Hearthstone: The Boomsday Project

Here are my paintings for the latest Hearthstone expansion, The Boomsday Project. This set was particularly fun for me because it placed an emphasis on robots and mechanical creatures and I love designing and painting robots. I had the opportunity to do just that for Boomsday (although I didn't design the Omega Defender—the power armor with the goblin operating it).

Gnawer of Rocks

Here's another spread from the upcoming book, Gnawer of Rocks, written by Louise Flaherty and published by Inhabit Media. As I've mentioned previously, the book is a hybrid of comics and picture books. The story is told sequentially, in panels, like a comic book but the format is that of a picture book. I hope it's an interesting combination for readers. The story, which is based on an eerie Inuit folk tale, is definitely interesting and I enjoyed illustrating it.

Gnawer of Rocks Spread

Here's another spread from Gnawer of Rocks. The book releases next week and at that point, I'll be able to share quite a bit more artwork from it. I've included my preliminary drawing for the spread in this post as well.

I hope you'll check out the book and please "stay tuned" here because I'll share more from it soon.

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: Needy Hunter

I confess: I love painting gnomes and little people. It's among my favorite things to do so creating this illustration for Hearthstone: Knights of the Frozen Throne was a real treat.  The title changed from the original art description to the final work, as it often does on collectible card assignments. The original title for this one was "Underpowered Rogue" and, as you can see, this angry little fellow isn't armed with much. He might make up for that with enthusiasm...

I've included my preliminary sketch below.

Hearthstone: Stegodon

This is a companion piece to the picture I posted yesterday, Spikeridged Steed. It was also painted for the Journey to Un'Goro set. As you can see from the accompanying sketch, my initial idea was to have the dinosaur laughing at his fallen rider.

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: Food Fight and Coldspear Cyclops

Here's one more from Activision's Skylanders Battlecast, a frozen scene depicting the character Food Fight and a Coldspear Cyclops!

Skylanders Battlecast: Crypt King and Bad Juju

Here's another painting for Skylanders Battlecast, this time featuring the characters Crypt King and Bad Juju. The latter is in the background and he's trying to control the actions of the former.

Smash Hit: Process

As I mentioned in my previous post, this painting went through some interesting changes during the development process. Here are some of the steps along the way.

1.) My preliminary sketch.

2.) Working in Photoshop, I blocked in basic colors and values and started developing a few details. The latter were only added after the blocking-in process but alas, I didn't save a version of the painting with just the basic colors and values in place.

As you can see, I also added a texture over the ground using a transparent layer. 

3.) More development: At this stage, I had begun working on the girders in the background and I shifted the color of the cement-slinging vehicle from orange to a bright red. Most of the work was done with the Hard Round brush in Photoshop, or with a brush named "Airbrush Pen Opacity Flow". 

4.) The color of the girders in the background was changed from red to a cool blue to push them back and keep them from competing for attention with the foreground elements. Texture and detail were added to the vehicle.

5.) Next, I began developing the character by adding details and refining shapes. I also did a bit more work on the background.

6.) Having completed the central elements of the picture, I refined and developed the rest of the background (and the actual ground) and the picture was finished...

7.) ... or so I thought! It turned out that the girders weren't an appropriate element for the game setting so they had to be removed. They were replaced with more clouds and stacked bricks and then the picture was truly finished.

I actually prefer the version in step 6. I think the strong vertical lines of the girders really added something valuable to the composition but hopefully, both versions of the picture are successful.

Questions are welcome!

Hearthstone: Grotesque Dragonhawk

Here's another image painted for Hearthstone's new Whispers of the Old Gods expansion. This one was painted at the same time as the Berserker painting I posted last month and now that Old Gods has been released, I can finally share it with you.

I'll share a couple more paintings from the set here over the weekend so please check in again!

Earthen Statue

Here's one more illustration (and one more statue) painted for Hearthstone: League of Explorers. I've included more process imagery this time because I thought the process behind this one might interest a few of you.

As you can see below, I began, as usual, with a line drawing. From there I began blocking in values, in gray, and building up the picture, all while knowing I intended to throw a spotlight onto the statue in the foreground and blur the partially carved statues in the background.

I began adding color and light, going with a very warm, yellow and brown color scheme. It's not a color scheme I use often and I thought it would be a challenge that would also suit the picture. At this stage, Art Director Jeremy Cranford helpfully suggested softening the rays of light so they weren't so distinct from one another (that helped the picture tremendously), adding some motes of dust (another good idea) and creating more color contrast by adding more cool color. That warm/cool contrast can really help a picture pop on a card.

Those suggestions led to the blue and gold version you see at the bottom of this post and, ultimately, to the final art you see above, which pushes the contrast between warm and cool colors even further. I'm still not sure which of these last two versions I prefer but I think the final art reads best in the Hearthstone card format.

Some pictures require the artist to go on a longer journey than others! I hope some of you find this info about the process behind this one interesting. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me.

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.

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

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

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

Original Artwork Available

I don't mention it here often, in part because I often work digitally, but most of my non-digital artwork is  for sale so if you ever see anything that interests you, please feel free to contact me.

I've just listed a couple of original acrylic paintings on Ebay. The first is the artwork for the Magic the Gathering card, Demonic Collusion and the second is a painting I did for the Mars Attacks: Invasion card set that was released in 2013 titled Action in the East (I think I've posted it here before). Both paintings were done using acrylic on watercolor paper. Please take a moment to check out the listings:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/121584332512?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

http://www.ebay.com/itm/121584317089?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

Keepers of Grimoire— Tae

Here's another painting I did for the Orca Bear Studios game, Keepers of Grimoire. It depicts an elfin character named Tae. He's a frontiersman of sorts so I felt that a cold mountain setting would make an appropriate backdrop for this scene. I tried to stay loose and painterly with the background and even though the background colors are primarily cool, I began with a very warm ochre color as a base for the entire painting and let it show through in places. It adds interest to the picture and helps unify it as well. I also think it helps give a digital painting like this a slightly more natural feel.

For more info about Keepers of Grimoire, please visit http://www.keepersofgrimoire.com/.

Keepers of Grimoire art

In March, I was contacted by the nice people at Orca Bear Studios, LLC and asked to work on some art for their developing trading card game, Keepers of Grimoire. It's a fantasy world with some unique twists of it's own and I had a great time working on it. I'll post some of the work I did over the next week or two. To begin, here's a dragon who is actually composed primarily of water (aren't we all?), which is streaming off his extremities as as he flies and a female character named Karina, who's sporting some stylish "steampunk" gauntlets.

You can learn more about Keepers of Grimoire at the game's site, www.keepersofgrimoire.com