No Mutants Allowed

Brother None

After our recent post concerning Steve Meister's note on Craig Mullins' work, Craig Mullins himself stopped by to inform us further:

Wow, I am amazed people are looking at these images so closely. At some point Bethesda may release better versions? These seem to be jpeg'd very heavily..

I would have to go back and look through what Bethesda sent me on this job, but as I remember most of the source materials on Stripmall were provided by Bethesda. I was not familiar with the Fallout universe and had trouble "getting it" at first. The capitol was painted on top of a 3-d block model.

This is commercial art, made to illustrate an idea. It is not fine art, nor is it an exposition on my abilities as delineator. Whether or not I could paint some of these objects from scratch is not relevant. What is relevant is it would take more time to do so, and that time could be spent toward the end goal of illustrating an idea or feeling.

The most difficult aspect of repainting from a different angle is the complexity of these objects and scenes. There is a LOT of stuff in there. Constructing them in perspective is very time consuming. The majority of these images are constructed, however.

I prefer not to use photos like this, but I solve the clients problem faster, easier, and cheaper this way. The current method of working in concept/digital mattes is 3-d/photo composites with varying amounts of paint. It has been trending this way for the past few years, and it is very obvious when this technique is used, for better or worse. There is no intent to deceive or misrepresent. If this lessens your respect for work done this way, I completely understand and partially agree. But if I don't use these powerful tools, I will be at a competitive disadvantage in the marketplace. I do ask clients if they would allow a more "painted" look and the answer is almost always no. Maybe if I was a better painter the answer would be different.

Given the purpose of concept art there is little reason to reconstruct things that already exist, other than my (or a minority of others) preference, or an artistic machismo. This makes things more expensive for all involved. The time saved can be put into areas that do have to be constructed, which is the great majority most of the time.

Note that Pete Hines has indeed promised to release higher quality versions:

I have asked this before and I will again, please give us higher res version of these arts, please!

We will definitely do that. I promise. Just not right now.

In any case, this should clear up the last bits of doubt that we can't really analyse much about the game from the images. On one positive note: the fact that Bethesda provided most materials for the stripmall before the release of Oblivion means they had a fairly good grasp of 50s googie back then. Now only for some art deco...
_________________
Founding Father (50p)

Achievement for Service to the Motherland(20p)

Achievement of Obsolete Rodent Recognition(10p)

No Mutants Allowed, your Fallout resource - Fallout: New Vegas - Brother None counts down his favourite games
"There are two novels that can change a bookish 14-year-old's life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world.
The other, of course, involves orcs." --John Rogers

Brother None · Posted: Wed May 23, 2007 15:46 Post subject:

Thanks for stopping by, Mr. Mullins.

Any chance you could tell us a little bit more about what Bethesda asked for/provided you with and how many pieces you did for them?

Also, any chance you can clear up the big man-shaped thing on the ground in front of the four dudes on the latest art?

Also, for our readers, more Mullins art (or given to me as such): ~~link~~ link link link link
_________________
Founding Father (50p)

No Mutants Allowed, your Fallout resource - Fallout: New Vegas - Brother None counts down his favourite games
"There are two novels that can change a bookish 14-year-old's life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world.
The other, of course, involves orcs." --John Rogers

Kukident · Posted: Wed May 23, 2007 15:53 Post subject:

i like the way this guy writes and thinks

and that he informs as at all... thx Wink

King of Creation · Posted: Wed May 23, 2007 16:04 Post subject:

I mean, I guess it's nice looking art for what it is, but how about something like this?

Brother None · Posted: Wed May 23, 2007 16:10 Post subject:

King of Creation · Posted: Wed May 23, 2007 16:20 Post subject:

Wow...looking through his website, there are a ton of images that capture the grand 50's retro-atom art deco vision of the future style much better than the Beth concept art:

Link 1
Link 2 - You can see the pig from the Paradise Falls image in this one
Link 3
Just to name a few.

edit:
These really scream Fallout to me, at least:
Linky A
Linky B
This one because of the artful design of the architecture
_________________
Duck and Cover

Briosafreak · Posted: Wed May 23, 2007 16:31 Post subject:

I don't remember the first one, the others are indeed from his site.
_________________
PlanetFallout

King of Creation · Posted: Wed May 23, 2007 16:33 Post subject:

Heh...the first one Kharn posted looks like it's from Akira.
_________________
Duck and Cover

Brother None · Posted: Wed May 23, 2007 16:34 Post subject:

King of Creation · Posted: Wed May 23, 2007 16:36 Post subject:

Well it is on Craig Mullins site...it just looks more Akira than Fallout.
_________________
Duck and Cover

DirtyDreamDesigner · Posted: Wed May 23, 2007 16:42 Post subject:

These other ones are brilliant and much more fitting.
_________________
Fiat iustitia ruat coelum, et pereat mundus.

Alfredtrek88 · Posted: Wed May 23, 2007 16:46 Post subject:

Nice that the artist came over here.

Brillo · Posted: Wed May 23, 2007 17:01 Post subject:

Sorrow · Posted: Wed May 23, 2007 17:04 Post subject:

King of Creation · Posted: Wed May 23, 2007 17:10 Post subject:

sai | GLYPH · Posted: Wed May 23, 2007 18:21 Post subject:

Brother None · Posted: Wed May 23, 2007 18:25 Post subject:

SuAside · Posted: Wed May 23, 2007 18:36 Post subject:

/me waves at mr Artist.

you shouldn't doubt your own painting skills. from what we can see you're pretty awesome.

too bad indeed that not all FO art has that trademark Fallout feel.
_________________
Per is the bestest lizard.

sai | GLYPH · Posted: Wed May 23, 2007 18:45 Post subject:

Karak · Posted: Wed May 23, 2007 18:47 Post subject: