God of War Concept Art

[charliewen]

Hey all, This is my first posting here (besides my blog)---
These are some sample images I did for God of War 1 and 2. I don't know why it took this long to post, especially since the games have been released for quite awhile already...okay, just lazy maybe:nohope: I'll be posting more art here later, but if you get a chance, come visit my blog: http://charliewen.typepad.com/

249501

249502

249503

249504

249505

249506

249507

249508

249509

[Jonas Heirwegh]

cant wait to sign up for your workshop next year!

fantastic stuff!

[charliewen]

Thanks, Epias! I checked out your site--- really like the vehicle sketches!
Which workshop are you talking about?
c

[Majora]

great work :)

[Jonas Heirwegh]

Thanks, Epias! I checked out your site--- really like the vehicle sketches!
Which workshop are you talking about?
c

pm ;)

[cannibalcandy]

Bad ass mang. You'll make a killing here! This is Izzy by the by. The really loose minotaur on the lower left of that page is definitely a favorite of mine. It has a really great sculptural quality to it. Can't wait to see some new stuff!!!

[Bomba]

Really inspiring work and a high benchmark to hit for game concepts! Makes me realize how awesome a well fleshed out idea looks like. Assuming you work fast, but do you usually bring every piece to this stage of completion?

-J-

[Cicinimo]

Amazing work, you pull off some wild poses for these guys!

[charliewen]

haha, Thanks, Izzy! And here I thought it was someone I didn't know giving me the compliment!

[charliewen]

Bomba and Cicinimo, Thanks:] Bomba, it usually depends on the director that I'm showing to--- some can understand my sketchier stuff, but some need a little more convincing!

[robinchyo]

gorgeous work! you've really got your anatomy down :-)

[scott*altmann]

awesome work as always -and the new stuff on the blog is great too :)
cheers

[stalsby]

Some really nice work you have! Especially the 2nd one with the bird! Nice composition. 5 from me!

[twinkledust9000]

Wow!! I have to say this is one of my faves of all time!! Your so amazing!

[MurdokX]

The energy and Life of your paintings makes my head explodes
I just think on the 6th image he is a big bulky on the shoulder compared with the others.
keep inspiring!

[Barts]

holy shit batman they rock

[Alex Baer]

I love these images, they're pretty damn powerful, you really know how to capture the brute nature of these character/creatures ... that third sister of fate looks nasty as hell lol.

[bao]

The twisting musculature in the first piece is really well done, and the strokes and lines around the figures really help generate their motion.
Love your anatomy, do you use refs for them usually?

[El Jeremie]

Awesome man, the medusa is very creepy. Never play this game but Kratos seems to a pleasant and well-educated boy.
Post more, it's an order !

[charliewen]

Thanks for the ups guys:}
Murdokx, hehe, glad you noticed the proportion differences between that version and the others. That was one of the God of War 1 images--- he kept getting throughout GOW 1 and 2--- he looks even more different in GOW 2-- I think GOW 3 will probably have even more changes! lol

Bao, on that piece, I didn't use human reference, but I did use Bull references:] I will still use human references from time to time, but mostly to study nuances from person to person-- but I still have my anatomy books on my shelf behind me if I need it. Most of my reference study now is for color , historical, cultural, or animal reference.

[Borilius]

Good stuff, these last 2 are my favorites. Thanks!

[jordyskateboardy]

This art is absolutely amazing. It immediately sets the goal for how good I want to be when I grow up. Lol. 5 stars def!

[CIRE]

Charlie!! I was wondering when you would post here. This is Eric Chiang. Great to see your stuff on the boards. See you at the workshop on saturday. Looking forward to it. Please post more often.

[swore]

wow...really love the art of GOW
keep posting:yum:

[Coinpurse]

surprised you didn't post along side with Andy Park when he posted his art dump, would have been spectacular eye candy seeing both his and your work combined in one thread :D

No matter, this way we can focus on special attention lol. I don't have to say it, but I will; Amazing work and execution! I'm really digging the attitude you gave Hercules in this image http://www.conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=249509&d=1196305572

thanks for sharing, post more soon! :D

[banhatin]

I always liked you and ANDY's design , awesome! there is a rather strange Issues, you are Chinese designers? hehe

[Chuck,mate.]

geez, these are so tight. really great stuff.
as a minor, nit-picking silly crit- the colors on some of the pieces look a bit
"muddy", for lack of other word. nothing to make a fuss about, really.
(come to think of it, maybe that`s a good thing.. dunno..)

this one:
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=249508&d=1196305458

is Friggin` SICK. pure awesomeness. :asspat:


cheers
Pat.

[Gilles]

Top notch work! I really enjoyed both games and I think that digging up the old greek myths was a smart move. I love how you captured the character of the creatures. Very nice stuff and don't be lazy next time and post faster ;)

Cheers.

[Riddick]

Super cool work! Is it possible to join the team?
The second opus was really amazing, certainly because of guys like you.

[midknight523]

luv those games. hope you show more

[hehehehe]

hard to find a comment
just a prize for you, great work ! :D

[GriNGo]

man, you just turned into a personal hero of mine!

[Nicolas Chapuis]

this is absolutly amazng man
I already loved these back when they were first published.
So its really cool to now know who did them and check your blog aswell.
Please dont wait to post your newer stuff as long as you did with this.

[Monk2]

Jesus, the one where they're fighting on top of that Griffin (?) is just amazing. Blew me way the hell away, really impressive. The other ones are great too, but that one just takes the cake, for me.

[AndyParkArt]

Finally!!! Charlie Wen, I'm your #1 fan! hee => I miss sitting next to you at work and being amazed by looking at your monitor everyday(and having all our deep conversations that annoyed our fellow co-workers). Post more! See ya Saturday at your workshop.

[DARYL]

awesome stuff dude, I bet you have tons more to show?!

[egerie]

Awh damn I wish the medusa concept would've made it in the game!

[Magnethead]

very inspiring

[daroz]

fantastic illustrations! absolutely 5* from me :)

[Alex Alexandrov]

WOOOOw great anatomy great line and skill .... i love them ....... super cool thanks for showing ..... now post every little drawing you ever made :D :D

[Sunny]

thats booteful!! i wanna see more. i dont know what to say i like first. the characters faces at the end are great, its all great but i like the variety there and they all look just as evil as the next. great job! :mittenbop:

[wilsonjr]

impressive!
Nice concepts, the monsters are too nice! the only thing that i saw weird was the left arm of the warrior!
tks to share man!

regards from brazil

[charliewen]

Thanks, guys!!
Banhatin---hehe--- I don't think Andy'll mind, but he's actually Korean:]

Andy--- yup, I miss those days! We didn't make nearly enough noise!

Chuck,mate-- I wasn't actually trying to make it muddy, ;] but I was trying to
keep the palettes warm, muted, and limited to give more mood.

Wilsonjr--- which image were you meaning?

Ciao!

[charliewen]

These were some of the early grunt variations--- we went through piles of these. In the end, we didn't go with any of them! ;p

[cannibalcandy]

Goddamn man. I know those are out of your head anatomy bits, which totally breaks my brain. Fantastic!

[Rebeccak]

Great to see you entering the online arena ;) Amazing work! Looking forward to seeing you at G-nomon Live this weekend. Heading out with Hong for dinner on Sun. if you are interested. :)

LMAO G-nomon is a banned word? Hahahaha

Cheers,

-R

[dustorian]

WOW those are great.

[Twiggy]

whoa

those are amazing!

I love they way you painted the clouds, so much energy.

[towy]

For the first I find the a little bit curious arm, but it is one owl job with the movement!

[alyssa milano]

awesome stuff...detailled and dynamic!!

[Lord Garvals]

Wow!
I wanted to see some GoW artworks. So thanks! ;)

[LORD M]

Beautifull! Absolutely stunning!

[Rod28Pereira]

Hey Charlie,

Is good to see you here man , why you take so long to show your stuff? NDA contract?

I had already seen these works in your blog and, they are really very good.
Very, very good work man.

You are not more working inside of Studio with Andy Park?

Keep posting man, you really inspire new artists.

Cheers

Rod.

[VegasMike]

Charlie,

I've been a big fan of your work since the first God of War and I'm so excited to see you on conceptart.org. Your professional work has really inspired me and I hope to see some of your personal work in the future. A tutorial would be even better! Thanks for sharing and cheers from Missouri.

[Rist]

Perfect! Are these painted with Corel painter?

[Sinsson]

Woohhh, awesome charlie !!
I love all of those concepts, you are very inspiring.
I hope to be good as you one day :)
Thanks for sharing your great works.

[Ellingsworth]

Beautiful work, charliewen. I just bought God of War a few days ago. Amazing game so far. I can't wait for the third one.

[CHARLES CARVALHO]

Your work is exceptional! I already knew dare of your site... Congratulations!

[charliewen]

Rebeccak: sorry we didn't get to catch up after the Live, but I took off early (kinda drained after only 1 hour of presenting!) Talk soon!

Rod28Pereira: No, I left Sony after my job was complete on God of War 2 for a project I couldn't turn down. Also, along with the perks that come with being a director, there's also more politics you deal with (in any studio), so I took a break from that as well.

Rist: These were done in Photoshop. I started off using Painter a while back, but Photoshop seemed more friendly when using layers, which were great for doing multiply options (good for work stuff), so it's been mostly Photoshop since mid-way through God of War 1.

[bhanu]

This also quite different ,somehow reminds me of conceptart by ben olsen for the suffering...beautiful stuff mate. Gonna save all these in my inspiration folder. thanks so much ... and cool blog too...

[Donovan V]

I gotta say I have never seen a concept quite like that for the minotaur. I really love to see the fresh takes on the well know icons. Also, the b/w image above that is a very cool concept. I'm just a fan of things with lots of arms :D

D

[Samantha]

come on i wantto see more and more stuff ...

[Psychotrope]

so that's pretty much a gigantic bag of amazing.
Especially that gorgon...though it's creepy. o.o they lost some of that in the game. You know, in the intense must-kill zone, there wasn't any time to admire that smile =P

/clap

[crimsonutterfly]

no words needed *_*

i shall build you a shrine *goes to collect pebbles and bricks*

[schlichte]

great stuff man, schweet demo at the workshop, simple and to the point thanks

[Secret Sun]

Great work for a great game!

[Salvo]

Diggin it all, amazing brush skills, love how polished but yet concept like these are, nicely done!

[Dynamike]

This game is awesome. Great art!!!

[nutkin]

Fantastic work, i really enjoy your bold use of light and depth. the pieces really feel alive.

[charliewen]

Here are just a few of the first Ares images I did for GOW 1-- I ended up giving him 4 arms in the back, where he could use to attack and walk with---only because we couldn't technically get the preferred options to work.

[charliewen]

Here are a few explorations done for the big boss, Clotho, the last of the 3 Sisters of Fate in GOW 2.

[nonie]

Wow, nice work, man :) I like the two grunt variations with the same body... Very cool anatomy on those.

[RipNroaR]

I have seen this game many times but never played it, now I got to get that game, I'm sold!!!! Curse your talents....

[wilson jr]

Thanks, guys!!
Banhatin---hehe--- I don't think Andy'll mind, but he's actually Korean:]

Andy--- yup, I miss those days! We didn't make nearly enough noise!

Chuck,mate-- I wasn't actually trying to make it muddy, ;] but I was trying to
keep the palettes warm, muted, and limited to give more mood.

Wilsonjr--- which image were you meaning?

Ciao!

the your first post.!!!!!!!!

[JustinBeckett]

Syyyycckkk.

[Ryan DeMita]

some sick ca going down here. i love the last design with a shit ton of apendages everywhere. the storm god is awesome as well. very cool work man. are you going to be at the worshop in seattle?

-ryan

[hawkprey]

Kickass man. Your demo was incredible as well.........

I have been painting with a wide blurry brush all week because of you......aahahha.

[charliewen]

Thanks, guys!
Ryan, I won't be able to make it to the workshop in Seattle this time--- I'll still be away for Christmas break.

Hawkprey,
hahaha--- it was great to meet up at the workshop! Hope we'll get to work on something together in the future.

[FlameDragon]

Outstanding stuff!

[Giorge]

What could i say that it hasn't bean said about this game and his concepts, its simply great , to bad there is no PC version , but i guess it wold be hard to control . anyways i spent a lot of time studying them and i think i will spend more , can't wait to see what your mind spawn's next.

[Lazarous]

I agree with Bomba, these are executed to a good point. I wonder how fast these are actually done. Though a couple of them look a little more like advertising pieces rather then just concept works.
Nice job!

[TARGETE]

Damn I missed this post,

Great work Charlie your attention to anatomy and structure are solid. One question though why did it take ya so long to post here? :)

Now we will be expecting you to post as musch as possible .

great stuff man!

JP

[Karonno]

Love the work. Too bad you couldn't feature Perseus in the God of War game.

[stalsby]

Really epic work here! Nice figures as well!

[Dorkthrone]

Thanks for possibly permanently seperating my jaw with the rest of my head. I hope you're happy, charliewen!

Seriously though, these pictures are a big chain reaction of awesome.

[mysteryofalbesila]

great

[SugaCrcl]

I thought the silkworm design approach for Clothos was on point. Lachesis looked great, and Atropos looked damn scary; their designs looked awesome as well. Great stuff, I love the GoW games! Have you considered using the Furies in GoW games? They are "punishment deities" in Greek mythology. Before GoW2 came out, I expected to see the Furies since Kratos killed his family.

[FIG]

Beautiful work, stunning attention to detail on all the illustrations.

[aka_sova]

very professional work. On the first picture the chest of the man is bended some unrealistic O_o

[FrankForte]

Great rendering. Nice creatures. Creepy stuff.

[danieligarza]

I stared stupid-faced during entire MINUTES! looking at your Minotaur and Medusa. You're a twisted minded, man! Congratulations for your work; seriously.

[rohopnolgodbo6]

Crazy, barbaric brush, rough skills. Power of the god of war to the artists!

[Chibihomey]

Awsome work, good luck with Thunder Cats

[ozan]

jaw droppers, all of them.

Thanks for sharring!!!

[Nubb]

Excellent work! Great characters. I like that searching for GOW style and defining it. Great stuff again.

[iven]

Hi buddy so I LOOOVE this game (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMk3LPwFAPY), and I would love to create designs/ animations for games.
But I think I would more draw for a cartoonish game like Psyconauts. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=md_8uDtbffQ)
I am pretty new to realistic drawing, so that's why I am here I need to improve.

DO you have any advice for me if I would like to draw for a guy like tim schaefer !

[Lazarous]

May I ask what the measurements and resolution you usually use, and is it CMYK or RGB? I'm looking to do high quality prints and I'm still trying to figure out what good measurements and resolutions are for larger detailed prints. Maybe about 36+ inch width. What size do you usually work in?

Thanks a lot and awesome work!