The Creative Brainwaves of Anneka Tran

Campfire

2012-01-08T21:01:00.001Z

Need to get some marshmallows now.

2012

2012-01-02T00:56:00.000Z

A huge thank you to all my blog readers and all the lovely comments that I've had throughout 2011 - it was a super year for me and I sure hope it was the same for everybody else too.

Happy new year, everyone!

Merry Christmas

2011-12-22T18:39:00.000Z

Why does it always feel like Christmas comes around every year so fast?! Not that I'm complaining of course... cheesy music, family, snow & enough food to last me another year :)

Have a wonderful Christmas everybody!

Picture Process

2011-12-08T17:32:00.001Z

After having not done a more 'refined' drawing in a while, I thought I'd take a few screenshots as I worked on this one.There's nothing spectacular about my process but this is for those who have asked me about it and for anybody else who's a bit curious!

Here is the finished illustration...

(click image for larger version)

...and here are some snapshots of how it came about:

(click image for larger version)

Some notes:
- Each colour is usually on a different layer and I use ~~layer~~ clipping masks to add gradients.
- Shadows are on a separate layer, above all others, using Multiply as the layer blend.
- I always keep the sketch in the corner while working, to help retain the original idea.

Sir Redtail

2011-11-17T00:22:00.001Z

Sorry that the posts here are few and far between at the moment.
I've just been spending more time coding than holding my ~~pencil~~ tablet pen.

A quick doodle from today though!

Something green

2011-11-11T17:55:00.001Z

Something different for a change!
Just fancied messing around with some type for my dad's birthday card.

Late Halloween

2011-11-02T00:22:00.000Z

Two days late, but I think that's okay ;)

Here's a pumpkin that Rob carved while I made the most of its gutted insides....yum! Basically, we took the chance to show our love (yet again) for those cute little slimes from the Dragon Quest games.

I also planned to get a Halloween themed picture drawn, but didn't really get to finish it properly due to intense sleepiness.Managed to create an amazingly complex character instead though.

Man bust

2011-10-10T22:52:00.001+01:00

Eek, has it really been over 3 weeks since my last post?! I haven't just been spinning around on my chair staring at the ceiling, honestly. Rob and I have just been super busy working on the game (it's going really well so hopefully we'll be able to show you guys some stuff in the near future!)

Over the weekend though, I decided to check if I could still do 3D by modelling this little man bust.There's no shadow render here by the way, all painted into the texture.

Modelled & rendered in Modo, 118 tris.

Dita

2011-09-17T22:43:00.000+01:00

After coming across this photo of Dita Von Teese, I had to draw those clothes - with Autumn settling in, they look just perfect.

Also decided to make the linework dark for a change which, to be honest, doesn't look as bad as I thought it would!

Lonely Lumberjack

2011-09-04T22:38:00.000+01:00

Quick-ish doodle while waiting for my cakes to bake.

Engineer

2011-08-19T16:57:00.000+01:00

Some Friday fan art: Team Fortress 2's Engineer.

Been in a very TF2 mood recently, due to Rob working on a few items for the recent update (I even managed to sneak in a contribution myself by drawing the 'kill icons' for his weapons!).

Floating

2011-08-13T22:52:00.000+01:00

Kiki

2011-08-03T19:21:00.000+01:00

A bit of modelling practice with my own take on Ghibli's Kiki.

Birthday Teapot

2011-07-25T19:00:00.000+01:00

A birthday drawing for my tea-loving mum.

It's a little different than my usual stuff, a bit more 'graphic' I guess.

Level 24.

2011-07-22T23:04:00.000+01:00

I levelled up today.

Radioooo

2011-07-11T17:54:00.000+01:00

Spent a part of my weekend experimenting with some 3D - mainly playing with the texture style, which turned out better than I'd hoped (design is of an old Siemens radio).

Click the image for larger pic!

Leaping

2011-06-29T18:14:00.000+01:00

It's that time of year again where Wimbledon manages to prove to me that 3 hour long tennis matches are really distracting. However while watching Tsonga beat Federer I did manage to make a tennis related illustration, so all was not wasted!

What's this? A non-white background and a full human?! This was a refreshing deviation from what I've being doing way too much recently.

Fathers Day

2011-06-20T17:27:00.000+01:00

Drawn for my dad, of course, sent along with his favourite mint chocolates.

Prinny

2011-06-12T23:05:00.001+01:00

Last week, I restarted the time-sucking game that is Disgaea and it made me remember just how great the Prinny design is - the pinnacle of blank faced awesomeness!

So I spent this Sunday night making a tribute drawing to those mystifying penguins.

(experimented with a slightly different process here, mostly painting on a single layer)

Little Plant

2011-06-08T22:59:00.000+01:00

My little jade plant, one of the many things on my desk.

Currently undergoing a re-straightening process.

Slow times...

2011-06-01T20:00:00.001+01:00

My blog sure is running slow at the moment, but the reasons are not unjustified!

Last week Rob and I ventured to London to meet up with our transatlantic pal, Ian J, which turned out to be tons of fun. Much time was spent playing sardines on the tube, being a little bit lost, eating way too much and browsing museum artefacts, comic books and interesting things like that.

Unfortunately, because London is so awesome, all I ended up drawing during the five days we were there, was this:

Yup, all I drew was a mouth on a soup pot.
I didn't even have to draw the eyes, and I call myself an artist(!)

*

Another reason why it's been pretty slow on here art-wise is because most of my time over the last few months has been spent programming the game Rob and I have been working on. FYI, coding has always been a kind of side hobby of mine - sooooo much satisfaction to be had!

Flan Land

2011-05-17T19:09:00.000+01:00

"Flan Land" sounds like it should be a weird flan-related theme park, but to me it's just a giant flan with two trees and some clouds floating around.

The flan was created in 3D and the rest was scribbled over.

Knot

2011-05-09T17:52:00.000+01:00

All tied up.

I'm in space.

2011-04-29T23:58:00.001+01:00

Portal 2 was sooooo good.

(a little bit of fan art here but since it's a possible spoiler, hit the jump to see it)

Code Face

2011-04-21T23:47:00.000+01:00

Been coding so much lately.

Semicolon, semicolon, semicolon....

Mr. Rectangle

2011-04-14T18:30:00.002+01:00

Mum

2011-04-05T10:33:00.000+01:00

Mother's day ♥

Some office guy

2011-03-30T00:07:00.000+01:00

Rob & Ani

2011-03-17T20:06:00.000Z

Decided to draw my other half too ♥

We have round heads.

17

2011-03-14T19:53:00.000Z

My sister turned 17 over the weekend :)

Me, online

2011-03-09T00:27:00.000Z

Rolling out a new avatar for online things like Twitter and stuff like that.

Poshdog

2011-02-26T23:44:00.000Z

I've heard that upper class hotdogs like to wear monocles.

Pond

2011-02-21T22:33:00.002Z

Another Unity project! Working with Unity has got to be the most satisfying creative process I've come across - being able to move my artwork around is just so awesome. Sorry 2D, but 3D is my new best friend.

Hit the jump to play with this lonely goose (I won't tell you what happens!)

Maybe the goose wants some bread? You'll probably get the idea anyway...
(careful, after a while it might get a bit slooooow)

& lots of thank yous to Rob for helping me out with the AI concepts!

Play

2011-02-12T00:07:00.007Z

I managed to create my first interactive game thing with Unity today.

It's not technically a game, but you can drive a van around (albeit very unrealistically) and ruin some brown parcels.

I also added a logo to the side of the van.

Hit the jump to have a play of it :)

Play right here!
Use WASD or the arrow keys to drive the van around (controls are screen relative).

Postal Van

2011-02-10T23:30:00.005Z

Yesterday I met Unity the game engine for the first time and so far it's proving to be a match made in heaven. Hopefully you'll be able to move this little van around tomorrow!

Hmph

2011-02-05T00:28:00.002Z

Two posts in one day(!) but I'm actually cheating because it was drawn last week.

CNY 2011

2011-02-05T00:22:00.003Z

Happy new year, everyone!

Burger Face

2011-01-29T10:55:00.002Z

Forgot to post this (it's just a burger though).

Nerdbirds

2011-01-20T23:48:00.002Z

Last year, I collaborated with the good people at Nerdbirds to produce some fun and retro illustrations for their new t-shirt range. The cassette image below is one of two designs that have just gone on sale (the other being my Nemeses pic).

You can buy the shirt over at Nerdbird's online shop!

The Penguin

2011-01-16T21:41:00.002Z

Experimenting with a cleaner process & because The Wrong Trousers was on TV earlier.

Moving

2011-01-09T00:13:00.005Z

After a period of thought and a little bit of number crunching, I recently realised that my annekatran.com site isn't doing much good anymore. For a long time, my blog and my Flickr have been enjoying around 92% of my traffic, with most clients having also landed at those spots too. So, I've decided to bite the bullet and say farewell to having a domain hosted website (instead, I'm planning on adding a gallery page here, just so my better pieces are together somewhere).

Since I hardly ever check other artists' portfolio sites and prefer to follow their blogs, I see this as a fitting change - people's portfolio work is often outdated (including mine) and blogs are proving to be a perfect platform for artists to experiment more freely.

Of course, I'm not suggesting that portfolios are completely useless! It's totally dependent on people's experiences and mine just seems to have changed.

2011

2011-01-02T00:34:00.001Z

Happy 2011 everyone...here's to more a productive year!

Spelunky

2010-12-28T11:17:00.002Z

This little game took up quite a bit of my time in 2010 so a bit of dedication is in need, I think.

...and if you're thinking "who the hell is that guy with the red nose?", go check Spelunky out!

Merry Christmas

2010-12-18T00:38:00.002Z

Merry Christmas, everyone!

We're all going to look like this guy when the holidays are over :D

Pencil Problems

2010-12-14T20:54:00.001Z

...because pencils have problems too.

Fish Fingers

2010-12-10T19:40:00.002Z

Far from realism!

Prince

2010-12-03T12:38:00.001Z

Quite enjoying this no line-work business.

Little House

2010-11-25T00:12:00.002Z

Bit of experimentation with style in my 3d stuff. It's not technically low-poly but kind of...

Travel Icons Pt.2

2010-11-16T10:35:00.003Z

More icons for a current travel project. This time I've been scribbling some sights from around the world - recognise them?

Click for larger pic

Nutty Wallpaper

2010-11-11T19:43:00.002Z

Today's doodles ended up as a very autumn-y, nutty pattern. Feel free to use it as your wallpaper!

This is what it looks like when tiled...

...and here's the tiling image

Wise Owl

2010-11-06T14:54:00.002Z

For my dad's birthday card (he's a wise one)

Toy Story 3

2010-10-28T17:48:00.003+01:00

I absolutely loved Toy Story 3 so when I was asked to create an illustration to help The Pixar Times celebrate the film's DVD/Blu-ray release, I couldn't say no!

Sprinter's Smarts

2010-10-26T18:11:00.001+01:00

Just submitted these specs for the scout in TF2. Been wanting to make this idea for ages but needed more practise first.

D.A.B.

2010-10-26T00:28:00.003+01:00

I'm joining the Daily Art Brigade!
Started by my pal, Ian, it's a good place to encourage creativity, productivity, inspiration....well, you get the point :) and you can join if you're interested!

Travel Icons Pt.1

2010-10-22T15:48:00.004+01:00

I haven't been posting here as often as I'd like to but that's just because I've been busy :) Some recent work has included this project which is from a client who's designing a travel journal and asked me to create lots of little icons. Below is the just the first set so there'll be many more to come later on!

18th

2010-10-14T10:19:00.001+01:00

For my sister who adores cheesecake.

Triboniophorus Tyrannus

2010-10-04T13:09:00.003+01:00

My version of the cute little Triboniophorus Tyrannus 'brain slug' hat in TF2.

Yeah okay, I just put a mouth on it.

Bookworm

2010-09-25T22:26:00.001+01:00

I've been busy, busy, busy recently. A bit like this little guy :)

Treasure

2010-09-13T14:26:00.003+01:00

Rob and I are currently working on a little roguelike game and here are some of my treasure chest designs for it. If you're curious for more, check out some of Rob's concepts over on his blog here, here and here!

Châu & Palak

2010-09-11T11:02:00.004+01:00

Here's some snaps of a wedding card that I made for my great aunt, Châu and her new husband, Palak ♥♥

Apologies for the terribly grainy photos!

EDIT: oops, forgot to post the original illustration too, so here it is!

Link

2010-09-03T01:02:00.002+01:00

A pic that was originally going to be Link looking normal but somehow morphed into this.

Tech Trees

2010-08-29T11:21:00.002+01:00

Another Threadless submission!

Bio Circuit

2010-08-25T10:05:00.002+01:00

Over at Threadless, I've submitted another design but this time specifically for the challenge going on at the moment - to design a tee inspired by nature & technology. It's a little different to my usual stuff and a bit more abstract!

I'd appreciate votes if you like it ;)

Sweltering

2010-08-12T15:30:00.003+01:00

Wow, I didn't realise that it's been so long since I last posted! I recently returned from a holiday in Cornwall, South England with Rob & my family and while I'm still waiting for a copy of the holiday snaps (yes, I'm looking at you Antony!), I thought I'd draw you guys a postcard of me sweltering.

On another note, Rob and I are also busy meddling with the Unreal engine to get this game project done :)

Birthday Tea

2010-07-24T17:50:00.001+01:00

Card for my mum's birthday because she loves tea!

Peachy 3D

2010-07-10T18:23:00.002+01:00

Dipping my toes into some 3D again for practise. This time, some low poly stuff - an alternate version of this peach character I did a while ago.

(402 tris, for those in the know)

Nemeses

2010-06-30T16:16:00.001+01:00

I love watching tennis...caught up with the Wimbledon fever!

Happy Birthday Jelly

2010-06-24T20:11:00.001+01:00

A little something to help Jelly London celebrate their 2nd birthday!

Peachy

2010-06-14T14:50:00.001+01:00

Artichoke Annie

2010-06-06T21:13:00.001+01:00

Happy Viking

2010-05-26T16:27:00.001+01:00

Every Viking is a happy Viking!

Vamp Cat

2010-05-18T15:41:00.002+01:00

Astro Zombies!

2010-05-11T10:44:00.002+01:00

Zombies just floating around in space...

...and it's up for voting on Threadless too!

The most awesome job ever.

2010-04-28T16:57:00.001+01:00

Please keep away

2010-04-26T19:21:00.002+01:00

Happy TVs

2010-04-21T19:14:00.001+01:00

Four happy televisions.

Conejo

2010-04-16T15:36:00.003+01:00

Conejo means rabbit in Spanish, right?* Here's something I just drew for fun.

*if not, blame Google Translate.

Good Old Love

2010-04-13T21:18:00.002+01:00

Elderly couples who hold hands are always so sweet :)

Jamie Magazine: Little Chefs

2010-04-05T11:43:00.002+01:00

A while ago I got asked to make some nacho themed illustrations for the kid's recipe section in Jamie Magazine. This was a really fun job as I got to draw a kid diving into guacamole and a kid wearing a sombrero! Credit also needs to go to the AD, Adrienne Pitts, who was lovely to work with.

Click for larger view.

At the Library

2010-03-28T20:03:00.001+01:00

Another attempt at some sequential stuff...garlic boy is back again!

Click for larger view.

Here ye, here ye!

2010-03-23T11:34:00.001Z

My latest promo emailer!

Presents and Peas

2010-03-16T10:16:00.002Z

Two cards I drew recently for my sister and my mum...

Patchblox is back! (again)

2010-03-15T09:59:00.003Z

For those who have visited the old Patchblox sites(1, 2), you can probably guess what this is all about...

But if you've never heard of Patchblox, it's a site created by me and Rob Laro where you can browse simple image links for inspiration and also submit your own/your favourite artist's website. The previous versions of Patchblox didn't really work very well but we're pretty sure this one is going to stay for good :)

Go take a look and get patching!

Rhombus #2 & #3

2010-03-10T12:49:00.002Z

Two more video game character illustrations for Rhombus: Left 4 Dead's boomer and Psychonauts' Raz.

Seven of Coins

2010-03-03T17:01:00.003Z

To celebrate Super Punch's third anniversary (yay!), John Struan has rounded up a bunch of artists to create tarot card designs. Below is my contribution for the Seven of Coins/Pentacles card (you can go see all the contributions here).

Ice-cream parlour

2010-03-01T12:04:00.002Z

Some random 3D...it's been a while!

Ponyo

2010-02-27T22:28:00.002Z

After seeing Ponyo a few weeks ago, I'd been dying to draw a little fan art of Ponyo so today, I did just that! I thought the film itself was sweet and had some awesome characters but the abrupt ending kinda spoiled it all - it could have been so much more. Nevertheless, Ghibli never really disappoints.

HAAAAM!

Making Friends

2010-02-23T20:18:00.003Z

Okay, so after a lot of brainstorming and doodling a lot of baaad ideas, I finally came up with this little comic. Being a complete newbie to this sequential business, things didn't go too smoothly* but it was super fun to draw so you can probably expect more in the near future!

* I spent thirty years thinking of the panels then sixty years deciding how the hell to colour it. I'm actually 112 years old now.

Rhombus #1

2010-02-15T10:30:00.003Z

This is part of a series of video game character illustrations made for Rhombus - a little site that tracks price changes on the Steam store, so you know when to get the best deal. It's pretty nifty in my opinion!

First up...Bioshock's Big Daddy.

CNY 2010

2010-02-13T22:41:00.002Z

Happy new year, everyone!!

It was quite a challenge to draw a chubby little tiger without it looking like a cat who eats too many biscuits.

Will you be my vegetable Valentine?

2010-02-10T17:20:00.004Z

A little something sweet in time for Valentine's ♥

Before you ask - no, I don't have a clue why they are beetroots but I guess there's no reason why they can't be in love either!

Groucho Gus

2010-01-26T16:58:00.001Z

Scribbles

2010-01-25T12:11:00.003Z

I haven't posted sketches like these in a looong time (not that I haven't been drawing - I just became lazy and used throwaway pieces of paper to draw on). So I thought it'd be a good idea to get the good old A3 paper out again and get doodling in a more organised fashion.

Here is a mix of 'on the phone' scribbles, 'waiting for the damn computer to load' scribbles & dedicated drawing time scribbles.

Click for larger image.

Snow

2010-01-06T11:39:00.003Z

All this snow inspired me to draw something wintery.

Click for larger image.

2010

2010-01-01T22:58:00.003Z

Wishing you all a happy new year! :)

TF2 Propaganda

2009-12-15T14:47:00.002Z

If you're a fan of Team Fortress 2 then you probably know about the propaganda contest that's going on at the moment...this is my entry. For those who are not TF2 educated, simply enjoy my drawing of a little soldier wielding a shovel and rag doll that's been ripped in half :)

Faucet Face water bottles

2009-12-08T15:02:00.003Z

A while ago, I worked on a hummingbird illustration for Faucet Face, a company aiming to encourage people to fill up at the faucet as opposed to buying bottled water. There are also bottle designs by artists Ray Fenwick and Seb Lester...all available for pre-order now. Go check it out!

Rain, rain, go away.

2009-11-11T11:01:00.002Z

The weather has been so miserable lately...look, it made me draw rain and dull clouds!

Little Climate

2009-11-05T15:32:00.003Z

A little illustration I made for Amelia's Magazine's weekly Earth listings.

Periodic Table

2009-10-27T21:03:00.004Z

So after making my Solar System series, I really wanted to do another project based on science and what else could I have done other than the one & only Periodic Table of Elements?! It's something I've been working on, a bit at a time, for the past few weeks. Modelling each object in 3D proved to be a huge task and took a lot longer than I originally thought but the feeling of completing it was awesome. On top of it all, I've learnt way more about the elements researching for this than I ever did in school :)

Click for larger image.

Apologies if the image seems a little on the small side, it's to prevent the bad people from stealing and printing it. However, printing it as a poster is an option I could take...would you buy it, yes/no?

Edit, July 2011: Even over a year later, I still haven't managed to make prints of this available, so if anyone knows of a good company who can do affordable, large (A2+) quality prints, please let me know!

and here's some close-ups of a few elements.