Derek Weselake
Concept Art | Visual Development | Illustration | Art Direction | Creative Consulting | Artofwez@gmail.com
Select Commercial Projects
Private Portfolio and Some Projects require a password. Contact me for job screening related access. artofwez@gmail.com
Select Personal Projects
Public Portfolio
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Environment | Keyframe
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Props | Callouts | Gameplay
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Character | Illustration
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Graphic Design | Misc
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Process | Ideation
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Semi-Real | Photo-Real
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Stylized
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3D In-engine
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Event Paintovers
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Props and Callouts
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Weapons
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Vehicles
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Gameplay
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Character Design
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Illustration
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Storyboard
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Card Art
3D done by 3D team at BlackBird Interactive.
Composition, Model tweaking(Making Stylized models for RTS appear more real), posing, Lighting, VFX, and Paintover by me
Composition, Model tweaking(Making Stylized models for RTS appear more real), posing, Lighting, VFX, and Paintover by me
Illustration | Keyart for my Solo Developed Indie Game STORM HACKER
Fanart
I used to do Fan Art back in day, here is some.
Storyboard
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Graphic Design | UI
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Marketing
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VFX
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Patterns | Textures
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Misc
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Fan Logos
I made these minor updates on classic logos as a fun side fan project to my Love Letter Project
I made these minor updates on classic logos as a fun side fan project to my Love Letter Project
Storm Hacker Marketing and Branding
Marketing art for my solo developed Indie game AENiGMA GAME: STORM HACKER
Below: Fun information sheet I handed out at conventions
Individual Concept | Illustration
My Process Changes based on the project but I will break down the most common
Step 0: Research
This step is when I take in as much information as possible doing things such as:
- deep diving the web for any sort of information/media I can find on the topic
- creating/seeking my own references in the real world
- going to the large library I live next to and diving into all the information that isn't even online
- travel, ever since I started my career 10+ years ago any sort of travelling I do becomes a fun research trip where I have taken over 90,000 photos and filled pages and pages of notes. I purposefully try to engage with the culture as much as possible to build my internal visual library with unique experiences I can draw on later.
- deep diving the web for any sort of information/media I can find on the topic
- creating/seeking my own references in the real world
- going to the large library I live next to and diving into all the information that isn't even online
- travel, ever since I started my career 10+ years ago any sort of travelling I do becomes a fun research trip where I have taken over 90,000 photos and filled pages and pages of notes. I purposefully try to engage with the culture as much as possible to build my internal visual library with unique experiences I can draw on later.
Step 1: Ideation
Ideation can come in many forms, from thumbnail sketches, photobashing, to blocking in different shapes and meshes in a 3D landscape in different comps. This step may be skipped if given a screen or sketch from another artist to paintover.
Step 2: Build
I take the chosen sketch to finish or screen to paint over and bring it further. If this is an in Engine 3D Concept this step takes longer but is more thorough. A blend of 3D and 2D to a flat 2D output can make this step go fast and detailed.
Step 3: Polish and Revise
I check in with my clients or coworkers and we discuss what tweaks can be made. I will often do variations of the final image or concept.
Step 4: Callouts, Alts, and Skins
Callouts: When say an environment concept is done the 3D team may need separate callouts or variations of certain objects and characters in a scene that have no real world ref, in this case I will sometimes concept these out from step 0. This step can also include doing turn-arounds of a character or doing vfx/animation concepts.
Alts or Skins: I will take the finished result and make variations as needed
Alts or Skins: I will take the finished result and make variations as needed
Process Examples
Animated Guidance
Sometimes I will do little animations to communicate and Idea
Sometimes I will do little animations to communicate and Idea
In-house responsibilities
Every studio has it's own flow and culture but typical I jump between these
Phase 1: Bluesky or Green Sky
At the start of a project I am often called on to do bluesky or greensky(if an established IP with not much wiggle room) concepts or keyframes to help get a project rolling or as part of a pitchdeck.
Phase 2: Production
Typically during production I do concept after concept and do a bit of Phase 3 or 1 between them
Phase 3: Support
There is a ton of content in project development that a concept artist is utilized when the game is being polished, from doing flyers, graphic designs, skins, graffiti, VFX concepts, Storyboards, ect
Phase 4: Live Ops
Nowaday games are often infinitely updated with events to keep players entertained and this will have me looped back to Phase 1 or 2. As a lover of festivals and events I actually have quite a bit of fun doing this.