Squatchy

Here's a flyer I put together for a friend of mine to promote his entry for a 48-hour film festival:

Covering Up

I recently completed the promo cover of a fantasy novel. The book's sort of a mix between Narnia and Harry Potter with super powers. Recently (as of May '12) the book was picked up by a publisher, and I've been asked to take down the artwork while the publisher considers what they want to do with the cover.

I also took a class from Anthony Jones about creature design at Red Engine. During which I came up with these:



I also put together this set of portraits as a personal project. They are based on the RGB color system.

I'm also proud to announce my new position as Illustrator and Designer for a company called Puzzled Inc. I've been working there for a few months now, illustrating Christmas ornaments, designing plush dolls, and photocompositing packaging for 3d wooden puzzles. Their products are sold all over the world in gift shops and amusement parks.

Also, I will have a bunch of pieces up at WWA gallery in Culver City in a few months, more on that as it develops.

Not Losing

Last night I went to Red Engine's anniversary party and was awarded a scholarship for a free class! I entered the contest with this little guy:


I also checked out Andrew Hem's show at LeBasse in Culver City, which I highly recommend for anyone in the area to go see and be amazed.

Eowyn and the Nazgul Step-byStep

So I recently participated in another contest on ArtOrder, the challenge was to create an illo based on the battle between Eowyn and the Witch King from Lord of the Rings. If you're not familiar with the story, I suggest you go out and take in a movie or book once in a while.

So I started out with some sketches to establish the feel of each character. I wanted to push the idea of a powerful and oppressive evil facing off against an unlikely and underestimated force of good (kind of like Star Wars... or every other movie for that matter.

Most of the approaches I've seen for the Nazgul make them pretty lanky. I'm not sure if it's a result of Tolkien's descriptions or if skinny guys are just creepier, but I thought I'd go with a more robust, sitting on a throne and nom nom-ing a giant leg of ham, kingly form:


I had already wanted to frame Eowyn's light complexion and features against the dark tones of the Witch King, so I tried to work out some thrusting action poses as seen from behind (coincidentally, "Some Thrusting Action Poses as Seen from Behind" can now be found at your local adult movie rental establishment) :


Once I had more of a feel for how to pose the characters, I worked out a few rough compositions, trying to keep my values towards the extremes of light and dark to help me group them and create focal points:


The comps had some nice things going on, but they were still too static, even if they were a moment of stillness amongst the action, and I wanted to create a piece that portrayed more of the endless tide of battle, so I kept playing with the composition until I came up with this:


Added details, rounded out forms, played with textures... :


Some of the nice people on the ArtOrder WIP thread helped me with a few adjustments, and I opened up the bottom of the composition to help spread out some of what was jumbled in there:


More details, textures, adjustments, etc. and added color:


Adjusted colors to create a more limited palette, and then sent it off to Jon Schindehette for the contest:

The Beast with One Back and a Buncha Heads

So I was out walking near Pasadena the other day and it started snowing. I was in a nice place to hike and I had my coat with me so I figured I'd just keep on walking. I was making my way down this steep hill and I must've hit a patch of ice or something and I slipped and started rolling through the bushes and sticks and rabbit turds. When I stopped I got up and realized I was in a clearing with a bunch of dead trees. Then I heard a scream. Not just any scream, but a blood-roiling cry of rage! I turned and saw some dude in armor swinging two swords hopping around on a giant hundred foot long snake monster with five heads and nasty sharp pointy teeth! Luckily I had my camera with me, so I snapped off a couple of shots and got one that made really good photo reference for this next painting:

Folklore

I made this for the Western States Folklore Society's annual meeting this year. The idea was to combine elements of archaic stories with modern legends.