Spyro sketch from CSUN 2010

Here's a little gem. While teaching at California State North University Northridge in 2010 I gave a quick demonstration on a simple coloring technique in Photoshop. I was working on a Cintiq which is essentially a monitor that you can draw on and is commonly used in animation today. Standard equipment at most studios. I took the opportunity to sketch out a drawing of Spyro. Here's the initial image in line...

Then I introduce color in two phases. The local color and a unifying tonal tint in gray...

Next I established a light source by adding shadows to help describe the illusion of form...

Lastly I touch it up with some key highlights...

Notice what's missing? If you said Spyro's wings you're right! I don't know what I was thinking of at the time but I inadvertently left out Spyro's wings when creating this. Anyway, if anybody ever wanted to see what Spyro would look like as a wingless dragon here you have it!

Spyro Love - Some favorite drawings

Time for some Spyro! Thought I'd share some of the drawings which I consider to be among my favorites from the body of work originally created for the character. The first drawing is the one where the final design was achieved and approved by Insomniac Games. These were created while working down the hall from Insomiac's offices at Universal Studios. Next one is the final design starting to come to life. Both of these drawings are dated January 23 1997. The next is a facial expression of Spyro whereby I was directed to make him look pushed to the edge on the verge of a rage. This is dated January 30 1997.

After all the years that have gone by along with the many Spyro games that have come out it's interesting to compare how the character was first envisioned. We'll see more of Spyro and his broad range of attitudes in upcoming entries.

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...

Original Spyro Drawings from January 23 1997

These are pages from the development of Spyro the Dragon on this day Jan 23 in 1997.

I contracted with Insomniac Games to own my original art once it was used for production. It was a groundbreaking contract back then. Thus I have the unique opportunity to showcase these images.

There are 103 pages total that I created for this project. The pages here are numbers 41 through 44. They were misnumbered by someone at the company.

Spyro was really cracking the shell at this point. Insomniac was very excited. They knew they had a winner. Spyro continued to improve with the next round of sketches which I'll feature in a few days.

 

 

 

 

Last chance for signed Crash & Spyro prints

The Worthing Boys' Club in the UK is auctioning the last copies of signed Crash and Spyro prints in their possession. You have just under three days to place your bid! The Ebay auction wraps up on May 29. Support the Boys' Club and get yourself some highly collectible Crash and Spyro art. This is the last of them!

Click here for the Crash auction.  

Click here for the Spyro auction.

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.

Spyro the Dragon revisited

The other night in class I had a chance to draw with my students. It came to mind that I haven't paid much attention to Spyro lately. This after a lively debate among those in attendance concerning how Spyro is represented in Skylanders. The consensus was for the classic version of the character. So I took it upon myself to do a few sketches of him and spend some time exploring different approaches to Spyro through head drawings. Not anything drastic but some modifications just for fun. These are the images I'm happiest with...

Spyro love - Part 2

About a month ago on April 13 I posted a few drawings of what Spyro the Dragon looked like during a phase of the development of the character. Here's another version from the process of exploration in early 1997. These samples are from a booklet I recently published involving free form sketching and concept development. The black line running down the middle of the graphics depicts where the page fold is.

And speaking of Spyro there's still time to participate in the Ebay art auction sponsored by the Worthing Boys' Club in the UK. This is a second chance to pick up a highly collectible signed print of both Spyro and Crash. The auction's deadline is this coming Sunday May 12.

Crash and Spyro sketches from school event

I was invited by a local school just down the block from my own school to participate in an event where several different organizations would set up a booth and interact with their students. Brighton Hall in Burbank is famous for nurturing up and coming acting talent. Janet Jackson attended the school at one time along with many other celebrities when they were kids.

I participated for a while on May 18 2019 and had the chance to draw a few pictures of a couple of the video game characters I'm known for. Primarily Crash Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon.

This is the first sketch I came up with. Crash is kind of asking himself what he's doing here. The line next to his ear is from the wind blowing the paper while I was drawing.

This next image I'm not too keen about as I've done better drawings of Spyro. It was my way of greeting visitors as they came by the booth.

As I was getting more comfortable I started having a little more fun with Crash.

I drew a few quick sketches of Crash for some of the kids there. This was done on May 21 to give my own students an idea as to what I was doing at the Brighton Hall event.

I started this sketch of Spyro at the May 18 event but didn't finish. I took the momentum back to class and completed the drawing as a demo for my own students.

Crash and Spyro for Cash Ebay - Worthing Boys' Club - UK

If you missed out on the Ebay auction for Crash and Spyro color prints created and signed by yours truly here's your chance to take another crack at it. This is a continuing fund raiser for the Worthing Boy's Club in the UK. Spread the wealth and the cheer and the goodwill by supporting this endeavor through the Crash and Spyro art auction on Ebay. 

Follow this link to Crash and this link to Spyro. Here's what's being offered. The auction wraps up this Sunday on May 12 2013 which is Mothers Day in the US. What a great gift these will make for her!

Spyro 20th Anniversary compilation animated tribute

Hello there you fantastic people! Thank you again for frequenting my blog. I'd like to share something very special with you as this week marks the 20th anniversary of the release of the first Spyro the Dragon game on PlayStation way way back in 1997. 

This has been featured on YouTube on September 9 in honor of the occasion. It's a compilation of fan created animation for Spyro created specifically for the 20th anniversary event. It's really amazing to see the variety of work and all the interpretations of the character.  Wow! I'm at a loss for words as to how terrific it is!

Anyway enjoy the video and here's to the next 20 years of Spyro!

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.

Early Spyro

Hard to believe that at one time the character that would become Spyro the Dragon actually looked like this when the project was first developed in 1997.

By the following year I had established my own school and used the image as a subject for a class demonstration. I rendered it in gray markers to show my students the importance of tonal relationships within a composition.

Sometime later after I learned Photoshop I used this once again as a demonstration in digital color tinting. By utilizing the gray tone image as a base it was easy to add color through the application of transparent layers.

Looking back on the origin of the character imagine what Spyro would have been like if the decision was made to use this design instead of going forward with exploratory development. He's a fun dragon but do you think he's as appealing as what he eventually turned out to be? 

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!