Fantasy Illustration - Tiamat's Chosen: Designing Ningal

Continuing the character design feature from last time, next up on the design plate is Ningal. Like Tiamat, Ningal is a pre-existing character in the D&D Forgotten Realms universe. This design was very straightforward. In the sketch, you can see how she compares to Tiamat's design - taller, with a more athletic build. I always tried to be very conscious of making every character unique from head to toe - not just clothing and facial features, but also their body type and build.

Fantasy Illustration - Tiamat's Chosen: Designing Tiamat

A recent book cover commission I worked on called for five detailed fantasy-themed character designs. In a series of blog posts over the next week or two, I'll talk about some interesting points about each of character designs.

First up is Tiamat, a canonical character of the Dungeons & Dragons Forgotten Realms universe. The client called for some substantial changes to her appearance, however, so she's very different in these design sketches.

My initial pass on her was a modern take on the classic design in Jeff Easley's Tiamat painting.

The client liked a lot of the design elements of the initial design, but had a younger, playful and flirtier Tiamat in mind, so it was back to the drawing board for a second pass.

In the second design she's shorter and less curvy, more impish rather than sinister.

I also came up with some variations on her outfit. #1 is the classic fantasy bikini, but this interpretation of Tiamat called for a more modest costume, so I tried a number of other designs. All of them feature dragon claw shoes, a nod to Tiamat's other form, a five-headed dragon. The client chose design #4, which you'll see in the finished illustration.

Pegasus Anthro in the Clouds - WIP

It’s a bird. It’s a plane. No, it’s a flying Pegasus anthro in a flowing white gown. This image is from my upcoming book, Draw Furries. Since we weren’t able to fit a step-by-step demo for this image in the book, (you know, limited space in publishing and all that) I’ve posted a series of buildup sketches, and work-in-progress snapshots of the painting process here on my blog.

Now here’s a meaningless question to ponder. Are Pegasi an offshoot horse species, a specific breed of horse, or can any horse be a Pegasus if you slap a pair of wings on them?

Anthro Pegasus under development. From basic form thumbnail to rough sketch.

Final sketch.

Color WIP. Follow the numbers.

Mushroom Princess - Leisure

Rough sketch with colors

Inspiration for colors

More art soon.

Box Jellyfish - Sketch3 WIP

Another day with the fish. Progress is slow but steady. How many days has it been? Just two? Seems like a week.

More tomorrow.

Box Jellyfish - Sketch2 WIP

Somewhere, deep down I hoped I could have drawn this image in one pass. It wasn't meant to be.

I have to color a comic page for a new Tokyopop project Lindsay and I are working on. This will be interesting. I've never done a color comic.

Once that's done I'll print the sketch back out and start on a second pass.

All told, I'm pretty happy with how far this picture has come in a day. I wonder how it'll look flipped? I'll probably flip it and then print it for the second pass.

Gotta keep it real. Gotta pass the flip test.

Box Jellyfish - Sketch WIP

Based on a conversation Lindsay and I had one night after watching a show about Box Jellyfish on Animal Planet. According to the show (not fact checking it right now) Box Jellies cause more human fatalities than any other animal (aside from humans, I'm assuming).

I think the show scared me a bit, which is funny because I don't live in the Box Jelly's home waters of Australia. I'm never going to have to deal with these guys. It's not like they'll float out of the ocean on an air current and be waiting from me at my second story apartment... right?