STAR GUARDIAN LULU

Prior to Riot Games' official release of Star Guardian Lulu in 2016, this design imagined what the champion would look like as a Star Guardian when Lux still had the only skin in the series.

CREATING A BASE MESH AND COLLECTING REFERENCE

I started by averaging all of Lulu’s models into a “base mesh” of simple shapes to re-skin. Then, I collected a library of visual reference containing the only Star Guardian skin at the time (Lux) and other iconic magical girls to guide the design process. Since Lulu’s hat is the largest and most identifiable shape in her design, it was important for me to keep, so I referenced magical girls that also sported hats like Cardcaptor Sakura and Ojamajo Doremi.

IDEATION AT THE IN-GAME VIEW AND VFX

With a robust library of reference, I set out ideating from the angle the design is seen at most often - a top-3/4 view. Lulu’s Pix and Whimsy spells provided opportunities to create a range of fun and silly mascot characters to accompany the skin.

MEMOTIONS

Ideation sketches and final entry from Riot’s 2018 Memotions contest. The prompt was to illustrate a single champion from the shoulders up showing an intense emotion. My “Smug Lulu” won an honourable mention.

MATILDA

Based on a book by Roald Dahl, the titular character Matilda is a young prodigy with psychokinetic powers unappreciated by her horrible parents. She befriends her school teacher, Miss Honey, who inspires Matilda to master her powers and get even with the evil headmistress, Miss Trunchbull.

CHARACTER DESIGN

Matilda Wormwood is a quiet yet precocious girl who loves to read. Her hair flows as if being blown by a powerful wind when she uses her psychokinetic powers.

STORYBOX PROJECT

Environment design for a fairy-tale-meets-Jumanji VR miniseries in which the spirit of a malevolent director traps a group of children in a haunted stage and forces them to perform plays in exchange for their freedom. Informed by the needs of a 360-degree VR camera, this “reverse-theatre-in-the-round” features a center console for the viewer’s camera. The stage’s movement’s are rickety, articulated by hydraulic pillars on a multi-tier turntable under the floor. The permutations below show the stage’s range of motion.

SET DRESSING AND LIGHTING

Set dressing and keyframes from the first play the children perform, Little Red Riding Hood. The stage’s skydome and lights create a range of immersive moods for both the characters and the viewer.

CHARACTER LINE-UP

It was important the cast be ethnically diverse and easily distinguishable from each other in silhouette/colour. Petunia (left) is the youngest, quiet but brave. Chase (second from the left) tries to play the tough guy but gets easily spooked. Francis (second from the right) is not only book-smart, but also a horror-film buff. Chase’s older sister Hannah (right) is a prima donna and wants to turn her love of fashion into a YouTube career.

THE INCREDIBLES

Prior to the release of Pixar's "The Incredibles 2," this personal project was motivated by the fact we never see Violet and Dash's bedrooms in the original film. These designs serve to provide exposition about the characters without committing screen-time to dialogue.

BITMOJI (SNAPCHAT)

Concept art for Bitmoji’s AR (augmented-reality) animated shorts featuring users’ customizable avatars on Snapchat. My responsibilities included adapting traditional pre-vis practices such as storyboarding, prop design, and character/costume design to AR. Below is a selection of content I contributed storyboards and concepts to.

PROP/COSTUME DESIGN

In addition to keeping consistent with Bitmoji’s playful style, I design with a low level-of-detail for clarity on a phone screen and the texturing/geometry limitations of our rendering engine in mind. Below are some samples of my design work accompanied by the final models used in production.

WORLD WAR TOONS

Environment designs for the first in a series of 2D animations promoting World War Toons (a Looney-Toons-inspired WW2 Playstation VR shooter). In this Trix cereal commercial parody, the playable character Tom Yeti tries to sneak into a gaming convention to play World War Toons.

FINAL ANIMATION

Though the full short was never completed, below is a short, proof-of-concept clip with character animation by Nik Ranieri.

CONCEPT ART FOR OTHER SHORTS

Selection of concepts from other unproduced shorts.

MIRROR’S EDGE

This personal project based on "Mirror's Edge," a parkour game set in a quasi-futuristic dystopian society with brightly-coloured urban environments. Since gameplay is fast-paced, environments use a limited palette with red accents to indicate a path for the player.

AOI/BLUE

Shinjuku, Japan: Aoi was born biologically female, but identifies as male. They find a safe space to perform their male gender identity working at a host club under the pseudonym “Blue.”

SHIMMER AND SHINE

Orthographic turnarounds for 3D production outsourcing on the Nickelodeon show “Shimmer and Shine.”

ILLUSTRATION

Miscellaneous environment/character illustration, fanart, and sketches.