Ogre

The ogre enemy for Every 36 Hours, and will be including in Scott Washington's next indie game. 


This one was a bit tricky. Instead of focusing on getting the most ogre-like ogre, I tried to make sure I made all the features different than my other monsters.

I put a little drool on his mouth. My first idea was to have caked layers of dried drool like Jabba the Hutt, but that was too much detail to be readable in-game.

What's more gross than back hair? Neck beard. It's not as visible as I'd like, but the ogre kept pushing me around, the big bully.

The Orc

The latest monster for the upcoming Scott Washington indie game, Relentless Dungeon (formerly Infinite Dungeon, and also MinMax Dungeon).

By far the largest reference folder of all the monsters. Orcs, in my opinion, are the most popular monster in the fantasy genre, so I used many resources versions of what an orc should be. He's pretty bulky like the orcs in Warhammer, but if any monsters took steroids, it'd be the war-obsessed orcs. Chainmail is a chore to draw. I purposefully made him wear the chainmail incorrectly, as an orc might be too stupid to know the rows should lay horizontally to efficiently distribute the impact of a blow. I have been dissatisfied with my lighting for all of the past monsters, so I tried to go about it differently on this one.

Influences: as usual my two most important resources for the monster is Lord of the Rings and Dungeons & Dragons. Secondary to those for the Orc is Warcraft and Warhammer. My personal favorite influence is Stan Nicholls' Orcs novels.
Tolkien orc traits used: long-armed, filthy, bow-legged, and sallow-skinned.

Lizardman

#4 out of 20 monsters for Every 36 Hours. I spent longer than usual on this one as I went through a few iterations of what my lizard-man would look like.

I tried to keep him different from the other monsters. The goblin was a yellow green so I kept the lizardman a bluer-green. The lizardman walks on the soles of his feet as several of my other monsters already walked on toes or were fully digitigrade. I colored the center parts dull grays because yellow is overdone for reptilian monsters, like the Ninja Turtles. I'm not satisfied with my decision to have scales on the lower half and spots on the upper half.


As I describe him to my roommate:
Me: "Half man, half lizard. All danger."
Jason: "But what about when it's cold out?"
Me: "..."

Influences: Argonian from Oblivion, Kobolds and lizardfolk from D&D, Killer Croc from Batman, Gorn from Star Trek.

Bat

#3 in Every 36 Hours. 2 hours in Photoshop (and I know it shows).
My fastest monster yet, a simple bat. Nuthin' fancy. Just wanted to get it done and move onto something [more] exciting.

There's a bit of transparency in the wings. Brown and blue side lights.

Rat

#2 in project Every 36 Hours. 6 hours in Photoshop and a few for research.

I don't think the spikes on the back really do anything for it, though the bubbles next to them I think give a gross look. The hair on the tail is easily confused with the spiky segments which were supposed to be a bit like a xenomorph tail. I would've liked a more battle-ready pose, though this pose is true to it's ratty character.
Rat traits (opposite of mouse): big feet, wide muzzle, small ears, wide head.
Influences: Ratigan from Great Mouse Detective, Pinky and the Brain, Templeton from Charlotte's Web, dire rat from Dungeons and Dragons, Aliens.

Initial sketch development for the rat:

Gnoll

Art asset for Scott Washington's upcoming indie game, Relentless Dungeon. 19 more monsters to go. This is the first entry of my "Every 36 Hours" crunch project where I draw a monster every 36 hours for month.
5 hours spent painting in Photoshop, and a couple hours on research.

A gnoll is a half man half hyena. I wanted to significantly tell a gnoll apart from a werewolf, and so had to research a bit of hyena biology (thanks Wikipedia). My first idea was to emphasize the legs, but that gave a centaur/satyr vibe or silly parachute pants. I made a list of important hyena distinguishing features: spots, 'mohawk' (mane at withers), and a Cheshire cat style grin. Hyenas are primarily feline with canine features, but there were some werewolf traits I wanted to avoid: whites of the eyes, pointy ears, and a long snout. The ears also couldn't be too rounded or it might look like a rat. Other hyena traits I used: back slopes down toward croups with limited movement for the backbone, short hind legs, a thick/short neck, short facial portions, digitigrade (walking on toes, longer middle of foot), claws are short and blunt, fur is coarse and sparse, an additional pair of ribs, biggest teeth are shifted back (especially the uppers). I thought about having a tongue hanging out but decided that was too lovable. I think I need better shadows and I went a bit too overboard with the blue side light in the feet area, but I must move on. It's never perfect.

Initial sketch for the gnoll.

I can't really explain what made this one go so well. I hit a groove with the initial pass and just flew loose and quick. This one was a lot of fun.


Influences: Lion King, Gmork from NeverEnding Story, and the gnolls from D&D and World of Warcraft.

Every 36 hours

Crunch time. 20 art assets in a month. I need to get a drawing done every day and a half.
In related news, Scott Washington's Infinite Dungeon will probably get renamed. Tentative release date for late March.
Stay tuned.