Blog for Blake Lowry at GarageGames.com

Art! (Pics)

Blake Lowry — 2007-02-16T06:55:34+00:00

Hello everyone! Its been a while since my last blog.. which was a very simple run through on how I made a little 2D shooter. Anyhow.. just going through a quick update of what I have been doing for those who care :P.

Since early last year, I have been working with a local game company Roxor Games.. mostly known for its In the Groove games. I work there as a concept/2D artist providing anything that is 2D art related from concepts to GUIs to production art. Its been really great working there with such an indie atmosphere at the place.

Also, I have also been starting to do more contract work as of late.. I have been working on a few projects from sci-fi games to puzzle games, namely a little game called The Pirate Tales from TwinTale Entertainment using Torue Game Builder. Its been great working on the game as it has given me some time to work on some fun environment pieces. My work in The Pirate Tales is being accented by some great UI art from Nauris Krauze, who most of you GG frequenters know. :) I have had the chance to play it in its testing phase and its coming along really nicely, kudos to the Andresen Brothers who have put this whole project together.

Other projects I am working on have not been officially released nor I have I had permission to talk about them, so I will refrain from commenting on those titles! Hopefully I will be able to do a few more blogs in the future and have some info about them.

In addition to my recent progress, I would also like to "announce" that I am available to book contract work for 2D art... I am starting a new site that I am (slowly) updating.. but for now this is how it stands. www.blake-lowry.com I have a few projects in the pipeline I am still working on, but if you feel you are ready to flesh out your ideas and creations, please email me (email on the site) and we can discuss from there about your projects and visions!

Here are some pics of things I have been working on.

This is a scene I did for Pirate Tales that I turned into a sci-fi piece! The piece for the game is just the ocean scene, no sci-fi highways and buildings.

Pirate Tales Scene

Thanks for reading! Hopefully you guys check out the game when it releases!

2D Shooter Fun - Pics

Blake Lowry — 2006-07-06T22:19:47+00:00

This is my second .plan on GG ever! This blog I am just showing some progress on a little shooter demo I am making with TGB and the existing shooterDemo. I am an artist and I have absolutely no coding skills, so I am just using the functionality that is already there to make my shooter work! This work took me roughly 4-5 hours spaced out over a few days.

My inspiration was a painting I did a few months ago:

I cut a lot of parts out of the picture for my backgrounds in my little shooter demo to save time. I put everything on different layers and speeds for some depth. I may go back and actually make new ones specifically for the demo, but people have told me they like the look =P

Used cutouts for the background

For the ships I just made them all freehand in Photoshop. I sketched a little shape and worked from there adding color and shadows. I wanted a sketchy sorta look to make it look like it was a moving painting.

Made Ships in Photoshop

I also made new effects in Photoshop, like the snow, clouds, and the pics used for the bullets. I made the clouds and snow scroll on different layers and different speeds to give the effect of distance and atmosphere.

Made Clouds, Snow, and Bullets in Photoshop

Then I just replaced some sounds and music to top it off... no way to show that in this plan though :P

Just another pic of the same stuff...

That concludes my short .plan. I plan on maybe finishing this one level demo and releasing it so everyone that is interested can check it out when its done. I am about to start a new job though (game studio here in Austin!) so I am not sure how much time I will have. But, this little 2d engine sure is fun!

My other work: www.blake-lowry.com

Thanks for reading!

EDIT: Pics are all gone from switching hosting companies.. I am going to find a pic and post it.. but it wont be the ones that used to be here.

PIC:

Friday Nov 18 9:51

Blake Lowry — 2005-11-18T09:51:01+00:00

Illumina Art

Hello,

This is actually my first plan though I've been on GG for a while. My name is Blake Lowry, I am an artist and co-producer for Star Cave Studios. I also have posted all the Terra: Formation snapshots. We just finished Camelot Galway, and have also done a lot of really cool new stuff with Terra. You should see some updates on those titles in the not too distant future :)

Anyhow, the main project I am working on right now is Illumina. I have been doing lots of art such as concepts/model sheets/marketing art and GUI work in addition to just some general design of the game. I came into Illumina a while back when the Star Cave merger thing happened. If anyone is confused or cares what happen, its that our company Cellien Studios and Ian Roach's company Single Cell ended up merging with the Irish developer Star Cave Studios to have a larger work force and bring the talents of each company to each project. Working with Illumina has been great, and I love working with the original team members (as well as the new ones). I hope my contributions have helped Illumina to reach higher standards in the art/graphical department...at least that's what I am striving for. I am leaving you with some recent work samples I have done for Illumina...hope you enjoy.

For the background in the menu.

Main Character Concept/ Model Sheet

Backpack Concepts

Helmet Concept/Model Sheet

Another Helmet Concept/Model Sheet

Illumina Promo Poster (Was at IGC)

Some GUI Stuff