2010 The Year in Review

2010 has been quite an interesting year, hell it has been an amazing year. I was very fortunate to start getting some really nice jobs, got into ImagineFX (although you won't see me in there till next year), and I won one of the Illuxcon scholarships. It has truly been an amazing year.

In fact I remember talking with a friend of mine Mike Burns about how 2010 was our year. See he as well as my other friend J. S. Choi have all started to get some great jobs this year, things for all of us have really picked up. And if you are not familiar with their work please make sure to check them out.

It feels like our careers are really taking off. Now I am eagerly looking forward to 2011. I have some really cool gigs coming up that I can not wait to share with you guys, and I also have some really awesome personal projects and samples that will be done soon. Also expect the third installment of my pin-up series to be posted soon. It is finished I just have to actually post it.

Hopefully 2011 can be just as exciting as 2010. So cheers to a great new year to you and yours.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Jack the Ripper

About a few months ago my friend and fellow artist J. S. Choi and I were talking to author Doug Brode and we were offered a job working on his graphic novel about Jack the Ripper. This is the test image that we did together for the project. J. S. is the line artist while I do the painting.

The company that is publicizing this seemed to really like the work we did for them. Right now we are finishing up the first few pages and then we should finalize the contract.

Once we get confirmation about everything i will let everyone know. The book will take awhile to illustrate being the fact it is over 150 pages, but once it comes out make sure you pick up a copy of it.

Warrior Atop the Snow Covered Peak (Frazetta Tribute)

After much procrastination with posting here it is my Frazetta tribute piece entitled Warrior Atop the Snow Covered Peak. I have had this done for awhile and already have new sketches to show, so expect those soon.

I think the painting turned out well I really liked where my color palette went, and of course that is all thanks to great Frazetta. I think I will try and play around with these more colorful palettes in the future.

The judging for the gallery that I submitted this to should occur sometime in December, I will make sure to let everyone knows if it gets in the show.

Hopefully i did proper in honor of the great Frazetta.

Illuxcon Wrap Up

Illuxcon was the coolest event ever. I got so much stuff, met so many great artists, and saw lots of awesome presentations, had 34 magic cards signed and bought 10 art books.

I uploaded some pictures one is of myself, J. S Choi, Mike Burns, Brandon, and first ever Illie award winner Mark Zug. Who by the way can rock a guitar. They had a jam night there and it was awesome.

The next has me, J. S. Choi, Mark Nelson and Jon Schindehette. Apparently there was caution, for groping was occurring. But seriously though Mark was great I ended up doing an art book trade with him which was awesome. And Jon was a great guy he looked through my work and gave me some really positive feedback. Hopefully I will be working for him at some point (knocks on wood).

Another picture is of Greg Hildebrandt working on a painting of Smaug. A really cool thing had happened when I had the chance to talk to him. I asked him if he could sign some of my magic cards and he did cause he is a really cool guy. Then I gave him some of my postcards in return. And when he looked at my work he told me it was beautiful and asked ME if I would sign them for him. That was such a magnificent experience it was a huge highlight of the convention.

There are a million other stories of awesome that happened that weekend but I will not bore you with the details. I most definitely plan on going back next year. So on a final note.

Jeannie and Pat are amazing and I thank them and those who donated art to the scholarship so much. It is an experience I will treasure forever.

ILLUXCON WOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

Currently I am sitting in my hotel room just waiting to head over to Illuxcon. It is going to be intense so much stuff to do. I am so excited.

I am sure I will have tons of new pictures and new stuff to share soon but until then I shall share my excitement.....

ILLUXCON WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!

Frazetta Tribute DRAWING

I know I have been way past posting this but here it is the finished drawing to my Frazetta Tribute piece. The funny thing is I am already done with the painting so expect to see that posted soon. I have just been caught up by many things the past few weeks. In fact, I am currently posting this from the airport as I am waiting to head to Florida for my cousin's wedding.

As far as the drawing goes I reworked her anatomy a bit and played around with the gesture of the cats. I think it turned out well and the finish painting I am really proud of.

Expect to see the finish for this as well as some brand new stuff for my sci-fi/fantasy pin-up series, and some special new awesomeness.

That is all for now, as I am leaving on a jet plane.

P.S. a belated Happy Halloween I hope everyone had a good time.

Imagine FX AWESOMENESS!!!!

About a month and a half ago I was informed that I am scheduled to be in issue 67 of Imagine FX, (however the specific issue is subject to change). Imagine FX is a fantasy digital art magazine based out of the UK. I am set to be featured in the FXpose section.

Some of the art you'll see will be pieces from my sci-fi/fantasy pin-up series as well as my Beowulf series.

This is the first time I will be in Imagine FX so I am extremely excited. The issue itself will be released in the UK on February 8th and then between 3 to 4 week later here in the states. It will be awhile before it's out but I will make sure to keep everyone informed between now and then. Make sure you go pick up a copy.

Frazetta Tribute

I am currently working on a Frank Fraztta tribute piece. It is my submission for a gallery that is putting together a full tribute exhibition. They already have uploaded some work in progress and finished work at there site here.

With this piece I wanted to get the essence of Frazetta's work, thus naked woman with big cats. At the same time I tried to pay special attention to the composition as well as the style of facial features.

I actually took a lot of influence from some Frazetta pieces that are not women with big cats. One such piece is Frazetta's snow giants. I used that as the basis for color as well as the environment. As well as his cover to Dark Crusade. I was greatly influenced by the symmetrical composition that is balanced on each side by cliff faces.

This piece while very much a pin up is not a part of my ongoing pin up series. That I will however be continuing very shortly so expect to see some new progress on those. I should have this finished soon so keep a look out for it.

Fantasy Flight Games

So I have been meaning to give this update for awhile but I keep forgetting. Over the summer I was extremely fortunate to get work with Fantasy Flight Games. They had me illustrate for one of their trading card games. I just wanted to express how great of an experience it was. Zoe and Mike were great to work with, it was really a lot of fun. Hopefully I will work with them again soon.

The product I worked on should be released sometime in December so expect to see the art and everything around then. Be sure to keep a look out for it.

Beowulf Step by Step Part 3

This is the final part in my Beowulf step by step series. The process for this one is the same as my previous pieces so first off I will re-quote myself; "I treat my digital work the same as I do a traditional painting. I start with a finished drawing then do a flat color wash as an underpainting. I also change the actual color of the linework as well, this I do in my traditional by tracing my drawing with colored pencils, or by printing out the drawing in a different color before mounting.

After that I roughly block in my colors and values, colorpicking from my original studies, it helps save lots of time.

Then I re-work and refine everything, make any appropriate changes until I finish. That is a very rough summation of my process but I figure it helps."

There are a few things that were unique to this piece. Mostly as you can see I had to pay particular attention to the edges of certain parts such as the wings of the crows. While I start off blocking them in roughly I then go in and create specific hard edges to them. Since in the end I do not want hard edges I go back in and repaint and soften them. This may seem like extra effort for no reason but I find that it helps me more specifically control my shapes.

So this is a run down of my process as always if you have any specific questions feel free to ask.

Beowulf Step by Step Part 2

Man it has been a busy few weeks. Writing can really consume your time. I am sorry for the delay but here is part 2 of my step by step pieces.

My process here is pretty much the same as before, with some slight changes. Such as you can see between steps 6 and 7 I altered the colors from what I originally had. I used a colorize layer in Painter for this, I really really love the way it works. It allows me to change any color I want without altering the value. The only other significant difference that is seen is in the early steps where you can see I started off by planning out the highlight shapes. This helped me figure out how much contrast I would need in certain areas for focus.

Since the rest of the process is the same I will just quote myself for the rough explanation.
"I treat my digital work the same as I do a traditional painting. I start with a finished drawing then do a flat color wash as an underpainting. I also change the actual color of the linework as well, this I do in my traditional by tracing my drawing with colored pencils, or by printing out the drawing in a different color before mounting.

After that I roughly block in my colors and values, colorpicking from my original studies, it helps save lots of time.

Then I re-work and refine everything, make any appropriate changes until I finish. That is a very rough summation of my process but I figure it helps.

But if anyone has any questions about my process I will gladly answer them. I hope you find this informative."

I hope you enjoyed my process.

Hey Look I Made a LinkedIn

Hey.... I made a LinkedIn, so go check it out. If you happen to have one feel free to connect with me.

Yesterday Must Have Been My Birthday!!!

Yeah it is almost 4:30 in the morning and I am greeting you all at the end of a fun birthday. A few friends and I went to Olive Garden (unlimited soup, salad, and bread-sticks are VERY good) and then we hung out, watched House, and played cards all night. All in all it was a good day.

Since I am still up now I figured I would give an update on what you should expect in the next few weeks. I will have some more step by steps up soon of the rest of my Beowulf series, I should also have a finished drawing of a portrait I have been working on, as well as a very old drawing of a giant flying turtle done soon.

I hope you are looking forward to my new stuff and I hope you enjoy them. Well I am off to bed now to get some rest for a D&D packed day.

Also remember today the 21st of August is Worldwide D&D Game Day, so get a group friends together, a bag of dice, Mountain Dew, Cheetos, and get NERDY.

Ask Away!

Hey everybody. I have recently made a Formspring account. So if you have any questions at all feel free to ask me. I love helping out and giving advice so please do not hesitate to ask anything you wish, just so long as it isn't inappropriate.

Beowulf Step by Step Part 1

This is a step by step for the first piece in my Beowulf series. I had never posted a step by step before but thought some might be interested in my process.

I treat my digital work the same as I do a traditional painting. I start with a finished drawing then do a flat color wash as an underpainting. I also change the actual color of the linework as well, this I do in my traditional by tracing my drawing with colored pencils, or by printing out the drawing in a different color before mounting.

After that I roughly block in my colors and values, colorpicking from my original studies, it helps save lots of time.

Then I re-work and refine everything, make any appropriate changes until I finish. That is a very rough summation of my process but I figure it helps.

But if anyone has any questions about my process I will gladly answer them. I hope you find this informative.

PLEASE HELP ME WIN!!!

I just entered my piece The End of a Legend for a chance to win prizes from Corel. Please if you would vote for my piece. All you have to do is sign in and then vote. You can also vote everyday so any help you can give would be extremely appreciated. You can vote for my piece here.

ILLUXCON 2010

I just got some awesome news. I won an all expenses paid scholarship to go to Illuxcon this year. I am so excited about it. For those of you who don't know Illuxcon is a convention for fantasy illustration. So many great artists will be there like; Justin Sweet, Daren Bader, Dan Dos Santos, and even Donato. And that is just a very small amount.

I got in on the submission of my The End of a Legend piece.

If you want to know more about Illuxcon check it out here. Illuxcon 2010

I am so excited for this it is a great honor, I am very thankful to have been chosen.

The End of a Legend (Beowulf Series image 3 of 3)

The final image in my Beowulf series entitled The End of a Legend. This one depicts the final battle between Beowulf and the dragon. Unlike his previous battles this one takes place years later after Beowulf is made king. A dragon begins to terrify Beowulf's land setting fire to all he sees. Beowulf with a group of thanes then faces off against the dragon. When the battle begins all of Beowulf's men except for Wiglaf abandon him. At the end of the fight Beowulf and the dragon both lie dead and Wiglaf sees to him. Wiglaf being Beowulf's only relative becomes the next king.

To contrast with my other pieces I wanted this one to depict the end of the battle, the aftermath of the carnage. I thought a nice way to show this was through the use of an above view so we could see the crows looking down upon the feast before them. I thought this quite appropriate as crows are very symbolic of death.

With the design of the dragon I wanted to keep with the same mammalian and aquatic fusion that Grendel and his mother had. I decided to give him a mane down his whole neck. I figured that any creature who lives in such a cold environment would need to have some form of warmth. He has the similar fin nature to his ear that Grendel and his mother does, but the main aquatic feature I gave him was to base his design off an eel.

I was really proud of how this piece turned out, I hope all of you enjoy it as well.

ArtOrder Feature

ArtOrder is a great site hosted by Jon Schindehette Art Director for D&D. On his latest post he was nice enough to feature one of my images. I was very flattered to say the least. If you do not know the site please check it out it is well worth the visit.

ArtOrder Priorities: Making TIme

ArtOrder

Mother of Grendel Grief-Wracked and Ravenous (Beowulf Series image 2 of 3)

Part two of my Beowulf series. This is the second battle Beowulf has in the epic, where he faces off against the mother of Grendel. Unlike the first piece, I wanted this one to depict the heat of the battle. I wanted Beowulf struggling to fight to show that even he can not handle the wrath of Grendel's mother.

I also really wanted to get that fierce emotion across of Grendel's mother. To show how much she loved her son as her love was turned into unmitigated rage against his killer.

Unlike Grendel I wanted to depict his mother with a slightly more humanistic appearance to make her a bit more sympathetic. For even Beowulf says that unlike the beast Grendel he can understand that Grendel's mother had to do what she did to avenge her kinsman.

Since Grendel's mother is said to look like that of a water demon I thought what if I combined a naga or serpent creature with that of a merrow and have a serpentine tail but with a fish fin. I figured this would work for how she travels on land and sea. The text also describes her as a sea-wolf and I wanted to play up that fusion. So I gave her aquatic features such as; fins, hand-webbing, and gills. I then also gave her the wolf-like features of her wolfen eyes, fur covered hands, and large mane.

This was really fun to create, I really enjoyed playing with the design Grendel's mother.

As always this was created in Corel Painter.

The Son of Cain Hunts in Heorot (Beowulf Series image 1 of 3 )

This is the first piece in my Beowulf series entitled "The Son of Cain Hunts in Heorot". I wanted each of the three pieces in the series to depict a battle with the three monsters Beowulf faces. This one shows Beowulf as he begins his epic fight with the beast Grendel.

I wanted this piece to depict the beginning of the battle as the first punches are thrown. Where Beowulf shows great confidence before this supposed threat, as his loyal men cheer him on against the demonic descendant of Cain.

The design of Grendel comes from specific parts of the original text. I show Grendel as this ominous shadowy figure that is almost completely silhouetted. I got this idea from a really interesting part of the book where Grendel is described as a dark shadow that lurks beneath the clouds.

Besides being a giant, Grendel is also said to have been disturbed by the noise of the great hall, thus why I designed him with the large ears. The rest of his physical appearance actually comes from descriptions of his mother. She is said to be a demonic sea creature who is refereed to as a sea-wolf. When I read that I wanted to play up that idea of fusing mammalian and aquatic creature aspects. So Grendel's ears were based upon a wolf but then enlarged to gain a more bat like quality. To incorporate the aquatic aspects I gave Grendel webbing that can be seen in between his fingers.

The piece was drawn out on paper and then painted in Corel Painter. I enjoyed painting it and hope you all like it as well.

We Now Return You to Your Regular Broadcast

Hey everyone I am back. Computer is back and operational and as you can see the blog got a bit of a make-over. I have lots of artwork to post so make sure you stay tuned. I also have some exciting new gigs coming up, once I can give you the specifics I will. I hope you're as excited as me.

We Apologize for the Technical Difficulties

Well recently I have been having trouble with the disc drive on my laptop. It now appears that my comp needs to be shipped to a far away land to be fixed. So long as they can fix it otherwise I will be apparently given a brand new computer. Got to love that Geek Squad coverage. What this means is that I will be offline for the next two weeks or so. However when I get back I will have my full Beowulf illustrations to upload. Sorry that has taken so long but they are finished and all I need to do is actually post them.

That is all for now, I shall see everyone in two weeks.

Goodbye Mr. Frazetta

If you are unaware, today we lost a great pioneer to the realm of fantasy art, Frank Frazetta. He was a legend, an icon, and an artistic genius. Frazetta revolutionized the fantasy genre, it is thanks to him that the fantasy/sci-fi genre is what it is today. If it not for him fantasy would still be an underground movement and not the massively appreciated genre it is today. His paintings have been a great inspiration to me, from their subject matter, composition, to the sophisticated painting style they had. His artwork has continued to influence me since the day I saw it. He was a great pioneer who without his inspiration I am not sure I would be the artist I am today. If you are not familiar with his work look it up right now. And don't just google a few images, find a book of his and look I mean really look at it only then can you truly appreciate it.

So to Mr. Frazetta I want to say thank you for everything you will be missed. Cheers.

NOTE* to see some of Frank Frazetta's work go here frankfrazetta.org the unofficial website.

More information about his passing can be seen here Frank Frazetta dies at 82, NY Times.

Beowulf the Complete Series DRAWINGS

This a compilation image that depicts all three pieces of my Beowulf project.

Beowulf Faces the Dragon, The Final Battle DRAWING

This is the third and final image to my Beowulf series. This piece depicts the ending of his final battle against the dragon.

Beowulf Faces Grendel's Mother DRAWING

This is the second piece in the Beowulf Series. This one depicts the awesome underwater battle between the hero Beowulf and the vengeful mother of Grendel.

Beowulf Faces Grendel DRAWING

I meant to upload my drawings much sooner but better late than never. I have actually already finished the paintings for the whole series but one step at a time.

This is the first piece in my Beowulf series. Beowulf braces himself for the epic fight with the beast Grendel while his men cheer him on.

So How Would You Train Your Dragon?

Finally got to see How to Train You Dragon last night, and frankly it was amazing. I loved the story, the characters, the animation, the style, the music; I loved it all. It is definitely going on the DVD list. The best part though was that it was inspiring. I was currently fighting with some ideas on my Beowulf project, and all the issues I was wondering about, the movie helped me solve. So now I feel re-energized and ready to paint.

Also I am finished with the drawings to my Beowulf pieces and I am deep in the paintings. I do not really have the time to upload them all now but in a week or so expect to see a lot.

Rapture of a Maenad

This is a sketch I did to represent the Hellenistic god Dionysus. This piece depicts a maenad (or female devotee who was in a frenzy) of the god Dionysus as she is enthralled by his presence.

I wanted to show the sexual nature of the maenad via her gesture and her revealing outfit, as well as the sensual manner the wine is pouring on her.

I also wanted to convey the dualistic nature of Dionysus himself. One way I did this was by having him wear a split almost yin-yang like mask. However, the main way I wanted to convey his duality was in a more hermaphroditic way. While he is a man with broad shoulders, I added feminine features to him. You can see that he has not male pecs but female like breasts as well as very voluptuous hips.

This was a fun sketch, I normally don't do this kind of surrealistic imagery but I think I may do it more often.

Figure Painting in the New Age

A few weeks back I did something interesting with the digital painting class I teach. I had a model come in and we did some live digital painting from the model. I figured it was a nice relaxing class to have just before spring break.

The model was great, the students did a great job, and I think they really enjoyed it.

The REAL Beowulf

I know it has been a bit since my last post but I assure you I will have a lot to show you soon. I wanted to upload this to start off. It is from my reference shoot with my model Wil for the Beowulf project.

Since I generally like to show my process on this blog I figured I should show some of my reference shots for once, and I figured since this shoot turned out particularly well I would show something from it.

I am actually quite far on the project as of right now I am working on the third and final finish drawing for the project. Expect to see some finish drawings soon as well as some other posts.

The Cosmic Web

This is a simple sketch I did recently. It is based upon the meditations of Marcus Aurelius. Being a Stoic philosopher he had belief that everyone was connected via the celestial whole by a kind of cosmic web. Any slight change to the web affects everyone and everything in some form.

Simple drawing but I had fun playing with webs, I rarely get a chance to do that.

Now in COLOR

I have been a bit busy as of late so I have neglected my posting. I do however have many things to post. This one is the color studies for my Beowulf project.

I think I will end up going with the bottom ones for the first two projects and then a combination of the 2 for the third one, with it being dominantly the green one. It does seem to give a more eerie vibe which I like.

I have already shot my reference and even finished some of the drawings so expect to see those soon.

and........ FENCE!

This is a quick illustration I had done recently. After taking a fencing class I wanted to incorporate my new found knowledge of proper fencing stances into my sci-fi/fantasy work. The female fighter is striking at the male opponent with a lunge while he defends with parry #8.

I decided to apply this new knowledge to what the future Olympics would be like. Which obviously would be involve jet pack feet and matches in the sky. I also based their new full body armor upon the current fencing uniforms. While there are some significant changes you can see great similarities in the torso armor, as well as gloves and masks.

You may also notice that the fighters are from German and Italy respectively. I did this as homage to the 2008 Olympic games. For they represent the female individual epee winner Britta Heidemann and men's individual epee winner Matteo Tagliariol.

Just a simple painting, but more to come soon, expect some process on my Beowulf project.

BEOWULF value studies

Here is some WIP for my upcoming Beowulf project. Each image represents a battle Beowulf has. First the battle with Grendel, then Grendel's mother, and finally the dragon. I have some color studies in the work as well and will post those soon.

Also later today is the big photo shoot for this project. Perhaps I will show some of the shots as well.

The Salvation of Lucius

A quick drawing I did. It is the climactic scene from the story The Golden Ass by Apuleius. It is a Hellenistic story that depicts the adventures of Lucius who through his own stupidity gets turned into a donkey.

He then goes on a series of adventures until at the end he is visited by the goddess Isis. She then gives him the means to turn back to his former self just this time a bit more enlightened.

I threw in a lot of symbolism to this. Such as the ribbons of fabric around Isis which represent mummification fabric. This being symbolic of Isis' husband Osiris. This is important as it symbolized Lucius' rebirth as well as its shape reflects that of the roads. I did this to symbolize the wandering of Lucius as well as that of the goddess herself.

There are many more instances of symbolism but I won't bore you with all the details.

That is all for now, later.

Tweet Tweet ... Tweety Deet

Made a twitter account so everyone can follow all my activities there. Name of course Level20Atrist.

Wrapped Around Her Finger

The second one is done. Here it is the second in my pin-up series called Wrapped Around Her Finger. With this one I wanted to harp back to the classical styles of Frank Frazetta, with the sensual women in the wild with mythical serpents. However, I wanted to get a more fantastical ideal across with her, instead of just a woman with snakes. Thus I wanted to convey her as this mythic creature who herself is very serpentine-like.

As always the finish is done in Corel Painter.

I may not have time to work on the pin-up series for a little bit. However, the next piece will be my angelic beauty one.

Galactic Temptress: COMPLETE "X Marks the Spot"
Steam Punk Apocalypse: Reference Stage
Serpent Mistress: COMPLETE "Wrapped Around Her Finger"
Cyborg Ferocity: Reference Stage
An Elegant Universe: Reference Stage
Angelic Beauty: Reference Stage
Punkish Self-indulgence: Reference Stage

......Like a Woman Scorned

Here is the finish piece of my lightning goddess "Hell Hath No Fury" done in Corel painter. As I have said in previous posts this is a depiction of my character Irreidia from my mythology as she battles against a horde of wraiths.

Currently I am making the finishing touches upon my serpent mistress and will have that piece posted soon.

That be all for now as I must return to painting.

A New Beginning

A Happy New Year and happy holidays to you all. I know I have been neglecting updating as of late but that's what happens when you visit family and are low on internet. I did however, want to give everyone an update on what images and work in general you can be seeing in the new year.

I shall have the finished image of my lightning goddess soon, I just want to make a couple of tweaks.

My second pin-up the serpent mistress will be finished soon.

I will also start showing some samples of the collaborative projects I have in the work.

And finally I will for fun be illustrating a classical story. I feel taking a classic a placing my own twist on it will be fun. I have not yet fully decided which I shall choose so I will just let that stay a secret for now.

That's all I have to say for now but expect more updates within the next two weeks once I get out of the boiling pot of Florida and I am back in New York.

Until then.