Development for Blackmask is going to slow down as Adam and I are dealing with new dayjob stuff. I'll still be doing Twitch livestreams to work on art assets and concept art for gameplay ideas and Adam will still be plugging away at the game in his spare time away from his contract work.
We're hoping to try and have a small playable demo around PAX East or so but if not we won't rush it. If you want to keep up with new updates, we set up a Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube specifically for Blackmask and that's where I'll do the more development focused updates to separate it from my personal art accounts.
My Programmer's at the point in his programming stuff where I don't need to hand him any new assets to make a demo for. He recently got a new job to pay the bills so progress will slow down on Blackmask slightly.
My own art priorities have moved to more design things, so I've been doodling logo and user interface ideas. I'm not as confident in my logo and lettering as I want but I have a passing knowledge of logo design thanks to Blambot explaining what goes into good logo design.
Of the sketches, I think I'm going with 4 or 5, preferring 5 the most out of them all for the more adventure fantasy theming I'm going for. From showing it around, people seem to be the most drawn to the last two sketches since they're the clearest to read, though, I'm personally not a fan of the "Schoolhouse Rock" look of the last sketch.
Soon, we're setting up our Blackmask stuff to have its own social accounts to post news related to the game on. Now if you want more Blackmask news, you can follow on Twitter and Instagram and soon an actual website!
The game is progressing alright. I just finished up working on a tumbling animation for the Blackmask Game on my art stream!
My programmer is currently in the process of putting all the art assets and dialogue stuff together into a playable demo! He's reworked the controls and physics to more effective. Adam's hoping to have something to show off at PAX if they're having it this year or next year!
Meanwhile, I've been experimenting with Aseprite for the first time to many people's suggestion. It might take getting used to from my setup in Clip Studio Paint, but it seems to have some good tools.
The new vertical sword attacks are my first attempts to work in some stuff into my Blackmask workflow. I really want to work in Aseprite's layer's system to make better tail and other secondary animations. The Game Boy obviously can't do so many sprite frames but I gave up trying to stay 100% accurate to the console a long time ago.
Staying busy with my art stuff for the last few weeks. I'm doing what I can to pack my days with activity and take my mind of things. I feel good when I'm focused on a project that I care about.
I'm giving my programmer assets to work with to test game ideas like this non-player character deer girl. I like designing heroes, but I especially like designing non-heroes. It's a challenge to make them simpler to draw so you can redraw them over and over again.
I do what I can to have a good amount of height differences in my characters for the game's universe. I can't make them so big they can't fit on the screen or so small you can't see them, but I make sure to build all the sprites with the Gameboy screen in mind. It's nice to be accurate to my original sketches.
You can read more about them on my website and follow me on Twitch on Wednesday nights for new pixel progress!
This is a progress video of our game tentatively called “Cole Blackmask and the Scrolls of Soleon” a Game Boy styled action-platformer about a raccoon merchant adventuring an outlandish animal world for ancient magic scrolls of cataclysmic power.
This is footage of our super early builds, there's still so much to do before we have enough for a playable demo. Stick around and we'll keep you posted.
I've been okay with my art. Been slowly attempting to move away from my Twitter and Instagram, to try to keep my sanity with actual galleries sites. I still stream my art as frequently as I can on my Twitch Channel so follow me to catch me working on commissions!
The game I'm working on with my friend is moving along. We managed to get in a few new things like alternate weapons and running, basic collisions and currently he's working on some basic menus and inventory screens.
I've been working on new art assets like running, better attack animations, wall jumping, as well as some basic ideas for enemies and a boss character.
I'd like to push this stuff along a little faster, but I'm still busy with big commissions like this illustration for the Steam Early Access Game, Furs of Fury, a Warcraft 3 Inspired, Multiplayer Strategy Game (not a MOBA.)
I'm miffed by my lack of speed in getting more of my art things done in comparison to many of my peers and friends. I keep thinking that my work isn't up to par but, I have to be more patient with myself and tack it one drawing at a time and not give up.
A while ago, I made a Gameboy Sprite sheet because I was interested in trying out of sprite art. Gameboy art was simpler for me to start since I didn't have to worry about color palettes.
I showed my sprites to my friend programmer friend Adam Mortell, who I worked a lot with on various projects and game jams, and we're deep enough in a hole that I could say that we're working on a video game about my OC.
After seeing the game engine I tested out animation stuff and it's opening my eyes to animation flaws and spots where I need more frames. On a positive note, I'm learning a lot about animating in Clip Studio Paint.
Adam made a weapon and effects test to see how weapons and projectiles would look. I'm a bit worried that the color changing might break the Game Boy look, but it could work on certain color splashes, but I'd have to see.
I originally wanted to make this a silly furry webcomic since I left college and I always thought making a video game about this would be a lofty pipe dream, but this idea might be a reality through a different means and this is the best possible opportunity to actually make a game! So I'm taking my original notes and going all in because it's exciting me more than all of my other art projects so far.
I really want to do well, not fuck up, or embarrass myself with what is probably my biggest passion project I've ever had.
In general things aren’t as eventful due to the virus situation, but I’m doing my best to stay busy and to be positive.
Right now, I’m working on a set of stickers inspired by this bread cat art I made a long while ago. A few more cats and I’ll have a worthwhile sticker pack.
I’m plugging away at some new tutorials and rewriting old ones to be faster paced and less redundant. Currently, I’m writing a new version of my process making Incident at the Game Store including my coloring process that wasn’t elaborated upon from my original articles. I’m also working on a tutorial article about using references for character design. This is a preview of the characters and influences to make my wolf character in the center.
People have even suggested to me to make tutorial videos but I have no idea what I could actually teach about that isn’t already taught by a more experienced artist. The most I can do is believe in my research and pass off what I know and answer questions during my artstreams.
My next comic is still being pecked at when I have the time. Every time I get back to writing my comic, I find myself looking up new writing techniques to shorten or cut my comic down to the bare essentials to stick to the core premise of it and not smash you in the face with stupid lore or irrelevant details.
I badly want to get deeper to it, because I keep thinking of ideas and the only thing I like sketching and not organizing them into an actual plot. I know I’m supposed to keep it short and to not get elaborate, but I still want to do better than my previous comics. My baby steps forward are still better than sticking around and imagining my next course of action.
I rarely blog anywhere beside my own website, but I figured I might as well be active at more places so here's what I've been up to lately.
Recently, I got a new job as a school bus driver but, by the time I finished my training and got my license, the virus situation got worse and schools closed, so I've still been at my current job at FedEx dealing with the new rush of work.I still make art and update my art on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook with more of my finished work on here, DeviantArt and Artstation and I've been working on small commissions as well as a larger children's book project.
I'm doing more art streaming again working to maintain a consistent schedule. I just have trouble figuring out what the heck to draw or do during streams; mainly just winging it with whatever art project I'm allowed to show or answering art questions my chat poses. But if you want to commission me or want to have a tutorial about something specific for art stream, let me know.
In between the projects, I try to keep my hope and sanity by writing and rewriting a new comic series and other scripts while teaching myself how to write and figure out what I want out of my stories. I'll admit that I'm way more interested in drawing concept art than actually writing anything. It's a bunch of trial and error, and I'm doing my best to not get frustrated with the process.
