Character Designs

Here's a compilation of some of my character designs - some made for specific projects and others just personal work.

Some design work for a project based on the Chinese legend of the Monkey King,

Journey to the West.

These are facial tattoo designs called sefir that I came up with at the last minute for Trion's mmorpg RIFT. The sefir are the signature tattoos of the Bahmi race, which contain magical properties. I worked primarily as a character animator on RIFT, but I lent a hand at doing some concept work when this particular character's final look languished for months, all the way until final art lock.

 

 Some cartoon dinosaur and sea creatures I designed for a Taiwanese client.

Some concepts I did for a Chinese director, who wanted to see how I would design a deranged Lama with tremendous magical powers - I imagine a buddhist monk who dabbled into witchcraft and sorcery.

Some personal work.

Metamorphica - 02.26.2010

The first Metamorphica figure drawing workshop this year was great! Led by Anastazia Louise, Bad Unkl Sista yet again delivered fantastic performances to the tunes played by Fkir Elderfae and other musicians, not to mention Nadia Mogilev's efforts in organizing such a workshop for us artists, students and professionals alike.

I'd say one of my biggest struggle during these workshops is not so much the drawing part itself... but trying to juggle the damned camera to get a good shot and then switching to drawing the models after they settle down. The length of the poses varies between 3 minutes to 20 minutes, depending on the model. Since they are butoh performers, they do a bit of "dancing" or some kind of expressive movements before posing for the artists.

As far as drawing medium, this time around I opted to use prismacolor fine liners and grey markers. I recall the last metamorphica I attended was quite crowded and I came with an 11x14 newprint pad and some pencils and had to sit on the floor, which made the experience a tad uncomfortable. Expecting the same, I figured I'm gonna have to draw smaller and with something that didn't require constant sharpening.

Ive recently started experimenting with different mediums, first with pastel sticks. But, It yielded rather disappointing results since I didn't really know how to properly draw with them. Gonna have to practice a few times more before I post something decent in that medium. So for this workshop, fineliners and markers it is.

The format of the workshop had changed - instead of a front and center stage, the entire floor of the studio became the stage, so artists had to get up and move around to get the best angle possible for their sketches. It was a lot of fun and allowed for more interaction with other artists. The preformers also got "in your face" and interacted with the artists as they drew. It was such a cool experience.

I am truly humbled and proud to be in the presence of such talented artists. Their commitment to their craft help fuel my drive to become better at figure drawing. Another workshop is being planned for April, so I expect to be posting up more images from that event. I can hardly wait.

Photos from this workshop can be found in my facebook photo album and flickr pages.

Needlehead

I decided to enter a design contest recently and submitted this ragdoll with a grin painted on its face and a needle pierced thru its head... why this design? I don't really know what possessed me to create this image to be quite honest.

Voting has begun! You can go to www.equnit.com/equilibrium to vote for your favorite design. If you do choose to vote, I hope you choose this guy. It would bring me much gleeful happiness. Thank you!

Warrior Monk Sketch

It's literally been months since I last posted anything on my blog; just been really busy at work and usually too tired to do anything (creative) after I get home.

Still, it's good to be busy with work - with the economy being the way it is, I count myself fortunate to have a cool job and earning steady income.

Recently I've found the need to start drawing again - I began loosely sketching this warrior monk with a wax pencil. I wanted to re-imagine what a warrior monk might be like if he were to exist in a world of fantasy. His design is an amalgam of several influences, which include Thai/Cambodian monk, Shaolin monk, samurai, and the fictional character Aang from "Avatar: The Last Airbender" (a cartoon show that I'm a HUGE fan of).

What da dealy yo? - Basically I envisioned a warrior monk that is, for lack of a better word "extreme" in every sense. One who has trained since childhood, in a religion of elightment and meditation (I wouldn't call it buddhism since in this world it'll probably be called something else, but very similar) and martial science.

This particular one is a battle-ready Nomad; a traveling warrior monk. His body is tatooed with incantations and holy spells which glow when he harnesses his qi. He wears little or no armor, except for the leather lamellar skirt. His body would also be painted in a manner that would make him appear ghost-like. It is said that 1 nomad is enough to strike terror within the ranks of an opposing army.

At some point I intend to paint this character. I'll post it here when it's done and add more info about The Nomad.

Old Character Design

I haven't drawn anything new... so here's something I did a long time ago. At the time, I was into cartoony, urban chick designs, that's why I made this one. Was just starting to really get into coloring in photoshop too. I'm thinkin' I might revisit this design... maybe when I finally stop crunching at Midway and have a life again...

Stay tuned!

Bull King

A character I designed a while back, based on the bull demon character from the Chinese folktale A Journey To The West. Probably the ultimate demon badass in the story. Not even the powerful Monkey King could take him down without finally resorting to trickery.