Merry Xmas!

I wish you all a very merry Xmas and happy holidays.

Britanan All Stars - Relics: AL Fantasy Football Miniatures

Bringing a touch of Stitchpunk to the fantasy football pitch with the Britanan All-Stars team for Relics: Armistice League.

That's right sports fans, Tor Gaming's latest project is now live on Kickstarter. Click the link below to check out all the yummy details and pledge your support:

Britanan All Stars - Relics:AL Fantasy Football Miniatures Kickstarter Project

To further wet your appetite, here's a few pieces of concept art I've created for the project (which I will only get paid for if the project is successfully funded).

The Grim Dark Tooth Fairy

The Tooth Fairy myth is not really something I grew up with as a kid. So when the challenge came up on the Imagine FX forum, I wasn't quite sure where to take it.
All I knew was, that the whole idea fills me with unease - like all things to do with teeth - so I wanted to it to be quite creepy.

Being the Warhammer fan-boy I (still) am, I decided to go with something that would fit nicely into the grim dark future of the 41st millennium.

Frankenstein Revisited - Final

It's day 5 of the Art of Schwager Halloween Special... and it is done.

I stayed up late last night and started adding highlights and giving the paint-job a further polish.
Then up early again this morning to put on the last finishing touches and upload the final piece to the poll on the Imagine FX forums.

So here it is, my very own version of Frankenstein and his creation... Happy (if a little belated) Halloween everyone!

Frankenstein Revisited - WIP4: Refining the Colours

Day 4 of the Art of Schwager Halloween Special... only slightly behind schedule.

Yep, I'm still going and spent some more time on the painting this evening. I've added a few more colours into the mix and worked some more on the details.

It's pretty late already, so I'll keep this short and leave you with WIP4: Refining the Colours.

It's getting pretty close to finished now, so I should have the final version up for you tomorrow.

Frankenstein Revisited - WIP3: Basic Colour

Day 3 of the Art of Schwager Halloween Special... and we're on to colour.

I managed to spend a few hours today to play around with some ideas for colours. Initially I had a much more red theme going on, but that didn't really click with me. So I starting painting in some blues and greens until only traces of the red remained... and the big red coat of Doctor Frankenstein, of course.

Tomorrow we're on to the detail work and I'll have another update for you then.

Frankenstein Revisited - WIP2: Pencil Sketch

Day 2 of the Art of Schwager Halloween Special... and we're still on schedule.

I managed to get the sketch finished today. The characters came together fairly quickly, with only a few minor changes along the way. The background was a different story, and I did about four or five different versions before settling on this one here.

Here we go now with WIP2: Pencil Sketch

Am hoping to get a chance to start on the painting sometime tomorrow. Will post an update as soon as it comes to hand.
Until then, feel free to let me know what you think of it so far in the comments section.

Frankenstein Revisited - WIP1: Roughs

Welcome to the Art of Schwager Halloween Special!

With every horror fan's favourite holiday just around the corner, the good folks over at the Imagine FX forums put up an appropriately themed weekly challenge:
"Its nearly Halloween so time for a scaaaary challenge. Mary Shelley's book Frankenstein was published in 1818. Show your homage to her by creating your very own Frankenstein monster, try to stay true to her vision."

Over the next few days, I will be posting my progress on my own version of Frankenstein. All going well, there will be an update every day until it's finished.

So here's WIP1: Roughs

I use these kinds of sketches as the starting point for all my work. It helps me explore the general theme and come up with some rough ideas for composition and character design before I get started on a proper sketch.

Speaking of which, I've already started on a pencil sketch. I'm planning to get that finished sometime tomorrow, so keep your eyes peeled for another update coming soon...

A New Hero

Another entry for conceptart.org's Character of the Week challenge. This time, the idea was to create a hero that is entirely unsuited to the task... because all the real heroes are away fighting monsters and evil elsewhere.
I went with a young peasant girl for mine, with armour and weapons that are way to big for her. If you can spare a moment, let me know what you think her chances are in the comments section.

And here are some WIPs to show how it all came together.

Piety & Wickedness

Monarch of Duality was the excellent theme for the big CHOW (Character of the Week) #300 challenge over at conceptart.org a while back. Needless to say, I couldn't resist giving this one a go. The piece below is what I came up with.

I've also created a little GIF animation, to show how the artwork evolved from a pencil sketch into the finished painting.

Concept Art Practice

A while ago I was offered to do a test for a massive concept art contract. Unfortunately I didn't land the gig (due to some mis-communication from the potential employers), but it prompted me to work on my concept art skills.
So I did a couple of ImagineFX challenges with goal to keep them rough and do them quick. Although I still struggle a little with the quick part, I think I'm getting there with the roughness.

You can let me know what you think of them in the comments section...


MyFX #297: Deep Sea Danger

MyFX #296: Magistrate Grimm

From deep under the mountains...

... rise the dark and twisted Nuem.

As some of you may already know, I've been doing a lot of work for Tor Gaming's Relics over the past year, mainly miniature concepts.
Check out their website for more info about the game and the awesome range of miniatures that goes with it.

One of my recent assignments was to create a series of 4 paintings to go with the Nuem pre-order campaign on IndieGoGo.com.
These paintings will be sent out as a set of postcards to everyone who purchased models through the campaign. In the future they may also be available as postcards or prints from the Tor Gaming online shop. So keep your eyes peeled if you want to get your hands on those.

And here they are in all their un-cropped glory... enjoy :)

Hobbits, Beasts & Demonswords

After having realised just how long I had neglected my poor blog for, I now present you with some new-ish artwork from a number of Imagine FX challenges.

Hope you'll enjoy them :)

MyFX #274: Elric of Melniboné

MyFX Monthly Challenge March 2012: Tarra's Scary Friend Beast

MyFX #267: Kill Billbo

Wrapping Up 2011

Happy 2012 everyone!

I thought I'd kick off the new year by having a quick look back at 2011 with a few more pieces I never got to post.

MyFX Monthly Challenge December 2011: Character Remix

Red Sonja (of the Warhammer World)

MyFX #258: Camelot

MyFX #253: Tarot Card (The Moon)

MyFX #236: Grumpy Troll