Hello all,

Just to reconfirm, my portfolio will be updated in time. This year hasn't bee great for my personal art. I am to better that next year with some newfound inspiration! 

It has been four months since my last update here on Artstation. Four Months! I know, I have a lot of explaining to do.

One of my faults I find myself repeating time and again is that I never really complete personal projects. I usually have a number of ideas going around at any one time, suddenly when a burst of inspiration lights up I often leave the project I was working on and switch over to something completely new. Although on the surface this not a bad trait to have as I am encouraging myself to try to expand my capabilities and explore areas I haven't previously thought about (E.g. Narrative & Logo design). It is when you look back at the amount of half completed folders on my desktop you see that this is actually a problem. Even writing something as simple as a blog post could take a few days for example. Luckily over the last year I have tried to negate this by writing down little checklists and placing recent projects at the forefront of all my folders/notebooks. For a time this has worked and has been a real benefit to my writing and drawing skills. I can say with confidence I am a highly productive person however I just need to encourage myself like I try to do with others to get personal projects done! A challenge I have faced recently is that I am currently finishing up a commission piece for good friend. A commission given to me just after new years, a number of design elements for a Twitch channel.

So what happened you may ask yourself? I believe you know where this story is heading... just like clockwork I have been holding it off finishing the commission work for a good amount of time. Only doing one or two scraps and designs whenever I am in the creative zone. I am worried that if I am to take on another commission work in the future i would do the same again. I had initially planned to open up commissions ready in time for Confuzzled2019, an event I am going off to in May, marking it down as a good step forward in a freelance career. But I know now I have a long long way to go before I can commit myself to consistent commission work. Though perhaps that extra nudge and focus might be the thing I have been looking for.

Still if anything this long paragraph above clarifies that I am always working on something new, I however just need to finish them first....

DK

Happy holiday’s all!

I wanted to write down an update about my current projects, events and developments.

Currently I have a few projects on hold because of commitments at my retail job, I have tried but found it difficult to work around my currently given hours. It’s refreshing to take a break actually as I have been sometimes forcing myself to work, results varying. Thankfully as soon as the new year comes around my hours normalize and I can get back to designing projects I love again, and maybe some commissions too? I have got a few ideas lined up and will be able to share soon.

Early next year I am taking part in the GGJ 2019 (Global Game Jam) over at the Arcade Vaults in Cardiff this time around. Should be an exciting time due to the amount of personal growth I made over this year. My plan for this upcoming GGJ is primarily to overcome my mistakes of the previous Jam and work through a list of self-improvements and challenges I set aside since January. The main error I made was appropriately directing scope and vision to the task at hand. For 2019 I hope to scale back my idea and design a core concept first then to add the flashy additions if time is available on the clock, after some research and looking back at my own work throughout the years I believe this to be a good decision. Likewise if my idea isn’t selected I will be there to let my teammates know my plans, to help them design with their full potential.

I have got a bunch more events pre-booked this coming year from various Comic-Cons, Confuzzled, board game nights, Tabletop Campaigns with friends and any event that takes my fancy. Whereas last year was all about nudging for improvement I feel this year is now fully embracing and getting out there! Hopefully I will start driving again then there won’t be any limits to place I could go (Petrol and Wallet limiting).

A little late into the blog but I wanted to provide a little update about the project I did have on hold before the holidays. Leading up to the beginning of December I went ahead and planned to redesign the Album art of the Yogscast JingleJam smash hit, Neon Musk. Below are the concepts I did manage to complete before retail work became the priority.

My thought process behind the piece was to expand my portfolio to include more Animation directed design. Designing a multitude of characters, backdrops,vehicles and architecture following ques from the surreal Rock-opera directed by Alex, Ross and Chris (Hat films), creating the the concepts with future animating in mind was a big focus of mine. When the new year comes and goes I will start up the project and perhaps print out into a physical CD complete with booklet inside (I do love it when artists put the effort in to do that). Unlike many ideas I have had in the past this one project has a end goal to reach and doesn’t rely on deep backstories and lore, only interpretation. As with my recent piece Throb the goblin I had the core concept already noted down, the only challenge with interpreting using the story beats I had to play with to bring the character to life; the piece ended up to be my favorite piece to create over the year. I will continue to shame more once I feel like I have enough to show off.

There are a few other projects I plan to do throughout the year 2019 however they are only thoughts and nothing more than a basic idea. They mainly consist of revisits of older works I never really felt were explored to their potential. When I have had time off during the season I have been steadily writing in my notebook, marking plans and jotting down thoughts that would see me practise a particular skill I need to work on. I recall filling out about half a notebook in total over the month of December. One project was an expansion on a character I designed in my third year, won’t say which character as i don’t want to reveal too much. I found a niche and I’m going to fully explore the concept and see what I may possibly come up with :) 

I don’t think I left anything out of this update, it was surely long enough. And so this blog comes to an end, until next time. Dk  

First and foremost. Going to take this whole work update seriously now starting from today. Whether it be on my Artstation, Tumblr or LinkedIn; I will be posting regular updates about my work and thoughts. Perhaps even showing off some early rough designs I have been working on.

Currently when a potential freelance opportunity or employer take look at my various sites, the first thing they would see about myself is an out-of-date and sparse blog. If I am to complete projects I need to be constantly thinking and working towards my goals, the very least I can do is update once a week about my current thoughts and objectives. Not every post should an in-depth analysis, a simple structure outlining the basics is all that would be required of me. When something big comes along, sure may then go in-depth with my blog. Anything other than the point is not at all necessary.

Anyway, cutting a long update short, I will be posting regularly on my various blogs from today onward's

Now onto the main Artstation related update.

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Currently I have a few projects in the works. Some personal, others requiring updating old artwork.

First and foremost I have been trying to get out of my comfort zone, designing with new styles and in directions I haven't got much experience in. I have been using one of my older projects to expand my creative outreach, this is an idea I had for Tranzfuser 2018 and have been progressing slowly ever since. By the summer next year I hope to make a vertical slice of the game and collectively complete a portfolio of vehicles, architecture, characters, gameplay plans, UI and script examples that would show off all my new skills. As the blog image suggests I have been working on character design, only this time I am exploring a character that could be animated. My goal with this character design is to end up with not only a design that tells a story and reflects his/her personality but also something that would be easy to manipulate and be Animation friendly. I see too often game characters that are so full of detail and realism that unfortunately had lost their recognizable qualities as a result. Anyway this should teach me plenty.

The other topic I wanted to bring up is that after months of telling myself I should I have finally updated my Avatar! I thought this was the right time I needed an avatar that better shows off my progress as an artist. The direction is similar to the piece I designed recently "Throb the Goblin", I prioritised a strong multi-weighted outline and shape (including colour boarders) to visualize my new avatar. And for all my effort I really like the new avatar I have designed for myself, a reoccurring trend as of late. Once I have the process nailed down I could perhaps possibly open up for commissions for other seasonal avatars, maybe in the future?

All I needed to do now is practice how to close off a blogpost, as a sudden stop and change of character will not do moving forward. Anyway until next time (I hope same next week).

Dk

Morning All

I know it has been a while so I wanted to provide an update about my current projects and ideas into a short blog post.

To begin, I have comfortably settled into my new job (Retail).  Yay!! . However, since returning from a family holiday mid-July I have been there non-stop without a long enough break to continue with any new artworks. So many of the artworks I did plan to design haven't been completed sorry. It is not all bad as I have steadily been brushing up on my writing skills and piece by piece building up an idea for a game concept, whist putting together a list of potential works to improve my concept work. The original hope was to create enough artworks to show off to potential employers at EGX, I learned so much last year and I wanted to implement it ready for the following year. Perhaps I will still get to complete the idea I had in mind, one day.

The other update I wanted to share was that I am planning to do a few more blog-posts on Tumblr, smaller pieces that would delve into more contemporary topics. I need to get into the routine of writing allot more otherwise I will never improve. Or else I will be doomed to repeat the same sentence structure over an over again (much like this blog). The other blog related update is about the breakdown of my latest artwork, I have written the outline of the blog ready for editing. Should be a lengthy read but ultimately something I have wanted to write about for a long time, discussing my design process and the areas of improvement I have made since my University days.

Now that I am officially back int the routine I will have many more updates to come in the future. All the while juggling my other sites like Weasyl (to be revived), Tumblr and Twitter.

Until next time

LP

Good news!

After a long time I have found a new spark that has reinvigorated my love for design work! Yay! Over the last few weeks since my last Blog post I have been quietly studying new techniques and reading up on my other want-to-be passion Animation, with the hopes that I might give my artwork that other dimension of bounce and shape (which is sorely needed in my work). Another happy accident was finding a method of designing concepts. I tried out a number of techniques but it was only when I diverted back to using Pen pressure and altering the most basic of brushes in photoshop that I found my efficiency and line work improving. The brush I did create was tailored to mimic a pencil, with fine saturation applied if the pen is lightly pressed. I found also that using the Overlay dropdown of "Luminosity" help far more than I was expecting with my colour work, it is a lifesaver (more will be shown in the coming weeks.

Another piece of good news happened only recently, but in reality it needed to happen a long time ago. I went to a proper out of Cardiff con for my first time and I had a blast! So many interesting and friendly people, great atmosphere too! i just hope I made some new potential friends along the way. If only they had business cards... Anyway got some merch and a few keepsakes. it was shame I could've only stayed for the day... perhaps next time I will stay for the duration. Yeah, I think I will. Though the theme was right up my ally this year, fingers crossed something similar for 2019.

To end this blog post with some more good news I want to give an update on my current artwork and commission work (yes, you heard right, commissions). I have been giving it allot of thought and I want to start doing commissions, don't know how soon but It will be done this year I promise. The other news is that I am on the home stretch with a new piece of artwork inspired by a current character I played in tabletop Starfinder, more details soon.

A more upbeat blog post than usual, but sadly it has now come to a end.

Until next time.

Been a little while since my last post and a general update about myself. So first things first, my art. 

Currently I have found it difficult to balance projects both big and small, never knowing which could be done in a dedicated few days or casually over a number of weeks. I found during my masters (and much of my BA) that I didn't set out a clear and achievable end point for each of my intended projects. So as a result I never liked my final outcome, a thought mutually confirmed by a variety of industry. I finished some concepts, but felt like others dragged behind in quality. My plan is to set out and redesign my Master book as part of a Year 1 catalog of new and expanded ideas and concepts. But before I do any of that that, I need to understand what exactly went wrong and how I might aim to improve. And so to find out I am going to work on a smaller concept and design a mini-design document book, inspired by the idea worked on by myself and the team I was as part of the Global Game Jam. This smaller and more focused project will not only allow me to understand the challenges I need to overcome if i want to make this this new revision but also prove to industry and recruiters that i can work on something from initial concept to final outcome; a element vacant from my own portfolio.

Additionally, I have plans to do a few "small" projects to keep me busy starting with two, one for an event and the another as part of a Starfinder Goblin tabletop adventure I am currently planning with friends. Should be fun, and get me to explore more artworks outside of my comfort zone.

The other item on my list to discus includes my revamped Tumblr page. So for a while now I have been writing about major topics on Artstation, such as updates and new artwork, all the while neglecting my Tumblr blog. I plan to however to do some smaller updates and display a number sketches and designs that wouldn't feel to be fitting to a site like this, I tend to want to only blog about bigger things that would impact my portfolio on this Artstation. My Tumblr page as linked on my site will be used for these small blog posts and more gaming, cartoon and film related content. With E3 coming up there could be some more speculation stuff up on the site, along with a number of other keen ideas I ave in the works. I just think that they would be better suited there than on here. Still if you want to read about anything generally I do suggest keeping an eye on my Twitter account.

I believe that is all I want o discuss. Okay, I am going to end the blog here. Until next time.

Lp - David Keenor

Hello Artstation readers!

As you might of noticed, I haven't been posting much art over the last few weeks. I'm sorry about that. Truly

My reasoning for the lack of new Artstation work is rather exciting. Over the last number of weeks, I have been working towards my Application for Tranzfuser whist at the same time helping as a collaborator with another team. I have been very very busy so I haven't had time to continue with any previously promised projects. Had some great fun working on some new ideas and projects, exercising my understating of narrative and concept art. Hope to share more soon!

Another reason, and still just as exciting, is that I finally found myself a new job! Yay! After many interviews, and three totally different experiences throughout the week, I got offered the job. The role is Part-time so I should have some available free-time to design more characters and art for my portfolio. Whist on the subject, I would like to confirm that soon, I will finally get around to doing some commission work. This will be 2D artwork, I will share more detail through my twitter page in the coming days.

Additionally, on a sad note... going by the silence and the lack of any notifications I believe I have not got a place within the internship I applied for. Thinking back, I should've done a few things differently on my application. My foremost thought would be not to do a video cover letter again, took too long to do and the time should've been spent doing more artwork for my portfolio. Other details like my CV and portfolio focus is another issue I need to Iron out for next time. It's sad that I may never apply to that internship again, but hey I got a job and have room for more commission work. I need to look at the positives. Anyway, I go to more regular events than I used to and have met up with a few old and new friends again. Playing D&D and CoC on a regular basis. 2018 is starting off great!

I have jinxed it haven't I? Oh well.

Until the next post, enjoy the rest of your day!

David Keenor

Welcome travelers to my Blog

I wanted to update you about what is currently happening regarding future artwork and projects i have planned.

So to begin, the one piece that has devoted a big chunk of my time to is Tranzfuser. I have been planning out narrative and gameplay ideas for two projects I hope to present to a team in the near future. I believed it would be a good idea to think of some other narratives outside of my ongoing plan to redesign my entire Masters project (which is no small feat). I have the majority of the background completed, all I need to do is focus on a vertical slice of the game, which would later become the area for the prototype. The trouble is that I can't decide which one to pursue. One is a more narrative driven 3D point and click game with an interesting gimmick to set it apart, the other has the story completed and the objective set but overall a little fuzzy on gameplay. I'll post again once i have made my decision and more to show.

Now Commissions. I'm finally getting around to doing some after some long encouraging conversations with friends, industry and tutors alike. Yes, i'm really excited for what this might bring to my productivity and confidence. However, the current commission I'm working on is a little trickier than expected as it is a 3D model. I have done plenty over the years but this one has been quite the challenge. What I mean by this is that whereas I have done characters in the past, they have always been of my own design. I knew how materials would behave for instance or how the flow of the polys would be like, this project has been very different as it leans heavily on reference judged by eye . Yet I am positive that I will meet the clients wishes and deliver something worthwhile. Fingers crossed.

Thanks for taking the time to read (or skim) and I'll share some stuff soon. DK

Morning Artstation viewers.

Wanted to give you a quick update about upcoming events and artworks I have planned.

As I mentioned in the last blog post, I have slowly been redesigning and visualizing my concepts I made as part of a team during the GGJ a fortnight ago. I have been working on the main character first, with the aim to find a shading style that I can replicate and finish in a short span of time.

 The character to the left is my first draft based on the drawing I sketched in the GGJ, on the right is the newly reworked design with more attention to detail and that all important new shading style. Still allot to do, next step is to flip the canvas to work out any inconsistencies.

The other point I wanted to share in this post, currently alongside this project, is that I am penning ideas to try and take part in Tranzfuser this year. This may be my last year I can enter so I wanted to give it a shot. I have an idea for a game, all I need now is to work out the concept with hopes to later then pitch to a potential team. Early stages yet, so not much to share. I'll update in a following blog post.

One minor thing is that this year I'm hoping to go to a few more conventions, a number of them have been marked on my calendar. I reckon it would do me some good to go out of my comfort zone and talk to industry and other artists like myself. I have still got some 200 business cards just gathering dust so any networking would be good networking. Additionally I am thinking of starting some commissions soon (though I need to wait for an update of an internship I applied for before I can proceed). Any news about the commissions will be posted towards the end of the month.

Alright then. I believe I have covered everything major I wanted to say, yep.

So Until the next blog post. DK