Studio walk-in
This week I'm showing some of my work in progress: a fungi infested forest, a new set of sci-fi characters, and some very complex armor design
I’m trying something new. At least new for me.
What if I wasn’t living full time on the internet, and I had a studio you could physically walk in front of, and see what I’m working on? What if you could stop by for a comment, a quick chat, or a coffee break? No links, no calls to action, just doing the work.
This week, you’d see me collecting reference pictures of mold, fungi, and withering plants. I have been tasked with rendering an illustration for a D&D campaign setting.
In the scene, an infested Oberon — that dude riding the deer — approaches queen Titania, sleeping on a white marble altar. The set up is meant to evoke purity on Titania’s side, while Oberon is infesting the forest and her surroundings with contamination and spores.
As you probably already know, I juggle multiple commissions at any given time. After finishing the infested Oberon set up, I would switch to the “flatting” (aka laying down the flat colors before shading) of this intricate Dragonborn design.
As you peek over my shoulder you’d see me selecting areas and filling them with what I think are appropriate colors, and then you’d see me tweak each individual layer until the color scheme feels right.
Above you’ve seen how it would look. I know it’s all flat, but I’ll add shadows and highlights at a later stage — you’ll see it finished in a future update.
Finally, I would pull up the briefing from a new client and I’d finish sketching the character portraits they commissioned me.
This is only the preliminary draft stage, where we lock-in the various poses and compositions before refining them with more detail once the initial setup has been approved.
This draft usually needs a few revision rounds, so you’ll definitely see these people again.
I’m also happy that I got to add them to the sci-fi portfolio, it’s been shrinking a lot over the years — people just like ordering fantasy more :)
And if you catch me taking a break, you’d see me watching this video on repeat:
I’m also:
Reading “Show Your Work” by Austin Kleon, which inspired me to start writing this kind of updates
Enjoying the tabletop game Nemesis, my family got it for my 30th birthday this year and I’m finding time to play it only now. Me and my friends managed to beat it only twice so far lmao
Let me know if you’re into this kind of post! If you have any questions or want to know more about what I’m working on, or how, feel free to ask. I’ll make sure to cover it in future updates.