Thursday, May 28, 2015

Princes of the Apocalypse Part 2


















Here's another illustration created for the Dungeons & Dragons adventure, Princes of Apocalypse, published by Sasquatch games and Wizards of the Coast. This one involves a halfling discovering a large contraption in (you guessed it), a dungeon.

I got very wrapped up in the lighting on this one, for what I hope are obvious reasons.I really enjoy working on pictures with a single, very localized light source.

Monday, May 25, 2015

3 Keys and a Sword


 

Some assignments involve as much design as illustration. Here are a few examples: 3 keys designed for Paizo Publishing's Emerald Spire campaign cards and a sword I designed for use in Dungeon #200, published by Wizards of the Coast. I really enjoy this sort of work. Figurative pictures tend to focus a great deal on character and pose and anything with a background involves light, atmosphere, etc. but images like these are all about the objects, the silhouettes, the ornamentation. It's fun to visualize a single item that doesn't actually exist and design it in detail.


Sunday, May 17, 2015

SolForge Drawings




One of the trickier things about being an illustrator is switching gears between projects that require a different mentality or style. I had to do this quite a bit last year. Fortunately, that switch can be fun too!

I worked on some cards for the online card game SolForge (published by Stone Blade Entertainment) last year but the approach was very different from my usual method. I was asked to do clean line drawings that would then be colored. As a lifelong comic book reader and someone who's done a bit of work in comics as well, I'm very familiar with this sort of approach and the idea of passing a line drawing along to someone else to finish in color appealed to me. I was interested in seeing how someone else would interpret the underlying work.

I was under the impression the coloring would be done "comic book style", along the lines of this Kaiju artwork I did for Stone Blade, but it ended up being much more opaque and painted. It's very different from what I expected or what I would have done myself but that was inevitable, especially because I had no contact with the artists who colored the work.

Another aspect of these cards is that each one involved a sequence of 3 images. I haven't had a chance to play the game but as I understand it, this has to do with the game mechanics. Each image involves an increase in power of some kind so characters or creatures grow larger, spells manifest, energy is released, etc.

I'm sharing two examples of cards I drew, along with images of the final cards, colored by some unknown souls out there. The first set of images is titled Tuskin Sporelord and involves a character bringing large mushrooms to life. The second depicts a titan.

Saturday, May 9, 2015

On the Shoulder of a Giant part 7






















It's been fun to share some of my work from On the Shoulder of a Giant this week. I started the week by showing the book's front cover so I thought I'd finish it by posting the back cover, which depicts the giant, Inukpak, catching a whale. I'm attaching the sketch for the illustration and I'm also posting a few spot illustrations that were done for the book. It's a big finale!

Many thanks to those of you followed these posts posts all week. I appreciate your time and interest. If you're intrigued by the book, please order a copy and help spread the word about it! It's available on Amazon.com and at Barnes and Noble. You can post about it on Goodreads too.

You can find the Inuit-owned publisher, Inhabit Media on the web at http://inhabitmedia.com. They publish some terrific books about Inuit culture and mythology.

Friday, May 8, 2015

On the Shoulder of a Giant part 6














This is the last spread I'll be posting this week from On the Shoulder of a Giant. It's also the last spread in the book and it shows Inukpak and the hunter roaming the arctic landscape in the winter. However, I'll share a few smaller images from the book tomorrow so please, stay tuned!

As I worked on this spread, I found myself continually painting details out of the picture, trying to make it work as a design as much as a rendered illustration. It's something I've been more focused on in recent years and I want to continue focusing on it.

I'm including two preliminary sketches this time. I added simple gray tones to one of them before painting the final. That was actually part of the process on all of these spreads. It was very helpful,

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On the Shoulder of a Giant is available on Amazon.com and at Barnes and Noble. Please pick up a copy and write a review. You can post about it on Goodreads too.

You can find the publisher, Inhabit Media on the web at http://inhabitmedia.com

Thursday, May 7, 2015

On the Shoulder of a Giant part 5














I don't want my posts this week to give the impression that every scene in On the Shoulder of a Giant features a panoramic landscape so here's a spread where Inukpak, the giant, picks up the inuit hunter to talk to him.

This was my favorite depiction of the giant in the book, especially as he's drawn in the preliminary sketch.

On the Shoulder of a Giant is available on Amazon.com and at Barnes and Noble. Please pick up a copy and write a review. You can post about it on Goodreads too.

You can find the publisher, Inhabit Media on the web at http://inhabitmedia.com

Wednesday, May 6, 2015

On the Shoulder of a Giant part 4













Another day, another spread ...  I'll be here all week, folks!

The initial plan for the interior spreads of On the Shoulder of a Giant was to have the illustrations cover one page and "bleed" over onto the next, where the art would fade out and the text would be placed. However, we realized we could develop some interesting, panoramic imagery by having the artwork cover both pages and then placing the text on top of it. I think it ended up being a good approach. I suspect you can guess where the text was placed over this illustration.

The spread above shows the scene where the giant, Inukpak, first encounters the Inuit hunter he will adopt in the story.

As in previous posts, I've attached the preliminary sketch for this spread.

On the Shoulder of a Giant is available on Amazon.com and at Barnes and Noble. Please pick up a copy and write a review. You can post about it on Goodreads too.

You can find the publisher, Inhabit Media on the web at http://inhabitmedia.com

Tuesday, May 5, 2015

On the Shoulder of a Giant Part 3













Here's another spread from On the Shoulder of a Giant, written by Neil Christopher who, I should add, was a pleasure to work with on this book.

This scene depicts the somewhat alarmed Inuit hunter telling the giant, Inukpak, that a polar bear is approaching. It's probably my favorite scene in the book and it was one of the more difficult to illustrate because I needed to show the scale of the giant, the hunter and the bear.

I've attached the preliminary sketch for the spread as well.

On the Shoulder of a Giant is available on Amazon.com and at Barnes and Noble. Please pick up a copy and write a review. You can post about it on Goodreads too.

You can find the publisher, Inhabit Media on the web at http://inhabitmedia.com

Monday, May 4, 2015

On the Shoulder of a Giant Part 2













This is the first spread from On the Shoulder of a Giant, the picture book I mentioned in my previous post. The book is based on a traditional Inuit story and this scene depicts the titular giant, Inukpak, happily striding across the arctic landscape.

The picture, like the cover I posted yesterday and the rest of the artwork in the book, was painted digitally, in Adobe Photoshop, using a variety of brushes and techniques. I pushed the color palette because the book is aimed at a younger audience and I wanted most of the images to pop off the pages, especially this first illustration.

I've attached the preliminary sketch for the spread as well.

On the Shoulder of a Giant is available on Amazon.com and at Barnes and Noble. I encourage you to pick up a copy and write a review. You can post about it on Goodreads too!

You can find the publisher, Inhabit Media on the web at http://inhabitmedia.com

Sunday, May 3, 2015

On the Shoulder of a Giant


Over this past year I had the chance to realize a dream I've literally had for decades: to illustrate a picture book. I collaborated with author Neil Christopher and Inhabit Media on On the Shoulder of a Giant, a picture book based on a traditional Inuit story in which a giant named Inukpak adopts a hunter. The book was released a few weeks ago and I'm very proud of it.

I've posted the cover (and the preliminary sketch) above and I'll be sharing art from the interior of the book all week so please stay tuned!

On the Shoulder of a Giant is available on Amazon.com and at Barnes and Noble. I encourage you to pick up a copy and write a review. You can post about it on Goodreads too!

You can find Inhabit media on the web at http://inhabitmedia.com