The Aussie Butcher

Card game Illustration;  I pushed the details here more than I usually do for a relatively small sized Illustration, but it was a lot of fun working on the atmosphere, rain effects, drops, etc. so I went with it.   The effects mentioned were very time consuming, but I feel that they add a lot of life and depth to the image. 

Happy Father's Day

This is a portrait of my Father painted as a gift to celebrate Farther's Day.  My father has been incredibly supportive of me as an artist, and he pushed me very hard growing up to refine my technique as best as I can.  He also gave great critiques and feedback on what to improve on.  Although he's not an artist himself, he definitely has a great eye for art and knows what's working and what's not in regards to creating an image.  I wanted to experiment a lot with this painting, using a cooler color scheme than I'm used to and trying to create a more ethereal feeling with this painting, which I feel I achieved.  With that said, Happy Farther's Day to all!

The Vampire's Glare (Updated)

 I recently had a chance to rework this painting.  I revised the face heavily, giving it much more depth, and detailing the features significantly.  Incorporated a lot of texture work as well to enrich the image as a whole.  Overall I'm quite pleased with this image.

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This image was illustrated for Dusk: A Vampire's Tale (coming this Winter on Facebook). I wanted to do a different take on a Vampire, something a bit more exotique looking so I chose a golden theme for the image. The skin tones we're a lot of fun to work on as well, as they came out pretty much exactly how I envisioned them. I wanted to preserve the golden color theme, so I made sure not to keep the skin to light or desaturated, which I feel makes for a richer painting.

Jake Gyllenhaal Caricature

Caricature of actor Jake Gyllenhaal done for a contest.  I really enjoy doing caricature work, and haven't painted one in ages, so this was a lot of fun to tackle. I'm planning on doing plenty more caricatures in the future as well, would really like to expand my portfolio in that regard.  It also gives me a chance to show my sense of humor as well, which is always a plus.

Self Portrait

I recently had a chance to rework my Self Portrait, just to see how much I can improve it, and I'm quite pleased with the results.  Among the changes I made were better color harmony, stronger values, and more detail and definition in general.   The Master Copy Studies I've done definitely helped me out with this image, especially in regards to skin tones (learned a great deal from Bouguereau in that regard). 

CountDown

This is a Board Game cover art Illustration I recently completed.  The subject matter was a bit different than my usual work (I generally paint Fantasy), so this was a welcome challenge.  This image was ridiculously time consuming as well, but it was well worth it as I feel I obtained a rich, crisp feel to the painting to really help it bring it to life.  I also played up the cool/warm tones quite a bit to give it a more lively look as well as to obtain more contrast as a whole.  The buildings we're a lot of fun to work on as well, had a blast detailing them and adding various levels of destruction.  Overall I'm quite pleased with how the image turned out.

Happy Mother's Day

This is a portrait I created for my mother who I love very much.  I wanted to do this portrait for a few years now, but haven't had the chance to until recently.  Luckily I think this actually benefited me, as I was able to achieve a quality with this image that wouldn't have been possible a couple of years ago.  My artistic side definitely comes from my mother as well, who is an artist herself, so it's only right that I show my appreciation for that talent by painting this portrait. Overall I'm very satisfied with the image, especially in regards to the color and use of light, and it came out pretty much how I envisioned it from the very beginning, which is always a plus in my book!  Happy Mother's Day to everyone as well!

Speedpaints and Studies

I had a very productive week and managed to do several studies.  I learned a ton with these, focusing more on drawing and painting faces and angles that I find a bit more challenging, as well as doing general anatomy studies.  I'm going to try to keep this going as I find doing these studies are quite beneficial for me, as I always learn a ton by doing them.

Medusa

Portrait of Medusa. I really wanted to go all out on this one and give it 100%, playing up the details as much as possible.  I also put a lot of effort into the environment, trying to achieve as much of a rich and luxurious feel as possible.  The eyes were the most difficult element to paint, as I wanted them to really pop out and have a very unique feel;  I ended up repainting them several times before I was finally satisfied with the results.  Overall I'm quite pleased with this image, and I plan to Illustrate many more paintings with the theme of Greek Mythology, which appeals to me greatly.  The pose and design of the snake we're referenced as well.

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King Of The Throne

A commissioned piece for a magazine cover, the model was Tuface Idibia.  I was asked to illustrate him as a King, so I was definitely going for an iconic and luxurious look with this one.  Painting this was a lot of fun, the lighting in particular was a lot of fun to paint.  I enjoyed the color palette as well, warm tones are definitely my strong point so I was quite comfortable handling this image.

Kingdoms Fall

This is a commissioned portrait.  I was given a ton of freedom for this painting, as I was asked to paint a woman wielding a sword.  I wanted to give the image a bit more of a fantastical feeling as well, as that style suits me well.  Overall I'm extremely pleased with the painting, and consider it one of my strongest portraits.  The hair in particular is something I'm very proud of;  Hair has always been something I never used to enjoy painting in all honesty, but I seem to have gotten the hang of it now it seems. This image is copyright by Last Life Games.

Necromancer King

This painting was commissioned as game splash screen.  I was asked to illustrate a Necromancer King and was given a great deal of freedom on how to depict him, so this project was an absolute blast.  Really enjoyed playing with the lighting effects here as well to give it a dynamic look.  Overall I'm quite pleased with this image. Copyright 2013 Last Life Games. All rights reserved.

Catwoman

Portrait of Catwoman, still in Fan Art mode it seems.  Very happy with how this turned out, pretty much as I envisioned it from the beginning.  I wanted this to look realistic and a cross between the comic book version as well as the live-action films, and it was a challenge to combine the two to create something original.

Sonya Blade

This is a portrait of Sonya from the Mortal Kombat games.  I basically mixed several incarnations of her to create this painting, and made sure she looked feminine while also tough looking at the same time, which was a bit tricky... But I believe I found a good balance.  The angle of the face was difficult to pull off, even with a reference, but it was definitely worth it I'd say as I learned quite a bit.  The eyes we're the most difficult aspect of this image to paint due to the angle, and I had to adjust them several times during the painting process to get it right, but I thing I managed them well.  Special thanks to Reid Southen for his feedback as well.

Liu Kang

This is a portrait of Liu Kang from Mortal Kombat.  I'm a huge fan of the games so this was a lot of fun to paint;  I plan on doing a bunch of paintings based on the main characters as well.  This painting is also a tribute to Bruce Lee, who I find very inspirational and whom the 'Liu Kang' character is based on as well.  For reference I looked at some pics of Bruce Lee and the actor from the first film, as well as some photos of hands to help make this as realistic as possible.  Overall I'm very satisfied with how this piece turned out. 

Two Face

This is a portrait of the classic Batman villain.  Finally had some free time to paint something I wanted which was a welcome change of pace, as I had envisioned this image in my head for quite some time.  The look I was going for was basically a combination of all the character's appearances, from the comic books to his appearance in 'The Dark Knight'.  I wanted to go all out with the detail on this one as well, especially with his burned face which was easily the most challenging element of this painting.  Overall I'm quite satisfied with how this turned out!

If you'd like to see the 'Making Of' this painting, you can check out a tutorial here.

Caricatures!

I was recently commissioned to paint several caricatures, and I had a blast doing so!  These paintings are meant to be shown at a much smaller scale as well, so I didn't want them to be overly detailed, but at the same time I wanted them to be fairly refined.  Overall I had a great time painting these, and plan on illustrating more caricatures in the future when I have the spare time.  Enjoy!

Persephone (revised)

I had a chance to revisit this painting, and I heavily revised it.  Among the changes I made was strong lighting, as well as reworking the environment significantly to give it much more depth.  Overall I'm very satisfied with how this piece turned out, and I consider it one of my strongest works.

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I created this image in order to practice painting drapery, which I view as a challenge. Greek Mythology inspires me heavily as well, so I wanted to show that with this image. Persephone's story mainly evolves her abduction from the Earth realm, to the Underworld, courtesy of Hades. This image deals with that concept (albeit a bit subtly). The figure's pose was referenced from Lockstock as well, who has some great fantasy themed stock photography.

An older version of this image was included in Advanced Photoshop Magazine as well.

Statue Studies

I'm continuing my studies on painting heads, so I decided to do some speedpaints of various statue studies, which is a huge help in helping me further understand the forms and anatomy of the human head. 

Various Studies and Speedpaints.

I finished a bunch of studies this week, learned quite a bit from them especially in regards to obtaining a better understanding of the human body.  First up is a portrait for a friend.  It's not entirely finished as I wasn't 100% satisfied with it, but it was great for practice and I'm quite pleased with the colors. 

 

Steps:

Here are a bunch of photo studies I did, roughly an hour each:

Some movie still studies: