Lord of the Void

Lord of the Void - 12 x 16 in., oil on masonite

 

Here's the first of my art from Gatecrash, the new Magic: the Gathering set. The art request asked for a demon that leads a swarm of lesser monsters through the city-world of Ravnica, causing mayhem as they go.

 

 Early on I decided to use their glowing eyes as a kind of unifying element, to give the sense that they're all under his spell, or at least connected in some way. The biggest challenge was working all those critters in around him and still having their placement feel natural, especially since his silhouette is so complex. All told though, this guy was a lot of fun to paint.

The Hobbit: On the Doorstep

 On the Doorstep - 14 x 36 in., oil on masonite

Hey Everyone! This one's been out for a while but I just realized I haven't posted it yet and since everyone's going to be in Hobbit-mode this weekend it seemed like a good time.  It was done as packaging art for Fantasy Flight Games for one of their card games and it's the sequel to the earlier piece I did for them of the party leaving the Shire.

It was a serious challenge composing all those figures but in general I really enjoyed working on this one. As great as it was getting to do the first one, this scene is a lot more up my alley. It was a real kick getting to figure out what my interpretation of Smaug would look like, once I got that figured out and what I wanted to do with the lighting, everything else kind of fell into place.

Here's a detail shot:

Black Lotus!...on eBay!

Black Lotus - 14 x 16 in., oil on masonite

 

 More on this later but, long story short, I was asked a few months back to create new art for the Black Lotus (one of Magic: the Gathering's most famous cards). I was totally honored to do it and really enjoyed working on it. While the card won't ever be printed, from what I understand it will be the new look of the card for the Magic: the Gathering online game. 

 

Anyway, because of the huge response to the art I wanted to give everyone a fair shot at owning the original. If you're interested, you can find it on eBay here.

 

Also, I've (finally) started a Facebook page! Follow me here.

IlluXcon! + New Book Cover

Storm Riders 14 x 22 (-ish, it's at the framers right now), oil on masonite

Hey everyone! If you're within driving distance of Pennsylvania and and want to see some of the best fantasy/sci-fi/horror art in the world (for real) next weekend, I highly recommend you make the trek out to IlluXcon. Last year was my first time exhibiting there and I just about lost my mind between all the art and getting to meet a bunch of my art-gods. I'm really looking forward to doing it all over again and hopefully I'll see ya there!

Alright, moving on. The piece up top, which I'll be showing for the first time next weekend, is a book cover I did a while back for Tor Publishing. It was my first time working with them and I had a great time with it. The real challenge with this one was pulling off the value structure with so much going on, I spent a lot of time squinting at it trying to make sure the silhouette of the dragon stood out from the airship, etc.

Isperia's Skywatch

Isperia's Skywatch - 12 x 16 in., oil on masonite

 

This is my last one for the new Magic, the Gathering set, Return to Ravnica. I remember really wanting to get that sense of her just catching the last bit of daylight before diving down. The hardest bit was definitely figuring out how to treat the blues of her skin and clothes in that lighting situation without getting too muted.

Guest Post on Muddy Colors!

Last week I was asked by Dan Dos Santos to contribute to a dragon themed series of guest posts over at the Muddy Colors blog. If you're not familiar with Muddy Colors, it's got to be the best blog out there on the subject of fantastic art with a list of regular contributors that will make your head spin. Anyway, it was an honor to be asked and you can check out my post here.

Cyclonic Rift

Cyclonic Rift - 11 x 14 in., oil on masonite.

 

Here's another one from the new Magic set. It's always a little bit strange to me working on pieces that don't contain any figures but it was fun to just trip out on clouds and atmosphere for a while.