General:The Dragon's Eyrie/News

January 2001

16th January 2001

Elder Scrolls Inducted into GameSpy Hall of Fame! GameSpy announced that the Elder Scrolls Series has been inducted into their Hall of Fame. Check out the Daggerfall section for some of my real old sprite art. Ah, the memories...

17th January 2001

Not updated for a while. Too busy! He's a sneak peek at the Nix Hound Not too much to go on I know, but things have to be cleared through BethSoft first. Look at for a more detailed version in a while.

Very reduced texture artwork for the Nix Hound. The orignal sketch arwork canbe found here.

19th January 2001

Almost have the (creature) finished. As you can see from the textures on this page it's still a little ways off texture-wise. The animation's are pretty much done though and I have the (another creature) next. Should be interesting.

20th January 2001

Wet, cold, snowy day today in Maryland, so I was cleaning out my bookmarks when I stumbled on an old interview I did for The Amstrad CPC Games Resource. Back in the old days in Blighty, I used to work on that CPC. Happy memories...(Trails off and looks wistfully out of the window at the falling snow) Anyway, for anyone who's interested in retro gaming theTACGR's URL is: .

http://tacgr.emuunlim.com/index.html

And the interview, for those willing to listen to the ramblings of an old pixel-pusher, can be found at:

http://tacgr.emuunlim.com/interviews/markjones.html

Nothing like a bit of nostalgia on a wintery afternoon...Now excuse me while I get back to the snow. ;-)

23rd January 2001

Just got back from the Tuesday Morrowind art meeting. Couple of things to report today. The Khajiit and Argonian 3D artwork is awesome, and the (creature) still needs work.(Thanks, Christiane...mummble...mummble..mummble...);-)

Also the new "space" that Bethesda and the rest of Zenimax will inhabit comes along apace. Quite a dungeon you're building there guys! Windows? Who needs windows?! Sunshine gives you skin cancer anyway! When finished though should be a nice step up from the current space the team enjoys. With the addition of a few dragon head trophies and a liberal sprinkling of suitable hand forged weaponary it ought to quite comfy!

I've made a few updates to the website. Mostly minor graphical changes. Things might be a bit slower for a while due to some "heavier" artwork until I get some time to tweak things a tad. That's probably only going to happen after the (Secret Whatsit) complete however.

Also, have I mentioned how "Physique" SUCKS!! Arrrrgh!

25th January 2001

Most of the modifications have been made to monsters so far completed. Got a nice leaping/lunging effect to the Nix Hound run. The new character is also now blocked in. I'll try some textures tomorrow and perhaps "physique" him to a biped to check vertex assignment.

Also started to gather up some graphics from my old 8-bit days, via the WWW, to add to the site eventually. Amstrad CPC versions of Gryzor and Renegade particularly, but I found a screen shot and title screen from the very first game I worked on 14 years ago; C64 version of Arkanoid! I'll put something up over the weekend probably if all goes well with the new creature tomorrow.

26th January 2001

Whilst hunting around for some textures for the new creature I'm working on a found the old photo of the Battlespire team!

From top left to bottom right: Mark Jones, Landon Montgomery, Julian LeFay, Richard Guy, Marvin Herbold, Gary (GT) Noonan, Ken (International celibrated game designer) Rolston, and Louise Sandoval. Where are they now..?

30th January 2001

Nothing too earth shattering from the weekly meeting to report although I hear the team will be moving to their new space by the middle of next month and another new artist has joined the team. I should have the current creature finished this week and after that a more "natural" creature from the Morrowind zoo-olgy. After that's complete I can look forward to the return of a Battlespire favourite, but I can't say what or whom just yet.

February 2001

Friday 2nd February 2001

Nice article on Morrowind in this month's issue of Computer Gaming World, and another at Gamespy. The current creature is finished save for the death animation for which we're attempting something special. I'll put the finishing touches to it over the weekend and then start work on the next creature model. Ain't no way I'm using Biped for that one! All those legs! (shudder)

Wednesday 7th February 2001

Morrowind Art Meeting. Probably the only thing to report, or that I'm able to report, was that we had some problems with some phallic rocks! Looks like even the landscape's getting excited about Morrowind! :o)

Also I made a mistake in reporting that my next creature would be more "natural" looking. That one's Juan's creature so I'm jumping forward to the next one on my list. An old face from Battlespire. I'm rather pumped about creating this guy again. I wasn't very pleased with his Battlespire incarnation, but this time I hope to make amends.

Friday 16th February 2001

I've not updated the Journal for a while as I've been busy putting the finishing touches to the latest creature. Starting to get there but it needs some more work. The Morrowind team moves into their new office space tomorrow, and they'll be offline for the rest of the afternoon, so I can't get any feedback. That being the case I thought I'd update the site again.

I've added a few things, tidied up and corrected some mistakes. I'm also moving the site to a different server, but more news on that when things are a little more clear.

Wednesday 21st February 2001

The Morrowind team have moved into their new area, and I'd just like to say: "Resistance is futile" :o)

March 2001

Thursday 1st March 2001

Happy Saint David's Day to any fellow Welsh out there. :o)

I've been very busy recently so I apologise for not updating. We had a change of plan with one of our creatures last week and had to change stuff at the last minute. Also I've been tweaking the Nix Hound some more so it's now done, again! I've a bunch of other work, texture tweaking and modelling to do for next week so I will proabably not update for another few days.

The meeting this week was uneventfull, so no real news to report. Although...the first thing out of Todd's mouth did involve lesbians and vampires. Or was that vampire lesbians? Game related or just prattlings from Todd's over caffineated mind? I'll let you decide.

Although personally I wouldn't put money on anything like that turning up in Morrowind! :o)

Tuesday 6th March 2001

Meeting report. Crunch time approaches, you can sense that we're getting closer to the end of the project now. Well over half way, and I can sense an anticipation from the other members of the team. Or perhaps that's just a result of the food poisoning I got over the weekend from those kindly Burger merchants over in Mount Airy. ;o)

As to any specifics, I obviously can't go into any details. We will have some "polish" time at the end of the creature model making, which is great! A far cry from Daggerfall and Battlespire. Although we did polish, it just wasn't planned as far as I recall! ;o) My new creature takes shape and should be ready to show at the next meeting. Can't say what it is, what it does or what it looks like, but I have been referencing my Pumkinhead DVD for some bits. More than that though, I can't say.

Tuesday 13th March 2001

Meeting report. Dental appointment for Todd today so he wasn't able to be there. Relatively short meeting, just really status reports.

I do have the new creature complete, just a few tweaks to the animation to do. Really enjoyed working on this one! It was a rush job, with no sketch to go on so I had lots of freedom to go nuts and have some fun with it. It's nice to remember why I love this job so much! :o)

Tomorrow I start on a creature that featured in the original Daggerfall. Been looking forward to this guy for quite some time. As usual I'll keep the journal updated with my progress. (And hopefully update my pitiful links page too!) :o(

Tuesday 20th March 2001

Meeting report. Very quick meeting today as there were magazines visiting. Can't say which ones just yet but hopefully there will be more coverage in the next few months. Perhaps some screen shots of the creatures so I can at least put something new on the Morrowind pages!

We discussed some changes to the current creature I'm working on. There were some problems as it was beginning to look too different from the Daggerfall version. (Design by committee, never a good idea!) So today I will redo the head. Unfortunately my favourite creature so far, the "H&n;*$@", while it looked good after it was exported in our viewer, it went wonky in the game proper. So I'm not sure if the mags. even got to see it. Not sure what the problem is, but I suspect MAX is retaining information that it should have discarded and it's screwing up somewhere between exporting and arriving in the game.

The game itself is looking great. Lots of late nights by the team getting it ready for the magazine visit. Also, I thought I saw real-time shadows working. Could be wrong, don't quote me, but it might have looked rather awesome! ;o)

Tuesday 21st March 2001 (Evening Update)

The modelling on the head is finished and the texture almost complete. Looks pretty good and a think a good re-interpretation of the Daggerfall version. Lots of teeth! I'm tempted to post the head texture up on the site once I have it tweaked. It's amazing how deformed it looks, almost unrecognizable, but on the mesh it works fine. We'll see.

I'll work on the body some more tomorrow, and hopefully have it all Physiqued in time for the Tuesday meeting. The next creature on my list could be awesome if I get clearance to do what I want with it. There are some programming and gameplay issues to resolve however. There's always a trade-off between what's possible and what looks the best. If it doesn't work in the game however I'll have to come up with something else. That would be a pity.

Tuesday 27th March 2001

Art Update:

We had a scaling issue with the "D******" which I've just received confirmation from Christiane will now work. Which is good news, believe me! I was not a happy camper yesterday afternoon. :o(

I've a few more changes to the texture, mainly boosting some contrast and adding some colour to the guy, he's a bit monochromatic, at least in the body. Should have him fixed up by tonight. As with most of my creatures I've tried to keep them all using one BMP file. That should make it easier for the player to develop their own skins for the creatures once the game's released. I've even labeled the various body parts for easier identification. Aren't I a nice artist! ;o)

I've been given the go ahead with new character design. This is also great news as this creature will feature the ability to ***. (Censored by the all-seeing Zenimax. At least my fear of the all-seeing Zenimax!)

Art Meeting News: The magazine visit last week went well. Hopefully we should see a nice preview in few months. More details when I'm allowed to blab. I do have some news about the new Elderscrolls.com, which is currently being revamped and should go "live" VERY SOON! It will feature new wallpapers weekly. These wallpapers will be of the various races in the game, with examples of weapons and armour. All nicely lit and posed for general consumption. At first these will be displayed as thumbnails on the site, with a new race being linked each week. This includes the new race, which has yet to be revealed. And they all look awesome. Christiane's done a great job on those. The Argonians and Khajit a VERY cool looking. I think everyone will be impressed. It also means I'll be able to put up some shots of the weaponary I worked on earlier in the game. This should all start very soon now, hopefully a matter of days rather than weeks, although things always happen to get in the way.

Wednesday 28th March 2001

Art Update:

The textures are now "coloured" up. Looks much better and less like the washed out creature it was before. That being the case I've started on the next creature, and this one is female. A female "what" I can't say. I am using some Brom paintings as reference however, particularly one which has a great colour scheme which I'm using as a guide. Also I'm digging into my animal reference books for some ideas. I've got a ways to go before it's in a showable state, but hopefully by Tuesday I should have a good model and some textures on her. Animation could take a while, as she's not a typical character.

Thursday 29th March 2001

Reduced resolution example of portion of a pretty much non-specific skin texture. This example could change before the game is released (and probably will), but it gives an idea of the graphic that the end user will be able to modify. The graphic represents approximately one quarter of the final texture. Most of the creatures I've designed will follow a similar pattern, that is, the skin will be defined in one texture, and will be labelled as best I can. It should be fairly easy to tweak textures this way, for example colour changes, removal of "unnecessary" clothing (at least for some creatures, other characters have modelled clothing), addition of tattoos, that sort of thing. Perhaps a Mod. would feature the "Lesser Spotted Doo-Hickey" rather than the "Greater Crested Doo-Hickey" that's currently featured in the game. It's all a bit on the basic end of Mod. creation, but the information might be of use to some of those already planning their Mods.

On a related note, the new character I'm working on will be clothed but I'll probably create a seperate texture that does not include clothing. This will NOT be sanctioned by Bethesda in any way, just something I'll do for free for those with more "European" tastes! :o) I'll throw it up on this site after the game's release. I'm not sure what tools will be included with Morrowind, but I expect there should be a converter for creating BMPs and TGAs from the format we'll probably use, and for sending those formats back the other way.

By the way there's not really any Doo-Hickeys in the game, but you knew that, didn't you?

Friday 30th March 2001

The basic model for the new creature is now relatively complete. Some tweaking here and there but nothing major. I've begun on the texture mapping and I can see that taking longer than the modelling as there some tricky areas where I have to blend together some very strange body parts. Hopefully I'll be able to include some alpha mapping but I'll have to check to see what the current rules are with that for the engine.

Other than that there's another developer diary from Christiane at Voodoo Extreme There's some interesting stuff there. That, and my Zip drive's on the fritz again, so no back-up tonight. I'll have to take a look at it over the weekend.

April/May 2001

Tuesday 3rd April 2001

The Art meeting was pretty uneventful this week, so nothing really to report there. We did have a team photo taken, which will go up on the new website. No news as far as I'm aware of a definate date for that though.

I'll be off for California for a week from tomorrow, so no updates for a while. The creature's textures are coming together but I've a bit more tweaking here and there on the model. Should have that all done in a few days after I get back.

Tuesday 24th April 2001

Okay it's three weeks since I've updated. My apologies, but with the trip to CA and then root canal work on my genetically inferior British teeth, I've been at reduced power for a while.

Art Meeting: Todd gave us an update on his trip to the UK last week. All I can clearly remember is a half naked Todd atop a cake being oggled by French taxi drivers. That, and dried snot. And all at an average speed of 400 mph!

As far as work goes I have two creatures almost complete since my last update. One a wierd [sic] female chimera of a creature, and the other a more human looking one. In fact too human. I'll be making some changes tomorrow after the group discussion with Christiane, Todd and Juan. Next up after that is the freakiest thing I've done so far on Morrowind. What were you smoking Michael!? ;o)

Oh yeah, and the new website REALLY should be up by Friday! ;o)

Monday 30th April 2001

The new Elder Scrolls website is now up and running!! There's also some new art up there, including weapons and at least one of the monsters I've worked on, so I'll be updating the Morrowind pages here shortly. Just as soon as I get a handle on this latest monster. He's proving to be a pain.

Tuesday 1st May 2001

Horse slime. Monster wallpaper. Tattoos. That was my day, how was yours? Christine had been slimed by one of her horses before she came in today, there's a chance of some monster wallpaper for the new Elderscolls.com, and I need to increase the contrast of the tattoos on the latest character.

Add to that Ken sliding provoctively across the art meeting table to Gary, and Todd having Taxi driver flashbacks from Ken's gyrations it all got a bit wierd. Then there was Michael's email from CA...

It was all a bit much for me!

Work-wise I've scapped the first itteration of the "Micheal Creature". I'll redo it tomorrow, and change those tattoos on that last character. That's about it from me today, now where did I put that cup of tea?

Thursday 3rd May 2001

I've finished the model for the new creature, and most of the textures are complete. I'll physique it tomorrow and start the animation. The attack animation's going to be very strange. I don't have the usual tooth and claw to rely on.

Tuesday 8th May 2001

Nothing new to report, 'cept E3 approaches and stress levels rise. Thankfully though Ken wore long pants today, so no "gapping". Nothing worse than Ken's milky white thighs hurtling across a conference table and his shorts "gapping". Some things should remain a secret, 'specially when they're old and desiccated.

There's some minor changes to the creature, perhaps another day's work. Then I'm onto my last creature. This time it's a bit more human.

Wednesday 16th May 2001

Last week I posted some graphics of the skeleton. Unfortunately I had to pull them off rather quickly as I was unaware that that particular monster was still under an embargo. PC Gamer exclusive don't you know! Sorry about that. Todd had informed me that there will be Monster wallpaper up some time in the future so once that's up I'll post some more info on the monsters, their creation and other interesting facts that I can make up by then! :o) With E3 upon us things are rather busy. I'm sure we'll hear more when Todd and Ken return.

Tuesday 29th May 2001

I have a new list! (That means work for me for another 2 months!). I have some finsihing up to do this week on the monsters, then I'm onto others bits and bobs, odds and sods, this and that. No monsters though. E3 went rather well didn't it!? Despite a rather dodgey bootleg video of the game, with Ken at the helm. (You DID take that down didn't you Kathode?) ;o)

June 2001

Wednesday 5th June 2001

PC Gamer is finally out! From what I can see I should be able to post some images of the skeleton and the Dremora (On the front cover. Small but, Yah!) I'm awaiting conformation from Todd before anything goes up but if all goes well hopefully there should be something to see tonight.

As far as work goes I'm working on all things Netchy at the moment. Shields today, and a cuirass romorrow. Nothing really to report form the meeting, except that we're planning to put "Naked Ken wallpaper (tm)" up on the official site soon. I know that I, for one, am very excited!

Wednesday 5th June 2001

No word from Todd yet, but I don't think this would be giving anything away. These are scans from the actual magazine. Grab your copy today!

July/August 2001

Saturday 14th July 2001

Okay, it's been a while! I will be updating again soon. It IS crunch time after all! Not a lot of free time at the moment, what with artifacts and monster tweaks. I'll check with Todd if I can post some new graphics, but don't hold your breath as Bethesda's keen to have original new stuff coming up on their own website.

Tuseday 17th July 2001

Art meeting: Well, Alpha approaches rapidly, and lots of late nights/early morning are being worked, and Ken's written too many words

As for me I've finished my current list of objects including the artifacts. There's some tweaking to be done but nothing major. I've finished tweaking some of my creatures and will be tweaking some more. I'm also helping Juan out with some texture work on his creatures, and he's taking up the slack with some of my animations. Don't think I can post any graphics just yet. Sorry. Soon though but not this week.

Tuesday 31st July 2001

Art meeting: Mav brought her rats in today, so Ken was VERY lucky when he started his table-top gyrations in his shorts. Could have lost a couple of old friends there!

I noticed that the official site (www.elderscrolls.com) has some monster wallpaper up now. Specifically a Dremora nd the Hunger. Head over there and check them out. Finally I have some detailed monster stuff to show! Hers's a couple of sneak peeks at the wallpaper taken from the actual art itself.

(c) 2001 Bethesda Softworks Inc., a ZeniMax Media company. All rights reserved.

Wednesday 1st August 2001

With regard to a recent discussion on the Official Forums on the inspiration for the Hunger I'd like to fill everyone in on the design of that creature. We usually start off with a sketch. Most of the creatures are from older Elder Scrolls games or from Michael Kirkbride's warped and twisted brain. The Hunger though was a replacement creature. For a while we didn't even have a name! The folder on my drive that contains the Hunger's mesh, animations and textures is still called "replacement". For the Hunger however I was allowed to design a creature from scratch. Below is an early rejected sketch that I did before begining [sic] the creature. The body was kept but we changed the head to a lamprey/Flukeman kind of thing.

(c) 2001 Bethesda Softworks Inc., a ZeniMax Media company. All rights reserved.

You might see some inspiration from "Pumpkinhead" in there too. A lot of inspiration for the stuff I do, and I guess that goes for most people in the industry, comes from movies. Movies, models, comics, and books. Whatever you can get your hands on. Personally I subscribe to a bunch of stuff. Cinefex , Amazing Figure Modeler , 2000AD , National Geographic. I've got the ubiquitous action figures on my desk, along with dinosaur models, alien models, a scale model of a human skull. Whatever I need to get the creative juices flowing.

Eventually I hope to put up some info on the Morrowind section of this site detailing the creation of one of the creatures from initial concept to final model and animation, but that's a bit off yet. Hopefully though this will give those interested a little insight into the Hunger, which wasn't a rip-off of the Flukeman, but was influenced by that classic beasty, along with a whole host of other stuff and hopefully some imagination on my part. ;o)

Tuesday 7th August 2001

Tweaking continues. I'm currently working on a variation of a creature for a special quest. Obviously I can't say anyhthing else! Wouldn't be a special quest then would it?

The meetings go quickly these days. Too much to do! Christane should have the Kajhits and Argonians fully in now, with all their special animations. She'd also like me to further tweak some of the tattoos on one of the characters. Other than that, it's the normal crunch time madness!

Friday 10th August 2001

Tweaking and yet more tweaking. It's got to be about 100 degrees outside and the window unit's struggling to keep things cool in here. Still I see that Bethesda's site has some new stuff up, it being Friday and all. Amazing what being down in an air-condition basement can do. This time the wallpaper's the Orgim. That one's Juan's. I did do the texturing though. Inspiration this time? Well, I kept refering to the Star Wars Episode 1 edition of Cinefex for this one. Boss Nass in particular.

Saturday 18th August 2001

Sorry no Tuesday update this week. I had the meeting late in the afternoon and have been too busy to update. More tweaking and a new list. You should all be releieved though that there's one creature I'm not tweaking. It would end up looking like some crtitter with four, long, prehensile, male appendages! At least that's the opinion I got on my textures for the assccociated weapons for this creature. You are all very lucky... :o)

October/November 2001

Monday 1st October 2001

Well my list is again finished for Bethesda, no news yet if I will get another one. I haven't been down to Bethesda in a while, as it was seen as more sensible to actually work on the game than have meetings. A decision with which I totally agreed with. :o) So, no insider news to report, although a hear that the live cam from Ken's shorts has had to be postponed until the spring. :o( something about the cold weather and shrinkage. Sounds a bit technical to me, just being an artist and all. :o) Nothing else to report as yet, but if I get a new list I'll let everyone know.

Real shame about Ken-cam...which reminds me...Must pick up some more raisons when I'm next at the store...

Wednesday 4th October 2001

It looks as if my current work for Bethesda is over for now. I'll probably do a few tweaks here and there if they're needed as a freebie but other than that I won't be working on Morrowind anymore. Hopefully I'll be able to jump back in when the expansion packs are being developed. Time will tell.

I'm now going to be moving over to working on Dark Camelot for Mythic Entertainment. Still on creatures, so I'll post something here when I have something to show.

Wednesday 10th October 2001

No news from Mythic on my creature designs just yet so no sketches to show. I did notice though that the new edition of NextGEN has a small piece on Morrowind. Page 60. Really just stating that the release will also include X-BOX as well as PC. Nothing new there, but it does has a shot of a creature. I notice it has the old textures on it. That was one of the last critters I fiddled with before finishing up my contract with Bethesda. Now, if only Todd would let me post a pic of the updated one...

Friday 12th October 2001

I see there's a downloadable movie from Elderscrolls.com of some of the technology used in Morrowind. Here's a snap shot from the movie. I'll post more and have some links up to download it soon.

December/January 2001/2002

Monday 17th December 2001

I see the new issue of Computer Games is out and on the shleves. Nice Morrowind cover! And there's that sword again! :o)Six page preview. There's also a review of Dark Age of Camelot in there too! (4 and a half stars, none too shoddy!). I'll post pics once I get my copy.

Wednesday 19th December 2001

My copy of 3D studio MAX (v4.00)arrived last night. Nothing to report yet, as I've yet to install it. Still backing my system up before a big clear out. Manuals look a bit cheap compared to the earlier ones though. I sort of expected more from over $4000 worth of software. It's going to take quite a few monsters to pay off that little lot! (Perhaps Malthar will give a couple of groats extra a week if I stop with the bald jokes...)

Also got my copy of Computer Games. Nice little article on Morrowind, great review of Dark Age of Camelot, little Ken Rolston interview, and even a little Morrowind image (Dark Elf Female, an early one of mine) on the backer-board! I'll scan some images soon, once I have MAX up and running. I have to leave the Eyrie tomorrow to go down to Fairfax VA to meet with Mythic. On the way I pass the Zenimax offices (With a big Zenimax sign visable from 270!). I usually wave, but I know no-one can see as they're all deep within the bowls of the building, cut off from sunlight, preparing Morrowind for release upon the world. Their bodies withering from lack of light, their eyes begining [sic] to bulge, little hunched forms running hither and thither.

Kinda worried though when they end every email with "My Preciousssssssss...."

Sunday 30th December 2001

Shot taken from Computer Games online article on Morrowind. Click here to read

Monday 31st December 2001

I've started to work on the Morrowind pages again, now that there's something out there on the official site and in industry magazines that I can reference. I'd like to put up my own renders and such but that will have to wait until release, but there's enough stuff out there in public domain now that I can us that. Check back in a few weeks to check on progress there.

Friday 4th January 2002

Happy New Year to you all. Unfortunately for Gary Noonan (aka WormGod, GT) it hasn't started out so well. I hear he was involved in serious car accident and suffered rather nasty injuries to his foot that will require reconstructive surgery. Best wishes to him and a speedy recovery. Gary worked on both Battlespire and Morrowind for those not in the know. For more details check out the Morrowind Forum over on Elderscrolls.com.

Thursday 10th January 2002

I see they've posted some more monster shots over at RPGVault They're a bit dark, but at least it's something. I'll clean them up and add the best ones to the Morrowind pages soon.

Nix hound model from Morrowind. It's been almsot exactly a year since I first put up the teaser texture on this very journal. Check out last year's Journal entry above!

Saturday 12th January 2002

The Morrowind and Dark Age of Camelot pages are up. Bit rough around the edges and there's more I'm adding by the day, but it's a start. The Morrowind ones will soon have more detailed background info regarding monsters and weapons. With the recent posts on RPGVault and the Monster wallpapers I have enough raw material to recycle into this site. I have to be careful that I use only posted stuff. No re-renders or new art, not until the game ships. Have to be cautious not to steal anyone's thunder. People do like their exclusives! :o)

I've recycled some of the art that was originally posted here into the MW and DAoC pages so it'll be easier to find in future. Delving through a year's worth of journal entries can be a pain!

December 2003

Wednesday 3rd July 2002

Okay, it's been a while Let's see if I can maintain a journal for a while again! A few musings to get going...

I see that Ray Harryhausen and Phil Tippett were presented them with honorary Doctorates at the Academy of Art College on June 24th, 2002 Click here for photos. Both have been great influences on the game industry. After seeing Harryhausens work as a kid, I always wnated to make monsters. Thank you Mr . Harryhausen.

Morrowind gets a rather good review in this month's Computer Gaming World. 4 and a hlf stars (out of 5). "The definitive open-ended RPG epic." And "Editor's Choice" to boot! Dark Age of Camelot also has a strategy guide in there.

I've been given permission to put some more images up of the work I did for Morrowind on condition that they are only taken from the game. No rendered images on my part. This makes things rather tricky as I don't have a copy of the game, and if I did, would be unable to run it on my current system! So... I'm looking for shots from the game. I'll post a list up soon of what I need. I'd appreciate any help I could get.

Wednesday 17th September 2003

It's been a while but I'm updating again. I'm currently creating some Elder Scrolls Travels pages. Once I have approval from Zenimax I'll upload them.

Also, thanks to Striker for the update on Destination Morrowind. Due to various things I've decided to host the Eyrie on Erols for a while.

I notice my links are woefully out of date and I'll be getting to them soon.

Thursday 4th December 2003

Almost ready to put the Travels pages up. Just a few modifications. hopefully this week

Also, thanks to Theodor Lauppert for these graphics. A while back I asked if anyone had a copy of the original Bethesda website. It featured work that was being done for Daggerfall cut scenes at the time. He's managed to find two images I worked on at Wayback machine, a site that archives old images from websites.

The lab image many will recognize from the intro to Daggerfall. There are some others he discovered by Louise Sandoval whom some may remember as the Daggerfall artist responsible for the many of the characters

Saturday 6th December 2003

Well the Travel page is up as of yesterday!

Take a look here.

Also received an email from Mark Jackson, an artist on Daggerfal and Redguard. For all those of you who don't know he designed the Daedric Rune set that's used extensively within the Elder Scrolls world. Seems he's been busy the last few years working on the new movie "Delgo". Check that out at this link: www.delgo.com

Monday 8th December 2003

Updated the Daggerfall logo page. It can be found at:

http://users.erols.com/mjonesgraphics/Dragonseyrie/daglogo.html

Monday 13th December 2003

I've made some changes to the Eyrie's look. Also, I've received an email from a fan of the Daggerfall logo. He liked it some much it is tattooed onto his arm! Joseph Doyle has kindly allowed me to put his photo on the Eyrie which I'll link from the Daggerfall Page soon. I've included his photo below with the original for comparison. He also has a Morrowind Mod on his site at :

http://www.angelfire.com/folk/joesfaithweb/Morrowind.htm

Here's the tattoo:

Joseph Doyle and his tattoo

The original

Current

Firiday 8th April 2005

Okay, yes, very sad, it's been an AGE since my last update to the journal. Unfortunately, what with my last few games leaving no time free to work on the site or the journal, I've had to leave it.

I've now finished up all work for Elder Scrolls, and have some free time to work on the site again. The Shadowkey page is almost finished and then I'll attempt to finish the other pages which have remained half complete for a while.

Look out for those soon!

Monday 25th January 2016

Apologies to all who've contacted me over the last few months. I've made it back to the Eyrie, but due to a family illness my priorities have been elsewhere.

The major updates to the website continue, and if you find anything amiss at the Eyrie please let me know. This is a place that serves both fans of my past games and prospective clients looking for just that right artist for their next project.

So if you're a returning guest, or simply stumbled on my little corner of the web, have a look around. Don't worry, the dragons don't bite. :)

Friday 12th February 2016

Yes, the site's still a mess, but have added extra content and begun a major clean up of the pages. I've been asked by many people for examples of Zbrush work, and to that end I'm putting together a page or two dedicated to just that. This will show the re-creation of an old Battlespire favourite of mine. The Clannfear. Over the years this Daedra has changed form a few times (I like to think of those as 'breeds'). This one will be based on the original. AS it should have looked, when I first worked on it. So check back in over the next few weeks to watch it's progress.

Tuesday 16th February 2016

. Work on the Zbrush Clannfear continues. Have the base model close to being finished. Painting to start soon :)

Tuesday 23rd February 2017

Great article comparing the generated landscape of No Man's Sky and Daggerfall. All good stuff. And nice to see Hal Bouma getting some attention. Well worth a look. (Yeah, I know I mentioned this in a tweet but I've only got 3 followers! ) Slate article