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.