This blog...

...was initially for pieces done on a computer, but has since become a free-for-all. Here you'll find process work (digital and otherwise), sketch pages and studies, sometimes with commentary.

You can see the rest of my work here.

Remember kids : if you can't make pretty designs, at least make pretty lines!

-Paul

Friday, August 17, 2012

The Crow Father

Anyone who's been doing this long enough will tell you : your favorite stuff doesn't get in the game.  Just sayin'.  But look at all the fun you can have!  These are some early designs for The Crow Father, a boss who shows up near the beginning of Darksiders II.



I was trying to push for him being more beast than man, or possibly all the way beast.  I wanted to make him a piece of the surrounding architecture -- a living scarecrow.



When I found out he needed to be human, I tried making him into a chieftain of sorts...because over-sized beak helms look cool.



I gave him a weapon that shot a murder of crows, and toyed with the notion that he might have a "pretty boy" form in addition to his "old man" form.  You know, for the ladies.



When you see the character in context, and know what his deal is -- how he's a prisoner, and how Death dispatches him (such a cool cut scene, btw) -- it wouldn't have made sense for the guy to have been a horrific, intimidating badass.  Joe's version [which I did a turnaround of below] fit the role much better.

3 comments:

Paolo Puggioni said...

"Anyone who's been doing this long enough will tell you : your favorite stuff doesn't get in the game."

Actually what happens to me more often that not is that I think "I hope that they won't chose this, this is the weakest design of the whole bunch", and invariably that's exactly what they pick.
This is even more true when marketing departments are involved.
Anyway, awesome stuff as usual!

Emerson Tung said...

It's understandable when a design doesn't fit the context too much, but man, I LOVED your crowfather design the moment I saw it in the mini artbook.

PEET said...

PHUKIN SHWEET! This guy turned out great in game as well. Awesome job as always, Paul. :)