Lace, Leather, Feathers Fur character concept
So I had so much fun on Purple, I decided to use the same technique again, this time for the topic “Lace, feathers, leather and fur”. Again, 1 hour in Photoshop. This piece was all about the costume. I was influenced by some of the great Asian game art, and I love having the chance to explore outside standard medieval costumes.
Purple character concept
A sketch done for sketchfest (which means the topic is generally a fairly random concept, in this case ‘Purple’, and is painted in under an hour). Because this was a fairly structured way of painting, I was able to capture a few of the steps. Enjoy!
My Studio 1 – watercolour setup
In most ways, I’m not an organised artist.
Like many artists, I tend to drool over studio set ups. I even have a board where I collect beautiful inspiring images over at Pinterest. Sadly, my painting and desk area come nowhere close to any of these.
Back in art college, when I was not in my shared uni studio space, I painted in my parent’s garage. Living in the subtropics, a metal doored, windowless room is hardly the studio of champions. But it was my space … when the car was not parked in it.
When I bought my own apartment with a spare room, I figured that would be my new studio. I disassembled my massively heavy table to get it in the room, dragged up my easels, set up my space…
And painted in the lounge room.
Then at the kitchen table.
Then on the sofa.
See a pattern here?
Anyway, this is my current setup for painting water colours
Painting Scars
I don’t like gore, but when it comes to painting RPG (role playing game) characters, sometimes the character may have a few battle scars. All of us have scars – some from childhood, some from being an idiot, sometimes from being tired, sometimes from being in the wrong place at the wrong time. But scars tell a story about the person or character, particularly warriors and fantasy based characters.
This is a real quick demo of how I paint scars
The inner workings of a commission
I really liked some of the sketches and ‘milestone’ phases for my recent commissions so I thought I’d share them. As you can see, sometimes the sketch can be loose, sometimes it’s really detailed. Click on the image to see a larger view
Painting gem stones and jewels – cabachon
A step by step guide on how to paint cabochon gems/ jewels including moonstones, emeralds, amethysts, star sapphire, tigers eye and opal. Although this is a digital tutorial, the principles are the same for oil or acrylic paintings.
Watercolour walkthrough – Crow woman’s daughter
Walkthrough of the watercolour painting, “Crow Woman’s Daughter”, going from initial idea through sketches, colour concepts and to the final painting. Painted 2010.
Step by Step Scifi Character
A quick step by step scifi character design done in Photoshop. Works from basic anatomy to fully rendered character. Done in 2010.
Stretching Watercolour paper
A step by step description of stretching watercolour paper onto a wood board in preparation for painting watercolours.
Digital Walkthrough – Dragon Thrall
A digital painting walkthrough from 2007. It talks about painting hair, skin tones, playing with composition and allowing the muse to direct a painting. Using photoshop and painter, there are lots of images in this two character and dragon painting.
