Hearthstone: Witchwood

I've been updating my website, Behance portfolio, Artstation site, social media, etc. pretty regularly and in the midst of all that activity, I forgot to keep up with this blog. I apologize. I'll get caught up and return to making regular updates.

The work below all appeared in the Hearthstone: Witchwood expansion released earlier this year. The three tree creatures represent different iterations of the same creature.

Hearthstone: Crystal Lion

Painting this crystal lion for the new Hearthstone set, Kobolds and Catacombs proved very challenging. Thankfully, art director Jeremy Cranford offered some valuable suggestions (particularly about the glow around the lion) that helped me bring the piece home. I'm always grateful for his input.

I've included my preliminary sketch below and because I think this particular image works best when cropped into the oval shape it appears in on the Hearthstone card, I've also included a cropped version.

Hearthstone: Unchained Magic

Here's one more painting from my work on Hearthstone: Knights of the Frozen Throne. This one was tricky and it went through a bit more development than usual so perhaps I'll post some process images later. Meanwhile, this is the end result: an undead dragon (known as a frost wyrm in the game)!

Hearthstone: Tar Lurker

This is the third of 3 tar creatures I painted for Hearthstone: Journey to Un'Goro. The great thing about designing a creature made of tar, slime, etc. is that you can really play with the shapes and forms to create an interesting silhouette and (hopefully) a cool monster.

Hearthstone: Spikeridged Steed

Here's another recently revealed image from the upcoming Hearthstone set, Journey to Un'Goro: Spikeridged Steed! I had the opportunity to paint one of the new Tortollan creatures as the rider in this illustration. Both he and his chunky yellow steed were a blast to paint.

I've included my preliminary sketch as well. Both images were drawn and painted in Photoshop.

Tar Creeper

This is another (smaller) tar creature painted for the latest Hearthstone expansion, Journey to Un’Goro. It's a companion piece to the larger tar elemental I recently posted.

I've included a preliminary sketch. As you can see, the pose was modified a little in the final art.

Hearthstone: Tar Creature

I painted this creature made of tar and bone for the latest Hearthstone expansion, Journey to Un'Goro. I'm not sure what the final card will be titled but now that the image has been revealed on Hearthstone's site, I can share the painting with you.

I've included my sketch for the painting as well. Both the sketch and the final art were created in Adobe Photoshop.

Hearthstone: Avian Watcher

I painted this illustration of for the new Hearthstone release, One Night in Karazhan. 

I've included a preliminary study in gray. I was initially leaning toward something dark and moody but Hearthstone is a very colorful game so in the end, the color scheme ended up being rather electric, with a highly saturated palette, right down to the glowing green eyes.

Skylanders Battlecast—Cali

I've been given permission to post some more Skylanders Battlecast art so here we go...

This painting features Cali, an explorer/adventurer in the Skylanders world. She's being airlifted away from a group of green Chompies!

I've included my preliminary drawing above. All of the images I painted for this game are intended to fit into a card format that, in places, intrudes slightly into the picture. Consequently, there's usually a bit of extra space around the perimeter of each composition to allow room for those elements.

Regurgitech

This one has a delightful title, eh? It's another of my favorites among the paintings I did for Activision's Skylanders Battlecast. The little blue creatures with the glowing eyes are called Chompy Rustbuds!

Isonade

This is the last of the illustrations I did for Pathfinder Bestiary 5. It depicts a giant, primitive shark with a crab-like carapace and a hook-like tail. Even though this is a spot illustration, I really tried to convey an underwater atmosphere in this one.

Capramace

Here's another illustration from Pathfinder Bestiary 5. This one shows a "Capramace", described  to me as a "feral, goat-man monster" that's "wildly chasing a victim". My assignment was just to show the monster so there's no victim here... unless of course you feel victimized by the sight of a hideous goat man.

Unlike the last few illustrations I've posted from this project, this creature isn't my own design. I was provided with a reference created by another artist which showed the creature in a crouch. My job was to re-interpret him into a more dynamic running pose.

Heikegani Crab

Here's a fantasy take on a real creature: the Heikegani crab, which is also referred to as the Japanese Ghost Crab. According to Japanese folklore, Heikegani crabs contain the souls of fallen samurai warriors. The version I painted isn't dramatically different from the real thing but the suggestion of a face on the back of the actual crab has been reinforced into a monstrous, distorted face. Plus, this crab wields a knife!

I'm not sure why a crab needs a knife but hey, knives are useful...

Painted for Pathfinder Bestiary 5.

Encantado

This mer-creature based on a pink dolphin (a real creature, by the way) was a huge challenge for me. I think it has a more feminine than most of my work. It obviously depicts a female creature but the pink color scheme and long red hair call to mind toys that are marketed to girls. There's nothing wrong with any of the above, this just isn't a place I typically go as an artist so it was fun and interesting to go there. It was something new for me and I wasn't sure if I'd be able to pull it off. Giving such a dolphin-like face to a relatively humanoid figure was especially difficult but in the end, I'm quite happy with the results.

Like the illustration I posted yesterday, this was painted for Paizo Publishing's Bestiary 5.

Bagiennik

I painted this creature for the recently-released Bestiary 5 for Pathfinder, published by Paizo Publishing. It's a sort of humanoid salamander. I tried to give it a somewhat light touch since it's more of a whimsical creature than a "bad guy".

I love designing creatures like this.

Forest Elephant

I wasn't quite sure what to title this post but the image above was created years ago for Magic the Gathering. If I'm not mistaken, it was only released digitally, as part of an online version of the game. It depicts an elephant being formed out of the moss, soil and vegetation of the forest. I painted it in Adobe Photoshop and had a great time doing it! It's a personal favorite.