Happiness

Creative Quarterly, a national magazine for emerging artists/illustrators/designers what have you, came out with its list of winners today, and it looks like I got some pieces in. Huzzah! The website is apparently still under construction, but when it's ready, I'll let you guys know.

Dimensional Hyper Gnat

Trying to keep up a steady diet of Photoshop sketching, which isn't so difficult sans employ.

Sturm, Drang, Gradient Filters

Couple of newbies. I'm working with lower contrast/less color for  a while. Hopefully, that'll make it easier to nitpick subtle details when called upon to do so. The bottom one is a wonkish self portrait I like anyway.

Axial Symmetry

I fear I am repeating myself, which is apt to happen when I just noodle in Photoshop for a while. So, after this, something _completely_ different. 

This guy is from the early days of Archetype. His name is Graen, after a municipality in Austria. Yes, my naming strategies are precisely that random.

Timing

I painted this today for a contest that apparently ended a month ago. It's June, Brian. June. Temporal displacement aside, I'm trying to soften the 'black cutout' appearance from my promo pieces.

Crowd Surfing

 

Crowd control is an interesting problem. Complex pieces have to be handled as fractals, more or less, applying the same compositional thought to each portion while monitoring the whole. Still, managing complex imagery is necessary for convincing world building. It's easy to tell when someone's gone through conniptions to avoid acknowledging their setting. I'll be doing some more complex studies for a while to see about tackling the issue.

For those who are wondering about how Archetype is actually coming alone (and for those aren't, but are compelled unreasonably to finish reading to the end of sentences), I'm pleased to say I'm working pretty steadily on a draft of the first volume. Having huge stockpiles of even the most trivial data on the story is proving rather helpful. Characters and settings can volunteer solutions of their own accord. 

Diversionary Tactics.

Honestly, I think that robot would hit its own antenna every time it fires its old-timey revolver. Still, I hear the NRA is interested in further development.
Been trying to replace that self-portrait in the upper corner for a while now. This is about as good it's gettin', folks.
Virot, like Hitchcock, prefers to stand in slightly aloof profile.
Toot.
The one on the left was drawn a meager fifteen seconds before the one on the right. During that brief moment, all my volumes went to pot.
Drawing my left hand is much easier than drawing my right.
Whenever my paintings get particularly complex, my sketches tend to get pretty simple.
Using Staedler Calligraph Pen here. Rather like the hair.
My London Guide, an English Professor, called this 'interesting.' She pronounced the quotation marks. I think she just wishes she had a robot.