In order not to bog down the February-April 2016 Visual Art Contest Thread (see link if you haven't admired the art yet), I will post my own WIP pictures on this thread. Final Product: Title: Folly of the Warmbloods Caption: Jatzom Kuh, Slann Mage Priest of Mutal, predicts the encroachment of a warmblooded expedition into his jungle. Medium: Acrylic Paints Size: 16 x 20 inches
Here is the first drawing I made of the piece, just a pencil sketch in my drawing pad. This is the medium I feel most comfortably working in most of the time. Not very tidy... And here is a color test I did on Microsoft paint. It took forever to do, I should NOT have done this step, but I wanted to make sure it would turn out ok first.
And here it is as I painted it! The picture I had of the final drawing on the canvas didn't turn out very well so I didn't include it. I like starting from the primary "base" color, in this case Parakeet Green from Apple Barrel paints, and working my way up and down the color spectrum from there. After the base green, I added the yellows and lighter greens, plus some of the reds and the details for the knights at the bottom. The black is ALWAYS my favorite color to paint. In drawings like this, the black really brings the piece together and makes it come alive for me.
INSPIRATION: I really wanted to do a picture of a slann mage priest somehow telling the future invasion of the Lustrian jungles, because that is part of the backstory of my Bretonnian force! Couldn't figure out how, until I saw this picture from my local Hastings (bookstore/comicstore/videogame and DVD store): NO CLUE what this comic book is about, but it had such a creepy look to it I just had to snap a picture and use it as reference material. I tried to capture the creepiness of the picture when I drew my slann, and even used the hands for inspiration! Just had to remove some fingers... I used this slann model for reference for the drawing itself: Not sure who made it, but the slann in the picture had just the right amount of malice in his eyes for me to use. Last picture, my office wall of art! Right next to another picture I did a while back in a similar style. Now my slann can sit on my wall to continue to provide me with cold-blooded inspiration. The stars were a last-minute addition to the picture right before I submitted it to @spawning of Bob, and I am glad I added them! Really adds to the mystery of the picture. Hope you liked my drawing! I am already thinking of ideas for the next art contest. I hope everyone had as much fun putting together their entries as I did!
Yeah, ms paint is painful for most scans, nothing fills in correctly, so it is quite surprising and a testament to your patience that you got that far with it! I personally think the painted version (final version ) looks incredible! Such an amazing concept, and brilliant representation!
Just like I was gobsmacked buy @pendrake doing perspective on his first sketch, now I am floored by you getting deep shadows done on your first draft. My first sketches look nothing like the final, and the only reason I get anything to look vaguely ok is layer upon layer of corrections and tweaks. I must plunder ponder your techniques...
With the huge number of new art galleries that just popped up on the forum, I realize that I need to turn my attention more often to the denizens of Lustria and start painting! Just to show that I haven't been completely idle in the past few months, I have a few things I have been working on in the past few months, mostly WH40K: A Templar. There was an amazing line drawing done by someone on the internet that I just HAD to add color too. When I find the example I will post it, the link eludes me at the moment. Spoiler: Templar WIP Plus the Templar's squire, a Neophyte to the order. Wearing a Bretonnian-esque hat. Templar Crusade Banner: Plus some heavy support in the form of an Imperial Titan, done up in similar colors (probably an allied attachment or something): Spoiler: Imperial Titan WIP Like all my drawings/most of my art, everything started out as a pencil drawing in my art notebook, then added color with colored pencil. Banner started as a sketch but I did it up on the computer with a combination of Microsoft paint and powerpoint. When an image is good enough I then go and make an acrylic painting as well!
This one is my most favorite recent painting I did, a wild-west gunslinger and his shotgun-toting partner-in-crime. Inspiration for this one was originally a drawing of the main character from the Dark Tower gunslinger series. Spoiler: WIP Now that I got this stuff out of the way, time to start painting some more lizards!
These are incredible the templar is gorgeous! I think the bret style hat on that trainee is a brilliant stylistic choice! The titan looks great. But my favourite is the Cowboy gunman and his partner. I don’t know what it is about this one, the eye catching gunslinger with all his colours, the shotgun maiden with her white clothing contrasted against the red sky. The minimalist but so very detailed background. Really an awe inspiring and gorgeous piece.
Top hats are always a nice addition... just sayin! Speaking of which... I see @spawning of Bob has donned a top hat. Wear it with pride brother, wear it with pride!
Got some older pictures, but @heksagon 's blog got me thinking about Mayan glyphs and I remembered that a quite while back I drew quite a few into my sketchbook! Pictures for your Mayan-inspired Lizardmen inspiration:
These are awesome! Who doesn't like a few good glyphs? And here you've given us quite a few! They look great!
Now that the amazing short story contest for June results have been published I can show off this picture and not reveal that I wrote my story! The whole reason I made this picture was a thread discussing using Lizard Corsairs, as in Lizardmen PIRATES! I found the idea so awesome I immediately drew this picture. Then I thought, PIRATES! They are good anti heroes right? Let's try giving the short story contest a whirl! I scribbled most of the story in the margins of the picture, sorry about that... Also made a flag! I may get around to coloring it eventually. I used this EPIC picture as a reference for his pose/club/general awesomeness. Whoever made this picture is awesome. Spoiler: Temple Guard art
Also since I have been gone for a few days I have a few scribbling's to add to my art thread from my sketchbook. This time they are lizardmen related! I decided to try my hand at making some mayan-inspired Lizardmen art: quick WIP sketch of a future wall mural I hope, inspired by Palenque's temple of the sun. Note the kroxigor holding up his skink, and the two vermin holding up the war-altar. Kudos to @Bowser for giving me this idea, he mentioned using on of my extra shields as a coat of arms! Next are two quick drawings inspired by stone stelae from Copan. I hope I can make one of these a reality someday as a throne for a slann... And here is the entire sketchbook sheet in case you are interested. It also has my plans to make a full on Lizardmen-Mayan pyramid someday. This one uses the Temple of the Magician at Uxmal for reference (sorry its hard to see) Next up are two quick ideas using skulls. The first is just a generic poster using the characters for my fluff city of Mutal, the second is an undead knight (in semi-Bretonnian guard, actually inspired by the mascot for Medieval Total War 2) in the foreground and the battlefield of Lustria in the background. Last up are the pictures I am most excited about! I had a lot of fun doing this one. For those of you who have seen the following anime/read the manga, you will recognize it and have an idea of what the lore might look like for these two: Spoiler: inspiration FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST Earlier WIP sketch based on the spoiler picture: Fullmetal Lizardman (Spawnbrothers) and a closeup: This was a lot of fun to make. If I decide to paint this one up on a canvas I may have to enter it before the deadline because I haven't started anything else yet... Still trying to come up with names and lore, but here is what I have so far: Fullmetal Lizardman- Spawnbrothers Two skink priests, Ekko-wado and Aru of the spawning El-Rigg, try to resurrect a dead Slann using mummified bones. Both are just spawnlings, who have innate understanding of both the winds of Metal and Death, but their experiments lead them to necromancy. The Spell backfires upon them, maiming Ekko and winking/ripping the Aru completely out of the material world. The survivor Ekko uses his skills to graft the soul of his lost spawnbrother Aru into their dead kroxigor servant's body, and later replaces his own lost arm and leg with metal replacements. Because of their taboo they are forced to flee Lustria (for a time...) Ekko-wado (Ekko) the Skink Priest- Master of the lores of Metal and Death, borderline knowledge of necromancy due to experiments and research. Hotheaded, considered very radical. Aru the Kroxigor- younger spawn-brother, intelligent and loyal, now serves as bodyguard and magical assistant. Also strong knowledge of Magic. Now they hunt across all corners of the world, from the Old World, to Ind and Cathay, and the outskirts of Lustria, selling services as mercenaries in exchange for arcane lore and clues to uncover ancient lost Old One artifacts. They are ultimately searching for what is known to the warm bloods as the True Philosophers Stone in order to get their original bodies back from the ethereal realm. If anyone else can think of better names please let me know!