Jonathan Strange - Another WIP

So I had another whack at the Jonathan Strange portrait I posted a while back.  I was trying to get a sort of 19th century portraiture feel.  The previous version, I felt was kind of too caricatured, and didn't feel as much like the character, looking back.  Here, I'm trying to get disheveled-yet-brilliant...

Anyway, it's obviously not finished yet, but I'm getting closer!  In the back the intention is to get a lot of those accoutrements common to Georgian-era portraits... like the busts of famous people and curtains and all that hanging in the back.  I've been getting a lot of inspiration from the paintins of Ingres, who (though french) was contemporary with the period the book (Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, by Suzanna Clarke of course) was set in.

Enjoy!

World of Warcraft TCG - Lumbering Oaf

Sorry for the lack of posting, everybody!  Though I've got a little bit more -- a card I did last year for the WoW card game.  These are always super fun.  I'm glad I've had the chance to work with these guys.



WoW Cards - Throne of Tides

Here are some illustrations I did a few months back for WoW: TCG Throne of Tides deck.  Different set to Hogger, but all of these seem to be releasing at the same time, so I have lots of work to show!  Win.

Major Wilson Trickett - a WIP

Just doing a bit of character portraiture lately.  Big-necked man with tan-line on head!  Tom Selleck moustaches!  Big mech suit!  Toothpick!  Caterpillar eyebrows!

Can you tell I <3 faces?

Phineas J. Hartley Esq.

Some time ago, I was overcome with the urge to do Victorian etching-style pen portraits of animals wearing human clothes.  The result is this: Phineas J. Hartley Esq.  A somewhat ornery Scottish artist-gentleman who spends more of his free time tromping about the highlands than at the Edinburgh University anatomy school where he is at times paid to help record dissections.

He's been sitting in a pad of paper in a corner for about a year, but after a trip to the highlands recently (and seeing one of these deer in the wild for the first time) I was compelled to finish him.

Though you can't really tell from this image, it's quite a big drawing.  For scale reference, and also a preliminary sketch, check after the jump.

Brink Characters

One very nice thing about this time in the production of a game is that a lot of concepts get released.  I can actually show people that I have indeed been producing art for all these years!  BRINK's characters were awesome to work on.  It was challenging, but obviously really rewarding to pin down the aesthetic for both teams and design the tons of different customisation assets that people will eventually use to make all their own characters.

It's difficult not to invest personally when working on one project for so long. Fortunately it seems to have worked out, and there is nothing more awesome than being able to see other people take the things you've designed and make them come alive. The trailer by Blur Studios was a particular treat.

That's all for now.  With luck will be able to post more later.

WIP - Jonathan Strange

Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke is a wonderful novel, I thought.  It's quite an interesting take on fantasy.  It has a very historical bent, which adds a lot of authenticity to the crazier fantasy elements that show up later on.  Love the imagery -- great stuff to draw, generally.

And here is Jonathan Strange, as I thought he might look. The novel suggested a sort of exaggerated realism to me -- though maybe it would, because I think I kind of have this style stuck in my brain after Brink, but nevertheless it seems good to use here. Using Ingres's portraiture a lot for reference -- he worked during the same time period as the novel is set (though in France, not England), so it seemed pretty appropriate.

Earlier WIPs

Most recent

At the moment I'm not entirely disliking the direction it's going.  Needs magic paraphernalia to let everybody know it's not just a weirdly proportioned 19th century-type portrait.  And more texture/material variation. And a different hand position.  And stuff in the background. Lots more work, anyway!

This isn't the way I normally work for this sort of piece (I hate changing the size of my canvas -- means I screwed up the composition, or wasn't thinking ahead enough) but it started as a tiny doodle that grew, and that is the way of this sort of thing.  Luckily it's a portrait and not a huge multi-figure illustration.

Website Update!

Please go have a look!  I ought to have more work going up in not too long a time -- it's looking a touch bare at the moment.  The best part, after nearly four years of working at Splash Damage, I've finally got enough released concept work to show. Craziness. Plus I changed the gawd-awful colour scheme and header graphic. Mmm, skulls. That one is a king vulture.

The work is from Brink, an FPS developed by Splash Damage and published by Bethesda Softworks.  I managed to wrangle the enviable task of designing of the characters.  Great project to do it for.  We had loads of creative freedom.

Check out the CGSociety feature if you are so inclined.  There's some neat info and other concept art to be found.