Hitting the Refresh Button on Life

Oh, my dears. I apologize for the absence.

So much has changed for me in the past four months. In fact, in many ways, I’m kindof starting life over.

Essentially I broke up with my boyfriend of nearly four years, moved out, and began a new relationship with another man, a good friend whom I met at my last game studio job. It’s been a huge shift, in every possible arena.
Emotionally, I’ve been all over the place during this period, and I still have a lot of heart mending to do – so being a functional creative has been very challenging. I’m poring over treatises and techniques on how to stay creative, how to live. The Artist’s Way, The Perfect Bait, How to be an Illustrator, and many more, are fueling me.
Bear with me, as I bear with myself.

Things are better, I think, though. Already since the change, I feel more awake and in charge of myself, and it seems the universe is responding.

Good things:
I’m starting work with Playdom Interactive next week as a full-time game artist, thank the lawdy for health insurance.
I have some exciting new projects lined up – some are secret at the moment – but they include further work with the author of the Journey of the Noble Gnarble, Daniel Errico.
I have outlined the new and improved Clevenger Kids book layout and am beginning to block in some of the standout pieces.
I’m remembering more of my dreams, and drawing them.
Some of my friends still want to be my friend.

In any case, stay tuned for more – I’m going to be a locomotive in the next few months, and hopefully I’ll have time between drawing to post them all!
And as always, I invite you to check in on my nonsense on Facebook and Twitter because I’m a gushing stream of internet there.

Stay well, my lovelies.

~Tiff

A Rest With Dimetrodon

Eryops Surprise!

Achievement Unlocked

Soooooooooo hey I’m a published illustrator!

The Gnarble project took a long time, and overall the project was outside of my realm of mostly gamey experience, so it took me a while to ramp up – but Daniel (and everyone else!) never stopped supporting me. It’s so wonderful to see how the final product turned out! Here she is in all her glory – well, kinda.

The videogame I worked on with Backbone Entertainment last year is also soon to be released! After 6 years working in games, I’ll finally have a shipped title: Zombie Apocalypse 2: Never Die Alone! The bad news – NONE of my concepts made it into the game! Well, none except for a stupid auto-turret. BUT I’LL BE DAMNED IF IT WASN’T THE BEST AUTO-TURRET. T_T
Oh well – that’s how it goes in the wicky wicky wild wild west.

The publisher is currently working on a fancy theatrical-ish trailer, but in lieu of that, I can show you the gameplay preview from this year’s E3. (Fun fact: That’s my boyfriend Mike doing the playing and narration, he’s the producer on the project, and basically saved it from utter obliteration, lol)

Another project I helped with has also wrapped up. I spent four months working with Other Ocean Interactive’s latest, War of the Worlds! The team was fantastic, and we got a LOT done in an amazingly short amount of time. I might do more work with them in the near future!

I’ll be putting a lot of stuff together soon, including returning to Dinosaurs Before Bedtime, putting together a portfolio for Pixar (because they’re right here and it’s HIGH TIME, I SAY!), and several collaborations with fellow Other Oceanite, game designer, and good fwend, Paul. :3

Work-in-progress of Polycotylus, a late Cretaceous plesiosaur. This year a specimen was described with viviparous fetae inside her – which could be potential evidence of mothering!
…So here she is with her beebees. :3

Oh, I used a variation on Wilhelm’s fluke reconstruction, too – just for lulz. Not horribly accurate, I just wanted to draw some baby plesiosaurs.

I’ve been wanting to do a rendition of Livyatan melvillei ever since I saw the sad reconstruction painting that was stuck to every article about her. I used Nemo-Ramjet’s rendition as reference, and gave her a Cetotherium to eat!

Here, a Livyatan female has just pulverized a straggler with her initial bone-breaking ambush from below, and is moving in to finish her meal off – while the rest of the Cetotherium pod gets the fuck out! >:]

Not too accurate, especially with the sizing, but eh.

Stay tuned, suckas.

~Tiff

Marceline the Vampire Queen

Why you so mean?!

It’s Marceline from Adventure Time! I’ve been wanting to do my own rendition of the characters from this series for a while now.

If you haven’t seen Adventure Time, you’re missing out. Easily one of the most inventive and best-looking animated shows since the heyday of animation in the 90s, imo.

~t

The Gnarble Report, and Other News

The children’s book I illustrated, The Journey of the Noble Gnarble by Daniel Errico, has a publication date – October 1st, 2011! It’ll be available from Barnes and Noble Booksellers, and on Amazon.com.

The big reveal!

The Corgi Gryphon is getting so much love, I’ve added a print for it on my Etsy shop! You can find it here.

I’ve also been getting crazy suggestions from friends on what other pairings of dog breeds + mythological creatures would be fun.

Beagle + chimaera?
Pug + chinese dragon?

What do you guys think?

Summary of my experience of returning to video game development

In other news, I got a day job working with a bunch of friends at Other Ocean Interactive, and we’re working on a game adaptation of War of the Worlds, with none other than Patrick Stewart’s dulcet tones to inspire us! I keep finding myself bellowing “THERE ARE FOUR LIGHTS” and “THE LINE MUST BE DRAWN HEEEEYA!”
The project has a hell of a schedule, but the cool thing is that it’s a 2d game, so I get to paint my stuff and then IMMEDIATELY plug ’em in to see how it looks in-game – a first for me!
And later, I get to design the aliens! :3

I’ve got some more Kylie Meadows work, and a little branding design underway as well. Blerg, so much to do!

Oh, and if you’re on Google+, I’m there too! It’s already turning out to be a wonderful sharing platform for art and connecting creatives.

Anyhow. You know where to leave them comments!
❤
~Tiff

Gryphons Abound

Another little commission, this time of a gryphon. It took a while to find a decent pose for him – I’ve never drawn a gryphon before so it’s always a challenge with a new bodytype – AND trying to keep the critter recognizeable.

He’s also a bit dark and extra digital-looking, what with the multiply and overlay layers, but eh. I don’t mind too much. :3

Orynx the Gryphon

And this piece came to me while sketching the serious gryphon. I had to finish it! Corgi gryphon!

Stumpy Legs!

Black Swan

I did this as a quick warmup sketch a while ago after seeing the movie (hurr), did a quick paintup and here ya go!

Don’t you like how I didn’t bother to reference either bird or human anatomy? But LOOK! NEKKIDS!

Robotic Commission

Another little commission, this time for the client’s robotic character! I’m not too handy with mechanical things, so this was a fun challenge.

Strange and Wonderful Sealife

In case you aren’t familiar with my work, I’m a huge nerd when it comes to sea life. If you get me in the right mood, I’ll rattle off about cetacean social structures, the invertebrates of the White Sea, or rare recently discovered sharks for much longer than most people can handle!
I thought for most of my young-person years that I had a future in marine biology, so I’d sit around drawing aquatic beasties, real and imagined, all day. Today this still manifests as a “watery” feeling in many of my pieces – plenty of art directors and peers have said as much.

So it’s always refreshing, creatively, to revisit my favorite subject – which is what my internet friend Jenshin prompted when she commissioned me for two little paintings!

A trio of chambered nautilus! They don’t school in real life, but don’t tell any scientists you know. Shhh.

A pair of coelacanths, the famous “living fossil” fish, hangin’ out in deep water off Madagascar!

Coelacanths (pronounce SEE-la-kanth) were one of my first marine bio loves: I just adore their surly so-ugly-they’re-cute faces, and the story of their rediscovery is one of the greats in the history of zoology.

At around 8 years old, I found an old tattered copy of a book on sea creatures hidden in a box of books under my mom’s bed. Afterwards, it was my mission to steal into the room early in the morning to copy all the information it had on them. My nerdery further revealed itself in multiple reports and coelacanth shoebox dioramas throughout grade school, several years in a row, while all the other girls were doing projects on horsies and kittens. Yeaaah. 🙂

A wonderful gift!

I’ve been working on several commissions lately, and one of the girls sent me an adorable little watercolor and malaria from Japan!

Ok, it’s just a postcard, but it’s the thought/hilarity that counts! So sweet! XD

When I’m Rollin’ Wit Mah Kitties

Did this as a warm-up for a day of painting! :3

It’s Bubbles from Trailer Park Boys, which I ADORED.
If you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend it – it’s crass and crude and ridiculous – just how I like ’em! XD

Oh! And the title comes from this scene: Click me!