The portfolio page has been updated with several new wildlife pieces, so go check it out if you like. The new entries include birds, turtles, and a few big cats.
In the meantime, I have completed some fantasy pieces recently, which I still do on occasion. These are mostly done in graphite pencil, since I try to save my color pencils for the wildlife work.
The idea of illustrating the alien creatures/characters from Neal Asher‘s novels had me busy. I went ahead and smashed out the ferocious ‘Hooder’. Technically, they are bio-mechanical war machines made by an ancient alien race. Very millipede-like, but the hood, or front end, is absolutely brutal. It cuts, slices, and damn-near dissects its prey alive when eating. I doubt if I added enough ‘manipulators’ under that hood, since the descriptions in certain scenes make it seem like they are numerous.
After reading Dark Intelligence and War Factory, I had to do a sketch of Riss, the war drone. She accompanies one of the main characters on his journey. She is feisty, and designed to resemble a certain alien parasite(that also just so happens to resemble a Terran snake species.).
This was done after viewing many a beautiful stempunk clothing designs, and goggles. I like the idea of a lone desert drifter female with weird lizard companions. I used a photo of a Mexican Alligator Lizard as reference for the little buddy on her shoulder. A few photos were referenced for pieces of clothing as well. I do love the corsets. Need to try more steampunk themed artwork.
This one I worked on for a while, especially when trying to get the face right. The idea behind it was of a deity associated with crows/ravens. Decided to make her blonde instead of dark haired as would be expected. Ram horns were used as reference for texture, and light/shadows. A lot of shading went into the crows feathers/body. The background winding pattern is partly my attempt to fully fill the page, and add something to set the main subjects against instead of just blank space.
11″ x 14″
That’s it for the time being, as I toil away at yet more work to be done.