One of the most enjoyable hats I wore while working at VGT was to develop new characters for the company's roster of casino slot machines or to refine and expand on existing characters for new games and promotional usage. The collection of images I'm sharing here display the various drawings I created as I went through the process.
My original task when working at the start of the 5 Reel Video slot machine which would become "Tutankahmun's Gold" was to take the source art I was given and work on it until it became a more appealing design that I could animate with personality. These are my exploratory sketches.
This was an experimental project where the three mechanical slot machine reels were changed to rotate horizontally instead of vertically and the symbols became segmented elements of VGT's signature character line. The end result was a slots variation of the old funny-body mix up game.
Part of a series of character exploration sketches for VGT's "Lucky Ducky". Up to this point he'd existed mainly as a static image connected with a game logo and this was an attempt to figure out what he'd look like full-body and what his personality could be.
Part of a series of character exploration sketches for VGT's "Lucky Ducky". Up to this point he'd existed mainly as a static image connected with a game logo and this was an attempt to figure out what he'd look like full-body and what his personality could be.
Like "Lucky Ducky" above, VGT's "Lucky Leprechaun" character didn't have very many images of him that could be used for marketing and promotional efforts, and this series of exploratory sketches set out to rectify that as well as provide inspirational ideas about what could be done with him if he were given the full video slot machine treatment.
Like "Lucky Ducky" above, VGT's "Lucky Leprechaun" character didn't have very many images of him that could be used for marketing and promotional efforts, and this series of exploratory sketches set out to rectify that as well as provide inspirational ideas about what could be done with him if he were given the full video slot machine treatment.
Like "Lucky Ducky" above, VGT's "Lucky Leprechaun" character didn't have very many images of him that could be used for marketing and promotional efforts, and this series of exploratory sketches set out to rectify that as well as provide inspirational ideas about what could be done with him if he were given the full video slot machine treatment.
Like "Lucky Ducky" above, VGT's "Lucky Leprechaun" character didn't have very many images of him that could be used for marketing and promotional efforts, and this series of exploratory sketches set out to rectify that as well as provide inspirational ideas about what could be done with him if he were given the full video slot machine treatment.
These are some sketches of VGT's characters "Hot Red Ruby" and "Mr. Moneybags" that would be applied to different marquee art presentations.
This is a collection of character design ideas for the glass art that would decorate VGT's 3 reel mechanical slot machine "Polar High Roller".
This is the ultimate design sketch for Uncle Sam as he's featured in VGT's 3 Reel Mechanical slot machine "It's Payback Time!" Originally Sam wasn't featured in the game at all, -instead a more anonymous "Man in Black" government agent was depicted performing similar actions until focus group testing indicated that nobody had positive reactions to government agents even if they were holding out money in their hands.
This is the ultimate design sketch for Uncle Sam as he's featured in VGT's 3 Reel Mechanical slot machine "It's Payback Time!" Originally Sam wasn't featured in the game at all, -instead a more anonymous "Man in Black" government agent was depicted performing similar actions until focus group testing indicated that nobody had positive reactions to government agents even if they were holding out money in their hands.
This is a series of design sketches for Uncle Sam to be used in VGT's 3 Reel Mechanical slot machine "It's Payback Time!". These are the early drafts at the character.
This is a series of design sketches for Uncle Sam to be used in VGT's 3 Reel Mechanical slot machine "It's Payback Time!". These are the early drafts at the character.
This is a series of design sketches for Uncle Sam to be used in VGT's 3 Reel Mechanical slot machine "It's Payback Time!". These are the early drafts at the character.
