Alex Pelayre's Sketches and More!

Harry Potter: Hogwarts Adventures demo videos!

2011-12-27T10:29:00.000-08:00

Here's the first version we sent to WB with the 2D design:

Harry Potter: Hogwarts Adventures for Facebook v.1 from Alex Pelayre on Vimeo.

And here's the second version with the 3D rendered characters/environments:

Harry Potter: Hogwarts Adventures for Facebook v.2 from Alex Pelayre on Vimeo.

Enjoy!

© Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc., Flying Lab Software

Amazing Tales (Project Caspian)

2011-12-19T23:43:00.000-08:00

Amazing Tales.. Project Caspian.. we had no official title for this game, but we knew it was going to be awesome. Running on the Cryptic Engine, the premise of Amazing Tales was based on a variety of genres ranging from pulp, to sci-fi, to adventure. Amazing Tales brought together great themes seen in movies such as Indiana Jones, Sky Captain, or The Mummy. What made this project so fun was the freedom we had with throwing in ideas. We had big plans for this game... and we couldn't wait to see it all unfold.

We weren't sure exactly if we were going to sell this game as an MMO, but we knew it was going to be multiplayer. We'd start out with the player choosing which class they'd like to be. The classes ranged from Adventurer, Vigilante, Scientist, Occultist, or Monk. Then we'd throw them in the middle of Egypt, where they had to band together with other players to take down the threats of the planet. What were the threats, you might ask? Our enemies ranged from Atlanteans, martians, Nazis, occultists, the undead, dinosaurs, and various other creatures, hellbent on wreaking havock on civilization!

Further progress in the game would lead the player to other locations, such as New York, Shanghai, or London. Missions would consist of team work and strategy of playing off yourself and your teammates' abilities. The end result of missions would lead the players into an ultimate boss fight. A major selling point we wanted to have in Amazing Tales were the boss battles. We wanted them to be memorable, so we wanted them to be huge. The fights themselves, AND the actual boss. Players would be up against giant alien robots, Tyrannosaurus Rex's, or battles aboard huge war zepplins.

We had high hopes for Amazing Tales, and with such a small team working hard at it, we felt we had accomplished a lot in the time we had. Unfortunately the game was never picked up by a publisher, and was again, another shelved title. Still, there was plenty of work and dedication put into that project that I'm sure everyone who worked on it can be proud of.

Soon to come:
Gameplay from Amazing Tales, and our pitch videos for Harry Potter: Hogwarts Adventures!

You're a wizard, Harry

2011-12-04T20:42:00.000-08:00

So I've gotten the OK to share these online. These were for a Harry Potter Facebook game proposal that Flying Lab Software was doing for Warner Bros. They had requested we design the game kid-friendly, with some cartoony and anime-like aspects to it. I did a majority of the character designs for the first pass on our demo video. After working with WB for a few more weeks, they decided to go a different direction and make the character look a bit more mature, to sort of emulate the current emotional state the movies were in. So I began designing in that direction.. and then once again, a huge shift in direction, and we ended up redoing everything 3D rendered.

I admit, it was kind of heartbreaking to see my characters thrown out, but you can't always expect everything you create to make it in game, as I learned. Overall, it was a fun experience and I enjoyed working on this project.

Despite all the work and hours we put into making a great proposal, we were shot down right at the finish line, and Harry Potter: Hogwarts Adventures was no more. The game industry is a hell of a place.

2 Model figure drawing

2011-11-29T00:01:00.000-08:00

I went to a 2 model figure drawing session tonight. First time doing one of these.. It was very exciting and fun. It's literally been YEARS since I've done figure drawing... so I was and still am very rusty. The two models worked well with each other and had some fantastic poses. Here's a few of the 12-15 minute poses.

Some sketches

2011-10-03T21:03:00.001-07:00

A couple sketches I did a couple months ago.. new stuff soon, I hope.

Taking a Breather

2011-09-15T11:33:00.001-07:00

So I haven’t updated in a couple days.. This is mainly due to exhaustion. My last 2 daily sketches (which I did not post here) were not up to par with the quality I’d like to display, and my attention to detail was steadily dropping. I’ve found that it’s more challenging than it seems to work a digital painting job for 8 hours a day, and then come home to spend a few more hours doing these challenges. I can’t whip up something quick and be proud of the result- not yet anyway. All my challenges I have done have probably taken no less than 2 hours each. I want to be able to build up my speed and eventually have no problem doing a drawing a day on my free time. But it can’t be done right away. I need to learn to pace myself, can’t just run at it full speed.

SO, I will be taking a break over the weekend. Actually, kinda forcefully since I won’t be anywhere near a computer. I’ll be off camping and hopefully clearing my mind and refreshing my senses. Perhaps even a few pencil sketches will come of it. Anyway, just wanted to let my few followers what’s up, and you can expect more updates this coming Monday.

Thanks everyone!

-Alex

Day 11: Turning Point in Your Life

2011-09-12T00:07:00.000-07:00

My transition in which I "changed sides". Evolving your art style isn't always an easy thing to do, but like a lot of artists say, it is most beneficial to you in the end. This transition didn't happen overnight. It took years of practice- breaking free from the norm, and studying new art techniques I let myself discover in the process. While it seemed everyone around me tried so hard to copy the works of anime, I looked in a direction I had not glanced over since I was maybe 10 years old: Western comic art. I still don't feel I've reached my comfort zone in sense of style, but I do know that I feel more confident and happy about my work than I did when I was drawing anime.

Day 10: Favorite Candy

2011-09-10T22:56:00.000-07:00

Reese's Peanut Butter Cups

Been doing a lot of simple drawings the past few days. This is due to a mix of being really busy and burning myself out. I'm not used to drawing every single day. I love it, but getting into the habit is difficult. Guess that's the point of the challenge, right? Let's keep on going!

Day 9: Favorite TV show

2011-09-09T23:48:00.000-07:00

Community!

Day 8

2011-09-09T00:00:00.000-07:00

Favorite animated character:

Toph from "Avatar: The Last Airbender"

Not happy with the background, but I rushed to finish before midnight..

Day 7: Favorite Word

2011-09-07T21:49:00.000-07:00

Nostalgia~

Day 6

2011-09-07T00:20:00.000-07:00

Day 6: Favorite book character (can't be a movie)

Briar Wilkes from "Boneshaker" by Cherie Priest

Day 4 failed, but Day 5 makes up for it

2011-09-06T00:07:00.000-07:00

Not even gonna bother posting the horror that was Day 04 (Your favorite place)
But instead I will post Day 5, which I am damn proud of. I don't think I've ever drawn something as amazing as this. Today is not a day of modesty for me.. I feel I have reached a new milestone in my art skill.

Day 05: Your best friend

(Urdnot Wrex from Mass Effect)

2011-09-03T22:08:00.000-07:00

Despite all I've done these past few months, I always forget to upload anything here. This might help actually:
http://blog.allisonlehman.com/2011/04/30-day-drawing-challenge/

I started on the 1st of this month.

Day 01: Yourself

Day 02: Favorite Animal

Day 03: Favorite Food

I'll *TRY* to update this daily with my submissions. If not, they will get here eventually.

Late to the show...

2011-05-07T21:43:00.000-07:00

Most likely anyone following me already saw these on my tumblr. But here they are! Besides, they're in better quality here than on tumblr ;)

Emma Watson (from photo)

Original

Model (from photo)

Original

Kate Beckinsale (from photo)

Original

Jenny Lewis (from photo)

Original

Ellen Page (from photo)

For the past few months, I had felt very down about everything. Very tired or unmotivated... if you follow me on facebook, you may recall me talking about such things and how I struggled to better myself because I was feeling unmotivated and felt I had lost my inner voice. It became a challenge for me to sit down and draw when I felt I didn't have a voice to lay on paper. But through perseverance and many "wasted" pages of scribbles, I managed to break through my barrier, and now I find myself drawing a lot more than anytime I can recall! Since then, I've felt a lot better about myself. I realized those "wasted" pages were essential. As an artist it may be easy to forget, but you don't become the artist you want to be overnight nor without mistakes and bad drawings. As an old instructor once told me, "There are thousands upon thousands of bad drawings inside of you.. Better to get them out now." With perfection and satisfaction, you need to let out a lot of shit that gets bottled up inside of yourself. Just scribbling on paper will help loosen up your arm and better prepare it for drawing. These are all things you learn in the basics of art, yet sometimes we becomes such perfectionists we tend to forget the foundations. But, as I said, I seem to have gotten past that since I've been able to at least draw a page nearly every night. I know a lot of friends and artists are in the same boat or have experienced these things frequently. It really takes a lot of perseverance and concentration to break out of the slump, but it can be done, you just have to WANT it bad enough! Be patient with yourself and push yourself where you think you're struggling. Remember the basics and most important, have fun! I know a lot of us are doing this art thing in hopes of getting jobs and making money, but before all that we did it to have fun! We shouldn't have to sacrifice that by turning art into a "job" we don't want. If anyone would like to talk more on the subject, or want to get together and draw, please talk to me. Because I believe everyone is talented in their own ways and I want everyone to succeed in their goals.

Also, you may have noticed that I've changed the way I sign my drawings now. In a lot of art communities I go by the name ARPelayre. Might as well be recognized that way :)

Oh! and I want to help advertise a local artist I met today at the comic shop. His name is Nate Simpson and he's recently released the first issue of his comic "Nonplayer" (You can preview it here!) through Image comics. I was blown away by the art in "Nonplayer" and was excited to meet the man behind it. The meeting went very well, as Nate is a very kind and laid-back person. I enjoyed talking art with him and discussing the comic industry a bit, like how to prepare for it and such. I've often wondered if doing comics was ever a possibility in my future, but after talking with Nate, I'd say it's definitely a possibility if I work hard enough towards it. There are many important steps to prepare to go in that direction, and talking with Nate helped give insight on how to achieve that. So yeah, very awesome guy. Go pick up "Nonplayer" if you haven't already. The art is jaw-dropping-unbelievable!

Learnin' Inks!

2011-03-10T00:01:00.000-08:00

First, I’ve got a sketch of Patrick Rothfuss, author of the recently released “The Wise Man’s Fear.” I haven’t read any of his books, but my girlfriend is a huge fan, so we went to one of his book signings, which was when I sketched this. We were across the room at the time, and I kept telling myself, “damn, I bet he’s gonna look so different from my drawing once we get closer..” Turns out, he did. He looked a lot more friendly, and a lot less menacing as I had depicted him. Though I did show him the sketch and he did enjoy it, stating that I made him look awesome!

So, I went to Emerald City Comicon over the weekend and became super inspired to learn traditional pens and markers. Here’s the first two pieces of my new learning path! Really trying to pay attention to line weights and confident line strokes. Also, I’m not using a whole lot of markers.. I thought I should start out small and get to know a few select number of colors before going all out.

And to credit my references.. well, I can’t credit the girl with the fuzzy coat.. I’m not sure who she is or what the photo I referenced is from. It’s just something I found online :\ As for the Super Girl, I referenced a photo of a cosplayer.. I think she goes by the name Jenn?

Recent sketches

2011-03-04T20:04:00.001-08:00

Here's a few character sketches I did recently.

If you follow me on tumblr, you'll most likely see new art sooner :P

http://arpelayre.tumblr.com/

Feb 19th 2011 Sketches

2011-02-20T13:11:00.001-08:00

Here's a few sketches I did yesterday. More to come~

Sketch for Jan 2nd 2011

2011-01-02T22:11:00.000-08:00

Another character sketch I started last night but didn't finish until today. Booo. Team Fortress 2 is a distraction lol.

Hiker Girl

2011-01-01T11:58:00.000-08:00

Something I started yesterday but got too distracted by things to finish it, so I finished it this morning. I plan on adding a background and coloring it.

Also, Happy New Year!

Total time: Too long.

Mind Heist

2010-12-31T00:43:00.000-08:00

So I listened to Zack Hemsey's "Mind Heist" the entire time drawing this. That song makes everything epic, and make's drawing extra fun! I also didn't save the file until I was done. /fail. Still not completely satisfied with the hands, I try to make them look natural, they come out mangled, blah dee blah dee blah~

...

Sorry, I'm just typing the same thing over again because being the smart person I am, I accidentally posted this to Willie's "Weekly Scribblets", and then deleted the post before thinking of copy and pasting my post to my personal blog. /doublefail. So I can't remember everything I said... Oh well.

Anyway, here's what I worked on:

Total time: 1 hour 30 minutes.

Oh, I also said something about how I've got the day off tomorrow, so drawing the night before is stress free, or something. Well, I suppose it was :D

Work Station pix

2010-12-26T23:29:00.000-08:00

Cleaned the computer room today and did a little rearranging. I'm enjoying my current workspace:

"Quit procrastinating. Work on your art."
-The Goddamn Batman

He's a good motivational tool :D

Happy Holidays Artco!

2010-12-23T21:37:00.000-08:00

These are caricatures of my co-workers that I did as a holiday gift. I started working on them around the start of the month and finished them up last night, just in time to show my co-workers on our last day before Christmas break (lol "break"). I was really shooting for having them finished in color, but I only had 4 colored by 3 a.m. last night and I wasn't gonna stay up all night.. so I'll have to finish coloring them later. Despite that, my co-workers loved their drawings, so I'm glad to have made their day a little brighter :D

WIP painting

2010-11-21T20:02:00.000-08:00

Something I've been working on for a couple hours for the past few nights. I'm not too great with hands, so throw painting into the mix, and it's a mighty challenge. Anyway, I wasn't gonna show this until it was done, but Jordan wanted to see my progress haha. Probably good to show it so I can get critique anyway.

Digital sketches

2010-11-09T23:54:00.000-08:00

I recently bought a new monitor, way larger than the previous, and let me tell you.. it makes drawing digitally SO much easier! Here's some sketches I've done in the past few days:

Did this a couple nights ago. Anatomy isn't so good

Just did this tonight, anatomy is better...

Here's a work in progress. It's gonna be a comic book cover-esque illustration. All characters are from a story I've had in my head for awhile, which I would like to somehow make into a comic someday. Heh, a comic. That's a long lasting dedication project right there. But you never know, I'm in no rush right now. Besides, I've yet to really write any of the story down... Should probably get on that.
Anyway, I'm currently doing the clean pass on this piece. It's taking awhile, but it'll get there.. Then onto coloring!

10/4/2010

2010-10-05T00:07:00.000-07:00

Something similar to yesterday's sketch.. Guess I've got punk chicks on my mind, or something. Okay, time for bed...

Changes are to be made!

2010-10-03T22:07:00.000-07:00

Alright, so I'm gonna have to set up a schedule for myself to make sure I get more drawing in. It's been exhausting at work lately, and when I get home I don't even wanna think about doing art.. But if I love it so much, shouldn't I try to put more effort into working more for myself? Besides, I need to try more experimenting and such to really find my voice. So, I'll try to do a daily sketch and spend around an hour on it every/every-other night.

There's a lot of things I wanna change in my life to make myself a better person and be more happy with who I am. Setting up a schedule for myself to make sure I get more art in my life is just one among other things. I hope to see changes for the better these coming months.

Anyway, to start out my new path, here's a sketch I did tonight.

1 hr 10 min.

I got lazy around some areas and even got stuck at a few points. It becomes difficult to decide which direction you want your lines to go.. especially when it comes to folds in clothing.. I didn't wanna spend too much time guessing and erasing, so I went with my gut. Not satisfied at all how that turned out, but it shows how much practice I need with that subject. and hands.. ugh.. HANDS... they're all floaty in this sketch.. lol

Comicon Challenge 2010

2010-09-08T23:54:00.000-07:00

I entered a competition over at www.gameartisans.org

We're to choose a super hero and redesign them either older or younger. I chose to young-ify Power Girl to teen years. Check out my progress here!:

http://www.gameartisans.org/forums/showthread.php?t=16605

(Above: Power Girl by Artgerm)

Bakugan Ability Cards

2010-08-16T20:48:00.000-07:00

After my work on the environment concepts, they had me help out my buddy Kyle Steed with Ability Card art. Kyle had painted the cards with a wicked cool style that Spin Master loved so much, they wanted all the cards to look like his! Problem is, Kyle's only one man, and he had what seemed like hundreds more Ability Cards to go. So they had a few more of us help him out and try to emulate his style. It wasn't an easy task, but we managed to pump them all out. Kyle's Ability Card art had really pushed the enthusiasm for both Spin Master and FLS, as they are some of the most impressive pieces of art in the game.

There are many many more of these, and maybe I can get Kyle to share some, as his quality and skill on these cards greatly exceed mine! Even now he's still working on more Ability Cards and each new piece looks better every time! The guy's super talented. I'm very glad to be be able to work with such a talented team :)

(Let me add that some of these are NOT the final versions used in the game, as not all of them were to Spin Master's liking on the first try. So other artists may have adjusted certain things on them, or they didn't get used at all. These are all pieces I either did all myself or worked upon from a rougher stage that Kyle passed to me.)

Get your Baku-on with some Bakugan

2010-08-15T19:02:00.001-07:00

I did environment concepts for the game Bakugan Dimensions last year. I found them today and thought I'd post them since the game's been released and I don't have anything else to share currently. These were put together with photoshop, with a few of the props having been rendered in 3D and turned into clip art which could be placed anywhere. So yeah, a lot of this was a design process where I reused a lot of bits and pieces from already finished art. Oh, and any of the foliage / most of the ground (grass, concrete, etc) was done by my co-worker, Jonathan Stroh who is a freakin' AMAZING artist! He and I both worked on the environment concepts, but his are way better.. haha

Forgotten page

2010-08-09T22:39:00.000-07:00

I thought I was missing a page yesterday.. here it is.

Not that spectacular. Some Bale Rage and UGUUUUUUU~

OH! I ordered some artbooks from Brand Studio Press and they came in the mail today!

I got Francisco Herrera's Sketchbox #4
The only one missing now from my collection is #1... Really should have bought it while I had the chance during it's second printing :( I can only hope there will be a third. Anyway, Sketchbox #4 was a highly anticipated book for me, as I'm a big fan of Herrera's work. If you haven't seen any of his art, I highly recommend doing so. He has such a unique style and attention to facial expressions that his characters easily come to life right before your eyes. I also enjoy his use of line weights, as it helps the characters jump off the page. If you're a fan of exaggerated cartoony characters and comic books, Francisco Herrera is not one to look past.

The second book I got was J. Scott Campbell's Blue Beauties. Many may be familiar with Campbell's art through comic books. To be honest, I haven't run into a lot of comics he's worked on, but I've seen a lot of his work, and I must say they've helped me in finding my own voice in art. This book is made up of a lot of his Comic book covers, so again, if you're a fan of comic books, and you're new to the name, be sure to check out J. Scott Cambell.

Lastly, the third book I received was Terry Dodson's Bomb Shells. Terry Dodson is an artist I wasn't familiar with, but upon looking at the samples of his book, decided it was in my best interest to buy it, and it does not disappoint. Dodson's book is compiled of a variety of pin-up girls, and wacky cartoon characters. It actually upsets me that I hadn't heard of him sooner, but I'm glad to have acknowledged another fine artist. Dodson's work is definitely on my list of inspirations. Again, highly recommended you check out his art!

So yeah! not much art to show from me, but hopefully you'll check out and become fans of the artists I've mentioned above. If you like their art, support them by buying their books!

And in non-art news, I got my haircut today. It's pretty short, so I'm hoping it won't be as uncomfortable when my head gets sweaty, as it was with my bushy pile of almost-fro. Then again, Seattle has decided it's done with it's 2 weeks of summer and is now giving us fall. Seriously, I should not be wearing a sweater in August!

Anyway, that's all I have to say for today. Until next time! Thanks for reading!

Sketchbook stuff

2010-08-08T21:32:00.000-07:00

I just started a new sketchbook. Here's some pages over the week.. Been trying to design a character and keep her appearance consistent.. too bad I'm still not settled on an appearance I wanna go with yet!

I've also been busy with a lot of great stuff at work that I REALLY wanna show.. but there's something somewhere in the contract about me not giving away details to secret projects, etc.. SO YEAH. I HAVE been doing art, just not a lot I can post here.. So you'll have to settle for some meh sketchbook stuff.

Also, I feel really awkward about saying stuff in here.. which is funny, because I used to be a frequent Live Journal user, so I always had crap to say. Maybe if I post more, I'll get myself adjusted to this and things will stop being so awkward. Yeah.. Anyway, until next time. Possibly next week when I have more sketches, OR if I have something I feel I need to share.

January art update

2010-01-04T22:25:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year, everyone!

Photo reference sketches

2009-11-15T22:59:00.000-08:00

Some drawings I did tonight from photo. I feel I've gotten really slow... ugh.

A couple character sketches.

2009-11-15T00:13:00.000-08:00

I really wish I had more time to do some free drawing, but we're pretty busy at work, and I pretty much end up taking my work home from the office every night to work on it a bit more. It doesn't leave me with much free time, but I'm trying to put in what I can. Anyway, just a couple character sketches today and some Tekken fanart. Asuka's leg gear wasn't too fun to draw.. In fact, oddly enough I think the scan turned out looking better than the actual drawing. It's probably because the scanner didn't pick up so much of the blue pencil, and in the original drawing it kinda looks muddied up or messy because of the blue pencil. Oh well, hope to have more soon.

Sketches as promised..

2009-11-09T21:01:00.001-08:00

..only kind of late :P

More on the way soon.

Decided to update (Oh snaps!)

2009-11-07T21:16:00.001-08:00

These aren't too old, but not exactly new.

I painted these masks for a game I was doing at the Penny Arcade Expo. It was supposed to be a Team Fortress 2/Penny Arcade mash up game with my friends and I Spying it up as Penny Arcade characters. I kinda waited until the last minute to paint these, so the week before the expo was hell trying to get these done, but I think the work paid off, since so many people would comment on the masks asking if we got them somewhere, or if they were official swag. If you were a PAX goer this year and you saw people wearing these faces around the convention, that was my group! I was Tycho, btw if you all were wondering.

This was a commission piece requested by my mom as a gift for her boss (I think he was leaving the company). The drawing portrays my mother and her co-workers reciting common things they've said in the workplace. She wanted the style of the characters to be cartoony and sexy, kind of cherubic. This was a fun piece to work on, especially being able to try out a new style. I was mostly influenced by the work of Arthur De Pins (Warning, a lot of his art is not safe for work!).

That's all for now, I'll post some sketches tomorrow.

Late July sketches

2009-08-05T21:49:00.001-07:00

I hate my scanner. It's really slow and it's in an area that's uncomfortable to reach to. That's probably my big reason for not scanning much. Bad excuse, I know :\
Anyway, sketchessss.

Sketches April - June 2009

2009-06-17T11:15:00.000-07:00

Graduating Website

2009-06-06T15:10:00.000-07:00

It's been awhile since I've updated this, but I wanted to point out that my website has been updated.

www.alexpelayre.com

I'm graduating in 2 weeks! Very excited right now!

Pencil work

2008-12-25T00:39:00.001-08:00

Here's some fairly recent pencil work I've done:

First Post

2008-12-25T00:30:00.000-08:00

So I'm on my winter break right now, which gives me time to actually start posting on here now. I'll start off with some fairly recent digital work.