Back in business!

After almost a year away, my website http://www.jimnelsonart.com, is up and running again. It's now formatted as a portfolio/gallery site and although it's not quite complete (I'll be adding biographical info and more galleries), it's loaded with artwork please have a look and browse the pretty (and a few not so pretty) pictures!

I've also added a portfolio at Playillustration.com. You can reach it directly using the link below or just head on over to the Play! site and look me up under "N".

http://www.playillustration.com/ArtistPortfolioThumbs.aspx?AID=6466

As always, thank you for taking the time to look at my work.

Truga Jungle

The image above is a digital painting called Truga Jungle that I created for the Magic the Gathering variant game, Planechase. I painted this piece over a year ago but haven't been able to show it until now! If I recall correctly, the art description called for dense jungle in a valley flanked by steep obsidian cliffs. The jungle was to be composed of unusually large flowers and plants rather than trees. 

Planechase uses a long, horizontal format and the title and text of the card sit over portions of the painting. Consequently, it's necessary to compose the picture in a way that allows it be interesting on it's own but also leaves enough negative or "dead" space for the text. I've included and image of the final card above so you can see how the artwork was presented in print.

I've also included my preliminary sketch above. As you can see, the painting remains pretty true to the initial drawing, although I made a few changes on the left side of the composition.

Artwork © Wizards of the Coast.

Magical Ogre Idol

I'm working on several projects right now so today's entry will be brief. The color image above is a Magical Ogre Idol painted for a World of Warcraft card. As you can see, I took a few design cues from depictions of Buddha and Indian deities like Ganesh. I've attached a pair of preliminary sketches as well. I initially envisioned the idol on a stone pedestal or something, like an object indiana Jones might sneak in and steal.

Spiked Slug

This image was created for the Magic the Gathering card game. It was drawn and painted in Adobe Photoshop and Corel Painter and it was a bit of an experiment. I wanted to create an atmosphere of dense jungle behind the slug creature and because I was working digitally, I decided to take advantage of the benefits offered by that approach and use bits and pieces of photographs to establish some of the foliage. I have mixed feelings about the results, which read more or less as I wanted them to when reduced down to card size but look a little too busy overall. Nevertheless, the creature was fun to paint (especially the slimier bits) and overall, I'm pleased with the way the picture turned out.

T. Rex Skeleton

This sepia watercolor was created for the same project as last week's image of battling dinosaurs. It's based on reference I shot of Sue, the T. Rex skeleton at the Field Museum here in Chicago.

Dinosaur Fight!

This is a monochromatic watercolor I painted a few years ago for a children's book. It was painted in sepia watercolor on Arches hot press watercolor paper. It's a personal favorite of mine. During the project, there was some talk of putting feathers on these bad boys but I was reluctant to do that because I didn't think it would look as cool for the kids reading the book. As you can see, the publisher ultimately agreed!

Blessing of the Devoted

This image was created for the recently released Warcraft Trading Card Game set Crown of the Heavens. It depicts a dwarf paladin basking in holy, magical energy. As you can see in the two black and white images above, I initially drew the dwarf with his helmet off. I thought it would be nice to use his facial expression to convey the holy feeling he was experiencing. However, it was decided that it would be better to keep his helmet on for this one.

I've posted a few steps in the painting process. I think they're somewhat self-explanatory so I won't go into great detail about them. In a nutshell, I began (as usual) by blocking in basic colors. From there, I worked up the details of the armor and punched up the lighting (using color and also working with a Dodge layer in Photoshop). Next, I continued refining things and added some upward-thrusting rays of light on a new layer. Finally, I tweaked the values a little more and, using several layers, added in the final lighting effects.