I will be at GENCON. I will have a table in the art section, selling my artwork. Please stop by and peruse and introduce yourselves. I look forward to meeting old friends and new!
And Sons of Kryos, the podcast in my sig, has been nominated for an Ennie. We are in great company. If you have listened to Judd, Jeff and me on SoK (or any of the other nominated podcasts, like my fav: Have Games, Will Travel)... go vote!
Now. Back to artwork. The next two are for my old GM, who is running the "Azure" based on part in the artwork I did for Necessary Evil. In NE, they were called the v'sori. He needed an alien martial artist and a special forces type to go along with the drones from NE. So, this is what I came up with:
And these two are from a GURPs apocalyptic campaign, with (obviously) mutants in the mix.
Here is Prussian Blue. Not sure if he is a superhero or supervillain. But kinda neat concept...
Just wanted to remind folks: I will be at GENCON. I will have a table in the art section, selling my artwork. Please stop by and peruse and introduce yourselves. I look forward to meeting old friends and new!
Been away for a bit. Gencon prep started two weeks before Gencon. Then Gencon happened (howdy to y'all who stopped by my table, it was a blast!!!). Then I came back from Gencon with a ton of work on my plate... and came down with the unavoidable sinus infection.
But. The body heals eventually and the art starts to flow again. Here are two mish-mash concepts. Samurai with shapeshifter form. And dwarven sherlock holmes via Shadowrun.
Step 1. Invite Storn to a D&D game next year at Gen Con.
Step 2. Get illustrations of all the cool stuff.
Step 3. Profit!
Storn, tonight I'll be sending you ideas for the cover we talked about.
__________________ Ryan "RangerWickett" Nock
Author of the War of the Burning Sky serialized novel, free at EN World. Part Two, The Irons Have Tolled, now available.
This is probably a stupid question
How do you post a picture in a thread as opposed to a link to a picture?
Thanks
You bracket IMG, a link to the art address (mine is hosted on Photobucket.) then followed by a bracket /IMG. Not gonna bracket here, or it would look like a blank picture.
Death Tribble commissioned this step by step process to be shown on my various threads. To talk about my process, how I do things. The character is "Star" and here is the write up I received from D.T.:
"Star: A robust, cosmically-powered energy projector. Her uniform is a sleeveless unitard with a large silver/white star in the center of the chest. With her powers activated, the black takes on the appearance of a starfield and the chest embelm pulses with silvery energy."
This is a pretty wide open description. For most commissions, I usually get a bit more info. But D.T. and I have been working together for some time. I think he trusts my vision.
So first, I print out the character description, do any research for reference I might need. Star doesn't need any.
I head downstairs to the Gimmie Coffee that is across the street... okay... that might be too much detail for y'all <g>. I tend to do my sketches at bars and coffee shops, liking the noise and the chatter to keep me loose. So it is kinda part of my process.
I tend to be pretty sketchy and loose at first... and I will draw in blue line (7mm mechanical pencil blue lead) (which I can eliminate in Photoshop if I scan in pencils to color over, and if scanned in black and white from inks, it won't show). I tried to come up with a pose for Star that was a bit different for a "cosmic" character.
I wanted nice curves, round forms, even in her hair. Because of energy effects, I'm already thinking colors. I need the star to show up nicely. I sorta channel Starman from a decade ago crossed with Dream Girl from Legion of Super Heroes. This is what snuck up on me (note: you can see other sketches seeping through the thin paper in my sketch book):
Then I go over the blue line with pencil. I tighten up a bit more. Spot my blacks. I went for a retro bob hairstyle.
Then it is time to ink, I use Winter Harvest Kolinksy brushes to ink (from Weber distribution). They are awesome. I thik I did this with a number 2... not sure, I have about 6 brushes all in about the same size. Note the bad smudging. I had a bit of clean up to do digitally. My window was open and the sketchbook had a page blow shut over my still drying inks. Ah... just another day in the life of an illustrator...
Then the inked version gets scanned in. I take it to Painter (as my photoshop is no where to be found and I have a new computer). I work in several layers. While the inks were simple, the coloring takes a bit of time. I lay down flat colors and then go and build highlights, often using the oil brush for that. Lay in shadows with the digital watercolor tool, drying as need be. Both will get smudged using the Blender simple water tool.
The stars get added over the ink, the energy effects are airbrushed in. And viola! Add my signature (which changed due to new computer, must download Coventry Garden font.)
...And there you have it. A character concept from start to finish. I hope this was interesting to y'all.
"Nor stony tower, nor walls of beaten brass,
Nor airless dungeon, nor strong links of iron,
Can be retentive to the strength of spirit." -- Wm. Shakespeare (iconic bard)
Death Tribble commissioned this step by step process to be shown on my various threads. To talk about my process, how I do things. The character is "Star" and here is the write up I received from D.T.:
"Star: A robust, cosmically-powered energy projector. Her uniform is a sleeveless unitard with a large silver/white star in the center of the chest. With her powers activated, the black takes on the appearance of a starfield and the chest embelm pulses with silvery energy."
This is a pretty wide open description. For most commissions, I usually get a bit more info. But D.T. and I have been working together for some time. I think he trusts my vision.
So first, I print out the character description, do any research for reference I might need. Star doesn't need any.
I head downstairs to the Gimmie Coffee that is across the street... okay... that might be too much detail for y'all <g>. I tend to do my sketches at bars and coffee shops, liking the noise and the chatter to keep me loose. So it is kinda part of my process.
I tend to be pretty sketchy and loose at first... and I will draw in blue line (7mm mechanical pencil blue lead) (which I can eliminate in Photoshop if I scan in pencils to color over, and if scanned in black and white from inks, it won't show). I tried to come up with a pose for Star that was a bit different for a "cosmic" character.
I wanted nice curves, round forms, even in her hair. Because of energy effects, I'm already thinking colors. I need the star to show up nicely. I sorta channel Starman from a decade ago crossed with Dream Girl from Legion of Super Heroes. This is what snuck up on me (note: you can see other sketches seeping through the thin paper in my sketch book):
Then I go over the blue line with pencil. I tighten up a bit more. Spot my blacks. I went for a retro bob hairstyle.
Then it is time to ink, I use Winter Harvest Kolinksy brushes to ink (from Weber distribution). They are awesome. I thik I did this with a number 2... not sure, I have about 6 brushes all in about the same size. Note the bad smudging. I had a bit of clean up to do digitally. My window was open and the sketchbook had a page blow shut over my still drying inks. Ah... just another day in the life of an illustrator...
Then the inked version gets scanned in. I take it to Painter (as my photoshop is no where to be found and I have a new computer). I work in several layers. While the inks were simple, the coloring takes a bit of time. I lay down flat colors and then go and build highlights, often using the oil brush for that. Lay in shadows with the digital watercolor tool, drying as need be. Both will get smudged using the Blender simple water tool.
The stars get added over the ink, the energy effects are airbrushed in. And viola! Add my signature (which changed due to new computer, must download Coventry Garden font.)
...And there you have it. A character concept from start to finish. I hope this was interesting to y'all.
cheers.
Just an opinion but I would have shosen a different color for the background as, as it is, it looks like there's a star-shaped hole in her torso... other than that, TOTALLY awesome.
Not one of your better ones, mate. The right side of her upper torso (her right side - left as we look at it) is mangled. Her right arm looks like it's twisted round to the front and as a result, her boobs are wrong too. Her collar bones come out way too far on both sides and her left calf muscle looks pinched. A bit more time on the 'blue' stage perhaps?
Also the star on her chest is not so much pulsing with energy, as it looks a bit 'fluffy'. Experiment with layer types a bit (painter or photoshop) to get a better 'pulsing with energy' look.
Crow
__________________ Wayne Peters
Senior Artist - Blitz Games
The Crow's Nest - Traveller CGI goodness and Paper Miniatures.
You do realise that roleplaying isn't just making non-combat skillchecks, don't you?
A few years ago, I did a re-imagining of a longtime stock character over at Hero, Grond, the Hero/Champion's version of the Hulk (although their Ogre filled a similar niche).
Death Tribble asked me to do a version of mecha-godzilla crossed with the concept of Grond... and here is what fell out of my noggin.
Linear Mode
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