Surviving The Storm: Photo Reference

I'v never bothered posting the photo ref. I'll take for the paintings I work on. Sometimes they'll just be snapshots of arms and hands light however you need them and other times either I or some friends of mine are in costumes head to toe and holding props and well basically acting out the scene in fragments. I'm sure a lot of you already know what I'm talking about, but like I said I never bother posting it. This time I figured I would go ahead and share some shots from one of my most recent pieces. Just if you were curious, just need a laugh. If there are any other pieces of mine you would like to see a reference shot from let me know.

Another great artist that is always posting great original referance is Paolo Rivera. If you don't already know him, check 'em out.

Promotional Work

I really need to get on top of this stuff. And once it starts, it will never stop. If I'm lucky...by the way, if you read this, cross your fingers for me. Or better yet, hire me! Need an illustrator? Let me know what you think.

Current Challenge2: Hook Horror

Just finished this thing this morning. Let me know what you think. It is a tad more "animated" then my typical composition but all in all I feel pretty happy with the outcome. As far as the character of the dwarf and his movement and expressions go I think its working. The toughest part though is that feeling that your looking at a single shot of a much larger story. The deadline for this is tomorrow August 8th. And we shall see how I measure up against my friends over at ArtOrder. Wish me luck!

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.