she will kick your..!

here is my latest personal endeavor. i almost gave up twice on this painting while i was struggling to make a composition work with the action that i wanted. this character may become a staple with some later work. i'm really attached to her now!

that which sleeps.

had to take a long break to get some more work done and handle spring break. here's a little update. new personal project!

graphic novel project.

as i start to branch out and diversify my skill set, i begin to realize that in order to succeed and do what i want to do i need to think in the long term. the short term plan for an illustrator or concept artist is to work from painting to painting, paycheck to paycheck. i enjoy that aspect of being a professional, and i'm sure i'll always have the desire to stretch my influence outward towards other people's properties. but in the long term this still means that once the job is done it's time to look for more work. so during my downtime i've been devoting myself to my own ideas that will ( ideally ) develop into larger scale projects that take on a life of their own and stand on their own merits.

i've never really taken a stab at sequential art. for some reason it always scared the bejeezus out of me. maybe because i thought it would be really hard and i would fail. or maybe because i always think of people dressed up in spandex whenever the idea of making a graphic novel comes to mind. well last year i decided to face my fears and started developing my own book. i'm going to be leaking details here as i work, and hopefully by sometime next year i'll have a satisfactory product that i'll be willing to offer up to the public. this first peak has already been partially posted on the ers blog, but since then i've done some more detailed renderings and concept pages. stay tuned for more!

ezekiel.

i was commissioned recently to do my own interpretation of the cherubim angel described in the christian bible in passages of ezekiel. the drawing is going to serve as future reference for a 3d model of the angel, so it was specified that i try to make sense of the anatomy and proportions. this wasn't an easy task ( anyone who's read those lines would probably agree! ), but i think i pulled it off alright. on the left you can see the "wheel within a wheel" mentioned in the book. this was a fun piece to work on, especially since the client was local and it was easy to touch base and ask questions when i wasn't sure about something. pencil on bristol board. the painted version is next!

brand.

i'm trying to keep my revealing my processes for projects as they're being developed so that you guys can see what i'm up to and so that i can reflect on them in a more organic way. this year is partially devoted towards creating my new website and i've been spending my spare time working on my graphic design skills and learning more about illustrator. this is one of the various ui elements i'm experimenting with at the moment. they'll all share a common theme, and anyone who knows me personally knows where this design stems from.

tumble illustration.

i'm pretty sure i can finally post work done for the warlord ccg as the set i worked on is about to see print. this is one of two cards i painted in photoshop. i really like this piece and wish i had had more time to work on it, but overall i'm pleased with the result. included is the original drawing and a shot of my buddy taylor acting as reference for me at an elementary school playground. it's was pretty damn hot outside and he was running up and down the slide posing for shot after shot until i was satisfied, so a big thanks goes out to him.

those who scour the wastes.

just making sure to post a little moleskine goodness before bedtime! these are drawings from a personal project. i'm truly in love with my new sketchbook! done with mechanical pencil while at work.

oh, canada!

i've got some final works to post here soon! in the meantime, here's a sketch of my friend liz from montreal. about 15 minutes in photoshop.

nightly post.

just thought to post a little work-in-progress from a personal piece of mine. can you guess who? i'll post the final here soon.

morning warm-up.

this is my aquarian brother from another mother, max. i met him a couple years back when my family moved up to asheville, n.c. the first time i met him he told me his goal in life was to, "change the paradigm." but, he pronounced it "para-dee-um." yup. that's max. this is one of my favorite photos of him because it tells everything about him with a single image. you can just see that look in his eyes like he's saying, "yeah. i've got an idea and it's probably gonna get me in a heap of trouble." i miss that guy.


about 30 minutes in photoshop at work.

cherubim.

the summer season is nearly here and i'm back to doing retail caricatures for a few months. i truly missed it and i'm really excited about pushing myself creatively and upping the level of likeness and exaggeration in my drawings. on a side note, my freelance work continues to keep me extra busy. here's a peek at a little project i'm doing for a local client. it's part of a passage from ezekiel describing one of the angels of god. it's been a lot of fun and i haven't done enough of this type of thing lately. i'll post the final scan here soon.

february workshop in 2010.

so we've come to our third workshop and the first of the new year. i'm fairly proud of the events so far. it's becoming what the group essentially envisioned when the idea was being passed around. there's been a good mix of traditional artists and digital artists coming to attend each time, and the quality of the artwork is really what's been impressing me the most. for now i'm just going to post the sketches that i managed to squeak out when i wasn't announcing competitions and leading the figure drawing sessions, and later i'll get photos of the actual event up. enjoy!

the roundtable workshop.

the roundtable art group held it's first workshop yesterday at the fresh brewed coffee house in myrtle beach. turnout was solid and there was a nice, laid back atmosphere. most of the event was built around the basics of figure drawing with a live model. we did have some artists sketching throughout, and there was a good mix of traditional and digital art as well. it's very nice to see a push towards education for artists outside of school or work in what essentially amounts to a tourist town. the group will be throwing workshops once a month and the hope is to make each one larger and better than the last, based on feedback and trial and error.

there were plenty of professionals and instructors in attendance including ruth cox, matt "six" bahr, rick spivey and steve haines. notable amateur shanna powers represented the digital community by working in photoshop and displayed some great drawings for everyone to enjoy. special thanks to crystal gault for modeling and showing great professionalism ( and dealing with all of our pickiness ). i had a blast and i can't wait till next month.

dungeon and dragon magazine.

i was fortunate enough this year to do some commissions for wizards of the coast. i couldn't have managed anything decent without the guidance and critiques of my fellow studio members, especially jeffrey koch and adam paquette. they usually never shy away from telling me how much i'm screwing up. so thanks!