Getting A-Head

Well things are finally starting to settle down, or at least settle into a quiet lingering rumble. Now on to holding our end of the bargain: drawing a bazillion commission pieces for those of you crazy enough to jump at the higher tiers from our Kickstarter campaign.

It’s nice to finally get back to the drawing board. As we get done with some of these pieces, we’ll be showing them off on our Instagram and Twitter feed. Hope you all get a kick out of them.

And we’ll be continually posting on The Monster Volume’s Kickstarter page with updates where we’ll be showing the progress of the project as it moves through its various stages. That said, there’s a new update tonight that covers off on a lot of what’s happened lately…check it out!

The MONSTER VOLUME

At long last, we’re extremely excited to announce our new book project: The MONSTER VOLUME. Measuring 8.5″ x 12.5″, this premium hardcover has been a true labor of love. For the last year we’ve been working away on tons of new content including a broad range of creatures, robots, heroes and villains. With over 35 pages of material under our belt, we jumped head first into laying out the book.

Then we had a thought: What if we could include our sold out sketchbooks as well? So we jumped back into our original high res files and reformatted each page to take advantage of the larger book size. In several cases we’ve updated the original spreads with new designs and polish. At the end of the day, the new book clocks in at 140 pages and includes over 35 pages of unpublished work, Thoughts, Scribbles + Madness 1-3 and Palindrone Robot Supply. It’s a beast.

With the book almost ready to go, we’ve launched our first Kickstarter campaign to get across the finish line. As you know, these projects are massive undertakings, and we can’t do it without you. But with your help spreading the word, we’re on our way to publishing our best book ever! We have all kinds of goodies on the Kickstarter page for you to check out, including prints, original art and special editions. We hope to see you there!

Kickstarter Campaign Page

Thanks to everyone for the continued support. Lets make this thing happen!

Monsters, Heroes, Books!

Howdy folks! We’ve got a few monstrous tidbits to share as we’ve been battling forward over the last few months. First up, Outernauts, the newest IP from Insomniac Games, is getting closer to public release. If you’re into lush stylized worlds complimented by teeth gritting monster combat, this game is for you. The team has done an amazing job and we look forward to the PVP battles ahead!

We’ve also been hard at work on the upcoming Ratchet and Clank: Full Frontal Assault. We’ve been having a blast on this project but our lips must be kept sealed. We’ll be sure to pass on more info as we get closer to launch!

Heroes Con

Next up, Heroes Con is right around the corner. Heroes continues to be our favorite show of the year – tons of amazing talent, casual atmosphere, and one of the best opportunities to pick up some amazing originals. In addition to having our own table (AA-311) we’ll also be hanging out with the great folks at Autodesk doing live demos in Sketchbook Pro at booth #432-531. If you’re interesting in picking up a CreatureBox original, we’ve carved a bit of time for pre-show commissions. Just select “Heroes Commission” from our contact form and you’ll be off to the races. To top it all off, Heroes is celebrating it’s 30th year; an amazing achievement for Shelton Drum and his staff.

New Book

If you’ve been checking out our Twitter feed / Instagram / Tumblr you’ve seen some peeks at the new book. We’re happy to say we’re still on schedule (amdist a flurry of blood, sweat, and a couple of tears). This is easily our most ambitious project to date, and we can’t wait to share it with all the monsters out there. More info to come soon!

The Lost Village

One of my favorite locations from Ratchet and Clank: All 4 One was the Deadgrove. Lots of roots, bugs, and raking light. We wanted to get the vibe of the underside of a log. Here’s a look at a location layout along with some ideas for structures. If you haven’t had a chance to play, there’s some good discounts out there — jump in!

In other news, we stumbled drunkenly into the Behance Network. If you’re a member stop by and say hi!

1080Pinball

A few years back Insomniac Games took a stab at a new game concept dubbed 1080Pinball. The goal was to make a rockn’ pinball game with a classic sci-fi flair. Even though the project never left the testing bed, I had fun with the concept art. To kick the project off, I explored some style directions — including guzzling a six pack of Alex Raymond’s Flash Gordon.

More pinballastic images can be found at Insomniac’s Facebook page!

Croid Journals

To help tell a major chapter in the story of Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One, we animated a series of illustrations through After Effects. There was a boatload of painting to get done, but the process was a fistful of fun. Here’s a peek at a few of the images.

We hope everybody had an awesome holiday — we’ve been soaking up our vacations while trying to cram in as much drawing as our fingers can muster. We’ve been posting our battles on Twitter and just started an Instagram account for some of the visuals. If that’s your cup of tea, stop on by!

So what groovy stuff did you guys get for Christmas??