Halo of the Abyss

I've been a sci-fi nerd lately, watching anything with spaceships or unneccesarily complex vehicles. Fans of the Thundrebirds series might recognize the influence of Thunderbird 5 on my deep space lighthouse vessel here. Did this for a design challenge on CA.

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Adding new tricks to my trickbag

2010 was a year of trying new media for me. First it was oil paint, then polymer clay, digital canvas printing, mascot costumes etc... and now some more computer tricks for the digital art. For this scene I was experimenting with creating basic shapes in Illustrator and then pulling them into photoshop, and free transforming them to fit, they quickly give that sense of scale and detail that takes so much time to draw otherwise. 

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Here are the shapes in illustrator:

I've also just started experimenting with ZBrush a bit so I can add that to my arsenal.

This piece started as totally random shapes and strokes in ZBrush, with the mirroring option to give it symmetry. Then I pulled that into photoshop and drew on it for a few hours.  I think it would make a nice Death Metal album cover, or back tattoo, possibly a velvet painting??  I'm still a total ZBrush virgin, but  it's one of those programs that digital artists and illustrators should be familiar with, and I'm about 4 years behind everyone else getting started.

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Portals in the Haunted Wood

In the haunted wood at the edge of our lands slumbers an ancient power. But the lady of the woods, who normally sleeps within the ancient tree of legend, has been been awoken by the bumbling antics of a Forest Satyr. As she wanders the forest, floating in her ethereal mist, portals begin to open in the forest floor. These portals create a link between our world, and other dark dimensions, releasing primordial beasts to ravage our world.

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I was working on this one the last week or so, trying to compose a long, wide image. Something that could be used as a wraparound cover, or broken into multiple details..

Aren't we supposed to be on that ship?

Here's a scene I was working on last week, not sure what the story is yet. Maybe these guys are being abandoned on the planet, maybe they're just observing a passing ship... that's a job for a writer to figure out. 

Those curious alien landforms are actually based on some hoodoos I saw when I was in Canada last year.

Here's a detail shot of the little space buggy they drive around.  It's those little details that really chew up some time, but they're fun to draw.