Swordwing

This illustration was created for Dungeon magazine #204 for an article about a creature called (you guessed it) a swordwing. The humanoid, insect-like swordwing collects trophies for it's nest but it tends to fixate on a particular type of trophy item, like skulls, books, swords, etc.

I wanted to nail down the lighting and structure in this picture before adding color so I did a full value study in gray and then gradually added color over that until the piece was completed. The color was added using various layer modes in Photoshop (color, overlay and soft light, to be specific). I actually think the piece is a bit moodier in black and white but I'm pleased with the color version as well.

Champion of Time Dragon

This is another painting for the World of Warcraft TCG set Battle of the Aspects. The "Champion of Time" dragon needed to be flying above and circling the tower in the lower left of the picture but he also needed to be the primary focus of the painting. I decided to use a heavily foreshortened pose to solve that problem and then set to work. You can see the initial sketch above. To give you some idea of the various stages a picture like this can go through, here's a step-by-step explanation of how the piece developed from there:

1.) I blocked in basic shapes and a few details. At this stage, I'm always trying to establish the color scheme and the base values rather than worrying too much about details (although the tower is already pretty far along).

2.) Having worked out the color scheme and the basics of the lighting, I plunged ahead with the details. Working on a  separate layer in Photoshop, I created the scale pattern on the dragon and added further details elsewhere. 

3.) The horns and wings were developed further, as were elements of the background.

4.) The neck looked too pinched and elements of the wings didn't match the Warcraft reference material so those areas were re-worked. I also moved the tail so it didn't overlap the top of the tower (something that should have been done from the start).

5.) I was going for a color scheme unified by the green-yellow light you see diffused throughout the image but the art director thought more contrast (in both value and color) would read better at print size. He was right so I adjusted the image in Photoshop using Levels. I simply set a white point in the bright area of sky at the very top of the picture. That shifted the colors significantly, a little too much for my tastes. I took that adjusted image and placed it on a layer over the original then changed the opacity of the new image to preserve a bit of that unifying green-yellow light I mentioned earlier. That yielded the final art.

6.) This is the what the image looked like after the aforementioned levels adjustment but before I placed it on a transparent layer over the original artwork.

If you read all of the above… thanks for your time and attention!

Goblin Priestess

This green-skinned cutie is from the latest World of Warcraft TCG release, Battle of the Aspects. She may also be my personal favorite of the WOW TCG illustrations I've created. I did a similar piece of a gnome priestess that you can find elsewhere on this blog under the name Holy Blaze. I was very happy that painting but I feel the gesture, facial expression, color scheme, etc. all came together better in this one.

I've included the preliminary drawing as well. Note the number of fingers on the goblin's hands. Warcraft goblins have a thumb and three fingers, not four so that had to be changed in the painting.