Concept Designs

Recently I was contacted by Gameloft to be considered for a 2D concept artist position. Unfortunately I lost out on the job but the test that I completed was interesting and helpful in my growth as an concept artist. It pushed me into doing some environmental work that I usually don't get into and as a result of that push I'm actually looking forward to trying out a few more environments on my own. In terms of character design I was pushed into relying on just the character and the costume design as the focal point without a background design because the test required no background elements. Below is the character design portion of the test that involved creating a sexy female pirate captain. The environmental portion of the test involved creating a 2D dark forest environment painted over top of a 3D wire-frame that was provided.


Lamin


Character design sketch,

Complete character design,

3D Wire-frame provided by Gameloft,

Completed environment design,

A Day at Laura Secord Secondary School!

Recently I was given the opportunity to visit Laura Secord Secondary School in St. Catherines Ontario where I was asked to conduct a lecture on illustration followed by a how-to session on digital painting and illustration. It was an amazing experience where I met a very talented and enthusiastic group of up and coming young artists under the very insightful guidance of their teachers Steve Azzopardi and Cathy Biro. A huge thanks goes out to Steve (Mr. Azzopardi) for inviting me out and allowing me to speak to the students and to Monica Small, Peter Romo and Bob Vandenbrink in helping to ensure that the day ran so smoothly! Click the link below to see photos from that fun filled day!


A Day At Laura Secord Secondary School Photos!



Thanks again for an awesome day guys!

Lamin

Dracaena 3-D Model by Jacey King

Recently I was contacted by a very talented digital animation student from Malaysia named Joshua Chin Yi King a.k.a Jacey King. He expressed interest in 3-D modelling one of my illustrations, "Dracaena", and I jumped at the opportunity for him to bring the design to life in a way that only a talented 3-D modeller like Jacey could. He kept me updated with very clear, clean and fascinating images of the modelling process and then to my pleasant surprise created an amazing trailer of "Dracaena" in action. Thank you very much Jacey for bringing my illustration to life and also thank you to Sony Computer Entertainment and especially Team ICO for creating the game "Shadow of the Colossus". A game with absolutely beautiful art direction which inspired both our works. Take a look at Jacey's incredible trailer!

"Dracaena" Creature 3D Modelling Reel by Jacey King from Jacey King on Vimeo.

You can find more of Jacey's fantastic work on,
Deviant Art


Thanks again Jacey!



"Dracaena" Concept Design by Lamin Martin

"Dracaena" 3-D Model by Jacey King

Jacey King 3-D Modelling Process

Dryads

Dryads are tree nymphs in Greek mythology. I first took to the idea of dryads years ago after coming across some of the fantasy illustration work of Brian Froud, one of my favourite illustrators. Since then I've always been fascinated by tree spirit folklore and started coming up with my interpretation of what I think they would look like. Below are examples of my thoughts that play with the idea that dryads are free to roam the forests if they choose but are always attached to the trees.


Harmony - Finished illustration,

Harmony - Line illustration,

Spiderbait - Finished illustration,

Spiderbait - Halfway stage,

Spiderbait - Line illustration,

Our Finest Hour

"Our Finest Hour" was one of the images that tackled when I was first learning digital painting that I always knew could be really cool looking if only I knew enough about Photoshop to make it really cool looking. I left it unfinished for the longest time out of frustration but then recently decided to give it another try after having a couple years of digital painting experience under my belt. The second image is what it used to look like and the top image is what it looks like now and I'm really pleased with the result.

Forest Fight

This is a commissioned piece for a writer who needed a cover for one of his books. It's a traditional fantasy style cover that I had a lot of fun working where I got the chance to play around with some very dramatic lighting.

An Island Unto Myself

One of the aspects of dragon folklore that always fascinates me is the belief that dragons have the ability to hide in plain sight as either trees, rocks or even mountains. Here is my take on a very skilled dragon, taken from the line art found in LEATHER WINGS SEMBLANCE, who's claimed her hiding place in the form of an island.