Harry Potter: Hogwarts Adventures demo videos!

Here's the first version we sent to WB with the 2D design:

Harry Potter: Hogwarts Adventures for Facebook v.1 from Alex Pelayre on Vimeo.

And here's the second version with the 3D rendered characters/environments:

Harry Potter: Hogwarts Adventures for Facebook v.2 from Alex Pelayre on Vimeo.

Enjoy!

© Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc., Flying Lab Software

Amazing Tales (Project Caspian)

Amazing Tales.. Project Caspian.. we had no official title for this game, but we knew it was going to be awesome. Running on the Cryptic Engine, the premise of Amazing Tales was based on a variety of genres ranging from pulp, to sci-fi, to adventure. Amazing Tales brought together great themes seen in movies such as Indiana Jones, Sky Captain, or The Mummy. What made this project so fun was the freedom we had with throwing in ideas. We had big plans for this game... and we couldn't wait to see it all unfold.

We weren't sure exactly if we were going to sell this game as an MMO, but we knew it was going to be multiplayer. We'd start out with the player choosing which class they'd like to be. The classes ranged from Adventurer, Vigilante, Scientist, Occultist, or Monk. Then we'd throw them in the middle of Egypt, where they had to band together with other players to take down the threats of the planet. What were the threats, you might ask? Our enemies ranged from Atlanteans, martians, Nazis, occultists, the undead, dinosaurs, and various other creatures, hellbent on wreaking havock on civilization!

Further progress in the game would lead the player to other locations, such as New York, Shanghai, or London. Missions would consist of team work and strategy of playing off yourself and your teammates' abilities. The end result of missions would lead the players into an ultimate boss fight. A major selling point we wanted to have in Amazing Tales were the boss battles. We wanted them to be memorable, so we wanted them to be huge. The fights themselves, AND the actual boss. Players would be up against giant alien robots, Tyrannosaurus Rex's, or battles aboard huge war zepplins.

We had high hopes for Amazing Tales, and with such a small team working hard at it, we felt we had accomplished a lot in the time we had. Unfortunately the game was never picked up by a publisher, and was again, another shelved title. Still, there was plenty of work and dedication put into that project that I'm sure everyone who worked on it can be proud of.

Soon to come:
Gameplay from Amazing Tales, and our pitch videos for Harry Potter: Hogwarts Adventures!

You're a wizard, Harry

So I've gotten the OK to share these online. These were for a Harry Potter Facebook game proposal that Flying Lab Software was doing for Warner Bros. They had requested we design the game kid-friendly, with some cartoony and anime-like aspects to it. I did a majority of the character designs for the first pass on our demo video. After working with WB for a few more weeks, they decided to go a different direction and make the character look a bit more mature, to sort of emulate the current emotional state the movies were in. So I began designing in that direction.. and then once again, a huge shift in direction, and we ended up redoing everything 3D rendered.

I admit, it was kind of heartbreaking to see my characters thrown out, but you can't always expect everything you create to make it in game, as I learned. Overall, it was a fun experience and I enjoyed working on this project.

Despite all the work and hours we put into making a great proposal, we were shot down right at the finish line, and Harry Potter: Hogwarts Adventures was no more. The game industry is a hell of a place.

2 Model figure drawing

I went to a 2 model figure drawing session tonight. First time doing one of these.. It was very exciting and fun. It's literally been YEARS since I've done figure drawing... so I was and still am very rusty. The two models worked well with each other and had some fantastic poses. Here's a few of the 12-15 minute poses.

Some sketches

A couple sketches I did a couple months ago.. new stuff soon, I hope.

Taking a Breather

So I haven’t updated in a couple days.. This is mainly due to exhaustion. My last 2 daily sketches (which I did not post here) were not up to par with the quality I’d like to display, and my attention to detail was steadily dropping. I’ve found that it’s more challenging than it seems to work a digital painting job for 8 hours a day, and then come home to spend a few more hours doing these challenges. I can’t whip up something quick and be proud of the result- not yet anyway. All my challenges I have done have probably taken no less than 2 hours each. I want to be able to build up my speed and eventually have no problem doing a drawing a day on my free time. But it can’t be done right away. I need to learn to pace myself, can’t just run at it full speed.


SO, I will be taking a break over the weekend. Actually, kinda forcefully since I won’t be anywhere near a computer. I’ll be off camping and hopefully clearing my mind and refreshing my senses. Perhaps even a few pencil sketches will come of it. Anyway, just wanted to let my few followers what’s up, and you can expect more updates this coming Monday.


Thanks everyone!

-Alex

Day 11: Turning Point in Your Life

My transition in which I "changed sides". Evolving your art style isn't always an easy thing to do, but like a lot of artists say, it is most beneficial to you in the end. This transition didn't happen overnight. It took years of practice- breaking free from the norm, and studying new art techniques I let myself discover in the process. While it seemed everyone around me tried so hard to copy the works of anime, I looked in a direction I had not glanced over since I was maybe 10 years old: Western comic art. I still don't feel I've reached my comfort zone in sense of style, but I do know that I feel more confident and happy about my work than I did when I was drawing anime.

Day 10: Favorite Candy

Reese's Peanut Butter Cups

Been doing a lot of simple drawings the past few days. This is due to a mix of being really busy and burning myself out. I'm not used to drawing every single day. I love it, but getting into the habit is difficult. Guess that's the point of the challenge, right? Let's keep on going!

Day 9: Favorite TV show

Community!

Day 8

Favorite animated character:

Toph from "Avatar: The Last Airbender"

Not happy with the background, but I rushed to finish before midnight..

Day 7: Favorite Word

Nostalgia~

Day 6

Day 6: Favorite book character (can't be a movie)

Briar Wilkes from "Boneshaker" by Cherie Priest

Day 4 failed, but Day 5 makes up for it

Not even gonna bother posting the horror that was Day 04 (Your favorite place)
But instead I will post Day 5, which I am damn proud of. I don't think I've ever drawn something as amazing as this. Today is not a day of modesty for me.. I feel I have reached a new milestone in my art skill.

Day 05: Your best friend

(Urdnot Wrex from Mass Effect)

Despite all I've done these past few months, I always forget to upload anything here. This might help actually:
http://blog.allisonlehman.com/2011/04/30-day-drawing-challenge/

I started on the 1st of this month.

Day 01: Yourself

Day 02: Favorite Animal

Day 03: Favorite Food

I'll *TRY* to update this daily with my submissions. If not, they will get here eventually.

Late to the show...

Most likely anyone following me already saw these on my tumblr. But here they are! Besides, they're in better quality here than on tumblr ;)

Emma Watson (from photo)

Original

Model (from photo)

Original

Kate Beckinsale (from photo)

Original

Jenny Lewis (from photo)

Original

Original

Ellen Page (from photo)

For the past few months, I had felt very down about everything. Very tired or unmotivated... if you follow me on facebook, you may recall me talking about such things and how I struggled to better myself because I was feeling unmotivated and felt I had lost my inner voice. It became a challenge for me to sit down and draw when I felt I didn't have a voice to lay on paper. But through perseverance and many "wasted" pages of scribbles, I managed to break through my barrier, and now I find myself drawing a lot more than anytime I can recall! Since then, I've felt a lot better about myself. I realized those "wasted" pages were essential. As an artist it may be easy to forget, but you don't become the artist you want to be overnight nor without mistakes and bad drawings. As an old instructor once told me, "There are thousands upon thousands of bad drawings inside of you.. Better to get them out now." With perfection and satisfaction, you need to let out a lot of shit that gets bottled up inside of yourself. Just scribbling on paper will help loosen up your arm and better prepare it for drawing. These are all things you learn in the basics of art, yet sometimes we becomes such perfectionists we tend to forget the foundations. But, as I said, I seem to have gotten past that since I've been able to at least draw a page nearly every night. I know a lot of friends and artists are in the same boat or have experienced these things frequently. It really takes a lot of perseverance and concentration to break out of the slump, but it can be done, you just have to WANT it bad enough! Be patient with yourself and push yourself where you think you're struggling. Remember the basics and most important, have fun! I know a lot of us are doing this art thing in hopes of getting jobs and making money, but before all that we did it to have fun! We shouldn't have to sacrifice that by turning art into a "job" we don't want. If anyone would like to talk more on the subject, or want to get together and draw, please talk to me. Because I believe everyone is talented in their own ways and I want everyone to succeed in their goals.

Also, you may have noticed that I've changed the way I sign my drawings now. In a lot of art communities I go by the name ARPelayre. Might as well be recognized that way :)

Oh! and I want to help advertise a local artist I met today at the comic shop. His name is Nate Simpson and he's recently released the first issue of his comic "Nonplayer" (You can preview it here!) through Image comics. I was blown away by the art in "Nonplayer" and was excited to meet the man behind it. The meeting went very well, as Nate is a very kind and laid-back person. I enjoyed talking art with him and discussing the comic industry a bit, like how to prepare for it and such. I've often wondered if doing comics was ever a possibility in my future, but after talking with Nate, I'd say it's definitely a possibility if I work hard enough towards it. There are many important steps to prepare to go in that direction, and talking with Nate helped give insight on how to achieve that. So yeah, very awesome guy. Go pick up "Nonplayer" if you haven't already. The art is jaw-dropping-unbelievable!

Learnin' Inks!

First, I’ve got a sketch of Patrick Rothfuss, author of the recently released “The Wise Man’s Fear.” I haven’t read any of his books, but my girlfriend is a huge fan, so we went to one of his book signings, which was when I sketched this. We were across the room at the time, and I kept telling myself, “damn, I bet he’s gonna look so different from my drawing once we get closer..” Turns out, he did. He looked a lot more friendly, and a lot less menacing as I had depicted him. Though I did show him the sketch and he did enjoy it, stating that I made him look awesome!

So, I went to Emerald City Comicon over the weekend and became super inspired to learn traditional pens and markers. Here’s the first two pieces of my new learning path! Really trying to pay attention to line weights and confident line strokes. Also, I’m not using a whole lot of markers.. I thought I should start out small and get to know a few select number of colors before going all out.

And to credit my references.. well, I can’t credit the girl with the fuzzy coat.. I’m not sure who she is or what the photo I referenced is from. It’s just something I found online :\ As for the Super Girl, I referenced a photo of a cosplayer.. I think she goes by the name Jenn?

Recent sketches

Here's a few character sketches I did recently.




If you follow me on tumblr, you'll most likely see new art sooner :P

http://arpelayre.tumblr.com/

Feb 19th 2011 Sketches

Here's a few sketches I did yesterday. More to come~