Thunder Beard Watercolor

For a while now I've wanted to create a watercolor piece from 'The Iron Halls' a fictional world of a dwarf kingdom in the high mountains with glaciers and snow. A while back I posted the drawing of Lord Thunder Beard and did some digital work on it. This time around is all traditionally done with ink, watercolor, and gouache. There was experimentation done creating texture for the background as well as switching inked lines out for lines created with saturated watercolors.

In the past I haven't written to much about the characters and worlds I've created. So I decided that I should share those thoughts too.

The Thunder Beards are one of three clans that rule the Iron Halls. Thunder Beards are known for their strength in battle with mighty war hammers. There culture centers around the warrior figure in architecture, clothing, and thought. The Thunder Beard clan is always the first line of defense with the Ice Giants attempt to break into the mountain and exterminate the dwarves. They also tend to be the ones who hastily  makes decisions in council meetings. 

The current leader of the Thunder Beards is Olaf 'Giant's bane' of the Thunder Beard Clan. The middle name is a feat name that a dwarf can receive after doing a feat that helps the Iron Halls.

Monster Monday- September 2, 2013

This piece has been on my desk for a while, slowly working on it between shifts of working on the boardwalk. This elemental was an experiment of texture, I used multiple techniques to create new textures. I also experimented with using colored lines that I normally would ink, it really helps give different look then I normally use and I want to try again. 

Monster Monday- August 19, 2013

Here's the ink drawing for a watercolor I'm about half way done with. Its a part of series of 3 paintings about Tree Folk. This is the last piece in the series. I am experimenting with textures in the current 3 watercolors I'm working on and it's really adding to the pieces.

Next week I will have a new drawing for monster monday. The past 2 weeks have been really crazy.

Tree Folk of Autumn

This painting has been sitting on my desk of over a month and I'm happy to share a new painting. Lately I've been drawing many tree folk in my sketch book and am planning a small long term project with the wandering trees.

I experimented with some new techniques on this piece. The red watercolor was becoming more pink then I wanted, I then mixed some Doc Martins ink to create red. For the Tree Folk, I tried a different bark pattern then I usually use and it turned out great.

Monster Monday- July 29, 2013

This watercolor was made for my Mom for mother's day/her birthday. I finished it over the weekend as a warm up to getting back into painting more and creating finished work again.

This creature is a water sprite. He hangs out by bodies of water collecting pearls and leaving them as good fortune to people they deem worthy. The design was inspired by frogs.

I just finished another painting last night that I will share in the next few days.

Inside the Studio

I've been back in Asbury for a while now and finally got my work space set up the way I wanted, thanks to a day of cleaning the third floor completely. Now I have 2 desks! Which makes switching between painting, drawing, and working on the computer much easier. 

I use my drafting table to paint at. It has a large surface area for all my palettes, brushes, and other supplies. In the upper left corner is my tiny light box and for some reason my portfolio is sitting on the edge of the table. Above my desk are my white boards.

The white boards are a new addition. The boards are also magnetic and have cork around the edges, multipurpose is great. I use clips to hold sets of sketches together for ideas that are close to becoming finished pieces and to remind me that there is always something to do. There are some notes as well for projects ideas and lists. I want to get a white board calendar next. 

Here's my new desk just for drawing. The left side of the table has my large format scanner, now I don't have to pull it off my dresser then plug it in under my drafting table. It makes me more inclined to scan and I've actually started using photoshop to help color comp paintings. Its nice to be able to have my sketchbook open on a flat surface to switch to drawing as I'm waiting for a watercolor to dry. 

Right next to my drawing desk is my book collection or at least part of it. This is where most of my art and comic books are. My D&D books are located close by in a large plastic crate. On top of the shelf are some finished sketchbooks for quick reference and an old tool box with extra ink in it. There's some sculptures on the shelf as well, one of a Satyr I've made, a satyr from the Narnia films, and Gollum. 

I don't get lonely working because my dog Abby (she's a mutt, we rescued her 6 years ago) is right behind me watching (more often sleeping) on my bed. She hangs out with me most of the time when I'm at home and really likes to cover my blanket in dog hair. She is a great dog, very gentle and sensitive, but not very graceful. Abby is great company while I work. Sometimes Claire hangs out with me and we talk about the illustrations we are working on and our summer jobs.

That's it for the next work space, soon to have a new painting to post, new legendary monster, and a boat load of sketches.

Traveling Ice Giant

Finished the illustration earlier in the week. My summer job was/is keeping me busy. But that doesn't mean I'll be slowing done my illustration work. I'm excited to start saving money to get both 'The Other People' and my new 'Legendary Monsters' book printed for the next Con season. All those days standing in the sun, helping tourists pays off.

Remember to pick up 'Against the Slave Lords' to see my hobgoblin illustration

Creating Goblin on Gargoyle

Yesterday I posted my newest illustration of Goblin on Gargoyle and today I am sharing how I created it. 

Most of my illustrations start out as ideas in my sketchbook, personal or client work. I don't like to leave to much open room for major design ideas once I start drawing on the watercolor paper. This is one of many pages from my 2 sketch books I filled last semester. The idea stuck with me for a while.

After creating a small comprehensive drawing of the piece (which I some how lost) I draw on the watercolor paper. I knew that I wanted to have the Goblin in the foreground and not an open background. So I took the basic ink drawing into photoshop and played around with it. 

Here's the ink drawing I used in photoshop with penciled in ideas of where I wanted buildings to be. Drawing naturalistic backgrounds are a lot easier for me to design then structures. But luckily a pesky art history credit needed to get covered last semester and I took an architecture class. Though it was a modern architecture course, I still learned about old and new construction techniques and helped me have an understanding of how to think about structures. 

I am no photoshop wizard and I basically worked under my line drawing to place shapes of buildings and architecture. Spending about an hour in photoshop saved me hours of time drawing by hand. 

After I tape down the watercolor paper, time to pull out the palettes. I work from 3, the 2 on the rights hold color and the 1 on the left is mostly my for mixing colors. Don't forget your color wheel, it may seem elementary to have one, but has proved to be very important. That color wheel is from my color theory class I took 2 years ago.

A progress shot while I am working on the illustration, I like to work on the main focus of the piece first. Then secondary elements. Usually before any rendering happens the whole piece gets layers of washes. 

When all color is done, any part that needs to be white gets a few layers of gouache, I am not very good at keeping the paper white. But it also makes highlights much easier. After scanning and a little photoshop, its ready for the internet.

If you are interested in seeing more progress of pieces while I am working, follow me on twitter, PMCillustration or follow on instagram, paigeconnelly45

Goblin on Gargoyle

I've had this idea of a goblin assassin in my sketchbook for a while now (since the winter). But I knew with all the work on my book and classes that I wouldn't have time to work on it. Luckily I created a list of pieces I wanted to complete and this was on the top. I created this piece with the thought it could be used in a role playing book. It would go well next to a character class/race or maybe even a NPC involved in an adventure to assassinate a party member or ruler of a city.

Soon I'll create a process post of this piece from sketches to painting. My watercolor skills are getting better with each illustration I create.

Elf Knight

I have many paintings lined up for the next few weeks and wanted to get some of the pieces that are close to done finished. Here is a little practice piece I started a few weeks back at school. Elf armor found it's way into my sketch book after I created a ink drawing for my friend Ginette's birthday. As I have stated before, I don't draw elves often, so it was a nice change. The elf knight was great practice for the larger pieces that I have planned to be working on in the next few weeks. I have a goblin assassin piece and I need to finish The Green Man as well. Plenty to keep busy as I continue the search for a part time summer job.

Monster Monday- May 14, 2013

The past week has been busy for me. It's finals time, had to finish an animation and study. While I did a lot of sketching now that 'the other people' is complete, I didn't get a good chance to sit down to create a finished drawing. So here's a sneak peak at a new watercolor I am working on. It's the green man previously posted a while back with fleshed out color and rendering. The scene is going to be when the sun is setting and the woods get dark. I started out rendering the figure to see how far I'll take the background. This piece won't get finished up till I move back to Asbury and get settled in. I have lots of new exciting illustrations planned as well as my next book 'the iron halls'

'The Other People'- Troll page

Trolls are one of my favorite monsters to draw and I wasn't going to leave them out of my book 'The Other People'. I went for a different design then I would normally use to fit into the world I created. The Trolls are known to be great musicians and they express themselves through music. I really enjoyed designing instruments (I played the french horn in high school) and create a larger illustration with a collection of troll musicians.

The Other People printed edition

I received my printed copies of my book over the weekend when I went home for free comic book day. I was very excited to see that the print quality was great, though pricey for the resale so I wasn't able to buy extra copies to sell at Free Comic Book day. Lots of customers were asking for copies and got me thinking I might do a kick starter or indie go-go for people interested in purchasing a copy and allow me to get a bulk order so it will cost less per book. But that's for the future.

Here's some snap shots of the book.

Over the next few weeks I'll post some of the illustrations I've created for the book. But now to get back to painting.

The Hound

At work I have been listening to 'A Song of Ice and Fire' audiobooks while I work. One of my favorite characters is The Hound, I decided to paint a version of how I saw the character.

Green Man

Finished inking this piece a while back and the painting process has already started. It's a green man wondering through the forrest at night. I had a lot of fun designing the character with a leaf beard, tree hand, and log horns. I'm still debating if I want to design a patterned frame as a boarder, I guess I'll figure it out as it get's closer to finial stages.

The Other People

I just sent out my first ever completed book to the printer. It's crazy to think that I started sketching ideas in September, dummy book in October, drew pages in November and December, Inked in January, painted from February to mid March, and designed in April. And was a full time student and had a part time job. I even managed to get other paintings and drawings done. 

My book 'The Other People' will soon be available on tablet readers and for PDF downloads. It will be available for download in person (meaning you pay in cash and I send  you a direct email while I'm at the shop) on May 4 for Free Comic Book day at the Comic Book Shop in Wilmington for a low price. Here's a sneak peak at a page of my book

Inside the Studio

My studio is not so much a studio as it is a nest. It's my room here at the apartment that I share with fellow illustrators and the many visitors that pass by.

Here's my desk, the main work area here at the apartment. My work space in Asbury Park is different and both work well in different ways. My desk is my command space, usually I have my computer open with a movie or music on to keep me company, lately it's been Pandora's alternative 90's. I have my favorite books on the top shelf for quick inspiration, also mini vodkas for emergencies, and movie collection. 

A close up of my work space, I recently spilled a bottle of ink of my desk that's why there's a huge blob. Taped on the wall are sketches and notes of daily reminders. There's also supplies everywhere, sticky notes, pens, ink, glue, cups. Maybe I need to clean my desk off a little...

My paint station has been a new addition to my desk this past year. It's set of drawers on wheels that I can move around my room or apartment to paint where I want to. I got my main mixing palette on the left and travel set on the right. The most used brushes are above the palette on a drying towel and also keeps the table from being destroyed. There's a collection of boards I use to tape my watercolor paper to. Having multiple boards allows me to switch out paintings to work on and able to make more use of my desk. 

That's a quick look into my studio space. Once I move back to Asbury Park, I'll be sure to show my other set up. 

Satyr sitting in his house

A new painting to share

The Unexpected Party

First of 4 paintings I created last semester for my independent study. Finally got the illustration scanned and learned of a new tool in photoshop that combines 2 files seamlessly into 1.

The Hobbit is written by professor JRR Tolkien and has been a favorite book of mine since childhood. The project was created from a book report I did in 7th grade where I drew images to include with the report. I've always had strong images set in my head for Tolkien's creations and I used the independent study to create large rendered watercolor illustrations.

This is 'The Unexpected Party' of the dwarves arriving at Bilbo's hobbit hole in order to plan the journey to reclaim their treasure.

Ice Titan

For my portfolio class, I had to create 4 new pieces to be included in my first draft of my printed portfolio to show professors and visiting illustrators. For my portfolio I wanted to try to create an illustration of something I don't normally do. So I decided to take an old illustration I made about 2 years ago and finish it the way I've always wanted to.

I created this painting in illustration 1. I wasn't allowed to use line and I still did not have a grasp of watercolor considering this is one of my first. But I liked the idea of a monster looming out of the woods with fog and mountains. During junior year, I didn't really use watercolor. I was trying digital, but I didn't like using a tablet and it wasn't a method that I felt comfortable relying on. So over the summer, I decided that I wanted to go back to watercolors and figure out how to make them work.

So I took what I have learned over the past 2 years and applied it to an older work. I started out redesigning the Ice Titan. I wanted to incorporate the ice rocks more into the character and have his arms be more covered. 

Then I sketched the illustration on watercolor paper, inked with FW ink and spent hours layering watercolor. And here's the finished illustration