With the release of the latest Shrek movie came the latest Shrek video game. In the end the game key art was just an adaptation of the movie one sheet (not done by us), but between the announcement of the game and the release of the movie poster, there sure was a lot of time to explore some ideas of our own.

While the movie poster focused on the latest story, our concepts explored ways to depict the multiplayer game-play and the ability to go between two worlds (in the game).

All key art comps were done by us over at HCI and the final key art was finished at Picture Plane Imaging.

The Boogie Superstar packaging was an especially fun piece to work on. Big colorful illustrations, orange bursts, and blown out stage lights; what else can a tween ask for?

The package included the game and a peripheral (the microphone). The challenge was to create packaging that would show off the mic, in this case by leaving a huge hole in the key art where the mic could be seen; but would also work on the Wii box when the mic wasn't there.

The art was developed based on concept art and character development art sent to use by the developer. Original concept sketches for the packaging were done by me at HCI, tightened up sketches and final illustrations were done by Picture Plane Imaging.

iMetrikus needed consumer facing packaging for their MetrikLink Hub, a product that until now was only presented to its users in a medical setting not on store shelves, and did not have pretty packaging or even solid product photos. Our direction from the client was to focus on the product not lifestyle shots, and to make it look good.

We approached this in-home medical care product as we would consumer electronics. The new photography was crisp and the box was kept clean. We created icons for the descriptors on the front and back of the box to break up the monotony pure text, and introduced saturated blues and greens to the color palette to keep the package from looking too stark.

Logos were provided by the client. Photography was directed by HCI and produced by Picture Plane Imaging.

Capcom was getting ready to release Marvel Vs. Capcom 2 on the Xbox Arcade and approached HCI to come up with a style guide for their toy packaging and merchandise. This is the packaging look that we developed. Check out the rest of the style guide here.

The packaging had to allow room for group shots as well as for individual character art all on the same package, without getting too busy. This was a fighting game and we had to convey the energy of the comic violence without making the packs look too juvenile. The smaller full color group shots balanced out against the gritty accents and grayscale illustration, walking that line between energetic and young.

Logo and character illustrations were provided by the client.

Meet Blur, it's Mario Kart for adults. Having seen a little bit of gameplay our first rounds were very much like the game. We started with dark streets, motion blurs and light streaks. The client challenged us to come up with something more unexpected as our initial offerings looked a lot like other racing franchises already on the market. Sooo we went off the deep end, generating round after round of alternate camera angles, clean graphic styling instead of illustration and conceptual stuff that was more about the "vibe" of the game instead of showing actual racing. Our explorations included both logos and key art. All of it very fun to make.

In the end the packaging for this game ended up being very close to what we had in round one, a glorified screen shot. Here are some awesome explorations we did.

None of the comps shown here went to final, but some did make it to the later rounds and were touched up by Picture Plane Imaging.

The Monsters Vs. Aliens game was released in tandem with the movie. Key art shown here was created to show fun, excitement, multiplayer gameplay, and relative scales of the characters.

Logo and character illustrations were provided by the client.