First (and last??) Warcraft card oils

I was just informed that I can now show my first oil-painted card illustrations I did early this year.  These were for the World of Warcraft card game, a product I've been consistently working on in digital paint for the past 3.5 years.  Unfortunately, things have been quiet on the WOW front and it comes as no surprise that the game as its currently published is no longer: http://blue.mmo-champion.com/topic/267188-world-of-warcraft-trading-card-game/

Its really a shame.  WOW has been one of my 3 steady clients since I started freelancing.  I had a blast doing these images in oils and was excited to continue doing more.  WOW has been great to work on, being one of the top-paying clients for this type of work and a natural fit for my aesthetic.  Also, I have thoroughly enjoyed working with Jeremy Cranford, the AD, and have found him to be a positive, nurturing influence.  Hopefully this is not the end of all Warcraft work, but just a shift to new products or publishing arrangements.  

Anyhow, here are my first 2 card paintings in oils.

Tauren Paladin

Orc Shaman

In a couple weeks I will be at Illuxcon again, but this time as a main-show exhibitor.  I'm very pleased to have cracked the lineup after only one year of oil painting my illustrations.  Unfortunately since I have not been doing this long, much of my work is still tied up in NDA so I cannot bring most of 2013's product. Nevertheless, I look forward to a great time catching up with my extended art family.

The Sundering continues....with Isteval

Late last year I designed a new character for Jon Schindehette at D&D.  He was to be named Isteval.  The writers at D&D provided me with an awesome description of an old paladin who's glory days were well behind him now, yet he still had some stature and pride.

Isteval Concept Art

Ultimately he was to be part of a large lineup of characters for the next Sundering adventure for Forgotten Realms. This was another layered image containing many characters I had addressed in some other covers for D&D as well as a few new ones.

The Sundering - Make Your Story Legend

Each character had to be on its own layer, very much like the previous Sundering image I created.  Here are a few shots of some of the layers as well as a few closeups.  The full image ended up being pretty enormous. I had a blast working on this one.

 I also had to go into some detail for the stained glass window in the background.

The Sundering Stained Glass

Finally, the crew at D&D ended up putting together some pretty amazing stuff.  They had a cinematic video created that featured Isteval in full 3 dimensional action walking around in a scene which also contained my stained glass window.  I was completely floored when I saw all this.  I never imagined my character coming to life like this.  Huge thanks and congratulations to everyone at D&D that made this happen.  

You can find the full video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2W__zxJroio&feature=share

The main Sundering site: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/sundering.aspx

Jon also did a nice write up about mere here, discussing my time working with D&D over the years:  http://www.wizards.com/dnd/article.aspx?x=dnd_4dreye_20130807

Much more to come.  I am sorry for the delay in posting.