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This custom prototype is a fully functioning wifi-capable plush companion for kids to carry around as a surrogate for their parents when away from home (eg business trips, errands, vacation).

While staying with a healthcare provider, the plush can be unplugged from the wall, and carried around by a child of any age; the internal components are encased in a protective shatter-proof shell and padded to prevent impact injuries during the rigors of play.

Using the integrated phone app, a parent can hear when the plush is spoken to, speak through it to their child, and can see from the perspective of the money’s eye; this allows a parent to interact with their child in all those ways as if they were physically there in the monkey’s place.

There were many challenges with this project, especially with respect to childproofing the delicate components and ensuring that the retrofitted components from an off-the-shelf webcam could function in this new environment without overheating. There also were numerous security hurdles presented by the project as a whole, such as the Child Online Protection Act (COPA), physical safety (reducing choke hazards), and penetration testing of the programmer’s proof of concept site/app.

Completion date: August 2016 Duration: 5 months Medium: electronics, textiles, plastics Scale: 12 inches tall

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Miniature commemorating the publication of issue No. 1 of Ross/Sophie Campbell’s titular character.

The aforementioned character had not yet been rendered in 3 dimensions, so I consulted with the author as to the specifications (see concept art sketches at top, provided as reference to me) to create an accurate representation of this character, true to deisgn.

The pose was to be dynamic and on-model/in-character, so a moderate amount of research was done to determine the gait and agility as well as the posture needed to convey an appropriate characterization.

Completion date: July 2010

Duration: 1 month

Medium: polymer clay, acrylic paint, substrate, textile

Scale: 6 inches tall

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I was walking by and saw a guy outside @doggonechicago struggling to stencil a chalkboard, so I offered to lend a hand. :) Got one of the best dogs I've ever had in exchange, yeah!!

I’ve been having a blast lettering these! Doggone’s themes are so fun, and I got to try out some new chalk pens (Positive Art liquid chalk pens), I'm in love!

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I accompanied my husband on a long-awaited trip to visit his family in Argentina, where we spent part of the visit with his folks in a small farm town near Cordoba called Noetinger where I was able to meet his mother’s side of the family for the first time. Upon learning that I like to paint among other things, our cousin Naty was kind enough to ask that I paint a mural on the side of her house for fun, which was an absolute blast!

We picked up an old drum of white paint from his grandmother’s house, picked out 4 tint bases (yellow, red, brown, and green) and a couple of brushes from the ma-and-pa hardware shop, and I set to work over a couple of afternoons to brighten up her yard with a misty Andean sunset with Pehuen trees.

The locals have enjoyed it so much that I’d like to ask if I can make more each time we get a chance to visit, to make more chances for folks to smile and imagine the various landscapes throughout Patagonia that they might not get to see in person. Now Naty’s cute litter son Camelo will have a backdrop to set the scene as he plays with his cherished dinosaur toys in the back yard.

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This rush order was completed within a week and I’m told that it made for a very memorable and emotional holiday season for the happy couple. :)

They got it framed with a plaque but I wasn’t able to take photos of it on-site, so please pardon the placeholder frame.

Acrylic on 22″x28″ stretched canvas.

A rendition of a scene from a client’s dream; commissioned as a rush Christmas gift for a gentleman’s wife. He described a vivid dream-made-reality 23 years ago when he took his then-girlfriend to St. Lucia to propose on a beach. He attempted to match it as closely as possible to what he envisioned that night, but the location has a large mountain in the distance, among other minor details which were beyond his control.

His wish with this painting was to recreate the dreamscape point-for-point, so we talked for a time to narrow down the details:

an empty beach devoid of palm trees but with a sense that there had been other tourists there earlier (we settled on footprints disturbing the sand), with a row of simple grass huts during a moonlight (full moon) night, what they were wearing, the exact pose, and the point of view.

The composition was a bit off, so my client graciously indulged my request to add beach grass to the foreground to emphasize the depth of view.

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A few paper prototypes for gameplay refinement exercises, pending the next version of Totally Tubular Finder’s Keepers. I developed these prototypes while completing the CalArts Introduction to Game Design course.

The topmost one is the most recent and stripped down multiplayer version where I focused on experimenting with the interactions between a defensive player, others who prey on said player, and the rivalry of the latter group against themselves. It makes for an interesting triangle and adds an extra element of urgency that my testers really enjoyed. :)

The bottom-left is a black-and-white version with low contrast so you don’t have to waste toner if you’d like to print (and/or have an inkjet).

The bottom-right is an earlier prototype, and you’ll note that it has a link to locate the original prototype that started it all, which is a .PDF with some optional extended rules of play. It was the first prototype, so there was a lot to explore. These earlier versions visualized the map in a way which had levels of elevation like a topographic map (see below example), and played a bit differently as a result. Pretty interesting how such little changes can make a change in the overall feel!

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I’ve been taking some CalArts classes on Coursera to certify my skills, so here’s some of the pieces I’ve produced for the various assignments. 

Here’s some pieces from the Character Design for Video Games assignments (Course 4 of 5 in the Game Design: Art and Concepts Specialization)

week 3: “Observe and Adapt“

This is an exercise in staying on-model, where I’ve rendered 3 characters from Dexter’s Lab in the style of Animal crossing, per the assignment guidelines:

First, select two characters from a game, show or movie that you like. Then, re-design them to fit the context of a different game, show or movie.

Examples:

Re-design Mario and Luigi from Super Mario Bros so that they fit into the world of Grand Theft Auto

Re-design Finn and Jake from Adventure Time so that they fit into the world of Pac Man.

The following two make use of my own characters, the titular Finder, and the Muscle Bros, of my team’s game jam demo Totally Tubular Finder’s Keepers.

week 2: Opposites Attract

In this assignment, expand on the previous; try drawing two characters for a possible game. Maybe one is a hero and another is a villain. One could be a boss and another could be an underling. The challenge will be to give each character a clearly different design.

week 1: One Character, Three Ways

Try designing a character that you’d consider using in a game, trying three different approaches.

You can draw them with pencil and paper, or digitally paint them, or make a collage, or any method you’d like. The technique is less important than the design itself.

In each variation, try to work with one of the following concepts:

Density

Mood and Story

Proportion

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A few test screens I put together for a client’s demo units of their frontlight display hardware.

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Hats for the Pixel Dailies. (Originally submitted via Twitter.) Today's challenge was to use only the MS Paint colors, but I added EXTRA HARD MODE by using all of the colors in each of the busts, featuring hats from Pokemon, Zelda, The Mask, and Pirates of the Caribbean. More pixel dailies to come!

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A 128x128 16-color pillow for the Pixel Dailies community's theme (forgot to post this here, originally submitted via Twitter).

Whenever I think about drawing pillows a particular episode of @nickanimation's Blue’s Clues always comes to mind. More pixel dailies to come, beefing up the 'folio 'cause most my work is NDA.

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Some logo and mascots work I did recently for an apparel brand.

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Some art assets I did for the Totally Tubular Finders Keepers entry I worked on for the Game Developers Network’s annual Fig Jam, where the theme was “Hidden Secrets.” You can play Finders Keepers in your browser here.

We had from Friday 23rd 00:00 GMT until Sunday 4th 23:59 GMT to work on it, however most of the work was completed on the final three days, as I was ill and two of our original members went MIA; we were ultimately only able to fill one of the vacant roles. The always awesome Matt Blissmer swooped in to save the day by handling the programming while Jordan Guerette composed the music and handled all the audio assets, while I did the art assets and lead the design direction for look/feel and gameplay.

We ranked 2nd in all categories out of the 22 entries for this jam. Since everyone’s been enjoying it so much, we’re actively developing it to flesh out this proof of concept into a full-fledged game!

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This bust was commissioned by a client of mine who wanted a pixel art representation of himself for his business cards, where it would depict him in the style of the example below it, but with slightly more refined definition of detail. Additionally, the true-to-reality pattern on his shirt distracted from his face, so I ultimately went with a somewhat randomized impressionistic representation so as to avoid visual clutter.

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Some pixel art I did for the Christmas CATastrophe entry I worked on for the Game Developers Network’s annual Big Festive Game Jam. You can play it in your browser here.

It was done in a week’s time. The work was primarily split between the combined efforts of a fantastic programmer by the name of Matt Blissmer, and yours truly doing the art assets and design. The mechanics were inspired by an old 90′s game called Marble Drop as well as a more modern title called Cut The Rope.

We ranked 4th out of the 33 entries in total, with high marks in Originality, Fun Factor, and Accessibility, woo!

We plan to resume work on it as a pet project sometime in July since we weren’t able to implement everything we wanted, and would like to continue to polish it and add more levels, making it better each year.

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My punked triptych Zelda Breath of the Wild series. 

These were originally 3 unique paintings by various artists, but they all eventually found their way into local thrift stores; I scooped them up and punked them to give some modern cultural relevance so they can have a fresh lease on life.

There’s transparent hot pink for the activated mode indicatiors on the Guardian so that it can be revealed with a blacklight that is mounted to the frame with a motion-activated on/off switch with rumble motor and speaker to startle the crap out of anyone who walks past it.

These paintings I punked were saved from a landfill and are being made relevant once more so they can find a good home. Credits to the original artists will be retained on the backs within an info card describing the set.

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Hope to see you guys there! Email me if you're able to come! mixmadmen@gmail.com

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Popotillo Traveller #001

Dyed broomcorn on beeswax-lacquered paper, mounted on layered wood veneer background. 2017 Cari “MiX” Garafalo

Character  © Thatgamecompany.