Darksol from Shining Force

I finally have the time to post something as well as something to post! I have a ton of freelance projects to show once they get released by the publishers, but that will still be a while yet. But here's a personal piece I did for fun after finishing up a bunch of freelance.

Darksol, from the video game Shining Force. 

If you remember my spotlight on Shining Force I posted the sketch for this piece there along with the original, in-game character art. I've deviated a bit from the original but I think my more demonic take on him is more like his character and considering his main goal in the game is to resurrect the ancient abomination, Dark Dragon I figured it would be cool to make him look more like the Dragon to hint at their relation. I hope you 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

Inspiration Spotlight #23: Syfy's Face Off

I recently discovered a fairly new series on Syfy called Face Off. The premise of the show is that a group of make-ep effects artists compete in a last-man-standing kind of competition to be the number one artist and they win a nice prize packet at the end. They participate in a variety of different challenges that emphasize different aspects of doing make-up for film and TV including, body paint, prosthetics, hair sculpting, and team work to name a few.

I really fell in love with this show pretty quickly. As a fantasy artist, I was really excited to see a different form of conceptualizing creating fictional characters and creatures. There were actually a lot of challenges that fell into the fantasy realm and it got my creative juices flowing.

One of the things I loved the most was that you got to hear the artists all talk about their work and their thought process behind each piece. I was really impressed to see the level of detail they could achieve in their effect but also the level of detail in storytelling you can achieve with a single figure and some make-up. It made me rethink how important little tiny details can be in order to sell your concept and I plan on taking those ideas into my own work.

They are on their 2nd season right now. The first season was fairly short with only 8 episodes but it was jam packed with awesome work from the contestants. If you're an artist (especially a fantasy artist) I think you could get a lot out of watching this show, and it's a really entertaining show whether you're an artist of any kind or not.

From the Sketchbook #5: Shining Force

Here are some sketches I've done recently of some characters from Shining Force.

Marionette

Domingo

Darksol

Inspiration Spotlight #22: Shining Force

For some reason, I've had Shining Force on my mind a lot lately. When I was a little kid playing on the Sega Genesis when it first came out, it was one of my favorite games and I still hold a lot of fond memories of the game. Shining Force is a series but I've only ever played the first 2 and I've only ever owned the 1st game (Shining Force: The Legacy of Great Intention) so that's the one I remember the most so that's the one I'm going to focus on in this post.

Shining Force is a tactical RPG that takes place in a fantasy realm where there is some bad stuff happening in the world. There's some ancient evil or something and someone tries to do something with it or something like that. Basic fantasy stuff, nothing super special in that department. But overall it's a really fun and interesting game. It's one of those games I could pick up whenever and play start to finish without any hesitation.

 There's a deeper reason why I've always enjoyed Shining Force and I've just recently figured it out (or maybe this is the first time I'm caring enough to think about it) and that's because the game is full of some really awesome looking characters and monsters and also some pretty sweet environments. While the game does have it's fair share of cookie cutter fantasy creatures (goblins, centaurs, dwarfs) it also has a lot of really unique species and characters. There's this knight that flies around in a airplane/helicopter contraption, an armored rhino-looking dude, this adorable squid-like creature who flies around looking like the scrubbing bubbles mascot, an awesome looking samurai dude, robot dude, and a wolf-man dude along with lots of others. Also, I have to say it's got some of the most memorable boss fights and villains that made a real lasting impression on me.

Not the most complicated game, there are definitely a lot more tactical RPGs to come out since Shining Force and I'm sure lots of them are better, but this game is a true classic in my book and I'm sure I'll be remembering this game for a long time still. I've actually been playing through again recently and I've done some sketches of some of the characters in the game. Expect to see them on Monday!