more shots in there that are temporary placeholders for pacing. It's not much work, but it's presentation work. It's all vital in the end. I am hoping to show this cut to other artists and get feedback.

My personal deadline for the reel is Thanksgiving. I should be able to achieve this with few set backs.

I'm very please to say that Joe Parisi (http://www.joeparisiaudio.com/), my company's Art Director, has agreed to score the reel. I think his efforts will increase the professionalism of the end result. I couldn't be more thrilled to work with him on this!

I hope within a few weeks to report that this reel is complete.

Character Intro Layouts

After some playing around with layout, I think I've settled on these final looks for the reel. It's all coming together. I think I may even present the characters in this order as well.