Two Years of Soulful Savage!

Cover Illustration: The Dogtown Tourist Agency...

This month marks two years since the creation of Soulful Savage, and sees me undertaking some cover art for the works of Science Fiction Grandmaster Mr Jack Vance! It's been a welcome and very humbling hit out to produce cover illustrations for the esteemed Mr. Jack and his Miro Hetzel novels. Formerly packaged as the collection entitled 'Galactic Effectuator', the two books I've been lucky enough to illustrate for are 'The Dogtown Tourist Agency' and 'Freitzke's Turn', with a third cover on the way for the Omnibus title called 'The Miro Hetzel Omnibus', slated for release later in the year.

It's been a very busy time here as I juggle all sorts of things toiling from the Creature Grotto at home! From negotiating with the rampant and insidious dishes, to pacifying a detritus uprising on Ye-Olde wooden floors; I've been effectuating all manner of alien domestic duties as I also tackle freelance on various fronts :) Despite being here with chores to keep the home fires burning, I'm still making a good go of things with freelance. It's a starkly different beast to the Studio scene for sure, and it moves and breathes in an entirely alien way, with a rhythm all it's own. I am thankful for the opportunities. I am also very lucky...

Cover Illustration: Freitzke's Turn...

Truth to tell I'd never regarded myself as a particularly lucky person; quite the opposite rather, putting my stock in meritocracy and the whole 'you get out what you put in' edict. If there was a prize to win, I'd miss out. If I dropped my bread, it was always buttered side down. If there was dog poo on the sidewalk, my boot would find it. I didn't really believe in luck....but then there are people out there who continually defy logic, make every wrong turn imaginable and yet still inexplicably come out on top :)
Yes luck does exist... though I feel one has to sometimes engineer the conditions of it's making and try to create opportunities... Hmm, perhaps that's still just the whole 'hard work' ethos again? Hehehe... No, I'm talking about just 'taking a punt' and backing yourself... talking with good connections and friends and introducing yourself to new circumstances :) Showing initiative gets the dice rolling... but a good measure of what follows is wild and variable affected luck :)

It was after talking with David Russell, an industry professional in the field of storyboarding and illustration whom I regard as a friend, when I saw the opportunity to possibly paint some Jack Vance cover art. I got very excited as the works of Jack Vance are incredibly special. David is a dear friend of Mr Jack and was handling the covers for his Tschai, Demon Princes and Dying Earth titles. I checked out Mr Jack's website as David had sent me the link, and saw that they were advertising for cover artists. Weirdly enough my Mother phoned me that same day to let me know that on jackvance.com they were asking for artists... 

Providence? Luck? A cross-convergence of guiding consciousness? (lol) Whatever it's name, fates were in motion that were not entirely of my fashioning it seemed. I contacted the Vance Family through the website and took a punt, introducing myself. As luck would have it, the welcome was warm and I was asked to do the works you see here. It's been extremely humbling to produce art works for one of the most prestigious and brilliant science-fiction authors of all time; one whose works have shaped and governed the landscape of modern Sci-Fi writing the world over. I hope I've done his books some measure of justice... but as always you must decide! 

So home chores and duties aside, I'm a pretty lucky guy: Lucky being able to ride out the industry drought and work from home... luckier to have these rare and unique associations and opportunities cropping up out here in the Wild. Luckiest though to have a treasured, empowering Family that supports me at every turn; indulging my vocation and feeding  my Spirit to keep taking punts and back myself. Luck seems to be at my back... and besides: it's not every day you get to draw for Mr. Jack! 

I think 'luck' is out there for all of us, but we have to go looking and then see it for what it is; the fleeting shade of opportunity. When it speeds past, reach out and catch it, then hold on for all you're worth. You never can tell where that one thing will lead you :) So more coming from me in this vein very soon... I hope you all like this offering! Keep a keen, observant eye out for the works of Jack Vance coming soon in Ebook format online at: www.jackvance.com

You can also find me and my buddy Ron Marc, (who is an absolute fanatic disciple of the written word of Vance!) up there on the site under the 'Jack Vance' tab, then click 'Resources'. It was Ron who first exposed me to the works of Mr Jack some time ago, so very fitting that he also is handling cover illustrations for some memorable Vance titles! Be sure to check out his site soon for updates on his progress at: carefulconan.daportfolio.com
So happy, lucky 2nd Birthday to this soulful little savage and more from me later.... I'm off to clean my boots and hit it again!

Listen to the Soul: remember always what is most important, and never compromise on it. Defend that like a Savage.....

J S Pullen 

Head Study: Alien Huntress Facial Design...

Alien Huntress Facial Design...

This month truly is the month for Marching forward, and sees me firmly back in the saddle, riding the beast that is Freelance Concept Art. Two hands will be needed to control this wild thing I believe, for since February it has truly started to awaken. In response, this month has seen the launch of 'Soulful Savage Concept Art & Design' as an official freelance concept art business, with me as the sole artist. Currently it is a 'feast and famine' regime, and like many things early on in their infancy, there are many posibilities before it. So as I expand my skill set and do my absolute best to look after the Clients that I have, I'm looking forward to creating, trying new things and really pushing myself to honour the Craft... bringing in some fresh new works in 2012 that hopefully inspire. I'm excited, for there is nothing better than inspiring People to inspire... 

So I've been underground for a while, toiling away in the Grotto and giving my skills a Face-Lift; the results of which can be viewed here in this latest offering: The Alien Huntress. So much to do, so much to learn, so it is best to start at the beginning... I'll be revamping this blog with a more updated look; a sort of Face-lift if you will for 'Soulful Savage', with new art from the varied sub-sets of  Film and Games concept art. (For now I have chosen to begin with Character and Creature Design.) Along with the fresher look will be new regular features like 'The Savage Armoury' as well as a 'Feature Artist' segment on some of the finest concept artist's in the business... my Friends :) 

'The Dragon's Vault' will also return in full with more insight into the World of Spyro The Dragon, with new works also planned that expand on the vision and show the direction I would have taken had I still been involved. Old posts will also be edited, explaining this and that about how The Legend Of Spyro games were made and the inspiration behind the art... 'til then Peoples, keep creating! It's going to be a good year. Always looking Forward...

Alien Brute Facial Design...



  

Listen to the Soul: remember always what is most important, and never compromise on it. Defend that like a Savage.....
J S Pullen

Creature Character Head Studies: The Alien Condition...

Alien Bust Design 01

Alien Bust Design 02: (Aquatic Archipelago Yeti)

Alien Bust Design 03

Listen to the Soul: remember always what is most important, and never compromise on it. Defend that like a Savage.....

J S Pullen

Creature and Environment Illustration: Freed Souls WIP

"Freed Souls" WIP...

Hi Peoples, stay tuned for an update on my "Freed Souls" piece. Busy, busy, busy.. and getting busier! Will be posting this asap to give an update :)

Kindest regards... and GO THE ALL BLACKS in 2011 ;)

Soulful Savage.

Work in progress section 01...

Work in progress section 02...

Overall Illustration WIP...

Once More Inside The Dragon's Vault: Prop Concepts From The World of Spyro...

The Ancient Scrying Pool...

Stay tuned for more from the Dragon's Vault, in which we'll take a look at various prop concepts from the World Of Spyro The Dragon...

With much to do and so little time. Keep on creating Peoples :)

Boom Barrel from The Munitions Forge...

Diseased Silt-Hopper...

Obsidion Beetle Hive...

Obsidion Beetle Hive: Damage Remnant State...

Smashable Plate-Rock Entrance...

Smashable Plate-Rock Entrance: Remnant State...

Infernal Pool Shoots...

Corrupted Tree: Small Scale...

Corrupted Tree: Mid Scale...

Corrupted Tree: Large Scale...

Corrupted Tree: Feature Piece Scale...

Listen to the Soul: remember always what is most important, and never compromise on it. Defend that like a Savage.....

J S Pullen

Creature Design: Grotto Gargantuan; resolving the details...

The Grotto Gargantuan Returns...

Greetings People and welcome to May 2011 and once again to the home of the Soulful Savage! This post marks 1 year of art posting under the Soulful Savage banner; 1 year since I took up this much needed journey to create something beyond my 'nine-to-five' existence... and what better way to celebrate than by returning to where this blog began? By going back into the wooded wilds of my mind to wrangle that zoological conundrum; that slippery Leviathan... the Great Grotto Gargantuan!

In last May's post you'll find the creature from a more illustrative approach, but I mentioned I wanted to go back to wrangle all the details and resolve the particulars of design. So stay tuned! I thank you all for your support in tuning in over the last year, and for being patient! The Gargantuan is surfacing from the crushing depths, and its full story will be revealed soon. I've every intention of doing a detailed full scale concept design of this beasty... I'm still kind of working him out, but no doubt the design work will happen as soon as I get the chance :)

Gargantuan Design... preliminary head study

Gargantuan Design... overall treatment and scale

More on the way when I get the chance!

Kindest Regards,
Soulful Savage.

Listen to the Soul: remember always what is most important, and never compromise on it. Defend that like a Savage.....

J S Pullen

Fan Art That Goes Squeek: Illustration From Mouse Guard

Celanawe: The Black Axe

It's that time again and I've managed to just squeeze in some content this month, in between freelance and raising my three spectacular Children :) I thought it was high time I did some Fan Art, and what better world in which to indulge than in David Petersen's Mouse Guard? So with a mighty 'SqueEk!.... I present this offering :) So much of the content we create, especially early on, comes largely from what we like and has it's origins in what we enjoy personally as artists.

There's a big school of thought out there that argues that a concept artist need be well versed in all forms and styles, and that in order to be a viable option for a games development studio one needs to have a handle on a variety of things from industrial design and architecture, to character and anatomy. While its great to be versatile I find its hard to specialise and master any one thing if you try to spread too thin across a broad range of subjects. Not only that, more often than not, our best pieces tend to be those that have a personal significance to us based on our interests. Sometimes we just need to allow some room (guilt free) for 'drawing what we like'.

So draw what you like. Don't be daunted by the fact that you don't have a plethora of interior design, armchairs and funky tables to show off in your folio... just make a start, draw what you like... and let your technique and ideas do the talking. Your style will naturally emerge and the body of varied work will follow over time. At least this is what I'm finding as I progress.

For this piece I wanted to be as authentic to Mouse Guard as I possibly could, while inadvertently adding my own personal flavour to it. (Authenticity above all else is the GO when dealing with brands and licenses... but we'll talk on that later!) Celanawe, pictured above in his frosty fatigues is a personal favourite of mine, and having read all the Mouse Guard books with my Eldest Son, he definitely has that grissled and experienced warrior vibe that so appeals to me. So staying true to the palette, the forms and the textural quality was important to me as I have a deep respect for the Mouse Guard brand and its' look and feel. I did my best, but as always you can be the judge of how I fared :)

Despite trying to understand and nail the style, there will always invariably be differences as I am not the creator in this instance. There is absolutely no substitue for the genuine original, and the work of David Petersen is quite simply stunning. There's a rich charm to the world of Mouse Guard, tempered with culture and history that on deeper reading becomes increasingly apparent. I'd encourage everyone to check it out for themselves:

www.davidpetersen.net/mouseguard/index.htm

So hats off to you Mr Petersen, and thanks for offering something that is truly special. With much respect I present this little work for Mouse Guard fans and hope to do some more down the track :) Can't wait for more Mouse Guard!

Kind regards,
Soulful Savage.

Listen to the Soul: remember always what is most important, and never compromise on it. Defend that like a Savage.....

J S Pullen

The Dragon's Vault Opened Once More...

The Greater Guardian...

Once again I left the great stone door of the 'Vault' ajar... and once more the creations from Spyro issued forth. February was a tad freaky, so this offering should lighten the mood. While the body of work I've done for Spyro TLOS is very dated now, there's just still so much more of this work that I havn't shown yet... and so from time to time I'll unearth a few pieces because I remember the time on the project fondly. There was just so much of me in every piece, and I spent alot of energy passionately trying to create a mythos in the visual form. It was a great and fun responsibility to help shape the new feel for the franchise at the time :)

The image of the great Guardian statue above was an homage to Dragon culture in general, but more specificly a stately and regal representation of an actual ancient Dragon hero... the last Purple Dragon before Spyro's time. Indeed it was my intention to have this statue foreshadow Spyro's future, and set down a clue as to what he may even look like in the coming decades. From the very outset I wanted to portray what a fully grown adult Purple Dragon would look like, how it might stand and carry itself, and I pitched the idea that the statue itself was actually a representation of The Dark Master.... before he renounced the path of good. So you could say that right from the beginning, from 'the new beginning' we had already caught a glimpse of the Dark Master... I thought it a very fitting and 'full circle' type thing to do.

So here's to a fun time well remembered, and to creating alongside talented friends! I hope you enjoy this offering!

Kind regards, Soulful Savage.

Dragon Temple Entrance...

Ignitus' War Helm...

There's a story with this piece and the other Dragon armour relics... (as there is with so many pieces from TLOS) This helm was intended to be Ignitus' personal war helm... I drew it up as a feature prop and a story hook for Spyro for when he first encounters Ignitus.

The story went thusly, that back during the 'Ape Wars' Ignitus was a General who led a company of War Dragons into battle against the forces of the Dark Master. After a fierce struggle in which many Guardians were lost, Ignitus' forces were driven back until only the four Guardians remained. When Ignitus failed to repell Gaul (the Ape King) and gave up custody of the last remaining purple Dragon egg (Spyro) in a biblical flavoured attempt to save him, Ignitus exiled himself to the Swamp, casting off his armour in despair, becoming the crestfallen figure that Spyro meets in 'A New Beginning'.

As an idea I'd intended the Helm, the broken Lance and the Shield to be symbols of Ignitus' return to vigour. At Ignitus' request I'd intended Spyro to go on a mini quest to hunt for and retrieve the missing pieces of Ignitus' armoury. This was to be a way of developing a friendship with the old Fire Guardian, introducing a clue into Dragon culture and Ignitus' military past, as well as reinforcing the magnitute of his feelings of failure. It was a way for Spyro to actively rekindle Ignitus' desire to rise from his despair in the game.

While the 3D props were made from my drawings, this little story nugget did not make it into the game due to time pressures, but having drawn them I feel that at least a little bit of culture was injected and I feel that added some value. Despite intended as one off features, the armour props were duplicated throughout the Swamp level and so became common objects, which was lamentable, but I'm glad they made it in at least. Regardless, giving backstories to your pieces can help them feel more realised and more plausible... it's the little details in the background like this that can strengthen your work and give it presence, even if your story or vision doesn't make the final cut. Well, at least we know ;)

Ignitus' Battle Lance...

I felt it best to break the lance as it seemed a more fitting representation of Ignitus' state of mind when we first meet him; a broken weapon for a broken leader, gathering dust and moss in the dark. But even in its damaged state, the lance is still a potent reminder of the rigours of battle and deeds long done. (Ignitus was by far my favourite character... I can truly identify with him.)

Ignitus' War Shield...

The Shield was the final piece in the armoury and I imagined that this mounted on a swivel and brace attachment slung over Ignitus' left shoulder, protecting that flank from glancing blows. A while back I did a rough sketch of Ignitus harnessed to the hilt and in full plate armour, with his Lance, Helm and Shield attached. Unfortunately the rough sketch was lost (somewhere in the Swamp presumably) but it's very fresh in my mind... I may just have to draw him up in all his glory as a way of giving back to so many wonderful Spyro Fans who have been so very good to me. To those Fans, I thank you all for every comment you've sent me in support of this blog, and I'll be sure to reply with kindness as soon as I can... I'll wrangle up something special and personal for you all :)

Earth Breath Elemental Sigil...

Electricity Breath Elemental Sigil...

Fire Breath Elemental Sigil...

Earth Dragon Elemental Banner...

Electricity Dragon Elemental Banner...

Fire Dragon Elemental Banner...

Iconography in the world of Spyro was very important to me, and you may have spotted a great deal of it already... I'll talk more about the graphic language of Spyro in a future post later on when I can explain it in closer detail.

Smashable 'Shroom Roots...

Frogweed Spawning Mud-Pile...

Collapsing 'Shroom Root Bridge...

Thorny Brambleweed...

Fossilised Swamp Predator...

Gellatinous Stench-Bulb...

Parasitic 'Shroom Shoots...

Greater 'Shrooms: A Swamp Feature...

Strangely enough, this image was by far the most prevalent of all images that went out when Spyro TLOS rolled out onto shelves. The 'Feature Tree' of the Swamp became the official mascot of the series and seemed to resonate with many people for its stylistic simplicity. Originally created to fill an enormous void in the starting area mesh in the game, this 'tree' added so much charm to the space that it became the style exemplar for the rest of the Swamp world's content... and so the 'Mushroom Swamp' was born. Talented concept artists like Ben Ward, Ron Marc and Mark Douglas pushed things furthur to create the gorgeous mushroom forest walls and twisted vine laden corridors that set the Swamp world apart. Check it out in game... in 2006 it was something quite unique at the time and something I was proud to be a part of.

So keep creating, and more importantly keep creating stories... for the trick to creating memorable art and works that capture the imagination seems to be all in the details; obvious or implied.

Listen to the Soul: remember always what is most important and never compromise on it. Defend that like a Savage.....

J S Pulen