The Art of Daarken

2009-12-20T11:09:00.000-08:00

A new home

After much frustration with Blogger, I have decided to move to a new home. You can find my new blog here:

www.daarken.com/blog

I will keep this blog open for people that would like to view my older entries. Thanks!

2009-12-16T19:18:00.000-08:00

Article Madness!

We are very fortunate to have two great articles on two of the top gaming sites: Kotaku and Joystiq. You can read both of them here:

Kotaku
Joystiq

It is great that we have received so much support for this event in such a short amount of time. Thank you all for your help.

2009-12-11T15:50:00.000-08:00

Popping the cherry, one change at a time.

My new cover for the Horus Heresy game by Fantasy Flight Games was just spoiled today. I have been waiting for a long time for this illustration to become public since it is my first 40k illustration. Unfortunately, when I saw the printed version I noticed that they altered my art. The monitor behind Horus was changed to a bunch of windows that look out into space. I wish they had just asked me to make the change so that the illustration would look consistent.

Dragons, rawr...

The other day I was googling "dragons" for reference when I came across this:

The left and right sides have been cropped off in this image because they wrap around the sides of the box. I'll have to post a full version later.

2009-12-01T20:12:00.000-08:00

Some new stuff

One of my new Warhammer covers for Fantasy Flight Games was released today. You can find more information about it here: The Gathering Storm

Some new WoW cards from the Scourge War set.

2009-11-27T12:04:00.000-08:00

Black Friday print and proof sale, ends Nov. 30th!

$5 off glossy prints.
8.5x11 - $10
11x17 - $15
$5 shipping

$50 off canvas prints.
18x24 - $100 (stretched and varnished)
$30 shipping

$3 off proofs.
Proofs - $2 each (MTG and WoW proofs available)
Korlash - $7

2009-11-22T22:12:00.000-08:00

The official site for Beautiful Grim is now open! Check it out for more information about the show as well as the artist list.

www.beautifulgrim.org

2009-11-20T11:50:00.000-08:00

I have created a group page for Beautiful Grim on Facebook. You can find it here:

Beautiful Grim

In order to save time, I am going to keep the artist list on the group page up-to-date instead of here on my blog. Thanks!

2009-11-18T18:38:00.000-08:00

Beautiful Grim

My friend Leif and I are organizing an art auction for charity that will be held next year. All of the information for the show will be posted on the show's site www.beautifulgrim.com. We hope to have the site up and running by Nov. 22nd.

You an also visit the group page on Facebook here: Beautiful Grim

If you would like to create a piece of art and donate it to the auction that would be awesome. The art can be anything from a quick pencil sketch to a painting. There are no limits or restrictions and any media is acceptable. So far we have 110 artists contributing that hail from all regions of the industry: concept artists, animators, photographers, sculptors, fine artists, illustrators, you name it. The theme for the auction is Beautiful Grim. Right now the tentative deadline for the art is the end of January 2010. I am currently researching venues to hold the event, but so far it looks like the event will be held in San Francisco. We also had the idea to release all of the art as a book and donate all of the proceeds to a charity.

Please let me know if you are interested or know someone that is. I really appreciate it.

Here is the current list of artists willing to contribute:

Kei Acedera
Hyo-jin Ahn
Scott Altmann
Richard Anderson
Joy Ang
Chris Appelhans
Daren Bader
Tom Bagshaw
James Baxter
Steven Belledin
Matt Berret
Andy Brase
Jeff Bruton
Matthew Buck
Wes Burt
Peter Chan
Michele Chang
Bobby Chiu
Carmen Chow
Robin Chyo
Aaron Coberly
Dan Cole
Mike Corriero
Daarken
Dean DeBlois
Marko Djurdjevic
Daniel Dociu
Horia Dociu
Daniel Dos Santos
Albert Ramos Down
Jayel Draco
Jesper Ejsing
Wayne England
Tracy Flynn
Jon Foster
Mike Franchina
Anthony Francisco
Randy Gallegos
Kim Gilbert
ScarletGothica
Rodolphe Guenoden
Ricardo Guimaraes
Katy Hargrove
Eli Harris
Aaron Hartline
Sam Hogg
Levi Hopkins
Gabe Hordos
Jessica Van Hulle
Evan Hunt
Jamie Jang
Steve Javiel
Leif Jeffers
Ben Jelter
Jakob Jensen
Sylvia Ji
Sze Jones
Jason Juan
Dave Kendall
Douang Khamsitthisack
Jonathan Kirtz
Kekai Kotaki
Christophe Lautrette
Khang Le
Ron Lemen
Fabio Lignini
Chenoa Lindsey
Todd Lockwood
Nat Loh
Sergio Lopez
Scott McFall
Jeff Miracola
Lisa Mistiuk
Jeremy Natividad
Mark Nelson
Viktoria Novakovich
Simon Otto
Sunil Pant
Tamara Peklich
Gabriele Pennacchioli
Pierre Perifel
Kristen Perry
Mike Phillippi
Danielle Pioli
Shane Prigmore
Chuck Pyle
Willie Real
Robert Revels
Chris Sanders
Griselda Sastrawinata
Dan Scott
Marcos Shih
Kevan Shorey
Jessa Sininger
Douglas Sirois
Aaron Smith
Darron Smith
Rick Smith
Ariel Soto
Oliver Staphylas
Maja Stasni
Neal Thibodeaux
David Thierree
Cyril Van Der Haegen
Tyler Walpole
Doug Williams
Megan Wolfe
Alena Wooten
Scott Wright
Brandon Young

Until the Beautiful Grim site is up and running I will update this blog with new information. Thanks!

2009-11-11T08:23:00.000-08:00

The box cover illustration I did for Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 3rd Edition along with another illustration I did can be seen in this video.

2009-11-10T08:56:00.000-08:00

I just finished a short, real-time video of Nibru that focuses on refining the face. I plan to release a few more of these real-time videos, so stay tuned!

Nibru - Refining the Face

2009-11-05T10:54:00.000-08:00

I am currently in a transition with my YouTube site, so if you are looking for the Liche Priest video you can find it on the 3D Total site here.

2009-11-01T21:23:00.000-08:00

Today conceptart.org had their Self Portrait Day. I decided to take a couple hour break from my freelance work and paint a self portrait. It has been a long time since I painted a self portrait, so I figured this would be some good practice. The painting took two hours to complete. I ended up recording the whole process, so now all I need to do is edit the video and add audio.

2009-10-22T06:08:00.000-07:00

I found these on the WoW TCG site today. The first is a playmat for the Scourge War expansion, and the second is a deck box with my Dwarf Priest on it.

Focal Press was also kind enough to upload some of my video tutorials on the Digital Art Masters micro site. You can check it out here.

2009-10-17T13:52:00.001-07:00

If you haven't seen the epic Nibru thread that has taken conceptart.org by storm, you should go check it out. Many of the "heavy hitters" have contributed to the craziness, including Andrew Jones, Coro, Marko, Dos Santos, Wes Burt, Whit Brachna, Rich Doble...the list goes on and on. The criteria for the character was what intrigued me:

- he is old, has long hair, has only his left eye

- has stitches for eyebrows and his mouth is stitched shut

- has a halo over his head

- carries some type of spear

- has a necklace with the letter "m" on it

I figured this would be a great opportunity for me to create another video tutorial, so I gave it a shot. The version of the demo that I have now is a short, 10 minute video documenting the entire process. The next version I plan on doing will take you through the entire process in real-time and give you a much greater in-depth look at how I go about creating a character. You can find the short version on my youtube here.

2009-10-16T22:22:00.000-07:00

This was our last day in DC with Sylvia. First we went to the Natural History Museum and then we ran to the National Portrait Gallery before it closed. Unfortunately we only had about 30-45 minutes to look at the whole museum.

Detail of Charles Dana Gibson

Detail of Norman Rockwell

This was an actual life cast of Lincoln before his death.

Some details of Anders Zorn. As you can tell, this was one of my favorite paintings.

Saaaaaargent!

2009-10-12T07:08:00.000-07:00

My color dodge tutorial is featured on the 3dTotal site. If you haven't seen it yet go check it out!

2009-10-09T07:51:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Cat, Sylvia, and I went to DC to check out some of the museums. We ended up only having time to go to the West Buliding of the National Gallery of Art. The Spanish Armor exhibit was on display, but unfortunately we were not allowed to take any pictures.

When we first walked in we were greeted by some amazing sculptures by Rodin, Degas, and many other great artists.

I thought the sculpture gallery was huge until we went upstairs to see the paintings. We passed through room after room, it never seemed to end. It was very disorienting traveling through the maze of paintings. I always thought I knew where I was until I got to the main hall and realized I was on the complete opposite side of where I thought I was.

It was really hard trying to find an angle that didn't have any glare on the paintings, so a few of them ended up getting a little distorted. Some of the pictures are out of order and not all of the paintings are grouped together by the same artist.

The way Ingres paints skin is amazing, it feels like the skin has been carved out of marble.

This is the second floor of the museum.

No museum would be complete without Rembrandt.

I never realized how small Vermeer's paintings were.

The Sargent paintings were my favorite paintings of the entire gallery. Being able to see his brushstrokes up close is amazing. The stroke above the couch was done with one long stroke that extended the length of the entire painting.

The guards in front of the White House were carrying P90's...too bad they wouldn't allow us to take pictures of them.

I did get some pictures of the guards standing on top of the White House.

Waiting for dessert.

Cheesecake in a jar!

Now we are off to the Natural History museum, rawr!

2009-09-28T06:03:00.000-07:00

3DTotal just released the first volume of Digital Painting Techniques. The book features tutorials and illustrations from talented people all over the world. I was lucky enough to have 4 of my older tutorials featured in the book. I also have my Poised illustration, which is currently on display at the Museum of American Illustration in New York, in the gallery section. They also used my male portrait painting for the cover! You can take a look inside the book as well as purchase a copy here.

2009-09-25T14:58:00.000-07:00

Spoiled stuff from Zendikar.

Nimana Sell-Sword

Needlebite Trap

Trapmaker's Snare

Desecrated Earth

Bog Tatters

2009-09-23T20:04:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I purchased a Fujitsu ST5112 from my friend Rich Doble. I have been thinking about buying a tablet PC for a long time, but I never knew which one to get. Time passed and for one reason or another I kept putting off doing my research. Someone else already wrote a very thorough review of the ST5112, but there are a few things I wanted to mention. Here are the specs:

Fujitsu ST5112

Intel Duo Core 1.2GHz

1 GB Ram

80 GB

12.1" XGA 1024x768 indoor/outdoor display

9 Cell 10.8v 7800 mAh battery

3.5 pounds

Photoshop

The first thing I decided to do after I got my tablet was to upgrade the Ram from 1GB to 4GB. Unfortunately when I got my Ram in the mail it was defective, so I had to send it back for a replacement...which hasn't arrived yet in the mail. That being said, Photoshop still runs pretty well with only 1 GB of Ram. I usually work at 300 dpi with several layers, so it can be a bit slow when flipping my canvas but it isn't too bad. I tried running CS4 but it looks like it won't run with only 1 GB of Ram, so I had to fall back to CS2.

The next thing I realized was that I had no keyboard or Nostromo to use in tandem with the pen. When I paint I constantly resize my brush with my Nostromo. I also use it to color pick, switch between brushes, flip my canvas, and to undo/redo. Being forced to use only a pen, my painting efficiency has dropped considerably. I was able to solve a few of those problems by rearranging my workspace in Photoshop. I keep the on screen keyboard open at all times so that I can use the [ and ] keys to resize my brush. I then downloaded the Wacom tablet pc drivers so that I could remap my stylus buttons. I made it so that the lower button is bound to alt (so that I can color pick) and the top button is bound to right click (so that I can open my brush menu). On the right side of my screen I have the layers and history open. Instead of hitting undo/redo I can just click through my history. Above that I have the navigator window, which I can use to zoom in and out and move my image around. This is done more easily when you paint in full screen mode (f shortcut key, or by clicking the middle button of the three buttons that are on the left side of the screen on the tool bar under the color picker).

As far as the pressure levels go, I can definitely see a difference between this and an Intuos 3. I am not sure what the exact pressure levels are for the ST5112, but I think it is probably similar to the Wacom Graphire tablets which are 512 levels of pressure, as opposed to the Intuos 3 which has 1024. I also find that sometimes when I tap the screen, like when I color pick, it doesn't recognize the tap. One way I got around the pressure sensitivity issue was that I had to lower the opacity of my brushes to 70%. Lowering my brush opacity allows me to build up my opacity more slowly since I can't paint as delicately as I can on an Intuos 3.

I have the extended 9 cell battery, which is rated for 9 hours of use...but I highly doubt that is 9 hours of Photoshop use. I think 5-6 hours of running Photoshop is more likely. Still, that is a lot better than most laptops. I think my other laptops only lasted 2 hours or less while running Photoshop.

The stylus is a little bit of a disappointment. It is much smaller and thinner than the Intuos 3 stylus, which is to be expected since it is made to be portable. The buttons are a lot higher up on the stylus, which I don't like because it is a lot harder to click the buttons while you are working. I dunno, maybe I need to do finger exercises in order to increase my flexibility.

The viewing angle on the ST5112 is actually pretty good. I think it has around a 160 degree viewing angle.

PaintTool SAI

PaintTool SAI is a lightweight painting program that is very similar to Painter. The thing I like the most about SAI is the UI. It seems like this program was designed to be used without the aid of a keyboard. All the commands you need are easily accessible without having to go through drop down menus. To the left you have your color picker, brushes, brush size, opacity, etc. On the right you have your layers and navigator. On the top bar there are undo/redo buttons. I actually don't need to keep the on screen keyboard open, which frees up a lot of space (I only had the on screen keyboard open so that I could take a screenshot). The other great thing about SAI is that it is great for sketching. The brushes feel very nice and you can draw very fluidly. SAI has the ability to open PSD files while keeping the layers intact, but some of the layer modes that are available in Photoshop are not compatible with SAI, like soft light.

The Docking Station

You may notice that the ST5112 has no optical drive, which is why the docking station comes in handy. The docking station is a must if you work at home for long periods at a time. You probably won't want to hold this in your lap for 9 hours, so it is nice to be able to dock it and use it like a Cintiq. You can also plug in a keyboard or Nostromo to use while at home to increase your efficiency. When it is docked you can rotate it from portrait mode to landscape mode. The screen will automatically switch back and forth when it is rotated, kind of like an iPhone. When it isn't docked you can click the rotate screen button that is on the side of the ST5112. You can also adjust the angle of the docking station. Aside from the optical drive, the docking station also has 3 USB ports, an AC port, and Firewire.

Conclusion

The ST5112 is definitely something I would recommend if you plan on painting outside a lot. Despite the problems with pressure sensitivity and the considerable hit in efficiency due to the lack of a keyboard, the ability to paint on-the-go is worth it. Carrying around a laptop and a big Intuos 3 tablet was a bit cumbersome. The extended battery life also means that I don't even need to carry around the AC adapter, which is awesome because finding an open outlet in public places can be a pain. I am incredibly happy with my ST5112, I am not sure why I waited this long to get one!

2009-09-21T16:21:00.000-07:00

Last week was the Spectrum Exhibition at the American Museum of Illustration at the Society of Illustrators in New York. I was lucky enough to have one of my paintings hang amongst a sea of awesomeness. Unfortunately I forgot my camera, so most of the pictures were taken by my sister or by Cat.

I hadn't seen my sister in about 3 years, so it was great that she was able to come to my show. We ended up driving to New York from Virginia, about a 4 hour drive. Our hotel, the Doubletree, was smack dab in Times Square. After we checked in we found out that our room was on the very top floor, the 43rd floor. Good thing I'm afraid of heights! The elevator was like a high speed capsule of doom, zoom zoom.

The view from our room...yes, once or twice I peeked over the desk to check it out.

Looking down at all the little ant people.

Ahhhh yes, hotel pizza with steak on it.

Of course it was pouring the whole way to New York. It continued to rain until the day we left. My Donato print and poster got a little wet :(. We were some of the first arrivals at the show on Friday night. The show was great! It was a real pleasure to see so much talent in one room (well, two rooms). There were tons of people and little tasty mobile treats that magically appeared in front of me all night long. Here is a quick peek at some of the paintings.

It was great to see these paintings in person, I never realized how big some of them are.

Yup, that's me. I bought new clothes specifically for the show...and of course I forgot them at home.

We are related, is it that obvious?

Checking out Brom's painting...so tiny!

Whoa

Howdy

Me being sociable, it does happen once or twice a year.

People

More people

Pretending that we don't see the camera.

We don't like having our picture taken...

The next day Cat and I went to Art Out Loud to watch the masters at work. It was very inspiring to see people working traditionally, it made me want to try painting again. It has been oh so long since I picked up a paintbrush.

Greg Manchess

Donato's setup.

Between the breaks and the questions, Donato got this far in about 3 hours. He is crazy.

Sam Weber

I think that was the first weekend this year that I didn't work, I definitely needed the break. It was a great experience and I am very honored to have been a part of the show. If you are in the New York area the show will be there until October 17th. Go check it out!

2009-09-13T21:25:00.000-07:00

More to come...

2009-09-02T12:29:00.000-07:00

This card was spoiled from the Zendikar set that is coming out later this month.

2009-08-22T16:01:00.000-07:00

I was able to gather some pics taken of the cover I did for the new Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 3rd Edition at Gen Con. A big thanks to Zoe at Fantasy Flight Games for taking these pics for me! Hopefully next year I will have a booth at Gen Con.

DAM4 was selected as the training title of the month, woo!

On another note, I just want to apologize for my lack of video tutorial updates. First I was gone for a week for Wizard World Con and after that I have been swamped with work. Hopefully I will get some time after Sept. 3rd to make something. In the meantime, thanks for supporting my youtube site!

2009-08-16T07:09:00.000-07:00

Wizard World Comic Con Chicago!

Wizard World was the first show that I had a booth at, and it was awesome. I met a lot of really cool people and got to see some great art, plus selling some stuff doesn't hurt either.

As usual I was completely unprepared for the show. When I started setting up my booth I realized that I didn't bring anything to display my work on, no easels, no stands, no banners, nothing. I didn't even bring any business cards. Luckily there was a Kinko's in the lobby of the hotel that I could have some makeshift business cards made. I was also able to pick up two easels from the Blick store so that I could have something to display my canvas prints on.

After a 14 hour car trip we arrived at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, it was pretty fancy.

View from our balcony.

Our room was on the 8th floor...I hate heights.

Crazy elevators

Round penthouse thingy

Our first breakfast at the hotel, $40 for two people!

Getting some stuff ready for the show.

My ghetto booth, notice the lack of stands and banners and the fact that I only have one leg.

Waiting like a hawk.

Dan Scott's booth.

Dan Scott and Jason Seiler, I am hiding from their greatness.

We ended up having to leave early on Sunday. After a 16 hour ride back I had to go straight to work, the fun never ends.

I just want to thank everyone who came to the show and to all the cool artists I talked to. Next year, Gen Con!

2009-08-15T13:40:00.000-07:00

This is the cover I did for the new Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 3rd Edition by Fantasy Flight Games.

Screenshot from the mini site.

2009-08-03T05:55:00.001-07:00

I just found out that our Warhammer Squig cake that was made by Charm City Cakes for Games Day Baltimore will air on the show Ace of Cakes on the Food Network on August 27th. Be sure to check it out!

2009-07-28T06:30:00.000-07:00

Oops, I forgot about these guys. They are from the World of Warcraft TCG, Fields of Honor.

2009-07-28T05:40:00.000-07:00

Wow, update madness lately. Anyway, here are a few things from a personal project. I hope you enjoy!

2009-07-27T21:17:00.000-07:00

This weeks tutorial is about how to make tileable textures. Hmmm, I'm not really sure what kind of tutorial I am going to do for next week.

I am currently in the process of fixing my site so that you can view these videos on there as well. See you next week!

2009-07-27T14:25:00.000-07:00

My Sarkhan Vol tutorial, featured in Digital Art Masters Vol. 4, is now available from www.3dtotal.com. The book is full of some amazing artists, so be sure to check it out!

2009-07-25T21:31:00.000-07:00

Here is the latest edition to my video tutorials. In this tutorial I talk about a different approach to using color dodge and how not to use color dodge. I forgot to mention that this technique should be used sparingly, you have to be subtle.

I will be uploading another tutorial on Tuesday since this one is so short.

2009-07-20T18:07:00.000-07:00

Howdy! It's time for this weeks tutorial update! Today I will be demonstrating an easy way to paint chain mail by using a custom brush. Next week I am going to use the same painting to show you how to use color dodge. I hope you enjoy!

2009-07-16T18:16:00.001-07:00

Six days ago I uploaded my first tutorial to my YouTube account and already I have almost 10k views! I would like to thank everyone for supporting my videos, it is much appreciated. Today I finished making 3 more tutorials. I am planning on releasing a new tutorial every Tuesday, so check back next week for the new installment. Here is a quick teaser of the new tutorials.

2009-07-14T18:26:00.000-07:00

I finished a new tutorial. This tutorial takes you through the process of creating custom brushes in Photoshop from scratch. Be sure to check my youtube site regularly for new tutorials. Enjoy!

2009-07-11T07:06:00.000-07:00

For the past couple of weeks I have been working on a video tutorial of the Liche Priest I painted for Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning. The entire video is around 55 minutes long and is split into 8 sections. I did all of the video, audio, and editing myself and I can confidently say that the whole process was not only a lot harder than I had imagined, but also very rewarding. This is going to be the first of many video tutorials that I have planned.

I would like to thank everyone in advance, and I hope you enjoy my video!

Painting Demo: Liche Priest - Part 1-8

http://www.youtube.com/user/daarken#play/user/0A8590A6809E217F

2009-07-09T17:49:00.001-07:00

Woo, my site is back up.

2009-07-09T11:40:00.000-07:00

I am currently changing my web host, so my site will probably be down for a few days.

For the past week or so I have been putting together a video demo of the Liche Priest I painted for Warhammer Online. It should be done soon, so stay tuned!

2009-07-07T16:11:00.000-07:00

The cover I did for the new card game Warhammer: Invasion was announced today. You can find more information about it on Fantasy Flight Game's site.

2009-06-25T12:41:00.001-07:00

Tor just replaced my gallery with more recent work. You can check out my gallery here. There are a lot of great artists in their gallery, be sure to check them out!

2009-06-21T19:15:00.000-07:00

My last M10 card was spoiled earlier this month. Seems like this is going to be in the Nature's Fury intro pack. I must admit, I did this one in one night. The composition was really rushed. There is so much more I could have done with this one, I wish I could have spent more time on it. Plus I really hate painting trees, they are a major pain. His left arm is pretty messed up too. Oh well, my next set of cards turned out a lot better.

2009-06-15T10:01:00.000-07:00

New MTG stuff. Weeeee.

2009-06-03T18:50:00.000-07:00

The MTG page on Facebook posted this image as part of their Magic 2010 preview. Actually, this was the original image. The one on Facebook has the blue glow taken out. I still think it works better with the glow, especially at print size.

2009-05-28T18:47:00.000-07:00

Wow! I just found out that one of my paintings has been selected for the Spectrum Annual show! My piece will be on display at the Museum of American Illustration at the Society of Illustrators in New York City. The opening reception is on Sept. 11, 2009. I am pretty sure I will be attending.

I still can't believe that they chose me. I have no idea how my stuff is going to stand up next to the real greats. This is truly an honor.

2009-05-24T13:32:00.000-07:00

I started an etsy site. Right now I only have 4 canvas prints on there. I'm not sure if anyone will buy my things from there, so I figured I would just put a few things up at first.

daarken.etsy.com

2009-05-13T10:59:00.000-07:00

Some more stuff from the live Tomb Kings expansion.

Giant Scarab

Nagash statue

Tomb Guard

2009-04-30T04:56:00.000-07:00

My new site is up, whooo.

www.daarken.com

2009-04-29T08:07:00.000-07:00

Over the past few days I have been trying to come up with a new, simple site design. I wanted to avoid flash so that people can view my page with their iPhone and other operating systems, like Linux. I also didn't want to have a lot of navigation or too many galleries. Here is a little sneak peek of what I have so far. Let me know what you think. The site should be ready in a few days.

2009-04-27T05:17:00.000-07:00

Some stuff from the new Alara Reborn set.

I spent a good portion of the weekend working on a new site. I decided to go very simple and do away with flash since a lot of people can't view flash sites. The new site should be done in the next day or two, hopefully. Oh, plus I tested it on my iPhone and it works, wee.

2009-04-21T18:46:00.000-07:00

This is one of the Tomb King facades I worked on. I never got to finish this one, so just pretend the right side looks like the left side.

2009-04-11T07:03:00.000-07:00

I am sorry to say that I will not be attending the Nashville Prerelease.

2009-04-03T15:38:00.000-07:00

I was rummaging through my hard drive at work and I found this picture. This was from the New York Comic-Con.

I found this while browsing the internet the other day. This is from the Alara Reborn set that comes out later this month.

2009-03-26T17:39:00.000-07:00

Some new WoW stuff. I feel like the quality dropped on these, hopefully the next set will come out soon :P

2009-03-20T22:50:00.000-07:00

They finally released the artist list for Spectrum 16, I got in! I wonder what piece got in. Congrats to all those who were selected!

2009-03-19T16:18:00.000-07:00

Looks like I'll be attending the Nashville, TN prerelease for the new Magic: The Gathering set on April 25th. I don't have any other info about the prerelease yet, but I'll post the info when I get it.

I will also have my own table at the Wizard World Comic-Con in Chicago from Aug. 6-9. This will be my first time having a table at a convention, I am pretty excited. I should have some more canvas prints ready for the show.

Last but not least, my Liche Priest for Warhammer Online came out.

2009-01-31T19:39:00.000-08:00

Today was the Conflux Prerelease in College Park, Maryland. I ended up selling a Form of the Dragon and a Sarkhan Vol canvas print. Good thing I sold those, I barely broke even at this show. Not a lot of people showed up, plus I only did one playmat drawing because the vendors weren't selling any. It was a really long day today. There were many hours where no people were coming up to the booth at all. Cat slept underneath the table. Fun times!

Setting up my booth.

I think my sign is too small.

2009-01-29T11:37:00.000-08:00

Today we announced the addition of the Choppa and Slayer! Here is a concept I did for a T3 armor.

2009-01-26T18:36:00.000-08:00

Well, my canvas prints came in the mail today and I just finished stretching them. I am really happy with how they turned out. Tomorrow I am going to varnish them. I might need to go get some wire so I can hang them.

Here is my poor attempt at a panorama shot.

And a shaky video...

2009-01-21T18:54:00.000-08:00

I got my canvas proofs in the mail today! They turned out great. I was really surprised that they got the colors spot on. I should have the actual prints in the next 4-5 days. The prints will be 25x19. Now I need to go buy some stretcher bars and some varnish.

2009-01-20T14:05:00.000-08:00

I will be attending the Conflux Prerelease in Maryland on Jan. 31st. You can find more information about it here. I will also have some stretched canvas prints available at the show for $150 each.

2008-12-19T18:53:00.000-08:00

Wuggy likes my pants.

2008-12-03T18:40:00.000-08:00

Okayama

Day 6 - 11.26.8

First I have to apologize for the lack of pictures. Every single time we left the hotel I forgot my camera in the room, so most of these pictures were taken by Cat with her iPhone. The ones that I actually took with my camera were either from our hotel window or from inside a bullet train traveling 180 mph. I always forget my camera :P.

Boo! The last day of the trip. We hit the bookstore one last time before heading to the train station. These two trains were sitting there when we arrived.

Inside the train station at Shin-Osaka, I think.

Taken from inside the train looking out of the window.

The Green Car inside the bullet train (Nozomi). The Green Car is a reserved seat car. It is more expensive, but it is definitely worth it. Check it out.

More shots while looking out of the window.

Mmmmm, candy.

Upside down doggie cookie thingy.

These are the 3D cards that I received from some fans at the show. I was totally blown away with these. I also got a really cool photo album. I'll have to try and post a picture of it soon. Thank you again!

Well, that concludes our awesome trip to Japan. I plan on going back soon, and I have actually been seriously considering moving there one day. Cat has been wanting to move there for many years, and now I understand why. I already know some words and phrases from watching anime and reading manga, but since the trip I have started learning more Japanese. I bought My Japanese Coach for the DS, and we have the Japanese Rosetta Stone program. Maybe in a couple of years I'll know enough to get a job there. Who knows.

I just want to thank Ron Foster and all the people at Wizards and at the Okayama convention center for allowing me to visit Japan. I will never forget it.

2008-11-30T22:39:00.000-08:00

Okayama

Day 5 - 11.25.08

Oops, I forgot to post these two pictures. We took these on the way to the Okayama Castle. You can see it on the horizon.

Pastries from the local convenience store. Oh man, the convenience stores there are awesome. You can actually get EVERYTHING there, and their food is actually better than Japanese food I have had here in the states, with the exception of a few places in San Francisco.

This one had egg salad and ham inside.

Sausage and potatoes on some bread.

Cheese!

Lunch at the train station. This was actually on our last day, but oh well. I had the best katsudon I have ever eaten in my life. This isn't a picture of my katsudon.

We ended up taking it pretty easy that day. We walked around the city, went to a few different shopping centers, music stores, and some bookstores.

I bought the Final Fantasy XII Soundtrack, the Metal Gear Solid 4 Soundtrack, and issue 6 and 7 of Yotsuba&!. They only had up to issue 5 in the states, so I was really happy that they had the new ones there.

Another day comes to a close :(

2008-11-30T21:35:00.000-08:00

Okayama

Day 4 - 11.24.08

Well, the event is over. It was really interesting seeing the differences in a Magic Grand Prix in Japan as opposed to one in America. I had a great time. Everyone was so polite and excited to be there. I hope everyone had a good time.

This was our first day to go sightseeing, and of course it was raining. We decided to visit the Okayama Castle, also known as Crow Castle due to its black color. We took a trolley part of the way, and then walked the rest. I ended up putting a 500 yen coin in the trolley coin slot (the actual price was 100 yen, but I only had a 500 in my pocket), which didn't take it because we were all putting our money in the wrong place. Yay for a 600 yen trolley ride!

Unfortunately the castle was destroyed in World War II, but was rebuilt in 1966. These stones were part of the original foundation.

Walking up to the castle.

Some original materials used in the castle.

They put these on top of the castle to ward off evil spirits.

Samurai armor, with authentic battle damage!!!

A picture of one of the rooms that was believed to be haunted.

More armor, woo!

Part of the original wall that survived the bombing.

This is the outer wall that was rebuilt using the same materials and techniques as the original. If you notice, they did not use mortar in the construction of their walls. These huge blocks of stone are held together by gravity. The small spaces between the stones are stuffed with smaller stones. You can see the huge key stones on the corner of the wall.

One of the gates. Most of the time these huge gates remained closed. Smaller doors to either side were used instead.

MMMmmm, teppanyaki place.

This was the best example of Japlish that I could find. This was on the front of an arcade. Cat and Brian were taking pictures of this in the rain and people that walked by kept trying to figure out what was so cool about this ad. If they only knew its true awesomeness.

The end of another awesome day in Japan. Tomorrow we leave for America, it will be a sad day indeed.

2008-11-29T00:34:00.000-08:00

Okayama

Day 3 - 11.23.08

The last day of the show, and let me tell you, I was pretty tired. The first day I started getting double vision and blurry vision while I was drawing. My vision wasn't as bad the second day, but it still wasn't great. My wrist started to hurt though.

Anyway, another sunrise from the hotel window.

Actually, I think we took these pictures from the hotel lobby back on the first day of the show, but oh well. The Granvia Hotel is really nice. We went up to the 19th floor to see their super fancy restaurants...a coke was $7, and I saw some plates for about $150. I am not sure if those plates were for one person or for more.

To the left you can see the train station.

This was taken in front of the Convex Convention Center.

Not sure what this building is, but it looks neat!

Looking across the street from the convention center.

The roof of the front part of the convention center.

Magic, that way!

This is the front of the convention center where the shuttles dropped off Magic players.

Steps leading up to the convention center.

Gah, Cat keeps taking secret pictures of me.

Ah, me in front of my booth again. Cat made me stand there :P

Opening the booth for the last time. The morning was a bit slow, but that's because people were busy playing.

I look a little tired.

Yay! Dinner time! Ron took us to this awesome place. Once again the food was awesome. The whole time I was in Japan I never once had something I didn't like.

We had our own little enclosed booth. The great thing about restaurants in Japan is that each booth has a doorbell type thing that you ring in order to tell the waiter/waitress that you need something. Genius I tell you.

Mmm, fresh sushi.

Ugh, I am really starting to dread going home. Japan is so awesome. The people there are great. I have never seen a more polite, considerate, and well mannered society. Being around those types of people was great for my blood pressure. I didn't see a single piece of trash anywhere in the city. Okayama has the feel of a modern city, but yet is sleepy with not a lot of tourists. You can walk 20 minutes down the road and see a 400 year old castle. It is amazing.

Okayama at night. Sooooo pretty.

And it is 4:45am and I am still up...again. Work Monday is going to be SO fun.

Oh yeah, to be continued on Day 4.

2008-11-28T02:22:00.000-08:00

Okayama
Day 2 - 11.22.08

I woke up on Saturday at 4:30am. I can already tell the 14 hour time change is going to have quite an impact. Let the fun begin.

The morning from our hotel room on the 10th floor of the Granvia hotel.

We met Ron and Brian for breakfast around 7-7:30am. While waiting for Ron, Cat and I took some pictures of the hotel lobby.

Some thingy on the wall that I thought looked cool.

Feet!

After a yummy buffet breakfast, which included eggs, bacon, salmon, and cheese, we headed over to the event.

The Grand Prix was held at the Convex in Okayama. Cat and I had our picture taken outside the front entrance.

This is a shot behind the scenes at the Grand Prix, where the real magic happens. Magic...the Gathering that is...nevermind :P. This is where Cat and I escaped many times during the day to hide and to eat bento...and Brian's pocky.

My sign! When Ron asked for a bio I gave him a very sarcastic and silly bio...I had no idea that he was going to actually print it out and put it up in front of my booth. That will show me!

A list of some of the Magic cards I did.

Setting up my booth. Cat made some awesome stands out of cardboard.

Signing autographs and drawing, weee!

The first person to play Sarkhan Vol received a special From the Vault: Dragons, signed by me.

The first day was pretty good. Almost 700 people showed up for the event, a couple hundred more than what was expected. The first few people in line gave me gifts. It was very unexpected and very appreciated. I'll have to post some pictures of the gifts later on.

More shots from the hotel window

We ended up ordering room service for dinner...mmmm, beef curry and onigiri.

More to come on Day 3!

2008-11-27T22:36:00.000-08:00

Grand Prix Okayama
Day 1 - 11.20-21.08

No sleep Wednesday night, left for the airport at 3am on Thursday...fast forward to Friday night. In order to get from the Kansai airport we needed to take 2 trains to Okayama. The first train we took was the Haruka express to Shin-Osaka, which took about an hour.

The next was the Nozomi to Okayama, which was about another hour. The Nozomi is a bullet train that has a top speed of about 186 mph. Zoom zoom!

It was pretty daunting when we arrived at the train station. We needed to buy our tickets, but all the signs were in Japanese and no one really spoke any English. We finally found the ticket booth, and luckily the girl spoke enough English to understand which ticket we needed to buy. After some hand gestures from a few different workers, we made our way to the platform. We stood around like two lost kids trying to figure out which was our train. We thought we had found the right train, but it was about to leave, so we started running after it. Luckily it was packed and we were not able to get on, because it turned out to be the wrong train. Eventually we found the right train. This was also my first time in a foreign language speaking country, so I think that added to the confusion. Plus 17 hours on a plane doesn't help your stress level either.

Cat and I were pretty dead tired, so after checking in to our hotel, we snapped some pics of our awesome refrigerator and headed to bed. Three dollar Coke, weee.

Beer, coke, and chips.

Continued on Day 2...

2008-10-20T20:35:00.000-07:00

Kansas City Grand Prix 2008

Cat and I attended the Magic: The Gathering Kansas City Grand Prix over the weekend. After a grueling 2.5 hours on a plane (I hate flying) we were picked up by another Kat and taken to the Sheraton Overland Park Hotel. After checking into our room we ordered some steak with blue cheese, mmm.

The next morning we headed down to get some breakfast from the hotel restaurant. With a bacon, egg, and cheese sammich in my belly, we headed down to the convention center.

We were greeted with this outside of the convention center...I didn't realize Magic players drove armored cars.

I found my table and set up my booth, unfortunately there werent any shelves or stands. I spent the next 9 hours signing cards and drawing on playmats. Over 700 players attended the event, it was a good turnout. Dan Scott was in the booth next to me, and kept me company until Sunday. I was lucky to have Cat with me. She helped me organize the requests for playmat drawings and made sure everyone got what they needed.

She even did a great coloring job on this "Jason Vol" card I did for one of the judges. This card was drawn and colored with Sharpie markers on a playmat. Unfotunately we had to leave before the judge was able to see it...I hope he liked it.

I got so many playmat drawing requests on Saturday that I had to take 14 of them to the hotel that night to work on. I was up until 2:00am working on them, and was only able to finish 7 of them. The next day I had to stop taking playmat drawing requests just to be able to catch up. Sorry about that guys!

Cat and I had a great time in Kansas. See you guys in Japan!

---------------------

I decided to give Paul Barnett a Warhammer launch present as thanks for all the things he has done for the concept team. I think I spent 3-4 hours painting his portrait. The rest of the concept team pitched in and bought an awesome frame. It now lives amongst Paul's plethora of red shoes. WAAAGH!

2008-09-26T08:10:00.000-07:00

After one week we have reached 500,000 players, woo!

Read about it here.

Edit: We now have over 800,000 subscribers!

2008-09-23T05:26:00.000-07:00

Well, Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning launched last Thursday, Sept. 18th! I have worked on the project for 14 months so far...time really flew by. I hope everyone enjoys the game as much as I do.

Trophies

Chosen armor textures

Zealot armor textures

Dark elf siege tower

Marauder armor texture

Zealot armor texture

Swordmaster armor texture

Shaman armor texture

High Elf/Empire fixtures

Swordmaster armor texture

Inevitable City NPC/Female vampire NPC

Original male sorcerer pitch (rejected)

Praag/High Pass

2008-09-07T08:34:00.000-07:00

Another new Magic: The Gathering card. I think this is in the Shards of Alara set. I am not sure, it was on a MTG spoiler site.

2008-09-04T18:03:00.000-07:00

OMG! I was just invited to attend the Magic: The Gathering Grand Prix in Japan from Nov. 22-23! The event will take place in Okayama.

Okayama is in the south of the main island of Japan and is a large port city. I've never been to Japan before, it should be a lot of fun. I can't wait! I need to get my passport :O. The flight is going to really suck though, I hate flying. Maybe I can sleep on the plane.

I wonder if the signing is going to be hard since I don't speak Japanese. I think most of them probably speak English. If not, Cat will have to translate!

It looks like we will be leaving Nov. 20th and coming back Nov. 26th. Time to save up some money!

2008-08-16T08:05:00.000-07:00

Haha, this is crazy. They are giving away a custom Warhammer Commodore Gaming PC at Leipzig this year that features my Sorc. She really gets around :O

2008-08-09T07:30:00.000-07:00

A new spoiler, from the limited edition From the Vault: Dragons, was posted yesterday.

You can pick up a copy of the set at Gen Con. Here is some more info:

Celebrate the 15th Anniversary of Magic: The Gathering with the “From the Vault: Dragons” limited edition boxed set. Inside, you’ll encounter 15 dragon cards printed in distinctive foil, including a sneak preview dragon from the upcoming Shards of Alara expansion.

Attendees of Gen Con Indy 2008 will have a chance to buy a copy of From the Vault: Dragons at the Wizards of the Coast booth before the set’s official August 29 release date!From the Vault: Dragons will go on sale at Gen Con Indy every morning at 11:00 AM. Only 100 units will be sold each day. Limit is one per person for the duration of the show. Your badge will be marked to show you have purchased your copy.

Collector's Highlights

Available in English world-wide August 29th and on Magic Online in September 2008.
Includes 15 black-bordered premium foil dragon cards, each printed with a distinctive finish.
6 dragon cards feature new artwork.
Features some of the most popular dragon cards from Magic’s 15-year history.
Cards appearing in From the Vault: Dragons are legal in formats in which those cards appeared in expansion sets. The card Hellkite Overlord will appear in the future expansion Shards of Alara but will be legal in the Legacy and Vintage formats beginning August 29, 2008.

Game Features

A full-color collector’s insert that includes a list of every dragon card printed in Magic’s 15 year history, rules for the Elder Dragon Highlander casual format, and a brief description of each of the 15 dragon cards.
A spin-down life counter featuring the From the Vault: Dragons expansion symbol.
Includes Hellkite Overlord, a dragon from the Shards of Alara expansion which won't be available for sale until October 3rd 2008.

2008-08-06T17:08:00.001-07:00

Waaagh!

Mythic just announced the release date for Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning! Sept. 18th is the big day. I can't believe I have already been working there for over a year...pretty crazy. I am pretty excited about launch. Hopefully the game will do really well. I just found the box art for the European edition, my Sorc and White Lion are on the front!

I need to pick up a copy...I wonder if I can order one. More information about launch can be found here.

War is coming!

2008-07-17T06:55:00.000-07:00

Some more Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning concepts that were released.

2008-07-14T17:12:00.000-07:00

More Eventide stuff.

2008-07-01T17:26:00.000-07:00

Some new Eventide spoilers:

2008-06-07T11:20:00.000-07:00

Some White Lion concept art I did that came out in the May newsletter.

Wizards released a spoiler of the Planeswalker, Sarkhan Vol.

Here is the actual art

2008-05-28T21:43:00.000-07:00

After probably two years my Demonic Tutor illustration has finally surfaced. I was wondering when this card was going to come out. Apparently it is a DCI Judge Promo Card...or something, and only 28 are ever going to be printed. There is one on e-bay right now for over $200. I am guessing Wizards isn't going to be sending me a copy this time :(.

2008-04-14T19:11:00.000-07:00

I added these to my site earlier this month, but I figured I would go ahead and stick them here as well. Basically this means I don't have anything new to post :P.

Cat and I are going to be at the New York Comic Con this weekend, it should be a lot of fun. I can bug the people at the Warhammer booth. I've only been to the San Diego Comic Con...I wonder what this one will be like.

Grand Theogonist Volkmar

Chaos battering ram

Chaos boiling oil

Dark Elf Sorceress

The Inevitable City Library

Slaanesh Champion

The Inevitable City Banker Assistant

The Inevitable City Banker

The Inevitable City Librarian

The Inevitable City Librarian Assistant

2008-04-13T20:26:00.000-07:00

The new WoW expansion, Servants of the Betrayer, just came out. I really didn't enjoy working on these illustrations. For some reason I just wasn't really feeling the descriptions I was given, I guess it shows. Cat and I went to Target today and bought some booster packs. I ended up getting the Cloak of Shadows card. Eh, I will be glad when my other cards come out. I hated these.

Cloak of Shadows

Horace Shadowfall

Hourglass of the Unraveller

I just bought a new video card! I got an EVGA GeForce 8800 GTS SSC 640 MB that came with a copy of Crysis. Man, Crysis is such an awesome game.

2008-04-06T21:40:00.000-07:00

I figured I would start another one of these blogs, maybe this time I will actually keep it updated.

A bunch of illustrations I did for the new Magic: The Gathering Shadowmoor set has been released. The actual set isn't going to be released until May 2nd. Looking back on my illustrations I really wished I had spent more time on them, so I decided to fix them up a bit since I will be selling prints at the Mega Magic Weekend in Richmond, Virginia on May 10th.

I just found out this morning that WotC used my art on some of the new Shadowmoor accessories. I now have my art on sleeves, a binder, box cover, and a card box!