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!
