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??

Phyrexian Obliterator Sketch

I've got a couple freelance jobs going on right now so I can't post the work I've been doing lately. I just finished up 2 illustrations for Pinnacle Games though and I have to say I'm really happy with how they turned out. The Super Sculpey has been helping me out a LOT. I highly recommend trying it out! I bought some Magic cards and opened up a Phyrexian Obliterator. Awesome card, even awesomer artwork by Todd Lockwood. I loved the art so much I decided to do a quick portrait sketch of the creature. That's all for today, and to my fellow Magic: the Gatherers, Happy Dark Ascension!

Inspiration Spotlight #20: Anthony Briglia

Ok, those of you who know me personally know that Anthony Briglia is my best bud and I know this isn't the first time I've promoted his work on my blog, but he definitely deserves a spot in the spotlight section.

I've been a fan of Anthony's work for about 8 years now and it's been a real joy watch his work grow in both skill level and concept since we were both mediocre artists (at best) going to high school together. He's got some great ideas and a wonderfully grotesque sense of aesthetic which really gives his work just the right flavor to sell his ideas. And if you're someone who really enjoys good ink work you should definitely take a closer look at his work because he really knows how to lay down a nice line in ink.

Anthony has recently started his own blog where he's making a habit of posting an exaggerated portrait every week. There's currently 2 of them up right now and they are both really awesome. You should go check out his work and show him some love. There's sure to be plenty of more goodies in store.

Headless Hydra: Weapons

My latest batch of work for Headless Hydra Games has been released and you can purchase it HERE. I illustrated a bunch of weapons which can be seen below this sentence.

Hiatus? Explain this!

You may have noticed that last week I missed out on a couple of posts, or then again maybe you didn't! Either way, I totally missed out on a couple of posts. This was due to a combination of being away from home for a while and me getting some important emails which needed immediate addressing. I woke up one day to find 2 emails in my inbox that made me VERY happy. The first was from an art director at Fantasy Flight Games who offered me some work to do illustration for one of their games. I happily accepted as FFG is on my career goals "to work for" list and I consider it to be potentially a huge career-changer. Can't really post much more about that now, but as soon as stuff gets published I will be sure to share, though that might be a while.

The other email I got I can totally talk about but I'd rather keep it somewhat to myself until the end of the process. What I will say is that I applied for an in-house illustration job in NYC and I was contacted back asking me to complete an art test because they liked what they saw in my application. If you poke around on this blog you can find out who it's for but I'd rather announce it at the end. I have a really good feeling about the in-house job as I busted my butt working on the art test and I'm really hoping to get an interview.

Anyways, that's my excuse for not updating, I've had a lot on my plate. But things have cooled down enough to where I can start posting regularly again. Even though I totally never officially announced I was going to post 3 times a week. Here's a random character I've played around with recently...

Copies of my Children's Book

Last week I received a few copies of the children's book I did over the summer with Capstone, "Your Life as a Cabin Boy on a Pirate Ship".

 It's a pretty nice feeling to finally have the final hard copy in my hands. It's been so long since I worked on it that pretty much forgot about it, so it was a nice surprise. Here are a couple shots of the cover.

If you want to see what's on the inside you can pick up a copy from the Capstone website or from Amazon.

Digital Doodles

I'm hit a lull in projects so I've been doing a lot of sketching lately. Below, the top 3 are different thumbs for an underwater Beholder that I came up with. The bottom 3 are various random sketches, except the one on the right, that's a werewolf...don't give me that look, Dark Ascension is coming out soon!

Here are a couple more in-depth sketches. They all need a lot of work but I'd like to take 1 or 2 of them to final at some point.

Here's a sketch I came up with one night on a whim. It has a pen and ink feel to it but it's entirely digital. This was a really fun sketch and I'd like to do more work similar to this in the future.

That's all for now, I'll keep fleshing out the ones I like and maybe you'll see a new portfolio piece coming from me soon.