MFA Adventures - Badru Sketch #1

Lately, i've been steady working both on freelance jobs and some images for my projects as a part of the Low Residency MFA in Illustration program at the Hartford Art School. If you remember back to this post I had done a quick book dummy for an alternate version of Jack and the Beanstalk set in an Orientalist setting. I may or may not continue with it entirely as part of my thesis project, but I still enjoy a lot of the imagery. So I figure I'll at least do a few of the spreads as paintings. Here's my first sketch for one of the paintings. 

Month of Love

I'm taking part in a bit of an experiment this month. 20 great artists, 1 sketch per day, all on the many incarnations of love. Stop by and check it out:

Banner by Jeanine Henderson

I should have some new art to share here soon so keep your eyes peeled!

Messing with Ink: Ningauble

So I've been meaning for a while now to play around with ink again, and last night I had a bit of extra time so started up this small drawing. I wasn't sure where to start since I haven't really used ink since school, but I had an extra piece of clay board lying around so I started with a quick pencil sketch on that. Then, I went in with a brush for the larger black areas, and detailed it out with Micron pen in some areas and scratched away with an x-acto (SO much better than those crap scratchboard nibs I had in school). I had a lot of fun messing around on this and I hope to continue to play with it in the future. The character is Ningauble of the Seven Eyes from the stories of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. 

5"x7" ink on clayboard

Princess of the Underworld Advanced

Last week I shared a new painting I had done for the app game Legend of the Cryptids. This week I'm sharing the second "advanced" version of the Princess of the Underworld. 

 In this version the princess went from being a more sympathetic non-threatening character to more powerful and intimidating. Her beloved skull from the "normal" version is also now incorporated into her staff, and she's brought all of hell to the fight. I definitely had a great time working on this one.

12"x16" Oil on illustration board

I'd also like to thank the AD, Misako, she was really a joy to work with. I think some American companies could take a cue from the Japanese. They really treat artists with respect and professionalism. 

Princess of the Underworld

It seems strange that lately I've been doing more and more work, and yet, I have less and less that I can share with you. 

Well, I guess something is better than nothing. 
I've just been informed that I can share some art I did for digital "card game" app, Legend of the Cryptids. Creating card art for a digital app game is somewhat of a new a thing lately, with quite a few similar games popping up over the past year or two. The idea of the game is that you collect various character cards through "quests" where you pit your characters against the computers, and earn rewards by defeating various levels of monsters and bosses. Now the interesting part for me as an artist is that each card is able to be evolved by combining two of the same character. Thus, it requires two pieces of art that start as a "normal" version of a character and somehow upgrade into an awesomer "advanced" version once it is evolved. I'll talk a little more about the evolution process in my next post.

But for now, lets talk about the "normal" version. Princess of the Underworld is her card name, but instead of having her be all dark and evil (which is probably where I would've went) they wanted her to be a bit more sympathetic. So outside of that, they didn't give much in the way of scene or character design direction, which was nice for a change. Anyway, here's what she ended up looking like.

12"x16" Oil on panel, digital additions

Next up, I'll share how she evolved in the "advanced" version. 

Paizo: Inner Sea Bestiary

Well, it's been forever since I've updated the blog here. Between freelance projects, school, Illuxcon, and holiday travels i've not had a spare moment to write anything up lately. Not to mention all the things i've done that are still under wraps, but! at long last I have some new things I can share with all of you. 
This past year I've had the pleasure of working with Paizo on some of their characters. I like doing characters because they're fun, and I get to focus on just the figure. It's a breath of fresh air not having to think about a background sometimes. Andrew Vallas was the AD for this project and he was a joy to work with. Check out the Inner Sea Bestiary here. All of these  are painted in oils on illustration board.

Lashunta- She's a sorceress who's race is know best for their tiny antennae on the forehead.

Noqual Golem- When I painted this, he was supposed to be made of glass, but I think in the book he's now made of metal. I still like to think of him as glass.

 Lorthact- Ex duke of hell. Painting dudes with hooves is always fun.

 Ghoran- Now, this was was a weird one. A race of people made out of plants who's face is surrounded by a cowl and made up of colored flower petals. Her stomach also needed to have patterning and coloration of a watermelon and a sort of orifice for a belly button. 

 Petrified Maiden- A female fighter turned to stone...at least on the outside. 

 Nightripper- And last but not least, this guy is my favorite of the bunch. A perfect combination of weird, creepy, and awesome. Nothing like a blood soaked jackal-legged albino demon to get the party started.

All images © Paizo Publishing 2012

Dragon 415: The Ghost Caravan

Hello everyone, it's been a while since i've posted on here...but what else is new? Things have been busy as usual around here. I've got quite a few things waiting in the wings that I can hopefully show soon. My girlfriend and I also took a little vacation to Norway two weeks ago. Maybe I'll get a post in about that in the coming days, but for now here's a new one I did not too long ago for an article in this month's Dragon Magazine. The article tells of a mysterious caravan that has been sighted on many occasions, and is believed to be ghosts, but is actually just a bunch of smugglers who travel in secrecy for the king.

8x18" Oil on illustration board

New Painting: Riding Hood

So I've finally managed to get settled back in after a great time at GenCon. I'm trying desperately to get back on track with my commissions, but in the mean time, here's a 

new-ish painting I finished up just before leaving last week. It's a twist on Red Riding Hood. Well, I guess the only thing that ties it to the story is that he's wearing a red hooded cape.

16"x22" Oil on board

I've also added it to my etsy page since it seemed that lots of people were interested in prints at GenCon. So go pick one up here!

Off to GenCon 2012

I'm heading off to GenCon today as some may know. This will be my second time with a booth at the convention and i'm very excited. This year is also especially exciting/nerve wracking because I will also be one of the judges for the art show. The reason being due to the fact that I won "Best in Show" last year and one of the stipulations of said award is that the winner has to judge the following year. I'm nervous! Mostly because I know there will be tons of great art there as always, and I have no idea how i'm going to narrow my choices down. We'll see how it goes. My co-judges will also be the very talented and famous, Todd Lockwood, and super awesome art director, Jon Shindehette. 

A few months ago I was also asked if I would do some sketches on a dice bag for a charity auction. I figured this would be a fun thing to do for a good cause so of course I agreed. Here's my dice bag that will be up for auction:

If you're planning to attend come stop by my booth and say hi!

General V

Here's something a little different I did not too long ago for Scholastic. An evil British general burning the White House in 1814. The gnarly scar was definitely my favorite part.

10x15" Oil on illustration board