A little BIG announcement...

Hey, Folks!

This is a little/BIG announcement to fill you all in on some very exciting events coming up in Tori Cat's  Art Schedule...

First of all, I am incredibly flattered and honoured to announce that i have been invited to join the "Masters of Anatomy". This is an amazing book which is currently being put to together by the great 'Sunny Mann'. A one-of-a-kind collection of artistic anatomy bringing the work together of over 70+ artists from all over the world, including the wonderful "Florian Satzinger"; The incredible "Francisco Herrera"; The inspirational "Pascal Campion", and amazing my pal,  "Kenneth Anderson" as well as many more jaw dropping (actually scrap the jaw comment- Since my 'jaw replacement' my jaw doesn't move)- say "Phenomenal" talents from the animation, film, comic book, video game and illustration industry.

I am really looking forward to getting started and working along side fellow artists i have admired for years.

Check out the website- "MastersofAnatomy.com" to find out more about this amazing project and to see the full list of artists taking part.

I will be sure to update again once the project goes live. 

In other news, I will be returning agin to California in November for CTNx. This will be my 4th year exhibiting at this expo and I love it there. If your coming to the show, please drop by and say hello. I'll be in the same place i was last year (T-40) and like always, i will be next door to my good friend and college "Craig Elliott." :)

I have a lot of exciting things to reveal at the show, but i am keeping it all a secret for now. I plan to "let the cat out of the bag" closer to the time, but until then you will have to just wait and see. ;)
Below is my contribution to this year's programme. This year Tina Price has organised a 'Sketchbook' theme and it was asked that every artist made their advertisement black and white. I have left a small space for me to sign it, so if anyone coming to the show would like me to personalise their souvenir programme, come and find me and i'll give it a scribble. :D

 Even if you don't want me to scribble in your book, Make sure you drop by and say hi. (I have candy!!) ;) hee hee!!! I look forward to seeing all my old friends and of course making new ones. I have been so lucky as each year the show tends to fall on my Birthday, and what a way to spend it. So please make sure to drop by and join me in the fun and celebrations.
Last year i lost my voice on the 1st day, so i spent much of the time having conversations with people in a "Pictionary" fashion. haha- I will have my hairy boys helping me out so it's bound to be fun!

And for now, one last thing...

 As you may know, i have spent the last year art directing on "Broken Sword 5- The Serpent's Curse". I have been in charge of the hand drawn layouts and backgrounds for the latest game by 'Revolution Software'. As the game is getting close to completion, i will be leaving soon, so i wanted to wish the team all the very best in the final stages of getting the game made. 

An Alpha version of the game was taken to GamesCon last month, and so far it has been really well received. I want to take this opportunity to thank my small team of talented artists who like me, have been working round the clock to get the backgrounds drawn and painted to the incredibly high & detailed standard set by myself and director 'Charles Cecil'. They are doing an amazing job, and i cant thank them enough for all their hard work. I would like to say an extra special thank you to the incredible "Miki Montlló" for all of his hard work and help. This guy is a genius and his hard work and dedication has not gone unnoticed. Check out his work, you will not be disappointed. Also another special thanks goes out to my good friend,"Lee Taylor" (A.K.A "River Rat). This man is a VERY talented guy!!

Above is another finished background from our talented team. It was briefly shown in the Alpha trailer at GamesCon last month. I can't say anything about it yet, and sadly can not show more, but enjoy... and hopefully i will be able to share more with you in posts to come. 

So like always, I have a very busy schedule with some very exciting things coming up in the not so distant future. I will try my best to post again soon, as and when time is on my side.

Like always a huge thank you for all the continuous support and love from all my followers and every one who visits my blog and gets in touch.

I am always so grateful for all the feedback i receive and can not thank you all enough.

As and when i have that thing called "time" I want to give this dusty old blog a make over and create a Face Book page for Tori Cat. I also plan to update a lot more frequently than i do and share alot more of my work and daily scribbles.

Ok, back to the drawing board- There's no rest for the wicked!! ;)

Thanks again and much love as always!

TCat.x

Its been a while, but certainly not forgotten...

Hello faithful Bloggers!!

This is just a little post to keep this dusty blog alive. 

I have been soooo incredibly busy since the start of 2012, I don't know where to begin. 

This is just a little update for now to briefly keep you up to date. 

For the last year and a half i have been art directing the 2D art for a video game called "Broken Sword- The Serpent's Curse" which is the 5th game in a popular series which began in the 90's.

We successfully campaigned via Kick-Starter to make this game, and ever since have been working day and night, every day for the last year to get it made. It's coming along really well and the reviews we are receiving so far are really encouraging.

 I can't show much yet as we are keeping everything tightly under wraps and I am so strapped for time right now, i really dont have the time to post everything. I'm actually writing this post whilst I'm waiting for my computer to save a giant panning piece i have been drawing and painting for the last couple of months... (So far the pan is over 30,000 pixels and can take over 30mins to save on a pimped out Mac with no other windows or files open!! ).

I just wanted to show a couple of examples of how the game is progressing. 

The first image is the line and tonal guide from another huge panning piece I drew last year. This is just a small section of it with the main characters, (George and Nico) sat at a Cafe. It is actually currently being painted up by one of our background painters right now as I type this message.

As Art Director, I dont get as much time as i would like to draw and paint up full scenes by myself, as I am overseeing a whole team of artists and currently making changes and corrections and and artistic decisions. I work very closely with our director Charles Cecil, as well as with a team of very talented artists from all around the world. It is my job to make sure that the hand drawn environments look as good and as polished as possible, as well as staying true to the original Broken Sword games and Charles' vision. 

The next two backgrounds are examples of how The Serpent's Curse compares to the original Broken Sword games. We want to remain true to the original games, and fans of the series will recognise the 2nd picture form the original games as "Nico's Apartment". We have wanted to remain faithful and almost play homage to the original scenes, so that when fan's return to Nico's Apartment, they will instantly recognise where they are, but see subtle changes as Nico's character has evolved into 21st century. So here you can see the example of how the new backgrounds are looking compared to the originals. The new backgrounds are being drawn and painted to a double HD quality, so every fine detail will be clear for fans to study. I have really wanted to push the level of detail and quality in these drawings to another level. I want to give the fans hidden easter eggs and reasons to play the games over and over again, each time discovering something new which they hadn't noticed first time round.  

Ok, i said i would keep this short because I really need to get back to painting this monster of a background. If you are interested in seeing more of the game and general Broken Sword Trivia, there is a wonderful blog which is constantly updated which has been put together by one of our fans. "FAN-BLOG" or you can check out our Kick-Starter page.

I'll finish off with a couple of drawings that I have recently scribbled whilst waiting for my giant panning piece to save. There is window right next to where i sit when i work from home, and the neighbours next door have a beautiful giant dog. I think he is a Great Dane, but I'm not too sure.... All I know is, he is lovely, and he has attracted my attention when he is in the garden. So as i wait for the my file to save, iv been keeping my fingers busy doing some doggie doodling. Here are a couple of my favourite doggie scribbles. I'll post more next time, but for now, enjoy :)

Any way, like always, thanks soooo much to all my faithful followers and all the lovely comments and feedback I receive. It is all very much appreciated and keeps me inspired to keep on creating. I promise I wont leave it sooo long until the next post and hopefully next time, I'll  be able to show a bit more development on Broken Sword and more of my own personal stuff.

Until then, Thanks again.
Much love,
TCat.x