The Download Munkey : Tracking the Treasure Down …

Concepts from the canned guerilla-inspired console game Revolution by Concrete Games which was a subsidiary of THQ until it was closed down in January last year. First read about this game from Joshua James Shaw’s blog where he showcases artwork done for the game together with his personal portfolio.

© Concrete Games / THQ

Reminiscent of games like PopTop’s sunny dictatorial sim Tropico and of course, Avalanche Studios’ Just Cause, Revolution is set similiarly in a tropical country governed by a highly decorated dictator and his oppressive military regime.

© Concrete Games / THQ

Of course, a game with a title like Revolution would be incomplete with the rebels – some are depicted here wearing military fatigues emblazoned with the Marxist red star or with caps in the style of Fidel Castro’s. Surprisingly, there’s no depiction of the rebels wearing Che Guevara’s famous beret, given that the iconic mugshot of Fidel’s comrade is plastered on countless T-shirts worldwide in real life.

© Concrete Games / THQ

I like this piece highlighting the contrasting appearance of two very different warlords – the one on the left with his two henchmen wearing sneakers and sunglasses probably hail from a large town or city whereas the other is dressed like a fighter based in a rural town or in the jungle with a more practical and longer ranged rifle slung on his back. Both do wear extravagant accessories, probably to set them apart from their followers.

© Concrete Games / THQ

The Watch-Dogs – looks like to be a well-equipped CIA paramilitary types (see these photos of Hot Toys’ 1/6th CIA Commando) or simply mercenaries.

© Concrete Games / THQ

Another set of miscellaneous concepts – a Roman Catholic cardinal with the scarlet zurchetto and black cassock, a heavy armoured SWAT-style trooper and a machete-wielding cowboy(?).

© Concrete Games / THQ

For those who can’t get enough of the artwork for Revolution, Unseen 64 has a great selection of concepts done by other artists for the game, including this unequal faceoff between a fearless protester and a entire squad of riot police supported by an armoured car and snipers on the rooftops.

© Concrete Games / THQ

Goverment tanks and artillery securing the entrances to the airport.

© Concrete Games / THQ

The same airport up in flames after rebel “liberation”.

© Concrete Games / THQ

More concepts from the Unseen 64 gallery.

© Concrete Games / THQ

Mother’s Mercy – A heavily adorned rebel M1A rifle modified with a carrying handle. Comes with rusty bayonet (or is that dried blood on the blade?)

View more of these concepts for Revolution at Joshua James Shaw’s blog and at Unseen 64 (Part I and Part II).

MORE @ THE DOWNLOAD MUNKEY:
Concepts & Wallpapers from Iron Grip : Warlord
Waltz With Bashir – Award-winning Animated Documentary
Modernized M14 Rifles
A Second Look @ Jagged Alliance 2 Mod 1.13 v 1.0.0.687

Caught the website for The Art of Games off Kekai Kotaki’s blog (he’s the concept art lead for ArenaNet’s Guild Wars 2). This Italian exhibition showcases 14 artists, some whose artwork will be instantly recognizable to gamers. Perhaps you’ll even discover the names behind some of your favourite concept art like I did

Well-known artists like Craig Mullins have been delivering quality concept art for computer games for years – The Art of Games showcases his more recent work for Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties and the iconic Master Chief from Bungie’s Halo – but I have seen some of his fantastic stuff for the Myth series (also by Bungie) published a decade back.

While many of these artists have been featured on the web through art and occassionally, game magazines, there’s a couple of artists who are entirely new to me (or I haven’t been looking hard enough). One is Alessandro Taini who is the artist behind several gorgeous concepts of the fiery redhead Nariko from Ninja Theory’s Heavenly Sword and the other is Jim Murray – I’m not too sure which games some of his artworks were commissioned for, but it’s all good

And of course you shouldn’t miss out on Kekai Kotaki’s incredible fantasy art and character designs at the The Art of Games and his own site at www.kekaiart.com – especially if you’re a fan of Guild Wars 2’s character designs.

For those who like to collect digital art, check out the press kit (look under About > Press Kit). There’s a trio of works from the press kit that I like a lot – Craig Mullins’ Master Chief, Stephen Martiniere’s Spring (apparently a book cover) and this artwork titled MEDIUM_Armor_F.tif (absolutely no idea by which artist or for which game – sorry!).

© Craig Mullins

© Stephen Martiniere

It’s not often that you encounter exhibitions that celebrate the art of computer games yet it’s surprising that they don’t seem to receive much attention through the mainstream gaming press. Really strange since the graphical and visual aspects of games nowadays are often their main selling points.

Check out the The Art of Games. The website is available in English, French and Italian.

MORE @ THE DOWNLOAD MUNKEY:
Into the Pixel 2006 – Computer and Video Game Art Exhibition
Age of Empires III : The Asian Dynasties Wallpapers
John Wallin Liberto’s WWII Military Aviation Art
The Art of Phil Wohr – Halo Wars & More!
startdrawing.org – Asia’s Drawing Portal

Found Phil Wohr’s blog by chance from the blogroll of one of his fellow concept artists (only problem is I can’t remember whose blog that was ). A concept artist for Ensemble Studios until it disbanded early this year, Phil did some of the concepts for the Xbox 360 RTS Halo Wars, some of them which can found in the Concept Art gallery in the official Halo Wars website.

© Ensemble Studios / Microsoft

For me, I enjoy his personal portfolio a lot more than his Halo Wars stuff (I’m not a very big fan of Master Chief or the Halo universe), of Kaylyn the Patron Saint with that dangerous-looking hammer and Cujo with a helmet painted to resemble a snarling wolf. View these two paintings at their original size here.

© Phil Wohr

A varied selection of fantasy, sci-fi character designs and environmental design works from his portfolio below.

© Phil Wohr

And saving the best for last, this couple of recently posted artworks Pilgrimage Through the Portals of the Lost and Apocalypse Rider were for CGHUB’s Natives of the Lifeless Forest and Drawing Jam #9 Mount em’ Up! challenges respectively. And yeah, the ominous Apocalypse Rider won Drawing Jam #9

© Phil Wohr

Phil mentions on his CGHUB profile that one of his previous projects is Gearbox Software’s upcoming Borderlands. Hopefully we’ll see some stuff for that game at his blog or CGHUB gallery soon enough

Check out his blog Art of Phil Wohr or his CGHUB gallery for more of his stunning art.

MORE @ THE DOWNLOAD MUNKEY:
My Favourite Dominance War III Wallpapers
Favourite Illustrators of Warhammer 40,000 (VII) – Nacho Fernandez (nachomon)
Dan LuVisi’s Portraits of Movie Characters & More!
My Favourite Pepper Project Entries
Kai (Ukitakumuki) – Concept Art for Nuclear Dawn and More!

Drawspace.com was founded by Brenda Hoddinott, author of Drawing for Dummies and The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Drawing People Illustrated and hosts free drawing lessons covering basic to advanced topics, jointly developed by Brenda herself and a team of Drawspace.com instructors.

© Drawspace.com

Lesson F10 – Serene Scene under Hatching category

By registering for a free account, visitors get to view all available lessons online and learn how to draw by following the clearly illustrated (pun intended) instructions. Just don’t expect these lessons to be a miracle for obtaining impressive drawing skills Drawing, like any other skill, requires lots of constant practice to develop and perfect, but these online lessons from Drawspace.com (and plenty of time for practice) should significantly ease the journey

© Drawspace.com

Lesson I8 – Tuttle Turtle under the Cartoons and Critters category

If you crave the convenience of viewing these lessons offline or printing them out for handy reference, you can opt for quarterly or lifetime subscriptions for Drawspace.com at 25 or 125 USD which allows you to download high resolution PDF versions of each lesson as well as any future additions to the regularly updated collection of lessons during your subscription period.

Start drawing at Drawspace.com today

MORE @ THE DOWNLOAD MUNKEY:
Fun Drawing Tools For The Masses
Artzmania – Free Arts E-Mag
Discovering More Art With 2DArtist Magazine
Create Your Own Graffiti Masterpiece with Graffiti Studio 2.0

© Tham Hoi Mun

First encountered Malaysian artist Tham Hoi Mun’s (aka NuMioH at deviantART) artworks though his Dominance War III entry Garabath – a alien mechanical hybrid bristling with spikes from head to toe and looking awesomely badass. If Garabath’s isn’t awe-inspiring enough for you, the wispy, smoky Cursed Soul of Garabath should do the trick:)

© Tham Hoi Mun

More ominous half-alien, half-machine entities await at his deviantART gallery including a lethal chainsaw chopper (above) and a couple of Japanese-inspired mecha designs (no, not Gundam ) – Ameterasu and the lion masked, ebony-armoured Bishamon.

© Tham Hoi Mun

A couple of my favourite mecha designs by Hoi Mun. Menacing, aggressive and bloody red stuff

© Tham Hoi Mun

Not every mecha in his gallery is mean and spiky though, there’s Zierneth (below), one fine example of his sleeker and more streamlined designs.

© Tham Hoi Mun

© Tham Hoi Mun

Besides the mechanical designs and illustrations, there’s the more organic, fantasy stuff like this an fearsome undead king wielding a murderously huge mace, a mantis warrior as well as a well-fed zombie (finally a zombie who doesn’t look like a walking sack of bones )

© Tham Hoi Mun

Check out other artworks in Tham Hoi Mun’s portfolio at their original high-res glory at numioh.deviantart.com. Alternatively, visit his blog More Ink Please where he posts doodles and sketches on top of his usual works at deviantART.

MORE @ THE DOWNLOAD MUNKEY:
My Favourite Dominance War III Wallpapers
Awesome Gundam Renders by Ivan Sanchez
Titans of Steel – Warring Suns (Freeware Mecha Wargame)
Keith Thompson – Macabre Mecha Designer