Samurai

This illustration is from the recently released Pathfinder book, Ultimate Campaign and the art description was titled "Letter of Introduction". That's what this Samurai character (who is one of a number of iconic Pathfinder characters) is holding up with his right hand.

I painted this one in grayscale first and then went back in and added the colors. With so many details involved, it was easier to just think in terms of value and worry about color once all of the groundwork had been laid.

I'm including the initial digital sketch as well. Enjoy!

Artwork copyright © Paizo Publishing.

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/.

Vorn and Salramm

These two pieces are from the recently released Caverns of Time set for the World of Warcraft TCG. The first is a charging Tauren warrior named Vorn and the second is (if I remember correctly) a necromancer named Salraam the Fleshcrafter, accompanied by some of those goofy-looking (but fun to paint!) Warcraft ghouls.

Archimonde

This painting was created for the World of Warcraft card set, Caverns of Time. I've included the preliminary drawing. The title character, Archimonde, is apparently a big baddy in the game and because he's literally big, this piece was a blast to put together. Any kid who grew up watching giant monster movies can understand why.

The painting went through some changes. If you compare it to the sketch, you'll see that Archimonde's head changed. The flames and the shower of flaming debris were all initially painted in warm oranges and yellows but were eventually changed to what you see above. In the end, I think that worked out well and improved the piece.

Appleseed Comic Con

I'll be appearing at Appleseed Comic Con in Fort Wayne, Indiana this weekend! If you're in the area, check out the con (it's great) and please stop by my table to say hello.

For more info about the con, visit the Appleseed site: http://appleseedcon.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

Orcs, Orcs, Orcs

Here are two more illustrations I did for the recently released World of Warcraft card set, Betrayal of the Guardians. The first is titled Magma Blast and, as you can see, involves a character magically projecting a huge blast of molten lava from his hands. Initially, I painted the lava as a much more directional blast but eventually opted for the more swirling approach seen here. It seemed more in the spirit of a spell being cast.