Concept Artwork
Artworks related to my various game projects can be looked at here.
All the things listed on this page was created by and is (c) LucybonesSquirrel, and cannot be used in commercial productions or be made profit from in any way. Permission to use the info and images on this page for non-commercial purposes is granted however, as long as credit is given where it's due.
Kazooa's Bad Strange Day
This cancelled game of mine has had a number of concept drawings made, all detailing ideas for things that either made it in, or didn't.
This unnamed raccoon girl was at an fairly early point going to be in the game as a friend to Crystaly, according to an early draft of an GTS story that never went anywhere. After dropping that story I considered making her into Kazooa’s “girlfriend”, only to have her replaced with Crystaly later on(ironically though, Crystaly was supposed to be the girlfriend of Kazooa since the beginning of Kazooa’s Bad Strange Day’s development, so having them both in the game would of made things a bit complicated, so maybe that’s why I dropped the other character? Again, it is hard for me to remember all the decisions I made back then, so my memory may not be 100% correct).
It is a bit hard to explain, because it’s been so long now. What I can say though is that the inspiration for this raccoon girl was taken from Berri the Chipmunk, the girlfriend of Conker The Squirrel.
These drawings were made at a time when I was still not feeling too well(and was likely filled with inner emotions and feelings by then, and sometimes quite dark even), hence why Tailyna is in them both. Having started to play Conker’s Bad Fur Day for quite a while also seemed to affect my drawing for some reason. Again, these drawings are mainly random, and aren’t concepts or ideas of any kind, but they're listed here just for the sake of completeness.
Kazooa trying out a context sensitive spot and receiving a “Mepsi Pax”, which wasn’t the exact kind of thing she wanted.
The Context Sensitive areas from Conker's Bad Fur Day was going to be a feature in KBSD, and it would have served the exact same purpose; to provide the player with a solution or item depending on the context. It worked quite well, and had I only sticked myself to do further work on the game I think I could’ve made it even more functional and efficient.
Now this one is... quite peculiar to say the least. I once considered implementing a subquest into KBSD where Kazooa would, after getting a fair bit into the game, encounter some figure with a hood over its head. This figure would later turn out to be the mother of Kazooa, who would perhaps appear somewhere during the war, and Kazooa would then have to rescue her from being killed or something.
Anyhow, my mind was really swirling with ideas back in the day that just didn’t quite pan out, and as a result things got a bit messy towards the end. Over time I came to throw away most of those ideas and just focus on making the game into some 2D semi-remake of Conker’s Bad Fur Day. The idea of Kazooa having a mother stayed till the end of development though.
This character, Croww the Grim Reaper, is pretty much a parody of Gregg the Grim Reaper from Conker’s Bad Fur Day. Croww’s role in KBSD was gonna be just like the role Gregg had.
The character was never used, likely because 1; I forgot about him later on, or 2; I was thinking about a possible replacement for Croww that never ended up happening. The first point would be the more likely reason as to why the character never made it.
The Great Mighty Poo Crow was an early idea for the “The Great Little Poo” boss. At first this guy was going to have the body of TGMPoo, but when I drew his graphic for the game he instead got the body of a Dumb-Crow. I guess I either kinda forgot how the guy looked like in the original drawing, or maybe it was out of artistic limitations in regards to game design? Again, I’m really pondering over some of the decisions I made back in the day.
Artwork of my Kazooa character sitting on her throne, in all her misery (just like in Conker’s Bad Fur Day). If the details on top of the throne wasn’t an obvious clue, the character to parody the Fabled Panther King was to be a snake king of sort. The king would have had a full body like the Panther King, but with the head of a snake, and he would also hiss whenever he speaks. The character never got implemented in the end, but had the game been finished and this character included in the game, I think things could’ve turned out pretty funny...
The two above drawings were intended to be adverts for the game. A demo of the game would’ve likely been showcased in school, and had it been shown there I think it would’ve raised a few eyebrows, mostly due to its content and the direction I was taking the game in. Back then the game was known as “Kazooie’s Bad Stupid Day”. I later changed the name to have it make a bit more sense with the general odd and strange nature of the game.(if it ever did make any sense in the end though I really don't know.)
I saved this one for last for this post. A sketch of an creature known to myself as “The Alien Fly”. It would have been the final boss of the game, and it would have been fought outside of the space vault, in the vast open space. It looks like a fly and has the body and wings of a fly, but it is really an alien of sorts. Its main attack was going to have it periodically spew out some toxic, gooey blob, substance, or something at the player. It would’ve likely dealt some damage if it hit the player.
I’ve had some sprite work done on the boss, but it was never implemented because I was busy working on other ideas for the game at the time.
A sketch of The Matrix(or Vertex) duo. Kazooa(to the left) would have been like Neo Conker, while Crystaly(to the right) would have been like Neo Berri. Both were intended for the same concept as in Conker’s Bad Fur Day, where Conker and Berri infiltrate a bank while shooting down every single bank guard in sight.
By the time Kazooa’s Bad Strange Day were cancelled, the levels related to this idea were pretty much a work in progress. While the Neo Kazooa object was mostly complete, the Neo Crystaly object hadn’t even been begun on yet, aside from a couple sprite graphics.
The Buniz was going to parody the Tediz from Conker’s Bad Fur Day, and these guys would’ve looked considerably more sinister and evil than their Tediz counterparts. These guys never got implemented by the time KBSD were scrapped, but their role in the game would have been more than similar to the Tediz from CBFD.
Artwork of my Kazooa character reading a instruction book after using an context sensitive pad. The button/key that would’ve been pressed to trigger something was going to be the up arrow key on the keyboard.
This is the last artwork related to Kazooa’s Bad Strange Day. After this point I stopped making artwork for the game(due to ideas for other projects and so on coming into my mind).
Kazooa in The Treasure Land
Very few artworks were made for this game, but those that do exist can be seen here.
Both of these aren’t really exactly artwork related to the game, but they are from an period when the game yet had to take shape. The 2nd drawing was made 8 days after development on the game began. My mind was tumbling with ideas at the time, especially the direction I should of taken the game in. It wasn’t until a year later that the game would start to slowly take shape and become what it is today.
This one is from september 22 2008. By this point the concept of okidokicharlie’s Uncle John character being part of the game was being thought about. At the time however I had no idea how the character looked like, and as time went on I kinda forgot about it because other things were taking up my time. The line of text in the image about Uncle John “becoming bankrupt” made into the final game in some form, if only a bit altered.
In this drawing he concept for Kazooa’s “Clocko-Bat” invention came to mind. It wound up being more simple-looking in the actual game compared to what's seen in this drawing. Looking at this again, I wonder why I didn’t go back to this drawing and use it use as reference material for the Clocko-Bat sprite. There a few reasons for this. First reason is because it simply didn’t cross my mind at the mind, the second one being that the added details would’ve taken up more space on the episode select screen. But I highly doubt the second theory being the case here(from what I still can remember), as I could of have simply redrawn the graphic (and re-positioning it a bit lower) to make it fit. Ah well, I did what I did back in the day, and not all my decisions were perhaps the best.
Just a pic of an Wood-Stock with wings stealing an treasure chest that my Wario-like Kazooa character was about to get her hands on.
At first I wasn't sure whether to classify this piece as artwork for the game, but due to the timeframe when this pic was being drawn, and not remembering what I drew this for, I now consider this to be part of my artwork portfolio for Kazooa in The Treasure Land.
Artwork showing the concept of Kazooa using a Dumb-Crow to fly in Kazooa in The Treasure Land.
The concept actually came about fairly early on in development. However, it would take me until september 2010 to finally come up with a character to be used by Kazooa to fly around with.
This is the last related artwork for the game. A bit less than Kazooa's Bad Strange Day, but at least I drew some art for this game while I still could.
What other things I can still remember though is during the time the first four drawings were made is that the credits sequence was going to be more like the one from Wario Land II, and the ending screen showing all the stuff collected would’ve been sorta lifted from that game as well. The second one was being worked on a bit during development, but I couldn’t finish it in time and leaved it in the game, inaccessible by normal means. A few minigames also had to be dropped due to time constraints, and difficulties with implementing them.
Applelin: Canvas Terror
Art for an game that were in development since the end of 2006, but suddenly changed direction in 2011. Unlike my Kazooa in The Treasure Land game though, I was gonna take this game a step further to make it differ from any of my previous games.
This was the first design(or redesign) of Applelin Ball. The original character was created by okidokicharlie and thus belongs to him. Here she looked more like a certain Cute-Ball character of mine though.
This is the second design for Applelin Ball. I ended up going with this one for the game project from the get go (with slight alterations compared to this drawing).
Artwork for the game's title screen. Not much else for me to say about it really. Had development gone on I think I could've changed the title screen at any point.
Reference art of Drawciolina, who would have been the main antagonist in the game.
Just some general artwork I made for the game. Starting with this pic the character's name were changed from "Cherri" to "Applelin", as her former name seemed to clash with an completely unrelated character created by one of my friends.
Aside from these artworks, there was some minor work being done on the game before it got cancelled, and somewhat playable builds of this game do exist. I released one of them back in 2018 via my youtube channel, which is the last build that were ever made. I'm still unsure if I really want to revive this project again. If I do though, I might as well take it back to the drawing board and change it so the concept won't resemble kirby: Canvas Curse so strongly.
Applelin's Adventures
Concept artwork for another game of mine that never came to be. The first sketch of my Applelin character demonstrates a certain mood system, which kind of originates from Super Princess Peach for the Nintendo DS. Unlike that game however, there would’ve been many other things one could of done/performed with the help of Applelin’s sudden mood swings, and her mood wouldn’t have had been so much of a central focus.
The second drawing is of Applelin after she’s done her end-of-level victory dance, similar to Peach’s dance from Super Princess Peach. One difference here is that Applelin is holding a big flower instead of an talking umbrella.
Both of these things never came to be, but they were made during a time when Applelin: Canvas Terror was still known to me as Applelin’s Adventures(still ignoring the former name of the character in the concept art).
Kazooa the Phantom Thief
These drawings were for an game project of mine, Kazooa the Phantom Thief. The game would have been inspired by Wario: Master of Disguise for the Nintendo DS. The first sketch shows Kazooa standing, holding a frying pan with devil horns while laughing maniacally at someone. This frying pan would have been known as “Bast-Pan”, a play on the words “Frying pan” and “Bastard”.
The second sketch shows Kazooa in her “Thief” form. Her name in this form would’ve been “The Red Fryer”, based on Thief Wario’s ″Purple Wind” name.
The game had yet to begin development at this point, but I sorta carried on with Kazooa’s “Red Fryer” persona for quite some time in the case the game would be made. At the moment though the game has been put on hold.
Artwork of a new character, “Devil Conker”, or “Evil Conker” as he was first called. He was supposed to play a role similar to Count Cannoli from Wario: Master of Disguise.
Conceptual artwork for the game saving screen, similar to the one seen in the game this piece was inspired from.
Originally this wasn't really concept art for "Kazooa the Phantom Thief", but since so many years have passed by now I consider it part of all the art I made for the game. Furthermore, Kazooa would have been showered with coins by the end of the game anyway, just like Wario.
KazooaWare
A piece of conceptual artwork showing the whole cast of characters for KazooaWare. The game were going to be based on the first title in the WarioWare series, revisiting the settings of that game.
Kazooa the Seagull was going to be like how Wario usually is (greedy and all that). Frankie the Weasel (from Conker’s Bad Fur Day) was to be based on Jimmy T., rocking out at disco clubs and such, and his games would also revolve around sports. Crowiolina was to be like Mona, and her games would be quite weird in nature. Project 67 and Dummy’s set of microgames would be similar to Dribble and Spitz.
Tailyna and Applelin (called “Cherri” in the pic becuase the original name was still in use by then) were to be based on Kat and Ana, and their microgames would have been nature-based. For some reason they were later replaced with Lucy and Jasmine from the Lazy Lucy series, and their theme would have been “Lazy”(to what I can remember writing among the game’s text strings). Comparing this drawing with the characters that evenutally ended up making it into the early protoypes for KazooaWare, I now think the former duo (Tailyna and Applein) should have been kept alongside the newly added characters.
Kid Conker would have been based on 9-Volt, and his games would have been based on ones made by Rare(similar to how 9-Volt’s games are based on Nintendo games). I was at one point considering replacing the character with someone else, but was unable to come up with anything good before the project was put on hold anyway.
Dr. Stock is basically a Wood-Stock, with a few changes to make him look a bit like Dr. Crygor, and like Dr. Crygor his games would be based around science.
Weirdo, the last character of the entire cast, now redesigned to look a bit like Orbulon. His games would have been IQ-based. He even has his own little spaceship as seen in the above pic.
Character bio drawings of the characters for KazooaWare, describing them in more detail.
These were the only character bios I made. I didn't really manage to make drawings for all the characters that was going to be in the game.
Crazy Wheelies would of have played exactly like the microgame “Crazy Cars” from the very first WarioWare game. Some minor work was done on the microgame before the game was canned(complete with placeholder graphics and sfx where needed.)
SMASH Demo
Shown in this pic is the logo for this sorta game. SMASH Demo was going to be a fighting game in a pretty similar way to Smash Bros. (mostly using Brawl as main inspiration)... had the project ever taken off, that is.
Also shown are various character emblems, from top left to bottom right: Wood-Stock, Kazooa(both KazooaWare and Classic), Tailyna, Applelin, Jigglypuff(from the Pokemon Series), Dumb-Crow, Conker The Squirrel, Hijaky Tukira, Project 67, Dummy, and Crowiolina. What characters the 5 question marks was gonna represent remains a mystery even to me. But at least one of them I believe was going to be reserved for my Lazy Tily character, as one of the unlockable fighters.
Doodles of my Kazooa character, both KazooaWare and Classic versions. The sketch of KazooaWare Kazooa one is pretty much a prototype of the later design I ended up going for.
Yep, the Jigglypuff Pokemon was going to be in SMASH Demo along with my other characters as one of the smash fighters. Looking back on this sketch again, I now find several proportions about the character to be quite wrong. I might have a go at redrawing this pic at some point though.
I can’t remember if I drew this thing as part of my concept art for the project, but because so much time has passed since then I now consider the drawing to be a part of it.
Lazy Tily was, as mentioned earlier, going to be one of the hidden fighters in the game. What her moveset was going to be I can’t really remember, because the project never really took off.
A little known fact is that this SMASH Demo was going to be included in Kazooa’s Bad Strange Day(obviously as a demo, not a full game). While I started to do some minor work on the material to be used for this side project, none of it ended up being finished or used, apart from a texture that were reused for the throne chair model in Kazooa’s Bad Strange Day.
Kazooa's Woods
Originally titled Weirdo's Forest, the game was changed in 2014 to make it more like Wario's Woods for the NES.
Right now, only the following artwork exists for this game:
Reference artwork for the Ranatan character from the old Kerokko Demetan anime, who will be playing the role of Birdo(Wario's Woods).
Originally I had it set for Jasmine from the Lazy Lucy Series to appear in Kazooa's Woods, but there was something about her ingame sprites that looked a bit... odd to me. So for later prototype versions of the game I'll be replacing her with Ranatan... you know, to further reinforce the whole "things being completely misfit and out of place" feeling of Wario's Woods.
Weirdo's Forest
These are drawings for a game project, Weirdo’s Forest, that got cancelled and eventually revived as Kazooa’s Woods(the latter has been put on hold for now). All of these pieces of artwork went on to be used in the cancelled prototype(with some differences due to the original drawings having to be redrawn on computer from scratch. Didn't have any reliable scanner at the time, so things were a bit more difficult for me to do back then).
Another piece of concept art for this game that I've nearly forgotten I have ever made.
Shown in the above pic is some sort... chase sequence perhaps, where Weirdo would be in the background trying to kill the player in various ways... whatever else I may have had on mind here at the time. It's basically unfinished, and I apologize if you expected to see some big bad guy in the background when there really aren't any...
Project Lucie
This sketch was made for a new project of mine starring characters from the Lazy Lucy series. The game had the working title of “Project Lucie” (a reference to Lucy’s name in french territories). The story was going to be that Lucy’s friend, Jasmine, one day has somehow lost her hair clip, and together with Lucy they set out on a journey to find out where it has gone to. The plot itself was never fully thought out, so any further story details aren’t known.
The game was going to be staying more close to the original TV series, and as such would have been a title suitable for younger players. There was some work done on it before it was put aside.
Later in 2016 I decided to try and restart the project again, only taking it in a different direction this time, now to be more based on the Sega MegaDrive/Genesis game World of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck. I started to modify the sprites for the main character a bit, and was about to change other aspects of the game only to put the project aside yet again due to feedback on the ideas I had for the game, and that alone led me to become demotivated to work on the game any more. The future of the project is still uncertain, and I’m likely to not touch it again in a very long time.
This game may have been put on hold for an uncertain period of time. However, I tend to look at the source file for the project every now and then, thinking that one day I might return to work on this again. If I do though, I will more than likely take it back to the drawing board again and redo the sprite art style, along with other changes.
Unsorted
If I'm remembering about this piece correctly, this sketch was nothing more but an idea for an paint type of game, almost like Mario Paint. Note the text “Color Test Engine” at the top. What this color testing engine would have been like, I don’t know. This drawing is all of what exists of the idea. It never made it past concept stage.
This drawing is for another game project of mine. I’m sure I showed this to my friend okidokicharlie back in the day. The drawing says “Psycrow’s Mean Bean Steaming Machine” at the top, and Psycrow is without his space suit helmet too. This was basically to be based on Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine (Sega Megadrive/Genesis). I did do some minor sprite work before I scrapped this project though, and there is a early build of this as well. It’s largely unplayable though due to the mechanics not really having been put in place.
This picture is for yet another game idea that never got started. Ignore the “Cherri” name on the bottom right. The character’s name is now Applelin, I’m only keeping the picture as is for historical reasons.
“Applelin the Raccoon Rollball” would have seen Applelin playing the role as a flipper ball. When I first came up with the idea Applelin would of have been inside a huge transparent pinball, rolling as the ball is being shot around the playfield(The pose she is in on the drawing might possibly support this idea further as well).
Also seen on the middle bottom is a two-frame animation sketch of Applelin’s hand, which would have been used in a bonus stage, similarly to Sonic Spinball (well, the whole idea for this game was really going to be inspired by Sonic Spinball). It’s a shame I never choose to pursue this concept further.
Artwork of a future descendant of my Applelin character duking it out against King-Dumb-Crow of the future, who is the president of his own evil company.
This was just a little idea for an Air Zonk type of game. It was also gonna borrow most elements from that game as well, down to the gameplay itself.
None the less, it never got any further than this drawing. Looking at this now, I can't really see myself reviving this idea again, if ever.
These pictures may at first appear to be just some random art, but these are actually from an idea I had for a kart racer game, Dumb Crow’s Dizzy Racers. The source game of inspiration was Konami Krazy Racers for the GBA.
It basically evolved from an likewise cancelled prototype called Project 67 Dizzy Racers. Pretty similar title right? Dumb Crow’s Dizzy Racers on the other hand would maybe have been a little more diverse. Applelin would have been driving a racing car while the Dumb Crows would be riding on a little wheel, as seen in the concept arts above.
Both prototypes had some minor work done on them, but nothing much more beyond some graphics and minimal, unfinished player code.
Also something of note, is these pics introduced one of my characters, “Number Two”, who was part of a running joke with the dates of the drawings where the character would somehow escape from… well, the date displayed in the pics, and one or two of the Dumb-Crows in these off-doodles would try to capture it and return it back where it should be, with no real success whatsoever.