The Tribe Game release!

For quite a while we have been working on game art for The Tribe Game and it has been released!

As good professionals we didn’t break the NDAs and it feels so good to finally be able to share the news!

Take a look at the official post and details✨ From the “The Tribe” website:

“The Tribe Game is a story-driven video game where the player gets to create their own custom character and step into the world of The Tribe. In this RPG (role-playing game) they will interact with many iconic characters and explore familiar places from The Tribe TV series. There are quests to be accomplished, profession skills to level up, items and resources to be found, battles to be won, and adventures to unfold… as the player tries to survive in a post-apocalyptic world and to keep their (and their tribe’s) dreams alive.”

Check out the cinematic opening from The Tribe official website

We’ll soon write more about the wonderful experience of making game art for The Tribe Game!

★Stay inspired★

Grandia, StarTwo style!

It’s a joyous day for any Japanese rpg aficionado! One of the most beloved titles from the 90’s era named Grandia, together with its first sequel, Grandia II, gets an HD release today.

Oh Grandia, how long has it been? Our nostalgia filled souls already have your soundtrack blaring for all to hear (well, not on the stereo because it’s still daytime… we’re respectful neighbors) and we celebrate by drawing your sweet, memorable characters!
This game might not be the best jrpg out there, the plot is quite simplistic and the most demanding rpg gourmand among us might quickly decide to snub it, however, for us two, it was a hit straight to our gamer hearts.

Without geeking out too much, here’s what we believe the game offers very, very well:

• An awesome combination of medias: engaging story that keeps you moving forward, fun game mechanics, great music evoking the feeling of exploration.

• The feeling that you’re truly going on an adventure and on the search of an ancient civilization.

• Well written characters that are equally appealing visually, with their looks perfectly representing their roles and personality.

On our image, from left to right we got Justin, a troublemaker of a kid, dreaming of becoming an adventurer and honor the legacy of his ancestors, Sue, the cutest girl in town, but with wits and attitude to match and Feena, an adventurer from the New World, with a few well kept secrets. And there’s also Puffy in accessory mode on Sue’s head.
And now we get to travel by their side once again, on their quest to reach The End Of The World and maybe, even go beyond it because as we know, the World never ends and neither do adventures.

Charming, delightful, a bit frustrating at times but very well paced, Grandia is the perfect treat for this weekend. Hurray!

★Stay inspired everyone!★

Zelda, Chinese Zodiac and Yamakujira

Why is Ganon a boar? (and a great bore…)

February is almost at its end, but we got ourselves eleven more months of the Year of the Pig! So, what better way to say goodbye to this month than with Ganon Boar, especially when the game franchise he comes from, The Legend of Zelda, just had its 33th birthday yesterday!
Fine, we admit it, we always jump on any given opportunity to draw Zelda characters and lately the game and lore has grown immensely, with intricate designs and a timeline capable of making Sherlock Holmes lose a few nights trying to piece it together.

Thus, we went back to nostalgic, simpler times, and drew the character trinity that these games revolve around: Zelda, Link and Ganon.
Each one represents an archetype of sorts: Zelda is Wisdom, Link is Courage and Ganon is Power.

This got us thinking… while the forms associated with Wisdom and Courage are easily perceived, why did Power get a pig shape?
Our answer is laying within Japanese culture and mythology. The Chinese Zodiac is said to have been introduced in Japan in 604 A.D. and the Japanese boar became part of it as Yamakujira meaning “the mountain whale”.
The boar is considered a fearsome and dangerous animal and there are several words and expressions in Japanese culture referring to boars. It is also linked to fertility, recklessness, prosperity and yes, power. Killing a boar is also seen as a way of proving one’s courage and that is Link’s destiny: to build his Courage and take down Ganon, the embodiment of Power.
Therefore, the boar is a very important symbol, appearing in all sorts of art forms like sculpture, poetry and even card games like hanafuda.

What a marvelous lesson we learned! Nothing comes from nothing and what seemed to be just a game developer’s fancy to us, turned out to be an homage to his own country’s rich culture. We humbly strive to follow this path and become inspired by our own country’s folklore.

Hope you enjoyed reading this as much as we had fun drawing and researching the role of pigs in Japan culture. See you next week and like always,

*Have a great weekend and stay inspired *

The birth of a new obsession & step by step!

Howdy everyone!

Posting regularly is really not an easy feat, good thing we’re two right? Welp…
We’re forever busy handling comics and illustrations that we hope to share with you as soon as we get the a-ok from our clients and in the meanwhile we’ll try to drop by more often with our silly ramblings, doodles and whatnots.

As much as we love videogames we sadly don’t have the time to play them as much as before (howling sigh) and there’s so many hot titles coming out…one of them being FF XV.
We’re not exactly fans of the new titles of the franchise (snes die hard fans forever! Woo!) but what are two girls to do about part of the cast… well.. ahem. Do expect a bit of male fanservice here and there from now on. (Persona 5 is also on the way so… yeah… more fanservice)

♥ Please make sure to click on the image for the Full Size! ♥

 

But let’s go back to the title of this post and share with you a quick step by step example of what we do with an image.
Step 1: Sketched some characters (in this case a rather fed up Gladiolus and an overjoyed Prompto)
Step 2: Scanned our image and fixed what needed fixing in our software of choice. In this case we cleaned up some of the lines and drew some things better.
Step 2b: Dropped some basic colours on top focusing on not overwhelming the sketch (also we were taking a tea break so we didnt have the time to go overboard)
Step 3: Played with crop, contrast and brightness, slapped a texture on top and our logo fully knowing that although this sketch is done, our fawning over these handsome guys is just beginning…

And by the by, you can also check the final image solo on our instagram so give us a visit there whenever you like!

Ah… endorphin levels are up so back to work we go! See you all soon(er)!!

Zelda longings

You forgot about my hair clips but that’s ok

Zelda’s Breath of the Wild is out and we got no chance of playing it :'(
Nevertheless, we’ll lust after the character designs whenever we can. This one was made months ago when the first images of Zelda got released. Her design is so adorable and we wonder if you can keep her following you around forever and ever, like Marin did in Link’s Awakening.

At least for now we got A Link Between Worlds to keep us going and one day, someday, we’ll join the BOTW hype! *hopeful sighs issue*

All this to say we wished we could play more games but we can’t ahaha…. hah… that’s life for ya, right?