Mission 2 "Flight to Freedom" launches TODAY!

For most of 2011 I've been working on Mission 2: "Flight to Freedom" and I'm so excited that it's finally out and just in time for Black History month in February! I'm eager to hear the reception among teachers and students. EFS has done some awesome things in this Mission in terms of game design, introducing things such as the escape map sequence and interface, side scrolling scenes, 3D animation sequences, game badges and smart word integration to communicate the issue of literacy in slave communities.

As a game artist I tackled some new challenges with this project. The background scenes and interactive environments that I had to create were of a larger scale to allow for side scrolling and a more immersive environment. As always, the character design and environment artwork required some thorough historical research to ensure the historical accuracy as it relates to the costume design, architectural details and objects. Where Mission 1 took place in Boston in 1770's America, Mission 2 takes place around Kentucky and Ohio in 1850's America around the time of the Fugitive Slave act. So the date required a whole new set of historical research.

Mission 2 has you in the role of Lucy, a 14 year old slave girl in a hemp plantation near Lexington, Kentucky around the late 1840's - 1850's. You are acquainted with slave life on a plantation and what it meant to be a young slave. Things happen that force you to run away and you realize that running away is a huge risk and takes a lot of courage and intelligence. You have to learn who to trust and to either stay out of trouble or be part of the resistance.

Mission 2 has a really exciting narrative and doesn't sugar coat life for a slave. I hope the kids take away a more thorough understanding of the complexities of slave life and the political climate of the time through this game.

My hats off to the New York teams at EFS who developed the game, THIRTEEN who produced the game in association with WNET, and our historians at ASHP for the work they've done on this mission.

Read the announcement on THIRTEEN here.

Luminarium Illustrations

This post is long overdue but after a few months I finally got my copy of Luminarium! This year I had the fortune of working again with Alex Shakar. I met Alex through my friends at EFS. Early this year he contacted me to develop his website just in time for the launch of his new novel, Luminarium, in August. The website turned out well and Alex has been blogging while on his book tour to keep us all up-to-date on his happenings.

What I may have briefly mentioned is that I began working with Alex not on his website but on his recent novel Luminarium when it was in it's post-writing, near-publication days. Back in 2009, while in the studio at EFS he approached my desk and asked if I did any illustration work and if I would be interested in doing some illustrations for his novel. I was shocked that he thought to ask me (I'm sure DL/SG at EFS had something to do with it) and I was honoured and excited!

I didn't know much about Alex's work but he outlined the novel and the themes within and his vision for the illustrations which would mark each of the chapters in his book. He wanted simple illustrations that mimicked icons on a computer desktop. They were to be small and minimalistic but easily identifiable. They were to be straight up black and white or at the most with slight gradations of grey.

This first project with Alex was an eye-opener for me as it allowed me to really focus on an idea and simplify it in an illustration. As always, Alex was great to work with and I've fulfilled a (silly... or not so silly now) dream of seeing my name in print and my work published. It was the start of more things to come. Those same icon illustrations appear in the intro sequence to his website.

If you haven't read any of Alex's work, take a look at his website and his works in particular. His writing has received great critical acclaim and Luminarium has been named one of the best novels of 2011 by several publications and editors. I strongly suggest you read Luminarium! The story struck a chord with me and it explores some interesting philosophical and spiritual ideas without losing its heart.

Congratulations to Alex Shakar and best wishes!

Wow.

You can finally get the music here : http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/color-in-your-hands-ep/id425346042 ----- Wall painting by Supakitch and Koralie at the VÄRLDSKULTUR MUSEET GÖTEBORG / SWEDEN With the support of POSCA www.supakitch.com & www.koralie.net ----- Video by elroy : www.elroy.fr ----- Music by DLid (quatre rec. / Leonizer) : www.myspace.com/dicklaurentisdead ----- http://metroplastique.com - Collection Grand Cru available on October 1st CHECK ALL METROPLASTIQUE UPDATES ON THE FACEBOOK PAGE : http://www.facebook.com/metroplastique#!/pages/METROPLASTIQUE/172834136271?v=wall&ref=ts ----- ----- SUPAKITCH, KORALIE, ELROY & DLiD are represented by OneLouder. agency http://onelouderagency.com/ ----- -----

I came across this while reading one of my favorite artist's blogs, Eliza Mazzone, and I just had to share. This is incredible video of artists SupaKitch and Koralie at work on a large wall piece. I think it is absolutely stunning and you can see from the video just how intricate their work is. It's work like this that inspires me to create and get back to my art. Graphic design work is wonderful, but there's something about drawing/painting that is magical.

SUPAKITCH & KORALIE - VÄRLDSKULTUR MUSEET GÖTEBORG from elr°y on Vimeo.

Mission US: Mission 1 Full Launch

I've taken a bit of a hiatus the last couple of months to focus on non-work related things. So this is a bit delayed but important nonetheless...

Mission US has officially launched nationwide (in the US)! It's a project that I've been enthusiastically working on through EFS as creative director and lead artist and I'm thrilled everyone gets to see it. When we first tested it in schools I got to see first hand how the kids reacted and they were so excited learning history in this way. It made me feel honoured to have worked on this project. I think Mission US is revolutionizing the way our kids learn in schools.

Check it out! http://www.mission-us.org/

Download the game and try it out, or explore the website! Even if you're not an American middle-schooler :)

Now that Mission 1 is fully launched we are working on Mission 2 and though I can't say much about it, what I can say is that I'm very excited as we've already started art production for our characters and locations!

After my hiatus, I'm back to full on work mode and there will be more coming...

"The One That Got Away"

I've always loved art as a means of expressing oneself and evoking an emotional response. In Art school I focused a lot of my work on self-portraits and photographs. I was always interested in the human condition and our emotional capacity. Today I stumbled across this online photo exhibit entitled "The One That Got Away". The images are captivating and emotionally provoking. If you're at all into photography, and especially portrait photography, take a look! Pictory: The One That Got Away