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CODA
This is the cover to A DISTANT SOIL Volume IV. It is watercolor and pencil, with digital touch ups. While it’s one of my favorite covers, it’s probably not flashy enough for commercial purposes. Oh, well.
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The Scream
I used Genesis Oils for this piece, which is not really oil, but it handles a lot like it. I have not touched this type of paint in years and just picked it up again recently to do some new pieces. The good thing about this paint is that it dries at about 200 degrees in roughly 15 minutes. I use a heat gun. You start painting again after it cools. That’s a lot handier than waiting for the long period between oil glazes! This makes it ideal for illustration. I don’t know why, but very few illustrators use it. A drawback is that you can’t use traditional glazes on…
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The Hierarchy
This is a watercolor painting for A DISTANT SOIL 27. Sere, Niniri, Emeris, and Seren in the foreground.
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Bast
This is a pastel drawing of Bast from many years ago. It’s not quite on model, her features are too delicate. Bast should be queenly. I think there’s a lot of Kelly Freas influence in this piece. He was my mentor when I was a kid. The way I rendered the stones and cloth, the set of the head, the overall style is very Kelly. I recall donating it to one of those industry charity auctions. They had no idea what it was, and my art wasn’t worth much back then, so they sold it as “Portrait of Spanish Lady” and let it go for about $30. I was not…
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Niniri and Seren
This is one of my earliest attempts at digital color. It’s a pencil drawing layered with parchment, with some minor alterations in Photoshop. I like how simple and understated it is.
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Merry Christmas!
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Troll Bridge Cover development
This is the original Troll Bridge illustration which appeared in A DISTANT SOIL 25. I adapted the Neil Gaiman short story for comics in an 8 page black and white version, didn’t like it, and redid it this year as a painted graphic novel for Dark Horse, with the kind support of Neil. The book ended up spending a nice several weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, which was a nice surprise. I was asked not to do the new project in watercolor, because a lot of clients prefer digital art, but the painting probably would have gone faster since I really didn’t know how to do this…
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Sere
This watercolor of Sere was done back in the 1990’s. Kelly Freas style stars were added with colored pencil.
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Oberon and Titania
This really doesn’t have anything to do with A DISTANT SOIL, but it is a very nice private commission I recently finished, and this is as good a place as any to showcase it. Thanks to Eric van Oosten for his great patience in waiting for this piece. 16″x20″, pencil.
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A Distant Soil Fundraiser Print: Seren and D’mer in progress
Here’s another look at the A Distant Soil fundraiser print, almost finished. I am so sorry this took so long. Aside from screwing up the original digital file, I have had such a heavy work and tour load getting all the packing material that finding time to ship was rough. I have everything I need now and people should have their prints in time for Christmas. I made sure to save the file at different stages in case I had another serious goof. I could just find an earlier version of the file and fix it.
