I was tasked to create a quick flyer for a Nonagon tour show in Louisville and here’s what I came up with. The night itself was a complete train wreck with bars kicking us out and then walls falling on John. The flyer was nice.

This is a relatively quick illustration I just did for document on design usability testing. I thought it turned out pretty well. I am probably breaking some sort of nondisclosure agreement by posting this, so don’t talk about Fight Club, okay?

This is an illustration that I created a while ago for a company that was developing medical technology. The illustration is one of a series of maybe 3 or 4 that I made as concepts for a possible trade show booth. This one was going to use a virtual reality “cave” to allow a user to view microbes in 3-D. In the process of creating this proposal we got to try out the VR Cave at the University of Illinois, Chicago. Unfortunately, the client never ended up using any of our concepts.

The original illustration actually featured two users:

This is an illustration that I created a while ago for a company that was developing medical technology. The illustration is one of a series of maybe 3 or 4 that I made as concepts for a possible trade show booth. This one was going to use a virtual reality “cave” to simulate battling microbes. In the process of creating this proposal we got to try out the VR Cave at the University of Illinois, Chicago. Unfortunately, the client never ended up using any of our concepts.

This was another contest entry like my Elevators Amiss Atari cartridge design. But, in this case, I actually won! This was for a contest sponsored by GBAtemp.net, a Nintendo hacking oriented site. They were awarding 50 some odd prizes for users who designed a skin for an Edge brand flash cart. I figured my odds would be pretty good since the majority of the interface designs would be copies of idiotic anime characters. My idea was to create a little Italian ristorante which users could navigate to get to their programs. I especially like the little icon sized drawings of food I made on the chalkboard section. In any event, I won one of the prizes which was a limited edition gold colored Edge cart. Here’s my skin in action on my DS:

The Edge cart is actually quite nice too. The media integration is very good on Edge. Pretty sturdy hardware and easy to use but not quite as robust as my M3 Real.

A series of illustrations I did for a Web site promoting Ajenda Interative Media.

A series of illustrations I did for a Web site promoting Ajenda Interative Media.

A series of illustrations I did for a Web site promoting Ajenda Interative Media.

Recently, I took the time to enter an art contest. It was sponsored by AtariAge.com—a Web site devoted to the the preservation of the Atari 2600 and other ancient Atari computers and consoles. They also are one of the few places that sell new(!) games for the Atari 2600.

It was one of these new, so-called homebrew games that was the object of the contest. The game is called Elevators Amiss and it involves running a tiny pixelized chambermaid up the floors of a hotel, trying to avoid the elevators that move up and down across your path. Think of it as a less complicated version of Frogger. The winner of the contest was to receive a copy of the game and a credit from the AtariAge store. That was enough to get me to give it a go (I’ve been eying the Joystick to USB converter for awhile now).

My approach to the design was to create an image that was dynamic and made you think you were buying a 3-D video action extravaganza… pretty much like every Atari game box tricked me into thinking when I was a kid. Looking back on past winners, I noticed that there were many entries that used some of the same design and layout of the classic games that Atari put out in the early eighties. In my opinion, such designs go against the spirit of homebrew Atari games. These games are not really about nostalgia, they more are about taking a near-dead platform and breathing new life into the system.

The hardest part about illustrating this game it that the theme of killer elevators doesn’t work well outside of the constraints of the 2-D pixelated screen. My idea was to have the elevators flying through the walls and ceilings, completely dislodged from their elevator shafts smashing everything in their paths. In the image, the chambermaid is sprinting down the hall, just avoiding a crashing elevator car. Originally, I was going to give her a rainbow colored tracing of her movements trailing behind her (ala the Keystone Kapers box) but I liked my elevator painting too much to cover it up with action lines.

Unfortunately, I did not win the contest. The winner was Nathan Strumm #1. It was one of the better ideas, but to me it doesn’t capture the essence of the actual game play. My personal favorite was Patricio Cuello #1—simple idea, well executed with lots of colors. It seemed very appropriate to me. Check out the contest page to see all the entries.

A series of illustrations I did for a Web site promoting Ajenda Interative Media.

A series of illustrations I did for a Web site promoting Ajenda Interative Media.