My Favorite Artists - Peter Mullen

 

Heya folks!  I'm back with another artist interview, this time with the amazing Peter Mullen!  His strong black and white and colored pencil work has been included in multiple gaming systems, including DCC RPG and Swords & Wizardry.  He's an amazingly talented artist that has been a big inspiration to me, I'm very proud to introduce to you, Peter Mullen!  More after the break!

My Favorite Artists - Michael Prescott

I would like to introduce you all Michael Prescott, he's an RPG artist that runs the I'll See It When I Believe It blog and Trilemma Adventures.  He self publishes one, two and three page system agnostic adventures that he beautifully illustrates himself.  His style is clean and sharp and he has a fantastic sense of perspective.  He runs a Patreon campaign here: Michael Prescott is creating adventures!  Head on over and support him for as little as $1.00 per adventure! I really appreciate Michael doing this interview, to learn more about him read on after the break!

New Art - Caradhras

Heya folks,

I just finished up this piece.  It was created in ArtRage4 and edited in Photoshop.  I've always had a fascination with the mountains and wanted to paint one but I also wanted to make something that resides in Tolkien's world.  Meld the two together and voila!  Caradhras, one of the mightiest peaks in the Misty Mountains!

ArtRage is a really neat program, the digital oil's really flows like real life oils, they blend and meld together to create all kinds of unexpected colors and they leave these wonderful brush strokes that give the painting some depth.  All of the mountain and foreground were done in digital oils, the sky was done in digital watercolor.  If you look close on the left hand side you can see a Ranger and a small Hobbit admiring the view.

Unfortunatly the final image is very small, only 6x5 inches at 150dpi.  I started drawing this in ArtRage on my iPad and was not aware that the resolution was so small.  Once I transfered over to my full blown PC I become aware that it was such a low resolution.  Well live and learn, I won't make that mistake again!

Thanks for looking!

Happy Memorial Weekend

Lily stopping by to say hi!

I just wanted to wish everyone a happy and safe memorial weekend.  A very hearty thanks to those that have served or are still actively serving our country.

It's been a busy weekend for me, in the last twenty four hours I have gone for a seven mike bike ride - and walked the last mile as I took a bit of a tumble and snapped my derailleur hanger - dropped off my bike at the bike shop for repairs, attended a three year old's birthday party, cleaned the house, went grocery shopping, cleaned my garage and basement, spent some time painting on my cosmic horror piece and did some human gesture drawings.  Thanks goodness I have one additional day this weekend!  We have a party/cook out tomorrow and I can't wait for burgers!  RED MEAT, nom, nom nom.

Anyway I hope you all enjoy whats left of the weekend, take care!

P.S. I'm thinking about watching Deadpool tomorrow, is it worth the time?

Minutes before the crash

My Favorite Artists - Skinner

 

I'm very excited to introduce today's featured artist!  Known as Skinner he is a full time artist that creates some of the most imaginative, interesting and bizarre art I've ever seen.  He has pieces inspired by Lovecraft and D&D and works in multiple mediums including print, sculpture, painting and many others.  You might have seen his work on Adult Swim or if you live in the San Francisco/Oakland CA areas you may have seen one of his many shows there.  I'm very happy to introduce you my readers to a true original and a very talented man, Skinner! 

• First of all, thanks for taking some time out of your day to speak with me, please introduce yourself and give us a brief bio:

My name is Skinner and I make art for a living. I do a bunch of different stuff. I write stories and paint and make music videos and conceptualize shit and theorize about life and stuff.

• When did you first discover your creative talents?

When I was a little ass kid trying to figure out how to draw monsters and dinosaurs. I wasn't conscious of it being anything other then an interest in trying to emulate stuff that a little ass kid likes. You just draw sharks and hulk hogans and enjoy it. No one thinks it's art really.

• How would you describe your style and where do you draw your inspiration from?

Describing my style is weird because I do so many different kinds. Illustrative comic book style or fantasy paintings but mostly my style is just little kid trying to make something look good. My inspiration comes from fantasy artists and comic book artists and old illustrators. Marvel comics back in the day. Stuff like that. Jack Kirby.

• Who is your favorite artist? What draws you towards his or her artwork?

One of my favorite artists is Louie Cordero from the Philippines. I love a ton of artists but he's alive and still doing stuff and since my favorite artists are dead I thought I'd mention him. His shit is so fucking weird and great! It's like a surreal Ghana movie poster mixed with Japanese vibes and Satan.

• Is art a full time occupation for you, if not what do you do for a living?

I do art full time. Always on the grind!

 

• What projects are you currently working on?

 

Finishing an animated music video for high on fire. Commercials for adult swim and my own illustrations and paintings. I have been writing a lot of stories and show pitches these days. 

• What type of work do you enjoy doing most?

 

My own weird fantasy paintings or inking. Writing is fun as fuck too but painting lovecraftian fantasy shit is probably the best.

• You've created art inspired by D&D, are you yourself a gamer and if so what are your favorite games?  How did being a gamer influence your style? 

I wish I had time. I grew up memorizing every little detail of my monster manuals and fiend folios and shit. I loved it so much. Now I just kinda honor it in my work! Old AD&D art was so crazy. Trampier was a standout and Errol Otus. I got to hang with Larry Elmore at comic con! He's great!

• Who is your favorite musical artist and why?

I'm into Melvins! Always pushing subversive rock and fuck it attitude in the face of a world that wants to contrive everything and make a buck. Melvins make art not products.

• What was the last book you read?

Alan Moore biography and some Clark Ashton smith. Just finished Mezolith which is an amazing book full of prehistoric folk tale stuff! 

• What is your favorite place that you have traveled to?

 

Cuba hands down. 

• What superpower would you have and why?

 

The power to make people shit their pants at my behest. Whenever I want. Any distance. Don't cross me. 

• Where can the readers go to see your art?

http://www.theartofskinner.com/ or http://shopcriticalhit.com/

• Are there any books, videos, or other forms of media that you would recommend to new artists to help them learn? 

Oh shit man everything's so available now. I wouldn't know where to start. Shit I don't know. How bout anatomy by Burne Hogarth, Frazetta paintings and drawings and maybe " How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way".

• Lastly, any words of advice for aspiring artists?

 

Well, don't get lured in by the validation that comes from people liking your stuff on the Internet. You can't base your growth on that. You have to put in an insane amount of work before you don't even kinda not suck let alone before you've developed an even small level of your own style. Just don't be lazy about putting in work. Put your heart into it ya lazy bum! It's the best!

Eureka!!

Two of my Holy Grail's!

Heya folks!

It's been a little while since I have been around here.  Things have been crazy in real life which hasn't left me much time for gaming.  So here's an update as to whats going on;

See that wonderful picture at the top of the page?  Both of those beautiful babies arrived today, I have been wanting them both for a very long time and I finally splurged and picked them up.  Both are complete and in decent condition, I purchased them from Noble Knight Games, somewhat expensive (especially Queen of the Spiders) but totally worth it!  Looks like I have some reading to do!  If you're not aware of Noble Knight Games go check them out, they are a great source for out of print stuff.

I have my feelers out there for a couple of artist interviews, I'm not going to say anything yet but I am pretty excited.  Lets hope everything works out, so keep an eye on this space!  I also signed up for a online figure drawing class so I can improve my depiction of the human form.  I will be starting soon and am really looking forward to it.

My wife and I also have very good news, we have a baby girl on the way!  She just entered the third trimester this week with a June due date so its been all hands on deck getting ready for our little bundle.  I am so excited and nervous, I'm going crazy!  The baby room is almost done and we have birthing classes this coming weekend as well as baptism classes with our church this Wednesday.  I never knew that one little human needed so much stuff!

Anyway I hope you are all well, take care and I'll be back soon!

New Art - Norman Motte and Bailey

Heya folks,

I finished up a new piece this weekend.  I wanted to do a landscape with a motte and bailey castle and the surrounding countryside.  I used a program that is new to me called ArtRage 4, it's the closest thing you can get to actually using a brush and paint.  The brushes leave strokes and you can smear them with a pallet knife or roller, its really pretty cool.  After I was done I took it into Photoshop and made a few final adjustments.

Overall I'm semi happy with it, it took me much longer than I expected and learning a new program was time consuming.  It was a good experience but I think I can do better!  Next up will be a real acrylic painting, I just picked up a 36x48 canvas yesterday and I am thinking of doing a cosmic/horror/Lovecraftian style painting.  Then its on to figure drawing, I hope to be able to do some historical illustration (merging my love of art and history) in my spare time so I need to work hard on learning the human figure!

Thanks for looking!

New Art - Einar, Viking Warrior

Heya folks,

Here's another piece from me.  Viking Warrior from the 8th century drawn in pen and ink and colored in da Photoshop.  I feel like I'm really struggling with the human form, I'm going to spend the next few months working on the basics of human form through lots of practice.  I'm happy with how this guy came out but feel like he could be alot better if I knew the mechanics of the body better! 

Anyway thanks for looking!  I have some reviews coming up soon so keep your eyes peeled on this spot!

Temple of Elemental Evil - Memorial Book

 

So I promised you guys the ToEE Memorial book I put together and I'm a man of my word, so here it is!

Get the book HERE!

Inside the MASSIVE tome you will find the following;

Page 1 - Ma homemade cover.

Page 3 - Our adventuring company logo, the Latin at the top stands for "Death is certain, the hour is uncertain"  I thought that was appropriate ;)

Page 4 - Charter for out adventuring company.

Page 5 - Charter for the town of Hommlett.

Pages 8-13 - Iron Woods Keep, built by our heroes after vanquishing the Temple, they expanded on the tower that was already in Hommlett.

Pages 15-27 - Character sheets, character illustrations, spellbooks.

Pages 28-37 - Maps of what we explored!

Pages 38-41 - Images from the temple, the Riddle of the Temple and the Orb of Golden Death illustration.

Pages 42-42 - Just for shits and giggles.

That's it!  I had a lot of fun putting this little book together, we spent so much time running this adventure, it deserved the royal treatment!  Thanks for looking!

New Art - Heroes of the Temple of Elemental Evil

After spending seven years delving into the Temple of Elemental Evil with my friend Dan I decided to put together a little book.  The book included the most up to date character sheets, maps, a company charter for the Iron Woods Adventuring Company as well as little pictures that I drew of each character.

I took those character drawings, colored them in Photoshop and threw in the cover image from the ToEE in the background to create this AMAZING (said sarcastically) piece of art. 

These are the characters that survived the Temple.  They are (from left to right);

Rahan, elven thief
Vallon, human fighter
Jess, human cleric of Mayaheine
Marhev, human fighter
Kayla, human wizard

I'll probably post the whole book I put together at some point, I just thought this would be fun to share!

New Art - Aelfric, Saxon Warrior

Meet Aelfric, Saxon Warrior from the 7th century!  The overall figure is based on a Romeo Models 54mm Saxon Warrior with changes to the head and color scheme.  Again this was done in pen and ink on Bristol board and scanned and colored in Photoshop.  Next up will be a Viking Raider!

New Art - Odin's Fury

 

Here's a piece I did this weekend while snowed in with no place to go!  I wanted to try and make something with an almost woodblock cut feel to.  Again its pen and ink on bristol board, scanned and cleaned up in Photoshop.  

I have also started working on my Saxon Warrior piece, I'll be posting more soon!  Thanks for looking!

New Art - Nerovens de Wylye, Breton Knight

Heya folks,

Here's my latest piece!  This is Nerovens de Wylye, Breton Knight and godless pagan.  The pose is based off a photograph that I found online.  His heraldry was actually designed in a program called Coat of Arms Design Studio, the full program is available for download for a few bucks but they also have a web based version that is free, its pretty cool so go check it out!  Heraldographer

This piece was also drawn on bristol board with pen and ink and then colored in Photoshop, here are a few of the steps:

Pencil block in.

Pencil refinement.

First pass with the pen and ink.

Shading done and ready for scan!

I also made a character sheet for him in Pendragon, check it out below!

New Art - Cyfan y Arth, Breton Knight

Heya folks,

Here's a new piece of art from me this week!  This is Cynfan y Arth (the Bear), Breton Knight and all around badass.  I actually made this piece to accompany a character I made for the Pendragon RPG, I'll post his character sheet below.

The pose is based on an Angus McBride illustration of a Breton Knight.  I changed the shield, sword, face, added a beard and dagger.  It was done in pen and ink on Bristol board and then scanned into Photoshop and colored.  I struggled with the color profile, once I was done I tried to save it but the colors were wayyyyy off.  I had to go back and change the color profile for my monitor to get things to gel.

More after the break!

New Art - The Watcher in the Dark

The Watcher in the Dark

This is a pen and ink piece I created today, inspired heavily by Stefan Poag's artwork.  I am really focusing my spare time on my art and am participating in several online drawing programs.  I really need to learn how to draw the human body, my people are always stick figures!!  I find that emulating an artist that I like and using their work as a guide helps immensely, I have so much to learn!

Anyway, you can see some of my other work at my Deviant Art page.  Thanks for looking!

Steve Zieser - RIP

For those of you that have followed my blog for some time you are aware of the Our Favorite Artists posts that I have done in the past, well today I am sad to inform you that Steve Zieser, one of my favorite artists and an interviewee for the site has passed away after a ten year battle with cancer. 

Steve helped to inspired me to get back into art after after seeing his wonderful cover for the Labyrinth Lord Referee screen and his many other D&D themed pieces. I will always be thankfull to him for the inspiration and for taking the time to answer my questions.

My heart is heavy to hear of his passing, my condolences to all his friends and family, you are all in my thoughts and prayers.

See Steve's interview: HERE

Steve's Art Blog: HERE

Stop on by his Facebook page and leave a few kind words: HERE

The Citaedel (SP) Part 3 - 1980's Comic

Here's the final episode of my 1980's childhood fantasy story.  It's been fun posting these, it was a nice trip down memory lane.  Today's episode involves the Dragon Drog, totally inspired by Smaug.  I had intended to continue on and create other stories but lost interest.  I hope you all enjoy!

The Citaedel (SP) Part 2 - 1980's Comic

Here's part two of my Citaedel (sp) comic series from the 1980's.  Enjoy Gandrif (I wonder what other wizard name that is ripping off?!) and his army of skeletons!  Part three will be arriving soon!

The Citaedel (SP) - 1980's Comic

Above is the first of a three part comic I drew back in middle school, some time in the 1980's (am I that old?!  Sheesh).  The title is obviously misspelled and the art and story are atrocious, but its not without it's childish charms.  My friend recently found these in the bottom of a drawer so I scanned them in and am sharing them with the world.  Please enjoy and I will be posting the next two parts in the next week or so.

My Favorite Artists - Zhu Bajiee

I am very excited to announce that for today's Our Favorite Artists post I had the pleasure of interviewing none other than Zhu Bajiee.  Zhu has been involved with both Barrowmaze I and II and has also done work for Red Box Games. Zhu took a few minutes out of his schedule to answer some questions for me back in 2012, and now in 2014 I present to you dear readers his interview!

• First of all, thanks for taking some time out of your day to speak with me, please introduce yourself and give us a brief bio:

Hi! I'm Zhu, which is my artist name. I have  a real one too.

• When did you first discover your creative talents?

All my mates in school said I was better at drawing than them. Then  I went to art college, which was full of people in the same position, and realized that being the best isn't what it's about.

• How would you describe your style and where do you draw your inspiration from?  Do you have a favorite piece you have created?

Black and white, grimy, graphic fantasy. The things that make me most want to draw stem from history and folklore mixed together into modern sensibilities. The writings of Tolkien and Gygax are very inspiring, then so is nature, walking though the wilder, green, growing places of the countryside, and I generate have half a hundred ideas for drawings.  I couldn't choose a favorite piece, it would be unfair to the others.

• Who is your favorite artist? What draws you towards his or her artwork?

There's a whole bunch of people whose work I admire. It's difficult to pick one. If I were to say one that has direct influence on my artwork, it's Aubrey Beardsley, his command of line and space is beyond genius. It's really his craft that gets me - the penmanship, something I've always eschewed in my own art, is exquisite. I generally prefer his more tame pieces (Morte D'Arthur) to his erotic stuff.

• Is art a full time occupation for you?

In the sense that I'm thinking about it when I should be doing other things, yes.

• What projects are you currently working on?

I've got a lot of stuff for Barrowmaze 2 to do for Greg, I'm loving the dungeon-crawl aspects and all the strange archeological references.   I've also got some character designs I'm working on that are at sketches at the moment.  Right now I've got a drawing of a Red Box Games Helsvakt underway, and am just taking a break before doing some more tweaks.

• You've created art for a number of gaming products, are you yourself a gamer and if so what are your favorite games?

Yes, I play games. I really like early editions of Warhammer (more strategic and complex than of late) and AD&D, which is the daddy of them all. The board-game Talisman is fantastic, and I'm also guilty of Fighting Fantasy.

• Who is your favorite musical artist and why?

I listen to a lot of music.  It's a bit cheesy, but music is about setting the mood, staying motivated to work. I've just finished a private commission for a collector, based on early TSR D&D, whilst doing that I almost exclusively listened to folk and electronica - bands like Pentangle, Espers, Goblin, The Advisory Circle. The stuff being put out by Ghostbox records, for me it's very D&D. Today I've been drawing a messed-up psychopathic norse warrior, so I've been listening to 90s grindcore bands like Bolt Thrower, Napalm Death, Carcass.

• What was the last book you read?

Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy.

• Where can the readers go to see your art?

http://realmofzhu.blogspot.co.uk/p/art-of-zhu.html

I've recently set up a deviant art account as well,

http://zhu-bajiee.deviantart.com/

• Lastly, any words of advice for aspiring artists?

I'm not really qualified to offer advice. There are a lot more opportunities to get your work seen by the right people now than ever before, and you can probably find an audience for your work much easier today than 20 years ago.  I've been very fortunate to find people who like what I'm doing enough to commission it, so a big thanks to them.