This is very interesting. The bit above about Cranzer being more like a tailor than an alchemist or member of the Lesser Boneheart reminds me of that comment about the Nazis and "the banality of evil".
Far too many illustrations of evil characters go for the signature "look at me I'm obviously a villain" accoutrements of skulls, blood etc.
There's something far more disturbing about a character that doesn't look obviously evil but is; but you need to know that as an observer prior to seeing the illustration or it might not work. As we all know Cranzer, I say go for the bland, but maybe add a subtle twist that you can see if you look hard enough and that gives his true sentiments away (assuming of course that the man with the paycheck agrees). Perhaps the background may reveal the tools of his trade while the man himself in the foreground seems a reasonable type; a "come into my parlour" kind of guy.
My personal view is that the dragon might be a distraction from the main character, but that's just me, I love the less obvious.
So ... doing a little project for the Oerth Journal ...
Today I had a very strong impetus for drawing hit me, and I started to put more work into the Oerth Journal's "Beyond the Flanaess" Whole Oerth Project. The following are thumbnails of three different critters that are to appear in the Oerth Journal #26, which I am told is near completion.
These were sketched in 2B graphite on white stock paper, then scanned and are being finished digitally on my Wacom Intuous3 with Corel Painter 11.
A Terracotta Golem, Mountain Strangler, and Verdant Gloom.
Well ... here's the latest version of the Terracotta Golem ...
This stage of details are all digital now. There really won't be an "original hardcopy" of this drawing once it's done.
I was given suggestions by the publisher that the kilt (decided by the author) should be something different; maybe Egyptian themed, or Aztec/Mayan. I went with something a little more Polynesian. ... ish. It's intended to be sort of geometric like the Hawaiian stuff you may have seen, and yet, not really particularly anything specific. The square hat definately throws things in a different way.
Since it sounds like this is still in its draft stage, I'll point out that a second set of arms would, realisticly, at least, require a second set of chest muscles. Yeah, I know it would require a whole lot more, but that is just what jumps out at me, so adding that in might allow for better suspension of belief.
Otherwise, I like the looks. That Verdant Gloom is especially intriguing.
Wow ... has it really been seven months since I've posted my artwork here?
So ... the thing is that I am working a lot on pursuing a Master's of Illustration, and I haven't really found much time to do artwork of my own. But, just today, I found time to work on a project that I've really been wanting to do for about six months now.
It's basically a Hindu Goddess, but, I am wanting to do something that is India-influenced without sticking to all of the very old forms and rubrics of the way art is traditionally presented. Indian religious artwork tend to have a very "medieval" sort of feel to it. ... nevertheless, I want to do this goddess called Parvati ... she's a protector, and defends against the evils of the world, but in a mothering kind of way. Okay, a Mama-bear kind of way.
At any rate ... this is from my sketchbook, so it's 8 1/2 x 11. It's in graphite, and took about 4 or 5 hours. She'll actually be riding a tiger, and wearing a bare-midriff sari, and holding weapons and stuff. but, this was mostly a study for the poses of the arms and whatnot.
I would think some type of duality to show her two sides. Perhaps holding wheat above her head, a pitcher of water and a spark of fire. Weapons a Sickle, wood cutters axe, and a harpoon or trident.
I'm looking forward to seeing a more complete version. Perhaps a hyme or poem might accompany it. I will have to see about Parvati.
NICE work Icarus!
Very talented indeed..
Back tracked thru this entire thread and found your link to your site ( which I recommend to others to peruse)
Great works there too.. Really like your Rhenee Bargeman ( see a bit of Johnny Depp there??)
and the Calis picture IMO bears some resemblance to Adrian Paul (of highlander) Not to go unnoticed, your depiction of all the Flanness Peoples were equally cool
Quote:
Icarus wrote:
There's a lot of people, I think, that only ever look at the headlines on the main page and don't do too much searching of the forums.
Yep! "Laziness" is alive and well!
We're "still here," my friend. Keep it coming!
Just to let you know.. your work has not gone unnoticed... I endeavor to be the Lord of resurecting hidden threads of treasure.. hehe
Back tracked thru this entire thread and found your link to your site ( which I recommend to others to peruse)
Great works there too.. Really like your Rhenee Bargeman ( see a bit of Johnny Depp there??)
and the Calis picture IMO bears some resemblance to Adrian Paul (of highlander) Not to go unnoticed, your depiction of all the Flanness Peoples were equally cool. Just to let you know.. your work has not gone unnoticed...
Thanks for the compliments, Dark Lord Galen! Prompted by your mention of my personal Dropbox gallery, I added a link in my signature to the site.
The Rhenee bargeman is definitely drawn from Johnny Depp; he's one of my favorite models. I have used him for three or four different characters, and countless sketches over the years. ... and that character was used for an article called "The Laughing Turtle" for a postfest submission here on Canonfire!.
Caltis, believe it or not, was drawn from a fella that I met while I was in college. His face matched the sketches that I'd done for the character almost precisely, and I told him I'd give him all of the cigarettes, coffee, magazines and food he could want, if he'd just sit long enough for me to draw him!
The "Usual Suspects" was one of the first drawings that the Canonfire! crew ever saw of mine, and I have wanted to get around to doing more of those for years. It was originally intended as a player-aide depicting some of the main racial types they could play, and to recognize racial stereotypes when they saw them.
Thanks again for looking through the thread to find all the stuff! _________________ Owner and Lead Admin: https://greyhawkonline.com<div>Editor-in-Chief of the Oerth Journal: https://greyhawkonline.com/oerthjournal</div><div>Visit my professional art gallery: https://wkristophnolen.daportfolio.com</div>
And so ... here it is once again, time to add a little artwork to the thread.
the university semester is over, and I am looking for ways to kill a little time before the travelling starts for the summer (for weddings and high school reunions, and conventions).
So, here's my two latest offerings: they're done for the Paizo magazine Wayfinder. It's a recurring column called "Weal and Woe", in which they present two NPCs; one a potential ally, the other a potential threat. These two are swordsmanship instructors from rival schools.
They're drawn at 9"x12", on 50lb paper, with graphite and a touch of conté. In retrospect, I wish that I'd done the first illustration a little bit darker, because when the second one came out, they look very different by contrast. Unfortunately, the first had been submitted by the time the second was finished. <shrug> Ah, well. C'est la vie.
Hope you guys like them ... if you play Pathfinder, or are interested in the article, the magazine is distributed free (I think) from Paizo, as a PDF. It should be available the first week of July.
Nice to see you up and drawing again. In the lighter shade picture I prefer the full model it looks very complete and well put together. Though the portrait could of benefited from the darker lines in the second drawing.
Hence, I prefer the facial expression in the darker shade but the over model looses a little something in that shade.
Just my opinion. Both shades work well but for different things. Keep it coming.
Hey there, Argon! Thanks for the comments on the art. It's not really that I haven't been illustrating, it's just that I had a lot of work to do this semester. I'm studying toward a Master's in Illustration, so, the time and imspiration that I did have for art was largely used up on my university work. But, yeah, it's nice to be drawing fantasy illustrations again. I'm hoping that I may find time to do a small project for Sir Xaris (Skip Twitchell?) for an article that he's written for the Canonfire Chronicles. And hopefully, I'll be dong a little more for fan magazines this Summer, as well. In addition to doing comissioned work for Wayfinder, they're also doing an open call for submissions of fan art. So, I may likely submit something for that, as well.
I do have to say, though, that I was kind of confused by this:
Argon wrote:
... I prefer the facial expression in the darker shade but the over model looses a little something in that shade.
I'm not really sure I understand what you mean. I think that when you're saying "shade" you're trying to refer to the two different illustrations as "lighter shade" and "darker shade" ... but, you're saying that the standing figure (" ... the over model"?) is not as good because of the more defined lines or shading in darker values? Are you referring to the face of the figure, or the whole thing? I only ask, because the face isn't s'posed to match the seperate portrait. That's kind of the point of doing the closeup - so that I don't have to draw in miniature (the face is only about 7/8", and will be reduced to about 3/16" when it's published). There's not a whole lot of detail that can be even seen at that scale.
I do want to say thank you, though, for making me look at my drawings again, with an outside POV. I don't really think that the illustration on the left (the military instructor) is served well by lighter values in shading at all, but, it's good to know that it comes across well, despite my misgivings about it.
I was referring to the pic on the right as the darker shaded image. The facial expression on that pic works well. However, the full portrait on the right side seems to lack the overall impression that I get from the portrait in the left picture.
Though the facial image in the left picture lacks tha amount of expression I get in the right pictures facial expression.
I hope this clears things up a bit. That will teach me to write in two different programs at the same time.
So ... here it is another month or two ... and I've just returned from PaizoCon 2012 last week, where I made an enormous amount of professional contacts. Various thrid party publishers like John Brazier Enterprises, Frog God Games, Open Design (Wolfgang Baur), Super Genius games, and even Reaper miniatures.
I also got to spend about an hour and a half with Wayne Reynolds essentially one-on-one, having a pint of beer, sitting outside on a veranda talking about art and the business of art. After some very poignant critique of my portfolio and sketchbook by Wayne, I've begun working on colour illustrations.
So, here are my most recent attempts at adding colour to an illustration from last year ... no, wait, two years ago. Many of you may've already seen it in its original sketch verion ... I posted it upthread when I originally did it. Obviously, I've not done work on the wings, and mostly concentrated on the coloration of the body. It was very different working on two different colour schemes, because the details were so much different to work on. The Tuscan Red details on the Crimson Red base was difficult to get the scales and whatnot to show. In the Olive version, the Dark Green picked out the scales with ease, but, the other values that I had to use (Grass Green, True Green, Lime Green, Light Umber, Ginger Root, and Jasmine) meant that I used up just as much pigment. I'd gone out and bought over 65 new coloured pencils (I use Prismacolor Premier, for those artists interested). My girlfriend suggested which piece to use, and when she saw the first (red) version she remarked that she liked it, but, she'd been expecting a different colour. Thus, came the second one.
At any rate, here they are. I'd love to hear what you guys think of them. For sake of reference, you can click on each each image to see the full-sized version of it in my Dropbox Gallery.
[Just remember that these are Intellectual Property, and they may be only downloaded for personal use, and are not to be reposted anywhere without consent.]
Interesting, I see exactly what you mean the red is sleek and the green displays scales much better. Perhaps a marriage of the two colors. Base red and highlight the areas where green seems to shine like the scales on the arms. I was also thinking to pull the colors together the inside of the wings probably a green to reddish black at its tips and red with green highlights on the scaled side of the wing. I would like to see how it turns out.
Hi there, all! Imagine my surprise when I was perusing Canonfire!, and stumbled across this thread! Imagine my surprise when I realized that I had forgotten all about it!
I took a break from my art a while back, and with University work when I started pursuing a Masters' of Illustration, I got so busy that I stopped posting here.
So, in the interest of keeping in touch, I thought I would post a little something.
This hippogriff was published by Legendary Games, in their "mythic" series in Mythic Monsters: Mounts, which is a collection of unusual creatures that can be used as mounts.
I often am told that it's a great piece, because one can see the pencil-work, which adds to the texture and feel of the illustration. ... the interesting thing is that it never existed physically, and is completely digital. The software I use (Corel Painter 12, at the time) is amazing at mimicking real-world media, and is geared specifically for doing that.
That is a great rendition of a hippogriff, Icarus! :smile
Thanks, man. I appreciate that.
It's difficult getting back into the field, ya' know? But, I'm attending three conventions in the next 90 days or so, and I've been asked to join the staff of Greyhawk Reborn (and I accepted) ... so, hopefully I'll start making industry contacts again, and hopefully start getting back into published art.
"Wait!! Did he say he's on the Greyhawk Reborn staff, now?"
Yes. Yes, I did.
They're really growing, and reaching out. I think not only will I love working with GH again, but, it'll get me to actively reaching out to the gaming community as a professional artist.
Awesome! I sure wish I had time to be involved in Greyhawk Reborn. Some day...
So, here's another something I'\m working on.
I like the Pathfinder goblins designed by Wayne Reynolds, for Paizo Publishing. But, I don't know why they went with green goblins - I'd always believed they were red/orange ... which goes with Hobgoblins being that same color.
Anyway ... so, this little fella is modeled somewhat on the feel of the Pathfinder goblins, but, I've changed him substantially. I think that when I get to has feet, I'm going to make them larger, with big nails, and sort of longer, like they are in older editions of D&D.
I also think that I may shorten him a little, making him a little less lanky, and make him a little more small and "crouch-y" at the same time. It's a work-in-progress, so, there's still plenty of room for change.
Corel Painter 2017, Wacom Cintiq
Note that you can click on the image to see a high-res version.
[Just remember that this is Intellectual Property, copyrighted, and is not to be used without consent.]
So, here it is, a couple of years later, and things have changed *so* much!
I'm the owner/admin of Greyhawkonline.com, and I've been doing a lot of things lately, including producing the Oerth Journal. Issue #28 just came out, and the website is getting over 1,200 users a month.
But, I realized today this thread was kind of older now, and it's links have been broken … AGAIN. Damnable hosting services!
So, I went all the way through the links, again, and updated them all. … again.
So, here, I'm gonna make some posts, including some newer stuff. ...
Here's a couple for a project that I unfortunately didn't get to finish - because I really loved these two pieces. They were for a Pathfinder 3rd Party Publisher, who was writing an adventure at the time.
Corel Painter, Wacom Cintiq
[Just remember that this is Intellectual Property, copyrighted, and is not to be used without consent.]
Here's another one …
This was for a private commission I got, randomly, from the 'net.
A fella had been Googling for images of a hippogriff and found mine (that's posted further upthread), and really liked the art.
So, he bounced link -to-link, and landed on my online gallery which -for obvious reason- has contact information. So, he commissioned this heraldry.
It's completely made-up, but, we were going for a certain kind of look …
Anyway, here's one of the work-in-progress sketches for it. It has a phoenix, a falcon, and a hippogriff, along with several individual symbols he was interested in like a scale, book, cadency mark, and motto (which, I think, was "Greatness is Earned").
Corel Painter, Wacom Cintiq
[Just remember that this is Intellectual Property, copyrighted, and is not to be used without consent.]
Here's two more, which are both from the seminar we did called "Celebrating Greyhawk: A Fandom Rennaisance" at GaryCon XI. The seminar handout became the first-ever print edition of the Oerth Journal (#28).
The first piece, the gryphon rider, was from the cover and the banshee wailing underwater was interior artwork for an adventure in the same handout that went to attendees of the seminar we did the panel for.
The gryphon and rider were inspired by the cover of the City of Greyhawk Boxed set.
Also, that banshee is a killer!! Written by Carlos Lising, the catacomb tomb she's in was compromised and flooded … which means the sound of her magical scream is transmitted through the water and affects a MUCH larger area than normal! Like, almost the whole level!!
I apologize, in advance, to all the players who die from it, for my part in making the horrific creature come to life.
Corel Painter 2019, Wacom 22HD T Cintiq
[Just remember that this is Intellectual Property, copyrighted, and is not to be used without consent.]
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