Kevin Bayliss is a name that will be instantly familiar to anyone who considers themselves to be a hardcore Nintendo fan; not only was he responsible for the visuals in many of Rare's classic NES titles, he worked as a character designer on games such as Killer Instinct, Battletoads and Donkey Kong Country – in fact, he's the guy responsible for creating Diddy Kong.
Bayliss is now plying his trade at Playtonic Games – custodian of the Yooka-Laylee franchise – but he's still keenly aware of his connection with Rare's past and has started a series of art tutorials on YouTube to showcase his working process.
The first tutorial focuses on Mumbo Jumbo (created by Ed Bryan, another ex-Rare staffer who is now at Playtonic) from Banjo-Kazooie, and offers a fascinating insight into how modern game artists create artwork and concept images for their games. Once upon a time, Bayliss would have been putting pen to paper to concoct his characters, but these days everything is done on a computer.
Bayliss is also involved with the 'Salamandos' project, which aims to fuse his creations with the music of David Wise, another Rare legend.
Let us know what you think of the video, and tell us which characters you'd like Kev to tackle next.
Comments 11
Oh well that's really cool. (Coming from a designer)
insert DK64 JOKE HERE
He should draw Kiddy Kong!
Lovely artwork. Did he say how long he spent on the piece in total? I skipped through some of it.
Not sure it holds much value for me as a tutorial for the stage I'm at - it's too much in one go for me and doesn't really focus on the technical 'how to' very much, but nice to see, nonetheless.
@HotGoomba
The obvious joke is that Mumbo Jumbo's signature drink is the Eekum Bokum.
Lovely! Have Kiddy Kong return when Nintendo doesn’t seem to be bringing him back in Donkey Kong Country games.
There is still something special about ink on paper for me.but im not against these types of software at all.i think its pretty cool.maby i try it myself one day.i still do my drawings on paper.im old
@HotGoomba https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_i_GLsMK7UA
"Kevin Bayliss is a name that will be instantly familiar to anyone who considers themselves to be a hardcore Nintendo fan;"
Well, darn. Guess I can't be considered hardcore. =P
Might have a watch later though.
@khululy fair enough lol
you mean... Diddy's Kong Creator?
Show Comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...