Armor studies

These were done a while back at the arms and armor section at the Philadelphia Museum of Art . Pencil and white chalk on toned paper proved to be the perfect tools for quickly rendering the steel pieces of armor. Studying the real thing, understanding how it all fits together, all the little bolts and rivets, is invaluable when designing an armored character in a illustration.

jousting helmet

helmets

gauntlets

fluted armor

cuirass

side view of a cuirass and pauldrons

Pumpkinhead

This little painting is my contribution to the Hallowed Halloween show. I doesn't really mean anything, I just thought it would be fun to paint a goblin with a pumpkin on his head. The opening of the show is tomorrow night. My wife Gina, contributed a piece as well (and totally kicked my ass on it, but she's the Halloween Queen, so what can you do? ). You can see it on her blog. It's small 5"x7" , and done on primed clayboard.

Here's the info for the show:
Hallowed Halloween
Opening reception October 1st, 2010
October 1-October 31
Proximity Gallery
2434 East Dauphin Street
Philadelphia PA 19125
267.825.2949


If you'd like to see more stuff about it, check out here and here.

Strider Harness

The last but not least of the Scars of Mirrodin cards illustrated by me. The legs of the running elf are bionic additions which enable her to run with blazing speed. I tried to get that across with the speed blur in the background. Oils on paper on board, 11" x 14".

Speaking of Scars of Mirrodin, I'll be at the Montreal Prerelease this Saturday. If you're in the area, stop by and get some cards signed, see some original magic art, or just say hello. You can get more info about the event here.

Bloodshot Trainee

Another piece for the upcoming Scars of Mirrodin set- depicting a goblin dragging a metal boulder up a hill, so that he can drop it on some unfortunate being below. Trying to figure out how to pose the goblin was difficult. Should he be pushing the boulder from behind, or carrying it on his back? How would it work if he were pulling it? I remembered a painting by Ilya Repin, Barge Haulers on the Volga, which showed peasants in a somewhat similar predicament, in as far as ungodly back breaking labor is concerned, which gave me my answer. So I have to give credit where credit is due.
oil on paper on board, 12" x 16".

Blunt the Assault

I found this piece I did for the upcoming set on the Scars of Mirrodin minisite. Oil on paper on board, 12" x 16"

Ichor Rats

New card art done for the upcoming Scars of Mirrodin set.
Oil on paper on board, 9" x 12".

Gencon and Chesley Awards

I’m just catching up with things after getting back from GenCon on Monday. It was the first GenCon I’ve attended, and for an artist looking to work in the RPG gaming industry, there’s no more important show to attend. Virtually all of the game publishers are there, so you can see what’s out there to see where things are going, as well as to make contacts with potential employers. It’s also that rare show, outside of Comicon or Illuxcon, where so many artists are at the same show at once. Putting faces to names and artwork is invaluable. I’m always impressed and amazed at the depth of the camaraderie that illustrators have. It’s basically four days of hanging out, sharing stories and swaping tips about art and business. I meet a lot of artists there who I only knew from their websites and published work. It was also a wonderful to see their original paintings and large high res prints. It’s also a great place to meet with the fans of the games and the artwork. I must have signed countless cards, and drawn on more playmats and AP cards than I can remember. A big thanks to Barbara and Diesel for organizing a great show. Oh yeah, and I even got a 1st place ribbon for my painting, Skyward Eye Prophets.
When I was there I also pleasantly surprised to find out that I won two Chesley awards, one for Best Hardcover Book, and one for Best Product Illustration. It’s a tremendous honor to have won, and a huge Congrats to all the winners and nominees!
You can see my winning pieces here and here, and a list of all the winners here.

P.S. Thanks to Llereni for sending me a scan of a something I sketched for her at the show