I’m very very proud to finally announce the launch of the secret project I was being coy about for so long: the official launch of the social Facebook game Crazyboat that I was the art and narrative director of.

From the press release:

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It is the near future and the Pacific Trash Vortex has reached critical mass.  A new age of sea entrepreneurship has arisen. Take your rusty rig and explore a changed Pacific Ocean…

ECHO TEAM is proud to present the official launch of the new social game, CRAZYBOAT. CRAZYBOAT aims to use the Facebook platform for its true strengths: the representation and hosting of existing social dynamics and groups in the rich game world. CRAZYBOAT uses Facebook profile data to give players in-game bonuses for their real-world skills and strengths. In addition, in a first for Facebook games, players share their adventures with groups of up to four – and what happens to one affects all four.

ECHO TEAM has also called upon some of the greatest mid-century American action serials to make a game that both harkens back to the adventures of yore and puts a new face on the idea of exploration, with an emphasis on the environmental impact of what reckless exploration means to the planet at large.

ECHO TEAM has drawn on years of game and narrative experience to make a story that feels more socially immersive than most Facebook games. By breaking down the barriers between the real world and users’ social gaming experience, CRAZYBOAT is in line with the ultimate direction of current game design – the integration of the real world and the virtual world. With real people and their data as playable avatars, CRAZYBOAT is a step in that heady new direction. ECHO TEAM views what they present to you today as a proposal of sort. A demo of what is possible.

Download a PDF of what CRAZYBOAT is all about here.

Then, take a quick tour and check the game out.

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On a more personal level, I think I did some great artwork for the promo side of it. Check out the posters and videos we made!

Tell your friends!

See the full size poster here.

Above is my most recent illustration, for the German software company Emnis. I’d like think it’s part of a bigger trend.

Before I pontificate, I’d like to thank in particular Tobias Zimmer, who was as great a client to work for as I’ve ever had: it takes a strong confidence and a belief that people operate best when allowed to be free to excerise their expertise as they see fit, and he did both, giving me minimal notes and trusting my choices in the end. I think the piece turned out really well, and both Tobias and all of Emnis seems very happy with it, and which makes me happy, too.

In an unexpected turn, Tobias also told me that the work and a small blurb will be in the German magazine Page, which is great, and he asked me about the idea of “album art for software.” Since my work for Blue Flavor at the beginning of the year, this is the work that has gotten a lot of unexpected attention. I have to give some credit to Blue Flavor for giving me the venue initially, and for their completely hands-off approach, which let me take it in my direction. So I’d be deficit if I took total credit without Blue Flavor’s opportunity.

But I think the idea is a great one: it finally starts recognizing and putting on parallel the creations from programmers as well as musicians. Video games were actually the earliest iteration of such a trend – it’s only natural to assume that the software of more prosaic applications would start to get into the act, as well. In fact, the more abstract the idea or task that the software is engaged in, the more a simple and effective branding process is needed, so that a visual shorthand can rapidly put both users and consumers on the same page: this is best resolved by engaging art that not only speaks to the software, but creates a visual excitement in the viewer. Most smart, successful companies recognize this, and invest heavily in their visual output. In the end, humans love to spoken to in visual terms – from hieroglyphics to illuminated manuscripts, stained glass to instruction manuals, comic books to album art, they want and need something pretty to look at and give them a shorthand.

The other great aspect is that, with the advent of small, short-run, focussed printing, and larger bandwidth that allows for more involved and artistic websites, the strength of the small, underground artist or illustrator has never been stronger. While you will find many large illustrators who will bemoan the current state of stock illustration and falling usage fees, the reality is that the playing field has now been leveled, in the favor of smaller artists. This means that while huge fees are less common than they once were, young, interesting and edgy artists who once were sidelined now have an increasing number of venues in which to get their works seen. If every software company gave each of their products a great graphic edge by hiring a unique artist, the world would be better looking and more visually dynamic place.

Anyhoo, the long and the short of it is that I think every software sompany, or upstart website or whatever, should start tot hink about the idea of “album art”: far beyond just some simple BS color branding or some boring swoops and blocks of text, having the stones to allow an artist to provide you with super-compelling visuals without much input is a net-benefit in the end I’m convinced. It ups the companies “cool cache” (so important in this age of Yelping blogposts alternatively raising and trashing anyone’s reputation within moment), and makes the company seems forward thinking and concerned with a customer-viewer approach, rather than a top-down, old economy approach.

So, you companies: go hire weird artists! They’ll thank for it, you’ll be operating in the tradition of the Medicis, and in the end, you’ll get some great looking stuff.

Go! Go now! I’ll wait.

See the full size poster here.

Above is my most recent illustration, for the German software company Emnis. I’d like think it’s part of a bigger trend.

Before I pontificate, I’d like to thank in particular Tobias Zimmer, who was as great a client to work for as I’ve ever had: it takes a strong confidence and a belief that people operate best when allowed to be free to excerise their expertise as they see fit, and he did both, giving me minimal notes and trusting my choices in the end. I think the piece turned out really well, and both Tobias and all of Emnis seems very happy with it, and which makes me happy, too.

In an unexpected turn, Tobias also told me that the work and a small blurb will be in the German magazine Page, which is great, and he asked me about the idea of “album art for software.” Since my work for Blue Flavor at the beginning of the year, this is the work that has gotten a lot of unexpected attention. I have to give some credit to Blue Flavor for giving me the venue initially, and for their completely hands-off approach, which let me take it in my direction. So I’d be deficit if I took total credit without Blue Flavor’s opportunity.

But I think the idea is a great one: it finally starts recognizing and putting on parallel the creations from programmers as well as musicians. Video games were actually the earliest iteration of such a trend – it’s only natural to assume that the software of more prosaic applications would start to get into the act, as well. In fact, the more abstract the idea or task that the software is engaged in, the more a simple and effective branding process is needed, so that a visual shorthand can rapidly put both users and consumers on the same page: this is best resolved by engaging art that not only speaks to the software, but creates a visual excitement in the viewer. Most smart, successful companies recognize this, and invest heavily in their visual output. In the end, humans love to spoken to in visual terms – from hieroglyphics to illuminated manuscripts, stained glass to instruction manuals, comic books to album art, they want and need something pretty to look at and give them a shorthand.

The other great aspect is that, with the advent of small, short-run, focussed printing, and larger bandwidth that allows for more involved and artistic websites, the strength of the small, underground artist or illustrator has never been stronger. While you will find many large illustrators who will bemoan the current state of stock illustration and falling usage fees, the reality is that the playing field has now been leveled, in the favor of smaller artists. This means that while huge fees are less common than they once were, young, interesting and edgy artists who once were sidelined now have an increasing number of venues in which to get their works seen. If every software company gave each of their products a great graphic edge by hiring a unique artist, the world would be better looking and more visually dynamic place.

Anyhoo, the long and the short of it is that I think every software sompany, or upstart website or whatever, should start tot hink about the idea of “album art”: far beyond just some simple BS color branding or some boring swoops and blocks of text, having the stones to allow an artist to provide you with super-compelling visuals without much input is a net-benefit in the end I’m convinced. It ups the companies “cool cache” (so important in this age of Yelping blogposts alternatively raising and trashing anyone’s reputation within moment), and makes the company seems forward thinking and concerned with a customer-viewer approach, rather than a top-down, old economy approach.

So, you companies: go hire weird artists! They’ll thank for it, you’ll be operating in the tradition of the Medicis, and in the end, you’ll get some great looking stuff.

Go! Go now! I’ll wait.

Call Me Ahab
Originally uploaded by JoeAlterio

I’m not thrilled about the line work, but I think for a slapdash color job, the quick color work is a pretty good approximation of that those heavy, yellowed clouds that make their appearance in most baroque oil paintings of the day.

The good people at io9 were kind enough to not only mention that Robots + Monsters has reopened, but they’ve also linked to some of my concept art for the possible upcoming R+M book. Totally cool. Thanks, geeks!

I’ve been hammering away at a pitch for a Robots and Monsters graphic novel, and I created this for another round. I won’t let the cat out of the bag on plot details, but suffice to say, it has a lot of robots and monsters.

Kevin asked me to create a logo for his video company: Quoth Kevin:

“…something a little more baroque/russian futurist/steampunk – like a blueprint for a redesign of an alternate-future video camera with a lot of swoopy curves and stuff. Hell of a lot more work, I know.”

It’s cool, Kev. You’re shooting my wedding.

Above is my first stab, and then out of boredom, I put it in an environment. I kinda like how it looks. And I want one.

The above is the debatable leaked concept art of the main antagonist monster in the new film Cloverfield, to be released in about 2 weeks. Filmed in the faux-verite style so popular with the kids in recent years, there’s been internet chatter back and forth about whether this is just fan art, a ruse created to throw off the fanboys, or the actual good stuff, but regardless, I like the illo a lot. Look out! Walking whale!

Now, all we have to wait for is to see whether is actually going to be a cool movie that will live up to the hype, or yet another in a series of disappointing movies that could never replicate the excitement generated by their art direction and pricey ad campaigns. It may be that my advanced age of almost 30 has made a cynic out of me, but I ain’t holding my breath.

*UPDATE!* Turns out it’s not real, just some guy’s stab at it. I still like the drawing, though.