Mouse Playhouse
Created in Adobe Photoshop CC and 3DS Max 2017
Game Design by Tinkertainment (SMU Guildhall)
A poster-style painting done for the release of my boyfriend's capstone game (Mouse Playhouse) on Steam. Mouse Playhouse is a VR puzzle game in which the player guides a mouse over a series of obstacles to a block of cheese. The levels are composed of mundane objects such as alphabet blocks and wooden wedges, so I incorporated these into the poster design, along with a hat as a nod to one of the side objectives throughout the level - navigating the mouse to and collecting various hats which can then be placed on the mouse character.
This was my first attempt at using a basic 3d scene as an underpainting. Having the lighting and perspective determined already from the 3d camera and render expedited the process greatly; by the time I went to Photoshop I was able to begin painting immediately, and did not need to spend nearly as much time as I would normally on experimenting (or looking for references) with different lightings. It also encouraged me to be more bold with my perspective choice, which led to a more interesting layout design.
Game Design by Tinkertainment (SMU Guildhall)
A poster-style painting done for the release of my boyfriend's capstone game (Mouse Playhouse) on Steam. Mouse Playhouse is a VR puzzle game in which the player guides a mouse over a series of obstacles to a block of cheese. The levels are composed of mundane objects such as alphabet blocks and wooden wedges, so I incorporated these into the poster design, along with a hat as a nod to one of the side objectives throughout the level - navigating the mouse to and collecting various hats which can then be placed on the mouse character.
This was my first attempt at using a basic 3d scene as an underpainting. Having the lighting and perspective determined already from the 3d camera and render expedited the process greatly; by the time I went to Photoshop I was able to begin painting immediately, and did not need to spend nearly as much time as I would normally on experimenting (or looking for references) with different lightings. It also encouraged me to be more bold with my perspective choice, which led to a more interesting layout design.
After rendering the scene in 3DS Max with simple shapes as placeholders, and a basic 3-point lighting setup, I imported the image into Photoshop and resized it for painting. |
With the rendered scene, I began adding in more atmospheric lighting, as well as placing the block of cheese and starting to turn the sphere into a mouse. |
Basic scene setup done, I started working on the details. I did not think of using a font for the letters, so I spent much more time than I should have hand-drawing them onto the blocks. The letters were grouped intentionally - the first group are MPH (Mouse PlayHouse), while the second are SMU (SMU Guildhall). |
I continued fleshing out the scene's assets. Although I do take into consideration their integration within the scene as a whole, at this time I am still primarily painting each item as its own separate entity, particularly as this scene contains a lot of items that I am not familiar with painting. For now I spend most of my time on making sure that everything is painted accurately, and plan to spend more time adjusting color and more fully assimilating the items later. |
The mouse went through several iterations before I settled on one perspective. I attempted to use my pet rats as models, but very quickly found out that it is impossible to get a rat to not rush up and look at you and try to jump on your face whenever you get anywhere near them.
Now that all the individual items are painted, I went back and adjusted the lighting again (I wanted it warmer, more focused on both the mouse and the cheese), add in additional details, and make sure that all of the items are incorporated with the painting as a whole. At this point I pay especial attention to any reflective lighting or shadows, and make sure that the background colors are worked in. For example: given that the scene takes place on a tabletop with a green cloth and a yellow light, the items should have warm greens and yellows/golds (reflective coloring) and cool reds and violets (complimentary shadows) in their respective highlights and shadows.