Magic Breaker

Happy to share my cover painting for ‘Magic Breaker - Keepers of a Broken Land: Book 2’ by Marie Bilodeau

.

One of the challenges of this illustration was making sure that the painting worked as part of the Keepers of a Broken Land series. But was also a strong enough image to stand out on it’s own. It was also a challenge to create the character as the author had envisaged. I had a pretty good descriptive base to work from, but it’s never a sure thing that both I and the author will have the same vision for the character. In the end, thankfully the author was really happy with the final painting so it all worked out.

The Calling

Excited to share my latest personal painting entitled, 'The Calling'. Stepping outside my artistic comfort zone on this illustration led to a journey of unexpected twists and turns. Not everything went as planned as this piece demanded countless thumbnail revisions, colour sketches, as well as battling art block like never before. There were moments when I questioned the path and almost threw in the towel. But it was the wise words of my very supportive wife, trusting the process and sheer stubbornness that pushed this painting over the finish line. Grateful for the lessons learned and seeing it all finally come together in the end.

The Guardian

The goal for this personal painting was to generate a balance between conveying a certain feel as well as being technically on point. I wanted to create an image that was full of expressive brush strokes, texture and energy. It was also an illustration that I enjoyed painting and one that I was really happy with in the end. Going forward, I’ll be looking to create more personal paintings in this style and hopefully start to incorporate into my professional work as well.

Shade

This painting started out as a photo-study, that I decided to create as I waiting on client approvals for a couple of commissioned works, and then turned into a finished illustration.

I chose this particular photo as I was drawn to the interesting lighting and I enjoy the challenge of painting fabric folds. Just as I was finishing the painting, I inadvertently deleted her earring by mistake. Rather than repainting the original earring, I then decided to swap the design for the one shown here as I felt it suited the painting better.

The finished painting is now available on my print store.

Photo credit: Tamara Velazquez

Megadeth Christmas Card Competition 2022

Every year the heavy metal band Megadeth runs a competition whereby they ask their fans to create a Christmas card in exchange for some cool prizes. For this year I decided to go with the traditional turkey dinner idea with a twist that was more in-keeping with the character. Vic Rattlehead is always challenging to paint but I had fun creating my take on his festive celebration.

Meeting With The Boss - Revamp

Recently I’ve had a little bit of time between commissions so I decided to revamp one of my favourite paintings, ‘Meeting with the Boss’.

I really liked the idea behind the original painting and the sketch. But I felt that there were some areas that either needed to be changed, developed or enhanced so as to take a good painting and make it better!

Call of the Rift: Wake

Excited to share my latest cover painting for the 4th book in The Call of the Rift series entitled ‘Wake’ by Jae Waller.

This illustration presented a number of challenges, not least of which was the underwater setting. Before embarking on this cover I created some observational studies as this was my first underwater illustration. Overall I’m really happy with the final painting!

"Fire, smoke, and ash consume the continent in the darkest chapter yet in The Call of the Rift series"
•
If you’d like to find out more about the book, and the series, head on over to ECW press: https://ecwpress.com

Medieval - Alternative Movie Poster

A little late to the party but here's my alternative poster for the movie 'Medieval' which premiered yesterday.

I decided to try using some negative shapes in this design for a change and I'm happy with how it all came together.

The Dark Prince

Finally managed to carve out some time to create a personal painting entitled ‘The Dark Prince’

When I started working on some ideas for this painting, I already knew the type of character that I wanted to create but I didn’t have a concrete idea of what he would look like or the environment he’d be in. I did, however, know that I wanted to get away from the closer, more intimate compositions that I’ve painted in the past and create something a bit more ‘epic’. And of course that meant spending more time on the mood of the scene and not just concentrating on the character as much.

In the future I’m looking to create illustrations that incorporate more environmental elements for added interest and narrative.

Dragon...

A new painting that I recently finished for fantasy author Christopher Patterson.

I haven’t painted that many dragons and so when this commission came up I jumped at the chance to get started on it. There were many challenges with this illustration but it was rewarding to problem solve the design of the dragon and I’m looking forward to painting more!

If you’re a fan of well written fantasy then check out Christopher Patterson’s books!

Unstable Power Acquisition - Monte Cook Games

Here’s my first commission for Monte Cook Games entitled ‘Unstable Power Acquisition’.

I enjoyed the challenge of getting all the crazy ‘powers’ to look right and to make sure the character looked the same in all 3 panels with the different facial expressions.

Theophilus Shepstone

This is one of a series of portraits that I created earlier this year for Bandoola Productions for their documentary about the Anglo Zulu war of 1879 entitled ‘Amashinga’.

If you'd like to learn more about the film then click the link: https://www.amashinga.com/

Versus Evil - Final Trading Card

Here's my final #VersusEvil trading card, which was created for @hireillo and launched at @thoughtbubblefestival (13-14 Nov).

The cards are made from recycled plastic and will soon be available for purchase - stay tuned!

Versus Evil - Trading Card

I’m proud to present my #VersusEvil trading card, which I created for @hireillo to be launched at @thoughtbubblefestival (13-14 Nov). Look for table 42 in the Redshirt hall. #TBF2021 #scarrillustration #vorlak #fantasyart #digitalartistry #hireillo

Dracula

Another Thursday night sketch which I decided to develop into a more finished illustration:)

This portrait was actually deceptively difficult to get right due to the foreshortening of the face and the light source shining from below the subject. But it was good practice as I really like this type of dramatic and ominous lighting.

Anyone else a fan of the Halloween season?

Meeting with the Boss

Just finished up the final ‘Meeting With The Boss’ painting.

I really enjoyed getting into this scene and trying to imagine what it would be like to actually walk through those doors as an ‘employee’ and have a meeting with the man in charge ...

No Time To Die - Alternative Movie Poster

I’ve been a fan of James Bond, and particularly Sean Connery’s version of the character, since I was a kid.

With this poster I decided to spend just as much time focusing on creating the best illustration that I could as I did on the design of the poster as a whole. As this is Daniel Craig’s last performance as the character, I wanted to create a movie poster that was eye-catching, classy and paid tribute to his contribution to the world of James Bond.

Lost in Thought

After my recent commissions, I wanted to switch gears a bit and do a fine art sketch.

Once again, I used the Photoshop/Artrage/Photoshop sandwich and went for more of an efficient use of expressive brush strokes that suggest details rather than over-rendering.

Photo credit: Maria Orlova

The Card Counter - Movie Poster

Here's the final Card Counter movie poster.

When I was looking at the movies that were soon to be released, there were a couple of films that I was interested in. But this particular movie really stood out to me for a few reasons: first it’s a revenge story, second it’s a thriller (which are two of my favourite genres) and lastly because it had a lot of interesting visuals that I thought would make a great movie poster.

The Card Counter - Major John Gordo

Here's another sneak peak of the Card Counter movie poster I’m currently working on. This time it’s a portrait of the Major John Gordo character, played by Willem Dafoe.

Really happy with how this portrait turned out and I’ll be revealing the final poster next week!