Dwarves

Hope you like the new artwork for Dragon Dice’s upcoming new product dealing with this very subject. :)

PAX was a great time. Still tired from the hustle and bustle as I settle into the studio, once again.

So much to do, but I am glad I could take a moment to share this painting today.

Onwards to the day’s chivalry and derring-o!

Goblins!

I wrapped this painting up a couple of months back and the publisher has recently shared it with fans.

Now I may share it here on my studio blog.

The Shambler was my favorite part to paint.

Remember, kids; Vegetables=Evil !

I visited PAX East yesterday evening to drop off some artwork for display at the Dragon Dice booth.

It should be an awesome show.

Saturday and Sunday will find me at their booth promoting my work and helping the folks at SFR,Inc.

Can’t wait!

Hope to see you there, my friends!

Shaman concept rough

In today’s blog post I thought it would be nice to demonstrate a bit of my thought process as I undergo an art test.

The brief calls for me to design a shaman character for a barbaric, orc-like race.

Rather than simply dashing off rough thumbnails in search of the look that suggests “shaman”, I like to go on a brief research sabbatical into the wilds of the internet.

When teaching character design, I ask the students to first answer the following questions:

“Where is this character from?” ( climate, level of technology, culture, etc.)

“What does this character Do?” ( butcher, baker, other?)

“Who is the audience ( aka “demographic”) for this character?” ( youth, adult, male, female?)

After these questions are answered, I dig deeper into the specifics of the character.

In this instance, I began by asking  rather simple questions–how are shamans chosen for their calling? What do shamans do?

Research indicated ( thank you Wikipedia and other sources) that shamans ( in some cultures) are often chosen in their childhood after being cured by the current shaman of a long illness.

Shamans engage in spiritual healing and seek visions in the spirit world ( also called the “dream world”).

This sparked a few “hooks” for my character.

Hooks are elements in a character design that make the character memorable.

I chose to give my shaman a withered right leg that is bolstered by a bone splint.

He also leans on a staff that doubles as a uniquely designed crutch.

His right eye has been ritualistically sewn shut. This allows the shaman to always have one eye on the spirit/dream world that is his purview.

I am still deciding on other props, but this seems a good start for my character design. No?

I am also preparing a 7 page comic story for a friend at the moment and debating how I want to tackle the work in terms of finishing style. Pure pencil? ink and watercolor wash? Realistic or cartoonish? Hmmm….

More on that later.

Thanks for reading. More updates on these projects are on the way. :)

Adventure Time!

Okay, so this is from last week’s sketch club event featuring Adventure Time as a theme.

I chose this plucky little swordsman to while away the time.

Just a bit of goofy fun.

Have a great weekend, all!

Neil Gaiman's "Sand Man"

I attended the weekly sketch group at my favorite local comic store yesterday evening.

The theme this week was “Vertigo Comics”.

Visually, my favorite character is The Sand Man as you can see. :)

Hope you enjoy it as much as I did doodling it.

I was unable to keep up with the blog in recent days because my computer’s hard drive died.

The good folks at Apple were able to save most of my files thankfully and it is good to be back in business. :)

Recently, I  completed work on Mage Wars with my friend and fellow artist, Drew Baker.

It will be a while before I can share artwork from the game, but I hope you will check it out this summer.

At the moment, I am working on the latest Art Order challenge while in between projects.

Next week, I will be attending Pax East which is being held in Boston, Massachussetts.

It’s going to be a fun show.

If you happen to be in attendance, pay a visit to SFR Inc’s booth where they will be promoting their upcoming product releases for Dragon Dice which feature my cover artwork.

More updates to this renewed blog are on the way!

Thanks for stopping by.

Frankenswein's Monster

Hey All.

It has been a long time since I last posted here on the Daily Warm-Up blog.

After a difficult few months, it is great to return to these pages with fresh enthusiasm.

In the meantime, this artist has been busy with work on ShadowRun, some card art, and two new paintings for Dragon Dice.

This site underwent a re-design to better showcase my portfolio and alleviate any confusion about the types of work I do.

Now, when you visit this site, you are greeted with samples of my fantasy/sci-fi and humorous illustration styles.

Further updates and changes are on the way.

A new toolset has also recently entered my studio in the form of Adobe Illustrator CS5.

It is a great piece of software and will allow me to work on different kinds of projects not otherwise available to me.

The image above may be the first of a series of fun apparel designs I am considering offering for sale through Skreened.com and other fulfillment houses.

Onwards to the day’s work!

Thanks for checking in.

Spiky

Today’s piece is simple graphite on watercolor paper, but, man, was it fun to do.

Hope you like it. :)

Onwards to the day’s craziness.

Hooky

Today’s piece is watercolor and brown micron brushpen.

I think it was this guy’s first day with the hook…

Have a great weekend and don’t forget to check out the latest episode of the Ninja Mountain Podcast!

Moustache

This sketch was completed on the morning of ” Talk Like a Pirate Day”.

Our fine scallywag removes his tricorn in solemn salute.

Life and work got in the way of my posting, though my warm-up sketches continue unabated.

Today I am scanning my first Legend of the Five Rings card art for Alderac Entertainment Group. I think it came out well! It will show up here on the blog soon.

On the teaching front–

The last couple of days saw me compiling a sizable pdf about composition for my students.

It is interesting how much of what artists do is intuitive and yet adheres formally to elements of good composition. I am pleased to find it in my own work for the most part.

Being able to put so much of what I know into words and conducting more formal research on the fly has been informative.

The teacher learns as much as the student.

Here’s the thing when it comes to the hierarchy of student and teacher.

In my opinion–a teacher can be described as an “advanced student”.

Their responsibility is to raise the student to their level by giving them the tools necessary for the task.

It is a task I have grown to love .

Now I have a podcast that is waaaaay overdue for editing. I’ve just been too buried in my duties.

Time to roll up the sleeves. :)

Fiddlehead

This marks 5 days of uninterrupted daily warm-ups!

Hooray!

This fellow took 1 hour 30 minutes to complete.

Palette: Cerulean blue, ultramarine blue, thio violet, cadmium yellow light, lemon yellow.

It is good to be back in the saddle and riding hard toward a weekend of drawing and painting.

See you on the other side of Sunday. :)