Valeria

The third image in my Women of Conan series...Valeria!

Next up is Conan's queen, Zenobia.

Belit

The second illustration in my Women of Conan series.

Next up, my favorite, Valeria!

Red Sonja

Inspired by Rather Gamey's post last Thursday I worked up a Sonja illo myself. I think I'm going to work on one each week.  Current theme, Women of Conan!

Next up...Belit!

Animation Background: Caladan

Here's one of the fully illustrated backgrounds featuring Zenopus' tower and the city of Caladan for the animated version of last fall's radio play.  This also gives you a general idea of the feel and mood that the background  images will have.

Again I tried to simplify and stylize the background just as I'm trying to do with the characters which is always a challenge for me but it's a great practice to loosen up my drawing style.

I've included the original sketches that started with a more realistic approach and ended up with the above image.

I'm still working on animating the final shot of the first scene but it's coming along.  I should have a clip to post soon.

Animation Character Design: Xenopus

Here are some of the sketches of my development of the sorceress Xenopus for my animated short based on the radio play my friends and I did last summer.

As with my earlier post I thought it would be interesting to show how I work thorough the character and the scene it self.

I knew for Xeopus I wanted to have a character that expressed a sinister quality and corrupted by her dark magic, but I also wanted a bit of allure to her as well.

 

I go through initial sketches just to see what I come up with and where it takes me.  Usually I know what I'm going for but actually translating that to paper can be a challenge.  I also know that in the scene she appears she will be conjuring up a demon so I wanted to express that madness of dark power.

Seeing some things I like in the initial sketches, I begin to refine these.  Feeling I had a general idea on the character I begin to refine the face a bit.

 

 I was liking where I was going with the face but had a problem with the hair.  It looked too proper.  I wanted her to be more mystical so I worked in what I thought was Kirbyesque headgear

 

I also knew that in the scene she would be studying her spellbook so I began a few sketches bringing her into the scene.  You can see I actually begin working out some of the props and action details with notes written within the sketches themselves.

A bit more revision on the clothing and I ended up here.

Dungeon Art: Mountain Hag

Here's an illustration for the Mountain Hag soon to appear in a revised Monster book for Swords & Wizardry.

Gene Colan: 1926 - 2011

Another great illustrator has passed on.

Gene Colan, who brought a heavy noir style to superhero comics has passed away last night at the age of 84. Through his career he has worked for both Marvel and DC on some of their iconic characters most notably Daredevil in the mid and late 60's, Iron-man and Bat-man and Marvel's Tomb of Dracula among others. Bringing a sense of intense drama and realism through his penciled art to the four color medium he raised the bar of sequential storytelling.

His influence and artwork will live on.















Gene Colan's virtual studio

Sequentially D&D 1982

I dug these up the other day - one of my first attempts at doing some comic pages back in 1982 (freshman in high-school if I recall). Being, at the time, an 'aspiring' comic illustrator and avid role-player, I thought I'd blend my two passions together and came up with my Dungeons & Dragons comic pages (without a doubt inspired by TSR's comic book ads of the same era). I drew these two pages and began a third which was never finished it. I remember that in Dwarf falls down a pit and is separated from the party.



I find it fun that I used the Caves of Chaos as the setting with the typical fighter, dwarf, magic-user party. I actually copied these and handed them out to friends in my class who seemed to actually like it. It was at a time when the Moldvay basic set was just coming out and many kids (many of whom wouldn't normally even think about something like a FRPG) were curious about the game that is causing all the rage.

I'm happy to say that over the years my illustration skills have improved (at least I hope they have!).

Ruins of the White Watch

A little shout out to Andrew Hamilton and his new adventure Ruins of the White Watch. An adventure module that he wrote and is available at Dragonsfoot. It's a nifty high level exploration of a centuries old long lost watch garrison with a cover illustration by yours truly with help from the wife. Check it out, it's a free download over at Dragonsfoot.

Tale of High Adventure Preview

As we finish up the final layouts for the 1st issue of our pulp fantasy adventure magazine Tales of High Adventure we though we'd post a few preview pages to whet your appetite. Our goal was to mimic the old fashion pulp rags of the 30's and 40's as much as possible in terms of the look and feel of the publication, whether it be prose or graphic stories. And all in a nice digest format too!

Title page for Edgar Rice Burroughs' At The Earth's Core

Page 1 of the Science Fantasy adventure Homeworld by Paul J. Fini

Midnight Eagle by Mike Moran

The contents of the magazine how it is set now.

And if you haven't seen it yet, the fantastic cover by Clay Lewis!

The book should be sent off to the printer early next week and if all goes well should be available a couple of weeks after that, just in time for the gift giving season (hint, hint!).

Submission Guidlines

Pulp Goes The Warlock!

That's right dear readers! The Warlock's Home Brew is proud to announce it's upcoming release of it's anthology pulp series Tales of High Adventure!

Tales of High Adventure will be a quarterly magazine filled with yarns by some of your favorite pulp authors from yesteryear. New stories and authors will also be showcased as well graphic tales and other good gritty stuff.

The book should be out sometime in December and I'll be posting some updates shortly. There will be a preview sampler available at the Tucson ComiCon this Saturday. Just stop by the IndieOnly booth and pick up your preview of Tales of High Adventure; a magazine of adventure, daring, mystery and suspense!

Submission Guidlines

Dungeon Art

This is a cover illustration that will be used for an adventure called Ruins of the White Watch written Ronald Redmond and soon to be available on Dragonsfoot as a free download.

I did the illustration while my wife Christy did the watercolor. We've been trying out some new techniques to add color to my illustrations. I'm still working out the kinks but I think this is a step in a good direction (I think the line-work came out a bit heavy).

I hope to do some more collaborations with my wife on these projects.

NPCs, Red-Shirts, Meatshields - Let Your Players Give Them Life!

If my NPCs hang out with my players for more than a session I roll up their stats and throw them on a notecard. Sometimes a player ends up controlling an NPC for whatever reason (charmed or their PC is unconscious - or dead). They tend to fill out the character, draw character portraits and embellish their personality which I try to use in later sessions (if the NPC survives!). It's great letting the players flesh things out for you!

Here's two shining examples of what the players have helped create in the campaign.


Unfortunately, both Tero and Mor fell exploring the Tomb of the Iron God!

These Are Our Worlds Too...

I think artist extraordinaire Wally Wood, in summing up what is in 'His World', encompasses pretty much what we all feel our pulp fantasy worlds to be...

Wally Wood: My World

Click on the comic pages to enlarge and read. Great Stuff!

Dungeon Art

Here's a dark cleric illustration that will also appear in the next issue of Knockspell.

Dungeon Art

Cloud Giant and his ogre magi vs a (doomed?) party. Illustration for the upcoming issue of Knockspell #5.

Backstab With +4 To Hit

D&D is not only about fighting monsters, sometimes you end up fighting your fellow race of baddies. No magic, no claws - claws - bite, no big bad boss, just shield, sword and axe with some fellow revelers that you somehow wronged in the tavern the night before. I hope this guys go more than one hit die!

Al Williamson March 21, 1931 ~ June 13, 2010

Al Williamson passed away yesterday Sunday June 13th.

A fantastic fantasy comic artist who began working for EC comics at the age of 21 was influenced by Alex Raymond's Flash Gordon and taken under Frank Frazetta's wing. He had a very grand cinematic style and brought a sense of realism to all things fantastic. Below are some samples of his fine work. He will be missed.





I highly recommend visiting the Golden Age of comics to see some more of Williamson's fantastic work:

http://goldenagecomicbookstories.blogspot.com/