Over the past couple of weeks, I've been working on some new pieces to represent my style and work for mobile game companies. I started out designing pumpkin characters in my sketchbook, then explored ideas of how I could use the jack-o-lantern face in different characters for a cohesive cast of characters.
Currently working on the next set of characters.
The Minotaurs of Orbis live in the grass lands spending most of their time slowly traveling across the plains during the day and resting in a group at night.Their groups can be huge, causing stampedes destroy the land and anyone that stands in their way. They track deer herds to feed the group and will steal cows from near by farms. With a burst of speed, they attack their prey dragging it back to the group for meals. When desperate for food they have been known to kill with in the group for food, but that hasn't been recorded since the First Age when a drought dried up the wet lands and farmers to lose their crops. When faced against a minotaur, it's often recommended to not engage in battle, other minotaurs will be nearby unseen resting in the grass and will kill a deemed threat.
Here are the illustrations I shared the last two days of the 5 Day Art Challenge
GOBLINS
My favorite Monsters (in color)
Last week I was nominated by my friend Darrenn E Canton to share my work on Facebook. While I'm not a huge Facebook person I took the opportunity to share my work. Here are the first 3 days of images I shared.
Day 1- Sketches
Day 2- Ink Drawings
Day 3- Digital Illustrations
All of the drawings for this year Goblin Week
Last Monster Monday of the year! And this year I didn't miss one week reaching my goal of having a monster posted every week of 2014. Having a project like Monster Monday really helps hold accountability to post on my blog, tumblr, and other social media. For 2015, I hope to make it another year full of monsters and creatures as well as other projects.
The image above is the final colored version of the goblin entry to Blizzard's Hearthstone contest.
The Ettin are 2 headed giants that live deep in the woods of Orbis. Rarely seen near cities or towns. They prefer the isolation of the forest then civilization. When Ettins are seen they are usually arguing between themselves. Each head wanting there way over the other. They don't complete much of anything since each step is a quarrel. But if they get mad, both will go into an uncontrollable rage ripping the forest apart like a tornado, leaving little standing. Legend tells of an Ettin that cleared the land that Orbis' capital sits on.
Sorry for posting Monster Monday a day late. Yesterday was a little exhausting and it slipped my mind.
Tomorrow October 25, I will be at the Comic Book Shop for there Halloween weekend. I'll have prints, books, and original drawings. There will also be a bunch of other awesome artists and writers at the shop as well. Make sure to stop by!
Here's a sneak peek at a monster I've been coloring.
Get your character drawn and colored digitally. You get the original drawing as well as an 8.5x11 print. Head over to my store to purchase your commission (only 5 currently available) then send me an email at paigeconnellyillustration@gmail.com with the character description. The art is for personal use only and not for commercial use.
For commercial work, send email to paigeconnellyillustration@gmail.com
Another forrest elemental for this week, exploring different designs of what elementals can look like. I really liked the concept I shown last week and decided to create another one. I drew the elemental on bristol then scanned and colored the piece in photoshop. The piece was done last week since I knew I was going to be busy with Asbury Park Comic Con this past weekend. Tomorrow I'll post about APCC but now its back to drawing.
A new creature this week are Quillkins.
Quillkins are small creatures that forage through out the Fable Wood digging for seeds and acorns. With their small claws they dig in the soft dirt for food. They live in hallow logs and trees for protection due to their small size. The holes are also used for defense by hiding their body in the dirt and leaving their quills exposed to disguise themselves as grass. Another defense for the Quillkins is to hide and travel together to intimidate predators. Other creatures in the woods work along with the Quillkins for their expertise in finding seeds of plants with healing properties.
I was flipping through my senior thesis I made nearly a year ago and was thinking about adding more creatures to the book and adding more information to the project. I want to re-do the pages I created last year as well as add a bunch of new creatures. And hopefully have a Kickstarter with both the new project and my collected book of drawings, toned paper and digital pieces Conjured Thoughts: volume 1.
Since a lot of the work I created lately has been more of the high fantasy side, I wanted my next piece to be more folklore based and not centered around weapons and warriors. The inspiration for the piece came from looking at illustrations by John Bauer. I was reading a book of Swedish Folktale with Bauer's illustrations in it. Like much of my work it starts in my sketch book and evolves into the final piece. I spent extra time playing in photoshop to create the lighting and mood I wanted.
I do plan to write a short story about the Satyr and the wisps, but it still needs more fleshing out before I release the tale. I haven't done any creative writing in 5 years and I feel rusty, so it may be a while from now when I post the story and some spot illustrations to go along with the illustration above.
Today is the first day of Goblin Week on Tumblr and Twitter. Started last year by comic artist Evan Dahm (Rice-boy.com) as a week to world build using goblins. The theme that links all of the goblins I'm going to draw is crystal mining.
The first goblin in the series is a basic miner. They are the ones chipping away at the cave walls to harvest the crystals. Crystals are the main source of trade income for goblins. They trade with other races since the crystals hold magical properties and are located in only a few known places, which happen to be mined by either goblins or dwarves. The goblins have pale skin since they spend a lot of time in the darkness. The hard hats and goggles are used to help protect their heads and eyes from falling rocks. Many goblins have been knocked out and even killed by falling rock. Sometimes they use their scarf to cover their mouth from dust so they don't breath it in. The clothing they wear is different to each goblin, though many prefer to wear overalls. Though goblins often get a bad reputation for being wild and crazy, many people consider the mining goblins to be hard working and easy to trade with.
For my last illustration for my undergrad. I decided to take an idea I've had in my sketch book since March to a final piece. Originally I was going to do an illustration with a horse, but I need to work on my horse anatomy before I tackle an illustration like that.
This piece went through many stages of edits. I create 4 completed drawings, inked 2 of them, and ended up having to redraw and ink it again. Each time there was improvement on the illustration, now I have 5 versions of one idea. Figuring out the colors for this one was also a challenge because I wanted it to be colorful without using every crayon in the box. Luckily with help from Prof. Gash, it came together. I'm very pleased with how it turned out and is the opener of my portfolio.
As I said before this was the last illustration I created for my undergrad and it feels good to end on an illustration like this one. It's crazy to think of all the improvements I've made over the past 4 and a half years of college. I remember taking my first illustration course creating my first illustration. I now have a process that works for my thinking and my style has really developed since my freshman year. It's funny because I can see from my old drawings that it was a crude version of how I draw now. I was lucky to have some great professors who really took me under their wing to spend extra time to help me take my work to the next level. Now it's time to start sending out my portfolio and postcards. As well as continue my personal projects for the up coming convention season. Looking forward to what 2014's has to offer.
My first full color digital illustration created for my independent study at school. I started sketching and conceptualizing the illustration while I was at Illuxcon in September. With rounds of redrawing the tower and scanning my ink drawing to place together in photoshop, to create the base of the illustration of the final line art.
I had a good understanding of photoshop before starting the piece but it was an experiment to find the best way to render the piece. With alot of guidance and help from Prof. Chris Gash, he guided me to create a final piece that I'm very happy about.
Since I got to choose the content of the illustration, I picked the scene in Lord of The Rings when the Ents attack Isengard to stop the destruction of the Fangorn Forrest. It's a scene that I've wanted to illustrate for a while and thought that it was a good time to finally create it. Plus I've been drawing lots of Ents and Tree Folk in my sketch book (and drawing them is still not out of my system)
SHOP VISIT
The Halloween weekend, I'll be at my favorite comics store, The Comic Book Shop in Wilmington, DE on Saturday the 26th selling zines, prints, stickers, magnets and original drawings. I'll also be drawing monsters for customers at the shop. It's going to be a fun weekend so stop by!
Yesterday was this blog's first birthday (today in my tumblr's 3 birthday) chronicling the work I've created through out my journey of creating my final thesis and all the work in between. In the past year, I feel that I have found my footing on where to take my career. And each time I learn a new skill or polish another, I am only getting closer to my main goal of being a successful illustrator. Recently I have been working on digitally coloring my work in photoshop for an independent study I'm doing this semester. For a long time I was resistant to creating work digitally because I love drawing and inking on paper (and didn't feel comfortable using a tablet). But with encouragement I dove in and am really enjoying it.
As a thanks to all my supporters, here's a goblin alchemist bomber I just finished up for a small project I am currently working on. Thanks again.