As many of you know I’ve started work on art, design, and a project pitch for Alice 3 – tentatively called “Alice: Asylum.” Once of the first things I need to do when building the pitch for EA is to establish the setting and tone. For that I’m working with Spicy Horse artist Joey Zhuo (among others) to capture some illustrations of a 13-year-old Alice in the Asylum.
What you see here is Joey’s first stab at this key image.
While the tone and setting are pretty easy to capture there’s a challenge in getting Alice’s face and features just right. Joey and I have been going back and forth a bit to determine the best way to render Alice.
In the image you see above she’s captured a feeling which reminds me too much of Ellie from “The Last of Us” – example…
I feel the freckles, reddish hair, and soft features don’t really suit the picture of young Alice I have in mind. Though Joey has sent along a range of facial “textures” to think about…
Ultimately I don’t feel these capture what we’re going for. So I’ve sent Joey a bit of text feedback. But a picture makes it clearer so I searched around on Google until I stumbled on this…
This young girl’s features capture better what I have in mind. Sharper, cleaner, and with freckle-free, paler skin. Whoever’s child that is… she’s inspiring the central character for the next Alice game, so bravo! 🙂
I also sent along this image (which I believe was taken from the EA-published “Alice Storybook”). The style of this one screams “Ken Wong” and I wonder if he didn’t have a hand in its creation. I’ll have to ask him!
So Joey’s heading back to the drawing board to refine Alice’s features and get her more in line with my expectations.
What do you think? Does the freckle faced Alice appeal? Or do you prefer the Alice more in line with the other images I shared here?
Up next we’ll start work on images which explore Alice’s decent into Wonderland. These will probably feature a section of transition between the asylum and Wonderland as I really enjoyed playing with that sort of thing in Madness Returns.
Meanwhile RJ and I have started sketching ideas for narrative to pull us through this next adventure.
Out of the Woods Update
There’s more than just a mad young Alice to talk about these days. Check out this sneak peak at the border art for the House of Wolves from “Out of the Woods!”
Want to share your feedback about all this AND see your name listed in the Patron credits for all to see? Make sure to join tomorrow’s Live Stream over on YouTube via THIS LINK.
Looking forward to your comments and feedback in the comments below and over on YouTube during the stream. Speak with you all soon!
From Shanghai with Love,
-American & Lulu