"are you there, elder god? it's me, margaret....."

i'm hoping this is a work in progress, as i'd like to spend some more time on it--just a little doodling in mah free time...

just a quick mignola-inspired doodle....i actually sat down and used this wooden thing called a pen-cil and a white sheet called pa-per to do it....however, i couldn't just let it be after scanning it--i had to molest it with color in photoshop....

more wot variant covers...

well, i said i would update with more covers...and here they are...all of them thus far, up to issue 6--you can view them on dragonmount where they were originally posted by dabel brothers publishing, along with jeremy's covers, as well--you can also order them from the dragonmount online store (under graphic novels in the categories section all the way to the right), although i haven't been able to find an option to choose which cover you want...just a heads up if you're considering an order--i think ultimately the dabels are going to compile the first 6 issues together into one graphic novel, which will supposedly have bonus material in the back like sketches, notes, etc, for anyone who might be interested in that kind of thing...

holy moley--2 posts in (almost) 2 months--? that's like, a record or something--just a little sketch i found whilst flipping through my sketchbook the other day--i'm trying to get back into posting stuff more regularly, so we'll see how it goes...no, seriously...i am...

wheel of time variant cover...

so this month the new wheel of time comics are due for release--my buddy jeremy and i have been involved in doing variant covers for the series, which has been a lot of fun, although i'm still pretty new to the whole comic cover bit--anywho, here's a peek at what the variant cover for issue #2 will be--trollocs smashing into the al'thor farmhouse--i'll try to post more covers as the months progress...

the frog queen...

i usually don't say much about whatever i post, but these particular peices have a story, which i will now relay to you at the best of my ability--ok, so, one day i started with this sketch of a rather large woman, and decided to make her into some sort of amphibian queen of sorts--i was feeling smug, and asked my wife what she thought--to my dismay, her response went something like this: "...eh...she needs bigger boobs, or something...i don't like it" well, i reacted as any right-minded husband would in my position--i took her response as a personal slieght against me, and set forth to create something that would evoke the proper emotional response i desired from my spouse--whereupon i came up with the other image in an attempt to wholy disgust and revolt my wife to the core--now, i know what you're asking yourself: "...do those little frog men have penises?" you bet they do--"is that frog man suckling at the breast of the frog queen?" indeed he is--".......is that....is that one guy down on her foot.....gratifying himself?" he sure is--so, needless to say, mission accomplished...my wife took one look at this, and immediately let out some unintelligeable gasp of disgust, and walked out of the room--i was quite pleased.

tomb raider: underworld

so, while at crystal dynamics, i was fortunate enough to have a chance to work on tomb raider: underworld--if you haven't played this yet, i recommend it--the game looks pretty darn amazing...

i got to work on lots of different outfits for lara, which was fun...i also got to help with the box art, which was also pretty neat--here's some costumes i got to help with...

monsters 'n stuff...

here's some stuff that i worked on a while back at crystal dynamics...lots of monsters....and some other stuff, too....

"....you know, you'd make an excellent dread pirate roberts..."

so, my brother in law had a pirate themed birthday party back in november, and at the time, i had pirates on the brain...so i started one of my favorites--and just now got around to finishing him up...yeah, it took me a while...

so, i said to myself, "self, there's not NEARLY enough pictures of half naked warrior women on this blog--we need to do something about that..."

and that's just what i did--

yay for battle yetis fighting dragons--! just some ideas for more yetis....i swear i don't have a giant ape fetish....or.....do i.....? no....i'm pretty sure i don't....

have you ever watched the music video for rick astley's "never gonna give you up"...? man, it's really bad--and by that, i mean TOTALLY AWESOME--if i ever made a music video, that is what i would strive for--you know the rules....and so does he--

update 6/24

part of a complete breakfast rand--now with MORE perrin--! yay!

WoT vignette tutorial--?

recently a good buddy of mine, jeremy saliba, and i were graciously asked by the illuminator's guild to do a Q & A session over at dragonmount regarding our fan art of the series--i think the Q & A session will be held in the forums section, under the illuminator's guild or the artist's chapter house threads, if anyone is interested in checking it out--anywho, a small tutorial was suggested, so here it goes--well, tutorial is a bit misleading, because it implies that i actually know what i'm doing--i'll just call it a step by step process that i use to complete a piece like this--

first, i start out with a plain ol' line drawing, digitally sketched using a wacom tablet in photoshop--

next, i'll insert the paper texture background to give me some sort of value to work from instead of just the white background--mostly because it makes it look all fancy-like--

then i'll start laying in basic color with a rough sense of light and shadow--

i'll start to detail things out after that--dents and scratches in the armor, etc--

once i'm at the stage where i'm done with all the details (or i'm too lazy to add any more), i'll go in and pick out some highlights and try to fix areas i might have missed before--


finally, add in the border details and i'm done--generally speaking, these usually take anywhere from 4 hours and up, depending on how complicated the character is--

migration--

whew--finally sat down and finished something--at least for now....i was watching that planet earth dvd at some point, and they had this crazy big caribou migration that was shot from the air--pretty cool looking--anyway, i was thinking this particular primitive culture would be the kind that would need to follow the food to stay alive...that's what those little dots are down there--caribou or some such--not rice--

i haven't had much time to really sit down and spend a lot of time on anything, so i've been reduced to quick sketches when i can get them in--which brings me to another wheel of time character--albeit small--hartha, one of the deathwatch guards...i've always been really obsessed with this guy--on a scale of 1 to cool...he's pretty awesome....i've tried to sketch this guy before, with little success...i guess this is the closest i've gotten so far--

well...they started out as half-assed thumbnails, and mutated into a quick sketch of some giant sea-worm....or something....

dominance war III finaly done--

i finally finished my DW III piece (mr. poopypants was my handle)...although, i hope i was able to submit it on time...the whole eastern/pacific time zone requisite stuff sucks when you don't read the fine print...anyway...it's good to be done with this--i had fun working on it, but i think i kinda dragged it out at the end...by the way, if you head over to the dominance war website after the 15th this month, they might have all of the final entries on display--and man, there's a LOT of good artwork--i saw a ton of work in progress that blew me outta the water--

hooray for pro-creation--!

well--seamas 2.0 just hit the shelves...my wife and i just had our baby boy--whew--what an intense and mind blowing experience--he was born on the 18th of march--i was kind of hoping he'd make it out on the 17th, however, looking back on it, it's probably good he missed being born on st. patrick's day itself--i mean, how much more of a walking cliche could you be what with being irish AND being born on st. patrick's day? that could either be a real curse, or a divine prophecy of some sort--or both.....so, apparently sending out baby announcements is the thing to do on such an occasion, so my wife asked me to do a sketch of some sort for them--so i thought i'd post it just because i haven't been able to do any art for the past week and a half...i hope he doesn't get beat up later in life for this....

...by the POWER OF GREYSKULL.....

i finally did a piece for the potluck this week--well, i kind of had to, because it was my topic (re-design any character from a cartoon series of the 80's)--well, when i was a kid, i LOVED he man--say what you will about a half nekkid guy who runs around in a fur man-kini, but i watched it every day after i came home from school--so, i figured i owed it to my 'inner child' to represent--i was trying to go for a style you might find on cartoon network--something akin to the clone wars animated style....

dominance war-update 3/9

updated the priestess summoner concept with a quick value study--i think i'll be moving ahead with this design--partly because i think it's working ok, but mostly because i don't want to dilly-dally any longer with it--i need to get started on modelsheets, etc....

just another quick color study--? ....uh.....i'm really grasping for something witty to add, but i can't--today's been a weird day...

kind of an older design i did a while back...the direction i was headed in before i decided to take a more primitive design route...the one in black was a revised version--one of many--that i still haven't quite nailed down yet...i think partly because i couldn't get what i wanted, and the more i forced it, well...you get the idea...that, and i think i got lazy and didn't want to draw him anymore...

more earlier stuff i did for that damn yeti--this was sort of an in-between stage for what's at the bottom of the page and what i posted more recently...

some stuff i did a while back, but never got around to posting....just some more heads--and some random characters...don't know if i'll get around to fleshing them out further...

works in progress...?

just some ideas...i'd like to nail down some armor/etc, but i'm still foolin' about with trying to get something that works...and yeah, i know....more dragons...i'm a nerd, ok? i can't help it--!

zeus almighty--

another "potluck" topic--greek gods was the topic of choice this week, and i decided to do the king himself...

well, with the holidays and all, i haven't been very productive in terms of artwork...so i did a quick sketch of this whaling dude to try and ease my way back into pushing the pencil around...um...that's not a euphemism--oh, and the furry testicle looking things he's holding? those are sealskin floats that attach to the harpoon...no seriously, they are--

war golem of oz--

so, some buddies of mine and i started a blog where we choose a random topic, and weekly post them--this week's topic was the wizard of oz--a buddy of mine suggested doing the ozman himself, in a giant war golem...so here he is--if you want to check out the weekly art blog we're posting on, it's here--there's some pretty cool work being churned out--check it out if you've got some time to waste--

well, it's about time something happened with some of these characters...just an idea for an event--a small fishing village destroyed by a fire-breather--i think there's more to it, but it's hiding in my head for the time being...

well, i thought i'd actually try and finish a layout--i always seem to start these, but never finish them because they don't seem to turn out how i wantthem to...still not totally pleased with this one, but maybeit'll make me finish all the other half-assed attempts i've got lying around...anyhow, the idea here is some sort of religious ritual--the remains of this extinct breed would be regarded as highly sacred, with a crude altar constructed around it for religious ceremonies...

ok--so, i've been working on my other project
recently--just some sketches, but i was feeling guilty
about not posting anything...

update 11/16

so...here's a couple of things i've been putting
off posting...i've got more in the works, and i was hoping
to accomplish more to sort of "kick off" this series...but i was
getting anxious...just more on trying to break the traditional dragon
design, and visually separate different breeds, etc...the plan is
to add to this section as i finish more designs....

another quick go at a yeti design....i finally got
around to trying another one--

so--i decided to take a break from the WoT stuff, and
get back to my other project that i have yet to make
real headway with--i also wanted to use
some old fashioned pencil and paper...that being said--i'm trying
to move away from the 'traditional' dragon design, and try something a
bit different--not quite sure how i feel about this design yet, but i'm hoping
it's a step in the right direction...

update 6/25

more wheel of time characters...just my own personal take on some of the great characters from robert jordan's freakin' sweet series---

goodness--it's been about 6 months since i last touched this part of my blog...(interpret that phrase as you will)...i've been sitting on this balthamel for far too long...whew...that means only one more 'true' forsaken to do--well, hopefully it won't take another 6 months, but don't hold me to that...

the monkey king--!

so, i wanted to do something a bit
more graphic and simple--trying not to use
too much 'suck'

meh--
it needs some cool armor or something--

-made a few changes...wasn't reading quite right, but...
more wheel of time stuff--
a gardener--an ogier in the elite deathwatch guard, charged
with the protection of the empress--may she live forever--of seanchan.

well--
this is all older stuff, but i thought i'd post
it anyway...and apparently the dude somehow
ended up with the "left" hand of doom...

more wheel of time--myrrdraal
these guys are prevalent in the story--kind of the
'black riders' of the series...essentially, men-shaped
beings that have no eyes, pasty white skin, able to ride
shadows--that sort of thing...this guy is kind of the uber-myrrdraal,
called shaidar haran

ever read the wheel of time by robert jordan?
great fantasy series...anyhow--in the story, the dark
lord uses these dark hounds like any normal person
would...as a means of tracking down
your enemies--and killing
them, of course! ...just my interpretation, though.
i'd really like to get around to doing more designs
for the WoT, but i'm never quite happy with
how they turn out...

i decided to do something productive today, so i finished
up a couple of things--i know, i know--'what's with the
half naked warrior chick? dude, that's SOOOO cliche--and
doesn't she live in the snow? what's up with that?'

yeah, i know....but whatever...

i like half naked chicks

so--i'm really hungover today--
like, the kind of hungover where
you swear you'll never drink again,
but then your friend calls that night
with plans to get together for a
few drinks, so you go ahead and do it anyway--
and four beers turns into four-teen...
anyway--i thought--
what better way to channel the
results of my stupidity last night
than to do a quick self-portrait...

a few characters--i'm trying for more of a primitive culture--
no metal, but lots of bone and animal skins

layouts--trying to get a visual sense of where i want things to take place--i like the idea
of an environment almost becoming a
character in and of itself because of its extreme
nature--a world covered in ice and snow,
kinda like 'dune', but the opposite...i always think
of that '...in a world...' guy when i do these...

pencil and color treatment...

dragons = cool

dragons burning stuff = cooler

quick and dirty color study--i like my women like my chairs--built for comfort--not for speed

so--i was going for a yeti--but apparently all i got was a white baboon...i'll work on it...

just some heads...