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.

Domo Invaded My Life!

Domo invades my life and work.

I just received my author copies of DOMO: the Manga from Tokyopop. Thank you, Hope Donovan (my editor)! I'm really impressed with TP's production values on this project. The book is in FULL COLOR and the trim is slightly larger than a typical manga, perfect for DOMO's highly visual stories.

Lindsay and I put together two chapters for the book. Like with our previous book, Peach Fuzz, Lindsay drew the line art, while I did cleanup, coloring, and effects.

Aside from myself and Lindsay, several other artists participated in putting DOMO the manga together. They include:

Priscilla Hamby - A.k.a. rem (http://www.blackmoontides.com/)
Sonia Leung (http://www.fyredrake.net/)
&
Maximo V. Lorenzo (http://8bitmaximo.com/) Who did a 4 page comic that shows up in the exclusive 7-Eleven version of the DOMO manga. (Way to go Maximo! I love the penguin rock band!)

So, next time you're out, drop by a 7-Eleven or you local book store and check out a copy of DOMO: the Manga. If you're like me, and hardly ever get out of the house, you can always pick up the book on Amazon.

BUT WAIT! There's a SPECIAL option. I'm now taking pre-orders for the Domo book through my website. Go here to place an order: http://www.jaredandlindsay.com/comics.html If you order a copy before October 17th, you'll get a bonus original sharpie marker rendering of Domo-kun by Lindsay Cibos included with your order. PLUS, purchasing a book enters you in our Peach in Portugal Giveaway (see details on my website here: http://www.jaredandlindsay.com/home.html)!

Swine Flu - ATTACK

This is a picture I worked on a while back as a companion piece for Viral. I never posted it on the blog and it seemed perfectly appropriate for this week's IllustrationFriday topic, "germs".

See the little green piggies? They’re coming for you.

...that reminds me. I'll need to look into getting vaccinated. I don't want to get sick/get other people sick, at all the art and anime conventions next year.

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Sketched on 9”x12” Strathmore Bristol, finalized and painted in Photoshop CS 3. The image came together over a couple of days.




I used this picture and Viral on my most recent self promotion postcard. The explosive word bubble on the front is where the addressee sticker goes, but you can just imagine he's coughing his lungs up.

Unfinished Business

An associate of mine recently informed me that I never posted the finished images for Strength, or the Uncle Sam - What's for Dinner.

Strength

Uncle Sam - What's for Dinner

Aren't they handsome together.

-- More art soon!

Strength - WIP

AKA Strong.

Another entry for IllustrationFriday.com. The drawing is finished and composed, but I'm just starting on the painting. More soon.

Impatience: Full Walk-Thru

When I back up an image on DVD, I clean up any unnecessary intermediate files saved along with the big milestones. Before I delete the intermediate steps, I use them to build a developmental walk-thru that details the process that went into creating the image. These step-by-step guides are often helpful to look back on if I'm confused about how I did a painting technique or a special effect.

Here is the walk-thru for Impatience, along with step-by-step into annotations.

Concept sketch to digital rough.

Rough pencils to finished sketch.

Progression of the colors.