100th post! the Hi-Fi Rat

and to think, it only took two years :) Next up...

 

Here's a funny little piece I just finished up for my buddy Reggie. He owns a killer meadery/winery here in Dayton, WA called Mace Mead Works and he needed an image to help promote a weekly hi-fi audio night he's putting together. This guy was a lot of fun, plus you can't beat getting paid in mead :)

Hi-Fi Rat - 12 x 12 in., oil on masonite

Crosis, the Purger

Before discussing our cuddly friend here, I wanted to mention that I just got back from my first IlluXcon convention in Altoona, PA. It was totally incredible to get a chance to meet so many of my art-heroes like Donato Giancola, Dan Dos Santos, Eric Fortune and Mark Zug just to name a few. I'd highly recommend it to anyone interested in imaginative art, it's totally worth the trek. For a play-by-play of the show, check out Chris Burdett's blog: http://christopherburdett.blogspot.com/

Alright, this piece was done as updated art for an older Magic card called Crosis, the Purger, here's the previous incarnation:

The Art Director wanted me to keep the key elements of the original design while hopefully making it more intense and realistic. I wound up looking at a lot of reference of beetles and scorpions for wing and carapace ideas.

Crosis, the Purger - 14 x 18 in. oil on masonite

Naz'jar Sorceress

Here's a new one for the upcoming World of Warcraft set call Throne of the Tides. I did a little bit of digital work on top this time to punch up the magic/glow effects.

Naz'jar Sorceress, 12 x 16 in., oil on masonite. 

Shadowcore

Hey everyone! If (like me) you're into following awesome artist-group blogs, check out Shadowcore. It just went live but there are already a bunch of amazing contributors and I'm stoked to be included.

That is all :)

Elder Cathar

Here's the last of my work for the upcoming Magic: the Gathering set. I used myself for reference so the hardest part about this one by far was beefing up my skinny, uncallused, artist hands.

Elder Cathar - 12 x 16 in., oil on masonite

Skaab Ruinator

Here's another one for the upcoming Magic: the Gathering set...definitely in the running for the grossest thing I've ever been asked to paint. As was the case with Stitched Drake, this guy's a creation of the Skaab, who are kind of the Dr. Frankensteins of this Magic universe. I remember I spent a lot of time on this one focused on capturing the chilly, foggy mood that I wanted for the scene. 

Skaab Ruinator - 12 x 16 in., oil on masonite

Stitched Drake

This piece is the first of mine to be released from the upcoming Magic: the Gathering set. He's basically a composite of dead human and animal parts and metal that have been fashioned into a (rough) approximation of a drake. Needless to say, this guy was a lot of fun to work on.

Stitched Drake, 12 x 16 in., oil on masonite

The Hammer Council

Here's another new one for the World of Warcraft card game. (I'm told) these guys are the new rulers of the dwarves. This piece is also supposed to be included in this year's WoW calendar. Fingers crossed for a free copy :)

The Hammer Council - 14 x 18 in., oil on masonite.

Suncaller Haruh

Here's a new one for the World of Warcraft card game. This guy was my first Tauren (that's WoW for Minotaur) for the game and I really got a kick out of it. He's also a good example of how I usually approach making changes to a piece, when I first turned it in the magic effect he's casting was only happening at his fingertips (see below), the AD thought that it needed some more punch so I went ahead and expanded the magic effect in Photoshop.


Suncaller Haruh, 12 x 16 in., oil on masonite.

Time Walk

Here's a new one for Magic: the Gathering. It was created as alternate art for an old classic magic card called Time Walk (see below). While this one was a little out of my typical comfort zone I really enjoyed the chance to work on a piece that was a little more conceptual.


While my version will unfortunately never see print it's one in a series of alternate art commissioned by Wizards of the Coast to be given away as the first place prize at it's MtG Vintage and Legacy tournaments. It was awarded last week at GenCon, framed in an oversized card-frame, to Mark Hornung Jr.

Time Walk, 14 x 18 in., oil on masonite.

GenCon! + New Warcraft Art

I can't believe it's been a year already but next week is GenCon 2011! I'll be there again with tons of originals, prints, etc., so if you're in the Indianapolis area and you'd like to see some of these things in person (along with tons of other great artists), you know where to find me.

The lovely lady above was just released as part of the newest expansion of the World of Warcraft card game. She's called Jasmia, Nature's Chosen, 12 x 16 in., oil on masonite.

*Shameless Plug* To all the Magic fans out there, I've got some signed artist proofs from the most recent set up for sale on eBay. If you're interested check them out here.

Volcanic Dragon

Believe it or not, there was a time when I was hesitant to use the more intense oil colors, for example cadmium red and yellow. I would think to myself "no, no, your path is one of subtlety, how would Vermeer or Rembrandt approach this assignment?". While subtlety has it's place, I've come to realize that sometimes intensity is called for...like when someone asks you to paint a dragon made out of freaking lava.

Volcanic Dragon, 14 x 18 in., oil on masonite.

Pride Guardian

Here's another new one for the upcoming Magic: the Gathering set. I usually try to avoid symmetrical compositions but in this case I thought it kind of added to stoic/righteous vibe of the piece (btw, it was originally called Guardian Monk, hence the monastic robes, door, etc).

Pride Guardian, 11 x 14 in., oil on masonite

Arbalest Elite

Hey everyone! Sorry for the unusually long gap between posts, I've been working like a madman for the past month or so (and celebrating my first anniversary with my awesome wife). Anyway, here's a new one for the upcoming Magic: the Gathering set (M12). Arbalest Elite, 11 x 14 in., oil on masonite.

Kazu Sano 1952-2011

I know this is the second one of these in a row but it's been a tough couple of weeks for the illustration world.

I was saddened to hear that one of my favorite mentors, Kazu Sano, passed away yesterday. I got to know and learn from Kazu during my time at the Academy of Art in San Francisco. He was an incredibly talented artist and teacher and, in my opinion, his work stands as some of the most vital and magnetic examples of illustration ever produced.

I highly recommend you take some time to check out his work here and read the great post Irene Gallo put up on Tor.com here.

R.I.P. Jeffery Catherine Jones

website

Phyrexian Ingester

My final piece for the new Magic: the Gathering set; Phyrexian Ingester, 12 x 16 in., oil on masonite.

Greenhilt Trainee

Another new one for Magic: the Gathering. This guy and Mindcrank are still the two smallest paintings I've ever done for Magic. While the choice to paint them at a smaller size was initially made for the sake of speed, it was interesting to see the effect that it had on the final product. I feel like it forced me to be a little more decisive than I would have been. Greenhilt Trainee, 9 x 12 in., oil on masonite.

Mindcrank

Back to work and starting to feel like myself again. This is a new one for the upcoming Magic: the Gathering set. Mindcrank, 9 x 12 in. oil on masonite.

+1 goblin, -4 wisdom teeth

I got my wisdom teeth out yesterday so this one's gonna be quick. Fraznak the Furious, 12 x 16 in., oil on masonite.

Back to the couch and the extended-edition Lord of the Rings trilogy :)

*I've been messing with how to keep Blogger from resizing/degrading my files. So far the best thing I've found is uploading them as .pngs. I'm curious if anyone has any other suggestions.

New Magic Piece

This piece just got released on the Magic site. No name yet though. 11 x 14, oil on masonite.

New Studio!

After about a week of working out of boxes I've finally got the new studio more or less unpacked. It's the first time in my life I'm working in a room that isn't obviously supposed to be a bedroom so I'm enjoying every minute of it. I decided to try my hand at cobbling together a panoramic pic of the whole thing, hopefully it's not too disorienting.

Sword of War and Peace

While I don't have any pics yet of the new studio, here's something else. It's the last in the set of three swords I did for the current Magic world. Sword of War and Peace, 11 x 14 in., oil on masonite.

A Deadly Hand

Apologies for the long absence, we're in the middle of moving to a new spot and things have been crazy. Anyway, I just saw that this piece was published. It's a book cover I did a while back for a mystery novel called A Deadly Hand (sorry in advance for the tiny file, I'll try to get a bigger one up soon). Stay tuned for pics of the new digs!

One more new WoW piece...

Favor of Acherus, 11 x 14 in., oil on masonite.

More WoW stuff

This piece is one of the rare cases where I lost all patience with my oils and just finished the piece digitally. I was really fighting with that magic effect for some reason and so I basically had to decide between my pride and my sanity. "Extinguish", oil/digital



And this one was kind of a strange assignment, it's actually a portrait of a guy who (I'm told) won a WoW tcg championship and one of his prizes was to have his likeness included as a hero character in the next set of cards. It was a bit of a challenge since the only photos of the guy were flash-lit promo pics from gaming events but it was fun none the less.

Holy WoW!

New piece for the World of Warcraft card game. 'Blood Chill', 11 x 14, oil on masonite.

Dungeon Magazine Cover #187

This is my first whack at the world of D&D, it takes place in an underground necropolis that's infested by plague demons (those gents in the back). Thanks to Jon Schindehette for his great art direction and patience with my many, many questions.

New WoW piece

This is a piece I did for the World of Warcraft tcg a while back. In it we have a Worgen (WoW-speak for werewolf) priest gathering information from a ghost. It's kind of a strange scene for me but I had fun with it. Anyway, about a month after I turned it in I got a call from the the Art Director. Turns out they had given me reference for the wrong kind of ghost and it had to be changed...


...a lot. I was able to repaint it digitally which saved me a lot of time but this one still stands as the biggest alteration I've ever done. I'm a little sad the other ghost will never see print but hey, that's what blogs are for.

11 x 14 in., oil/digital

Tangle Mantis

Here's the last piece of mine for the new Magic set. I got to design this guy from the ground up (he was assigned simply as 'green predator') so I decided to go with an insect that would be well camouflaged in his metal-forest habitat. 11 x 14 in., oil on masonite.

Sword of Feast and Famine

This is the second in a set of swords that I did for the current Magic world. I still prefer the original name though - Sword of the Living Dead.
11 x 14 in., oil on masonite.

Blightsteel Colossus

Another new piece for Magic. Blightsteel Colossus, 11 x 14 in., oil on masonite.

Glissa, the Traitor

Finally back with some new art (after a spectacular computer crash). Here's a piece for Magic's newest set called Mirrodin Besieged. Glissa, the Traitor, 12 x 16 in., oil on masonite