TEAK project - freelance client project - Background painter; personal lessons learned

The client wanted 90s cartoon styled backgrounds for the client's indie game, The Adventures of Kally. (TEAK for short.)

Originally, the plan was to paint only the 15 backgrounds for the game's World #1 - #5 due to time and the deadline of wanting to release the game for Feb 14th. (I found out in our third meeting that Steam has a special publicity thing going on for games that can make it to that deadline.) 

In our first meeting back in Jan 26th, the client typed out a general list of what the client wanted for the game for the backgrounds of Worlds 1 - 5, and also wrote about the Introduction images, Trailer images, Medusa boss battle, and Supreme King's boss battle.  The plan then was to focus on the Worlds' backgrounds and then to discuss about the remaining images if the time allowed.

  Fair warning, large amounts of images ahead!

World 1 - Forest , in Powerpuff Girls 90s cartoon style, with Billy and Mandy's yellow lighting

World 1 - Forest , 4th edit due to incorrect given resolution size and desire to unsaturated the color to give off a Billy and Mandy style. 

World 1 - Garden, in Powerpuff Girls 90s cartoon style, with Billy and Mandy yellow lighting

World 1 - Garden, 3rd edit; unsaturating colors 

World 1 - Mountain, in Powerpuff Girls  90's cartoon style, with Billy and Mandy yellow lighting

World 1 - Mountain, unsaturated for client

World 2 - Haunted School Cafeteria, in "black and white paper style" 90s cartoon style

World 2 - Haunted School Cafeteria, in "black and white paper style" 90s cartoon style; edited due to incorrect given resolution. 

World 2 - Haunted School Classroom, in "black and white paper style"90s cartoon style

World 2 - Haunted School Classroom, in "black and white paper style" 90s cartoon style

World 3 - "stone wall with cryptic text and scratches", in "shining gold aesthetic" 90s cartoon style

World 3 - Crypt and Sarcophagus , in "shining gold aesthetic" 90s cartoon style

World 3 - "Treasure room with golden relics", in "shining gold aesthetic" 90s cartoon style

World 4 - Abandoned House in Forest, in "Limbo style" 90s cartoon style

World 4 - Dark Forest, in "Limbo style" 90s cartoon style

World 4 - "witch satanic wood fire", in "Limbo style" 90s cartoon style 

World 5 - "wall of bricks with bloody particles" , in "blood and flesh aesthetic" 90s cartoon style

World 5 - "muscle giant wall" , in "blood and flesh aesthetic" 90s cartoon style

(This one had a lot of questions as originally the "muscle giant wall" the client wrote was too vague and not detailed enough. I thought the client wanted a literal giant statue of some sort in the background guarding over something. It turns out the client just wanted a wall, that was different from the bloody brick wall, on fire. )

 

World 5 - "Bloody cascade with a meatly bridge on the center background" to be "mixed with the 'muscle giant wall'", in "blood and flesh aesthetic" 90s cartoon style.

(This one also had to be asked a lot of questions for details, as the description the client gave me didn't mention that the wall was blocking the path to a fort, that can't be seen, and that the players would be on said bridge for gameplay. )

I was glad I could pace myself well for these 15 paintings and got these done with time to spare before the given painting deadline of Feb 9th. This was one of the pros I could take away from the project, the other being painting in a different style than I'd normally do so. 

Unfortunately, due to a lack of communication and/or discussion, almost a week after I sent the last images (World 5), the client then asked for me to paint the remaining images the client wrote in the general list. There was no given deadline for these until I asked the client about the Feb 14th deadline the client mentioned in the first meeting. This is where I found out about the Steam publicity thing. After asking several times, when exactly the client wanted to release the game and when the client wanted the images and how long of a buffer the client wanted to input the images into the game, I finally got the deadline of Feb 14th. The client attested that putting the images into the Unity engine doesn't take long, which I'd imagine so, since I recall using a much earlier version of Unity about 5 years ago to place my art in during college. I told myself I had to get these done way before that deadline of Feb 14th because I knew there would be at least several changes or edits or resolution changes the client would email me about, like the client did for the images for Worlds 1 - 5, and I needed that buffer even if the client didn't. 

I'm glad I did since the client ended up changing the resolution couple days after this meeting. 

Introduction - Kally's Room , in Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends cartoon style

(I found out in the 3rd meeting that Kally's room was actually a toy room for the kids and the Granny's house was also an orphanage.) 

Introduction - Toys for Kally's room (aka toy room)

Introduction - Granny Marie's Fireplace , in Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends cartoon style

(I found out during the 3rd meeting that Granny's fireplace was actually Granny's room and Granny's room was full of stuff from her travels around the world. The client also wanted to include a photo of young Granny with a landmark from Spain, Santa Barbara, with the night lighting from a photo.)

Carpet for Granny Marie's Fireplace (room) , in Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends cartoon style

Introduction - Granny Marie's Fireplace , in Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends cartoon style,  edit #2 with objects scaled down and spaced out.

Introduction - Hallway on Fire, in Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends cartoon style

Originally, the general list the client typed up (after the first meeting) said "Granny's fireplace destroyed" .."place is on fire". But during the third meeting, the client said that it was actually a hallway on fire. 

I had to ask specifics on what the client wanted, such as number of doors, if there were windows, number of windows, if there were objects, what objects, how many picture frames, if the table had picture frames, if there were picture frames on the wall and how big. 

Introduction - Hallway on Fire, in Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends cartoon style , edit #2 due to change in new resolution, scaling and client's desire of things being space out more 

Client wanted to make the smoke I painted in as its own alpha to make use of Unity's features (particle I believe?)

Medusa Boss Battle - Medusa's room, in Powerpuff Girls cartoon style with "white light aesthetic"

Medusa Boss Battle - Medusa's room with scratches , in Powerpuff Girls cartoon style with "white light aesthetic" 

Supreme King Boss Battle - Supreme King's throne room, in Samurai Jack cartoon style, with curved fisheye due to client using a 3D model for wall for throne room.

Supreme King Boss Battle - destroyed Supreme King's throne room, in Samurai Jack cartoon style, with curved fisheye due to client using a 3D model for wall of throne room

Supreme King Boss Battle - "destroyed castle from outside" , in Samurai Jack cartoon style

After asking the client a lot of questions, due to lack of details, such as what the client wanted to include in the painting, I gathered the details of :

- no castle to be painted in 

- no foreground trees, or hand shaped trees due to gameplay's boss battle animation

- no zombie hands due to client animating them in 

- trees on fire

- bricks from the castle

- large rocks

- red sky

- blue flag 

(I had to ask what kind of flag too, such as the twin tailed medieval type, or the rectangle country flag type, since I was envisioning a medieval banner. It turns out the client wanted a rectangle type.)

I'm so glad I had watched (listened) in on an interview on Bobby Chiu's Schoolism Youtube channel. One of the many tips I took away from the series was, ask a lot of questions from the story guys. 

In my case it was asking the client as the story was also the client's. 

By asking all these questions, like the guest on the Schoolism video said, you, as the artist, can paint a better picture. 

Because of that interview, I knew to ask as many questions as I could since I didn't know the story at all, even with the very rough general list the client typed up. To be very blunt, the list was a bit too rough and I had to directly ask what the client wanted for almost every painting, from exact resolution per painting, per object (toys and carpet), to details in the painting. The very first list the client sent me from the first meeting gave me 4-5 resolutions for 'default' and one for 'long' background. It was confusing as heck for me as the artist since it was just the resolutions with no labels (excluding the one labeled "long background") of which resolution was for which painting. 

Yay for being a stickler for details! 

I definitely learned a lot of personal lessons about client work, such as:

-  ask A LOT of questions,

- give yourself a large buffer because the client will undoubtedly change his/her mind or make a mistake with something such as resolutions

- know the deadline so you can pace yourself, and give yourself a buffer or sick day if needed

- don't take unpaid work. It's not worth the frustrations you deal with, with the known fact of being unpaid for your work is looming in your mind. (Yes..sadly this was unpaid, the client had forgotten to erase the sentence about the work being paid on the posting. And in my naive self, I figured I would try out painting in a cartoon style.)

- Samurai Jack had really interesting backgrounds that I should do painting studies of!

- Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends ' backgrounds are also something I should do painting studies of!

Daikon Inspired Lamp Designs

During a long grocery run (many stores, far distances), I spotted some uniquely shaped Daikons Daikon Green according to the store's tag, which makes sense since they were dark green small daikon. The daikon I grew up seeing were the long white radish types, so these smaller and spherical shaped ones were new to me. 

Going forward from my sketches, both of direct studies and stylized shapes, I took one of the direct study sketch, as it made me consider lamp prop designs, and went from there. Somewhere along my sketches, in my sketchbook, I thought about paper lanterns and the idea grew into Japanese paper lantern lamps. 

From there, I played with shapes, dimensions, and designs of the lanterns while also playing with the shapes and dimensions of the base (which was based off of the selected daikon shape). 

For the colors, I originally thought about the standard cream white /yellow paper with light brown thin wood, but then wondered, what if there were other colors? As part of my experiment with digital watercolor brushes, I really tried seeing what colors worked together and played with blending. 

I'll have to play with digital watercolor brushes more, especially in a full painting situation but I do like how nicely they blend. The only thing that I might have to work on is, how to add contrast through value rather than colors; blacks and darks don't seem to register. 

Archway

As part of my redesigning of my comic, Teens of Valor, I sketched out a panel frame to figure out how I wanted to set a scene I was envisioning. The goal was to allow me to have both the scope of the room shown as the main character enters in the hall. 

Color wise, I could improve since the palette isn't as appealing as I'd like. There were a lot of muted colors to work with as I was using browns around the room so that probably played a part in the unappealing color palette. Browns with the gray purple-blue walls really don't mix well hahaa. My default of gray and blues came into play again for sci-fi. 

I tried playing with an orange hue mask, and a blue hue mask.

With the blue hue mask, the Earth hologram stayed the blue I envisioned but a lot of the other colors I had made for the other characters got lost. 

The orange hue mask helped pop the main character's red jacket, but it made the Earth hologram and machinery glows too evil looking. The other characters' colors also got lost in this hue mask. 

Regardless of which hue mask I choose, both have their pros and cons, but both do help unify the color palette. 

Holo Desk and Drone design

I wanted to completely redesign an old desk I drew for my comic, Teens of Valor, since I found the old drawing lackluster and not as sci-fi as I wanted. 

The first drawing is actually pretty close to the first thumbnail, which, looking back, had such an unappealing shape design to it. In effort to make the desk more sci and add unique shapes into the design, I spent quite a bit of time thumbnailing ideas. 

I got some neat silhouettes out of the thumbnail process and picked a few for presentation sake, before moving towards the sketch and linework phase.

When I got to the color phase, I realized I default to greys and blues often for sci-fi props, and subconsciously wondered if I was trying to work in gray scale. 

When the happy accident of adding dark purple to the colors occurred, I wondered, what if I made the color palette dark tones?

This lead me to consider the presented color palette. Story wise, for the comic, I'm a bit unsure about using darks for the props as it belongs to the heroes' headquarters, but who said darks had to be 'evil'? To combat this color correlation, I added in some pinks on the purple and tried using warmer colors for certain parts. 

All in all, it was pretty fun to see the progress the shapes took from thumbnail to thumbnail and I really had to think about why certain parts would go where. 

Also, I get to draw a prop design presentation for the drones from the desk! In hindsight, I wish I designed those first...

During the thumbnail stage, I went through a large page of thumbnails before figuring out features, placements and things such as stability. 

House Plants

Influenced by my recent trip to nurseries, I decided to paint house plants.

First up was pothos!

Then cacti.

And succulents.

It was a ton of fun painting these since I got to design plant gardens. Cacti and succulents were particularly fun with all the color possibilities, though because of that, I had to really choose my colors while I was painting. 

I never really knew there would be so many mini cacti and succulent garden possibilities before I started this mini prop design project. It was definitely a nice study project as well. 

Regal Chair design

Starting out, a lot of the chairs were really rigid when I was sketching them. From there, I was really able to break out of the stocky shapes, which I was really glad about.