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.

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:

Aliens vs. Superheroes

Here is a recent piece I made for the good people over at Palladium Books. They requested a cover for the next issue of Rifter. Although I was working under a tight deadline, I was very excited about the assignment, so working on it was pretty fun.

Dungeon Delve Challenge

Thanks again to everyone who helped me out with suggestions for this piece. Today is the deadline, so here is the final image. I went back into the anatomy of the figure, adjusted some of the architecture to fit the perspective, and made a few other minor changes.

Lost!!!

With the help of a bunch of talented, friendly, awesome artists, this piece is nearing completion. They reminded me to pay attention to things that I overlook sometimes, like setting up a hierarchy of light sources, letting scattered debris like snow build up in architectural crevices, and using long, dark shadows to add drama. I also had the benefit of very sharp extra sets of eyes to notice some of the strange things happening with the figure's anatomy, perspective angles, and shadows. Special thanks to Nathan Ota for suggesting that I add the staff's marks in the snow to the figure's tracks to strengthen the narrative.

I've gotten to the stage of staring at it for long periods of time, hunting for something to work on. I still have about three weeks before the final paintings are due for the contest, but I will definitely be posting my final, final, final image, and the results of the contest as they become available.

To check out the other sketches/WIPs for the contest, go here:

http://artorder.ning.com/forum/topics/dungeon-delve-challenge

And to see the final pieces as they build up, go here:

http://artorder.ning.com/forum/topics/dungeon-delve-challenge-finals

Lost

I'm working on a piece to enter in ArtOrder's Dungeon Delve Challenge. The winner of the contest gets published and paid, but it's worth it just to enter and have some of the top fantasy art directors looking at my work.

The idea is to show a adventurer lost in a dungeon at the moment that they realize there may be no way out. I wanted to show the immense space and variety of paths available in the dungeon. The character is realizing that he's doubled back on his own tracks, recognizing them from the drips of blood leaking from his left leg (which will hopefully read better once I add color).

The sketch is due tomorrow on ArtOrder, and afterward I will have another month to finalize the piece. I would love to hear any feedback on this piece. I'm putting as much time into this as I can, and I'll take all the help I can get!

I've Been Published!

Huge, great news! Palladium Books is using my contest entry from this spring for the cover of Rifter #52, and asked if I would be willing to illustrate for them in the future! My fingers are crossed, and I'm very excited to start working with them!

Into the Heart of the Machine

Here is the second piece for the contest going on over at Palladium, a role-playing-game publisher.

With this piece I decided to try out a lighting trick I had seen many times before and read about recently. The idea is to use a series of different colored lighting, creating zones of color, to enhance the sense of distance in the painting.

For this image, I wanted to generate a feeling of caution and unease. I tried to do that with color, composition, and narrative. I tried to choose colors that clash a bit, and as you get deeper into the city, where the characters are, the color and angle of the light becomes more and more artificial. I tilted the composition to give the viewer a sense of disorientation, a trick I stole from film noir cinematography. I tried to design the structures in the background so that their function isn't completely clear, making them more alien, then added the human element of graffiti on the foreground wall. The back two characters are stooped over and aware, but the foremost one is calm. My hope is that these disorienting contradictions establish a mood of simultaneous fear and exhilaration, anxiety and curiosity, that comes with embarking on an epic adventure, because the adventure is what RPGs are all about.

Here is the finished piece from last week (duh). I decided to switch from cool blue colors to oranges and reds to convey the sense of urgency and violence.


Here is the second piece I'm making for the contest. I'm still deciding on a color palette, but I don't think the tones need much more work.


Also, after a lot of cleaning, tossing, rearranging, and more cleaning, I finally finished setting up a studio in my garage with Jessica.

ArtOrder Challenge: Rust

As I've mentioned before, ArtOrder is a blog that holds regular art contests that are typically based around fantasy and science fiction. This piece is my submission to a challenge based on making a piece that conveys the concept of a quote from the Irish poet James Stephens: "A sword, a spade, and a thought should never be allowed to rust."

Drow vs Mind Flayer

Here is a painting I did over the course of the last week. It is for a book cover art contest put on by the art director of Wizards of the Coast.