Wednesday, February 15, 2017

Universal Studios Hollywood on New Years Day 2017

Hello there !! A belated Happy  New Year to everyone! Hope all is well with you. Sorry for the long delay in posting and also in responding to recent comments. I've been going in so many directions it's been crazy. Good but crazy. Let me catch up by posting a couple of photos that Crash and Spyro fans in particular fans might appreciate as well as movie fans in general. 

This past New Years Day I was at the top floor of the Sheraton Hotel on the Universal Studios lot and shot these photos. The one below is the main high rise office tower at the studio. It was on the top floor of this building that Naughty Dog was located in the late 1990s. I worked on Crash 3 and maybe part of Crash 2 there. Not sure but I know I was there for Crash 3. Top floor corner conference room on the other side of the building. This is the view towards the west with the San Fernando Valley in the distance.


Here's the view looking north. That's the main Universal lot at the bottom of the photo with Burbank California spreading out along the foothills. Gives you an idea of the panorama I enjoyed when I was working there. The long white building at center left is where Naughty Dog was for Crash 2 and also Insomniac's offices were there as well. Both on the upper floors. That's where Spyro was born. The spotty debris at the top of the photo is from the window.


I'll be following up soon with more art to feature. Thank you for checking in. Wishing you well in all you do!

10 comments:

Unknown said...

Mr. Zembillas. I Wanted to ask something about Spyro the Dragon and the sidecharacters in Spyro Ripto's Rage and Year of the Dragon. I wanted to know if you worked on the designs of charachers like Hunter, Elora, Ripto, Sheila, Sgt.Bird, The Sorceress and others or was it someone else's work?

Unknown said...

Wowie! The buildings look fresh and new! What an awesome sight! You got me worried there when you didn't upload for a while, I always thought you was just waaay too busy, I guess I was sorta right! Anyway, I wanted to show you this comparison of my Crash art of Ripper Roo: http://sonicboomartist353.deviantart.com/art/Ripper-Roo-2016-and-2017-comparison-655299237
Tell me what you think in your free time?

Anonymous said...

Glad to see you back! I'm looking forward to see new art

Charles Z said...

Kosmokomic hello. I worked on the first Spyro game to any extent. All the dragons and the sheep and Nasty Gnorc and all those characters. I did some stuff on the second game and that was it. Insomniac took over from there.

Hi Vanilla Latte. You're a good artist and I like what you do.

Hello there Gabriele and I hope everything is going great with you. I'll be following up soon with more.

Thanks for your comments guys!

Unknown said...

Hey can I get your thoughts on this design I made, it's my own version of crash and I wanted to see what you think of it
https://mobile.twitter.com/Scelinbirg

Unknown said...

Great to hear from you again, those photos were really cool to see! I've lately been wanting to learn more of the days of Spyro's creation, and this definitely counts.

@Kosmokomic Those characters were designed by Oliver Wade, who I believe joined Insomniac at the very end of Spyro 1's development or at least for the second and third game. He later left for High Impact Games, which was formed by former Naughty Dog and Insomniac team members. This old forum thread might be of interest http://www.spyroforum.com/viewtopic.php?id=3197

Charles Z said...

Hello there Samuel Shellabarger. Nice job with your sketch of Crash. I like the fluidity you've incorporated in your approach to the character plus the way you pushed the wacky face.

RubbberRabbbit2 you're an authority on the follow up Spyro games. Thanks for setting the record straight.

Unknown said...

Charles Z and RubberRabbbit2 Thank you for the clarification.

Albert Miiros said...

Hello Charles! It´s Albert from Finland.

Nice to hear from you again man! I was also concerned when there was nothing new on your blog for some time. But I´m glad that you were just busy. :)

Wow, it´s really cool to see these pictures! Thanks for showing them!

Wishing you a good continuation on this 2017 as well, and thanks again for everything you did for me!

Best regards!
Your fan,
Albert Miiros

Charles Z said...

Hello there Albert! Thanks for checking in. Hope you're doing great. Cheers and good luck to you!