Valentine: Day 4

The progress between days three and four once again seems pretty minor.  I've done a bit more work on the face, though it's admittedly very subtle, and I've begun work on the uniform.  Overall, I'm trying to keep the uniform's hues intact, but skew them a bit cooler to keep with my overall planned palette.

The jacket's color presents an interesting challenge.  Wool fabric of the type such uniforms were made absorbs a great deal of light, so even the lightest highlights tend to look rather dark.  Keeping the jacket reading as green and keeping the darks from going to black too quickly is proving to be an interesting challenge.  One final pass should get me there, but we'll see.

The jacket will be lined with fur and there's a bit of a debate going on in my mind as to what color to make that fur.  Depending on the reference, it is depicted as either black or a medium brown.  I've looked up lieutenant uniforms for other Hussar units to see if I could find something more definitive, and it looks like more information points towards black than anything else.  I'll deal with that tomorrow and will for now leave the lined cuffs, collar, etc. unfinished.

The red pants are a also proving to be a bit of a challenge.  In fact, the color red in general has always been something that I've struggled with.  My issues primarily revolve around the colors of highlights and shadows.  I always find cool highlights on red objects to ring oddly false, even when they're accurate, and this case is no different.  I'm also struggling with how intense I want the pants to be.  In real life, they'd be very brilliant.  That is, of course, if they were new.  With this piece, we're dealing with a soldier who is struggling through a Russian winter.  I'm guessing they're not quite pristine.  But that's beside the point.  More important than all of that is what best serves the piece.  I'm going to have to keep aware of whether or not the red becomes distracting.  It think I could push it a bit brighter, as it's easier to kill it later on than bring the purer red back.

It's at this point that I start becoming a bit concerned with anatomical issues like the fact that the head feels a little big for the body and that the hip area feels a little wonky somehow.  Neither of these issues are too difficult to fix, but it wasn't until I started to solidify the figure in any real way that they became noticeable.  I've never been entirely sure why this has always been the case for me, but my brain tends to overlook some issues when it comes to sketches.  Issues that turn around and become problems once the finish is underway.  I'm thinking some additional drawing and perhaps another reference shot or two will help me remedy some of the issues.  This time, perhaps, the reference will be done without a jacket so as to allow the hip area to be more visible.

It's also at this point that I begin to come to the realization that I'm not entirely comfortable with how much Valentine is just floating in the ether.  He's not relating to a whole lot right now, because he's the only thing present.  I'm going to have to start dropping real tones into the piece soon, and start addressing the background in some meaningful way.

Today I will do another pass on the face, and begin to bring the uniform home, then I'll begin blocking in some background tones...or something.

As an aside, I've been on a podcast kick of late.  Thus far, this piece has been painted while listening to the Smartest Man in the World with Greg Proops, the Nerdist Podcast with Chris Hardwick, and the WTF Podcast with Marc Maron.  Curiously, I've found a lot of issues and stories that have been shared by the comedians on these shows to be similar to ones I've heard from illustrators.  It's kind of weird actually.  The really nice thing is that while I am, in fact, alone in my studio, in another sense I'm really not.

Until next time...

Valentine: Day 3

So really quickly, I'm going to show you what some of the home brew reference looks like.  These shots were taken by my wife on our porch.  I went with this location for a couple of reasons.  First, it's open and we have a lot of room to move around.  Second, the light was from the right direction and was diffused to about the degree I was going for.  It was overcast outside and given that I'm doing a snow scene, I thought that to be appropriate.  I suspect that in the future, I'll be shooting quite a bit of reference in this space.  It seemed to work out rather nicely.

©Amy Belledin

©Amy Belledin

These are just a couple of several dozen shots taken (thank goodness for digital photography as doing this with film would be cost prohibitive).  The number of photos taken can vary greatly from piece to piece and is usually related to how many figures are involved or how difficult it is to hold a given pose.  This one turned out to be pretty difficult, and so no single image represents the pose in its entirety.  To deal with situations where this is the case, some illustrators will use Photoshop to create a Frankensteined master image comprised of all the various parts that make up the finished pose.  The left arm from this picture, the torso and right arm from that one, the head from a third, and so on.  This technique is especially helpful when dealing with poses that are physically impossible, but look cool.  While I completely see this technique as valuable, I don't actually use it myself.  Instead, I rename the various photographs with appropriate titles indicating their respective value and switch between them as necessary.  Admittedly, this technique is a little less efficient, but I enjoy the mental math of it all and I find that it helps keep the process interesting.

So, as far as the props and costume go, I am wearing a replica of a Union Army private's uniform from the American Civil War.  While this is not authentic to the Napoleonic era, it is a lot closer than jeans and a t-shirt.  At the very least, the uniform is made of wool, and thus will drape similarly to the Hussar uniform.  Additionally, in order to replicate the various elements on the Hussar uniform, I used copious amounts of masking tape.  Absolutely not authentic at all, but it does provide me good reference points to keep things feeling natural.  For a sash, I used a winter scarf and am ignoring the excess which hangs down in the back.  As you can see, I'm leaning on a stool, and holding a dowel.  Originally I was weilding a sword, but being as athletically disinclined as I am, it proved too awkward and heavy for holding the pose for any prolonged period of time.  Valentine, I am clearly not.  If I had an assistant, or a powerful fan, the jacket would be blowing about appropriately.  As I have neither, I will just be forced to once again do some mental math.

Alright.  On to the painting.

Again, not tons of progress, but true to my word, I concentrated on the face.  I'm not sure I'm completely sold on it quite yet, but I think the majority of the ground work has been done.  The difficulty with this particular face has to do with the fact that I am trying to interpret comic line drawings and translate them with my own sensibilities.  In case no one has taken a look at the character, here's an example of what our hero looks like:

There's a decent amount of information to go with there.  I know he's got a strong chin, I know his general coloration and I can glean the overall shape of his face, cheek bone structure, etc.  So, it's my job to reinterpret that and bring it into my own visual language.  This is a challenge to say the least.

Were this a novel, and I was being asked to depict the main character for the cover, there'd be a little less legwork.  I mean, there isn't any art, just words.  I'd absorb the description as best I can, then try and depict it as accurately as possible.  If someone subsequently read the book and felt that I'd missed the mark, they could just brush it off as "that's not how I imagined them."  Here, I have something to live up to.  If I've missed the mark, someone can point to a given page or panel and say, "look, idiot!  Here is proof that you suck at this!" ...or something to that effect.

Adding to the challenge is that I've been asked to make him a bit more historically accurate for the cover (which requires changes in the hair, changes in the uniform, etc.), thus taking him further away from the pages of the book.  What I'm left with is an attempt to strike a balance between two Valentines.  I must figure out a way to reference what is in the book, but still adhere to the demands of the art order. 

To get a visage that accomplishes this, I started by ignoring my own face in the reference as much as possible.  I kept the lighting in mind and some of the coloration, but the structure needed to be thrown out.  I then started digging up additional reference of models and photos of my friends that were a lot closer to looking like Valentine.  I looked for people with strong chins and similar facial structures to the comic.  I took these various images, put all of them into my mental blender, start painting, and hoped for the best.  Admittedly, there are still elements in the face that feel a bit too similar to my own, but I've used the faces of a couple models and few friends pretty liberally (I'd prove this with photos, but none of them are mine to show).  I've had to do a bit of age regression, but I feel like it's pretty close to what I wanted it to be.  I think.

Anyway, up next for me is starting to work out the pose, the uniform, etc.  Then, I'll likely go on a background bender.  I'll be sweet.  You'll see.

Valentine: Day 2

As I've done in the past, I turned the sketch into a monochrome image (this one was blue), then printed it onto 90 lb. Arches watercolor paper using my trusty Epson Stylus Photo R1900.  I then paste this down onto a piece of Ampersand hardboard, which is a pretty hardy material that doesn't bow too much, if at all... unless you put your painting in the oven.  Then you find yourself in your father-in-law's basement gluing one by twos onto the back of the board to cradle the piece after the fact.  But I digress.

The board I chose is 16 x 20, which presents a slight problem given that the printer's capacity is only 13 inches wide.  How did I get around this?  Simple: I folded the paper back an inch and half on either side of the sheet to get it down to the correct width.  Believe it or not, the printer has no issues with this, and I've yet to have a paper jam.

Now, there are two drawbacks to folding the paper.  First, you don't get the entire sketch printed out, just the center 13 inches (or 12 and three quarters to be more precise).  This wasn't a problem for me as the meat of the sketch is straight down the center.  But, if that weren't the case, I could just fold the paper differently to print a different section of the sketch instead.  Additionally, if you've got a sketch that involves tonal regions, there will obviously be a pretty hard line where the tone cuts out.  I get around this by putting an acrylic wash down that matches the color as close as possible.  I'll do several layers if necessary, but there's usually no need to go too nuts as I paint pretty opaquely to begin with.

The second drawback is that the creases can become raised when the piece is pasted down.  How I deal with this is pretty straightforward.  After printing the sketch, I immediately unfold the sides.  I then take the sketch to a clean, flat surface and using a bone paper folder (or like substance), I try and force out as much of each crease as possible.  While it doesn't flatten the paper out perfectly, it does mitigate some of the issue.  After pasting the image down, the vertical lines will sometimes still be noticeable and the surface will be raised above the folds.  Given that I already coat the surface liberally with acrylic matte medium to begin with, I just do a couple more coats.  Then, after it's dry, I sand the surface down using increasingly fine grades of sandpaper, and ending with a Scotch-Brite pad to buff it out.  While sanding, I pay special attention to where the creases are, and have gotten to the point where I can usually make them relatively invisible.  Unfortunately, I'm never entirely sure just how visible they'll end up being until the final varnish is put on the painting.  All that shine brings serious attention to surface flaws.

Granted, what is listed above is not always how things go down.  Sometimes I go out and get my stuff printed large format without any creases.  It's just that this time I've got a lot going on, and because I've only lived here a month or so, I'm not quite sure yet where I'd go for that kind of thing.

Anyway, after I'm happy with the surface, I give it a final wipe with water and let it dry.  I don't touch the piece again until there isn't even so much as a hint of dampness.  Then I start painting.

I know what you're thinking: I hardly got anything done.  I blocked the figure in and that's it.  You're kind of right if that's what you're thinking — like I said before, I've got two other projects going on — but there actually is a fair bit of work done here.  The fact that the paint has dulled hides a lot of what I've been up to, but I assure you that the value structure has been hammered out.  Next time, I'll oil the piece up before shooting it.

Here's a larger shot of the figure:

So, why jump into the figure?  Do I always start that way?  No.  It's a weird answer, but I start on whatever interests me at the time.  Getting started on a piece is always the most difficult part for me, so I kind of need something fun to initiate things.  In this case, the figure is the most important element and I needed to make sure that I had his palette correct.  I also needed to start pushing him toward the photo reference, which I'll show tomorrow, as I'll have far less to talk about.

Anyway, that's where it stands.  Today I plan to focus primarily on the face and then work out from there.  So, I guess I should get to it...

Valentine... Day 1

I teased this about a year ago but then, as projects sometimes do, it was postponed.  Then, after clearing my schedule in preparation for the move, it reared its head again.  And now, I bring it to you.  The project in question is a cover painting for the print version of volume 1 of an online comic called Valentine, which was written by Alex de Campi and drawn by Christine Larsen.  You can read the comic here and check out the official website here.

Over the coming days, I'm going to post progress pictures right here on the blog and talk a bit about the process as I work on the painting.  I can't promise quality images, or even quality painting, but you should get some idea of how a piece — well, this piece — comes together.  But today, I'm going to go over a bit of the story behind the job and show you all some sketches.

This job came out of the blue for me, not unlike the Badass books.  Unlike the Badass books, the job happened because another artist was kind enough to give the writer, Alex de Campi, my name.  Now, it's been my personal experience that artists recommending other artists for jobs is a bit rare.  And while I've experienced it only once or twice, I know from the illustration grapevine that it does happen a fair bit.  Such a thing can be a risky proposition, to be sure. Should the artist being recommended drop the ball, both the recommended artist and the recommending artist look like jerks.  So, it usually happens between folks who can trust one another.  That is certainly the case on the occasions I've passed along names of other artists to art directors, and I think was the case here.

Anyway, I got the initial email from Alex, and I agreed to do the job.  After we batted around ideas, we settled on the primary elements that needed to be in the image: our hero, Valentine, snow, and a giant worm comprised of the corpses of fallen soldiers.  Valentine needed to be wielding a sword and his uniform needed to be accurate.  Now, given that the comic is set during the Napoleonic War, and given that Valentine is a member of the 7th Hussars, there was some pretty specific reference involved, much of which Alex was nice enough to provide.  I supplemented this reference via a couple books I have (I'm a bit of a war book junkie), and Google Images.  As I don't own the copyright to any of these images, and as I don't have the time to ask permission to use them, I'm not going to post this reference (I play by the rules, sue me).  What I will do is give you this link so you can check out the kind of thing I'm talking about if you're interested.  Finally, specific to the character was a period hairstyle which involved braids on either side of the head.  This is clear in a lot of the reference, and I'm almost positive is present on Keith Carradine in the underrated and under-watched Ridley Scott film, The Duelists.

So, I took all the comprised reference, ran with it, mixed in some ravens which appear repeatedly throughout the story and produced a couple of sketches for Alex's consideration:

In the top sketch, I wanted to have something that was more design and montage oriented (note the zombies in the lower right).  I wanted to give her something that was less a straightforward image.  I don't think I was entirely successful, but I do feel like there's something promising in the overall design, and I think with some tweaks, some back and forth with Alex, and a little more effort, I could have hammered out a sketch that worked.  But it turns out I didn't need to, because sketch number two existed.

The second sketch is a far more direct, straight to the jugular image.  It's Valentine, man of action, struggling against the elements as the worm bears down on him from behind, obscured by the snow.  The sword is obscenely long, but aside from that I think works pretty well and hits all the notes.  Alex seemed to agree and I was given the green light.

But that was a year ago.  And like I said, things happened.  Still, it all worked out, because here we are again.  The piece now sits on my easel, ready for paint.  Hopefully it'll come together nicely.

So, like I said, I'll be posting progress shots as I go.  I don't know that there will always be amazing amounts of work done on the job each day, as I'm currently working on two other projects, but there will certainly be a lot of ground covered at times, so be sure.  After all, this thing is due soon, so I guess I better get to it!

Hinterland Hermit, Hinterland Scourge

Like many of the other artists who worked on the Innistrad Magic block, I got the opportunity to paint a werewolf.  Also like many of those other artists, I got to do so for a double-sided card, which meant two pieces, a before and an after.  Man and... wolfman.

If I'm honest, I don't really have any insight into how the double-sided cards came about.  I only know that the idea was being batted around by Research and Development while I was at Wizards of the Coast working on the concept art.  Being a former player of the game, I was a little taken aback when I heard the idea mentioned, but I got the feeling that there were smarter people than I working on things and that any kinks would get ironed out.  Still, I was pretty curious to see the things come to fruition, and given that I still haven't gotten my hands on one, my curiosity hasn't been completely sated, but I know it's only a matter of time.

Anyway, on to the art...

For this particular assignment, I got the following descriptions:

ART ID: 139794    title: [Hinterland Scourge]
SIZE: 2 1/16" (52mm) wide X 1 1/2" (38mm) tall  

ART DESCRIPTION:
Color: Red creature
Location: In a mountain hamlet. There's a full moon in the sky.
Action: Show the older man from [Hinterland Hermit] transformed into a gray-furred werewolf. Show him lunging at the camera, bloody fangs bared. He's got torn cloth snagged on his claws and teeth from his previous kill. Maybe show the parish church in the background.
Focus: The werewolf
Mood: A predatory killer with no regrets or human emotion.
Notes: LINK to [Hinterland Hermit]
=====================================================

ART ID: 139796    title: [Hinterland Hermit]
SIZE: 2 1/16" (52mm) wide X 1 1/2" (38mm) tall   

ART DESCRIPTION:
Color: Red creature
Location: On the outskirts of a mountain hamlet at dusk 
Action: Show an older gray-haired man crouched beneath a pine tree watching something in the distance. He's the mountain-man type, a scary loner who avoids civilization. He's dressed in furs and leather with a gray beard and long gray hair. It's a full moon tonight, he knows he's a werewolf, and he's really hungry. See styleguide p. 50B for tone of clothing.
Focus: The man
Mood: An unseen killer waiting for the right moment to strike
Notes: LINK to [Hinterland Scourge]

Now, I had nothing to do with the werewolf designs.  That was all Steve Prescott with contributions from Daarken and Wizards' own Richard Whitters.  But, I had helped a fair bit with the human concepting; their wardrobe, architecture and whatnot.  Given that I had those things more in mind, I addressed the hermit first.

©Wizards of the Coast

In essence, I was going for exactly what the description above indicates: a man who observed civilization, yet avoided it.  I chose a moment where he's been startled while looking down upon the town.  It's a pretty straightforward, moody image and it was an instant sell as far as the folks at Wizards were concerned.  In fact, the only change requested was to partially obscure the moon with clouds.  Simple enough.

The werewolf was a different story altogether.  I really struggled with him.  I suspect that werewolves may not be in my wheelhouse, but I consider it a good thing that I was pushed in a direction that I'm not entirely comfortable with.  After many iterations, I finally settled on this:

©Wizards of the Coast

One of the advantages of having both images be on the same card is that there was no need to go over the top to tie the two images together.  By this I mean, I wasn't forced to basically paint the same piece twice with only the figure being different.  Indeed, I tried to keep the palettes similar and I tried to keep the moon placement about the same (though scale and emphasis did change), but I didn't feel like I had to slavishly reproduce the composition of the hermit piece.  Still, I did attempt to reference one in the other, and hopefully they do feel like they belong together, but I'm kind of okay with them feeling quite separate, as well.  Either way, the fine folks at Wizards seemed to be cool with my instincts as the only complaint was that the thumbs on the hands felt too human.  Steve Prescott had designed a really awesome hand for the werewolves that was more paw-like and I apparently hadn't gotten the memo.  So, the thumbs became more like wolf dewclaws, and I was good to go.

As you can see both sketches were digital.  While they started out in pencil, only the hermit has anything that resembles a decent drawing.  As is typical when I do digitally painted sketches, I turned them into monochrome images in Photoshop (I think they may have been violet), then pasted those images down onto the boards.  After that, I pulled out my brushes and went to town.  Here's how they ended up:

©Wizards of the Coast

©Wizards of the Coast

Both are oil on paper on hardboard and measure 14" x 11".

A story about the hermit piece:  As I painted the hermit's face, I noticed that he began to resemble artist Larry Elmore.  It occurred to me that it might be fun to turn the piece into a portrait of one of my childhood heroes, so I went with it.  The problem was that I found Mr. Elmore's face to be jarringly inconsistent with the vibe I was going for.  It was too soft, too kind.  So, in order to keep the piece pointed in the right direction, I was forced to abandon the idea and push the hermit back in the direction the sketch had indicated.  I wish I'd made it work somehow, but it was out of reach and I didn't want to sink the piece on the basis of a whim.

©Wizards of the Coast

Aside from not being able to make the portrait stick, I'm pretty happy with how the pieces turned out.  However, I oddly prefer the sketches to the finishes somehow.  Perhaps it's their rawness, perhaps it has to do with their mood, and perhaps it's to do with the fact that so many of the horror films I grew up with and dug most as a kid were black and white.  I don't know.  What I do know is that I feel like the paintings lost something that is present in the sketches, and I wish that that something had translated a bit better.

©Wizards of the Coast

That being said, upon revisiting these pieces to write this post, I'm still pleased with the Hinterland Hermit as well as the Hinterland Scourge which, as it turns out, is the one and only werewolf I've ever painted.

Geralf's Mind Crusher

In the long list of pieces that I will invariably be stuck with for the rest of my life, we can add Geralf's Mind Crusher.  What can I say about the piece?  Well, it started with the following description:

ART ID: 139875    title: [Maddening Zombie]

ART DESCRIPTION:
Color: Blue creature
Location: Your choice
Action: Show a huge zombie whose head and neck are covered with many eyes of different sizes and colors. It's at least seven feet tall with a stitched-up misshapen body and muscular limbs. Blue-aligned zombies are created by alchemists. They are stitched together parts from multiple corpses and stitches should be visible on its body.
Focus: The zombie
Mood: Just the sight of it induces madness

Simple enough, right?  So I went and did this sketch:

©Wizards of the Coast

I'm not sure what exactly I was thinking when it came to design.  I know that I dug the idea of a layered torso, which lead to the overlapping (and I assume extra) ribcage.  It's got the required stitches, and all those extra eyes make it clear that he's been manipulated in some way and is not just your average, wake-from-the-dead zombie.  This is one of those Frankenstein's monster undead types — alive because someone made it so.

Whether or not he's maddening, I can't say.  I suppose if you saw something like him in real life you might go a bit mad... at least temporarily.  But the bottom line is he was approved as is, and I painted him up thusly:

©Wizards of the Coast

As usual, he's oil on paper on hardboard and measures 12" x 9".

I wanted the piece to feel very noir-ish and wanted also to insinuate that the creature had been stumbled upon whilst creeping through the village one night.  So, I lit him in a way that gives the impression that there's a streetlamp or someone with a lantern just off to the right.  This light has caused the creature to begin emerging from his hiding spot, which means that given his final title, mind crushing is likely about to happen.

As far as other details, I made the stitches irritated and fresh.  Perhaps there's some infection going on there, as well.  In addition, I included some metallic pieces sticking out of his back, the visible parts of the armature I imagine helps keep him together, and also contains various tubes and hoses that deliver the necessary chemicals which keep him animated.

©Wizards of the Coast

If you reread the above paragraphs, you'll see that I've tried to inject some story into the piece.  I could have taken the description above in a hundred different directions.  It could have been a more menacing piece, or one that was more overtly terrifying.  I chose a story that made the most sense to me given the creature, the world, and the piece.  I like to think that the stories we try and tell are what makes each artist's images unique.  Sure, there are the obvious aesthetic differences, but beyond those are the tales we tell and the sensibilities of those tales.  What stories we tell do matter (the tonality needs to be consistent with the job, after all), but more important is that we try and tell stories to begin with.

It was the story of Innistrad, the world that this card set takes place in, that drove much of the design.  It was the context that helped shape things and bring the horror tropes into synch with one another.  While I intend to talk a lot more in depth about the experience of helping bring this world to life, I did want to touch on the monsters like the one above.  While I didn't really have a hand in fleshing out the straight-up brain-eating zombies, I did have a hand in the creation of these guys.  The blue zombies.  Those that had been manipulated and brought to life by alchemists.

What little insight I can provide is that I imagined them to be not unlike living sculptures.  I figured that they had metal armatures around which everything was based.  I did a bit of leg work on injection systems for alchemical liquids into the zombies, and the like.  I put some thought into how runes may play a part.  You know, the usual.  At the other end of the spectrum was Daarken, who (unconcerned with these things at first) began putting together a variety of silhouettes and overall designs.  Nothing either of us did excluded the work of the other, and I think, when combined, our efforts made for an interesting and rather open ended concept for other artists to follow.

The Frankenstein's monster inspired creatures weren't something I ended up pursuing to the end.  In fact, Daarken and Richard Whitters were largely responsible for their final look.  Still, this is one of the few pieces that I got to paint that depict a facet of the Innistrad world that I actually helped create.  It's also a really weird one, and like I said, is likely to be taking up space in my flat files for years to come.

2012 — Wait, What?

I've been missing in action.  Last seen in the Boston area, but not a word for months.  What has become of our middling illustrator hero?

In my time away, the holidays happened, the year changed, and we left Massachusetts behind.  We broke down everything in our house, had it transported to New Jersey, and have begun to rebuild anew.  We've spent some time getting our bearings, experimenting with the drive into New York City, visiting the many malls the area has to offer, and frantically pulling my Spectrum entry together.  We've tried new restaurants, and visited places previously associated with only bad memories in the hope that we can build happier ones.

The net result of our efforts is that this weekend will see the finishing touches of the studio put into place, followed by the rude awakening that will be Monday when I will have to begin digging into the mound of sketches and paintings that I have been forced to neglect in favor of relocating.  Last year's move had an impact that lasted about three months.  This move's effects will likely last about the same amount of time — especially given the fact that I have at least one personal piece to put together for Spectrum Live, this spring.

How will this affect the blog?  Will my entries continue to be as sparse as they've been the last four months?  In a word: no.  I once again have control of the computer.  Amy has relinquished the thing in favor of doing a figurative fan dance in an attempt to turn the nibbles of interest she's had into full on, adult-sized bites.  It's worth noting, too, that the interest she's had has been more plentiful in the couple weeks we've been in the New York area than the four months she spent unemployed in Massachusetts, so it looks as though her career may get back on track soon, and it confirms that our move back to the New York area was a good idea.  At least for now.

Anyway, my intention will be to begin editing and finishing some of the entries I've already started, and to add to those from time to time.  Will it be more than an entry a week?  Can't say.  But I'll certainly try.  Even so, an entry a week would be huge compared to the virtual silence this blog has suffered for the last few months.

In the meantime, here's a piece for your consideration.  It's from the new Magic: the Gathering, Dark Ascension set, and is called Gravecrawler.  First the sketch:

©Wizards of the Coast

The sketch is pretty straightforward.  The working title of the piece was Relentless Zombie, and in the description I was asked to portray a zombie who despite having no legs has not given up his quest for what is kept in your cranium.  I decided that he needed to not just be legless, but needed to leave a trail, as well.  I could have pushed it to an even grosser level, but I decided this was gross enough and stopped at the trail.

Anyway, the finish:

©Wizards of the Coast

Obviously, given the horror theme of the Innistrad block, you'll notice that the work I'll be showing you in the near future will be in keeping with that.  Not sure I'd ever have painted most of what I'll be showing you on my own, but I was happy to oblige Wizards' requests.

Anyway, this piece is oil on hardboard and measures 12"x9".  Fun features to note are the pools of water in the holes left by missing or broken cobblestones, as well as the nail marks across the stones as he drags himself forward.  Normally I wouldn't toot my own horn over stuff like that, but I enjoyed the heck out of those little nuggets for some reason, and now feel obliged to share them in case you'd missed them.

This was a pretty easy piece for me, which is something I rarely say.  I knew what I was going to do with it off the bat, with the exception of whether it was going to be a mostly cool piece with a warm glow from behind or how it ended up, which is the reverse of that.  I went this way because I really liked the warmth on the decrepit flesh.  It played well to me, though I think it could easily have worked just as well had I gone the other path.  Either way, it resulted in a relatively limited palette (which I'm always a sucker for), and I'm pretty happy with the results.

Given the subject matter and its handling, I suspect I'll be stuck with this piece for a long time to come.  I'm cool with that, though I think it'd make a perfect gift for a kid's birthday or a housewarming!

That was a joke.

Alright.  I'm going to wrap this up now.  I'm going to attempt to recover from that joke, and I'll definitely have a new post next week with even more new art for your perusal.  Cheers!