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.

Gnawer of Rocks: The Cave

This is an early spread from the book Gnawer of Rocks, which will be released next week. The book is a hybrid: part comics, part picture book. It's based on an Inuit myth about an ogress that haunts the north and eats unsuspecting children. In this scene, two girls have come across the cave of the ogress, known as the Mangittatuarjuk.

I'll be posting more panels, spreads and sketches from the book over the next few weeks so please "stay tuned".

Gnawer of Rocks

I've been waiting to show this for a while. It's the cover to a book I spent most of last year illustrating, titled Gnawer of Rocks. The book will be released in October and is published by Inhabit Media (you can pre-order it on Amazon now, just follow the link above). I see it as sort of a hybrid between a picture book and a graphic novel. The story is told sequentially, in panels and splash pages, but is painted and presented in a format similar to the picture book I illustrated for Inhabit Media a couple of years ago, On the Shoulder of a Giant. Like that book, this one is based on an Inuit myth, although this story is considerably darker. It concerns some children who wander into the lair of an ogress.

This was a challenging project for me but a rewarding experience and I'm hopeful that it will go over well. The story Louise Flaherty, who co-founded Inhabit Media, wrote the book. I found the story fascinating!

I'll be posting more from this project soon but for now, I hope you enjoy the cover art.

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.

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 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

Squonk

My first exposure to the word squonk and the creature associated with it came when I borrowed the Genesis album, A Trick of the Tail way back in high school! There's a song on that album named "Squonk" (it's a good tune, look it up) and it's based on the mythical creature of the same name.

The mythical squonk is said to dwell in Pennsylvania, of all places. It's a creature with ill-fitting skin, warts and blemishes. Ashamed of it's appearance, it spends much of it's time hiding and weeping and when threatened, it can dissolve into a pool of tears to evade capture!

This version of the creature was painted for Paizo Publishing's game Pathfinder (it appears in the Bestiary 4) and was described as a fat, hairless pig-like thing. I've included a preliminary sketch as well.

Now you know about squonks! I love the concept of this mythical creature so much that I'll have to re-visit the idea one day and design another take on it, just for kicks.

Squonk art  copyright © Paizo Publishing.