Birds Speed Paint 1

Just a quick start for a speed paint exercise. I found some images on r/accidentalrenaissance and have gone to town using them as master studies.

Trick 3D Concept Art 1

Back in January, I worked with Trick 3D  on a VR experience designed for Delta. The game simulates flying through clouds as you hit balloons filled with colored dye. This creates smoke trails through the sky. At the end of the game, you will see the design you have created using the smoke trails.

Here is one of the earlier sketches I created for the game.

Night Knight Double Exposure Exercise

Been seening a lot of double exposure art popping out lately so I decided to try my own creation using the photobash technique employed in some of my concept pieces. I tend to draw super realistic but this time it allows me to combine graphic design with illustration work. Sometimes inspiration arrive at odd hours so I try to create as much as humanly possible before the sweet release of sleep.

For Night Knight, I used many photos of clouds, forests, castles, birds, and armor pieces to compose this twilight sentinel. Queue theme song from that super popular HBO series with knights, wolves, holding doors, and...winter...yeah.

Night Knight, Sweet Dreams :D

Onyx Ghost Concept Art for Dark Age

Hi Everyone, so at the start of 2018, Dark Age unveiled another unit for their Bounty Hunter faction list, the Onyx Ghost. It is an imposing figure, decked with a lethal arsenal, and filled with a maniacal pursuit of wanton destruction. It trudges through the desert steppes of Samaria searching for its next victim with inhuman glee. Where did it come from, who created it, and what does it want? Read the lore created by Bryan Steele from Cool Mini Or Not at: http://dark-age.com/one-cold-night-on-the-poison-steppe/

So Bryan Steel approached me with the task of designing a mechanized combat-walker that has similar elements to the Xenoshyft Kickstarter Prometheus miniature. He turned the model into a proxy for the Dark Age unit. One of the unit's distinctive feature is that ghostly green face painted on the front of the model.

I started the concept with line drawings, and then a detailed value study. Afterwards, I tried out various color combinations and textures. It was fun designing all the mechanical parts trying to find a good blend between a sleek high tech look, and that worn, rusty look that Dark Age art is known for. 

Black and white value study

Military olive green color scheme.

Black and navy blue body with a green face-paint color scheme.

Speed Paint Saturday!

Hi Everyone,

On Saturday, I had a friend, Mike Mays drop by for a drawing session where we went over various concept art techniques. I did a quick 1 hour demo exercise to build up painting skills.

Credit Photo Reference: Craig Hart

For the exercise we discussed how color theory can be applied to push the depth and focus of a painting. The snowy landscape is a classic example of the use of complementary colors to help separate the various planes in the image. During the exercise, I explained that for starter it is ok to use the color extractor tool, but ultimately the goal is to be able to locate colors just by using your observational skills. I then showed the various brush shapes used for the painting. I stayed mainly with the default PS round and crunchy brushes, though I did use a custom cloud brush for the smoky mist at the top.

Mike has a comic book illustration background but wanted to move toward the painterly concept art style. I recommended that he study the "Color and Light" book by James Gurney and Noah Bradley's painting channel on YouTube. To get better at these pieces is to familiarize yourself with  fundamentals until they become second nature.

We Exist Trailer 2018

Hi everyone,



Here is an updated trailer for We Exist showcasing some game play elements.