The Casually Casual Blog of T.J. Bragg

Shadow Broker's Ship

2011-09-12T13:58:00.002-03:00

For today's jam.

More(MORE) drawing Jam entries

2011-09-12T07:22:00.004-03:00

Legion

2011-09-09T09:08:00.002-03:00

Week 2 of our Drawing a Day for September jam is Mass Effect. Day 1's topic was Legion.

More drawing Jam entries

2011-09-08T12:59:00.003-03:00

Airbending the rules!

2011-09-05T10:27:00.002-03:00

Prince Zuko

2011-09-02T16:11:00.000-03:00

KILL THAT SQUID!!

2011-08-28T14:47:00.001-03:00

Felt like doing something new and I've been trying to work in a more filling way. I've started trying to cover two pages at a time in my sketchbook and after a few sketches came up with this! Beautiful sketchbook paper too!

Added: Coloring it digitally!

DUDE-ELS

2011-08-03T12:15:00.005-03:00

Marker drawings from my sketchbook and further exploration of Eggwhite and Jam, my personal Devil and Angel team. I've had my fill of super heroes for a (short) while.

Maximum Blarghnage!

2011-07-24T17:37:00.005-03:00

“Spider-Man: Webhead 2.0″ Redesign Contest

2011-07-22T14:27:00.006-03:00

This is my entry for the Project Rooftop redesign contest HERE
Included on top is a later alteration to the style based on some serious hatred for "hobo boots" and "zippers" I've gotten from forums.

Lovable Huggable Venom

2011-07-15T13:46:00.002-03:00

Phoenix

2011-07-10T15:04:00.001-03:00

Ultimate Spiderman

2011-06-25T16:22:00.004-03:00

The new Ultimate Spiderman costume that my buddy Tom Bowser showed me. Took it for a quick test run and I'm still not sure how I feel about it's simplicity.

Happy Birthday Ben!

2011-06-24T13:07:00.003-03:00

Found out it was one of my good friend's birthday, and decided to quickly do a "card" for him as a sort of Game of Thrones type of character. Mostly just as a bad ass Lord Knight type of dude.

Darkclaw

2011-06-22T14:20:00.003-03:00

Darkclaw, from the DC/Marvel Amalgam crossover from my childhood. Always loved Darkclaw even though I never read his one off issue. Just the design seemed so Wildstorm or Image or something. Anyway, decided to finally give him a crack.

2011-06-17T16:27:00.001-03:00

I've been meaning to do this for awhile. It was an amalgam I came up with back in 2006 maybe and it's always received a lot of favorites. Last year I did a "WIP" but never got around to it. I spent about an hour on this in total, been really churning out these "pin ups" fast lately.

Derp Devil

2011-06-15T16:43:00.006-03:00

Ryu talkin to me?

2011-06-14T19:23:00.002-03:00

Randoms

2011-06-14T07:35:00.005-03:00

Sagittarius serpentarius

2011-06-12T19:58:00.003-03:00

TODAY I MADE A DISCOVERY! The secretary bird is the wickedest animal EVER and is now my favorite of everything!
If you don't agree he will do a flying ninja kick in your face and that is something that they can actually do run on sentence because secretary bird makes you a loser!

Maximum Doppleganger!

2011-06-09T09:58:00.004-03:00

When I was a kid, I loved this guy's design. It was really easy to appeal to me though, all you really had to do was add spikes and fangs to an already existing design and poof, I loved it even more.

Sunrise

2011-05-24T21:23:00.001-03:00

What are we gunna do tonight Brain?

2011-04-30T10:28:00.007-03:00

Meow

2011-04-27T19:25:00.008-03:00

ps'in

2011-04-27T10:56:00.002-03:00

Cityscape Concept

2011-01-11T14:22:00.005-04:00

Practice

2011-01-07T15:02:00.001-04:00

More Monster

2010-12-06T09:32:00.000-04:00

Monsters

2010-12-03T10:46:00.002-04:00

A quick rough up of a few monsters. Just keeping busy.

Hammerhead Horse

2010-12-02T12:58:00.001-04:00

It's a bird! It's a plane! Nah man, it's a chick!

2010-11-24T21:31:00.004-04:00

Logo Landscape

2010-11-22T14:31:00.004-04:00

Some faction symbol mockups for my pal's game. See character designs a few posts down.

Chill

2010-11-22T12:59:00.006-04:00

When I don't know what else to draw, I draw Power Girl just like everyone else.
I put together a little step by step. I've never done anything like that before. Feels a little self-righteous.

Gorehemoth

2010-11-17T16:34:00.003-04:00

He's a fan of Coal Chamber.

Espionage is a dish best served with a side of holy guacamole

2010-11-15T14:29:00.002-04:00

A specialty class soldier trained for infiltration and espionage. Outfitted with a high caliber energy sniper rifle with tracking rounds, mechanically assisted jet powered rocket boots, smoke bombs, a cloaking cape, a swiveling vibro-sword, and a detachable drone.

What do they mean?

2010-11-02T22:56:00.005-03:00

20 minutes in photoshop before bringing my pet rat Harvey to the vet.

Balls Deep

2010-10-21T14:39:00.001-03:00

Come Git Sum!

More concept work for my friend's game while he builds the engine for it.

Space Marine fights big red glowy demon guy below.

Gore Enforcer

2010-10-15T19:57:00.006-03:00

For a friend's upcoming strategy game.

Basic conceptual art. If you read down a few posts you will see the sketchbook design I did awhile back that I based this off of.
I also threw in a quick mock up I did of what I think the character could look like from an isometric view.

Commanding Presence

2010-09-29T07:55:00.004-03:00

Just something I started last night after work, but I've got to head back to work today. It's pulled from a doodle in my sketchbook as you can see. I'm trying new ways to work.
UPDATE: put some more work into this, BG is filler, will throw mountains in.

ackadaqtal

2010-09-28T06:27:00.001-03:00

Morning warmup!

ooaaa

2010-09-23T07:46:00.004-03:00

God of the Underworld

2010-09-08T13:40:00.002-03:00

HADES OooO Scary!

To War!

2010-09-03T07:17:00.002-03:00

Markers in my skatchback.

Batman is the man your man could smell like!

2010-09-01T12:19:00.001-03:00

Something I diddled up between business and boredom.

Crocolate Milk

2010-08-23T21:20:00.006-03:00

Just unwinding after a long day. Now to watch some True Blood!

Lots of Robits!

2010-07-25T09:44:00.001-03:00

Her name is Bo

2010-06-22T07:59:00.001-03:00

Rest In Peace

2010-05-10T16:26:00.002-03:00

R.I.P.

Frank Frazetta

Feb 9 1928 - May 10 2010

Justin

2010-04-18T22:09:00.004-03:00

gooseberries

2010-04-17T12:21:00.003-03:00

Been studying the effect of vague textures and unique brushes applied to digital painting.

Huntress

2010-04-13T22:56:00.007-03:00

Smell that? That's the smell of Gotham Justice!

MISTY(ADULT)

2010-04-13T08:04:00.002-03:00

Misty...from a certain cartoon haha. Yah, I feel dirty. The question is...DO YOU!?

ROBOTS DEUX!

2010-04-08T21:38:00.002-03:00

MORE ROBOTS! QWEEEE!!!

ROBOTS!

2010-04-07T22:35:00.000-03:00

Ahhhh Robots are AWESOME!
Tonal marker and ink sketches.

Some WiP Designs.

2010-03-18T22:57:00.002-03:00

These'll be finished at some point. It's late though so I don't have too much to say.

Powergirl

2010-03-16T09:50:00.009-03:00

GOOOOJIRAAAA!

2010-03-12T21:32:00.004-04:00

Sketchbook Dump

2010-03-03T21:51:00.001-04:00

Jackie Nicholson

Tommy "the Skank engine" Lee Jones

Matt Skiba from Alkaline Trio

Just been having fun filling up pages!

more sketch, less fletch

2010-02-18T19:06:00.002-04:00

All the live long day

2010-02-16T20:44:00.002-04:00

something silly this way comes.

2010-02-15T06:53:00.007-04:00

I've decided to have a bit of fun with graphical presentation. Images that sort of jump out at you.

My favorite is my girlfriend's cat, burrito.

Some of these fonts were taken from around the internet, free for use ones.

Heaven is a long long ways away

2010-02-09T09:54:00.012-04:00

Something from the new 'connection'(call) center.

- Everyones poor somehow in System City -
-Lost soul

- If every poor soul in this or the next world who hated their life and hated their job had a place to go to wither away and take those they love down with them, System City would be their first and last stop. -
-Commander Mast O'Learry of the Nexus Capital Supreme Guard

just a note: the nexus, simply put, is the unexplainable, habitable portion of a rift in space-time. Nexus Core is the "capital" city of the Nexus. The NCSG are elite troops dedicated to enforcing law there.

System City is not part of this Nexus, but is a direct result of it.
Makes Mos Eisley look like the green knoll that tubby tellies frollick upon.

edit: Decided to mock up what I think a Nexus Core guard captain might look like. specifically Chev Odelay. Also, changed the name from Nexus Prime to Nexus Core. Sounds much more like the base of an important inter-dimensional infrastructure.

edit: Late in the game, continuing to push the design. Would LOVE some professional feedback and criticism on how to really make this design pop. I'm feeling strongly for it, but I don't want to be blinded by Mother's Love for it.

Venom!

2010-02-08T14:49:00.004-04:00

Every so often, ever since I was a kid, I just get this massive urge to draw a gnarly venom head.

Behold!

Also, starting a new job today. Not as cool as the last. Surveys for a telemarketing company.
Hey, bills had to be paid! If you know anyone looking to hire a young artist, let them and me know!

Thing is, I need to know there is money in it, because I have pursued too many unprofitable (as in zip) ventures in the past.

Another thing, I've been developing a new style lately. Something traditional, so without the use of photoshop. PAPER AND SUCH!! Watch out trees. Watch out world!

Once I compile some stuff, maybe I'll throw some work up in here, up in here.

SEE YA!

Stingray

2010-01-28T17:37:00.004-04:00

Another quick sketch of an obscure character with a cool costume.

Kaine is badass in a lame way

2010-01-25T14:26:00.006-04:00

I really felt like drawing some obscure '90s stuff today. Result is Kaine, drawn with photoshops lasso tool.

Absolutely fun as hell to draw this sucka MC for the first time.

Some timelapse work.

2010-01-18T14:52:00.003-04:00

Rats...

2010-01-15T19:35:00.003-04:00

Mournings and Celebrations

2010-01-14T21:59:00.002-04:00

I just wanted to say a few words. It's been a year today that my best friend Derek's mother passed away. She was an amazing woman.

But also, two months today since I have had a cigarette, and I feel proud of that!

More Rorschach Experiments

2010-01-14T17:03:00.002-04:00

preview

2010-01-13T19:25:00.001-04:00

Just a sample of an upcoming teaser image for what might become a small game.

TurtleHead Studios

2010-01-12T20:15:00.005-04:00

Just some preliminary splash logo work for Turtle Head Studios™

The background image is a composite of this image and one of the statute of liberty, both found through google image. All manipulation and filter work in between is my own.

The turtle skull logo is my own.

added: also, the logo is designed to stand out on it's own, the image is simply a stand in piece for it

Witch

2010-01-07T10:35:00.002-04:00

A forest of death.
A moon so pale it seems transparent, the black emptiness of what lay beyond creeping through it like a wailing specter.

The Night Witch, or Herr'Gah Lar-Fin to the savage tribes of the Western Swamp Cave, roughly translating as Death Stares, Bites Deep.

How a T.J. celebrates Christmas!

2009-12-24T07:48:00.007-04:00

I hope everybody has a wonderful Christmas, or whatever related holiday you celebrate. Just have a damn good weekend folks!

And if you are stuck away from family and friends, just pick up a bottle of booze and rent a couple movies and have a blast all by yourself!

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Kingdom of Gnester Trailer

2009-12-08T10:38:00.002-04:00

Now, I didn't work on this game, but a lot of friends did, at Another Castle studios.

KINGDOM OF GNESTER

Fun, addictive game for the Iphone and Ipod touch. It's a challenging, original mixup of the sidescroller we all know and love, with a puzzle game.

You have to play both at the same time, and it makes for some interesting moments.

You build up you're powers by playing the puzzle, and these powers are necessary to complete the challenges of the levels.

If you have either platform, I highly recommend picking this game up when it drops this season!

New Portfolio and Blog Theme

2009-12-02T13:59:00.001-04:00

What do you guys think of the new portfolio title page and blog header? All comments and criticism welcomed.

3DS Max

2009-12-01T21:08:00.003-04:00

So I'm teaching myself how to use 3DSmax, and today I modeled the Chest of Orion from Hammers of Tai. Tomorrow comes the unwrapping and texturing, if I get that far!

update: Today I started modeling a character. He's a knight, so he'll have a helmet and such. The base model itself is 496 polys.

More Hammers of Tai

2009-11-30T11:17:00.008-04:00

Title Splash Screen for Hammers of Tai.

The Player navigates the options presented to them out of the magical Chest of Orion.

The image itself was created during the second week of development, so by this point there is quite a bit I'd like to redo, but in the end I'm happy enough with the image, since it serves the purpose it was meant to.

Also, An example of how an image goes from original thumbnail to first draft to final finished piece.

For the final image, although I had done all the work up till that point including design and pencils, Laura Blackbeard did the inking and gray toning for it. This was done to speed up the process as she had already done a few other of these panels detailing the introductory story for the game, so no extra effort had to be spent learning to ink and color in the same style, as we were approaching deadline. Hopefully she will post some more of the work on her blog.

Concerning Game Garage

2009-11-26T11:13:00.004-04:00

Well, my Game Garage contract has ended and I want to jump right back into things. I'll be posting more work from the recent week as soon as I have access to the files again, hopefully by tomorrow. I don't want to put it off any longer than possible.

But first I would like to thank Telefilm and The Interactive Media Alliance for their support, as well as the team at Another Castle Studios for housing us and offering as much help as they could with their busy schedule. Everyone should check out their debut project, Kingdom of Gnester.

-------- In other news -----------

I'm looking for work, freelance or contract, instudio or from home.

I specialize in conceptual work, but am also a competent animator and designer.

I'm an advanced user of Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Flash, but can also work my way around most, if not all standard programs.

For game garage I was using Google Sketchup, Adobe Audition for sound editing, and Gimp to find coordinates for spritesheets to ease up the work load. (Such as the X, Y, W, and H values on a spritesheet because Gimp just makes it easier...hint hint Adobe)

I'm relearning 3DSmax all by my lonesome, so hopefully I'll have something to show soon if things don't pick up too quickly and I get some free time.

my current contact information:

primeyoucantdie@hotmail.com

902-314-5254

That is my PEI number, I'll be moving back to New Brunswick in the mean time so when the number changes, I'll put it up.

Please contact me by e-mail though.

Everybody have a good day!

-T.J.

Hammers of Tai Portfolio Pages

2009-11-26T11:04:00.004-04:00

Oh, these old thangs?

2009-11-08T23:47:00.003-04:00

Just some older work I had done for some enemy concepts for a game. None of these were used ingame so I decided I may as well put them up, even though they are old by now. But still fun, right?

2009-11-04T10:47:00.001-04:00

another new character

2009-10-30T21:30:00.004-03:00

The Savage Thloth's of the Dense Jungles of the Northern Wreckage are solitary, territorial, and ravenously carnivorous. They have been seen feasting on their catch often before it has even passed on, and are said to enjoy gulping the fluid of eyes that can still stare at them.

This was a quick study, and a lesson in capturing form without heavily relying on line, something that was very prevalent in the last character design I did (see the shark-man 2 posts down).

After I started working on the character, I realized it reminded me very much of the Ralph McQuarrie Star Wars concepts from the original trilogy way back in the 1520's. I havn't actually looked at his art in many moons, though I do recall trying to copy a lot of his drawings with a standard HB pencil and looseleaf back in middle school. I think one of the original concepts for Chewbacca might have been sloth like, though any similarities are coincidental.

I hope you guys like it, and I'd love to hear any critiques you guys have on how I can continue to improve my self to (at least) an entry level position in the industry!

Oh and I included a smaller version of the line art because I know I always like seeing other artists framework, and not to toot my own horn but I do like the way the lines themselves turned out for such a quick sketch.

-T.J.

happy halloween!

2009-10-29T21:37:00.002-03:00

It's a self portrait of me as the Heaaaddlessss Hoooorsemaaann! OOOH BOOGIDY BOOGIDY BOO

new character

2009-10-29T17:01:00.004-03:00

Well, I've been overwhelmingly inspired by the works of Doug Wildey and Alex Toth recently, masters that they were. This started with the intention to do something in the style of Marc Bagley originally, but I guess my subconcious decided to take it old school.

The shark man is a lean, deep swamp dweller, who hunts with a pack and is incredibly territorial.

Today, my goal was to create something with deep crisp lines that showcase form more than style, which was an old, bad habit of mine. I also wanted to demonstrate my ability to capture various styles of art with these last few posts of mine, and my willingness to learn and grow as a conceptual artist.

The sea theme to the weapons and armour, while light, was still a challenge to express as cleanly as possible. I had to google image a few images of sea shells to make sure I was getting them close to reality.

I have the full intention of finishing the final renderings of his gear.

What do you guys think?

edit - posted the finished character, as well as a quick color swap line up

some more fun

2009-10-28T14:43:00.002-03:00

Because Gaudiness is next to Godliness

more color studies

2009-10-28T10:35:00.006-03:00

Just a quick 1 hour sketch...I'm hoping to pick up the pace on these, because I need to strengthen my inner color theory and my internal conceptualizing demons.

Passion Fruit

2009-10-27T10:51:00.004-03:00

So a few quick paintings..not something I do, work quick with color and multiple layers, greyscaling, highlighting, recoloring. Just playing around and seeing where it takes me I sappose.
Now this is something I'd love to have some hands on mentoring with, the whole digital quick concept painting world..

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

Hahaha, take that obnoxious titles.

I decided to have a bit of fun on this little detour from pressing duties.
Trying to capture a manga feel for the femme was a little tricky but I think it's all good.

For the colors, I used a fun, complementary scheme that seemed to jump out at me, and threw the colors together and used the Healing Brush(J) in photoshop to give them a sloppy but purposeful water color feel. After that, I simply applied a texture set to overlay of some rust, then slightly oversaturated the entire image.

Fun Fun :D

unused concepts

2009-10-21T17:29:00.009-03:00

These are unused concepts from the Telefilm/IMA project I am working on. I'm only allowed to show concepts and unused material.

The Skeletortoise lost some color when being exported as a gif unfortunately. Also, some clipping occured, but again, this issues weren't a problem in game. The character would have been very tiny when viewed on screen, though bigger then the rest as he was going to be a boss.

All work is copywritten and trademarked 2009.

warmup sketches

2009-10-18T14:54:00.002-03:00

Hey viewers! Been busy lately, but these are a just warm up sketches. I get started on these before focusing on the work I'm getting paid for, which unfortunately I'm not allowed to post yet, but you'll be seeing it when I can.

But where as these arn't focused or driven sketches, very few get pushed passed this level of completion.

bg rough

2009-08-17T09:42:00.001-03:00

Just playing around with my favorite monochromatic color scheme.

more orc WIP

2009-08-12T08:35:00.004-03:00

Little more progress, slow goin today as the kids are nearing the filming or editing stage of their animations so I, being the instructor, had a responsibility!

orc

2009-08-10T20:53:00.002-03:00

WIP from today

MEGAMANG!!!

2009-08-07T16:32:00.000-03:00

almost forgot about this oldie/goodie

2009-08-07T15:41:00.000-03:00

Little WIP, Just havin some fun with the burn and dodge and making creepy monster dudes.

randomsies

2009-08-07T15:33:00.005-03:00

Just some random stuff from my call center days. As opposed to putting a bunch of individual jpegs up, I figured I could just do this.

This were all done while serving a-holes.

surprise!!

2009-07-31T15:43:00.003-03:00

Dylan...you gotta stop shouting surprise randomly!

demon maquette

2009-07-31T08:46:00.002-03:00

Did this as a sort of show and tell for the Animation Camp I teach.

Oh, did I mention this to you guys? It's a one week course, but the program runs for 7 weeks so thats 7 individual groups. It's been my first chance to teach or interact with tweens and man is that age group hyper.

It's all the red bull I think.

But its been a blast. Still a few more weeks to go, and I've been refining my methods as we go. There was no set cirriculum. This was a maquette I built out of clay for them, with a wire frame skeleton. I baked it and painted it for fun.

Basically I was trying to bring the level of clay animation done up a notch. These kids love clay, love to mold it and make monsters and the like, but I thought "Hey, we can spice this up."

Anyway, It's left this way because I want them to be able to see the underlying skeleton of the creature.

self portrait

2009-07-30T16:14:00.005-03:00

Self portrait, done by looking into a mirror, not from a photograph. Also some quick studies from life of Jade. The studies of the plains of her face was very poor, and I've decided to focus on portraiture a bit more now.

2009-07-30T11:59:00.000-03:00

other stuff

2009-07-28T18:36:00.001-03:00