Christmas Samurai (elf thing)...

Not too much say other than this is a personal piece I'm working on at the moment. I'll be printing this on canvas later and finishing it with paint (a technique I've recently become acquainted with.)

Happy Holidays!

Painting with Dirt...

What, another update so soon!?! Yes, folks, it is, and one in actual physical get-messy paints to boot!

Anyhoo, found myself doing a quick floral study the other day, and felt like sharing. I came away with two paramount realizations: 1). Acrylics are not my strong suit, and 2). Real paints require drying time...

Thanks!

What Lies in Dust...

© 2009 Paizo Publishing

Hey all. First and always (it seems) I need to apologize for the appalling lack of updates, and I hope greatly rectify that in the near future (fingers crossed). Recently, Paizo Publishing has released one of their newest adventure paths (What Lies in Dust) for their Pathfinder CS. As it so happens, this is an especially, well, special supplement for me as it was the very first Paizo and DnD product I had the pleasure to work on! In fact, my complementary copy just arrived in the post today, and is it spiffy!

Now, I could bore you all with another ear(eye)full of older work not representing current blah, blah, blah, but instead, I thought it would just be more enjoyable to share the artwork I contributed and leave it at that.

Oh, and if the mood takes you, please think about taking a gander at the Book itself as such luminaries as Scott Purdy and Keiran Yanner also worked on it, and (in my opinion) greatly overshadowed my own humble contributions. Seriously, those guys are just too damn talented!

Thanks!

Talisman: Frostmarch & Some Thoughts...

-Snow Goblin Copyright Fantasy Flight Games


-Treasure Map Copyright Fantasy Flight Games

Hey all! Several long, long months ago I was fortunate enough to do some art work for Fantasy Flight on their now released Frostmarch expansion to Talisman. Besides just being a fun assignment, Frostmarch holds a particularly warm and fuzzy place in my heart as it was the first Card Art I had every done and my first freelance illustration gig. Crazy.

...and boy, does the whole "first" vibe show through. One of the many and prevalent obstacles facing any illustrator is the notorious NDA and the concomitant fact that it will be several months to over a full year before you're legally allowed to display your work publicly. What makes this an obstacle is that by that time, usually, your previous work is no way near the level of your current skill set and a certain reticence to show said work tends to set in.

Certainly, after I received my comp copy of Frostmarch (which was awesome!), I took a look at these images on my computer, and I couldn't help but think, "hmmm..." with a noticeable wince. This, of course, is one of the oldest stories in the long saga of artistic neurosis replete with doubts of quality, relevance, and representation. Is this the best piece I've done? No. Does it represent either my current skill level or artistic style? Hell, no. But.

But...did I do a good job? Was the client happy? Well, I believe, honestly, yes to both, and that, in the end, might be the best way to look at any assignment ultimately. True, you are only as good as your next piece, should always strive to be better today than yesterday, but should such thoughts be your only concerns? No, because though today's piece may not have been better than yesterday's, if you did a good job and your client is happy, then you have a good shot at making tomorrow's something really special.

At the very least, you'll be a little saner.

Oh, and if you'd like to see some really kick ass art, here's a link to the Cover Illustration done by the very, very talented Ralph Horsley. Seriously, treat yourself, you deserve it...

What Could This Be?

Copyright Kid Combat 2009

Hmmm...A cover without the type...where oh where could that type be...?

:)

The Work of Magic Elves...

Licensed to Catastrophe Games

So, the magic night painting elves apparently paid me a visit, the above being the result (well, not exactly the above as that's a reduced sized version but...you get the idea...)

I'd say it's certainly a step up from making shoes at night.

The illustration will actually be appearing on a white page, but for the purpose of presentation, I prefer something a little less...bright for my mounting.

Or something like that.

Fox Three!

Just a quick speed paint. Started as a sweeping fantasy roof that I thought to make into a spaceship...thing. As I've been doing almost exclusively fantasy work in an oil style lately, it just seemed logical to do this one as a science fiction piece with acrylic aspirations.

Or something like that.

Not all Sketches Being Equal...

-Copyright Rebellion

A good example of going too far off the established art direction...never thought, though, I'd do something that was too overboard for Judge Dredd...

Yeah.

Well, Poodoo...

For some reason, this illustration obstinately refuses to get done. Gah!

Why the hell do gnomes only do shoes at night...?

It's All in the Triangles

Well, Catastrophe Games has very kindly allowed me to post some art I've been doing for them recently. As such, I thought it would be fun to share the sketches and such for the current piece I'm doing for them, especially since it has a very unusual layout requirement (i.e. triangular framing.)

Above is the sketch (among the ones I submitted) that was approved. There's a couple of issues I need to address and a few things I want to try out after having a good look at it, but that's what revisions are for!

Yeah.