A Matched Set...

Reworked my male brawler - added more contrast and color work in the skin particularly, and finished up little Miss FemBrawler a few minutes ago. I realized that I burn through Copics relatively fast with the way that I do marker work. I just went to Dick Blick yesterday to get refills for my C1 & C3, and after a morning of working, it turns out I'm going to need at least a new C5 as well! Ah well. Anyway, without further ado, here they are! =)

Head Lice process

Here's a quick bit of process for my latest monster design. I didn't take as many scans during this as I was originally planning, but I got in the zone while I was working and totally forgot. LOL

*update 1/22/12 - added background, details & popped contrast. This should be the final.

pencils

inks & markers

background & finishing touches

Finally, geez!

Finally sat down and finished inking and toning my Brawler drawing with Copics this evening. =)

Better late than never, damnit! ;)

Alchemist painting

Finished this Friday night. I got to experiment with a new digital painting technique over pencils that seems to work better but still not crazy about it. I'm still trying to get my digital stuff to look more traditional, but feel like I'm fighting it every step of the way.

This was originally supposed to be used for a GM screen for Carmine, but was decided against. It's cool though...I learned a few things and honestly, I hated the original drawing anyway - it was a concept sketch that got drafted into service for the first book with a little clean up that I was then asked to paint on a fairly quick turnaround. If I'm asked to revisit this guy again, I'm starting from scratch. LOL.

And before anyone asks: yes, I totally based the color scheme for him off Mal Reynolds in Firefly, and those are indeed Louboutin inspired boots. LOL!

Dragonflight 2011

Just a heads up...I'll be attending Dragonflight 2011 in Bellevue, WA with Attention Span Games next weekend, Aug 12-14th, and will be bringing prints of 10 different pieces with me, shown below:

All prints are 8.5"x11" on 80# stock, and will be priced at $10 each or 2 for $15. Swing by the ASG booth and say hi! =)

More happy WIP.

OK, I have to admit that I kind of like scanning and posting stuff in progress, if only to have a record for myself of what I've done. Here's another, the female brawler.

More WIP stuff...

More stuff I'm working on for Carmine. This is for the Terror Hunter caste.

and here are the finished pencils. =)...

A little WIP action...

ARR! Deadline be creepin' up mightily, so I be hoisting me mains'l, and catchin' the wind! In other words, "Crap, crap, CRAAAP! Time's running out, so I better get my ass moving!" LOL

Since I started conceptualizing the brawler class, I haven't been able to get this picture of an old-timey boxer out of my head, so I decided to run with it. Thought it would be fun to take a lot more scans along the way, and just update this post with progress pics, so here goes!

Gentleman Jim, at your service! =)

A little more complete...

Almost there...

And that should do it for the pencils...on to inks!

Sketch o'the Day...brawler concept

Worked on some concept art tonight. Did a new character design for a melee class (Brawler) for the new Carmine expansion. I envision this kind of character with medium to heavy armor on the arms and from the knees down, in order to be able to block edged and blunt weapons effectively, but with minimal armor on the core part of the body in order to facilitate fast movement.

Rough pencils, followed by copic multiliners & markers, Final highlights with white ink pen.

SO as to the lack of posting...

So, man oh man, have I been busy. We've started work on the new Carmine book, which is always challenging, even when you're NOT art directing the project! New long-term projects take a little while to gain momentum, and you generally have to drag everyone and everything along by sheer force of will, kicking and screaming, until the ball begins to roll, and then it tends to almost take on a life of its own. Inspiration strikes in one form or another, and then you just can't STOP working! Being swept up in that wave is where I like to be. =)

I've been slowly picking up more and more freelance design work, which is great! It's a really nice feeling when go from trolling craigslist looking for opportunities, and begin the transition to people approaching you out of the blue looking to see if you're available to hire. God forbid, Google+ has turned out to be a great resource for exposure and has actually led to a couple opportunities in the short time that I've been on it! 

Still looking for a regular day-job at the moment though, just to keep the bills paid and all that. Not quite at the level where I can do my work for a living full-time, but it sure is nice to see some movement in that direction. 

I've picked up what looks to be a big opportunity on the near horizon, but it's like Fight Club - I can't talk about it, at least not yet LOL. Things are just starting to get rolling, and I don't want to tinker with that momentum. ;)

Pencils vs Inks!

Hey folks. I don't know about you guys, but I always get a kick out of seeing other artists' process. I've been wanting to show comparisons of my friend's pencils to my inks for a while now, and finally dragged ass to Photoshop to put together some composites. These are a couple of the critters that we did for Carmine.

I know this isn't as broken down as others showing their process, but it is what it is. LOL In the future I may start taking multiple scans of WIP stuff to get a better breakdown. Let me know what you think!

Pencils by Tai Beckham
Inks by yours truly

Sketch o'the Day...

My second piece with the mighty, mighty Copics. Yeah, I'm really starting to develop an almost unhealthy infatuation with these things. First markers that I've found that aren't splotchy and a giant pain in my ass to use. Added bonus is that the greyscale makes colorization in Photoshop  easy as hell!

Did this on & off for about 3 hours or so during my regular tabletop game. Sounds like were going to use this for the next Carmine expansion as a new type of Taligar. 

Carmine drops May 1st!

Well, my work on Carmine is finally at an end. I approved the cover proofs as of last week, and the book has gone to press! Now that it's come to fruition, I can finally post the cover designs that I've been busting my butt on!

I designed the logo, cover layouts and bordering. I also penciled the figure of the dude on the front cover (for some reason, Tai has the hardest time drawing guys that don't either look like a girl or gay LOL). My studio partner Tai penciled the slayer chick, clothing & weapons & painted the figures.  The background was a composite of the "ancient document" designs that I had done for the interior of the book. 

The back cover was all me. I designed the layout and painted the background. 

Here she is in all her glory! I had to make a full bleed version for final print, but that didn't change significantly from what was here. Last minute addition to the back cover - the price, which everyone had overlooked! Gotta love those last minute, semi-frantic calls. Hehehehe.

Evolution of the King of the Sarlacc Pit redux

Don't play Hungry, Hungry Hippos with this guy. He'll win everytime!

It's been a few days since my last posting, as I've been a busy, busy boy as of late. Got a call from the author of the book I've been illustrating on Monday, saying that he and the publisher had a different idea regarding the design of the back cover which I had turned in about a week or so prior. They wanted to feature another piece that I'd digitally painted in a pretty simplistic way a while back, which to be quite honest, was the extent of my ability with Photoshop at the time (Not that I'm brilliant now or anything, but I'm definitely a lot better!).

I'd never really intended the painting to see print, especially in the state it was in, but if they wanted to use it I had my work cut out for me! I was never 100% happy with the first paint job - I felt he needed a lot more contrast & pop, and I needed to make him more painterly as opposed to something that resembled watercolors over pencil. I spent a big chunk of Monday, yesterday, and today getting him from the basic painting to the finish, and the rest of the day working on layouts. Finally finished the 3rd version of the cover about 9:30 tonight and sent it off. =)

Once we see print I'll have to post up my layouts for the covers, and not just the raw art. I really like how they came out, but I guess they'll have to stay secret for a little while longer. LOL

Back Cover Done!

I got the back cover copy text a couple days ago for Carmine, and spent a day cobbling together the individual pieces that I built in Illustrator. Got it done last night, and sent it off to the publisher. Of course, I received back edits on the copy text this morning, and realized, like an idiot, I had ultimately saved all my work from the previous day as a uneditable PDF. *sigh*

Anyway, spent this morning rebuilding the cover, but damn if it didn't come out looking nice! I'll make sure to post it up once I'm able. =D