Update on some current projects: Metroid

30th anniversary Metroid tributes

Super Metroid Tribute

Metroid: Zero Mission work in progress

In 1986 Nintendo released the seminal exploration game Metroid, the Metroid series has always been one of my favourite gaming series. the series keeps to it's themes of alienation and loneliness, something that mainstream games don't usually attempt. to commemorate the 30th Anniversary of the series i've produced some posters using an aesthetic inspired by 80's print comics and Saturday morning cartoons.

Jack Sprat Issue 2!

Preview of 4-pager in issue 2

Jack Sprat Magazine issue 2 is out and ready for purchase, Like in Issue one, I have a 4 page comic in the book. This issue's theme was crayons and colouring!

Cover art by Slake Saunders

Jack Sprat is now available in digital as well as physical formats! you can get your copy of issue 2 from here!

INDYPLANET

Introducing Fever Scream Comics, a broadsheet comics project

Now back from a short hiatus of personal work, I'm happy to announce my next personal comics project. Fever Scream Comics will be a small collection of 4 part stories presented in the broad sheet newspaper format. Heavily inspired by the works of Windsor McCay and the fantastic broadsheet collection from DC: Wednesday Comics. I want to use the board sheet format because it's an approach to comics thats foreign to me, and that can lead to interesting forms of storytelling compression that results in a tight,  concise narrative sequence.

The image above is the first page for a 4 page story to be featured in Fever Scream, I wanted to use the space to create a flowing sequence that I otherwise might not have done given a different format.

I'll post an update when the first issue is ready.

Jack Sprat Magazine No.1 launches today!

Cover Illustration by Slake Saunders

I'm pleased to announce that the new magazine "Jack Sprat" launches today, edited by Emily White. the launch issue features an array of flash fiction and short comics, created by Silvia Carrus, David Duke, Louis Netter, Victoria Caswell, C.E Lamb, David Robertson and myself. The first issue can be downloaded as a PDF for free up until the 15th of September, if your interested in downloading a copy or see what else Jack Sprat Press has to offer, you can find them Here

Here is a preview of the short-form comic I have featured in the September issue:

J.J Scott Illustration now on Instagram!

Search for: JJSCOTTILLUSTRATION on Instagram and check it out! 

heres a link!: JJSCOTTILLUSTRATION on INSTAGRAM

Mini project "Re-covered" Street Fighter Alpha

The first piece of a new mini project entitled "Re-covered", which focuses on creating new covers for classic games on slightly obscure systems. the first system that the project will focus on is the Sega Saturn. I chose Street Fighter Alpha for the first cover to represent the Saturns wealth of 2D fighting games, in which the Saturn excelled. I took inspiration from the works of Capcom artist Shinkiro, whose work on the Capcom vs SNK series and other crossover games made their covers and posters standout amongst the crowd. I wanted to use Shinkiro's high contrast use of hot and cold colour palettes. 

The next game thats in the "Re-covered" series is the fighting game that the Sega Saturn is best known for: Virtua Fighter 2.

Photos from my Solo Show at the King's Theatre!

Announcement: Solo Exhibition at The Kings Theatre 27th April - 9th May

I'll be closing out the Spring Exhibition season at The Kings Theatre in Albert road, Portsmouth with my first solo exhibition, centring around pop culture, animation, film and video games. wether they'll be a preview night for the exhibition is still undecided, it'll depend on peoples schedules around that date.

A close up on the exhibition description in the brochure, the work that'll be on display will be a mix of previously shown work and new pieces made specifically for the show. really excited to be working with the Kings on this exhibition, and honestly I get a little buzz from seeing my ninja turtle in print like this.

An update on current projects

The Southsea Arts Fair went fantastic, we received a great turn out. It was great to meet such talented contemporaries as well as get a chance to sell sketches to the fair goers. My favourite part of events like this isn't only the chance to meet other artists and illustrators, but having an opportunity to talk with the people attending the fair whilst preparing their sketches, talking comics and animation is a great way to know who your drawing for. i'd love to do more events and conventions like this in the future.

  

here is a small piece from a current side project with the working title "Rodent Warriors", working on a short narrative using anthropomorphic rodents, something like "is Watership Down was a martial arts film", taking inspiration from graphic works such as Lone Wolf and Cub, i'm excited to see how this develops and what form it'll take.

Appearing at Southsea Arts Fair, drop on by!

If your in the Portsmouth area tomorrow from 1:00 to 6:00 PM drop on by the One Eyed Dog in Albert road, where i'll be exhibiting at the Southsea Arts Fair! I'll be selling prints, exclusive mini prints as well as doing sketches on the day. it's a great opportunity to see the young and independent talent from the Portsmouth area, as well as numerous other artists and illustrators there will also be live music at the venue. drop on by and say hello!

A selection of the exclusive mini prints for the Southsea Arts Fair

an example of some of the prints available for sale at the event 

for more information on the event check out their Facebook page here

We Chill Here: The first student art brand

I've had the pleasure to work with the extraordinary individuals at WeChillHere.com by creating the set "Tiger Skies" for their kickstarter campaign. The aim of their campaign is to raise enough money to get the first student art brand funded and off the ground, I am only one of the five illustrators who has created work for the campaign

I urge you to visit their Kickstarter page and give the campaign a look, they would appreciate the attention to their cause. as of writing this they have 15 days left, make them count!

Hanging out at TRIN STUDIO

Trin's Home Studio

Today through an interesting turn of events I got the chance to hang out, meet and interview Trin of TRIN STUDIO, a freelance illustrator and designer as well as a full time architect. Trin works out of Khon Kean, mostly producing sculpture and reliefs, for his 3D work his inspiration is his dedication to the Buddhist faith, with the majority of his work being images of deities, the Buddha or accomplished monks. Despite being extremely driven and, in a few weeks, leaving to become a monk for a short while, Trin is a very laid back and comfortable practitioner, besides sculpture Trin also work in digital medias for freelance logo, illustration and graphic design.

the back of Trin's plaster work shop

Meeting Trin and having the chance to talk to visual practitioners of other cultures is just what a journey like this is meant for, observing Trin's laid back approach to his practise and over all chilled nature was interesting and a stark contrast to some of the stress filled, deadline driven practitioners that are present in the west. Having gotten along with Trin as well as him showing me through some beautiful temples where his work is placed we decided to have something of a cultural exchange, we did a sketch swap.

I sketched out a somber Batman for Trin and he sketched me a traditional, fully garbed Buddha image

Full Trin interview possibly forthcoming 

an update on happenings in Thailand

some of the studies i've been doing around Khon Kaen

A little way through my time in Thailand, i'm continuing to do visual studies as well as capture some great photo reference. i've been experiencing a lot of the culture, tradition is a much bigger factor in day to day life than back in the UK. most of my time has been spent traveling around Chaing Mai before heading back to Khon Kaen, in both cities i've explored at least five different Buddhist temples and spirit houses, it's been interesting contrasting the traditional, eccentric design of the temples and villages with the bright, japanese influenced shopping complexes and city centres. I look forward to spending more time in the night market, grabbing some sketches and photos there.

working on comics during the down-time

during the rare opportunities I have for some downtime i'm still making some comics, some based in Thailand, some inspired by the design and culture i've seen during my trip so far.

A quick update on project work (Communism and Space ships)

Three pieces from some current project work, the graphic Adobe Illustrator work is for a project about educating teens and young adults about communism history, having a really fun time working with graphic and simplified shapes as well as making hand made textures to incorporate into the pieces, with the "Communist Icons" pieces i'm focusing on a unity theme, graphically showing them being one part of a greater community. The Sputnik piece was interesting to work on because I wanted to make the piece less serious visually, by using a muted palette, bright colours and a aesthetic that suggests that the Earth and Sputnik are toys I feel like i've managed to add a lighter tone to the piece.

The space ship piece is part of an action sequence for another side project, working on capturing movement and action, hopefully the scene will come together once the sequence in complete and in an animatic.

LIfe drawing 4/2/14

Work from the most recent life drawing session, took me a little while to get these uploaded, with the project work lately it's been a little harder to find the time to add fixative and photograph life drawings.

Update on the new side project

A finalised design for the protagonist of the current side project (which has yet to get it's title set in stone) I feel like I've managed to achieve a good medium between a warrior who's seen her fair share of combat and a caring, lighthearted individual. I've also tried to keep her design "modest", I didn't want to create a female character who's visual characteristic is a steel bikini, instead of focusing the design on her sexual attributes I wanted to add a feminine factor to her design by using a lot of curves and arabesque lines in her clothing as well as adding lace and thrills to her design, but enough about Josette.

Now that I have the protagonist more or less nailed down I can start working on the environment and narrative elements of the project, starting with getting the environments nailed down, as well as the supporting characters. After that I can start on storyboarding and animatics.

Between now and a unforeseeable point in the future I might have to consider bringing on someone else onto the project, one man projects are time consuming.

Some design work on a new side project

These are some design pieces for a new story project i'm working on, on the side. Working on designing a middle aged hero facing a personal crisis is something new for me, I feel like making the hero a female can help give another layer to the character. I also find designing female characters a lot more interesting, I think theres a lot more you can do with female characters regarding shape and how material hangs off of clothing.

LIfe drawing: Female Nude

Work from a life drawing session, had a lot of fun blocking out shapes and playing with negative space.