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/

Eowyn and Nazgûl sketchings

Over on the ArtOrder blog, a new art challenge:
review the scene (of Eowyn fighting the Nazgul) in the book, and create your own interpretation of that scene.

I managed to pick up a copy of the LoTR trilogy at the nearby used bookstore and did a bit of re-reading of various scenes to tweak my memory last week. And during this week's storms, tornadoes and power outages, I came up with a bunch of possibilities with my little thumbnail sketches, some of which I posted below. I started with various abstract shapes to explore layouts, and then added a bit of gestural figures in the next stage of my thumbnail sketches. I've posted one of the three scenes I'm developing further at the top; I still haven't firmly decided which of my favorites to go final and color.

You can see many more entries, sketches and color versions in progress from other artists from digital to traditional over on the ArtOrder forums, here.

My intention is to do a watercolour version of the final scene I select, with some minor digital enhancements as necessary. The project is due on May 15th...

Lovecraft Creatures: Penguins of Leng

The above is the final concept art that I did for the latest Art Order challenge.The initial rough sketches and lineart are below. A nice break and something quite different from other projects I'm working on at the moment. :) Here's the quote from H.P. Lovecraft's "At the Mountains of Madness" that I referenced while I developed these particular penguins:

“Suddenly a bulky white shape loomed up ahead of us, and we flashed on the second torch…This white, waddling thing was fully six feet high, yet we seemed to realize at once that it was not one of those others…We were indeed clutched for an instant by primitive dread almost sharper than the worst of our reasoned fears regarding those others. Then came a flash of anticlimax as the white shape sidled into a lateral archway to our left to join two others of its kind which had summoned it in raucous tones. For it was only a penguin—albeit of a huge, unknown species larger than the greatest of the known king penguins, and monstrous in its combined albinism and virtual eyelessness.”





You can view other artists' interpretations, from student to professional, of various creatures from the stories of Lovecraft on the Art Order forums, here.

Things that go bump...

The recent Art Order challenge was to come up with a concept for a "log monster". I'd actually forgotten about it until I read a brief mention about it on Friday via my FB network. Came up with some sketches on Saturday, and colored the above on Sunday. It was a good way to spend the weekend. :)

See other WIP's and final concepts via the Art Order blog. Once there, recent challenges are posted on the right column (you might have to scroll down a bit to see all the links).

Mutation Nation: Zebrupine or "Spiny Ass"

I participated in my second ArtOrder Challenge by creating a quick concept for the topic "Mutation Nation" Path 1 (Gene Splicing). Above is the color final, below is the original sketch.