Gates of Neverdeath

Gates of Neverdeath

Acrylics. Approx 34" x 31"

Original artwork for sale.

Copyright Wizards of the Coast.

I enjoy being challenged by a piece of work. Fresh hurdles offer the opportunity to grow and improve as an artist. The Gates of Neverdeath was just such a work; whilst the subject matter allowed me to paint one of my favourite subjects (Zombies!) it was the size and multiple requirements that were trickier.
The image needed to function as an adventure cover in  a vertical format, but also be usable for marketing purposes in  a horizontal format. Similarly it required lots of additional space where different trade dress could be placed, or the painting cropped in multiple different ways. This all meant that what would normally be an 8.5" x 11" cover, which I would work up at 200% actual size ( 17" x 22"), became a 34" x 31" painting which barely fitted on my drawing board.

Necromancer detail

I spent quite some time working on thumbnail sketches before I was happy enough to work up my ideas into a finished graphite line sketch.

Note the guidelines which demarcate the cover area and mark room for the variety of potential trade dress.

I then worked up a loose digital value study. This guides me during the painting, and helps the Art Director (in this case the lovely Keven Smith) make sense of all those lines!

Having a clear scheme in place for the lighting, values and palette made tackling a large piece like this a lot easier. Like most of my paintings I worked from back to front. Below you can see a fuzzy photo of the work in progress.

The Necromancer has been completed and I am working my way onto the foreground elements. You can see part of my process, whereby I lay down layers of wash, before adding more opaque elements to tighten up the shadows and highlights.

After the painting was completed I sent through a scanned, uncropped, copy of the final, but I also included a mock-up of how I saw the cover working.

It is interesting to compare this with the final editorial decision, and crop, that adorned the printed product.

It was great to work on such an epic piece, containing such fun elements, but it did also serve to remind me how following the discipline of my processes made the whole painting much easier to work on.

The Court of Green Scales

The Court of Green Scales

Acrylics, Approx 14.5" x20.5"

Original artwork for sale.

Every now and then I create what I think of as a 'transitionary' painting. This is a piece that seems to sum up where you have come from and where you are going artistically. A culmination and expansion...  I think of 'The Court of Green Scales' as just such a piece.

It began with the art brief. The commission was a for a full page interior illustration for a Dungeons & Dragons supplement, and this was the summary:
"The Court of Green Scales. In a secluded valley, we see a Green Dragon in deep consultation with a kobold wyrmpriest (see the Monster Manual for reference for both creatures). Surrounding the dragon and the wyrmpriest are a collection of kobolds of the Green Scale tribe, including a pair of dragonshield warriors (see Monster Manual for reference)."

I loved the fact that it gave me enough information to convey the salient details and mood of the image, without being prescriptive in the detail. It showed that that the art director ( Mari Kolkowsky) had faith in my abilities to create the narrative and drama.

I wanted to emphasis the inequalities in the relationship between the Kobolds and Dragon, it might be a mutually beneficial arrangement, but it was clear who was boss. Thinking along those lines, and with the necessity for Dragons to have a treasure hoard, the notion of tribute seemed a logical step forward. The Wyrmpriest might be asking for/offering something but to come empty handed would seem foolish.

I played with that that idea further in the composition. The undercut hillside helps provide the sense of an underclass level, and has an almost throne like function. This is cut through by the two strong verticals of the waterfall and tree, allowing the sinuos s-shape of the Dragon  to have a nice contrast.

The Line Sketch.

I feel that I managed to include a lot of elements which are a culmination of my craft; the storytelling, composition and detail. This was carried through into the painting through the dynamic red/green palette and value range. Where the transition takes place is in the rendering. This was the first large painting wherein I used a lot of gel mediums, in particular the 'Liquitex Gloss Heavy'. This gel gives a more buttery consistency to the paint and increases drying time. It allows for a smoother blending, and softer mark making.

Consequently I felt I managed to introduce greater contrast between tightly defined areas and looser ones. Which in turn keeps the focus more where I want it. I also played around a lot more strongly with 'lost edges' than I had previously. This is best demonstrated with the Kobold guard on the bottom right and his merging with the shadows.

I liked the qualities this addition to my tools allowed, subsequently  exploring and refining it. This painting however is held in affection for being one more stepping stone on the neverending path of self improvement.

Illie Award Nomination

I am very pleased to announce that one of my paintings, Neverwinter, has passed the cut and made it into the semi finals for the Illie Award.

Neverwinter.

"The Illie Award recognizes the single best traditionally created painting of the year(2010), as chosen by the members of the Illustration Exchange / IlluXCon.com."

The winner will be decided via  public vote; interestingly each piece will be rated 1 to 5, and the finalists will be those with the best aggregate score. So please take the time to visit the site and vote on each picture as you see fit.

GenCon - The Return

I am back from my GenCon trip, but feeling as though I am hovering somewhere over the mid-Atlantic as my jetlag eases.

I took as much of my original art with me as my cases and weight allowance permitted. Whilst this excluded some of my larger pieces I was still very happy with my display. I even managed to leave some space so that I could peek out.

The artshow was in the centre of the exhibit hall this year, which was great for feeling fully included, and allowing more casual browsing. The show spread across several aisles, and I had some great neighbours on mine; Chris Rahn one side, Christopher Burdett the other and facing Dan Scott.

There was some great art on display throughout the show, and I made sure I took advantage of being an exhibitor by going into the hall every day before it opened to the public so that I could browse properly. GenCon has over 30,00 attendees and it can be hard to grasp the overall scale of the convention centre, even this troll standing sentinel barely demonstrates the length of just one corridor.

Wandering the halls and corridors invariably threw up surprises, be it belly dancers, a steampunk band, or much abused/sculpted cards.

These were all finally trashed by coin throwing, with the latter being collected up for charity.

The last time I attended GenCon was 2008 and it was gratifying how many people sought me out again, having met me in previous years; more so when they ended up adding more of my art to their collection, bought further white-backs, or just asked for a sketch.

I was especially amused when this sketchbook appeared again:

This sums up my own GenCon attendance - though sadly I notice in 2006 I only autographed the page, at least I have made up for that since, albeit only with a simple image.

Incidentally the latest iteration was created with a brush pen I borrowed from Christopher Burdett (who was very generous in supply different implements throughout the show - thanks), and I was won over by it. Great flow, sensitivity and solid black!

Some sketches get  a little more time spent on them, for instance I had good fun with this beholder:

Thanks to everyone that stopped by. Meeting the folks who play the games that my art is intended for is great. I work in the bubble of my studio and email communication with an AD such that getting out to shows like this make a lot of difference. I am also very happy that quite a number of paintings have escaped the confines of my cupboard and are roaming the world.

Other people that come by and lighten the show are the Cosplayers and costume wearers.

Indeed sometimes there were more of them than the rest of us.

However the best artistic complement was the one paid to Wayne Reynolds when a woman turned up dressed as one of the iconics he painted for Pathfinder.

I had a very enjoyable time in Indianapolis, not just in the show, but socialising with other artists in the evening. However I was grateful not to have to step outside very often as the city was experiencing a heatwave, the like of which it hadn't seen since 1936.  I melted in the 90F+/35C+ humid heat, and was appreciative of the a/c everywhere.

I also had the pleasure of staying in the most interesting of hotels - it had previously been a train station. This certainly meant it diverged from the standard box format of so many modern hotels, instead cast iron beams sprouted from walls and ceilings.

and pullman carraiges doubled as bedrooms, as can be seen behind Franz & Imelda Vohwinkel.

I now look forward to my next US trip to Illuxcon, and hope I can make GenCon again next year.

IndyGenCon

Tomorrow morning I will boarding a plane at Manchester airport, UK, and flying across the Atlantic to indianopolis. This due to the fact that I will be attending IndyGenCon; in their own words "the original, longest running, best attended, gaming convention in the world".

I will be taking  a lot of original artwork with me, and hope some of you will stop by my stand in the artshow to say 'hi'.

Talisman the Dragon

Talisman the Dragon

© Fantasy Flight Games/ Games Workshop

Acrylic, 22.5" x 22.5"

Original artwork for sale

I have been enjoying the continuity of working on the Talisman board game line, and I am happy to reveal my cover artwork for Talisman the Dragon, the latest expansion.

As usual we have a very mixed bag of adventurers attempting to battle their way to the top of the Dragon's tower and gain the treasure inside. Creating a narrative with the different archetypes is an enjoyable challenge, and better still was devising a new Dragon. I wanted to echo aspects of the Talisman boardgame's cover Dragon, whilst making him distinctively his own beastie. I feel he is suitably fierce and threatening, something helped by the dramatic perspective.

Below is the initial sketch, in the background of which you can see the Dragon Rider character. Whilst she features in the game it just seemed too confusing to have an additional Dragon on the scene - and she got dropped.

Talisman the Dragon - Sketch

Ambush! - A Walkthrough

Ambush!

©Wizards of the Coast.

Original acrylic painting approx 22" x 22".

For Sale.

Around Christmas I was commissioned to work on a large interior illustration for Dragon magazine. The publication date was due April/May, however unfortunately the article was pulled at the last moment and this accompanying illustration with it. Happily the Art Director, Jon Schindehette, helped secure the necessary permission for me to share my work publically anyway.

The topic for this piece was full of drama; a pair of Thri-Kreen stop at a waterhole to refill their canteens, and ease their parched throats, when a Water Drake leaps from it's hiding place to satiate it's own hunger.

The sinuous Water Drake leant itself very nicely as a strong compositional tool. It's length encircles it's victim, whilst all the lines of force, including head and tail, point to the targetted Thri-Kreen.*

Whilst painting the picture I took  a large number of photos and I have whittled these down to a selection that reveal my process. In this case a very methodical front to back, element by element approach. This is my norm, but sometimes I can lay down broader areas of colour in order to aid the colour/value balance. This time I had a very clear image in my head, and it unfolded as I anticipated -  which I wish it always did.

*It was fun to revisit the Thri-Kreen , of whom I had previously created a Chesley nominated illustration. A printout of which can be seen on the top right of the drwaing board.

1.The background colour is laid down.

2. The shading and values are refined.

3. Hard at it.

4. Leading the background values through onto the rear figure.

5. The skin tones completion defines the rear figures value range.

6. Bringing in the blue and starting on the foreground Thri-Kreen.

7. Liking the red/blue juxtaposition.

8. Skin and values defined.

9. Figure about complete.

10. The workspace - with notation of clutter reference materials.

11. Developing the water, cast shadow, and foliage.

12. Nailing the Drake's palette and head.

13. Brought that over the whole body.

14. Drake's highlights added and the base for the dripping water started.

15. Lots of droplets!

16. The apprentice gives his input - yum, snacks.