Vin of Nod

Welcome to the tumblr of concept artist and Illustrator Vinod Rams. Currently doing character design for Gigantic!

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Here's audio from the episode from the scene with the little Pegasus foal 😥. I think my design fits the voice well!

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Budd, from the new @theadventurezone campaign! After the first episode I HAD to draw him!

Maaaan, it's been awhile since I've posted on here! I'll dump some art on here soon 😂. Check out my insta if you want to see more frequently updated stuff!

www.instagram.com/Vin.of.nod

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6,961 Followers, 759 Following, 157 Posts - See Instagram photos and videos from Vinod Rams (@vin.of.nod)

I see people are posting links to their other social media... I only have Insta so here it is! You can also always see what I’m doing via my website:

www.vinodrams.com

Don’t be a stranger! 

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Here’s Beckett’s un-made sky pirate skin!

I was initially inspired by one of my favorite characters, Dola, from Castle in the Sky. I love their streamlined, simple flightsuits. So I mixed in a bit of Stormtrooper to tie in to Imani’s skin and we have Beckett’s “Flying Phantom” skin! 

This was literally the last concept I was working on the morning of the Motiga layoffs. 

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I recently posted these on my Instagram... which I recommend following if you want to see what I’m working on! 

https://www.instagram.com/vin.of.nod/

The lore idea behind this skin was that back before Imani created her mercenary squad she was the commander of a highly organized sky pirate group. She was known as the “Silver Skull” and her jetpack troopers were the “Flying Phantoms”. (Like Darth Vader and his stormtroopers) The idea was that like the original concept for Vader, Imani had a breathing apparatus for boarding ships extremely hight altitudes.; also that she used fear as her weapon, in addition to her tribow sniper rifle! I also included a bunch of color variations, just because they were all pretty cool. (I especially like the Cobra Commander themed one.) 

This skin was made but never put into the game unfortunately. 

Beckett’s Flying Phantom skin is next! 

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Started teaching my first independent study today with a digipen student I've gotten to know over the last few years, @artsichow . Today we just talked about goals, process, and schedules. We also did some loose, messy pen sketching for brainstorming. Doing quick pen drawings are one the best ways to work out ideas by making mistakes, playing with proportions; and because it's pen there's no safety net! #penandink #teaching #artschool #coffeeshop #brainstorming #characterdesign #art #drawdrawdraw (at Walnut Street Coffee) https://www.instagram.com/p/Bne8AW4B_dI/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1mihw7vj39z7h

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Wake up...time to DIE! A little cyberpunk throwback Thursday for you all! This drawing is from way back in 2007, but I still like it. I was doing a fun thing in my sketchbook back then where I'd arbitrarily paste fortune cookie fortunes on pages, often giving the drawings a new context. Figured these scummy cyberpunks were appropriate since @emilyfiegenschuh and I are going to a showing of Blade Runner at the @theseattlecinerama tonight! I can already hear the Vangelis music! . #tbt #throwbackthursday #cyberpunk #bladerunner #sketchbook #sketch #characters #art #instaart #punk https://www.instagram.com/p/BnHOSGTBYgM/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=mv68zzq0nlm3

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The Bittersweet Saga of an Aspiring Esport’s Huge Ambition and Brief Life

Juxtaposed with the mainstream success of the Overwatch League, the troubled development, belated arrival, and untimely end of video game ‘Gigantic’ show how hard it is to make a good game or a viable esport—and, having made one, how hard it is to convince people to play that one instead of something else

Pretty good article about the ups and downs of making Gigantic that I was interviewed for. Good read if you’re interested in the industry, how good things are hard to make etc. 

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Swipe for a throwback Tuesday to this date in 2016, I went to the juxtapoz/superflat show in Seattle and watched @katsuyaterada draw! It was basically empty so I even had a chance to chat with him (with his interpreters help) and give him one of my sketchbooks. I discovered Terra's work in 2001 at the San Diego Comic con, I believe that was his first appearance in the US! (hipster cred 😉) @emilyfiegenschuh and I realized we both had been looking at his work since the old days of his Zelda illustrations in Nintendo Power! He's one of my favorite artists, and definitely a later influence on my art. It's pretty awesome to see his rise in popularity over the years. I'll post a video of him drawing some moebius "tick marks" as a story later! (at Pivot Art + Culture)

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Hey, do you have a discord?

I use discord with friends and co-workers, but I don't have a personal channel.

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Hello I really like your design of mozu I just fell in love with her me and a friend alway argue about her age by any chance that you can tell us her age

Thanks! Mozu was probably my favoite character I designed on Gigantic. Loved playing her too. Mozu’s a young woman goblin. She’s impatient, and doesn’t really think things through... which can be a teenage trait but I think she knows what she wants in life so that tells me that she’s a little older. Not a teenager, but not an older adult. I think she’s around 22 in human years. 

In goblin years.... no clue! 

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you control the shapes my dude, you are the shape god

Well maybe not a god... demigod, maayyyybe. Or lesser, regional deity perhaps.  

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Mozu didn't read the instructions for the Wand of Eternal Combustion... she just skimmed them. . Gigantic is now officially shut down but that doesn't mean the characters and the world are gone. They live on in the fans imaginations. Also I have way too much art to share from 6 of the most creative years of my life! 😫😥❤️❤️ #gigantic #gogigantic #mozu #wizard #magic #sketch #sad

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Roland's redesign looks great and it breaks my heart we'll never get to see Javash's wonderful colors in game. Your gigantic work has been super inspirational for the level of quality I want to get my work to, I'm sorry about everything that happened with Motiga, I hope you and the rest of the Motiga staff can find another project that captures that same level of visual polish and simple fun gameplay!

Thanks for the compliments. Yeah, it sucks to have concept art for cool stuff just sit around with no game. Most of the Motiga devs keep in contact even though we’ve been scattered to winds, and most of us would love to work together again. (some of us still do!) I’m glad Gigantic was able to inspire other artists and game makers. As for your stuff, keep at it and draw everyday! 

Feel free to send my your stuff and I’ll give you some feedback! 

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My favorite of the unreleased Gigantic characters - 

BOLGA!

She’s a battle loving ogress that loves the simple things in life. Fighting and eating. She calls her mace “metal husband.” (monster factory reference!)

This idea came from @katyhargrove wanting a big female monster. Sure, Xenobia was a monster lady but she’s still sexy. We wanted a monster lady that doesn’t care about that. She had a berserk state that she could go in which would change all of her attacks. Really fun character. Her lore is as simple as she is. Fight stuff. Eat stuff. I thought she’s probably friends with Knossos, and finds Mozu really irritating and wants to eat her. 

You can see in the development sketches that at one point I tried a shield-maiden/Brunhilde type character. But we thought it’s basically just a lady Margrave, which didn’t feel unique enough.

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Roland! 

Roland, along with Tripp and Uncle Sven were the first three characters created for Gigantic. But Roland was pulled out of the game for technical reasons (grappling hook caused a lot of problems) so we sat on this design for a while. It’s pretty sad he never came out because the new animations for him were super slick. 

You can see we dropped the "big game hunter/cowboy" of his original look and went for a more well dressed bounty hunter. This final version was piggybacking off of a drawing that one of our modelers/concept artists, Jeff did when he took a stab at the character. We decided to try a robo arm to really drive home that he's not just a gun guy but more of a gadget guy. I feel like this final version of Roland could be at home in the Trigun universe!

The first skin, “Demon Hunter” was for the demon release (duh), it was inspired by Yoshitaka Amano, Vampire Hunter D, and Castlevania! 

The second skin was a peek into Roland’s past. He used to be a cop (in sky city, an unreleased map) but got frustrated that most of the criminals could flee the city to avoid capture. So he quit the force and went vigilante! His constable bot buddy was my favorite part of this design. 

If you want to see his OG design go here:

https://www.vinodrams.com/#/roland/

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Sigh.... Gigantic’s servers are being shut down in a few days, so here’s some characters that never got made. It’s for sure a melancholy feeling but at least the art can live on and inspire others! 

This is Javash! This hero was near and dear to my heart, I came up with the idea of an artist monk that could control sand with a unique sand staff. Lore-wise Javash grew tired of life in the monastery, he felt like if his sect was supposed to do good work they should be out in the world helping people. So he set off on his own to create art and fight injustice! 

He was inspired by Hindu/Buddhist monks, sand paintings/mandalas, and Kung Fu. I also like his fun “Capcom” proportions, especially on his hands and feet. He’s also ethnically Indian, middle eastern etc. which there aren’t that many in games. The skin concept at the bottom was intended for a holiday release we were going to do an in-universe festival of lights. 

SIGH (again)