War Paint

Color version what! T'sall I got right now.

Published in color!

I don't have much to say except I'm published in color now, so... booyah. I just recently finished some stuff I can't show, and I'm really close to finishing some stuff I can, so you'll get to see that all in due time. Until then, feel free to entertain yourself with these pretty pictures from Shadowrun: 5th edition.

Shadowrun 5th addition: Flaws

Let's set the stage: I've been working for three weeks on this commission. I have already finished two other paintings. My assignment was to paint a girl who had recently been turned into a ghoul and was currently hiding out on the outskirts of the city. I sent him this thumbnail.

At his point, my AD Brent Evans (who is a spectacular guy and I have to thank him on every project for his clarity of direction and patience) gave me the most important advice for Shadowrun artwork I've yet to receive: The first rule of Shadowrun is: everyone's a badass.

Everyone. Did you just have a baby? It's a badass newborn baby. Your grandma lives in the Shadowrun universe? She's a badass granny. Even the rats are badasses (this should come as no surprise to anyone who's played an RPG).

Quiz time: You've been bitten by a ghoul and you're slowly turning into a rancid human-zombie hybrid. What are you?

That's right, you're a badass. So I redesigned and sent Brent this:

Now I'm running behind, really behind. Two days from now is the extended deadline, behind.

I don't have my reference yet.

I don't have the model I was going to use anymore.

My sister Ruby, who at the last second heroically volunteered to model for the face, can't model for the body.

I'm out of options. But I am an artist, and no artist is ever out of ingenuity.

So this happened:

This is the physical manifestation of last minute artistic ingenuity. Who's that bearded hooker I found to shoot reference? I don't know. She sure was friendly, though.

She might have been me.

Alright, it was me. I'm that bearded hooker.

I took these pictures at ten at night, and painted until dawn. Then I took a three hour nap, and painted until four the next morning, at which point I finished this:

She just finished eating a guy.

Also, she just finished shaving her beard.

Origins

So, here's what happened:

I was sitting at home, playing video games with my bro, Josh Cosmos. I got a call from some friends who I was going to spend time with in Columbus, but it didn't work out. They informed me that I was being kidnapped.

So Columbus happened.

While in Columbus, my friends and I were sitting around wondering what to do with our lives as kidnapper and kidnappee when we called up Chavilah Bennett. Spoiler alert: one day she will rule the world. Anyhow, she suggested that we walk around downtown, because we heard whispers of a "My Little Pony" conference going on.

So the convention center happened.

Once inside, instead of seeing tons of pony enthusiasts, we were treated to various ork, elf, and mage variants. There were giant posters of magical beasts and mean something-or-others surrounding tables of very serious looking people rolling dice and dealing cards.

So Origins happened.

And, upon searching the various booths and rooms, I found Catalyst, makers of Shadowrun, the RPG I make artwork for. There in the picture, I'm holding the actual books that I'm actually published in. Chavilah was super awesome and forced me to mug for this picture, and I even got to meet some of the developers of the game, who were super friendly and awesome.

We eventually got to Trot con, and there were ponies everywhere. My kidnappers were pleased. Anyhow, when I get more pictures, I'll be sure to show them with the requisite explanations, but until then, I actually have new artwork to show you, so onward and upward!

Conquest

So I did most of the work I was supposed to do, and decided to work on that tielfling sketch and mess around with photoshop brushes. Let's just say it got out of hand. Anyhow, I'll leave it for now, and maybe I'll come back to do color or corrections if she goes anywhere further than this sketch here. Anyhow, hope you like it! :)

Conquest

Long ago, I did an illustration for a contest. I was supposed to design a Tiefling (a horned half-demon race) as a pin up. It was not super successful.

On the same front, I had some reference that I really liked but didn't get to use for other projects. So last night, as I rolled around in bed, this image came to me. Nothing special, just a fun vignette to help me hone my digital painting skills.

I am continuing work on the futuristic bike chase, but this bolt of inspiration was just too good to pass up, so here it is. It may be a few weeks before you hear from me again, things are about to get busy. But good busy. Enjoy!

EDIT: I will turn this into a painting, but other projects are pressing, so she'll have to wait.

When to quit

I kind of mentioned this in an earlier post. Remember Mother's Syndrome? A part of that is quitting too early. You're afraid to mess it up by overworking it, so you underwork it. A prime example is my Ranger painting. He's all well and good, but I didn't do the necessary research on how to hold, fire, or string a bow and arrow, and worse, I didn't pop any highlights into my piece. I stopped with a nice underpainting. In fact, I may still have an underpainting here, but I'm moving on to other projects for now, so here are the changes I've made thanks to a few helpful critiques.

Which is better?