Sunday, July 29, 2012

Worm IN PROGRESS

Recently I had the opportunity to work on personal projects. So I decided to go back on an old drawing of mine and work on finishing it as a painting. Here is an early in progress shot that I thought might be interesting to share. So far I am trying to play with some colors that I have not normally. Hopefully the finish will turn out well. Hope you liked it.

Friday, June 29, 2012

Massive Art Update Part 9: L5R The Lesson of Earth

Welcome to the final installment of the Massive Update. As I said in my last post I saved the best for last. This is my piece The Lesson of Earth for the L5R expansion The Shadow's Embrace. This might seem familiar as I posted the studies for this piece when I first announced my massive update. This piece is by far one of my favorites that I had done for L5R. I really feel like I hit a stride with my painting on this one. The way I composed the piece, the gestures, and the little details like the cobble stone floor. It was definitely a breakthrough piece for me. And I was so excited that I had the opportunity to paint some Naga (snake people) in this piece. Unfortunately as you can tell by the finished card a lot of the parts I liked ended up getting cropped off. I have a feeling that this was do to the fact that when the whole piece shrunk down the important storytelling elements of the stone skin protecting the main figure got lost. And if it had to get cropped for the sake of story then so be it, the narrative must come first. But at least now I can show off the piece and what I love about it.

Sadly that will be the last major art update for a little while as everything else is still under NDA. But fear not in the next few days I will have some exciting news. About a new personal non art related project I am starting which will consist of a brand new blog. I hope your excited cause I know I am.

Thursday, June 28, 2012

Massive Art Update Part 8: FFG Talisman

This illustration called Wolfsbane was my first card done for a different FFG product called Talisman. It was illustrated for their expansion The Blood Moon. 

This unlike my normal high fantasy work takes place in a Gothic horror setting which gave me a nice opportunity to play with the mood of the setting. All in all I was quite pleased with this piece and really excited to work on Talisman.

Since this first piece I had done some more work for Talisman which has been some of my best work as of late. I do really like working on this product as well as with the great AD's at FFG. 

The next post will be the last in the Massive Update series and will feature more card work. And do not worry I have been saving the best for last. Get ready to see my personal absolute favorite L5R card that I illustrated.

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Massive Art Update Part 7: Magic #4

We are almost at the end of the Massive Update. Here we have the latest published issue of Magic the Gathering. These are pages from issue #4 where the story has culminated in an epic battle between our protagonist and the person he has been hunting. Because this is the big battle that has been culminating for a few issues there are a lot of really great magic spells that are used and thus leading to some of my favorite pages. I really had so much fun coloring some of my favorite magic card spells brought into the comic. Like you can see in page 16 the summoning of a Sturmgeist.

That is all for this update and the last comic update I will have. I hope you have been enjoying the large influx of posts. Next time we go back to the card art.


Monday, June 25, 2012

Massive Art Update Part 6: L5R The Scorpion Wall is Finished


This piece was done for Legend of the Five Rings set Embers of War. It is entitled The Scorpion Wall is Finished. This is one of my favorite pieces I had done for L5R. I especially love the level of detail I got in this one. I also really loved the idea of the contrasting sides of the wall playing with different types of environments. 

You can tell how much I like this as I now have it as a new banner at the top of my blog. This is of course unless you are reading this in the distant future and by this point I had changed it. If that is the case sorry for being a liar.

I hope you guys enjoy this piece as much as I did. Stay tuned for part 7 which will bring us back to some more comic work.

Sunday, June 24, 2012

Massive Art Update Part 5: FFG Call of Cthulhu


Continuing with part 5 is an update that was a bit surprising. This is a card entitled Brother James Xavier done for the FFG card game for Call of Cthulhu. The set this card is for is the set Lost Rites which is scheduled for release July 2012. Seeing as the set isn't out yet I was not expecting this illustration to be a part of the massive update. However, quite serendipitously I got an e-mail from my AD letting me know the card was previewed on FFG's site. Thus here is the card ready and raring to go for the massive update.

As far as the art goes I think the part I enjoyed most about this one was the face. I had a great model in a friend of mine Jim and I think he really helped shape the character.


That is all for part 5 stay tuned for part 6 which will once again feature some more L5R card work.

Saturday, June 23, 2012

Massive Art Update Part 4: Magic #3

On this update as promised is some more comic work. Specifically one of my favorite pages from Magic #3. I really had fun with the different light sources on this page. I especially liked the first panel where Dack is surrounded by vampires.

Next update expect to see some new card art. But this time not from L5R.

Friday, June 22, 2012

Massive Art Update Part 3: L5R Defensive Grill

This piece is entitled Defensive Grill and was done for the card game Legend of the Five Rings. This card was released in the expansion set called The Shadow's Embrace. Attached is my original illustration as well as how it appears printed on the card.

This is one of many of my cards that have been published in L5R recently. Grill was also one of my favorite cards I had done. I was especially proud at the level of detail I got on the rider that appears closest to us in the image. And I also have quite a fondness for my big fluffy clouds.

I hope you guys enjoy this installment of my Massive update. Expect another one soon which will feature even more comic work.

Thursday, June 21, 2012

Massive Art Update Part 2: Magic #2

Update part 2 is some samples of the coloring work I did for Magic #2. Pages 5, 20, and 21. It has been a pleasure to work on this comic for IDW and especially to color the amazing art of Martin. 

And if you have not been reading this you really should the story is quite fun.

I hope you enjoyed part 2 and stay tuned for some new trading card art in part 3.



Massive Art Update Part 1: Shadowrun

Part 1 of my art update is a piece entitled Impeachment. This piece was done for the table top RPG Shadowrun. It can be seen in the book Conspiracy Theories. Politicians are not my normal forte but this was definitely a fun experience.  

That is it for part 1 stay tuned for more.

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Updates, Studies and LOTS of New Art

After much neglect on my blog I am back and with some good news. In the past few months a lot of new work of mine has been released. This includes some work done for Shadowrun, Legend of the Five Rings, and of course lots of new Magic pages. I plan on spending the next week updating as much as I can and bringing you new artwork.

In the mean time I will leave you with some studies I did for an L5R card that is not yet published but is a piece I am quite proud of and can not wait to share.


I hope you enjoy.

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Images From Free Comic Book Day

Free Comic Book Day was awesome. Got to meet some great fans and had a good time hanging with the staff at Larger Than Life. Since I had so much fun I decided to share some photos from the day including one of me with a quick sketch I did of Ms Marvel for Larger Than Life's owner TJ.

It was a great day and I hope to do it again next year.




Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Rebuilding the Empire

Long time no post. It has been a really busy couple of months and it most likely will continue to be. But I got a free moment to share some new published work.

This card is entitled Rebuilding the Empire and is for AEG's Legend of the 5 Rings Emperor Edition.

Hopefully you enjoy it. And be on the look out for some new images from Magic issues 2 and 3 to be posted soon.

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Improved Defenses

This piece Improved Defenses along with Kakita Maratai were the first two cards I did for L5R. They appear in their card set Second City.

These cards actually tie in together. In this image is the same Kakita woman who was seen sculpting in the other card. You can even see the lion statue (that she is holding in this image) is the same as the one on the bottom right corner of Kakita Maratai

It was really quite fun to have my first two card illustrations for L5R be linked together in this way. i would love to do something like that again.

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Kakita Maratai

After putting off posting this for so long here it is. This is the first card I did for AEG's Legend of the 5 Rings. This piece is entitled Kakita Maratai

I had a lot of fun working on this piece and for L5R. Since this illustration I have been doing lots of work with them for L5R so expect to see more. 

I hope you all like the piece.

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

MAGIC! The Gathering, the Comic... the Colorist

Well the day is finally here the release of IDW's Magic the Gathering comic and the big news..... I was the colorist for this.


This project has been amazing, not only did I get to work with such talented people, but also with a product I love so much. Even when I first started to read the script for this I was like; "I know what that is and I know this plane" I was geeking out to the fullest extent. And as amazing fantasy illustrator Chris Moeller (who did illustrate a variant cover for this issue) told me "it's through IDW, but you know Magic's got to approve it all, so it does touch hallowed ground at some point.' Which just the thought of that makes me smile.


Getting past all the geeking outness the project itself is amazing, the story by Matt Forbeck is awesome, and the linework by Martin Coccolo is just sublime. I mean the second I saw the way he penciled the comic I was thrilled. Especially the way he lets the texture of the pencil show it allows me to bring the colors through the dark shadow areas which is something I love to do. I just hope I did his fantastic linework justice.


The images attached are one of the covers by illustrator Aleksi Briclot and a few of my favorite pages in this issue. Which include our hero running away from a fight, getting into a fight, and about to get into another fight. Needless to say it is action packed.


This has all been really fantastic and I just wanted to thank my editor Carlos Guzman for being so amazing and bringing me in on this. It is a magic nerd's dream.


I hope everyone likes the comic. But make sure to go out there and buy it make it a best seller.



Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Apologies for the Serious Lack of Updates but Here is Why...

Hello everyone. It has been a long time indeed between updates. Much longer than I would have liked but many a thing has kept me away. So, here is a synopsis of what I have been doing these past few months.

One of the unfortunate things that has delayed me is the surgery I had to undertake. It was nothing major just had to have my gallbladder removed but still put me behind on work and caused issues. However, I am successfully recovering and now can eat the fatty food that I so desperately missed.

There was some better news that I was also given. I am now finished with graduate school. I attained my MFA degree in illustration from Syracuse University. And I must say thank you to all the great professors there who helped me truly grow as an artist.

I have also been involved in some very interesting jobs as of late one of which you may be more familiar with if you follow me on facebook. But if not expect a nice long update on that tomorrow.

That is all for now it is great to be back and can not wait to share all the latest news with all those who follow.