11.03.08

I believe I can show this new cover now. This is the second book in The Mysterious Mr. Spines series by the talented Jason Lethcoe.

I posted the image for the first book in the series, WINGS 

some time ago. The second book is called FLIGHT, and I think it is going to appeal to a lot of young readers. I believe they are expecting to release the first book early 2009.

Here are some of the sketches. The first book the team had a more definite idea of what they wanted on the cover, but for this one they really gave me a healthy amount of freedom to explore other ideas. I feel that extra elbow room made for a much stronger cover. 

I will be selling originals and prints at the upcoming IlluxCon.

November 6-9 in Altoona, Pennsylvania.

Check out the guest list - a great group of artists will be there. Should be fun!

oil on board, approx. 30" x 40" with digital embellishments and tweaks. 

10.30.08 - 

Some World of Warcraft TCG cards just got released so I can show these now. All were done digitally, and heavily influenced by caffeine.

copyright Upper Deck Entertainment / Blizzard Entertainment World of Warcraft

Also , whipped up this little guy after work one night.Pretty rough and sketchy, but it was all in good fun.  I posted him on a new blog I was invited too, which I think you all will enjoy:

Creature Artists

It has great artists and illustrators from around the world. I know it definitely provides me inspiration and motivation to do some great creature design.

Happy Halloween everyone!

10.16.08
Been some time since I posted here. It's been very busy with work, and for the moment I am legally restricted to show most of it, but I will be free to show some things next month. Last night I was up late finishing up a deadline, and when it was all done I needed to relax and unwind. So I decided to draw more :)
Opened up ArtRage and spent 90 minutes on this girl. Of course there are numerous flaws, even for a sketch, but I had fun and I do feel it has a respectable amount of energy to it that often gets lost in the polish of my illustration work.
I'll be back with more work sooner than later if all goes well.
Thanks -s.

8.26.08
Some news and recently released work.
I was pleasantly surprised to be included in Ballistic Publishing's, D'Artiste: Digital Painting 2 book. It's just a small spot, but you can see my image, BudHead, in there. Very cool to be included, considering how few artists are represented.

I also received word that I will have this guy along with this gal, in Ballistic Publishing's upcoming Exotique 4 book. Might be a bit of a wait on that one, but since this bragblog seems to be full of patting myself on the back, I figured I'd get it out of the way now.

No artist blog can do without some inward depreciation and self-loathing, so I will get that over with too. Here are some images I did for Wizard's of the Coast, Magic: The Gathering ,Eventide set (whoa- mouthful), and some others for Upperdeck Entertainment's and Blizzard Entertainment's World of Warcraft TCG (more mouthfuls) . Looking back I see tons of laziness, stupidity and a downright shortcoming of abilities.
It's okay.
Better I see them so I can improve and work on whatever was holding these images back from being better, than to be content with what I see. Optimistically speaking, I've already seen improvements in my latest work ( which of course is all NDA now).

As always - thanks for looking and thanks for the comments.


Wizards of the Coast, Magic:The Gathering


Wizards of the Coast, Magic:The Gathering


Upperdeck Entertainment/Blizzard Entertainment: World of Warcraft TCG


Upperdeck Entertainment/Blizzard Entertainment: World of Warcraft TCG


Upperdeck Entertainment/Blizzard Entertainment: World of Warcraft TCG

*All of these are digital with the slight exception of the swamp hag looking thing. Started off as an acrylic underpainting, with digital on top.

8/10/08
I will be at the Gen Con Indy signing for Wizards of the Coast, alongside fellow artist Tom Baxa. We'll be signing cards, selling prints and other assorted goodies. Keep us company.

August 14th to 17th

7.28.08
Still buried under deadlines, but I did manage to squeeze in some 'in-between work' fun and practice.

Here's a guy I did about a year ago, who never went past the loose sketch stage. I was browsing through old files and thought he might be fun to paint up. I might go back into some older sketches and do this now and then.



Here's another quickie enviro I did. Just trying to practice enviro's every now and then, even if it's only a study.
Added a little gif of the process for kicks.

July 17th 2008

Not much to say here. Just some quick ladies I busted out between work stuff. Obviously one I left pretty rough and unfinished- kind of lost interest. The other I had a little more fun with. Thanks for looking. Should have loads to show soon - I hope.

July 4th pics

Just some fun sketches done during breaks while working. I have some more, but I I'll keep working them until they are done or I get bored with them.

The other illustration is a recently released image I did for Upperdeck Entertainment/ Blizzard Entertainment's World of Warcraft TCG. A whole bunch got released, but I only have this one ready to post, and I'm feeling a bit lazy . I'll get the rest up soon..hopefully.....maybe.
This one is a little busy in retrospect, but there are some things I still like about it.

Thanks again for stopping in and leaving comments folks. Lots of new people have been dropping by the blog and I must say it's pretty awesome that the exchange of ideas and images is always growing. It gets me fired up and I can only dream I might spark someone else's brain - even a tiny spark.

Speaking of sparks, enjoy the fireworks on July 4th.

6.3.08 Book cover

Thanks to all the previous comments. It is always a pleasure to hear from you fine folks and certainly makes me feel like I am somewhat still in contact with the human race. Hermit life is cool - but it's so quiet sometimes, ya know!?

Going to make this a quick post, since I'm quite sleepy.
This was a cover for Night Shade Book's upcoming title, "Fast Ships, Black Sails". It will be a pirate anthology with a fantasy edge - so I am told.
One of my objectives was to go for a more muted palette, with punchy color in only a few areas. I would have loved to do this in oils but once again -time was my enemy. One day- I will conquer time ,and maybe space...and maybe my cookie habit.

I should also mention a big "thanks!" to my homie Dave Palumbo for lending me his eye on the composition of this piece.

5.18.08
The Mysterious Mr.Spines : WINGS

Here is a cover I recently did and got the OK to show it now.
The Mysterious Mr. Spines: WINGS, was written by Jason Lethcoe, and is being published by Grosset & Dunlap/ Penguin Group USA.
I think this story is really going to appeal to fans of (the later) Harry Potter Books, The Golden Compass, and others of that sort, while still being original. From the manuscripts I was given, it has wonderful imagery and will really fire up a child's imagination.

The art direction was very clear cut, and they already had a definite direction they wanted to go in, but sometimes working in those limits can bring about creative result. Below are the sketches, and after submitting the first 3, it was decided they would like a combination of sketch #1 and sketch #3, with the central character sitting.

The painting was done almost entirely in oils, but I added some elements and tweaked the face in digitally. I really enjoyed working in a mix of traditional and digital and when time allows, I think I 'll be pursuing that in my future works.

Thanks for stopping by!
-s*a-

oil on board / digital, 20" x 28"

5.8.08 *sweet & sour and stuff in the middle*

Going to keep this short on words and just post random things done in between jobs.  There's plenty lying around, but these were already scanned in.  

Felt like doing some horrible creature. :)

Some cutesy monsters. Just a black Sharpie marker over some Col-Erase Rose pencil.

This is just a doodle page done in my sketchbook while in my hotel during the New York Comic Con. I need to draw more ladies- I miss drawing the hotties



About a month ago my son was sick with a nasty cold. It was the only thing that could keep him still for more than a few seconds...and even that really didn't stop him. I was able to sneak in a drawing or two while he was sleeping and just waking up. Ballpoint pen on paper.

4.22.08 Shadowmoor MTG cards

Here are the 4 cards I did for the Shadowmoor Magic :The Gathering set that I worked on sometime ago. The art has finally been released so it's coolio to show it now.

Big thanks to all the folks who stopped by the Wizards of the Coast booth during NY Comic Con and paid me a visit. Everyone was super friendly and despite still be exhausted from the whole event, I had a great time. It's time for me to get back to work, but I hope to be back to blogging more regularly soon.

-s*a-

4.14.08 -Don't Call it a Comeback
Sorry for the mid-90's pun up top. It has been absolutely insane since I last posted. A huge pile of work has prevented me from doing much else, but I did want to squeeze in some news and art in this blog.

First- I will be signing for Wizards of the Coast at the New York Comic Con as part of the Shadowmoor Release. On April 18th, 5:30-8pm,April 19th, 4:30-7pm and April 20th, 10-12:30pm. Booth 1641. I will also be selling prints.Say "hi" and buy stuff!

I will post some images I did for the Shadowmoor set as soon as I can. I'll repost the New York Comic Con info again as well.

Speaking of art done ages ago, some cards I did for the World of Warcraft TCG, Servants of the Betrayer set thay has been released. It should be okay to post these, and of course, all images hardcore copyrighted by Upperdeck Entertainment/ Blizzard Entertainment.

2.20.08 - trying inks
Ink has always been my kryptonite. It is one of those mediums I never felt I did anything that looked very good. Oddly, I am a huge fan of ink masters as Arthur Rackham, Edmund Dulac, Joseph Clement Coll, Franklin Booth and Edwin Austin Abbey, just to mention a few. I figured it was time to try some inking again, and maybe find my own way with the medium. And the other pencil sketch was just a quirky warrior I did to have some fun.



I started off with some pencil, than added the ink. I decided to try and ink wash on top of that, and popped a few highlights with acrylic paint. I did it on Bristol Vellum paper, but I think I need to experiment on different papers to find the ideal inking surface.


This one was real quick. No pencil, just shot in with the ink with no plan. A little scary but fun.

viscera
another prelim sketch for a personal work. Col-Erase pencil and standard 2B pencil. On paper. In my sketchbook.

2.8.08
Thanks so much for all the comments on those little nasties I posted earlier this week. Got a lot of good feedback and even though I never meant for these to be more than some fun exercise, all the responses really motivated me to go back into them. I will go back into the 3rd critter as well…but for now here is this one (and larger)

2.5.08
Sometimes the creative part of the brain can be very unpredictable. As a person who tries to make creativity part of their profession, I feel it is my job to harness that unpredictability when it presents itself. What am I going on about?

Last evening I was just finishing the daily illustration work, and going to start sketching on my own projects. I decided to make a custom brush or two in Corel Painter, as I have been trying to tweak my process as of late. Before I knew it, I was well into the night creating these odd creatures. I got off my path a bit, but I like where I wound up, if only for the gift of the unexpected and spontaneous. There are those moments where the results are really insignificant, and the process is what is important. I feel this was one of those moments. Perhaps most importantly, I was having a ton of fun.

2.4.08-some things

You may have noticed I added a link to the blog for Gorilla Artfare. I can explain briefly what it is about, but I do encourage you to go there, and not because I am part of it. The group started well over a year ago, of like-minded artists all over the world. We are shocked on how well it is being received, and are very grateful for all those who visit.

Although I will probably post much of the same art in both blogs, it will not replace this one. Here, I will be able to be personable, and go into a little bit more detail of things going on. So this blog lives on.

In other news the Deep Pop show which I mentioned in a previous blog got a nice little pictorial on Juxtapoz's website > here!
I couldn't attend the opening, so my painting had to take its picture solo. It looks kinda sad that way...I like it.


This sketch is for a possible personal work tentatively titled, "dripping boy". I'm not sure this will make it to a full sized, fleshed out oil painting. I am still considering it, and more studies may come. Nothing fancy here -just acrylic in the sketchbook.



Just a quick sketch I did on the train in January. Limited time and a nauseating shaky train prevented me from going far with this sketch, but I like how it is just some facial features peaking out of this border of hair.
Thanks again for stopping by - I'll be back soon!

1.28.08 - Preliminary Sketch
A prelim sketch for a personal painting. Pencil with digital overlays

1.26.08 - Group Show

Yikes! Almost forgot about this.
My piece, Autohuman, will be included in a big group show as part of the ISM Gallery in Long Beach, California tomorrow.




Also this weekend I will have my piece, Specimens,
included in a group show entitled , Deep Pop.
The show opens January 27th, from 1pm - 3pm, in New Rochelle, NY. Unfortunately, I am tied up with deadlines, so I will not be able to attend, but it's quite an impressive collection of artists, so it's worth checking out.