EARLY PRE-PRODUCTION
An unimpressive sketch I doodled while talking to the gamedirector about setting the game in Shanghai. Non flashy as it may be, it still prooved to be very close to the final game. Copyright IO Interactive
RESEARCH
Select DV screenshots that inspired and helped define the final look of the game. Copyright IO Interactive
STYLE DEVELOPMENT
Some early R&D shoving a rough version of the AD intention. To create a blisteringly real experience, as well as a unique and recognizable style through the use of badly compressed digital imagery. Copyright IO Interactive
CONCEPT ART
Typical step-by-step process for detailed environment concepts based on a grey box level layout.
Copyright IO Interactive
INGAME SCREENSHOT
Copyright IO Interactive
INGAME SCREENSHOT
Copyright IO Interactive
INGAME SCREENSHOT
Copyright IO Interactive
INGAME SCREENSHOT
Copyright IO Interactive
INGAME SCREENSHOT
Copyright IO Interactive
INGAME SCREENSHOT
Copyright IO Interactive
COVERS AND MOCKUPS
Here I was experimenting on ways to get across the intensity of the ingame experience. This artwork is primarily made of older Kane & Lynch artwork done by talented colleagues: Balasz Kiss and Anders Poulsen
Copyright IO Interactive
Hitman IP
Art Direction - AAA / Mobile
(All images pertaining to Hitman (2016) are screenshots from the game, produced by Io Interactive under the art direction of Jonathan Rowe)
I served as Art Director on the Hitman IP for several years, both in Copenhagen and in Montreal, and on both AAA and mobile.
At Square Enix Montreal i served as Studio art Director during the development of the mobile focused titles Hitman Go and Hitman Sniper. Art direction, logo design, packaging and menu design as well as general artistic assistance was my contribution to the great teams developing these titles.
During pre-production of the AAA IP, my art direction focused on "Timeless Cool". Clothing, colours, architecture and locations are all extremely important in attaining this quality. The DNA of the work the team and I did in relation to the IP, can be seen in character poses, location choice, tone and in the episodic model of the latest Hitman game developed by Io Interactive.
© Square Enix
Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days
Art Direction - PS3 / 360 / PC
Early pre-production sketches, screenshots and various other work, illustrate the bold stylistic choices the team and I made while establishing the art direction of this youtube inspired crime shooter.
Pre production experimentation focused on the vague poetry of urban loneliness, as well as the aesthetics of ubiquitous cheap camera lenses and their signature visual artifacts. To get the right visuals, we spent a lot of time analyzing what has now become cornerstones in game engine rendering; chromatic abberation, spherical lens distortion, sharpening and edge enhancements. As well as pixelation, MPG compression artifacts, buffer error glitches and vertical CCD overload lens-flare streaks. All in pursuit of redefining the ever present term "gritty".
A project that sought to comment on the video game medium as well as twitchy trigger fingers and what consequences these generic game actions might have in the real world. A real world as seen through a cheap camera lens. Naturally.
Some of the artwork in the cover mock ups contains artwork of colleagues Balasz Kiss, and Anders Poulsen.
© Square Enix
Kane & Lynch: Dead Men
Concept Art etc. - PS3 / 360 / PC
On Kane & Lynch: Dead Men I got hired as a concept artist, but ended up doing many different tasks: Concept art, modelling, texturing, matte painting, level layout, lighting, post effects and colour grading, box cover concept art and press imagery.
© Square Enix