All Hallows: Fall 2014

Wrapped in various projects this Fall 2014, but that doesn't mean I don't try and sneak in a little fun drawing here and there as a warm-up sketch. For example, my "life" drawing for Halloween...

2B Pencil on Strathmore drawing paper

Over the next few weeks, I'll continue to be chained to my drawing board, but I also expect to do some art progress posting again by the end of the month from my SmArt School class as well as some personal work, and possibly even some client work if I can get approvals for doing that. 

In any case, a few interesting things going on there, most definitely! :)

Stuff on the Drawing Board

Some snippets from various drawing boards with illustrations currently (or within the past few weeks...) in-progress. I tend to rotate between working on different illustrations depending on the various project(s) in development. 

Primarily 2H pencil on Bristol, with some of the darker values using HB and 4B pencils, and occasionally graphite powder. 

Winged Battle

Fantasy illustration which is currently in-progress (the digital painting part). The scanned traditional drawing shown above is on 11 x 17 Bristol paper, using 2H/HB/4B pencils, a variety of erasers and some graphite powder painting.

Winter's Greeting sketching

Working on this 11 x 17 illustration a few minutes at a time over the next few weeks until it's finally done -- have a few other projects that have a much higher priority at the moment which is not a bad thing. :)

2H pencil on smooth Bristol paper, digital texture background added after scanning.
 

Wild Horses, in-progress sketch

Another one of those warm-up sketches that suddenly took on a life of its own: Wild Horses.
2H and 4B pencils on Strathmore drawing paper.

Think I'll color this one. :)

Dragon World: Final (almost) Pencils

The next stage of my "Dragon World" illustration: pencils.  

After gathering element references, taking a few pose reference photos and designing heraldry icons for the magical floating elements around the main character, I proceeded to create the final layout using 2H pencils on 11x 17 Bristol paper.

I've posted more of my progress images of this stage on my Facebook page in the album called "Dragonworld".

Considering some additional minor revisions before adding in more value with 2B - 4B pencils. Then on to final color in Photoshop!

In-progress photo of "Dragon World" illustration.

Dragon World in-progress

The ArtOrder group run by WoTC art director, Jon Schindehette, has a new challenge up that I couldn't resist developing some concepts for -- dragons!  But there's a little more to it than that:
 
Quote:
"Today, I’m going to listen to the call of the community. A dragon challenge has been the number one requested challenge for years. I’ve always begged off, because I haven’t been able to come up with a challenge that befitted them. I mean, I could have just done a challenge where I said, “draw a really cool dragon”, but that is kinda lame, and judging that type of challenge can be difficult. One person’s cool dragon is another persons cliche. So today's challenge is going to have a spin…
 
If you look around our mundane earth, you will see dragons worked into everyday culture all over the place. They can be found in tattoos, clothing, architecture, art, and so many other places…and yet, dragons do not actually exist in our world. When I look at so many of the worlds in the fantasy genre, I can see dragons flying around, but I don’t often see them reflected in the cultures. Why is that?
 
This months challenge takes an iconic figure in the fantasy genre, and adds a layer of complexity.
 
The Dragon – Create a cool dragon and show me that you know dragons. Show me the emotional resonance that comes with a dragon. Capture the “essence” of a dragon, and breath some life into it.
 
The World – Now, you’ve got to integrate it into the world. And by “integrate”, I’m talking about more than just dropping a dragon into a scene. That isn’t integration, that’s just an illustration. “Integration” is showing how the world lives with, reacts to, is affected by, and influenced by the dragon. Maybe dragons are common place in your world and they blend into everyday life. Maybe there is only one in the world, and the myth of it is reflected throughout the world. Maybe your dragon is simply symbolic and you have to show it’s influence and integration in novel ways.

The more innovative and interesting you make your execution will affect the judging...Also, do not feel you are limited to a fantasy setting. Feel free to go off the reservation and find your dragon in any genre, time, world, or setting. This could make for some interesting editorial or book cover ideas – where you step out of the known and normal."
End Quote

While I wish I could have had time to work up a few pages for the Dragon World comic idea I initially came up with...I just don't...client projects took priority. But, I have two other ideas I've chosen out of my initial rough sketches that I'm developing further. One fits squarely in the "Book Cover Adult" or BCA category.  And the other should fit in the "Book Cover Children's" or BCC category...something that might one day be the cover for a story under consideration in "The Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy"....gotta dream big and work hard! :)

In any case, this sketch was the final rough version that I have since been developing further for the BCA category...and I'll post progress images for that in a later post:

Read more about the Dragon World ArtOrder Challenge, categories, rules and submission requirements as well as other art in progress by going to the AO site, here:
http://theartorder.com/dragon-world-artorder-challenge/

Home on the Range

Early sketch for a middle grade sci-fi story.  This is a crop of the larger illustration, focusing on the main character here.  The final illustration is in-progress. 

Dragon's Perch

My first dragon post for 2013! The illustration was developed from a warm-up sketch originally created late summer 2012 (posted below).  The dragon didn't change much from its original design, but I did change the pose of the girl and altered her costume as well, from fabric to style.  The background was inspired by a photo I took at the Dallas Arboretum about 10 years ago (at bottom).
 

 

Winter Greetings: work-in-progress

A small unfinished hedgehog character from an illustration set in progress.  As are many of my illustrations, this one started out as a pencil drawing that I am now digitally painting in Photoshop.

Year of the Dragon

In keeping with 2012 being the Year of the Dragon, I created this illustration as one of several dragon-ish projects.  The digital painting is above, with a crop of the original pencil sketch below.

Baby Unicorn

A quick sketch yesterday of a baby unicorn which I then colored in Photoshop, inspired after seeing photos last week of various baby goats (kids) and horses (foals and fillies) posted on a couple of Facebook pages that I follow.

It's similar in style to the "pin-up" illustration that I did for the artists' gallery in the soon to be published Deluxe Version of the graphic novel "The Last Unicorn" coming out in May 2012 (per Amazon).

The baby unicorn I've done will be one of several traditional watercolor illustrations I'll be creating over the summer. I'll be launching my new Etsy shop in the Fall with assorted prints and original fantasy artwork available for sale at that time. If there are particular creatures or characters you'd be interested in seeing or buying, let me know! I'll be setting up a commission schedule soon as well. :)

A Tale of Two Dragons: work in progress

Two dragons, but with two different art briefs: one is for middle grade and the other is for adult. But both illustrations introduce the main characters of the story, and provide a hint of the setting of the story worlds.

I've posted one of the initial rough sketches and layout I was most satisfied with before I started considering colors... The figure above is the image I posted in my Friday Faces page on Facebook as I began detailing more of the figure and costume.
More progress posts later during the week! :)

Whimsical Imp

This week's Friday Faces was a quick color sketch of an imaginary creature. Initial rough was sketched with blue pencil, and the final was colored in Photoshop 7 using one of the basic brushes.

First Day

This one started out as a Friday Faces random sketch, but I really like the narrative that's going on here so I'll be taking this one further over the next few days. Exploring, painting, adding in a background maybe, adding in some extra arms... :)

Winter in progress

This is a small section of a much larger illustration that I'm drawing at the moment. One of several versions of the rough layout is posted below. Seemed appropriate that this week's Illustration Friday topic was also "Winter" since that is the theme of this illustration as well. I intend to have a majority of the detailed pencil completed by this evening. This will be finished as a watercolor project rather than digital. :)

Merry Christmas!

Wishing all my sketchblog visitors happy holidays and a Merry Christmas! :)

Initial rough sketches for this Santa Claus illustration were developed when I was an in-house illustrator and product designer for a novelty company a few years ago. I've posted some early concept sketches for the scene below. The artwork posted above had been cropped and trimmed especially for use on an ornament (rotating sphere); but the art was also used for other products as well (banners, outdoor holiday display, etc).

Promotional Art for Fantasy Illustration

I'll be attending IlluxCon 3 next week -- yay! In preparation, I've updated and finished some artwork I'll be taking with me as promotional pieces for the art show. These two are a couple of illustrations that will definitely be there with me. Wish me luck! :)

Unkind Mermaids and Other Stuff

One of several mermaids I've been drawing in Photoshop 7 with my wacom tablet for yet another fantasy illustration project. Still need to add ornaments to her hair and a few other tweaks and fixes which I'll get to when I go to color.

I'm also working on some "miniature" pencil drawings (they're about 3.5 x2.25 inches each) for a series of fantasy illustrations I want to finish up with watercolors. Should be fun!

A little at a time...

Just a wee bit of progress on one of several dragon themed illustrations I've been working on in between those pesky other projects. :)

I happened to be thinking about this painting (in particular, how I'm going to do the hilly tree side) while I was driving around taking care of errands; and was so focused on that after seeing a vista that would suit the scene perfectly...I almost crashed my car. D'oh! That was not my best moment. Needless to say, I won't be doing that again...!!