Spyro the Dragon on January 30 1997

These drawings are from the original development of the character that would become Spyro.

It had been a little more than 2 weeks since I started to create the very first concepts for Insomniac Games. I was in the process of refining and defining. Insomniac was very excited about the character and the images I was coming up with. At this point in the creation of Spyro I was directed to really push his expressions.

This is the way it works. You dig and explore through concept sketches then as the character emerges a commitment is made towards the final design. Once you've nailed the look then you test it out and see how it functions through expressions and action / attitude posing as the personality emerges.

Note for historians and archivists: The pages are sequential but they're numbered incorrectly.

First Drawings of the Creation of Spyro - January 14 1997

This month marks the 25th anniversary of when I first started working on the character that would become Spyro the Dragon for the original PlayStation video game console. Almost to the day. I was at Insomniac Games on the Universal Studios lot. It was January 14 1997.

By coincidence 2 days ago on January 14 2022 I dug up all of the original Spyro art which I own. There's 103 pages that I created for what was called "Project Pete" at the time.  This is the first publication of the very first page.

I created 16 pages of character designs on the first day of work. By the end of the second day Jan 15 1997 the count was 31 and I was tuning in to the character.

By day 3 Jan 16 1997 there were 38 pages and I had pretty much nailed the look of the little dragon that would become Spyro. On Jan 23 he was refined further and we had the final design.

Crash and Spyro - Sketches and Commissions

Happy New Year Blogger friends! Hoping 2022 will be a terrific time for you! 

 

Though I haven't posted much recently I've had a few moments to keep my chops up with Crash and Spyro. This past year has been one of significant change for me and I didn't have an opportunity to create as much as I would like. But as the year progressed things opened up and I was able to get back to it.

Here's a little gallery of what I've been up to. Mostly sketching with friends and sometimes on my own. Also a few commissions I accepted. Some of these drawings were done straight ahead with ball point pen and some with blue pencil and ball point pen. It was great fun and I really enjoyed myself. I'm very happy that the Crash and Spyro characters and franchises have continued to grow over the years. I like drawing them. I intend on making 2022 a banner year for personal art and projects. 

 

Thanks for checking in!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Crash / Spyro Toy Display - McDonalds - 2005

A friend sent me this photo today. A Christmas gift they just received. It's a vintage 2005 toy display from McDonalds. Very cool present!

Merry Christmas !!

Hello friends! Hope you're doing great. Wishing you a very Happy Christmas!

Merry Christmas !!

To all you great people who've followed my blog these many years. Wishing you a Happy Christmas and all the very best in days ahead!

Burn it up Spyro !!

He's tired of it too!

Spyro the Dragon - finished painting

Hello friends! How are you? It's been so busy the last month and a half I can't begin to tell you. Causing some genuine issues which I fully intend on addressing soon. But that's a subject for a later time.

Meanwhile remember this post from last August 21? It was a pencil drawing of Spyro on illustration board. I posted that I was going to paint it. Well I'm happy to report that I did. Here it is...

Took a while to complete. I worked on it at different intervals. I figure around 18 sittings a little at a time since that day in August. Finally finished it the morning of November 2 around 6 am. Then I went to the corner shop at 7 am when it opened and bought a frame. By 9 am I was at a local art gallery to feature it in an upcoming art show and I had to deliver the painting that morning to make it.

The acrylic color palette I used was very odd and also limited. As such I noticed the colors were getting away from me as I progressed with the painting. Spyro was turning out as something other than the red violet he is known to be. So I went with what I had using these unusual colors and decided to make this a different character.

I call the painting "Dark Spyro" and imagine him to be an evil counterpart from another dimension that creates havoc in the world Spyro inhabits. I think I'll call him Oryps.

Thanks for you patience with my extended break from posting. Working on this was one of the reasons. As an added bonus I'd like to feature scans of the painting at different stages of its development going backwards in time. The original is 8 1/2 x 11 inches (around 21.6 x 28 centimeters). 

 

Here once again is the original sketch...

Spyro Portrait - I'm going to paint this

There's a local painting group that meets at my school a couple times a month. When they come in I usually paint with them. This is what I'll be working on. A portrait of Spyro the Dragon. The sketch is graphite on heavy weight illustration board. The kind that's used for painting backgrounds in animation production. Measures  11 x 8.5 inches  (28 x 21.6 centimeters). I'll be paiting this in acrylics. We'll see how it turns out.