Fun Art Fridays: Six Shooter

I have a love of cowboys, as anyone in the studio can attest to -- especially since I have a pair of boots and spurs that I love to wear to work. I often draw odd, little self-portraits of me doing things I daydream about, and this sketch is a good example. How cool would it be to hide behind rocks about to bust some evil bank robbers? A showdown is about to go down!

Copyright © Sarah Gencarelli

Character Designs: PunkArts' 12penny

Here’s the third and final character design we did for PunkArts. The hip-hopper named 12penny!



Above are the final ink & paints and below you can check out the rough sketches, which were done in Flash. I think of the three characters I had the most fun with this dude… especially the slide, kick, and upside down poses.



Below is the comparison sheet of Sarah’s original sketch (on the left) to my final design (on the right). The client wanted more whacky proportions, but again, I was able to use her sketch as a starting point for my work.



Finally, is the alternate hairstyle sheet. I always find it amusing to see this sort of stuff… what could have been his hairstyle had the client chosen differently.



I’d say the correct choice was made in the end, although the afro IS pretty sweet!

Copyright © PunkArts

Background Design: Sifaka World Tree Tops

2A! recently had the challenge of designing backgrounds for Sifaka World. Since Sifaka World is an interactive world, that meant the backgrounds had to be designed in a way so there's a compelling space for the player to move around in. That meant striking a balance between actual content and space for the player's avatar to traverse.

Below is the design progression for the main "Tree Top" area. First, came my intial sketch to lay the groundwork for the space. Here the basic perspective and elements are laid out.



Once notes are received from the client, I move onto the color mock-up, where any revisions are made and the mood is set with color.



After another round of notes, I pass the approved color mock off for the final Flash build, where small elements such as design details are added and colors are polished. For example, we lost the dark outlines and pushed up the saturation of the colors to add to the fun, cartoon feel.



Breaking the process down into these smaller steps allows for greater flexibility during the design process, and helps mimimize time spent making larger changes later on. It also helps us achieve a fun and functional end result!

Be sure to check out this background in action at: www.sifakaworld.com

Copyright © Sifaka Productions, LLC.

Nick.com Game: El Tigre - Decision of Destiny!

2A! discovers our destiny… to provide Flash character animation for Nick.com’s El Tigre - Decision of Destiny game!

Take El Tigre’s fate into your own hands with this fun, multi-level fighting game released back in 2008. The object of the game is to help El Tigre clear each level of enemies like Skeletons, Mustache Mobsters, and Guacamole Monsters, while collecting all the power-ups you can find before time runs out. Defeat the bad guys by slashing them with your claws or throwing an explosive burrito at them.

2A! created all of the Flash character animations of El Tigre and his quirky villains for Pop. Check out some of the Flash loops by clicking on the images below, then get yourself over to Nick.com to discover your own destiny by playing the game!




Copyright © Nickelodeon

Fun Art Fridays: Hordak Sketch

In anticipation of the June rerelease of one of my favorite toys of my youth, I decided to sketch my version of The Ruthless Leader of the Evil Horde himself,....HORDAK! This guy was so cool, he even beat out Skeletor as my favorite He-Man villain back in the day. I'm proud to say that I have the original, MOC 1985 version of Hordak hanging up on my wall. In future posts I'm planning on adding more of my favorite 80's villains, and eventually doing a final tight painting of them all together, so be on the lookout for more in the future!

Illustration © Mark Pingitore