The Bard’s Tale Developer Diary #3

In GameSpy’s third installment to their Bard’s Tale developer diary, senior artist Brandon Humphreys talks about creating creatures in the upcoming action RPG. Check it out:

The Pet was the first monster I started sketching after joining inXile a few days into 2003. Within my first weeks of employment, there wasn’t yet a clear vision of what it was going to be, only what purpose it would serve. Maxx Kaufman (inXile’s art director) set me off on a “monstrous yet regal” approach, so I went and sketched a variety of creature heads, some 40+ thumbnails.

I have been designing critters professionally for over a dozen years now and always try to present new ideas and approaches to show the audience creatures they haven’t seen before, but feel as though they could exist. When I am designing a character or monster I like to start with the head, ultimately growing the design out once the initial attitude and personality has been set.