Introduction & My Process | William Thorup

My Name is William Thorup

Thanks for taking a moment to review my game and book illustration portfolio. I’m an experience digital 2D and 3D illustrator, and I have been producing illustrations for video games and books for about six years. I’m also a professional motion graphics designer/animator, and have been producing motion graphics for the web, film, and TV for about fifteen years.

My experience in the digital motion graphics industry enables me to not only produce beautiful static images for my clients, but also create marketing videos showcasing the artwork before and after publication of a game or book.

Below is a slice of the typical process I go through with my clients to produce an attractive illustration to best represent their game or book. As well as some examples of the extra content that can be produced because of this process.

If your interested in seeing more of my work before diving into my process, please follow the link below.

Game & Book Illustration Gallery

The Process

After conversations to collect the client’s ideas , references, and expectations, the process starts with a set of thumbnail sketches. The goal of these drawings is to provide a diversity of compositions to pick from. Depending on the project, this can be as few as three, but can be as many as is needed until a basic idea is agreed upon by both the artist and the client.

After a thumbnail sketch is chosen, the idea is taken to a first draft. Depending on what techniques I use to produce the illustration, this can be a really rough painting, a basic 3D render, or some combination of both. At this point in the process the most important things to establish are color, lighting, and what subjects are going to be in the painting. Also at this point, a set of last changes from the client is requested before finishing the illustration.

After the illustration is completed, and if needed, I can also help with the layout of the box, manual, and cartridge label. I’m also familiar with producing print materials for other swag that might be sold with a game. Including stickers, patches, hats, posters, key chains, and albums/CD’s. Please see “Gravitic Mines” below for examples of this.

“Gods” & “Chaos Engine” – Atari Jaguar

I worked with AtariAge and Reboot to produce the box art illustration and other 3D rendered elements to populate the box, label, manual, and poster for this project. Along with AtariAge, all artwork and packaging was approved by the game’s original creators The Bitmap Brothers, and the current licence holders Rebellion.

*A 2D illustration for the box art, with 3D rendered elements produced for the manual layout.*

*An entirely 3D illustrated project. This allows the easy reuse of 3D models* to create layout elements for the manual.

“Gods” – Composition Sketches

“The Chaos Engine” – Composition Sketches

Marketing Content

As I begin to to do layout for the box and other materials, I prefer to have a way of visualizing the design before the product goes to print. Physically accurate models and renders are used for previewing the layout, to ensure everything looks good for print, and for marketing purposes. Scroll down to the “Boulder Dash” section to see an example of how the 3D render of a game’s box can be quickly fashioned into a teaser video.

Along with pre-visualization, I also record as much of my work on the illustration as possible. I then turn these into attractive time lapse videos, showing the illustration from start to finish, and to share them with the general public after the product is published, or with the client’s approval beforehand. I do this for my personal brand, but also for the client’s benefit.

3D Pre-Visualizations

Time Lapse Videos

“Boulder Dash” – Atari 2600

I worked with AtariAge and the creators of this custom port of the classic “Boulder Dash” to produce the box art illustration and other 3D rendered elements to populate the box, label, manual, and included poster.

Below is a teaser video that was produced to help advertise this landmark release right before the Portland Retro Gaming Expo. Producing the teaser video created more assets that I could use elsewhere in the packaging layout. For example, I was able to use the elements used to dress the set for the teaser video to quickly create an interesting branded illustration for the back of the manual.

Finally, I have included an example of what a first rough draft looked like for this particular project. As you can see, it is dramatically different from the final illustration. This is a good example for why I like to do this rough draft before moving into the final illustration.

*Assets used for the teaser video were used to create this branding image for the back cover of the manual.*

*An example of a first rough draft of the image. Notice how the view, cave, color, and other elements differ greatly from the final piece as shown in the teaser video.*

“Gravitic Mines” – Atari Jaguar

Generating Additional Products from the Illustration

Below you will see examples of how work on a single illustration can be extended to additional product/swag that can be sold in addition to the game itself.

Additional sketches and studies were done, based on pixel art from the game, to better establish what elements in the illustration might look like. These studies were then used to create product for the deluxe version of the game. These additional drawings were also used to create backgrounds and other elements in the manual.

“Gravitic Mines” – Additional Products

*Controller Overlay – I used one of the spaceship studies to create an interesting background that helped tie the instructions together on the overlay.*

*OST/Music Album – Both the illustration and the bomb studies were used to create the artwork for this album.*

*Hats – A vector version of the game’s title was create for the baseball cap design.*

*Patches & Key Chains – A simplified spacehip design was derived from the spaceship studies done for the illustration.*

*Posters – I work in resolutions that can easily be used for posters up to 24×36″ (standard movie poster size).*

*Stickers – Stickers can quickly be made from elements of the illustration or other studies that were made previously.*

“Gravitic Mines” – Additional Studies

*Multiple Spaceship designs were made to determine what should be in the illustration. These designs were later used to create a patches and key chains.*

*All other concept drawings were used in the manual to create interesting backgrounds and other layout elements.*

*A turret concept that was used to establish the look for it in the final illustration, and as another decorative element for the manual.*

Diverse Styles & Applications

I can work in a range of styles and digital mediums. 2D to 3D, vector to raster, cartoony and highly abstract, to grounded and semi-realistic. My ability to adapt to a style, along with a honed eye for design, ensures that we can nail down the perfect look for your product’s illustration.

I not only produce cover artwork and packaging layout; I’ve also done artistic work for story boarding, pixel artwork, illustrated stories, comics, and more. If you have a need for an artist for some project that doesn’t exactly fit into illustration, let me know. We can discuss whether I would be a good fit or not. Our conversation will at least help point you in a good direction for you project.

Below is just a small sample of the kind of styles I can produce, please see the larger gallery for a more comprehensive look at the work I have done.