Mockup Remake

[Jim16]

So I don't really have the time to commit to any long term projects at the moment, so instead, I thought it might be nice to revisit an old mockup I made back in 2011. I'm a bit rusty as I don't do much art at all and haven't done much for a long time, so we'll see how this goes. Please bare with me 

I kinda want to use this thread to jot down my thoughts, inspirations, references and generally post any progress I make. So while I am looking for feedback, just know that initially I won't have anything to show, just thoughts. Anyway,

Here's the old Mockup

^{Looks pretty right?}
I know there are a lot of issues here, but I don't think it looks terrible. So here are a few issues I know about because of previous comments and what I've learnt over the years. So, Priority issues, characters didn't read well enough, it wasn't obvious that the character could interact with things and the mockup didn't illustrate well enough what the characters objectives where. The last point being the most important, I mean it looks like a game, but what do you actually do? I just made things back then and threw them into an image without to much thought about anything other than what the game might to look like. And now I think it might be fun to revisit this with a new perspective.

I'm not sure where people usually start when making a game, probably concept art. I'm probably skip the concept art part and just use references for inspiration, which I will post as I go. And I 'll start specifically with the main character, because, well that seems fun and motivation drives me at the moment 

Something to note, I'll be working at a higher resolution compared to the last mockup.

Here he is.

^Gus
I won't talk about the characters objective, mainly because I have no idea what that is yet, but thats all part of the journey I guess.
Things I do know.
-He's from the past.
-He's a mechanic.
-Red and blue colour scheme (might change).

References so far:
Apparently if you search mechanic you'll find red and blue to be a very common colour scheme.
http://www.totally-recruitment.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Mechanic-2-Logo.jpg
Trucker is probably more accurate in what type of clothing I want him to wear. Maybe.
http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/silent/images/3/30/Trucker.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20090928203117
Uhh, this give me ideas, pug sidekick anyone??!
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/c3/fa/04/c3fa0401fe80a40982232fb233b7ff59.jpg
This is the last red for the character
https://www.blackgate.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/mechanic-300.jpg

I think I'll start doing some art now

Edit:
Okay, first pass on the character done. Will look at it again in the morning.

^{Gus 1.52}
I decided to keep him largely the same, keeping the trucker hat and white shirt, but changing the blue jeans for a mechanics overalls which are pulled down to his waist, also changed the read sneakers for black steel capped boots. Hopefully the overalls will add to making a more dynamic, interesting looking animation, and the heavy boots would also add more weight. I'm not going to put to much thought into it, because I'm likely to change this a lot 

[Jim16]

So on I go. Remade Gus yesterday, and today I've decided to remake one of the robot characters. Not sure what he's called yet, I'll call him Robot1 for now. What I do know is that he's an A.I. with a funny sense of humor, and he's a bit of a slimy character.


^Robot1
I made him lean in the original mockup to kinda give a sense of his character, but that's a bit hard to convey with so few pixel.

Anyway, here are a few references I found for the new revision.
The hats not really my jam, but it does look really cool and its more to inspire more than to grab ideas from.
http://www.zastavki.com/pictures/originals/2015/Fantasy_Robot_in_the_cap_on_the_platform_waiting_for_the_train_099740_.jpg
Bender, clearly an obvious reference and the first thing that came to mind when thinking about robots.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a6/Bender_Rodriguez.png
Last one, really well drawn, more of the kind of robot I'm looking for.
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AcSNE06kW80/UbNut0O6vbI/AAAAAAAA0U8/r9gUi8NNpno/s1600/brian-despain05.jpg

I did do some work on this character today, so here's how he's getting on.

^{Robot1 redo}
He looks okay I think. I do think that he looks a bit different in style compared to Gus above, but it is still early days and I'll eventually try and unify the style. Now on to roughly draw the robot dog! Should be fun because he's pretty much my favorite aspect of the original.

[Jim16]

Another day, another sprite

Today I've been working on the Robo dog. He was probably one of my favorite sprites from the old mockup. And to me out of the two enemy sprites (the other being the large robot), the dog actually looked like a menacing threat. Looking back at the original now I can see that it didn't really read all that well, the lighting was a inconsistent and the head was exaggerated a bit too much. The last point not necessarily being a bad thing at that small size.


^{Wrex the Robo dog!}
I probably could go back to the original and clean it up, but at this point I'd rather leave it as a reminder of what I was capable of back in 2011. Also a note about Wrex's character, he's not actually a bad dog, I mean, all he really want to do is play. Its just unfortunate that he rushes up to you super fast and has jaws made of metal. Making play time not so fun if you have flesh 

So today's references where:
Looks like something from Crysis, very cool.
https://cdna0.artstation.com/p/assets/images/images/001/426/200/large/pavel-protsenko-794e8430723819-563005b7a2ba9.jpg?1446208619
Okay, so this is probably one of the coolest pictures on the internet!
https://cdna2.artstation.com/p/assets/images/images/000/438/810/large/michael-kingery-bb-dog2.jpg?1422481152
Cartoon like dog ref.
http://www.proun-game.com/Oogst3D/BLOG/Snowball%20Earth%20Alternative%20Character%20Designs%20Robodogs1%20Big.jpg
I want to do something similar to the eyes here, it gives of really cool luminescent glow.

Again I started working on this as soon as I found the references.
Here's what I have so far. Any thoughts?


I've also made some small changes to the other two characters. The process is slow, but I'm getting there.


Thats it for now, I do have the afternoon off, so I might make a start on the last character in the old mockup. We'll see.

[Curly]

Nice improvement! I love the dog
I feel like the brightest blue color on the main character isn't needed. I didn't notice it until I zoomed in.

[Jim16]

Thanks Curly and yeah you're right, I've removed that colour.

So yesterday was spent in the sun with cider, beer and spirits at hand. Turns out too much of that isn't to great for productivity.

Today I've been hard at work on the last guy from the mockup, Robot cop, and oh how hard it has been so far. I've woken up with a bit of an art block, and initially every thing I made looked crap. But tired, hungover and way to hot I slogged away and, well, its not too bad. But first the old.


^{Robot cop}
I can remember being so proud of of this big guy when I first made him. Now looking at him makes me cringe a little. I just see sooo many flaws, more so than the other 3 characters I've reworked. Also his light got lost in the background And I can remember someone calling it a fez 

Todays refernces are:
Just a very big robot.
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-M93QERyT-XU/UFGkkktERtI/AAAAAAAAG0I/IMcZneBSKC0/s1600/mech+mecha+giant+robot+concept+art+design+chain+gun+machinegun+gattling+gun+design+walker+carrier+sci+fi+wallpaper+borderlands+2+3.jpg
More of a mech, but it looks super cool.
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/311Vm
Love the colours used here, might do something similar later on as all the robots so far are very clean and shiny looking.
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/zKOKq
I was trying to get ideas on how to do the legs with this one, I still don't think it looks nice.
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/l6g6k
I did use more references this time as I really couldn't get the legs to look nice, I still don't like them 

Anyway, here was one of the the first passes, I didn't save the other iterations because they all sucked. But I wish I had just to show you the trouble I went through.

and here's where I am now, still not happy.


Any critique or edits more than welcome.
Next I'll start working on the tile set.

[heyguy]

Really good stuff! I like all the progress you've made! All the new versions of the characters look nice and polished. Regarding the last one, robot cop, I think it might benefit you to throw a splash of color into the armor. Maybe the chest or some limbs are painted dark blues (like police office uniforms), yellow star on the chest or arm, etc, etc ,etc, lots of possibilities. Keep it up!

[Jim16]

Thanks man. I agree about changing that robot up a bit, adding colour etc. So I've had a go at it today.


^Again?
Hopefully a step in the right direction, still need to go ahead and finish some of the limbs as well as clean up under the head and other places. So as you can see its still very much a wip, and I can see it changing a lot in the future.

I have been working on other assets over the last couple days, but I feel like 3-4 basic tiles isn't worth showing at the moment.
Tomorrow I hope to work on a small slice of the original mockup and hopefull finish and show it by the end of tomorrow.

[Jim16]

I think my favorite thing to do is procrastinate, which is why this post has taken as long as it has. Bad me! 
But yeah, somewhere between doing a whole lot of nothing, I managed to spend some time working on the tiles yesterday, as well as pipes and even an air vent. I will admit, I'm surprised how quickly they came together.

^{The original}
There's something about the original that I love, and just can't seem to translate into a higher resolution. Maybe its just how small amounts of those big meaty pixels leave more to the imaginations than the higher resolution version does. What the higher  resolution version does help with is adding details that just aren't possible. The door for example looks more like a door (more dory than before?), and the sign above allows  you to make more sense of what that doors purpose is. If I tried to add the same sign in the original, 1, I wouldn't be able to actually make discernible lettering, and 2,it would just add clutter to the already very cluttered screen.

^{And now the new}
I will try to make the sign look more interesting, but for now it serves it purpose.
There are also a couple of things missing, like the foreground railing and lantern (lantern like thing?). Which I will work on much later as I have no idea how I'm going to make them look right.

As always, edits and thoughts welcome.

[Curly]

The robot now looks like a cop
The original mockup has more charm maybe, but the new one is looking great so far.