Karin LaPadula: Virtual World Concept Art and Illustration


Karin LaPadula Home	3D Environments: architectural/ Organic	Concept Art & illustration	TEXTURE SETS & wIREFRAMES	3D Scientific Visualization	Social GAMe ART / Flash aNIMATION	Resume & Demo Reel

Concept Art & Illustration * Karin LaPadula


Sanctuary, for independent project. Composite of photography (the statue), drawings, and imaging with Photoshop. Tools: Photoshop, Nikon Coolpix.	Desert Dune Industrial, originally created for Mechwarrior5 concept, Microsoft Game Studios. This shows the buildings fitting into a forbidding, polluted landscape. The buildings and bridges were photographed, skewed and their parts re-arranged and composited in Photoshop. Photoshop, Nikon Coolpix.

ShadowRun street scene concept, looking from the magic part of town to the high tech part of town, I created while at Microsoft Game Studios. The concept ideas included building designs in both the foreground and background. Tools: Photoshop, Nikon Coolpix.	ShadowRun Bar Scene, concept originally created for ShadowRun Game at Microsoft Game Studios. Tools: Photoshop, Nikon Coolpix.

Reptile Bridge, which I created in 3D from my own concept for an independent game proposal group. I'm currently working on a building of similar design, which is supposed to be alien; Martian to be exact. Tools: ZBrush and Maya for modeling and textures, Photoshop and ZBrush for textures.	Reptile bridge original concept quick sketch.

Mechwarrior4 concept art created in 3D. Concept art appears on the right. Technology caught up with the concept when I used ZBrush and Maya to create this. Tools: Maya, Photoshop, ZBrush.	Mechwarrior5, 2D concept art, Microsoft Game Studios. I scanned my own hand, placed it over a cliffside photo I took in Utah, and did some "carving" with Photoshop. Tools: Photoshop. (The 3D render of this concept is on the left.)

Shi Shi Beach, Olympic National Park, WA. Watercolor.	Terrain concept drawing of landmark I created for Mechwarrior5. Tools: Photoshop.

Terrain concept drawing I created for an independent project. Tools: Pen and ink.	Terrain and building concept drawing I created for Beacon, an independent project. See 3D render on environments page. Tools: Pen and ink, Photoshop.

Pencil illustration.	Pencil illustration.

Wave study, Olympic National Park, WA. Watercolor.	Page from travel journal, Chesapeake Bay, MD. Pen and ink.

Concept Art & Illustration

I use pen and ink, pencil, Photoshop, and compositing techniques to create concept art and illustrations. I also used a combination of 2D and 3D techniques - Photoshop to paint over rough 3D renders created in Maya. Other times, I create the entire concept in 2D, depending on the timeline and needs of the project.

My art has been shown in fine art galleries, computer conferences Siggraph and Eurographics, has been published in industry magazines, is in several private collections.

My digital art also appears in several published A list game titles. These games include Forza2 Motorsport, Mechwarrior4, Microsoft Flight Simulator, Lord of the Rings Tactics, Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator, and Godfather2.

For details, see Resume & Demo Reel.

Email: karin at escapistimagery dot com

Sanctuary, for independent project. Composite of photography (the statue), drawings, and imaging with Photoshop. Tools: Photoshop, Nikon Coolpix.

Desert Dune Industrial, originally created for Mechwarrior5 concept, Microsoft Game Studios. This shows the buildings fitting into a forbidding, polluted landscape. The buildings and bridges were photographed, skewed and their parts re-arranged and composited in Photoshop. Photoshop, Nikon Coolpix.

ShadowRun street scene concept, looking from the magic part of town to the high tech part of town, I created while at Microsoft Game Studios. The concept ideas included building designs in both the foreground and background. Tools: Photoshop, Nikon Coolpix.

ShadowRun Bar Scene, concept originally created for ShadowRun Game at Microsoft Game Studios. Tools: Photoshop, Nikon Coolpix.

Reptile Bridge, which I created in 3D from my own concept for an independent game proposal group. I'm currently working on a building of similar design, which is supposed to be alien; Martian to be exact. Tools: ZBrush and Maya for modeling and textures, Photoshop and ZBrush for textures.

Reptile bridge original concept quick sketch.

Mechwarrior4 concept art created in 3D. Concept art appears on the right. Technology caught up with the concept when I used ZBrush and Maya to create this. Tools: Maya, Photoshop, ZBrush.

Mechwarrior5, 2D concept art, Microsoft Game Studios. I scanned my own hand, placed it over a cliffside photo I took in Utah, and did some "carving" with Photoshop. Tools: Photoshop. (The 3D render of this concept is on the left.)

Shi Shi Beach, Olympic National Park, WA. Watercolor.

Terrain concept drawing of landmark I created for Mechwarrior5. Tools: Photoshop.

Terrain concept drawing I created for an independent project. Tools: Pen and ink.

Terrain and building concept drawing I created for Beacon, an independent project. See 3D render on environments page. Tools: Pen and ink, Photoshop.

Concept Art & Illustration