Ra - Bedouin Desert Skiff

A solar powered desert skiff. Used by Bedouin scavengers

Ra - Character Portrait: Saul

A concept image of the main character of the Ra Universe.  His name is Saul (latvian for Sun or something :) ) he' lives on the streets of Ra. Note the slightly religious placement of the sun in the backdrop.

Ra - Supernova

Latest concept image for my Ra series

My new muse - 'Ra' The City Beyond the Sun

Here's a title image for my new IP which I'm using as a vehicle to come up with new artwork and push myself with.

The project is called 'Ra' The City Beyond the Sun.  I'll be posting some more related artwork in the coming weeks Im sure.  Ideally I think once I've established a tone and look and feel, other artist can then contribute and it can be a group thing and fusion of styles and ideas

Halloween Art Jam

I set up a monthly art jam at work where people can try their hand at new tools and techniques.  Octobers, rather predictably, was Halloween.  Here's my Z Brush sculpt.  It was about an hour for the sculpt and another 30 mins paint over and presentation

Life Drawing - Gesture studies

Just a selection of life drawing - Most were 30 second and 2 Minute poses.  Not amazing but okay seeing as it was in an A5 sketch book and first thing in the morning after a heavy night!

The Showdown

I looked at an old image of mine and I still liked the germ of the idea but wanted a more polished cinematic look to it.

Lil Gods - Mt Olympus

Hey! So I'm not really developing Lil Gods these days but I was having a rummage around and found these colour sketches of a possible Mount Olympus so I thought they were worth sharing.

Thats all for now!

Pixel Art - Guardians of the Galaxy

Everyone seemed to be buzzed about it so I thought I'd join in.  These may come off as little throw away pieces of fun, and in the most part they are.  I am finding though its allowing me to study the relationship between the colours across a cast of characters, especially when I have to distil them down to a tiny resolution.

Port concept/matte paint

The base was taken from an image from when I went to Dubrovnik recently.I've a follow up image planned for this so stay tuned

Pixel Art - Adventure Time

Wall - E sure is mad

Just a one off concept not for anything in particular

EDITED: just some layout and colour tweeks

Pixel Art - Thundercats

Been out of the loop for a bit as I've been stacked with other stuff I wont bore you with.  I fancied a quick turnaround bit-o-fun.

Sketch Studies for a larger assignment

No fancy matte painting or craziness here.  Just good old fashioned animal observational sketches done with a pen and paper no less.  This is for a larger assignment/project so stay tuned

Future City (imaginative huh?)

Ive been trying to put into practice some of the techniques I learnt from my DMP course.  This was a development of a thumbnail I was fond of.. for some reason.

The Internet and the Artist

Ive had some thoughts niggling at the back of my mind with regards to social network and art. I appreciate the irony of posting this on a blog site but bear with me.

Recently I got caught up with the sudden explosion of drawcrowd and duly set up an account like every other artist on the planet it seemed. At once It felt like one too many ‘platforms’ for me. I felt almost ashamed to be another cog in the "look at me" art community. People seem to want to do great work in order show it off and get ‘props’ and ‘kudos’ rather than to develop their skills. Im certainly not immune to this criticism, I wish I could claim the moral high ground. I understand exposure is all part of the package especially when you are freelancing, but more is not necessarily better. If I was freelancing the last place I’d want to put my stuff is where there are countless other artist that are either better, cheaper, or more unique a mere click away.

Look at the sudden emergence of 'spitpainting'. People seem to want to crank out quantity over quality. Ive seen good competent artists clog up their folios with tonnes of this stuff. Sure it’s great to spark an idea you wouldn't have thought of otherwise to work up at a later date. But take time and enjoy the process. Worthwhile art takes time.

Then there is another angle. There is just so much great art it can almost be discouraging and certainly, to me at least, upsets my focus on what I do and what I want to achieve. Don't get me wrong I enjoy looking at a great artists site or blog and deconstructing and learning their processes. It’s the breadth of work that overwhelms me. All different all great and all contradicting one another, like I say. It clouds my mind. I’m in the process trying to reign it all in. of course you need some presence and its useful for professional networking but there has to be a limit. It's hard as every artist wants some validation or encouragement but I just find all the other baggage that comes with can make it counterproductive for me.

I guess the only thing I can do is be honest with myself as to why I'm producing this piece of art. Is it conveying an idea? Is it developing me in some way? Or is it for vanity, which is fine from time to time. We all need a little pick me up now and again.

Matte Paint - The Sentinels

Here's my latest Matte paint.  More concept and painting in this one than the pontoon DMP I did.  I could probably do with beefing up the texture on the structures but I just haven't found the textures.

Matte Paint - Pontoon Village

I've decided to get on a learning binge this year. Fortunately my work paid for me to do a Matte painting course over at CGSociety with Blizzards David Luong.  Here's my first complete* matte paint.

Matte painting certainly makes me look again and the way I work and indeed my perception of what art for the entertainments industry is. I tried to be controlled in the fact I used photos and minimal freehand painting.  I think the real value for me will be when I use these techniques as a launch pad for concept art.

*complete until I decide to change it

Toy Story - Pixel Art

This was fun, just a small distraction from other stuff

Creature Concept

I'd like to break this down and tell you what exactly its a concept of but in all honesty it was just a bit of fun in Z Brush then spruced up a bit in Photoshop

This was my first attempt at painting IN Z brush. My next step for Z brush is to get me some better materials or a better renderer.

You've got red on you - Pixel Art

Thought I'd try and do something productive today