Pinkerton

I came across an old scribble today that I thought was worth sharing. I believe I'd recently watched "Pale Rider," starring Clint Eastwood, when I scratched out this sketch. I always liked those dusters that the "lawmen for hire" wore in that movie.

Art of Guild Wars

While browsing at Half Price Books, I came across a piece of artistic goodness called "Art of Guild Wars." Its just the type of "Art of" books that I like: Lots of sketches, roughs and concept art. Aside from the figures, there is a fair bit of environment work, too.

You can view samples of the concept art on the Guild Wars gaming site.

Blue Mystic

I took an hour or so for myself to do a little painting. I put on some Melody Gardot and Diana Krall, while pushing some color and textures around until I had an interesting background to work from. I decided to work without drawing an initial sketch this time. Using the colors from the background, I blocked out the figure and then, refined it. Since I finished in under two hours, this would qualify as a speed painting.

It was relaxing to do a one sitting painting. I have to find the time to do them more regularly.

Unfinished Works - Elf Portrait

Sharing another abandoned piece. I can't remember why I stopped working on this one. I suspect that it was during one of times when I had several paintings going at the same time. I still like the composition. I was trying out repeating an element in the painting. In this case, it was the angle. You'll notice that the leaves, the top of the tunic, canting of the head (and subsequent angling of the feature, direction of the eyes, angle of the hand and slope of the shoulder (our right).

Repeating an element or color kind of "harmonizes" the painting. If done well, the viewer probably wouldn't recognize why the painting is pleasing, just that it is.

After looking over this one again, I may take a crack at finishing it, but no promises! LOL

Character Study - Orc

A quick character study of an Orc. Mostly, it was an excuse to slap textures and colors onto a page to see what would happen. Turned out to be a pretty fun piece to do and its always nice to be able to post brand new work.

Bigfoot

Goofing around with a photo. It just seemed to need a Bigfoot, so I painted one in.

Unfinished - Sci Fi Female

Like most artists, I have a number of unfinished or abandoned pieces of art. Despite my best intentions, I rarely get back to them. Its hard to continue advancing the older works, once I've set them aside, because my style may have changed or my technique has advanced. Still, I think some of them deserve to see the light of day. So, I'll begin interspersing the better ones among my other posts.

As I recall, this one was an attempt at utilizing some Manga-esque elements as accents on my own figures.

Rough Work

I picked up another book of Frazetta's art titled "Rough Work." Its a collection of his roughs, thumbnails and sketches. Its a nice companion book to, "Icon," which contains finished Frazetta pieces. Its very informative to look at the roughs of the covers for works like "Conan the Usurper" and then go to the finished piece in "Icon." I love seeing the progression from concept to completion. This particular piece is a study in adding tension and immediacy to a painting. I also like seeing the rough sketches of those larger than life figures that he's made into such a trademark style.

This the third Frazetta book that I've added to my collection. The other being "The Frazetta Pillow Book" (Which I picked up for a mere five bucks!). I really enjoy Frazetta's work. There's a lot to enjoy and to learn from. I recommend adding "Rough Work" to your library.