Some projects I'm proud of.

MORTAL KOMBAT X ODDWORLD 

Character Design

GORO

The aim was to get characters from Mortal Kombat and reimagine them as if they were in the world of Oddworld.

The challenge was to make them look like they are from the Oddworld universe without losing the essence of the original character. It was important to me that my character didn't look like an existing Oddworld creature. I was super fortunate to get some incredible pointers from Farzad, which really helped me ask the right questions in the design process.

This is my Goro

The original design and sculpt was for my character design class at CDW. I decided to redesign my original work and to try and make it a bit more brutish and akin to MK's Goro.

Below are my original designs done in class. I wanted this character to originally be peaceful, nimble and free. Only to have that ripped away by its captors and turned into a violent monster that is more akin to Goro.  This was done to give the character more depth and evoke emotion. Also to hone in on the utilitarian cruelty of the Oddworld universe.  

However, I think it didn't quite have the right ratio between the two worlds I was trying to blend. He strayed a little far from the brawny Goro and he looks like he would be very susceptible to damage if hit.

The Redesign 

This Is the beginning of the new Goro design.
I wanted to make a creature that would be an obvious choice for a base if you were tasked with designing a fighting goro like a monster. 
To capture more of that goro vibe it was imperative that the creature was more brutish and looked hard to kill. 

Here are the finished Goro renders in all their glory. I'm super happy with how it turned out! Even though at the time it was hard finding the creative juju to go over a design I was finished with from the scope of my lesson in class, I'm really glad I did. The results speak for themself.

I think this Goro is much more cohesive and true to the original character. 
If I were to have another pop at it, I might try to push the Oddworld side a little more.  But this will do......For now. 

For fun, I also knocked up a few fun comic book-style renders of the same model they are at the bottom.

Fun comic book style renders

BACKGROUND ALIEN CONCEPT

Creature Design - Mask project

This is a concept for an alien that would appear in the background of a bar on an alien planet. For that reason, it was designed to be just a simple mask for an actor to wear. There are also some progress images showing the design process

Sacrificial grounds - Digital Painting 

For this class we needed to come up with 3 digital paintings of a subject of our choosing, they needed to be from different angles and to convey a sense of story.  One was meant to be an establishing shot, another a close shot and the last an interior or story shot.

I usually gravitate towards character and creature design and find composition and environment art particularly challenging. That is why I knew I had to put the time in on this class.

I chose to create a scene of an occult-worshiping secret society at their hidden grounds. 

Early stages

CONSTRUCTION 
As I constructed the scene in blender, using assets I modeled, sculpted assets from Zbrush and imported Quixel bridge assets. 
I further explored the composition of my shots during the construction phase 

I was happy with how the construction of the scene was going however the main evil head alter wasn't working for me, as well as the mountains in the background. It felt like it was muddying the design and making the focal point ambiguous. 
The doorway was working so I decided to lean into that and simplify the troublesome elements. 

SHOT 1 - The establishing shot.

Shot one finished

Shot 2 - Close up

Shot 2 was a lot easier, as I was working in 3D and the scene was pretty much constructed most of the heavy lifting had been done already.  For my second shot, I wanted to go a close-up on the doorway. This doorway lead to the castle ruins which backed up onto a water-filled valley (showing this was going to be my third shot).

This first option felt a little similar to shot one and a didn't like the angle of option two, so I opted for a blend of the two. A closer shot that shows more of the doorway. 

Shot 2- Finalized

Shot 3- Story shot

Shot number 3

I settled on the first option and got to designing some interest for the altar section, there were two of my best options. 

I ended up going for option 2. I liked its offset composition and its sculptural details gave it a higher level of interest.  Also, I thought the circular moon gate of option one disrupted the flow of the image.

Shot 3 - Finalized.