Storn

Re: Storn's Art & Characters thread.

This was a bit of an experiment. I have a style/technique I use for interiors off and on, for grayscale printing. It is a combo of watercolor and liquid acrylic. I thought I should try and use it as an underpainting for a digital colored piece. I had this multi-figured private commission to undertake and thought this would be a good place to try that.

I've done underpaintings before, but using oil. Oddly, doing an underpainting in oil, I am much more shape oriented... maybe cause I can push the paint around after applying it down.

The "mistake" I made is that I used quite a bit of line in my underpainting, because it looks good for interiors... falling back into how I work for that context. But then I had to kinda fight those lines in the digital coloring steps. Some I left in. Still, I like the solidity of the figures against the more nebulous digital effects in the background. I like the texture of the watercolor here and there bleeding through. Gives some life to my digital stuff, IMO.

Next time, I will just try and keep to more shape oriented painting and really pick those lines carefully, so when I go to the digital steps, I am not having to "redraw" those lines or wipe them out completely.

Re: Fantasy Art Thread

This was a bit of an experiment. I have a style/technique I use for interiors off and on, for grayscale printing. It is a combo of watercolor and liquid acrylic. I thought I should try and use it as an underpainting for a digital colored piece. I had this multi-figured private commission to undertake and thought this would be a good place to try that.

I've done underpaintings before, but using oil. Oddly, doing an underpainting in oil, I am much more shape oriented... maybe cause I can push the paint around after applying it down.

The "mistake" I made is that I used quite a bit of line in my underpainting, because it looks good for interiors... falling back into how I work for that context. But then I had to kinda fight those lines in the digital coloring steps. Some I left in. Still, I like the solidity of the figures against the more nebulous digital effects in the background. I like the texture of the watercolor here and there bleeding through. Gives some life to my digital stuff, IMO.

Next time, I will just try and keep to more shape oriented painting and really pick those lines carefully, so when I go to the digital steps, I am not having to "redraw" those lines or wipe them out completely.

Re: Storn's Art & Characters thread.

Time for the next artorder challenge. I've been working on this in dribs and drabs over the last couple of weeks. Thought I would show the beginning steps before I take it to oils, after which it will have to wait for it to dry before I can scan it.

The Artorder breakdown is to pick 1 of 3 covers described here:

http://theartorder.com/2011/07/13/story-extraction-artorder-challenge/

I haven't done a lot of scifi, thought this would be fun. So I picked "Firaxe".

What some of the other artists are doing, along with very good critiques is here:

http://artorder.ning.com/forum/topics/story-extraction-artorder

Here are the pencils I've come up with:

And the underpainting, done in acrylic:

Re: Storn's Art & Characters thread.

Now, up, something a bit different for me... I got to do 3 brothers, for a modern occult game, and they are Seelie or Elves or something. Wanted the pose/photograph look as this actually happened in the patron's game, the posing for a photograph. Thought that was kinda cool!

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Re: Fantasy Art Thread

I've been doing a sword and sorcery campaign online of late. Called the Swords of a Dying Empire. The Actual Play report is here: (LoA) Swords of a Dying Empire... and we are about 10 episodes in. Using Legend of Anglerre as the ruleset.

Mostly, I'm doing the occasional map sketch that is barely serviceable to get the gist of the idea of where/what the party is encountering. And I just did a really quick sketch of two new, but important NPC allies.

thought I would share.

The Temple of Delleb, recent site of our anti-heroes attacking the Temple as retribution. Sorta Pyrrhic victory. Moving mazes of carnivorous plants, cultists performing sacrificial rites, y'know, typical S&S life in the day...

The City of Ahaan is the former Empire's capitol. The PCs just recently got there, trying to ascertain what the political mood was. But even more recently, run out of town for making things too hot.

The NPCs i mentioned...

And a sketch of the pavilion back of my house done for a party invitation. I just did it today and felt like sharing. Maybe it would be useful for a fantasy game as a merchant's pavilion or something...

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Re: Storn's Art & Characters thread.

I've been doing a sword and sorcery campaign online of late. Called the Swords of a Dying Empire. The Actual Play report is here: (LoA) Swords of a Dying Empire... and we are about 10 episodes in. Using Legend of Anglerre as the ruleset.

Mostly, I'm doing the occasional map sketch that is barely serviceable to get the gist of the idea of where/what the party is encountering. And I just did a really quick sketch of two new, but important NPC allies.

thought I would share.

The Temple of Delleb, recent site of our anti-heroes attacking the Temple as retribution. Sorta Pyrrhic victory. Moving mazes of carnivorous plants, cultists performing sacrificial rites, y'know, typical S&S life in the day...

The City of Ahaan is the former Empire's capitol. The PCs just recently got there, trying to ascertain what the political mood was. But even more recently, run out of town for making things too hot.

The NPCs i mentioned...

And a sketch of the pavilion back of my house done for a party invitation. I just did it today and felt like sharing. Maybe it would be useful for a fantasy game as a merchant's pavilion or something...

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Re: Storn's Art & Characters thread.

All of these are wonderful pics' date=' Storn but my favourites are "American Rex" and "Expedition". What really catches my eye is the building on top of the bluff. From the POV of the drawing, it looks completely inaccessable.[/quote']

 

Thanks! Wish I could take credit for American Rex, but without Death Tribble's sensibilities, I would never have come up with that on my own.

 

A few folks have asked for some different types of originals and prints to be put up at Fine Art, here: http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/storn-cook.html . I've just kinda lost this week and haven't gotten the time together to get those up. I hope to the beginning of next week. So check back there soon!

 

Another Death Tribble, I believe this one had input from the Hero Boards. I went modern in the dress, because I wanted the cool contrast, not only of modern vs. monster, but because the colors worked so well against each other. The kanji is "Power", btw.... according to my google fu. Hope you like.

 

 

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Re: Storn's Art & Characters thread.

The problem with outfits like this is that if she turns too quickly she falls out of it!

No... to be sure, its definitely part of super hero(ine) physics and not reality.

Re: Storn's Art & Characters thread.

First up, I wanted to talk about something I've been meaning to do for YEARS!!! And that is to offer originals and prints for sale. The website Fine Art America has made this very easy for me to do. So, if you ever wanted an Storn original, on the paper, canvas, board, with real paint, pencil or whatever I used that day... come check the below link out...

Maybe you would rather have a print of something, well, this link has that covered too. Let me know if there is a piece of mine that is not up on Fine Art and you would like a print of. I will continue to build up the Fine Art gallery, but it will take some time to get a lot of what I do up.

I'm going to experiment with a combo of more expensive oils, acrylics and the like, along with the preliminary pencils of what often becomes digital colored. Pencil originals will be quite reasonable.

http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/storn-cook.html

Now, onto some recent private commissions.

A golden elf

An interesting steampunk explorer with "sponge" cooling armor from Lethe

And two Death Tribble contributions... This first one definitely follows his love of cheesecake

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Re: Pulpy Art

First up, I wanted to talk about something I've been meaning to do for YEARS!!! And that is to offer originals and prints for sale. The website Fine Art America has made this very easy for me to do. So, if you ever wanted an Storn original, on the paper, canvas, board, with real paint, pencil or whatever I used that day... come check the below link out...

Maybe you would rather have a print of something, well, this link has that covered too. Let me know if there is a piece of mine that is not up on Fine Art and you would like a print of. I will continue to build up the Fine Art gallery, but it will take some time to get a lot of what I do up.

I'm going to experiment with a combo of more expensive oils, acrylics and the like, along with the preliminary pencils of what often becomes digital colored. Pencil originals will be quite reasonable.

http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/storn-cook.html

An interesting steampunk explorer with "sponge" cooling armor from Lethe

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Re: Fantasy Art Thread

First up, I wanted to talk about something I've been meaning to do for YEARS!!! And that is to offer originals and prints for sale. The website Fine Art America has made this very easy for me to do. So, if you ever wanted an Storn original, on the paper, canvas, board, with real paint, pencil or whatever I used that day... come check the below link out...

Maybe you would rather have a print of something, well, this link has that covered too. Let me know if there is a piece of mine that is not up on Fine Art and you would like a print of. I will continue to build up the Fine Art gallery, but it will take some time to get a lot of what I do up.

I'm going to experiment with a combo of more expensive oils, acrylics and the like, along with the preliminary pencils of what often becomes digital colored. Pencil originals will be quite reasonable.

http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/storn-cook.html

Now, onto some recent private commissions.

A golden elf

An interesting steampunk explorer with "sponge" cooling armor from Lethe

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Re: Fantasy Art Thread

A cover done for small press. Digital over pencil. Used mostly Painter 11 and a bit of of photoshop cs2.

Re: Pulpy Art

That's fantastic! Not just the lines and all the little details but also the colors. I love those colors! Did you color this by hand or use some kind of computer program? Because the shading and blending is splendid. I really can't tell you how much I love this one. It may be my new favorite. Sorry' date=' undead pirate.[/quote']

 

It is digital over pencil. I used a warm gray ground behind the pencil and the chalk tool in Painter 11 for the large shapes. that gives it a bit of texture.

Re: Storn's Art & Characters thread.

A cover done for small press. Digital over pencil. Used mostly Painter 11 and a bit of of photoshop cs2.

Re: Storn's Art & Characters thread.

Here is another one from the fertile mind of Death Tribble. Maybe we should say "fermented".

As I was drawing this, I kept thinking along the lines of:

"In disguise, mild-mannered, vegetarian, history professor Archibald Reach teaches at a major metropolitan university. But when the clarion call of adventure and danger is heard!!! Off come the tweed and glasses and heeding the crescendo of crime EXPLODES AMERICAN REX!!! The Titanic Tyrannosaur. The Dinosaur of Dynamite. That most beloved of Super Saurians!"

p.s. I totally think Archibald Reach is a giant dinosaur in professor tweed with horn rims. He doesn't transform from man into dino. But with his glasses and academic demeanor, no one knows that he is actually AMERICAN REX. Except for his sidekick Anklesoar aka Andy Ackers, student body treasurer.

{sigh}....Freelance illustration is such a lonely profession....

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Re: Storn's Art & Characters thread.

Here was a really fun one for me. I was asked for a steampunk horse. Something I've never done before. I think it came out pretty well, but your guys are the real judges.

I'm hip deep in a full background, 3 figures, large landscape, lot of detail, commission and it will probably take another couple of days. So, the output from me is going to be slow again.

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Re: Pulpy Art

Here was a really fun one for me. I was asked for a steampunk horse. Something I've never done before. I think it came out pretty well, but your guys are the real judges.

I'm hip deep in a full background, 3 figures, large landscape, lot of detail, commission and it will probably take another couple of days. So, the output from me is going to be slow again.

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Re: Storn's Art & Characters thread.

Here is another one for Death Tribble, along with collaboration from "our" Enforcer84. The idea is Tiamat as a supervillianess. I wanted her to not quite have "human" skin. So she is slightly lizardy green in color.

enjoy.

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Re: Storn's Art & Characters thread.

Back to superheroes! Here is a villain team done for Jeff W., the All-in Gang

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Re: Fantasy Art Thread

I promised some more artwork and here it is. First up, an illustration I did for Black Gate magazine awhile back. Unfortunately, it printed a bit dark, but I like the composition.

If you are a fan of fantasy and you aren't reading black gate, you are doing yourself a disservice. There are some very nice articles on gaming, history of past writers, very good reviews of up and coming novels and some great short stories. It is really a privilege to do work for Black Gate. Here is the link to their site:

http://www.blackgate.com/

And here is the pic:

And this is a companion commission to one that I did 10!!! years ago.

and here is the one I did 10 years ago...

And a recent fantasy commission. Of which, appears in Image Portfolio 3, if anyone wants a higher resolution. I've teamed up with LPJ Design and will be releasing some artworks in higher resolutions to make an extra buck here and there. Linkage: http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=92173

artwork:

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Re: Storn's Art & Characters thread.

I promised some more artwork and here it is. First up, an illustration I did for Black Gate magazine awhile back. Unfortunately, it printed a bit dark, but I like the composition.

If you are a fan of fantasy and you aren't reading black gate, you are doing yourself a disservice. There are some very nice articles on gaming, history of past writers, very good reviews of up and coming novels and some great short stories. It is really a privilege to do work for Black Gate. Here is the link to their site:

http://www.blackgate.com/

And here is the pic:

And this is a companion commission to one that I did 10!!! years ago.

and here is the one I did 10 years ago...

And a recent fantasy commission. Of which, appears in Image Portfolio 3, if anyone wants a higher resolution. I've teamed up with LPJ Design and will be releasing some artworks in higher resolutions to make an extra buck here and there. Linkage: http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=92173

artwork:

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Re: Fantasy Art Thread

It has been awhile since i've posted. I've had this art done for awhile, but I've been lazy. I've been busy with a few different things in my life. The Nazgul vs. Eowyn challenge was hellaciously time consuming. But here it is in it's finished form, i was going to letter it, but changed my mind since lettering isn't my strong suit and I wanted to put my best foot forward.

Donato gave me a nice mention in his critique.

And here is a link to the other entries:

http://theartorder.com/2011/05/16/eowyn-and-the-nazgul-challenge-line-up/

And the link to the judges comments:

http://theartorder.com/2011/05/24/eowyn-and-the-nazgul-challenge-judging/

And my pages so you don't have to sift through all the art on those links if you don't want to.

The other thing that is happening in my life is that I'm getting married (in just a few days). Millie, my fiancée, also happens to be my ex-wife.... and I told our story in comic form for the invitation. I've been really coming back to my beginnings, not only in my upcoming wedding, but by doing a lot of sequential art of late.

So, thought I would share my invitation with y'all. And if you do drop by on my wedding day, bring a dish to pass or some beer.

more art to come.... I've got a few things done. Probably post tomorrow

Re: Storn's Art & Characters thread.

It has been awhile since i've posted. I've had this art done for awhile, but I've been lazy. I've been busy with a few different things in my life. The Nazgul vs. Eowyn challenge was hellaciously time consuming. But here it is in it's finished form, i was going to letter it, but changed my mind since lettering isn't my strong suit and I wanted to put my best foot forward.

Donato gave me a nice mention in his critique.

And here is a link to the other entries:

http://theartorder.com/2011/05/16/eowyn-and-the-nazgul-challenge-line-up/

And the link to the judges comments:

http://theartorder.com/2011/05/24/eowyn-and-the-nazgul-challenge-judging/

And my pages so you don't have to sift through all the art on those links if you don't want to.

The other thing that is happening in my life is that I'm getting married (in just a few days). Millie, my fiancée, also happens to be my ex-wife.... and I told our story in comic form for the invitation. I've been really coming back to my beginnings, not only in my upcoming wedding, but by doing a lot of sequential art of late.

So, thought I would share my invitation with y'all. And if you do drop by on my wedding day, bring a dish to pass or some beer.

more art to come.... I've got a few things done. Probably post tomorrow

Re: Storn's Art & Characters thread.

I've been a bit quiet on producing commissions of late. The above ArtOrder challenge (Eowyn vs. Nazgul) has eaten a lot of time, as well as some stuff for publishers. But the number one time effort has gone into this piece!

This is DeathTribble's 100th commission, Arachnieda. And we decided to do something special. This is an oil paint, about 12 by 19 or thereabouts. Done on a masonite panel.

I feel like this is really the first superhero PAINTING i've done that has managed that odd fine line between "painterly" yet still feeling like some degree of the slick super hero (or villain, I wasn't told which) vibe that is expected for superhero art. THIS is what I wanted to accomplish so many years ago when I was doing painted covers for Champions... and I just didn't have the skill to pull it off.

So, raise a glass to Death Tribble and his 100!

btw, if anyone has a use for this image as a cover or something, let me know. It is up for grabs.

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Re: Fantasy Art Thread

There is a really exciting challenge over at ArtOrder, Eowyn vs. the Nazgul King..here at this link (be warned, it is many pages, many images, as this is a WiP thread): http://artorder.ning.com/forum/topics/eowyn-and-the-nazgul

I have a local comic convention this weekend, and I haven't done comics in quite some time. So, instead of competing head to head with all the unbelievable painters, I decided to play to my strengths; my pencils and my action.

Just so you don't have to sift through the entire thread for my stuff... I will condense it here:

Some prelim doodles

My thumbs for the 2 pages

First page

2nd page