Hey guys,

I am starting down a new and unknown road. After 2 years of working at ootii, a company I help start - I have decided it is time to move on and pursue different paths. So starting immediately I will be focusing on freelancing and commission work.

I have never really delved much deeper than light client work so if anyone has any advice as to places to go or people to ask I would be happy to hear and discuss it. In the mean time I will be asking around and trying to figure it all out. I think one of the smarter things to do in the mean time is hone up on painting skills and pull together as killer a portfolio as I can muster. If I figure out anything I will try and document it as best I can.

Wish me luck! In the meantime here is my current portfolio progress. Check it out and critique, please!
[link]

If you are interested in setting up a commission or freelance contract feel free to note me here or email me at SCPellico@gmail(DOT)com

Thanks for the support

Hey everyone, by now I suspect your tired of me talking about the game, but this might possibly be the last but probably the biggest announcement of them all. The game I have been working on for the past *mumble* years is finally done and out.

[link] (the game, wewt!)

It underwent a pretty significant trial period, but Relic Ball finally here for everyone to play. With over 50 levels, a ton of treasures to find, and a lot of cool puzzles I wanted to recommend it to all you awesome watchers. I worked hard on it and hope you enjoy it.

Beware though, the game starts out simple, but there are some pretty hard levels in the mix.

If you have any problems with it, love it, hate it, want to troll me - whatever. Please comment or note me below. I would love to hear your opinions on it, discuss art choices, level design etc. If you want to be a real cool kid, forward it o your friends. We don't have the crazy $budgets$ of big companies so we have a hard time reaching a market. So the more people you send this to the better!

We had a lot of help, and I wanted to thank all of them for their individual parts. But Mostly I want to thank Tim Tryzbiak who stood by me as we worked our way through the process. There were some hard times in there but I think it paid off.

Here are some links

[link]?  (the game!)

[link] (the game's page - LIKE US!)

[link] (the company page - LIKE US AGAIN!)

If you like the game stay tuned on those pages for special relic offers and free bonuses!

THANKS SO MUCH DUDES. More art is on the way. Thanks for your patience.

We ran a successful 10000$ campaign last year, but it was one of the most stressful periods of our company's life. This blog might be useful to people who are interested in following a similar path and is taken from a post I did recently at a different site. It was written in response to a general question of what someone needed to do to get their campaign to work. I wanted to document his elsewhere in case it is lost.

So you want your game to be Kickstarted. What do you need to do?

1. Prepare to halt all production on the game and put 100% effort into getting the word out. What does that mean?
 - Get a press release out, this helps a little bit.
 - Contact local newspapers digital or rags and find an editor or writer who frequently publishes tech related stuff. Best to have a legitimate reason behind why you are worth a story.
 - Get on twitter and start making friends. If the campaign is already started, it is way too late for this to have an effect. It takes a long time to be able to say anything people will listen to.
 - Facebook groups. Make your own and engage other Kickstarter campaigns. Don't come across as greedy, be engaging and earnest. Offer help or advice and perhaps they will offer the same.
 - Put some $ into setting up a Facebook Ad campaign and a Google Adwords campaign, but use it right. Just because your hitting a big audience doesn't mean it is the right one.
 - Update frequently with changes and engage the people who have kindly given you their hard earned money. Give them a voice and give them respect.
 - If you think you are offering something spectacular start sending emails out to different news sites. IGN, Kotaku, Polygon, Gamespot, RockPaperShotgun, Indiegamer. Give them info, give them pictures, give them exclusives. (We were building a social game - these sites do not care about that kind of game. The audience doesnt care about that kind of game. Gamezebo, however, does.) There are SO many sites out there
 - If you have a blog use it, if you need to start one, then do so. But it is already too late for it to have an impact.
 - If you have a newsletter, use it.
 - I want to reemphasize engaging other kickstarter campaign and offer MORE help.
 - If your step cousin from another marriage is Scarlet Johannson (SP? Make sure it's the right one!) ask if she can tweet about it.

2. Kickstarter works best if you bring money to the table. Don't sneak it up on people. This doesn't help you now, but for anyone else reading: Try and get your friends and family on the same page as you and when the campaign is launched. Make it an event as big as you can. Imagine it as a business, go out and find people interested in investing (backing) you early and count on them to show up when the green light shines. Know you have X $ on the table before you ever get a single cent of it.

3. Provide updates before and after the campaign. Whether you succeed or not you found people, however few, who believe in you. Update them on your new facebook pages. Engage them. They are not robots who don't exist after the campaign ends. Feed them and make them fat and happy with information

4. Don't be fooled. Kickstarter has this false image of being the gateway to infinite funds. For some sad reason this really only becomes understandable to people who have ran a campaign on it. Successfully or not. Your kickstarter campaign is a business and a wonderfully bittersweet experience. Cherish it, hate it, and learn from it!

Also take solace in this. There was recently a project that blew me away. It was something I really cared about, and many of you probably saw it as well. It was a project created by not only David Flippin Fincher, but BLUR studios, and of course my comic book hero Eric Powell. These are NOT small names. They hosted this project [url][link]

The Goon and that kickstarter campaign was 10 days out and hadn't even reached half of their goal. While they were of course eventually successful, due to a massive media bombardment. For some reason knowing that those three super-talented and relatively famous people were probably sitting in computer chairs pulling out their hair trying to figure out what they did wrong... it's comforting, haha! You hear all these mega success stories about 1 million dollars in a day or 500k$ in 3 days... But I believe there is simply no magic "win" button even for superstars.

Phew. Buckle down

Scott Pellico

If you have any other thoughts please let me know. Also bear in mind that this was just my personal experience with it and shouldn't be taken as law.

Working on getting content gathered for my company before it goes public has become the focus of my time right now. Once everything is about to go live, I will update this journal with all sorts of information. Sorry for being cryptic, but cant let too much out just yet.

Hope everyone is doing well!

Hey Everyone! as school begins to slow, and prices begin to rise, I am beginning to look into building a standardized commission pipeline.

I am going to work my way through this process, so if you are interested in getting a commissioned artist, please take a few minutes to scroll through my gallery, and see if it is something you would like to invest in.

Prices will be cheap at first but I reserve the right to change them. This will not retroactively affect the cost of a piece currently in production or anyone else who is in the current queue, afterwards though any further pieces will be determined by the current listed prices on this journal page.  Available time is relative to a week's workload, so expect purchases to take some time. I am no longer doing free work as apparently I have to start paying for my own diapers now.

I also do not accept DeviantArt points as a way to pay for commissions just yet, but I do appreciate the donations!

Take a moment to scroll through this entire entry before sending me a note.

This is a learning process with me, so expect a learning curve on my front. Because of this prices are significantly lower that what they would otherwise be. Thanks for your patience!



QUEUE


1 - free
2 - free
3 - free


Things I'm able to do:

DIGITAL PAINTING
Original concept characters
[link]

Monsters and fantasy stuff
[link]

Armors and weapons and vehicles
[link]

Environment speed paints
[link]

Personal Photo drawings/Life drawings/Celebrity Portraits.
[link]

Environment refined paintings/Concept Drawings
[link]

TRADITIONAL DRAWINGS
Scanned Traditional charcoal/pencil/pen drawings (I will work on figuring out a way to ship original copies at some point in the future)
[link]

I am also open to suggestions based on what it is you are looking for specifically

ANIME/MANGA Style
I am not familiar with this form of drawing, so I have no references, But overtime I've come to appreciate the style much more than I used to. Unfortunately To prevent being spammed by people looking for it (This is DeviantArt after all) these will be more expensive.



Things I will not do:

Porn/Hentai
Furries
General 3D art. I do not have the time at the moment to be able to do Zbrush sculpts or Maya Scenes. Hopefully this will change in the future.

I reserve the right to add additional constraints to this. There is no judgment here on people that like that kind of stuff, But I am not interested in drawing it. Thanks for understanding!



PRICES

Character Drawings (One character without a background)

Scanned Pencil sketch = 6$

Scanned Ink = 8$

Bust Digitally colored = 10$

Upper Body Paint style Digitally colored = 12$

Upper Body Paint style Digitally B/W= 8$

Full Body Paint Style Digital  colored = 16$

Full Body Paint Style Digital  B/W = 10$

Manga/Anime style character full body B/W = 10$

Manga/Anime style character full body colored = 16$

Full Body Paint Style Orthographic concept Full Color= 30$

Full Body Paint Style Orthographic concept B/W = 20$

Render style Digitally colored = 15$

With Background = (SEE PRICES BELOW)



Environment Drawings/Paintings

Digital Speed paint (determined by myself, an original piece created by myself) = 8$

Digital concept painting B/W = 15$

Digital concept painting Fully colored = 20$

Render style Digitally colored = 25$

With characters = (SEE PRICES ABOVE)



Each Additional Character (In the same picture)

ScannedPencil sketch = 5$

Scanned Ink = 8$

cell shading - 20$

Render style = 30$



FAQ

If interested,send me a note.

Reference images are fantastic! Feel free to compile an assortment of images that you want me to emulate.

I reserve the right to pick and post commissioned pieces here and portfolio sites, along with a link to you or your site, on this post for future reference.

Pay me using real money. Not DeviantArt points or doll hairs. Again though donations are appreciated... points -not doll hairs.

These are for personal use only. Prints are up to you.

For commercial work, please send a note specifying the job. We will discuss before a final decision is made.

Depending on the complexity of a piece prices can be changed to tilt the scale in either direction, but do not abuse this.

I reserve the right to terminate a commission with extreme prejudice should the need arise.

All works are done in 300 DPI, unless otherwise specified by you or me.

The payment is split. Half the amount will be paid once your name is on the queue above. The latter half is paid on art delivery.

All the payments are made using PAYPAL.

Give me as much information as possible once the commission starts. A good list to consider would be this:

(CHARACTER PIECE)
Number of characters
Species/Human
Gender
Eye color
Glasses or not
Hairstyle
Hair color
Skin tone
Makeup
Clothes
Footwear or not
Accessories including jewelry, hair pieces, bracelets, watches, etc
Mood of the character
Mood/atmosphere of the picture
Pose/Stance
Lighting
Background or not
Size of the picture (head, bust, waist, full body)
Sketch/Inked/Color
Drawing style (real life, cel, traditional, comic, paint, etc)

(ENVIRONMENT PIECE)
Type of environment.
Mood of piece
Number of characters
Style of piece
Reference images if applicable
General resolution size of image (At 300 DPI)
Lighting type
Subject matter description - stories can help build up the imagination!

Canceled transactions will have their money refunded but ONLY IF IT IS CANCELED WITHIN THE FIRST 48 HOURS (two days of active commission time). After that, the half that was spent to start the project will be kept as compensation for having spent time on the project.


Please try and be patient. As mentioned, I have other responsibilities. Extended grieving will probably result in a canceled transaction. This is a trust based system, and I understand that I have to prove myself just as much as anyone approaching me. Barring that, I am open to suggestions about how I run this pipeline. Criticisms and juicy compliments will be appreciated!

If we have made a deal, and for some reason there is an extended delay of putting you on the queue list, send a note to remind me. I apologize in advance. The 48 hour period after a commission begins will not start until your name is on the journal page!


Thanks!

Hey everyone, You might have noticed I've been bombarding the site with many random as images. Well, I am trying to prep up a decent looking portfolio for Evolve CG the conference that is taking place at the convention center in Winter Park in Orlando.

So if you happen to be going there to check out all the cool classes and stuff and you happen to see a sexy guy surrounded by pretty girls, go up to him and ask him what his secret is. I'll be there somewhere in the shadows trying to look cool.

As a side note, to prep even further, I have been trying to get some online site flowing for some cool portfolio pages. If you want, you can check out some unique images at one of these sites:

[link] (Carbonmade portfolio)

[link] (Weebly account)

I am testing out both sites to see which one I like more, so sorry for the repetition.

On a sider note still, I have been trying to do a painting or drawing a day since I am part of a Facebook group that tries to do just that and then critique each other. Its not really about getting something really cool made, its more about just keeping the pen tablet in your hand and drawing.

So that's life. Hope everyone is enjoying the work, and doesn't mind the lack of journal updates - I've always kinda sucked at keeping journals.


Here is a link to my speed painting for


[link] (Speed Paint)

Nexus Lives!

Alright so the final cut round has come and gone, and the project myself and ten other have been working on has been green-lit to continue production until the end of my time here at FIEA.

Overall the game looks stunning, and in only 6 weeks we have created something that I believe sets a new high standard for a cut round pitch performance.

Overall, though massively time consuming, I have never really had as much fun as I have working on this project, and we should all be proud.

If you're interested in the game and it's progress, or if you just happen to be a watcher, take the time to take a look at our Facebook page.

facebook[DOT]com/#!/nexusgame

become a fan for weekly updates on progress.

Sorry for the long vacation from submissions, but I'm afraid that until this project ends I will really e unable to submit too much.

Thanks for your patience, and hope everyone made it through the winter unscathed!

See you soon