My new gaming blog, Gathox Vertical Slum, launches!

Hi folks! I know it's been quiet on this blog for a while, but I've been very busy writing, playtesting, illustrating, and running my new game setting, Gathox Vertical Slum, over the last 8 months. I'd love it if you'd check it out, it will feature everything from play reports to art to fiction and material for use in virtually any old school game. Please check it it out here:

http://mutantsofgathox.blogspot.com/2015/06/in-distance-city-lumbers-and-lurches.html

Thanks!

(A Screaming Boghaz, one of the delightful critters one might encounter in the Vertical Slum while out for a morning kill.)

Follow-up: Inks for a beastie

Here's the inks, scrunched in between the other work I'm doing, as a follow-up to the previous post.

Sketch-A-Day: A new rough for Silent Legions

As I slowly climb to the top of the work mountain I've piled for myself, I thought I would post this late night sketch that I'm pleased with. Perhaps I'll do a follow-up with the inks later on. This is for +Kevin Crawford 's Silent Legions game.

Ink Drawings for Backers of the Dunes

I recently completed 26 ink drawings for the the top tier backers of the Slumbering Ursine Dunes and wanted to share a some of them below. I've posted two Cave Dwarves and two Warbears for your eyeballs. Cheers!

Sketch-a-day 1/9/14: Small Acrylic Paintings

I took some time last evening when work was done to jump into acrylic painting for the first time. I have a potential show for the First Friday Art Walk in a couple months and I figured I'd start exploring my physical medium options.

 These two landscapes were painted on 5.5" x 8.5" 136 lb. canvas paper with a super-cheap knock-off acrylic set and some beat-up kids' brushes, took about 30-45 minutes apiece, and were a total blast. Hopefully I can crank out some more of these when I get some down time in the next couple of weeks.

This first is roughly from memory from the train ride this past holiday:

This second is an attempt at some land near Augusta:

If you have any solid subject ideas for some natural or not-so-natural mini-paintings in this vein, hit me up. I'd love some input for this experiment!

Bang! You're dead, 2014!

Another WIP for +Andreas Walters , fitting for the end of the year:

Onward and upward.

Sketch-a-day: Client work for 12/26/14

Here's a rough sketch for +Andreas Walters ' upcoming gaming book involving the Cold War and time travel. Cheers!

Sketch-a-day: 12/23/14 - Speedpaints on a Train in the North

Today I found it difficult to draw accurate lines while riding 14 hours on a bumpy train. However, I was able to crank out some rough speed paintings of the highline as viewed from the Empire Builder.

Each illo is a single layer painting done in Krita in 20 minutes or less. First, pre-dawn:

About 2 hours later:

Around 1pm:

Around 5pm, cusp of sunset:

I was happy to make use of some time that otherwise would have been a wash, and I hope you enjoy them. Happy Festivus, y'all!

Sketch-A-Day: 12/22/2014 - Hawk power

A quick hawk study done in Krita - 20 min, 1 layer.

May Art Lottery Winner - Garth Holden

Howdy! It's been a bit since I last posted, owing mostly to a welcome increase in commissions for tabletop RPG publications. In case folks missed it on Google+, Canadian author Garth Holden won the May Art Lottery. His submission:

"A friend of mine was born with a mutable soul. He is an Inuit man and it is
not uncommon for the people of the north to be born with both a human and an
animal spirit. People with mutable souls live hard lives, eventually
transforming over the years from one state of being to the other --
sometimes from animal to human, or from human to animal. My friend is a
world class soap-stone carver and a brilliant man, as well as being a polar
bear. That is the heart for my friend’s dilemma. Is he a man coaxing a
polar bear out of the stone? Or, is he a bear laying a man’s spirit rest
in the stone? All I can say is that this is a real world situation. My
friend does not know if he is a man becoming a bear or a bear becoming a
man. I’ve seen the bear rise up and take him over and I’ve seen the
incredible forms he draws out of the stone. Most of my friend’s works are
transformation pieces."

Garth and I discussed the piece a bit more, and I came to a kind of movie poster image montage solution to his image. Here it is:

I've been working away at improving my inking skills, and this was a successful opportunity to explore that vein of illustration a bit more. I hope folks enjoy viewing this piece as much as I enjoyed working with Garth to bring it to life.

 If you have any ideas you'd like to bring to life in illustration, you can always submit to the Monthly Art Lottery. If you need illustrations executed for your awesome project or publication, feel free to contact me via the info on my profile page. Cheers!