EXPLOTTENS

lllustrated Trailer & Storyboards

Storyboard and illustration for an indie game trailer

Cartoon orange cat wearing blue goggles, green scarf, and brown jacket, holding a device with flames in the background.

Overview

Created visual assets for an illustrated trailer for Explottens, an indie arcade game, during my time at we.R.play. The project focused on narrating the game’s backstory through a sequence of storyboarded and animated scenes, developed for the game’s debut on Apple Arcade.
ROLE:
Illustrator / Visual Designer
SCOPE:
Storyboarding, illustration, background design, character assets for animation

Challenge

The goal was to translate a narrative brief into a clear and engaging visual sequence that could communicate the game’s backstory within a short animated format.

Approach

The process began with developing multiple storyboard thumbnail directions based on the narrative brief. Selected directions were refined into detailed sketches, followed by a consistent visual style applied across all scenes.

Background environments were painted in Photoshop, while characters were created in Illustrator using a 2D vector style and structured in a puppet format for animation. The approach focused on clarity, visual consistency, and adaptability for motion.
Storyboard sketches depicting an animated cat character in various scenes including news reporting, a cityscape, confrontation, using gadgets, flying a plane, and heroic action sequences.

Visual System

The visual system was structured to support a storyboard-driven animation pipeline, ensuring visual consistency across scenes while enabling efficient development of backgrounds, characters and animation-ready assets.
  • Storyboard thumbnails and scene exploration
  • Sketch development and visual refinement
  • Background illustration in Photoshop
  • Character design and vector assets in Illustrator
  • Preparation of assets for animation in puppet format
Digital illustration of a blue and green planet with clouds in space surrounded by stars.
Illustration of a planet resembling Earth with continents shaped like orange cat paw prints against a starry space background.
Cartoon map of a fictional world shaped like two large cat paw prints with green land, mountains, and clouds over blue ocean.
Cartoon of a gray cat in a suit angrily pointing at another cat in a uniform and red hat against a cracked wall.
Cartoon black and gray cat with green eyes saluting, wearing a red beret and decorated navy uniform.
Cat character sitting in a chair playing video games in a dark room with a glowing TV and game controller on a table.
Two-panel cartoon showing a smartphone ringing on a table, then a white cat paw pressing the green answer button.
Two animated cats: one white cat holding a phone, and one black cat in a military uniform with a red beret.
Cartoon white cat wearing brown pants and a black jacket pinning a shining badge on the jacket.
Cartoon white cat wearing orange gloves and adjusting blue goggles with a serious expression.
Hand pressing number 4 on a keypad next to a closed blue shutter.
Cartoon cat piloting a futuristic jet from a hangar into an orange sunset sky.
White-haired cat in black armor overlooking a city filled with buildings and thick smoke clouds.
Cartoon cat flying a red airplane with green scarf toward a city skyline with explosions and black smoke.
Cartoon cat character in a green scarf and gloves watching a fiery projectile hitting the ground with flames and smoke.
Green cartoon hand wearing a glove holding a pin badge with a white chess piece and the text 'KATMANDU INTELLIGENCE TACTICIAN' on a fiery background.
Cartoon red airplane cockpit with radio microphone and white lightning bolts representing radio signals.
Orange cat wearing a green scarf and gloves driving a red vintage plane.
Cartoon orange cat wearing blue goggles, green scarf, and brown jacket, holding a device with flames in the background.

Outcome

The illustrated trailer was completed as part of the game’s launch and was featured on Apple Arcade, supporting the introduction of the game’s narrative and visual world.

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