A Steady Stream

yep, that's right. This stream of posts is a flowin'!

behold, a goblin. yes, a goblin. This is another piece of concept art for Big Squid Studios. This was definitely a fun one to do. I've always loved drawing goblins with a beak-like face/nose. It makes them look extra creepy, with a splash of comical.

Hopefully you enjoy it.

And as always, if you have for me to do just shoot me an EMAIL.

Concept Gun... and glowy bullets.

Oooooooo, glowy bullets with a rune inscribed pistol!  yeah, This is some more concept work for Big Squid Studios.

The great thing is that all this concept art is of stuff that I love to draw! It's like I'm not even working anymore.
Went to the local library last week and picked up a number of books for reference. That has been a great resource. Oh, and I picked up the audiobook version of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. That was a great listen/read. Ben Kingsley is the narrator and does an excellent job of it. Delicious.

Hey, my gun is smoking.

Well, anyway, here is a bit of concept design for my Game company Big Squid Studios. yeah... not much else to say really except that I like using cardboard and acrylic paint.

Zombie Principal

You've been sent to the Principal's office...
... and he wants to eat your brains.

... mmmmmmmm, you are definately a grade A student.

Here is another piece for Zombies Ate My Teacher. A delicious creation of Samuel Brigham Coates' mind (at first there was no pun intended but then half way through the sentence I realized what was going to happen and I full on went for the pun.)

For this piece I started traditionally with acrylic paint, cardboard, marker, and pencil.
Below is the piece before I took it into Photoshop for the final morsels of color and value.

So there you go. This really was a lot of fun to work on. Hope you enjoy.

Oh, and there is still time to go and get yourself into the ebook, all zombified and whatnot.

And as always, stay tuned for more exciting images and rambling!

Painted Miniatures and stuff...

See, I told you I'd be around more... what has it been? maybe 3 days? yeah, we're going to become kindred spirits for sure.

this post is all about News. Zombies Ate My Teacher was successfully funded so I will be doing more illustrations for that piece of sweetness. Hey, if you go and back the project you could get an illustration of you as a zombie in the book! mmmmmmmmm.... zombie likeness....

In other news, I thought I'd share some miniatures I painted.

Even-though I've moved on from my days as Painting Art Director at Blue Table Painting, I still love miniatures and war-games. In fact... as the final piece of news... I've started a company called Big Squid Studios. We will be creating war-games, board games, card games, and miniatures and all things awesome! So, Go check out the Blog if you like... come on, you know you want to.

Oh, and as always, I'm open for illustration work so just shoot me an Email

Overdue Zombie Homework

Okay,

My apologies to everybody who checks this blog and to myself... and that guy over there. Sorry dude. It is long over due that I post something.
But... good news! you are going to be seeing a lot more of me!
"why?"
"because I quit my job last week"
"....oh, sorry to hear that..."
"don't be, 'cause now I'm going it alone... it's solo time gentlemen."

Anyway, I'm going full-time illustration and I'm creating a game company.
So, you'll be seen more of me.

On that note: Here is one of my current projects.

Zombies Ate My Teacher

This is a project by author/artist Samuel Brigham Coates. Right now it is on Kickstarter for funding. Depending on the funding level reached there could be a number of additional illustrations in it.

This is the first of a series of interactive eBooks called Perilous Paths. Akin to the choose your own adventure books of the days of yore, the reader gets to choose their path.

Anyway... go check it out an fund it if you feel so inspired. I would love to see this happen.

Oh, and here are a few variations on the image that I provided the author.

And as always, I'm open for work, just shoot me an email.

And another update...

He is looking more like a troll than an ogre now. So... Troll away.

Mmmmmmmmoo

And here we are, a new piece done in my favorite medium... Acrylic paint, marker, cardboard.

Yep, a cow eating a steak.

Looking at it now... I think I'll add a little something more.

Doom Angler and a Poor Choice

Okay,

Here is my final piece for a class I'm currently in.

Two options... let me know which one you like better.

A or B

Anyway, Let me know in a comment or something.

Printmaking Dwarf

Yeah, another sketch that will be turned into a print. I'll post the print when I'm done.

oh, and I'm still working on the Ogre piece... promise. Dwarves and Goblins... yeah.

This Old Thing

Driving along center street in Provo, I came upon this little bit of recent history.

The Oz ballet I did a piece for is being performed at the Covey Art Center. So yeah, the photos have too much glare action but it's the banner on the end to the right. ...you get the idea.

The Village Idiot and the Ogre

Sorry everybody, it's been a while I know. Okay, as promised, here is a Work In Progress update on the Ogre piece.

Obviously nowhere near where I want it to be. With classes coming closer to an end and my job duties changing at Blue Table Painting, life has become life.

Thanks for the patience and all that blah blah blah.

Oh, so... The Wife and I went to an awesome show last night at the Capitol Theatre in Salt Lake City. It was Radiolab Live: In The Dark. What a fantastic blend of music, dance, comedy, and science. The whole night was a show discussing the topic of darkness (not being evil, just the absence of light). The comedian Demetri Martin was part of the show and had Melissa and me to the point of tears.
Anyway, here is a link, just in case you are not familiar with RADIOLAB, my favorite podcast.

Sneaky Ogre

Okay,

I didn't like the new look of the blog the past couple weeks so I reverted back to the good old days... mmmmmmmmm... welcome home.

A few weeks ago, in class we were given the assignment to create an illustration including an Ogre, and a whole huge list of other things. It was a great exercise but in class we stopped short of doing a final piece. Anyway, I liked the composition enough that I feel inspired to take it to a final piece, and share the process with you.

Anyway,  Here are the thumbnails I worked up.

After narrowing down to the Thumbnail I felt was working the best I reworked it paying a little closer attention to positioning.

Then came the comp in which I payed attention to detail and placement even more.

this is as far as we got in class... which left me all gung ho to do more! So, I've brought the comp into Photoshop and have begun messing around with it. 

Next time I'll post my progress on the piece.

yeah... art stuff.

5 thousand years later...

Sorry for the delay everybody... I took last week off to get some extra work done. So, now back to the regular updates.

Today I have for you my second Lino-cut print.

I call it "Padre"

Just like last time I have a few of these prints available for purchase if anybody is interested.

Okay, now to end with a question. Since I have you here... Do you like the new look and layout of the Blog? Or, did you like the classic format of yesteryear better?

Leave a comment and let me know. Thanks.

Trunk Talk

Today, I present to you my first foray into the magical world of printmaking. It was definitely a very fun and new process. This particular print was done by carving a negative image into Linoleum. Like This
I've done another one that I'll post later. Both of which I've entered into a student art show at the Woodbury Art Museum. I'll let you all know if they get excepted.

Also I have a few prints of this piece for sale. If you're interested just shoot me a message.