Discover A Muse: Top 43

I have made it into the top 43 for the Discover A Muse competition! We will see what all come out of this there is talk about gallery shows, posters and books so we will have to wait and see. Regardless of the outcome I would like to give a special thanks to Jon Schindehette and Veronika Kotlajic for organizing the event as well as Irene Gallo (Art Director for Tor/Forge books), Claire Howlett (Editor of ImagineFX Magazine), and Robh Ruppel (Art Director for Naughty Dog Studios) for being the jury for the competition.

Another Wide Angle Shots?

Alright! So I have no idea how many of you out there are on or keep up with Jon Schindehette's ArtOrder blog ( host of recent Discover a Muse challenge) but they have a current illustration challenge that has been going on for a while. Although I missed the first submission deadline, I was chatting my friend Bernadette over how hers was going when she mentioned that it was still alright to jump in and participate. So here it is! Or here is a shot of where I am so far (still a few scale and value tweaking needed). I got into some serious color comps this evening, but after working all day I figured I would take a break and post a "production shot". More to come once the ball has rolled a little further. If anyone would like to see a step by step post let me know! I'll put one together.

Whats been up?

Ok, so I may have given in and reworked "Surviving The Storm" a little bit. Nothing big, just alot of refining and lighting tweaks. Did it need it? I think so. I'm much happier with it now. But thats the great thing about a personal piece. I can jump in with just a little sketch and see how it goes. Don't get me wrong there is that feeling of confidence that I love when you nail that final sketch and scan it/transfer it to board, that I would never trade for anything. But when your feeling burnt out and you just wanna have fun, sometimes taking a little sketch to finish is the better way to go.

Work In Progress: Surviving The Storm

Well, I'm pretty sure it's all finished But I'm not quite sure yet. I hope you like it. You know that mode your brain gets in where you don't think about anything else then the moment you step away you think, geez I am hungry...and i really need to go to the bathroom. Needless to say there is still a lot of work that needs to get finished still so I better get that other stuff out of the way.

Work In Progress: Surviving The Storm

Ok! So the boat is back...It was just to empty with all that action weighted to the left. Don't worry if those guys look a bit rough though, they are just sketched in right now. I also tried to make the octopus look a bit more "exotic" with some patterning and texture. Make him special! and stuff. Get the final up soon I hope. Stay tuned!

UPDATE: Surviving the Storm

Ok, there has been a few changes. The monster went from a squid to an octopus, and the boat got much closer (much slimmer chance of survival). I also decided to ditch the magic being used in the boat. I had originally thought I would have a member of the crew yelling a protection spell, then decided against it. I had magic in the last one so I figured I would try something else. So far I'm pretty happy with it. But there is so much left to do! those "survivors" are just place holders right now. I need to get some reference shots to work from.

A New Post! Surviving the Storm

Hey guys, I am finally all moved in and ready to start some new pieces. Sorry it has taken so long to post something new and get going. This thumb/color study is a bit rough but its one of three i'm starting. I need to get those up as well. Let me know what you all think. I really need to get back on the job. I was going nuts not working on anything!