Exula

How long has it been? Long enough that I almost couldn’t remember my Wordpress password that’s how long. I thank you all for being so patient as well giving me the occasional nudge to see what the hell is going on. I’m going to need a little while longer, but I promise I’ll make it worth the wait!

I haven’t been slacking, quite the opposite. This year I’ve been published in Advanced Photoshop Magazine Issue 53, I’ll also be making an appearance in Exposé 7, Digital Art Masters 4 and I have an interview with a well known digital art magazine coming up in the summer, but more on that closer to the time. What I will say is that I’ll be discussing the Insect Dynasty and what I have planned for it this year.

Project ID has had a fabulous reception which I’m overwhelmingly grateful for. Consequently ID will be moving to it’s own website in July called theinsectdynasty.com ….there’s nothing there right now, but that won’t be the case for long. All the characters will be making a showing, the Mantodeans, The Beetles, Butterflys and a range of characters that’ll make the Beetle Lord look fit for the cover of Vogue! I’ll also be hinting at the story and giving an insight into the cultures of the different species. So July is when it all kicks off.

I think The ID website will be the first to launch, probably followed by nicksdesk and then an Exula relaunch in 2010. I’ll be focusing on The Insect Dynasty this year and I think Exula will benefit from the things I learn from this project, so I’m happy to make the switch.

On a different note, congratulations to my good mate Mr Martin Houlden for getting his work published for the first time with a slew of other creative talent and I know he’s already got something else underway, so keep up the good work mate!

I couldn’t post without a picture; I’ve been drawing a lot of characters from the Insect Dynasty to get a good idea of the social structure and how they look, so here’s a sketch of a Mid level soldier Mantid. Sleek and elegant she stands about 9ft high and in the time it takes you to read this sentence she could have dispatched you a dozen times over. Enjoy!

 

Hey there,

It seems like a lifetime since i last posted, but I’ll blame my PC for that one. Spontaneous hard drive disconbobulation is no laughing matter, but thankfully it’s all sorted; though i’m still seriously tempted to drop-kick the damn thing out the window.

Despite the glacial state of my website, things have been moving. First thing in the new year this website will be splitting in two. Exula will become dedicated purely to Exula; showcasing the characters and exploring that world. At the same time the rest of the work will move to a new site called nicksdesk.co.uk which will focus on the concept art, illustrations and will be the new home of The Insect Dynasty.

The new site will be up early in the new year with exula.co.uk either relaunching at the same time or shortly thereafter. There’s a lot to do, but i love a challenge… i think. I’ll see you in the New Year!

Time for the second batch of concept from ‘Tak and the Guardians of Gross’. This week focuses on some of the concept I produced for the Stinkalossus. Like before, the concept’s lurking in the Game Concept folder. There will be one final update next week for the Tak concept pack where I’ll add more concept related to Trashthulu as well as the art for the critters you see in my avatars here.

 

I’ve put up the first batch of concept art for “Tak and the Guardians of Gross” in the Game Concept section. I’ve included sneak peaks of concept art created in the very first weeks, as well as more polished pieces developed towards the end of the project. I’ll be uploading more in the coming weeks.

Take it easy!

 

CGSociety has run the Mantis Queen tutorial. It has been fantastic to have the opportunity to write an article for CGSociety and I’m very humbled to be able to give something back to the CGTalk community. Hopefully this will be the first of many articles.

I always like to having something to show when I post on here, so I’ve put up one of the Exula character sheets; well, a bit of one at least. It’s a sheet of facial expressions for fiery Rellin.

 

I’ve been talking about a tutorial for the Mantis Queen for several months and now I’m pleased to say that it’s in the October Issue of 2D Artist Mag!

Last summer I started Concept work for a THQ game based on a Nickelodeon property called ‘Tak and the Guardians of Gross’. It’s just been released in America and I know it’ll be on UK shelves very shortly. In a couple of weeks I’ll start putting up the Concept I produced for it here. The kind of things I’ll be showing will include creature designs, boss designs, environments; the works. For now I’ve attached a teaser image (which gives nothing away!) to give you an idea of what I’ll be putting up.