"Run the Streets" an Homage to "Run the Jewels"

New Personal Project!

"Run the Streets"

For the past year or so I've been really getting into the music of hip-hop group Run the Jewels. Killer Mike and El-P make an awesome duo and I wanted to pay homage to them and their music as well as a their iconic 'Pistol and Fist' featured on all 3 album covers, created by artist Nicholas Gazin.

Run the Jewels / Run the Jewels 2 / Run the Jewels 3

In addition to tipping my hat to these guys, I used this piece as an exercise in execution. Lately I've been focusing on one of my bad habits of leaving areas of a piece too "unfinished". In my head, the idea is that I need to leave areas of less focus under-rendered so as not to distract from the main focus of the piece. While the concept itself is correct, I've been failing in the execution of it, leaving my work looking unintentionally unfinished, and in hind-sight, kind of sloppy. So with this piece I wanted to tackle it from the stance of wanting to fully realize every inch of the artwork.

I'm pleased with the results of the exercise. I'm happy with how the image looks and I was able to overcome some of the mental hurdles I regularly face while working. I'm hope to continue attacking this problem moving forward and ultimatly create better artwork as a result.

Some RTJ themed MTG alters I did a while back. They have a song on their 1st album titled Sea Legs.

To rap things up, if you haven't listened to their music, here are some of my favorite RTJ tracks, some accompanied by awesome music videos. Thanks for checking out this post! Keep on Jewel Running ;)

Rubble Kings Theme (Dynamite)

Nobody Speak

A Christmas Fucking Miracle

Blockbuster Night Part 1

Lie, Cheat, Steal

Crown

Panther Like a Panther

Thursday in the Danger Room

Back from the dead & Magic Alters

Hey everyone, I'm back! Did you miss me? Oh...ok. I'm sorry to have assumed that. No I understand. I was just excited to be back, I didn't mean...right...ok. I hope we can still be friends. Anyways, I know I've been neglecting my blog like crazy lately but I have been very busy with work and none of which I can show just yet. I just finished up 2 jobs that hopefully I can talk about really soon. Just waiting for the green light on that stuff. I'm also going to have some items to sell pretty soon so keep an eye out if you want to own something with my art on it. I've also got another personal piece in the works that I'll be done soon, hopefully. It'll get done eventually. Maybe. If I feel like it. Ok, ok, I'll finish it. But just for you *wink*.

I haven't done Magic alters in forever so I decided to do some the other day. Also I needed something to show on my blog....and an excuse to make a blog post. Enjoy!

Even more Magic Alters

Been crazy busy lately and I don't have anything to show because it's mostly work related. Here are some Magic alters I did to unwind recently, a couple are just touch ups of old alters.

Ghoulraiser - Steve Prescott ...(gift for a friend)
Sporesower Thallid - Ron Spencer

Stromkirk Noble - James Ryman
Ember Hauler - Steve Prescott
Phyrexian Obliterator - Todd Lockwood

Updates: Art Projects and Magic Alters

I'm doing a lot of freelance work right now so while my blog makes it looks like I'm not doing much I'm actually doing more than I've ever done...I just can't share anything yet. I'm really happy with the work I've been producing though, it's definitely some of my best. I'm very excited to announce I successfully completed my first job with Fantasy Flight Games! The first job I received from them is still in the works, but the 2nd job I got with them is completely wrapped up and I'm on my way to doing even more work with them, which is GREAT. It feels really good to be working with a company as distinguished as FFG and to also be invited to do additional work. I guess I did something right on my first job then!

Onto Magic Alters!!...

Above are 3 new alters. I think I'm going to try and paint out the names of cards that have the name rewritten in the rules text from now on. I really like the feel of the Shriekmaw and I want to do more like that. I tried to do the same with Markov Blademaster but the paint got super chunky which kinda stinks. I'll see if I can do anything about that though. I need to learn to stay patient and not get frustrated with the paints, it gets tough when you have to fight against the paint. On the more positive side, Merfolk Sovereign is probably my best alter yet!

Here's the full list of cards done so far...

Demystify - Christopher Rush
Thallid Germinator - Tom Wänerstrand
Chandra's Spitfire - Justin Sweet
Grim Poppet - Kev Walker
Kessig Wolf - Wayne England

Child of the Night - Ash Wood
Utopia Mycon - Anthony S. Waters
Doom Blade - Chippy
Sudden Death - Dave Allsop
Full Moon's Rise - Terese Nielsen

Cone of Flame - Chippy
Darkthicket Wolf - Wayne England
Crossway Vampire - Mark Evans
Nightbird's Clutches - Jason A Engle
Curse of Stalked Prey - Christopher Moeller

Chandra Nalaar - Aleksi Briclot
Chandra's Outrage (2) - Christopher Moelller
Volcanic Dragon - Chris Rahn
Lurking Crocodile - Donato Giancola

Overrun - Carl Critchlow
Lumberknot - Jason A. Engle
Blightning - Thomas M. Baxa
Phyrexian Obliterater - Todd Lockwood
Sprout Swarm - Chippy

Fume Spitter - Nils Ham
Lightning Bolt - Christopher Moeller
Stromkirk Noble - James Ryman
Vapor Snag - Raymond Swanland
Ember Hauler - Steve Prescott

Essence Scatter - Jon Foster
Shriekmaw - Steve Prescott
Merfolk Sovereign - Jesper Ejsing
Markov Blademaster - Jana Schirmer & Johannes Voss

Magic: The Alterations Update

4 more magic alters added to the list! I'm pretty happy with the new ones. I even tried something new with Essence Scatter. I was using too much water and went to rub off some of it and some of the paint came off. I was pretty upset at this at first because I thought it would be a huge pain to fix. But then I thought about the art already on the card and decided to embrace the mistake and do the same thing to other areas on purpose. I think it turned out pretty nicely, maybe I'll try something similar in the future. Happy accidents can be really fun sometimes.Cards and their original artists:

Demystify - Christopher Rush
Thallid Germinator - Tom Wänerstrand
Chandra's Spitfire - Justin Sweet
Grim Poppet - Kev Walker
Kessig Wolf - Wayne England

Child of the Night - Ash Wood
Utopia Mycon - Anthony S. Waters
Doom Blade - Chippy
Sudden Death - Dave Allsop
Full Moon's Rise - Terese Nielsen

Cone of Flame - Chippy
Darkthicket Wolf - Wayne England
Crossway Vampire - Mark Evans
Nightbird's Clutches - Jason A Engle
Curse of Stalked Prey - Christopher Moeller

Chandra Nalaar - Aleksi Briclot
Chandra's Outrage (2) - Christopher Moelller
Volcanic Dragon - Chris Rahn
Lurking Crocodile - Donato Giancola

Overrun - Carl Critchlow
Lumberknot - Jason A. Engle
Blightning - Thomas M. Baxa
Phyrexian Obliterater - Todd Lockwood
Sprout Swarm - Chippy

Fume Spitter - Nils Ham
Lightning Bolt - Christopher Moeller
Stromkirk Noble - James Ryman
Vapor Snag - Raymond Swanland
Ember Hauler - Steve Prescott

Essence Scatter - Jon Foster

I'm up to 27 altered Magic cards

It feels like it's been a while since I've done some alters. Plus since opening the Phyrexian Obliterator, I really wanted to alter it. It's such a gorgeous card already. After looking at these for a while, I think I might go back and paint out the names. I like having the information visible, but in some cases I think it holds back the potential of the alter (like Phyrexian Obliterator and Lightning Bolt). Lightning Bolt would be an awesome one to do full card art on. I'll repost after I tweak them.

I've been keeping a jpeg on file, full of all the card alters I've done so far and they're at the original scan resolution in case anyone's interested. I'll try and get into the habit of posting the updated version along with each new Magic alter post. Which ones are you're favorites??

I've been altering more Magical cards

Here are the last 2 batches of Magic: The Gathering alterations.

I can definitely tell I'm improving with these and I've been really happy with the progress. If you have any suggestions for cards you would like to see altered please let me know and I'll see what I can do. Enjoy!

5th week of studies

It gets tough doing studies every single day. Sometimes I don't have the energy to really polish them enough to sparkle, sometimes I'm busy, other times I restart a couple of times in order to get something I like and sometimes I wind up copping out after 3 or 4 tries *cough* (like the sword) *cough*. So if you see any images that stand out as "Really? That's it?" just remember we all have rough days. I'm not really doing this for anyone but myself anyways so it's not like I'm hurting anyone else if I do become lazy. I just feel like I should explain what I'm trying to accomplish since I've decided to share the progress. I always try to find some way to make up the work no matter what the situation is. My main goal is to do something art related EVERY SINGLE DAY and that's exactly what I've been doing no matter how much or how or little. One day I didn't do a study because I wound up spending 10+ hours finishing an illustration and I just did not have the energy to do a study (and I doubt it would've been all that great either) but you can't really feel bad for not painting because you were busy painting you know? Makes sense to me. Anyways if I ever do fall behind I'll be sure to bear the shame and fall on my badly painted sword. Maybe the humility will push me to try even harder. No more delay, here's the goods...

New Magic Alterations

I've been hard at work on doing more Magic: The Gathering Alterations. I've been trying some different methods of doing the alters. If anyone reading this is interested in having some of their own please let me know and maybe I can do some for you! Now onto the cards!!!....

Cards and their original artists:

Demystify - Christopher Rush
Thallid Germinator - Tom Wänerstrand
Chandra's Spitfire - Justin Sweet
Grim Poppet - Kev Walker
Kessig Wolf - Wayne England
Child of the Night - Ash Wood
Utopia Mycon - Anthony S. Waters
Doom Blade - Chippy
Sudden Death - Dave Allsop
Full Moon's Rise - Terese Nielsen
Cone of Flame - Chippy

Magic: The Gathering Alterations

I recently found a place to buy and play Magic where I live! I was starting to think I was the only person in Philly who played. So I bought some cards to pump up all my decks a little bit, and while there I played against a guy who had an altered Magic card. I've seen alterations people have made to Magic cards online, but I'd never seen any in real life though. They definitely call attention to themselves and have the potential to look pretty cool if you do it right. Some people extend the art outside the original borders (check out Daarken's alterations) and others change the art into something humorous (check out Steve Argyle's alterations).

I decided to take shot at these myself. Check out my first batch of card alterations:

Nothing too crazy yet, just trying to get a feel for what painting on a card is like. So far it's been pretty fun! If you have any requests or suggestions for card alterations let me know and I'll see if I have the card and maybe I'll give it a try.

(Original artists from left to right: Christopher Rush, Tom Wänerstrand, Justin Sweet)