lunatique's CGPortoflio Gallery

Surf's Up - Chicken Joe (styleguide)

Sun, 17 Jun 2007 21:07:59 +0000

This is one of the styleguides I painted for Surf's Up from Sony Pictures. It is all 2D, painted in Photoshop.

Close-up crop:
http://www.ethereality.info/etherea...e-closeup-1.jpg

Surf's Up - Cody (styleguide)

Sun, 17 Jun 2007 21:29:36 +0000

This is one of the styleguides I painted for Surf's Up from Sony Pictures Imageworks. It is all 2D, painted in Photoshop.

Close-up crop:
http://www.ethereality.info/etherea...e-closeup-1.jpg

The Spoils - Contrived Engineer (coloring)

Sun, 17 Jun 2007 21:49:37 +0000

This is a coloring job I did for The Spoils from Tenacious Games.

The Spoils - Guy With Slingshot (coloring)

Sun, 17 Jun 2007 21:50:25 +0000

This is a coloring job I did for The Spoils from Tenacious Games.

The Spoils - Short Term Investment (coloring)

Sun, 17 Jun 2007 21:51:07 +0000

This is a coloring job I did for The Spoils from Tenacious Games.

Spiderman 3 - Sandman (styleguide)

Sun, 17 Jun 2007 21:12:52 +0000

This is a cropped image of one of the styleguides I painted for Spiderman 3 (from Sony Pictures). It is all 2D, painted in Photoshop.

Spiderman 3 - Venom (styleguide)

Sun, 17 Jun 2007 21:37:08 +0000

This is a cropped image of one of the styleguides I painted for Spiderman 3 (from Sony Pictures). It is all 2D, painted in Photoshop.

Alternate version:
http://www.ethereality.info/etherea..._Styleguide.jpg

Close-up crop:
http://www.ethereality.info/etherea...e-closeup-1.jpg

Galactic Melee - Space Girl

Sun, 17 Jun 2007 21:45:15 +0000

This is a concept illustration I did for Galactic Melee, a MMO space shooter game. I'm also composing the score for it as well.

Close-up crops:

Promise Promo Painting

Tue, 04 Mar 2003 16:23:39 +0000

This is the promo painting for Promise, a short film project I created/wrote, and was slated to direct, but the funding fell though and the project is now on hold, awaiting more funding.

Scythe Wolf

Sun, 06 Apr 2003 21:23:19 +0000

This is the promo painting for Scythe Wolf, an animated TV series I created/wrote. It was slated to be produced at one point, but the funding fell through.

Closeups:

>> Hi resolution image <<

Here's the background story for Scythe Wolf:

Who is Scythe Wolf?

Ask any warrior worthy of his blade in Jian-Hu(martial arts underworld) the name "Lian-Lang(Scythe Wolf) ," and you'll get the following description:

Roughly two years ago, a mysterious young girl stunned the Jiang-Hu scene with her lightening fast scythe fighting technique and her ethereal beauty. Many men admired her beauty, yet they also feared her skills. She is aloof and dislikes attention, but despite her petite frame and her avoidance of crowds, her presence is hardly inconspicuous, due to the seven-foot scythe she wields, and an entourage that consisted of a pack of wild wolves.

Those lucky enough to be considered a friend by her, knows her as "Lulu," a nickname derived from her real name, "Chen Yue-Lu."(word for word, �Yue� means Jade, and �Lu� means Dew. Chen is her last name.) If you ask the few friends she has, this is what you'll learn about Lulu:

Lulu doesn't trust people easily, yet when she does, she will protect those close to her with a fierceness one would be foolish to challenge.

Lulu's parents were once disciples of the Uh-Mei clan, but having been disillusioned by the corruption they witnessed, her parents left the clan and began their lives as vagrants. Around the time of Lulu's birth, her parents had befriended a pack of Wild Wolves when they protected a newborn litter of wolf-pups from a hungry tiger. Since then, the siblings Lulu grew up with had been that litter of wolf-pups. It was during that time, Lulu's parents developed the "Wild Wolf Fighting Technique," the result of their intimate understanding of the wolves.

Lulu had been taught the Wild Wolf fighting technique since she was able to walk, and not long after reaching her teens, she mastered that technique and began developing her own fighting style. Lulu was her parents' pride and joy, and they loved Lulu more than anything in the world.

During her fourteenth birthday, the family had stayed with a dear friend of Lulu's parents, who was a black smith of legendary fame, and the maker of the best weapons in existence. When Lulu showed an affinity for an eyewoo scythe she found in the barn, the black smith forged a scythe that was tailor made for her, redesigned from the traditonal scythe into a deadly weapon. Since then, Lulu had incorporated her scythe, which she named "Black Wolf," into her own fighting style.

During the family's travels, they had taught a number of students-all vagrants like themselves. It was first offered as a gesture of friendship-a way for fellow vagrants to defend themselves in their travels, but soon, the word spread, and people began seeking out the family to be taught. The family never cared much for formality, so no real structure was ever created for the students. The family continued traveling, leaving behind a trail of disciples that they asked politely not to follow them around or treat them like clan masters. The family always stressed that their teachings were based on their friendships with fellow vagrants, not for fame or obedience like the famous clans they despised.

When Lulu was sixteen, her parents were murdered during a trip from Nanjing to Hsa-Men. Lulu was out in the woods hunting for food at the time, and when she returned to her dying parents, they uttered with their dying breath, "Uh-Mei," the name of the clan they had left long ago. After her parent's death, Lulu vowed to track down their killers and avenge their death, but Uh-Mei is one of the largest and most respected clans in Giang-Hu, and she has no idea where to begin.

When the vagrant friends caught news of their teachers' death, they banded together and called themselves the "Wolf Pack." The pack vowed to find Lulu and help her avenge the death of their teachers, but no matter how fast they traveled, they were always a step behind the young girl's trail.

Now, two years later, the Wolf Pack had grown in number, but there was still no sign of Lulu, except for the stories of her travels that has been told by fellow travellers of Giang-Hu. At this point, there were more new members of the Wolf Pack than the original students, and to them, both the name Lulu and Scythe Wolf seemed more like a mysterious legend than a real person. Even though the new members never met the original teachers of the Wild Wolf Technique, their names still inspired a sense of revere.

Now, Scythe Wolf's whereabout has been discovered, and the Wolf Pack began traveling day and night to reach the girl some have began referring to affectionately as "Mother Wolf."

Lulu and her wolves:

Lulu is respected by her wolves, and holds the rank of the alpha wolf. This, by default, prevents her pack to breed new litters�which is a good thing considering their situation. (Only the alpha male and female wolves are allowed to breed in a pack, and since Lulu is human, the pack won�t have new members, unless Lulu gives up her position as the alpha wolf.) Lulu does not tolerate violence shown to the omega wolf by her pack, and she managed to rid her pack of the terrible habit of picking on the omega wolf.

The pack:

Alpha male- �Grey Star�
Beta male- �Dirt King�
Beta female- �Snowy�
Aunts and Uncles- �Lazy Bug� �Sleepy Head� and �Rooster�
Omega- �Baby�

Mood1 (d'artiste cover version)

Mon, 06 Mar 2006 07:06:53 +0000

This is the version used for the cover of d'artiste: Digital Painting. It's a close-up crop of the original, then painted with a bit more detail.

Bloody Hallway

Wed, 23 Aug 2006 07:15:50 +0000

Here's a concept mood piece, depicting a scene in a horror game.

Memories Of Hangzhou

Sat, 13 Nov 2004 16:48:16 +0000

Most of you can probably tell by a glance that the girl in the painting is my wife, Elena.
(For close-ups of the painting, click the "High Resolution Image" link.)
I've been trying to change my painting style to a more painterly and spontaneous style, and this is another step in that direction. It is still a bit too clean and detailed for my taste, but old habits are hard to break. I really forced myself to paint looser and use bolder colors this time, and although it's not anywhere close to the standard I had set out to achieve, it's at least a little bit of progress from the boring and sterile look of my previous paintings.
>> Hi resolution image & Close-ups<<

Close-ups:

Concept - Lulu

Sun, 07 May 2006 16:53:24 +0000

This is Lulu, the main character from Scythe Wolf, a TV series I created/wrote, but didn't have the funding to go into production.

Nightmare Creature

Sun, 07 May 2006 16:18:09 +0000

This is a concept piece for a game idea. In the story, a labratory was under government contract to research and develop biomechanical weapons that houses highly advanced combat AI's (Artificial Intelligence), and one of the prototype AI's became sentient, went mad, and became a rogue element. The deranged AI then came upon a top-secret directory in the mainframe, where data from the sleep obeservations of important military/political figures suffering sleep disorders were kept. The rogue AI was fascinated by a reoccuring nightmare that tormented one of the patients--the president, and decided to build itself a biomechanical body matching the creature in the nighmare.

A few close-ups:

Elena Formal Portrait, Lunatique (2D)

Sun, 22 Feb 2004 05:47:24 +0000

Painting a life portrait digitally was definitely easier than painting one traditionally. So much time is saved when you don't have to change/wash brushes or deal with the physical complications of real paint. A traditional life portrait would've taken me probably three times as long to paint.
Originally, I wanted to paint something bold and impressionistic, but as the sessions went on, I realized my sensibility is not quite there yet--I'm still too chicken shit to throw all caution into the wind. I did make a conscious effort to allow my brush work to stay loose, suppressing the urge to blend away the brush marks. But the battle rages on--I still have to much to learn and need to work harder at being spontaneous.

>> Hi resolution image<<

Close-ups:

Melancholic Princess

Mon, 06 Mar 2006 06:01:32 +0000

She is the main character from a sci-fi/fantasy screenplay of mine titled Tellurian Sky. Her name is Ruu, usually called Princess Ruu by those around her. Her unwilling ascension to the throne is the source of her melancholy, as she has no desire to rule a kingdom, but is forced to do so.

Concept - Adelyn

Sun, 07 May 2006 17:04:04 +0000

Adelyn is one of the main characters from Promise, an animated short film I had created/written. It was supposed to go into production, but the funding fell through and the project has been on hold, awaiting more funding.

Ordinary Heroes, Lunatique (2D)

Sun, 25 Jan 2004 13:15:05 +0000

Special thanks to Steven Stahlberg for a great crit in the form of a paintover. I gotta say, it's super cool to be sitting next to each other everyday at work, where we could just turn to the other person and go, "Hey, should I make this blue or yellow?" We've been painting over each other's stuff and giving each other crits ever since we met online, and it's wonderful to carry that tradition over to real life. (We've got a collaboration piece going on, and it should be finished soon. Keep an eye out for it.)
This is also the piece I'm concentrating on for the D'Artiste book. I'll be detailing every step of the creation process in the book. You can find out more about it here: http://www.ballisticpublishing.com/...tries/dartiste/

Full high-resolution here:
http://www.ethereality.info/etherea...nary_heroes.jpg

Some close-ups:

Concept - Lieutenant

Sun, 07 May 2006 17:11:09 +0000

This is a character from a sci-fi feature animation screenplay I've been working on, titled Tellurian Sky. For this design, I wanted a combat uniform that's both practical and aesthetically pleasing. I initially wanted a genderless design that would look good on both male and female soldiers, but then I thought about how in some cultures, women aren't really all that gunho about gender equality in terms of wanting to wear the same stuff that men do. I've seen many cases where women prefer to have a more feminine look for their uniforms--for the simple fact that they are in uniform so much they'd rather look pretty while doing their jobs (but never at the expense of impracticality). For the military, genderless design is usually the way to go (for all the obvious and not so obvious reasons), but in some cases, female soldiers have different uniforms from the men (for example, dress uniforms for women have skirts). I sort of used that logic when designing the lieutenant's combat uniform. Although it's feminized a bit (mostly in the lower torso design), it absolutely does not interfere with practicality. The psychological ramifications of men going into combat with female soldiers in form-fitting combat uniforms on the other hand, is a completely different can of worms.

The uniform itself is made of military grade synthetic material that will react to sudden pressure by stiffening up (this technology is already available now in the American military forces), effectively forming a tough but flexible body armour at the event of an impact (could be projectile ammunition, crashing in a vehicle, falling from heights..etc). The green symbol and the orange spots on her chest could change color and shape according to the needs of the soldier. For example, a criticially wounded solder will display a blinking red signalling the need of immediate medical attention, flash a bright orange when needing visible identification, or turn completely black during stealth operations. In fact, the color of the entire uniform could change colors to adapt to the environment.

Black Wolf Ronin

Mon, 06 Mar 2006 06:24:24 +0000

A simple character portrait of a ronin. One of the earlier pieces when I first started using Painter alongside Photoshop.

The Outpost

Thu, 06 Apr 2006 18:39:08 +0000

It's a command base out in the middle of nowhere--just mountains all around. I went for a fairly minimalistic design, keeping the feel utilitarian yet still futuristic. One of the most important aspects I wanted to depict was a mixture of indoor and outdoor in equal amounts. It was important to me because I was thinking about the design as a corner of a game level--one that would be fun to play in. I could imagine myself in the game, flipping over a mountain and seeing this command base sitting right there, waiting for me to explore. There's an entrance to the underground levels, which make me wonder what I'll run into if I do down there, and there's a connecting bridge to a dome-shaped structure--more mysteries to explore. I love connecting bridges between buildings--whenever I get to cross them I always savor the expereince. I think it's because they are so specific--designed for the sole purpose of taking you to another building--one that's important enough to warrant a walkway up high in the sky. I gave some parts of the command base enough wear and tear so that it looks lived in, but I also wanted it to look like it's fully powered and functioning, so I had all the lights on, the energy tubes flowing, and the control consoles monitoring system activities. You might notice that in one of the close-ups, the control labels are reversed. I flip the image horizontally so much when I paint that I must've done those letters while I had the image flipped. You musicians out there could probably tell that the control consoles bear some similarities to music production gear--yes, it was intentional, just for the hell of it.

Some close-ups:

Till Death Do Us Part

Sun, 12 Mar 2006 05:13:59 +0000

This piece was ommissioned by Imagine FX magazine as a full-length tutorial, however, the version shown here has been significantly repainted (special thanks to Steven Stahlberg for the awesome paintover critique). This painting depicts a family of three (mom, dad, and baby) being hunted by demon stalkers. The parents protect the baby with their lives while the demon stalkers conjure dark magic using the skull of a fallen comrade as the source of power. The father counters the assault with his own magic, channeled through his sword.

Close-ups:

Moonlight Lovers

Thu, 25 Aug 2005 16:07:39 +0000

The older we get, the less likely we are to do something crazy and romantic. I've done some really crazy romantic stuff when I was younger, and I don't regret any of it. This one's for all you mushy romantics. Yeah, you know who you are.
For this piece, I wanted to evoke feelings of classic romance--like Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, but I also wanted it to feel modern, so I had him climbing a modern art deco styled building, and they're wearing contemporary clothes.

Close-up: