Metroid 1 creatures (upd2: Motherbrain!)

[Prometheus|ANJ]

I've always been amused by drawing characters from old videogames. I think it's interesting to translate the sprite design into something more artistic without deviating from the original design too much.

Below are some of the more recent Metroid 1 drawings/thumbnails I've made. I'm not sure how to finish these. I could use watercolors (cumbersome) or just speedcolor them in PS. Some of the designs are my own spin-off versions of the original ones. I've picked a 'semi-cute' style (somewhere between cute and realistic).

http://www.itchstudios.com/psg/metroid02/metroid.jpg
The Metroid was hard to translate into 3d (it's quite flat in the game). Took a lot of attempts before I came up with this more agressive look (one of the mandibles is skew, I know).

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http://www.itchstudios.com/psg/metroid02/hopper.jpg
This is my one of my many versions of the sidehopper/dessgeega.

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http://www.itchstudios.com/psg/metroid02/crab.jpg
This grablike thing (Geruta?) is found in the 'bubbleworld'. I've stayed pretty close to the original design.

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http://www.itchstudios.com/psg/metroid02/various.jpg
Left: A new version of the crab thing. Right: Some ground crawling critter of my own.

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http://www.itchstudios.com/psg/metroid02/various5.jpg
Left: Older drawing of the furry ground crawler in the bubble world. Top: Memu? Mid: Some fly. Right: Another crab thing.

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http://www.itchstudios.com/psg/metroid02/kraid.jpg
I gave my Kraid version a godzilla jaw, cuz I fancy those.



More fuzzy thumbnails here:
http://www.itchstudios.com/psg/metroidstuff.php

Anothe Metroid page here:
http://www.itchstudios.com/psg/gal_metroid.php

[feeb]

You have such an energy and grasp of character to your designs, prom. They're so solid, too... always an interesting pose/view, and always with a great center of gravity. Lineweight, etc... I'm a permanent fan of yours, hoss.

My fav is the Kraid / godzilla one. :D

[I.was.ink]

Those are awesome creatures. I have the new metroid games for game boy adnvanced and came cube. I could easily see those guys in the game, great job man. If you have the game you can also see these creatures as well, once you've scanned them.:)

[killersquirrelz]

Cool cool cool. I've checked out your metroid pics on your site before. These look fantastic!

More! I must see MORE!!!!

[I.was.ink]

Wow, I cannot believe how good of an artist you are. U are now officially one of my heroes. What is your artistic background? Neville and the other guy you metioned teach classes at art center don't they? do you attend their classes? I plan to go to Art Center. Any painting tips?

[Android]

Are you trying to muscle in on my teritory! he he:D


awesome work pro, you make me work so much harder on my metroid designs, I really appreciate it.

Android

[Prometheus|ANJ]

Thanks

feeb> Like I said on irc, it's something with thumbnails that makes the details variable. Once I start scaling them up they often end up looking too defined, especially when I ink. When I paint in PS I can vary hues atleast.

iwasink> Neville? Your second post was accidental right? I havent got a GC or GBA, mainly cuz I can't afford it. I'll check out the local toystore if they have a test machine tho.

killer> I got a ton more, but it's such a mess to scan. :G I just picked the ones in the 'recent' pile.

Android> Hehe, sorry bout that. Like I said to you earlier I am doing a metroid fan-game of my own, in JavaScript. But it's a really really simple rpg. Perhaps I should post the story here aswell. I dunno what nintendo's policy about non-commercial fan-games is tho.

[Prometheus|ANJ]

Colored some stuff in PS.

http://www.itchstudios.com/psg/metroid02/critter_c.jpg

http://www.itchstudios.com/psg/metroid02/various4c.jpg

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Here's a silly story synopsis I wrote some years ago:

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Intro:
Samus enter the SR system and set down on SR388. She sence a wierd force which guides her to an old robotic chozo head in the dust near the remains of a crashed ship. As she picks it up the head's eyes start glowing of red and tells her a story using telepathy. Closup on Samus´s eye.
Listen my child, hear my tale.

Chozo´s tale:
The Chozos were once a peaceful people. Our civilisation flourished. All this came to an end when Horus appeared. It was not until he unleashed a horde of his biological experiments we understood just what he was, the very evil incarnate. He betrayed and slaughtered millions as he drained the life out of our civlization.
Our prophets saw a young hero destroying Horus and his vile creatures in a vision. Then a chozo named Nagaaran appeared, he was young and foolish back then as he thought he was The One. However, he managed to fool Horus and trap him in a vault on a nearby planet. But we stood helpless and watched the Metroids consume our civilization and after a few years of hopeless resistance the Chozos had perished.

Thousands of years later a team of sciencetists and explorers landed on the planet you know as Zebes. They found the vault and Horus was released by misstake. He killed all of them but one young female called Bealana who was left barely alive. She would have died if It wasn´t for Nagaaran. He had suspended himself in a cryogenic state for all those years, as he knew that one day The One would appear. His blood strengthened Bealana and gave her new life.

Main:
The main story about Bealana and Nagaaran goes here. A pet named spook also appear.
They manage to destroy Horus but one Metroid escapes to SR388 and multiplies, or alternative sneak aboard Bealana´s ship.

Extro:
Bealana and Nagaaran realize that the Metroids are superior and they use their genetic codes to create a heiress to carry on the legacy and one day destroy the Metroids. They name her Samus Aran. Something goes wrong and they are forced to suicide crash into the Metroid colony on SR388, taking most of the Metroids with them, but they manage to send the 'womb pod' with Samus in it into space where is presumably is found later.

Closeup on Samus´s eye. A tear is rolling down her cheek. The head´s eyes goes dead. Samus realizes that the head is Nagaarans and she is The One.

The End

[Starknaaaked]

The color really makes all the difference...they are nice in pen....but with color on them (nice choice of it by the way)..really separates them from the drawings....keep coloring!

[sentient]

prom is my hero. awesome pics as usual :chug:

[Tedsuo]

Cool! I always liked the old metroid drawings on your site. They reminded me of the art in old Nintendo Power magazines.

The new stuff looks good too! When do you think you'll be finished with your game?

[I.was.ink]

Prometheus I love your site. I constantly go to it, to get inspired. I'm want to learn how to render like you. You and Sparth have a similar style. And I can't believe you do this in photoshop. Anyways, here's something that I did. Its just the head of some bot I sketched out. What am I doing wrong, that it doesn't look as detailed as yours? Am I not using the right color combinations? I like that paint dab technique you get. I can't get that. Can you tell me how? I would love it if you would copy my image and add those things I'm missing. Can u please help me out. Or if anyone knows how, can someone clue me in?

http://members.fortunecity.com/iwasink/bot.head.jpg
It looks okay, but not as good as prometheus" stuff!

*goes back to prometheus' website and tries to learn*

[Soupy]

DAMN!!:eek:
Prom, every time i look at ur posts, i always say to myself "damn i love this guys style!" Thx for posting.
Peace.:cool:

[N3W8I3]

hey how the hell do you get the colours so vividly... i love youre work dude, you gotta do a tutorialk on your patched shading method i would dearly love to try it!

[cimax]

...I asked you once,...to do more metroid fan art, because the stuff on your website rocked so hard...your color choice is terrific as always.
no crits from me only praises...


btw we should oc again someday...you learned me alot.

[N3W8I3]

hiya again .. just a suggestion but could we see some single piece work in progress images from ya? - just to see how youze does it! :beer:

[cimax]

check out his site, there are some tutorials if I remember that correctly...

I wouldn't mind a new one though :P

[Prometheus|ANJ]

Thanks for the comments! I finished some new things. I got some WIP images on the motherbrain (4 images) that I might upload if you like. I'm not sure if I'll finish the JS game, the things I got left to do is the art (sites and creatures/characters), battle system and layout.

As for the coloring technique: I use the paintbrush in PS on 50-100% opacity. Pressing alt will turn the brush into the colorpicker. Sometimes I use curves, color balance or replace color. When it's finished I use some unsharp mask.

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Motherbrain at 50% size, 1:1 cg size. I gave it a crab body to make it more mobile and fearsome.

http://www.itchstudios.com/psg/metroid02/motherbrain-c4.jpg

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Old acrylic version of the motherbrain.

http://www.itchstudios.com/psg/metroid/cmother.jpg

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Purple version of the round shelled thing.

http://www.itchstudios.com/psg/metroid02/various4c2.jpg

[McNallyism]

OOOoooooooooggg... Thats some beautiful work there. I am in awe of how you are able to bend photoshop to your will in creating painterly images. And, of course the designs themselves are great. That motherbrain is super-cool...

-Sean

[I.was.ink]

I love your take on motherbrain. That's cool how you gave it that crab body. I really liked that:) Awesome rendering. Can u please post the WIP of the motherbrain?:confused:

[Prometheus|ANJ]

http://www.itchstudios.com/psg/metroid02/motherbrain-c2.jpg

Here's a wip of the motherbrain as requested. I 'highlight' up one detail at a time. This is not a good way to work as the details/parts might separate too much from each other. It helps to provede a 'base color' such as the dark red I have on this image. If this design had other colors I would have given the base color some hue variation.
After having finished all individual parts I go over the entire image adding ambience and reflective colors (radiosity) to make it more uniform. Sometimes it helps using the color balance and stuff in PS, but that can also be dangerous. It's very hard to be objective about an image when ur working on it, especially when you finish them fast like I do with these. I use a cd as a mirror or look at them at a distance. I also try to walk away from them for about 10 minutes. Looking at other images might also be good, but I don't do that much.

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http://www.itchstudios.com/psg/metroid02/master-zeb-c4.jpg

This is a 'Boss version' of the Zeb (a horned flying guy in the first world, Brinstar). I enjoy making light, medium, heavy and boss versions of designs.