Steph's Brain Farts (NSFW): 11/17 - Creatures and CTN

[Steph Laberis]

purb36: They be here on my blog!

[Steph Laberis]

Hoofa! Took a vacation within my vacation this week and spent a weekend in Chicago en route to Boston. In addition to catching some gallery openings and meeting Shawn Smith, I spent some time at the zoo and drew its happy residents, as well as my Dad's dog on a placemat from a Chinese restaurant!

[Scotty]

Hehe..."too horsey".
Fun stuff Steph.

[Steph Laberis]

Scotty: Thanks dude We're our own worse critics.

Almost forgot to add this! My sweetie happens to be a video game programmer and for my birthday last month, he nabbed a bunch of my artwork from online, chopped it up and created a side-scroller game using his own engine. He just recently published the first level online (though the music and SFX haven't been added yet but he will be composing his own music for the game!) and I invite you all to take a look!

In my beau's words:

Steph in Dreamland is a neat little platformer game about a girl trying to find her way through the dreamscape of her mind. It's based on the artwork of Steph Laberis and, to be perfectly honest, started as an attempt to win her heart. I'm not a great musician and I'm not an artist by any means, but I can make games! I was inspired by her artwork and thought to myself "hey, I could do something really neat with this!" I decided to give it a try and make a game so, with her permission, I proceeded to hack and chop up her pieces (tastefully) so they could be used in the context of a video game. I enlisted the help of my good friend Mark Sottilaro for the player animations and slammed out a ton of code.

This project, which started out as a wooing of sorts, turned into something much bigger. I was determined to make it into a "real" game, make it fun, and try to have something very positive to show. It's still not done, but the major components are there and the first level is not only playable, it's fun. That's the key.

Now it's time for me to move on to other projects and let this one rest for a bit. I'll come back to it soon enough. In the mean time, I post it here for the world to see. Happy birthday, Steph.

Click here to download Level One to play!!

I have a few more self po' doodles to scan in from over the last few months and hopefully I'll get the clearance to post my Little Big Planet artwork soon! Cheers!

[Not_Deadman]

Damn, your lines and style are awesome! Really love the cows!

[Steph Laberis]

Not_Deadman: Thanks dude!

Ok, can finally show some of the sticker sets for LBP. If any of you have the game, go on and git 'em! I have a few more on the way in the months to come

These were more fun to make than anything has a right to be.

[juicy]

nice updates!

[Hungry_Wombat]

kudos on the stickers, I love that game.

[mike butkus]

Wonderful drawings and a great imagination!

[Alm0st]

Hey Steph probably you don't remember me, but you left quite an impression on me from the wondercon a while back. Just dropping a line to see how you doing?

-Frank

ps. nice stickers!

[tandy1000]

I'm loving these . Thank you for posting your works and progress shots.

[Steph Laberis]

tandy1000 Thank you!
Alm0st Hey Frank! Yes, I do remember you and thank you for the kind words I am 50/50 about attending SDCC for a number of reasons, but as soon as I have a clear picture of what I am doing, I will update here!
mike butkus Thank you very much!
Hungry_Wombat Thanks! I'm in LBP withdrawal, I don't have my PS3 on vacation here >_<
juicy Thanks!

Just a quickie - went to the Aquarium with Texahol today and tried out my new Fabriano sketchbook with my brush pen. Me likey! Also some old self po's from the Holidays and a doodle of me and the boy on what I assume is a windy day.

[Texahol]

woooo I had a great time today those penguins with their projectile poop was hillariouuuuuus

Next time your out on the east coast, we should take a fullllllll sketching day...is there a zoo or museum of natural history around the boston area??

[Steph Laberis]

Tex: Aye, we do need a full sketch day! It was truly awesome to reconnect with you over jet propelled bird feces and dead crustaceans. I will let you know when I am next up north, prolly in the fall!

A quickie interview that Axiotron posted on youtube, didn't know it was on there. It prolly speaks for itself. And you are allowed to make fun of my presentation skillz. You guys who are on my facebook have already seen this, so move along plz.

[Mischeviouslittleelf]

Hey Steph! Awesome stuff as usual! Loving the sketches I love the penguins^^ And just a little side note on the vid: Like you know like like like you know...ahm you know hihihi yu americeins eind jyr oeeerd oeis

E

[blankslatejoe]

hey steph -- how have you been? Those self portraits and the penguins are pretty awesome. For the penguins, were you using colored pencil to get the white on top of the brushpen?

[Scotty]

Hey Steph!

Neat interview, you really seemed down to earth, which is cool. You didn't come of all high on yourself at all. (like a lot of artists do) I got from that vid that you put a lot of yourself into your work, both mentally and emotionally...and that's pretty cool. (I can relate to that)

Great work again Steph, love your style.

[llex_paul]

you have a verrrry good line, in special the older posts

[AvisNocturna]

wow, I' really diggin your animal drawings, awesome work!

[Steph Laberis]

AvisNocturna Thank you very much!

llex_paul Thank you, with all the vectoring I do it's nice to know my lines haven't gone to total crap

Scotty Scotty!! Thanks dude, I was nervous as hell but I'm glad I didn't give any bad impressions. What pieces of your own work have you really put yourself into in the way you had mentioned?

blankslatejoe Hey Joe! Still rockin' Boston? I actually cheated with the penguins and used PS for those whites since I forgot my white pencil that day.

Mischeviouslittleelf Hahaha, yes, I am indeed a high-strung American

Just a little ker-plop and a nod to you Insect Battle veterans out there... these were released to an App on facebook this week. > I've worked out a really quick formula for texturing and coloring these guys and it did the job when I had to do like 30 creatures like this.

[Felicia]

The insects are very cool!

[MacTire]

Awesome stuff Steph!! I had seen the stickers popping up here and there on LittleBigPlanet!! Never realised you had made them, awesome work!!
Liking the animal studies too!
Keep up the good work!!

[Scotty]

Originally Posted by Steph Laberis

Scotty!! Thanks dude, I was nervous as hell but I'm glad I didn't give any bad impressions. What pieces of your own work have you really put yourself into in the way you had mentioned?

Well, definitely the sculpture I just had made into a kit. Growing up I had a rough childhood, and I find myself drawing from how a child has to deal with growing up faster than they should have to, dealing with things that are so much bigger than they are as they are thrust into situations beyond their young years. I somehow held onto the imagination I had as a kid, definitely making lemonade out of lemons.
I've been starting to paint lately, very therapeutic, and I had no idea how fun it could be either.
I put a lot of my emotions into my writing as well, probably more than anything.
Thanks for asking, hopefully that all makes some kind of sense.

Take care Steph.

[Steph Laberis]

Felicia: Thank you!

MacTire: Thanks dude! Glad you dug the LBP stuff!

Scott:

Well, definitely the sculpture I just had made into a kit. Growing up I had a rough childhood, and I find myself drawing from how a child has to deal with growing up faster than they should have to, dealing with things that are so much bigger than they are as they are thrust into situations beyond their young years.

It makes total sense to me. I also came out of a broken home and I admire you for channeling that sort of primal fear and frustration into your work. I have been sitting on a comic idea about my family's, well, break-up for the last 2 years but I find it's terribly easy for me to be talked out of doing really emotional projects, either by yourself or by other people. Now you've got me thinking about it again though, so that's worth something... thank you

Speaking of emotionless projects... ^_~ This is a quickie commission for a friend of the family who is getting married next month. She's a tango dancer and he scrapes tartar off of teeth. Could there be a better match? They don't think so!

I have mixed feelings about how this came out, the characters read as flat to me but this had some odd challenges to it. First, I never met the couple before and used photos and descriptions of their personalities. Second, the couple is in their 50's so I had to be sensitive about not making them look too old while not belittling them by making them appear in their teens. Third, it's a wedding gift, so I can't be all crass and exaggerate boobs and butts and use really wild curves like I normally do with my style. Just the same, the client is happy and hopefully the happy couple will be too once they see it. I like the palette at least!

[OmertA]

Hello Steph
You have such an inspiring sketchbook here.
The style you have developed is so unique and all your own!
Its always nice seeing fresh work
Keep having fun drawing and painting -Omerta

[Texahol]

iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinsetco battluuuuuuuuuu!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Scotty]

Originally Posted by Steph Laberis

Scott:

It makes total sense to me. I also came out of a broken home and I admire you for channeling that sort of primal fear and frustration into your work. I have been sitting on a comic idea about my family's, well, break-up for the last 2 years but I find it's terribly easy for me to be talked out of doing really emotional projects, either by yourself or by other people. Now you've got me thinking about it again though, so that's worth something... thank you

Thanks Steph, it is difficult to face negative past experiences and turn them around to use them positively, but I feel it's worth it when you're ready. I appreciate your understanding, and take it as a boost for myself as well.
You do great work, you've definitely found your style, and it's fun and uplifting to those around you (I may even get you to draw up my Kalem and Absalon characters in your style sometime, would love to see them in your style)...now keep it up, and get that job at Pixar one day.

[Steph Laberis]

Scott: I would love to draw up your characters! Would you be willing to sculpt one of mine sometime? ^_^ Thank you for your ongoing support, it keeps my chin up. Had a minor setback this month career-wise (hello FUNemployment!) but trying to make do and reinvent myself slowly

Texahol GANBATTE!!!!

OmertA Thank you very much!

Nothing amazing to post in my absence, just a piece I did for my friend's Chrono Trigger remix CD (which he is almost sold out of, go Mustin!), a set of Ghostbusters stickers for Little Big Planet, some fishie studies from The Academy of Sciences, life drawing studies (this is the first I've done in a year and a half, I am incredibly out of shape, PLEASE help me out with some crits!!!) and some studies of my Dad and his dog for an upcoming piece for the Purcasso fund raiser in November.

More to come in a week or so when I have to have my shit together for APE.

Thank you for looking, always!

[Texahol]

eeeeeeeee glad to see you posting here again!
Hope the last month hasn't been too terrible D:

your CT illo makes me want to play CT alll over again

and those ghostbusters stickers came out really great!

[heix33]

nice sketchbook, your animals and birds are awesome, keep it up.