[worthless_meat_sack]

This is a cover for Return to Castle Wolfenstein. There are a bunch of sketches here. I really hesitate to even post this.

I did a drawing, some of which you can still see in the column capital and here and there. The venom guard is modeled on a screen grab. I did use photo ref for the jacket and head, which is a change for me, and I wish I hadn't.

The sketches feel much more alive. The finish is a dry inventory of objects. I just tried WAY too hard on this. It was not used.

[Icannon]

it really sucks that it wasn't used. those sketches are just awesome. the finish, too, i think is great .. i was suprised how finished it was. i'll bet most people would take it as a photo collage of some sort. the flame is awfully yellow, which seems like some kind of spooge trademark ;] but man .. the puddle .. the face (jeff martin, from the tea party, hehe) .. and jacket. too great.

[the_monkey]

i guess the only word that comes to my mind when i think about your work is atmosphere. i really enjoy looking at this piece, not simply because of the detail or gesture, but because of the surroundings. did you play alot with brush opacity to get the effect displayed in the arches? theres another good example of this in the speed painting thread, the one featuring a pirate ship crashing to shore.

oh yes, good work by the way, i really do like this one.

[Golongria]

Phew...the detail on that is incredible, but it's still got that, if only I could zoom in a bit, I could see his rough "scribbles"...it's great. I definitely see what you mean by a bunch of stationary objects stacked up...it seems like when you are restricted in a job, you have a tougher time than when it's a personal piece...at least that's what I gathered from that post waaay back with the black guy in lion skin loin cloth...
I absolutely love the third sketch you did...it's got that "Return to.." look. Great job...too bad this one wasn't used, I always love to tell people.."The guy that painted this actually re-painted one of my paintings!" (the tarzan one)
Keep up the posting!
-Matt

[burn0ut]

yea the sketches are pretty cool i really dig number 3.
but damn. the rendering is insane. and the ground is f'ing cool.
and the texture of that flamethrowers jacket is really dope.

nice one sack.

[Digital Genesis]

hiya! It seems there is no access to the sketches. It asks for a login/password. Anonymous is not good enough.

[maxon]

Gosh that sketch-server is full of people... I want to see those sketches. Sob, sob.

[Socar MYLES]

Just wanted to tell you how happy I was to see this picture. My father and I used to have Castle Wolfenstein wars back when I still lived near him...we were locked in a perpetual battle to get the highest high-score, the best kill ratio...we went around puffing out our chests smugly and saying "I am Death incarnate!"

This picture...I couldn't even begin to critique it, and I'd sound a right arse trying, so I will just say that it brought those old Wolfenstein-war days to life. I remember hiding behind walls just like that guy's doing there...well, not REALLY--in the game--you see what I mean.

Anyway...brilliant stuff--so they are making a new Wolfenstein game, eh? I must tell my father about it.

[Magicman]

just a try...

can you post your reference please?

hmm, i know that a lot of people ask you over and over, but it�s possible to see a new tutorial than the "THE DEMON'S DEN" to get a little imagining how you scribble this amazing atmosphere level?

[suny]

arghh.
the rendering is brillant, as usual.
but the painting reminds me too much of some bad pulp's covers made from photos refs (with models like fabio, if you see what i mean). For a game like castle, it's appropriate, i guess, but the result is too static, and the sketches are sooo better (i love the 2nd one).

all that great work, and at the end:

[Marvel]

Almost as amazing as your previous stuff Graig! But as other people have noted, the pic is somewhat static and 'tense'. If you ask me, it's not really a picture that would go well with a modern computer game - looks like a commodore 64 game cover to me - or as Suny pointed out, a pulp movie - perhaps something from the 60's or early 70's - even Indiana Jones comes in mind, only thing is, I feel, your composition (characters) isn't tight enough.

What else, oh, a bit dissapointed on the final cover (if that's it - what Suny posted), it has some of the feel I'd expect from a new Wolfenstein game, but it's too clean and too sharp cut.

[-HoodZ-]

hey craig is there any time where your in a rut and just cant get an image out of our head and onto the screen?

i really like the floor and the jacket....how do you blend the colors so well?

[shahar2k]

these are great drawings, I especially enjoy the atmosphere in 2 and 3 I think those could have been great candidates for boxart, (especially in #2 if you plop a couple guards on the top of the castle, the charecter is not too small, and convays motion and the energy of a game, although I bet the actual game is much more action...)

#4 and 5 feel a big cheesy with 100% of the focus on the charecter, because in a FPS game that feels kind of awkward, you at least want to show action or environment of some kind.

lastly I think #6 is much better than #7 because of the same reason I put up above, charecters in these games do not work by themselves, they need a clear setting, and #6 provides it, plus it provides the action... plus, #7 feels kind of static with the column being paralel to the pictureframe...

that's just my input heh I hope one day I can apply that to my own drawings, right now I'm not 1/10th as good,

[shahar2k]

Oh my god, I sound like some sort of. "I talk little english" person in that post, I appologize for the gramatical pain. It's 4 AM and the meteors are all gone.

[Ripelly]

The technique is amazing, as always... but (here comes the crit!);

I don't think they trained soldiers to act like that in combat. The fellows are standing straight like there's nothing going on in the middle of the corridor section. And the flamethrower guy has almost 360� around him exposed where he could be easily spotted and neutralised. No no no... basically the things you should be doing in combat (while not shooting) are crawling, running, crouching or hugging the dirt. Of course, it's slightly different matter how you apply realistic action in cover art, in which I know nothing of.

Ok, these are just my thoughts coming up my mind when I was studying the painting. Nothing serious.

[DiXter]

Wow, this is awesome.. I love the athmosphere you have in this pic. The colour choice is absolutley wounderful.

But there's one thing that bugs me. It looks like the maincharacter is'nt hiding at all, it looks like he is standing right in the field of vision of the guy with the flamethrower.

BTW.. awesome sketches too..

I pray to god to see the day you make a detailed tutorial of how you work.

[Sumaleth]

Great stuff.

I think it would have made a really cool cover too, but I can maybe see why they chose not to use it - it's not a portraite and it's not an action scene, it's somewhere inbetween, and that's probably not the right thing for FPS cover (although it's so subjective..).

I think I like the '6' design the most - it has similar problems to the main one, but I just like the design a little more. Something like '5' is what a lot of FPS games seem to go for but I find it a little boring personally.

'3' could be interesting as a fully realized image. If the castle come off really well, and BJ didn't get totally lost at box size I think it would have made a nice approach - something a bit different.

I would like to have seen something a little more actiony, but thats just a personal thing. '1' is kinda in the direction but the leg pose is funny, and it lacks the visual interest that the others have.

All just based on my personal taste of course. But it's fascinating stuff as usual.

Row.

[Nicodemus]

how do you see the sketches? login/password?! im confused
but great final piece there, gerat use of multiple colors together....i have trouble with that sometimes

[Sumaleth]

nico: use an ftp program to log onto ftp.goodbrush.com anonymously and go into the wolf directory.

Row.

[thrmx]

Man that's a shame. When I get my copy of Wolfenstein I'm going to print out #3 and paste it on the cover. I just need to find a printer that can do it justice...

Max

[docfunkalot]

will you become an art teacher? if you ever do, please tell us where so we can go there. You are amazing. Brom has a book, why don't you?

[GoldenBoy]

The nazis are coming like robots: >>too good technique - must kill>> and craig is hiding behinf the pillar which he made in a hurry. What I think is that game covers are boring nowadays I haven't seen nothing really fantastic cover that would force me to buy that game even I knew it was piece-o-crap. Ill just shutupnow.

[gowansy21k]

Wow, i really liked your James Bond 00 Negative concept artwork, but this one is even better! Great stuff m8, you dont by chance have any guides on how you done this work?

[[666]Flat]

I have to say this is one piece of bad4$$ shiat. The funny thing is, people tell me I'm crazy because I spent some hours on doing fan art for Counter-Strike and people like you spent like days on pictures like that. Don't get me wrong, I think your piece kicks major arse and I can't wait to see your next piece of sheer goodness!

[ November 18, 2001: Message edited by: [666]Flat ]

[MoleculeMan]

Nice painting! The only thing that looked a little awkward was the lighting on the guy on the left, it seems like the light is a different color on his hand than on his head. i love the sketches too. btw, i think the reason they used the black is because its simpler, and recently simpler has sold better. I mean look at the boxes on Starcraft, Diablo, Quakes, and many games come across as more sophisticated i guess. they are fools not to use it on an inside sleeve though heh.

great jobs.

Jake

[Blitz]

Nice jobe Worthless....
Love the water on the floor and the brick
I think the whole floor is my favoret part in this painting...

Keep it real MeatySackWorthless hehe

Cheers

BLITZ

[Bishop_Six]

His face, his jacket, and (as always)the lighting are very nice. Especially nice work on the cloth of the jacket... using a reference isn't so great a sin, is it?

The only thing I see wrong is that his left hand doesn't look like it's gripping the magazine.

And it's a shame.. no, a travesty, that they just slapped some simple logo on the box.

By the way, I love the 2.jpg sketch. That's just so cool

[JohnC]

Are you SPOOGE DEMON?

ANyway, Great googley moogley that painting kicks major butt!!!!!

God I depressed when I see stuff like this.

Can someone explain what technique you use to make a painting like this? Do you use Photoshop, painter? What kind of tablet do you have? Size monitor?

I really want to do stuff like this.

I am now inspired to create something. I dont know what yet.

Your paintings have great lighting, how do you achieve lighting like that?

Any books, websites or tutorials where I can learn to paint with that technique?

Thanks!

[Malachi Maloney]

I love it. I don't think it's "over worked" at all. I can't belive what they ended up using instead of your piece, that's just disgraceful. What stands out to me is the street. It's so incredibly beautiful how well you rendered it, the stones, the puddles, etc. Great stuff.

One question: I was looking at a magazine ad yesterday and it looked to me like something you might have done. Did you do the ad for the new Nissan SE-R Spec V?
Just wondering.

Take it easy,
Malachi

[Zorglub]

You are one crazy dude
Insanely good looking picture. I'm speachless...