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).

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: Drywhisker Armorer

This fellow was painted for the new Hearthstone set, Kobolds & Catacombs. I had tremendous fun with this picture and it was a bit of a slow build as I worked toward getting the colors and lighting just how I wanted them. It's a bit different than some of my other work for the game, with a little more emphasis on the surrounding environment than usual. However, the focus remains on the character, as it should. I've included my preliminary sketch below and I may share some process images in the coming days. Thanks for looking!

Hearthstone: Jasper Spellstone

Here's a series of paintings I did for the upcoming Hearthstone expansion, Kobolds & Catacombs. The idea is the amulet holding the spellstone opens and becomes more magically powerful in each stage.

For those who like to see some of the process, I'm also including an alternate version (in gray) of the sequence. As you can see, in the end we went in another direction but I like this concept, in which the stone is revealed by having the casing that surrounds it fold down and outward.

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: Vryghoul

This is my painting for Vryghoul, a card in the new Hearthstone expansion, Knights of the Frozen Throne. I've included my preliminary sketch with the painting. I had a blast painting this zombie-like character and I'm grateful for art director Jeremy Cranford's very helpful suggestions.

Meaningless aside that might interest someone: I often listen to audiobooks as I work and I was listening to Stephen King's Different Seasons while painting this picture. The book and subject matter went together well.

Hearthstone: Corpse Raiser

Here's another new Hearthstone illustration, painted for the Knights of the Frozen Throne expansion.

I've included step-by-step process images below, beginning with my preliminary drawing.

Steps 1 and 2:
Sometimes the process for creating an image is pretty straightforward but there are times when a painting goes through a considerable transformation from start to finish. That was the case with this one. As usual, I began with a drawing, pictured below. I knew I would be dealing with complex lighting on this piece so my next step was to focus on value and I began building the picture in gray tones. Since I was painting a necromancer casting a corpse-raising spell, I wanted the piece to be dark and moody.

Step 3: After establishing some of the value structure, I began applying color on layers (I should mention that all of this work was painted digitally, in Photoshop).

Step 4: The drawing was superimposed over the painting and I started working out some more details, separating forms, etc.

Step 5: More details were added. Forms were refined and I continued pushing value and contrast.

Step 6: The figure was more or less completed and the values established. However, my initial plan of creating a dark, moody piece with a focus on the necromantic spell had gone a bit awry. The picture was too dark for it's intended purpose (card images are small and usually need more contrast) and I was gently reminded by art director Jeremy Cranford that this image wasn't for a spell card so there should be more focus on the character than the spell. That sound advice led to...

Step 7: In which, working on layers (including some Screen and Lighten layers), I seriously re-worked the values and adjusted the lighting to make it a brighter scene. The hands bursting up in the background had become a compositional distraction so landscape elements were painted over them. I was asked to add some spell energy coming from the necromancer's hands so that changed the lighting too. I tried to subtly work more color into the piece and push the focus upward, to the character's face and hands. This stage led to the final art, which you can see at the top of this post.

It was quite a journey, more involved than usual, but I was happy with the final results and, as always, when painting, I learned a few things along the way.

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: Orc Warrior and The Horde

Here are two more images I painted for the latest Hearthstone expansion, One Night in Karazhan. The close-up has a red swirl design around it in print.

Hearthstone: Broom

This is my favorite of the pictures I painted for the new Hearthstone expansion One Night in Karazhan. It was a chance to get a bit silly and I love it when I can really embrace a humorous approach to a painting or a character design. In this case, I was able to paint a mean-spirited, magically-animated broom! It was a good time from start to finish.

I've included my initial concept sketches for the broom at left.

Hearthstone: Protect the King!

Here's another illustration for the new Hearthstone release One Night in Karazhan. This one was a real challenge. I needed to depict chess pieces with no legs in motion. Eventually, I needed to work magical energy into the picture without creating chaos. Both the composition and the color scheme went through some big changes.

As you can see below, the original composition was more expansive, showing more of the pieces on the board. A decision was made to zoom in on a section of the composition so it would read better at the size of a Hearthstone card. From there, I did a complete value study in black and white to clarify the picture before adding color. I rather like the image this way, with black and white pieces actually painted in black and white. I wanted to preserve some of that feel so my initial approach to the color scheme was to use analogous colors (colors next to each other on the color wheel—in this case, blues and purples).

Ultimately, the final art had to be much more colorful than that and I needed to work in magical energy so the pieces became a warm purple and ochre and I introduced red and blue energy. I think it works and in the end, I have a nice example of just how much color can change a piece even after most of the values have been established.

Hearthstone: Blood to Ichor

Here's another painting for the new Hearthstone set, Whispers of the Old Gods. Conceptually, this one started off from a slightly different place than it ended up. Originally, the slime creatures emerging from the ichor weren't a part of the picture. The wounded figure in the foreground was simply supposed to be "bleeding" green ichor. Then, the art description for the picture shifted and the green slime creatures were actually supposed to become the focus. That was tricky since it wasn't quite how I had originally conceived the artwork. Ultimately, with the help of art director Jeremy Cranford, I think I arrived at a pretty good solution. The green slime things were a blast to paint!

I'm including the original sketch below.