Shadowcore

Lords of Chaos and other news!!

2012-03-06T19:48:00.001-08:00

Apologies for the lengthy gap in posts. I recently moved down to Olympia, WA but I am back in action now. Here are a couple recent pieces I did for Dungeon Magazine. These two are the Lords of Chaos: Olhydra, Evil Prince of Elemental Water and Yan-C-Bin, Evil Prince of Elemental Air. I certainly had a lot of fun with these, especially the water scene.

Also here is this fun market scene I completely for this months Dragon Magazine.

I got to work again with Kate Irwin on both these projects which is always a pleasure.

In related news, two more pieces I completed for Kate have been nominated for a Spectrum Medal! I am certainly very honored to be considered among such amazing artists. Fingers crossed. It sure would be great to get a medal. I plan to make it out to Kansas City for Spectrum Live in May. Here are those two pieces again you missed them.

Cheers everyone!

Monster Mash

2012-02-23T12:53:00.000-08:00

Some recently released book, magazine, and card illustrations...

Jade Regent © Paizo Publishing

Glacial Rift of the Frost Giant Jarl Dungeon Magazine #199 © Wizards of the Coast

Dracurion SkyGuard Legends of Norrath © Sony Online Entertainment

D&D Mighty Mugg

2012-02-22T13:15:00.000-08:00

Halfling Rogue

Hey guys, just wanted to share in case some of you haven't seen it already that my Mighty Mugg has been featured over at Jon Schindehette's ArtOrder blog. Jon asked me to talk about my process a bit and some of my experiences while working on it. I'm pretty happy with the end result but I won't lie, there were some frustrations along the way. Head over and check it out if you get a chance! :)

Spotlight on Egil Thompson

2012-02-21T00:51:00.003-08:00

I had the pleasure of meeting Egil Thompson a few days ago, and later on looked at his incredible paintings. Jack of all traits, he's equally skilled with both traditional and digital mediums. Here's a quick tour of his work.

For more check out his web site: egilthompson.wordpress.com

Nexus Ops

2012-02-14T05:44:00.006-08:00

Early last year I was approached by the good folks at Fantasy Flight Games to redesign all the game pieces for a new release of the board game, Nexus Ops. They acquired the rights and wanted to give it a fresh new look. I jumped at the opportunity to give an entire game my own personal look and feel. I had to design five monsters and one human space marine. I had to produce miniature turnarounds as well as full color illustrations of each piece. Needless to say I had a ton of fun working on these. This is how they all turned out...

Fungoid:

Crystalline:

Human:
Lava Leaper:

Rockstrider:

Rubium Dragon:

Fear the card art

2012-02-07T09:50:00.001-08:00

Just released today is the new set of the Warcraft card game "Crown of Heavens" which I made some art for: a goblin, vial and a half sheep/frog.

Initially when I saw the vial in the assignment I was worried that maybe I was going to start getting cards of lesser importance. Fear is always present as a freelancer, as you often don't communicate much with your clients and are always worried how your work is received. My advice is to just to do a great job on whatever assignment you are given, and don't worry about being typecast or labelled by your art director. A great piece of art whatever the subject just instills confidence and puts you on good terms with your art director. Subsequently after doing this job, my fears have been completely alleviated, as I actually have been getting better assignments with more important and complex art descriptions.

To understand how to render the liquid, I'm looking at orange juice...

I'm sure I will sell a boatload of print of this guy... ;)

Also recently released are 2 cards for Magic the Gathering's new set "Dark Ascension".

These are the second cards I've done, and it seems like they are fairly important and getting alot of exposure. This is a "red eye" female shaman who turns into a wolf on a double-sided card.

I'm really pumped to do more and I hope the AD keeps calling! (there's that fear again)

ImagineFX FXPose

2012-02-06T05:50:00.000-08:00

Hey guys, some of you already know because I mentioned it either on my blog or other sites, but this month I've got a spot in ImagineFX Magazine's FXPose, it just hit shelves in the USA for February. Wanted to share the news with you guys!

(Special thanks to Eva Widermann for scanning the page for me prior to it releasing in the USA)

Paizo Characters

2012-01-28T17:23:00.000-08:00

A while back I was contacted by Paizo to do a series of characters for Pathfinder.

I had a load of fun with these characters. I love getting into their detail, their armor, and their weapons. For me characters are also a good way to try out new techniques and skills without getting bogged down with the complexities of a full illustration (although even in illustrations I am constantly trying to learn something new).

In this case, I wanted to try out using more opaque brushes in my work as well as really focus on a unifying color scheme. In fact, I think you can even see that transition in brush use from the green samurai to the other characters. The green samurai was done completely with a round brush with the opacity and flow set to pressure. In the other characters, I started using a harder edged opaque brush in areas as well (these are not the only brushes I ever use however, there are others). This not only drops in some really vibrant color that gets lost when using lower opacity, but hardens up some edges, and in general makes you think more about how you are painting. Actually, I should say that thinking about painting is not so much a consequence of brush choice, but rather trying new things helps you think about what you are painting in a more conscious manner.

Here are the characters that I did. The character from the full illustration and the geisha in orange were not my own designs but based on those of an image provided to me by Paizo, but the other characters' costumes were developed by me.

progress and detail:

I usually start with line art and then paint an opaque layer under (or over it on a multiply layer) to rough in colors. This speeds up the process quite a bit, as it gets the major color decisions out of the way.

Brave new world

2012-01-19T10:21:00.000-08:00

Just before the new year I finally made the time to try painting traditionally for the first time. This is something I have been thinking about and worrying about for most of 2011. Having primarily only rendered in pencil and then working digitally I never really had the time or courage to try my hand at traditional paint media. Even though I thought I was going to die in the early stages of the first painting I was able to make it through none the worse for wear. This is how my first traditional painting turned out...

Myopic Thrasher
11 x 14 Acrylic on board
© 2011 Christopher Burdett

I had hoped that these years of working digitally would transfer over just a little when working traditionally. I was pleasantly surprised that in fact I think some had. Here are some images of how the painting progressed, I was so focused on the figure I forgot to address the background until very late in the painting...

Myopic Thrasher painting progression part 1.

Myopic Thrasher painting progression part 2.

I am of course hooked how. I quickly got to work on my second painting while prepping several more for when I finish the second one. I know it will be a while, if ever, before I attempt to work traditionally for a client. I know my digital work is more refined and I know I have a lot to learn in regards to painting traditionally, but I am personally very happy with how my first paintings are turning out. For now I am going to be making these for myself and for personal projects... speaking of personal projects, here is my second painting, a Bugbear...

Bugbear
9 x 12 Acrylic on board

Bugbear painting progression part 1.

Bugbear painting progression part 2.

People have said for a while now that my digital work felt traditional to them, so I figured it was well past time to see if my traditional work feels digital! As I said, I know I have a lot to learn about working traditional, but as I am only two paintings in, I am trying to stay objective and optimistic that maybe there is some hope for me after all.

New Pathfinder art and tricks of the trade

2012-01-14T15:01:00.000-08:00

I can now show some art I made in the summer for the just released Pathfinder game module "Ruby Phoenix Tournament" This book has the adventurers take part in a martial-arts style tournament in an Asian-type fantasy setting.

Making these half-pagers is usually a balance between providing exciting art for the client and planning where to put your efforts to maximize the results in a short time frame. Often an art order can be 5 images requested on a relatively short deadline, so you need to have certain tools and tricks to get the job done fast. I happen to have a very literal, rendered style at the moment, so I'm constantly employing 3-d models and other bits of reference to get the perspectives and realism needed for a consistent level of detail.

Below we see a quick 3-d modeled "set" that gives me the correct perspective and lighting for this multi-tiered fighting platform. This may take an hour or so to build in the computer, but its way faster and more accurate than trying to draft the structure out in pencil.

The structure is then worked into the drawing of the 2 characters fighting.

Similarly below, I've got a character running at us drawn without reference just using comic book construction techniques. Since he's mostly clothed, I just need some information to flesh the head structure out at this angle...

Which is obtained by holding up a foam planar head model and snapping a quick photo. It just worked out the character was bald and fairly generic anyways, so my foam head does the trick nicely.

If you've got a more graphic, cartoony or otherwise efficient style, I salute you. If you're like me and have to "get it right", then employ whatever tricks you need to get the job done as a professional in your allotted timeframe.

Concept & Costumes

2012-01-13T10:53:00.000-08:00

Shortly before christmas I finally got the permission to publish work I've done more than a year ago for Frogster Online Gaming. I did countless sketches and drawings, here is a selection put together in my gallery over at Behance - just click here:

CONCEPT & COSTUMES

Supergenius Brew Label

2011-12-29T16:23:00.000-08:00

Finally something to post! I'm working full-time for a game studio in Oregon City these days, called Supergenius Studio. I'm putting together some art for client gifts, etc. This year one of our staff members is home brewing amber ale to give out (which is delicious). I whipped up a label to put on the bottles and thought I'd post it up.

The Book of Vile Darkness

2011-12-26T13:57:00.000-08:00

Here are a few images I did for The Book of Vile Darkness for D&D (I worked with Mari Kolkowsky as AD. As a side note, I have to say, I feel that all the work in there is absolutely fantastic. I keep picking up my copy and looking at all the great art inside!). I had loads of fun with this set, and I think these are still some of my favorite illustration pieces to date. I struggled most with the Cultist (the last image). I find that if I don't nail the colors to start, I usually wrestle with the piece until the end. If the colors are working, it makes all the other problems with the piece much easier for me to handle. Color is one of the things I enjoy the most out of making art, so usually a piece does not click for me until they do.

ImagineFX issue #77

2011-12-15T05:02:00.000-08:00

If you are outside the US this is may be old news, but since issue 77 of ImagineFX is just hitting the shelves here I thought I would mention I have a two page spread in this issue. I was approached a while back to have my work in the EXPose section of the magazine but I was not expecting a full two pages! If you haven't seen the issue, here you go...

A big thanks to the folks at ImagineFX for the interest in my work! Thanks to Eva as well for letting me know last month that I was in the issue!

Talon of Umberlee

2011-12-12T15:24:00.000-08:00

Recently I created a cover/ad materials for D&D's organized play release called Lair Assault: Talon of Umberlee. Unlike any other project I have worked on, I was tasked with creating an image that would be used not only for the print materials, but also for any other needed advertisement for the release. This meant, all the element in the image needed to be movable so that marketing could place items where they needed for various banners and things of that like. So, I had to paint everything on separate layers. I have never done anything like this before so I was some what at a loss on how to even approach it. I normally paint flat in Photoshop and Corel. I decided I would do an overall sketch of all the elements together as a composed image and then break them down and paint them out separately. It certainly took a lot of time but it was really fun. I worked with AD Kate Irwin on this one. Always a pleasure.

Here is the result:

This is a breakdown of how it all went and how each layer was placed in. It was really a challenge keeping everything in order and in the right place.

...and here is the final booklet.

Heart of the Scar - Dungeon Issue #197

2011-12-05T05:51:00.001-08:00

Issue 197 of Dungeon Magazine is out and I am on the cover. This is my first cover piece and I am very pleased that it is for Dungeons and Dragons. I was tasked with designing and illustrating the big bad monster featured in Heart of the Scar, the final chapter of the Chaos Scar adventure. They asked for a horrific mass of tentacles and eyes that came from beyond time and space and I was more then happy to deliver! This is how it turned out...

Heart of the Scar - Shoth-Goragg
© 2011 Wizards of the Coast

Dungeon Issue #197

Here is a little process progression of this piece from drawing to final painting. This was one of the lowest stress, easy to paint pieces that I have ever had. Let's hope there will be more like it in my future!

Heart of the Scar - Shoth-Goragg - Process
© 2011 Wizards of the Coast

The Hengeyokai and other Characters

2011-12-02T10:20:00.001-08:00

Recently, I was asked to design/update, some creatures for D&D called Hengeyokai. The particular ones I worked on took the form of a Badger and Hare. I also did some small illustrations showcasing these characters in October's issue of Dragon Magazine (404).

This brings me to some other characters I have worked on for D&D over the past year or so. Jon Schindehette has put me to the task of creating a number of heroes the latest D&D Character Option books. You have probably seen some of these guys popping up in the D&D products and if you are illustrating for D&D then you have probably received them as reference. So I thought I would share them all. Here are a few from the Feywild as well as some Elemental Characters

Many more to come at a later date....

New-ish WOW card

2011-11-26T10:38:00.001-08:00

So I just realized this morning some Warcraft cards I made a few months ago had been released without me realizing it. It's tough to keep up on when stuff hits the street.

One of the diffucilties in making Warcraft art is that the provided reference is in-game models, which are often times confusing to decipher from a screenshot. Below I show trying to figure out what the texture is telling me the costume is supposed to be. Usually the in-game assets are pretty good, and I have a great appreciation for the modelers and texturers at Blizzard making tiny game models make sense while being creative under technical constraints.

And below is the final card art... With a bit of experience you get good at assuming what the game artists intended, but it's sometimes difficult to know when to be literal and when to extrapolate.

Revenant

2011-11-24T00:59:00.000-08:00

Here's a mostly-personal piece that i finished a little while back. it's actually a complete digital overpainting/reworking of an acrylic i did a million years ago. the original was a greyscale illo for Dark Matter (one of the campaign settings for WotC's Alternity system).

i just always liked the concept of the piece, and the concept of Revenants in general. they have some of the appeal of vampires (undead that retain their personalities from life), but with more of a work-a-day vibe that i find more relatable than vamps.

Click image for details views (it was fun getting in there and painting all the ligature marks on her wrists)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Then and Now

2011-11-21T07:16:00.001-08:00

For little over a year now I have been reworking designs I did early in my carrier when I worked in TV. You might wonder why I am doing such a thing. It all started when I was talking to a friend about my time working on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and I could not remember a demon I had working on. I went back to my files to remind myself and dug up the design and I was horrified. Absolutely HORRIFIED.

I felt compelled to correct this travesty of design. What started as an attempt to sooth a bruised ego eventually became a fun and cathartic exercise to see how I would approach concept problems today versus 8-7 years ago. In time, I realized that in many ways I was creating something I wish I had seen so many years ago when I was desperate to improve my abilities. In a time when it felt like everyone around me was so much better and had always been so much better it would have been nice to see peoples less then amazing work.

It takes time and hard work to improve and advance. After doing this art thing for most of the last 12 years in varying degrees of stressfulness it is reassuring to see that maybe I have been heading down the right path, and that if you are a artist just starting out, that if you stick with it, you too can look back and be horrified by your early work.

2002 / 2010

2003 / 2010

2003 / 2011

Character step-by-step

2011-11-15T06:36:00.001-08:00

Another private commission completed - slowly but surely the list is being worked off! This time I saved a few steps and put an animation together. I have a few different ways of creating a character - here for example it shows a pencil drawing which is being colored digitally afterwards.

I was hoping to have the time to write up a more elaborate description for each step, what I was doing and thinking. But time is a bitch and this will have to wait for another while.
Hope you like it! =) It might take a little while to fully load:

http://eva-widermann.de/share/MS_animation.gif

Scorch

2011-11-14T02:30:00.000-08:00

Chris and Craig really brought their A game with their posts, so I wanted to share this new piece with you guys. I finished this piece up a few days ago while in between a few projects and waiting for art orders to be sent for some new cards. I've been wanting to do some new, kick ass samples to send over to Blizzard and this is one of the next batch I'll be mailing over to try and snag some work for their TCG. Based off of the Tier 11 Mage Armor set, I decided to illustrate one of the spell abilities a fire spec mage has, Scorch.

Dragon Empires Primer

2011-11-13T00:21:00.000-08:00

Damn... it ain't easy following Chris.

Here's a recent cover for Pathfinder's Dragon Empires Primer. A clean Asian-inspired aesthetic seemed appropriate for the project, so that meant no fog, no explosions, and no flying debris. There went three of my favorite usual staples. Inspired by the dojo scene in The Matrix, I went for a "bullet time" still frame.

The two combatants don't appear to like each other very much, and several subtitles come to mind: "Come At Me Bro," or "Stop Trying to Hit Me and Hit Me," or "You Got Some Wasabi on Your Chin, Here... Let Me Wipe That Off."

Many thanks to Sarah Robinson at Paizo for leading me out of my comfort zone.

Crosis, the Purger

2011-11-11T15:54:00.001-08:00

Before discussing our cuddly friend here, I wanted to mention that I just got back from my first IlluXcon convention in Altoona, PA. It was totally incredible to get a chance to meet so many of my art-heroes like Donato Giancola, Dan Dos Santos, Eric Fortune and Mark Zug just to name a few. It was also great to finally meet in person the four other Shadowcore artists in attendance. I'd highly recommend IlluXcon to anyone interested in imaginative art, it's totally worth the trek.

Alright, this piece was done as updated art for an older Magic card called Crosis, the Purger, here's the previous incarnation:

The Art Director wanted me to keep the key elements of the original design while hopefully making it more intense and realistic. I wound up looking at a lot of reference of beetles and scorpions for wing and carapace ideas.

Crosis, the Purger - 14 x 18 in. oil on masonite

Shadowcore at Illuxcon

2011-11-10T04:52:00.000-08:00

This past weekend was Illuxcon 4! Not only was it an amazing four days of workshops, demos, lectures, and the best in contemporary illustration work out there, it was also the first opportunity for some of the members of Shadowcore to gather in one place. Chris Rahn, Mike Sass, Christopher Burdett, Anna Christenson, and Tyler Jacobson attended Illuxcon and shared their work with all who attended. Chris Rahn and Tyler Jacobson had booths in the main show of Illuxcon. Mike Sass, Christopher Burdett, and Anna Christenson took part in the Showcase event which took place the second night of Illuxcon. The Showcase is a four hour exhibit event that allows those not in the main show to share their work with all who attended Illuxcon. I think it is safe to say we all had an amazing time and hope that the rest of Shadowcore can make it out to Illuxcon next year!

From left to right: Chris Rahn, Mike Sass, Christopher Burdett, Anna Christenson, and Tyler Jacobson.

Tyler Jacobson in his booth in the main show!

Chris Rahn in his booth in the main show!

Christopher Burdett's table in the Showcase!

Anna Christenson's table in the Showcase!

This should be Mike Sass's table in the Showcase... Sorry Mike...

*EDIT NOTE* Cynthia Sheppard was nice enough to share a photo she took at Illuxcon of Mike Sass's very impressive banner which was right next to his table. Thanks, Cynthia!

The one, the only, the Mike Sass Banner!

Everybody just goes crazy for a chance to hold a Shadowcore flyer!

We had a spiffy new flyer printed for Illuxcon so that we could spread the word and so that those not able to attend could be there in name at least. We all had them at our tables and gave them out to all that we could.

Front / Back
The Shadowcore flyer!

Even the great and powerful Jon Schindehette (Senior Creative Director at Wizards of the Coast) loves his Shadowcore flyer!

I hope that next year all twelve members of Shadowcore can make it out to Illuxcon, it is the premiere event for illustration and a super fun time to be had!

Murder and Zombies

2011-11-08T08:36:00.000-08:00

A while back I was asked to do the following two pieces for Wizards of the Coast. What I always try to do when approaching client work is add elements that are going to make the pieces interesting to me. If I lose that feeling that I am learning something new or adding details and elements that I like to a piece, the image will usually fail in my mind.

In this case I wanted to play around with the point of view, and especially in the case of the Zombie painting, explore variations in skin tone and lighting (something that I've been focusing on in the year since). The very stylized fog was also kind of a throwback to some of my earlier stylistic choices in my work. In the case of the Bloody Murder piece, it was a good opportunity to paint some snow, and I was really interested in exploring the pink/green color scheme. I think this was the first time I'd really pushed pink in a piece before.

Here are the final pieces:

And here is a short walk-through of the Murder painting!

I'll always start with thumbnail sketches. In this case, I did a bunch and then neatened a few up and sent them to the AD to see which ones she liked more. If the deadline is very short, I don't always send thumbnails off (although I will still do them), but instead I will just send a final sketch, similar to the one below.

After thumbnail approval- or before the final sketch- I'll gather references for items that seem important to the piece. In this case I took a few photo references for the characters, and also gathered a lot of references of houses from the internet to help inspire the setting.

So next is a sort of abridged progress. I'll usually draw out the sketch and include values in some way. Depending on the piece I'll sketch in values or in line, or alternating between the two- but usually it will be something more like a line drawing with some multiply layers to add value.

After that, I'll start in with a variety of multiply, color and hard light layers to get in some very rough colors. Then I'll pick a spot and start to render, skipping around to the next areas that look interesting or are bothering me and I want to see completed. Once everything is in, I'll just keep refining and adding details until I'm ready to call it done or I need to move on to another piece.

Terrors of the Silt Sea

2011-10-28T05:35:00.001-07:00

I recently got to design and illustrate a brand new monster for the Dungeons & Dragons Dark Sun campaign setting. This was my first chance to do anything for Dark Sun and I had a great time working on this piece. It was described as a horrific combination of an angler fish and a lizard... and if there is one thing I can do is combine an angler fish with another animal. RAWR!

Terrors of the Silt Sea: Oasis Beast
© 2011 Wizards of the Coast

Here is a process break down for this piece. Always hard to explain that the 'magic' happens somewhere between step two and three and if you try to see it, it will disappear.

In just six easy steps, watch your favorite fighter be devoured... OM NOM NOM

Happy Halloween

2011-10-20T11:57:00.000-07:00

A while back I did a Vampire piece for Wizards of the Coast and I thought it perfectly fitting for the season and my favorite holiday. I really had a blast with this one and am glad I can finally show it off. Here is the piece as well as a little bit of my process.

Happy Halloween!!

A little bit of my process....

Thumbnail

Pencil

Step by Step

Detail

Unstoppable, Unending Rage

2011-10-20T07:12:00.000-07:00

"Thrall at the Maelstrom"

detail

Since I'm waiting for some of my illustration work to clear that's currently under wraps because of NDAs, here's a personal piece I recently finished. Normally, I try to steer clear from doing any kind of "fan art", but what started out as a simple warm up sketch ended up getting me excited and really into the piece so I decided to just finish it up. Normally when I do warm ups, I choose familiar subject matter (this ends up being things from games that I play or movies that I watch). In this case, I decided to do a portrait of the character Thrall from Warcraft. I try to keep things relevant to the game's storyline whenever I decide to do a Warcraft related piece and this one focused on the most recent Patch 4.2 - "Rage of the Firelands".

Eva's Sketches in ImagineFX

2011-10-18T04:39:00.000-07:00

Damn, Craig was first with the magazine feature =P

A while ago, ImagineFX approached me and asked if I would be interested in being featured in their sketchbook section of the magazine (silly question - of course I'm interested!!). So I sat down and started to select a few drawings ... thought it's not a big effort and then I got hit by an archive of countless sketches I did over the past years. It was overwhelming, it took me a whole day to go through it to choose just a handful to be featured.

I'm quite happy with the selection the editors were choosing, lots of stuff I did for the Inuit Mythology Project and even a few personal ones.

Exotique 7 and ImagineFX

2011-10-17T11:29:00.000-07:00

Second Crusade, a piece I did for Sony Online Entertainment, will be in the upcoming Exotique 7. This is the first time I've been featured in an art compilation book, and it was an honor to be selected. It was also used as a side bar illustration in "Changing the Rules of the Game"- Nov 2011 ImagineFX.

My defiant little redhead is all grown up, and off in the big world alone *sniff* :)

A Process... Part 1

2011-10-13T22:44:00.000-07:00

Writing isn't my forte - though I hope as I produce more of these, the introspection will come easier. I often just 'react' as I work through a piece, so if I come across hap hazard in my thought process. It often is. Dependent on the client, the time constraints, the subject matter and the genre - I'll approach one piece completely different to how I may approach another piece. I also like to change things up and keep the work and process interesting.

I thought I'd start a series of posts on a piece I began today. There is no rhyme or reason to the piece - I often plan out personal work as something that may evolve into a cover illustration. That is the only condition I have at the moment.

After some random doodling, I start to realize the silhouette of the main character. I chose to work in a large round shield and a weapon (often just a quick slash or line to begin) to add some interest. Then I start out on the foe - and my stream of thought brought me a dragon centipede worm thing...

As I'm cobbling this together, I'll keep in mind how the eye will move around the piece and will continue to make corrections as I proceed to make sure I feel I have a strong path for the eye.

Next step, roughing in some form. A second pass to add interest - early on I've decided that I want the dragon head to have a chiseled bone type feel. The action will be taking place atop a rocky peak.

But what about the background? Well for this piece I already know the background will be treated as an atmospheric or very vague story element. There won't be a lot to it likely, my interest and focus is the battle. I've used the background here to add an interesting perspective - I also like the juxtoposition of the straight spires verses the sweeping curves of the dragonwormpede thing...

I'll spend some time throwing out some more ideas for motion and tweaking composition.

From here I'll move to experiment in color, sometimes new elements are introduced at this point with the rough color sparking ideas. I've already set in my mind that the warrior will have some plate armor of some sort, my main concern are the areas I want to put across in vivid splashes of color.
Once I've settled on the main color elements, I'll move into some secondary color elements on the warrior... though that I'll leave for next time. Its past my bed time :-D

Introducing....ME!!! (Mike Sass)

2011-10-12T15:11:00.000-07:00

First off, I would also like to thank Craig for putting this collective together! Its exciting to be viewed in the same place as the other geniuses in the Shadowcore* stable. (I know I'm late in posting my intro, but you'll have to forgive my wife for having a baby last week.) I'll have to do my best to keep up with the quality of the other members, and I'm motivated to do better work after looking at what the others are kicking out!

For anyone who does't know me (most everyone), I have a long history in the video games industry, dating back to 1996. Out of art school, where I earned a design degree, I landed a job with a startup game company called BioWare. Fast forward 12 years, I left in 2008 to become a freelancer after having a long and rewarding career as the principal marketing artist for that company. For the past couple years I have been getting into the RPG and TCG (card game) field, and loving the people and projects very much.

I live in Canada with my wife and 2 sons, and we try to stay warm and safe from rabid moose. About once a year I venture south to meet up with the great folks in the fantasy art community and to learn more about how a freelancer is supposed to make a living, and replenish my vitamin D levels. So far so good.

I've got a blog, which has some good info squirreled away in old posts if anyone is interested. I'll do my best to add information and new art to the growing Shadowcore* worldwide phenomenon.

* your #1 web source for fantasy gaming art.

:) m.

Update: (6:30pm) After making a joke about a rabid moose and then heading out the door of my studio to go for supper, there was in fact a 500lb moose right outside my door. True.

Zombie Holiday

2011-10-11T02:04:00.000-07:00

There's not too many things better than getting a mail from your favorite group of creatives, whether it's editors with a piece of new fiction you have the opportunity to contribute some vision to, being added to a call for artists on a new deck or manual, by someone new that you've just met, or an art director you've worked with for years throwing you a project they trust you with, or simply filling in for someone who's flaked.. Perhaps even regardless of payment, the opportunity to shape folks gaming experience, or unconsciously add to a writers narrative? It always curls the biggest smile on me jib.. Absolutely Magical.! Like unwrapping a present on Holiday, or lifting the first print from the block.. These mails remain Beginners mind for me, the latest one just as exciting and uplifting as the very first.. I checked email just around a year ago to find the rare opportunity to do two illos for Jon Shindehette and Dragon Magazine, and the same old sensation hit me. One of the briefs called for a big obsidian sacrificial Altar, inside a shadowy rocky valley, being protected by a sickly tribe of once strong warriors, now defiled by life draining magic.. and then I heard them moan.. "That which we call Brains.. by any other name, would taste as sweet.." =) Times like that make me think, becoming a SF&F freelancer rather than a CA, was actually the right choice for once.? In any case; not a lot of turn around time, but a brilliant simple brief I knew I could have some fun with.. It was also one of my first digital illos, in which a couple weeks earlier, Craig Spearing had shown me just how quick it could be, to manipulate color from a grayscale image.. (my inner traditionalist still hasn't forgiven him for this, mind you.. evil bastard) but he was right! Here's a couple process shots of grayscale to final execution.. A lot of the tones come traditionally from scumming and erasing back into the graphite with deductive marks, before I scan the final sketch. In my limited experience with digital, I also find bringing back some of that original tone from the sketch with the History brush quite helpful, but I'm still on the arse end of the learning curve. Traditional oils will always be my illustration end game, but I sure do like to play with all the new toys, and find new ways of achieving the old. Even though I've quite a ways to go, with a bit of 3/4 theatrical spotlighting, and extreme facial expression, I think this Zombie Holiday isn't too bad for one of my first adventures into the digital world.. Hope you dig it.. Chuck

Eowyn & the Nazgul process

2011-10-08T21:00:00.000-07:00

Most of my current work is tied up in NDA, so I'd like to share the process on a recent favorite. This started as a fun side project for the Eowyn and the Nazgul ArtOrder challenge, then turned into an obsession.

initial thumbnail

After five or six thumbnails, I kept coming back to this one. The interaction between the characters was a bit weak, but the larger shapes were starting to work.

grayscale process

The image on the far left was submitted to the Muddy Colors gang for critique, and the consensus was it needed more narrative. So, I extended the canvas, added Theodin, his horse, a dead knight, and Merry in the distance to lock in the triangle composition. The muzzle on the fell beast went through several variations until it looked less like a dragon's maw and more like a beak (to stay true to the text). Also, many thanks to Tyler Jacobson for tips on making the light ricochet off Eowyn, creating a sense of glow.

references

Photo references used along the way: 1) My daughter as Eowyn. Holding a pose is hard enough, so I tend to make props out of cardboard so they're not too heavy. 2) My son as Merry. 3) A dead horse found online (it was too scruffy and skinny to be a king's horse, but a good starting point as I can't draw horses for shit). 4) Some dork with a headband, also found online. 5) Drawing the perspective on the Witch King's mace proved incredibly difficult, so I made a model out of a broom handle, foam core, and tape.

final grayscale

color process

Once the grayscale was done, digging in and painting the image only took about three days. Balancing the warm and cool tones without getting too saturated was the hardest part, Minas Tirith needed to be cooled off several times to get it to read as white and not sandstone. A staircase leading to a door was visible until the very end (it was pointed out to me that a giant staircase leading right into a citadel might not be the best defensive strategy. Um, yeah, dumb idea). I replaced the staircase with a wall, and added a lot more combatants to the background.

In the two and a half weeks it took to complete this project, I listened to only one song on repeat: A Knife in the Dark from the Fellowship of the Ring soundtrack. If it had gone on much longer, my family probably would have destroyed my stereo.

final color

Talisman: The Dragons

2011-10-07T05:43:00.001-07:00

The new expansion for the Talisman board game, The Dragons, recently was released and I have seven dragon pieces appearing in it. Last year was a very dragon year for me. One of the pieces, the Zombie Dragon, stood out as my favorite of the bunch and it seems to have become a crowd favorite too. Zombie dragon is gonna eat you!

Raven Mimura

2011-10-05T19:38:00.000-07:00

Many thanks to Craig for bringing us all together, in this great format. And thank you to all the contributors, not only for participating, but for doing such inspiring work. Browsing through it is definitely a kick in the butt and a reminder to keep honing my craft.

I have lived in Seattle since 2000, where my roots continue to burrow ever deeper. My partner Deirdre is kind enough to share an apartment with me… along with my studio, my weapons, armor, costumes, books, props, models, prints, etc.

Surpisingly, I have only met a couple of the other locals (of the Pacific NW) posting here. I look forward to changing that soon.
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I received a BFA in Illustration from the Rhode Island School of Design (quite a change from Dallas, where I was born and raised).

As soon as I finished school, I spent a couple months getting my portfolio up to speed, then made my industry debut by attending GenCon, and putting my portfolio in front of anyone who would look at it. I got my first (tiny) projects from those portfolio reviews, and I've been a full-time freelancer ever since. For several years, I worked traditionally (initially in watercolor, then acrylics), before transitioning to all-digital.
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My initial inspiration to follow this career path came from playing D&D with my brother, in 4th grade. I loved poring over the game books and looking at all the art. Even at that age, it occurred to me that someone must actually *make* that art, and that seemed like a pretty cool thing to do. I pursued art in various forms all through grade school and high school, while also continuing to immerse myself in all manner of fantasy and sci-fi geekery.

I continue to be an avid gamer (tabletop, as well as video). I have only once played a character for whom I had done the original character class illustration. It couldn’t be helped.

I have been honored to work on some of my favorite properties from childhood: D&D, Star Wars, Shadowrun, Lord of the Rings, etc. And in recent times, I’ve been doing a lot of work for the WoW card game.

For more, head to my site: www.ravenmimura.com

DragonRiders

2011-10-04T20:28:00.000-07:00

Introductions aren't quite done, but I'd like to share a recent piece (my apologies for the interruption). It started out as a quick demo for Pixelcraft, then I kept picking at the sketch, and eventually decided to finish it. Ironically, there are no dragons in my portfolio (some dragon-like creatures, but no actual dragons), hopefully this will fill that gap...

Chuck Lukacs

2011-10-02T00:27:00.000-07:00

Greetings All,
It's an honor to be shown with this group of illustrators.. Such an extraordinary pool of light-pushing skills, I can hardly begin to explain? Suffice it to say, big ups to Mr. Craig Spearing for rounding this creative brain trust! Here are some of my own wig bubbles, and I can't wait to see what contributions and potentials lie in this brilliant collective.. =)

I've been fortunate enough to have illustrated for the science fiction & fantasy gaming markets for over 12 years, graduated from Detroit's own College of Creative Studies in 93, but like Craig, a lot of time was spent studying traditional materials, ceramics, printmaking and bookarts. My oil paintings and prints have appeared in Spectrum, ImagineFX, I've won some awards, and I've authored and co-authored two fantasy art tutorial books from Impact; Wreaking Havoc, 2007 and Fantasy Genesis, 2010 (plug =) I've freelanced for; NBC/Universal, Pyr/Prometheus Books, Wizards of the Coast, Paizo, Upper Deck, AEG, Games Workshop, Road Runner and Atlantic Records, and have recently had the great privilege to start teaching a couple classes at the PNCA here in Portland, OR! It's an odd sensation, teaching your eventual replacements, but a path I'd like to continue.. =)

Thanks for the once over, and really hope to meet up at

ECCC, or any Cons we all might be attending..

Cheers, Chuck

:: Website :: Fantasy Genesis Blog :: LightPusher Blog ::

Chris Rahn

2011-09-29T15:48:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone!

First of all, I want to thank Craig for putting this whole thing together and for the chance to be involved. It's really great to be counted amongst such a talented group.

Where to begin...I grew up in a little tiny farming town in Washington state. From there I shipped to off to study illustration at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. Since graduating in '07 I've been lucky enough to work with a lot of different clients, both in and out of the sci-fi-fantasy realm, including Wizards of the Coast, Blizzard, Fantasy Flight Games, Random House, The Village Voice and LA Weekly.

Nowadays I'm living back in my little hometown with my wife and fellow illustrator, Betty.

My out of date website: www.rahnart.com
Much more up to date blog: http://www.chrisrahnart.blogspot.com

Here are a few samples of my work, all of which are painted in oils:

Eric Braddock

2011-09-27T21:42:00.000-07:00

So how does one follow the amazing introductions to this killer art group so far? I really don't know, but this is my attempt.

A huge thanks to Craig for organizing this and creating this blog for all of us. Craig–you are my hero. I truly feel honored to be among you all and humbled to be included, I respect and admire all of you and I am looking forward to sharing our work and experiences together here.

I graduated from University of the Arts in Philadelphia in 2008 and have been grinding ever since. Between freelance, private commissions and gallery work, my life is pretty hectic as most of you can completely relate. Over the past few years I've been lucky enough to have worked with clients like Fantasy Flight Games, Paizo, DreamWorks Animation Fine Art and others along the way thus far. In the past year I've worked on Lord of the Rings TCG, A Game of Thrones TCG, and Talisman: The Adventure Board Game, just to name a few.

Originally trained in oils, I've made the jump into digital media and have really been expanding my skill sets to get myself into a game studio. Those who know me well know just how much I love Blizzard Entertainment, specifically Warcraft. Some things you can expect to see from me on this blog are not only my publishing work such as card illos, but also some concept and 3D work.

I currently live in southern NJ and spend my off time usually at Starbucks with my sketchbook, playing games, keeping healthy and trying to get to art museums and shows as much as possible.

My website: www.ericbraddock.com

My blog: ericbraddock.blogspot.com

Eowyn and the Nazgul

Magnar the Lavalchemist

Death Knight

Worgen Mage

The Scourge Gate

Coldsnap Magi Dagger

Samwise in the Pass of Cirith Ungol sketch

Scourge Box - concept 3D model

Tyler Jacobson

2011-09-26T20:03:00.000-07:00

Greetings everyone!!

I want to start with a huge thanks to Craig for putting this all together. I am very excited to start contributing and sharing with everyone.

I am going to keep it short and sweet here because...well...I'm not so good with the words.

I graduated from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco in 2009 and jumped into being a freelancer as fast as I could. Over the past few years I have been doing most of my fantasy gaming work with Wizards of the Coast. I have representation in New York were I do editorial and advertising work, but we are discussing Fantasy Gaming here and I will stick to that.

I still claim to be from the Bay Area but my wife and I currently live in Renton, WA. The northwest will most likely be our permanent home. I think the consensus is that we illustrators don't have free time and I concur. But on the off chance that I do, well, I am still trying to find things up in the Seattle area for recreation. I am fairly new to the area so if anyone has any suggestions, I am all ears.

My website needs a bit of an update which I am working on now. http://www.tylerjacobsonart.com

My blog is more current: http://tylerjacobson.blogspot.com/

Here is are a few samples as a visual introduction.

Anna Christenson

2011-09-26T06:57:00.000-07:00

I have to say I'm really excited aboutthis blog. So a big thanks to Craig for putting it together, andalso a thank you to all the contributors for taking the time out ofbusy illustration schedules to post!

My name is Anna Christenson. I live inRochester, NY with my boyfriend Reed Smith, and our cat, Orc. I wentto Fredonia State University in NY, and graduated with a degree inIllustration and Animation in 2009. Prior attending college I hadalways worked with gouache or oils, but while there I began to workmore frequently in Photoshop, and that is now how I complete the majorityof my work.

I broke into the industry in 2008 doingcard art for The Game of Thrones card game that Fantasy Flight Gamesproduces. Shortly after I graduated in 2009, I attended my firstGenCon, where I met Jim Pinto, who got me started doing work forLegend of Five Rings. Since then I've been doggedly pursuing mycareer as an illustrator, having worked for clients like WB Games,Wizards of the Coast, and Paizo, in addition to working on a numberof other games for FFG. I don't think I'd be where I am at nowwithout all of the wonderful artists and art directors I've met overthe last few years.

When I have a bit of free time (notoften!), I usually can be found reading, playing some video game oranother, hiking, or working on personal projects.

My personal portfolio can be foundhere: www.annaeatspaint.com

Thanks for stopping by!

Adam Danger Cook

2011-09-24T14:54:00.000-07:00

I'm really excited to be posting with you all. I join everyone who's posted before me in saying "thanks!" to Craig for putting the blog together. I'm also with Kieran, in that I'm no good with writing bios, but here goes:

I went to school at the Pacific Northwest College of Art, but I didn't get much out of it in terms of a future in illustration. (The people were great - the structure, at the time, was less than ideal.) So in 2003, after graduation, I tagged along with more experienced illustrators than myself, learning as I went. With the help of my mentor, Lee Moyer, I was able to get up to speed on painting - at least enough to get a couple gigs here and there and get things going.

I live in Portland, Oregon, out in the Northwest United States, with my wife, Traci Cook (also an illustrator). I freelance for companies like Wizards of the Coast, Lucas Arts, Hasbro, Sony Online Entertainment and Sideshow Collectibles. A lot of my current work, however, involves concept design for local studios Liquid Development and Supergenius Studio.

I feel grateful to be included in such fantastic company. I will do my best to post and stay up to speed with everyone. :)

Runecast Tracker

Evasive Action

Ravenous Dragon

Servant of the Lord of Blades

Gloomwrought Rooftop Chase

Ogre Bully

Scarecrow Attack

Kieran Yanner

2011-09-22T15:38:00.000-07:00

First of all I'd like to say a big thanks to Craig Spearing for putting this all together!

I'm not good at writing bios so I'll be kinda brief or I'll never get it finished. My name is Kieran Yanner, I live in Seattle in the north-western United States, and I've been an illustrator since 1999 - though it feels like its been since 1902... the grey is definitely showing... I'm a self taught artist (I've been lucky enough to have had some tutelage and been slapped about by Mattias Snygg over the years) My first paying gig in illustration was with Eden Studios on All Flesh Must Be Eaten. From there I've worked for a lot of people on a lot of things, doing a lot of different things. I currently work with Microsoft on Kinect as a concept artist but also produce UI and Texture assets along with some logo work here and there.

These days, my illustration driven opportunities come through Paizo, Wizards of the Coast and Kobold Quarterly.

If you want to check out my portfolio you can head over to http://www.kieranyanner.com

I promise my future posts will be more coherent and informative!

Christopher Burdett

2011-09-22T05:05:00.001-07:00

What am I doing here, grouped among so many other talented artists? Just look at that list of names to the right, WOW! Well, whatever the reason, I owe Craig Spearing a huge thanks for putting all this together and for choosing me to be a part of this really cool endeavor! Since this whole thing is just getting off the group I thought I best introduce myself...

My name is Christopher Burdett and I draw monsters, RAWR! No really, if anyone has seen me draw at some point I have to make the drawing say 'RAWR!'. I live in north Florida where I create online instructional content for state and local governmental organizations during the day and by night I design and illustrate monsters for the gaming industry.

I got my start as a professional artist in 1999 as a concept designer for a makeup effects house in LA working on TV and movie projects. The first movie I worked on will most likely never see the light of day, especially since it has been 12 years since it was filmed. The second movie, the Doorway is a marvelous little opus (not really) in which I got to be the demon! While in LA I worked on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel and Firefly as well as numerous monster and horror movies. I had the chance to puppeteer on some of them and got to be a zombie in others. Fun times, but all good things end in their own time.

In 2005 I moved to Florida and transitioned from the entertainment to gaming industry. My first job was designing miniatures for Wizards of the Coast's game, Dreamblade. In the years since I have done work for Fantasy Flight Games, Paizo Publishing, Privateer Press and many others. I have been working very hard to make sure folks know I am the guy that just wants monsters and so far that has been working out well. Why monster, you ask? Well, the monsters are way cooler then the heroes and they often have tentacles!

If you are interested in seeing more of my work, keep coming back here, I will be posting it! You can also click my name of the right which will take you to my website or you can visit my blog.

Eva Widermann

2011-09-19T15:46:00.000-07:00

Okay, it's a Monday night and I just decided to put my pencil aside and call it a day. But some nasty Vodka-RedBull doesn't want me to snuggle up on the sofa with my significant other and significant other cats. So instead I'm finally writing up my share for the SHADOWCORE…. (mua ha ha ha)

But first of all: Thanks to Craig Spearing for putting this blog and the artists together! Great stuff!

My name is Eva Widermann, I studied Graphic and Design in Munich when I was just sweet 17 and started my career in advertising agencies after graduating three years later, which gave me a tremendous advantage in work experience. After a couple of years I decided to pursue my life time dream of becoming a freelance illustrator and concept artist and I have to say this was one of the best decisions I ever made. My main focus is on character art in both traditional and digital media. And I can't draw robots.

My debut within the gaming industry was in 2003 for a RPG called "Engel" and just a short time after I found myself painting and drawing for the likes of Wizards of the Coast, Paizo and other companies. I absolutely love the variety of my job, that's why I don't entirely focus on the gaming industry and continually challenge myself and my style by working on different commissions. One morning I can start on a children's book and finish the day with another brain sucking zombie. Win!! =D

Does a freelancer have any spare time at all? Well, not much, but I enjoy it even more! In 2009 I moved to the "Rebel County" of Cork in beautiful Ireland, where my husband is from. Living near the sea and in such a historical and cultural environment had a huge impact on my art. I joined a reenactment group and I love putting my costume together and diving into long lost centuries (which is also a great source of inspiration of course).

If you like to see more of my work, have a look at my website (listed on the right side) or join me on Facebook. Thanks for your time and Slán abhaile!

Welcome to Shadowcore

2011-09-17T18:11:00.000-07:00

There are numerous online art forums, but I wanted one specifically geared towards fantasy gaming illustration by fantasy gaming illustrators (as opposed to art directors, editors, or publishers). So I begged, cajoled, and bribed an amazingly talented group of artists to join this collective (click on the names under Contributor website links to view their individual websites).

On to introductions...

I graduated from the Rhode Island School of design with a BFA in illustration (though most of my time there was spent in the printmaking department). I illustrated children's material from '95 to '08, then traded my brushes for a stylus and jumped head first into gaming illustration. The knock on my head rattled loose something sinister trapped inside, and I've been happily painting evil things for Wizards of the Coast, Paizo, and Sony Online Entertainment ever since.