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! ;)

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.

Have I mentioned that I freelance?

So that may seem like a goofy question, but it is actually quite valid. I honestly don't think that I've ever mentioned other than in passing on my Google profile that I will absolutely accept inquiries about work for a new or existing client! God forbid, I figure that it might be a good thing to mention.

I accept both design and illustration commissions. I generally charge $35/hour, billable by the quarter hour, unless it's a project that I can easily quantify into a set amount, like a business card design where the art elements like the logo are already provided. If you have a particular project in mind, but the budget is tight, I've been known to take work at a (slightly) reduced rate if it piques my interest enough. The very best thing to do is to drop me a line with the particulars, and we just might be able to work something out. =)

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.

Continued WIP...Bride of Frankenstein

Still plugging away on this one. I've gotten a good chunk of her body mostly done - I'd say abut 80%. Still have more shadows/highlight/texturing to do, but I'd say she's definitely over the hump. Lots of work still left with the background, but I'll get to it once she's pretty much done. Have some flame light sourcing for the background that I need to finish painting as well. Generally pretty happy with how she's coming along so far.

This is what I'm doing RIGHT NOW!

I know, I know, I'm not the fastest artist out there, which definitely cuts down on my posted content. I figured that I'd go ahead and take pics of pieces while in progress and get them posted up in the meantime. If anything, it shows some of my process, and if anyone out there see me doing anything really screwed up (especially since I'm still pretty new to this whole "digital" thing) they can drop me a line and tell me what the hell I'm doing wrong. LOL.

Anyway, here's a glimpse at what I'm working on at the moment. I've laid down flats and have some time into her face which is at a stopping point for the moment. I want to get some dimensionality into the rest of her body and will most likely come back to the face right at the end to give it some more polish.

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