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:

Experienced

I just finished a piece for ArtOrder's latest contest: The Ultimate Fighter Challenge. The prompt was to create a human fighter in the world of D&D, with bonus points for giving it a unique spin. I thought I'd go with an older fighter, battle-worn, who's lost his hand and replaced it with weaponry. At first I wanted to go with a more active pose, but in the end liked the quiet menace of stillness and dramatic lighting. I imagine this guy being able to tell war stories and drink all night, but still snap into battle mode when the tavern brawl inevitably explodes.

Titanic Struggle

I've finished a couple of new pieces recently. The first is a slugfest between some kind of centipede based giant worm and a huge golem... or maybe just aliens fighting over a can of beans. I mostly wanted to add some action scenes to my portfolio and play around with designing creatures. The other is a landscape, which I think my portfolio needs. I started it without much planning behind the narrative, mostly thinking about the use of silhouette and creating a composition based on the extremes of dark and light.

March Madness

Although a lot of my time has been devoted to smaller illustrations for the web, I have had a break in that work recently, and was able to work on a couple of larger pieces.

First is a piece inspired by the old Atari game Joust. I used to play it when I was little, on my NES. I remember continually dying because of that damn pterodactyl.

If you're not familiar with the game, you can play an online version of it here.


The next piece isn't really based on anything, other than the idea of making a pretty girl look sinister and trying to use soft light.

The Monster Mash

I recently had a blast illustrating some classic movie monsters for a recent job. Now that I feel a bit more comfortable with my sense of tone, I've been concentrating on consistently getting my brush strokes to follow the form. I've been looking at Leyendecker paintings and Zorn etchings for guidance. Following the form makes a huge difference, and I'm hoping that eventually it will be something I do without having to think so much about it.

The Wolfman:
The Fly:
The Blob:
Godzilla:

Rodan:
King Kong:
Frankenstein's Monster:
Dr. Zaius:
Count Orlock:
The Creature from the Black Lagoon: