Sorry for posting Monster Monday a day late. Yesterday I had a chance to spend the day with friends and took advantage of it. This week's drawing is a green man that I drew for my Mom for mother's day/ her birthday.
Like the other green man I posted a while back, I created the face using different types of leaves. I didn't want it to appear too human and keep it's creature quality. The green paper is a card stock and the ink is FW burnt umber and white.
When in doubt, draw an ice giant. Drew this over the weekend to have a smaller toned paper drawing to sell while displaying my work for free comic book day. The drawing is 5 inches by 8 inches. The giant has different horns then I would usually draw, gave the giant deer antlers. And other details set the look that I currently use for Ice Giant designs. Over all was fun practice piece.
A new illustration for The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien of one of my favorite scenes in The Hobbit, riddles in the dark.
It has been a while since I made a Middle-Earth illustration. I decided to take one of the watercolors I made for an independent study and finish it to a level I was unable to do with the original piece. The composition is similar to the watercolor, but the rendering is much different. The light source of Sting is much brighter and better color theory overall. In the book Gollum is said to have dark skin. Since blue plays an important role in the piece, I gave Gollum blue skin as well along with rim lighting the color of Sting. Bilbo's design remains the same but with a coat and cloak. For the cave, I found some good reference images on the internet and combined parts I liked from the photos to create the atmosphere. Overall, the piece turned out the way I originally hoped for and learned more techniques to add to my photoshop skills.
A new ink drawing for this weeks monster. It started out as an idea of what a Shambling Mound from Dungeon and Dragons Monster Manual 4.0. But it became more of a Fungus Behemoth. Originally the head was a different design it was similar to a log but after drawing the creature out, it made more sense that the character's head be a mushroom.
This weekend I'll be at the Comic Book Shop of DE, for free comic book day. Stop by for free comics, star wars characters, comic artist and writers as well as illustrators.
I recently finished my yellow sketch book that I previously shown in an older post. And I haven't shown any pages from it, so today is a sketchbook page collection.
Designs for a Basilisk for a monster codex type book for a roleplaying game. I am currently gesturing the idea down to figure out how the legs will look as well as the skin texture.
Satyrs are all over my sketchbook, they are one of my favorite creatures to draw besides Goblins. I experimented with design as well as used some markers to color parts of the sketches.
A beast design for a spot illustration of a Dwarf tracker in the snow. It took a while to discover the design that was working but all the exploration paid off in the final image.
What a usual sketch page looks like, its all over the place. On this spread are some thumb nails, goblin week ideas, and a dinosaur. Usually being all over the place is a good thing in my sketchbook since its free flow.
Sketches for another piece I'm working on that I was inking last night. It's exploring an old watercolor I did of a satyr sitting in his arm chair. For the piece I wanted to add more narrative which I think added much more to the final illustration.
Starkens also end up in the sketchbook as well, there were a few pages exploring poses and tattoo designs. The other page are the first ideas for the Orbis elementals. I posted two elementals for monster monday already, you can go back a few posts to see the final image.
With a busy weekend, I didn't have too much time between family gatherings, hanging out with fellow illustrators, and attending an art show, to draw for monster monday. I drew the orc last night and inked it today. Orcs are fun to experiment with design and the black, white, and green paper are one of my favorite combinations to create a drawing on. Now it's time to get back to work.
This year was the forth time exhibiting at Asbury Park Comic Con in Asbury Park NJ (which is just down the road from where I live). This year was the biggest con yet with multiple rooms of comics and creators. I shared a table with Claire in the indie room and happened to be the best room because of natural sunlight, cool temperature, and full of awesome people. I brought the same products I had at MoCCA fest since they are a week apart. I sold a bunch of stuff and drew Rocket Raccoon for one of my favorite shops The Comic book Shop of DE. For Free Comic Book Day, I'll be at the Comic Book Shop again this year for Saturday afternoon as well as being a guest artist for Ladies Night.
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.
Over the weekend, I tabled at MoCCA Fest in NYC with my illustration buddies. This was my third year displaying my work at MoCCA but this time I wasn't tabling with my college. Here's a picture of the table.
I sold copies of my new book Conjured Thoughts as well as many copies of Goblin Guild. The monster stickers were also a popular product I sold. Since Goblin Guild was a successful book I created, I started to create another book this time about the Iron Halls, the great empire of Dwarves of Orbis. I'm hoping that I might be able to get the book done in time for Asbury Park Comic Con this weekend since I have a few finished ink drawings already done. But if not, it will definitely be done for Free Comic Book Day.
The strangest part of MoCCA was a giant Macy's Day balloon of Charlie Brown was inflated in the armory. It was crazy how big a parade balloon is till its about 5 feet above your head. The whole weekend the balloon deflated and it was freaky to have the balloon's foot drawing closer to hitting the table. But a big thank you to the ballon coordinators from keeping the balloon from killing us.
I had a great time meeting people at MoCCA including some Twitter and Tumblr people. I was lucky that Saturday was my birthday so I had extra spending money to get some awesome books at the convention. Check them out.
I also got to meet James Kochalka, who signed my copy of The Glorkian Warrior Delivers a Pizza, which was awesome because he has so many great comics.
This upcoming weekend is Asbury Comic Con, its Saturday and Sunday, and I will be tabling with my sister Claire. I look forward to the convention since I've shown at all the conventions they've had so far and made a lot of awesome friends.
For this week's monster it's a forest elemental. Orbis has very few elementals in the world. There are rumors of more but their shy personalities keep them hidden in there home lands. There are 2 forest elementals in the western woods who guard the forest from lumber companies demolishing the land and habitat of other creatures. Even as guardians they tend to attack from afar or blend in so well with the forest, they remain unseen. Some of the city dwellers believe that the elementals are just myths that people believe in from ancient religions and texts.
Over the next few weeks I plan on drawing some other elemental guardians of Orbis.
This weekend is MoCCA fest in NYC. I'll be there at table C9 with fellow illustrators Claire Connelly, Ginette Montoya, and Hannah Scherba. We all have a bunch of cool stuff created for MoCCA like Hannah's tote bags, Claire's graphic novels, and Ginette's book of fears.
I'll have new 11x14 prints of some of my digital pieces as well as stickers of some of the monsters I've created over the past month or so. There will also be copies of Goblin Guild and WARG. But what I am most excited about is my new book Conjured Thoughts: Volume 1, a collection of my work from the past year. So stop by my table C9 at MoCCa for a chat.
This week is all about getting ready for MoCCA Fest in NYC. Here is a Jackalope I created as one of the designs for stickers I sell. I didn't want it to be a fluffy happy rabbit, so I added scruffier fur, sharp teeth, and dark brown hair elements.
If you are interested in getting a copy of my book, Conjured Thoughts: Volume 1, attend a con or shop visit that I'm attending. During May or June, I might open a store to make prints and books available.
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.
For a while now, well since December, I've been working on a drawing of Gothmog from J.R.R. Tolkien's the Silmarillion. It took a few tries at creating completed drawing before I created the image I liked. While listening to the Silmarillion audiobook, I was inspired to draw Gothmog. Balrogs tend to be tricky because of the details of the monster is more descriptive of the fear it created and a few details of how it physically looks. I created my own version of Gothmog the Balrog that is not similar to the portrayal in the Fellowship of the Ring film but based on how I imagined Gothmog as I listened to the book.
Convention Season begins. Here's a list of conventions, events, and shop visits. MoCCA Fest- April 5-6 New York City
Asbury Park Comic Con- April 11-12, Asbury Park NJ
Free Comic Book Day- May 3, The Comic Book Shop in Wilmington DE
Ladies Night- May 30, The Comic Book Shop in Wilmington DE
Illuxcon- September 19-20 Weekend Showcase, Allentown PA
For Saint Partrick's day, I drew 2 creatures of Celtic legend.
Leprechaun's are widely known for finding a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. But there is much more to them then just gold. They are very experienced cobblers, fixing shoes at night while the village sleeps. I based my design much more on Folklore details then the stereotypical depiction of Leprechauns in pop culture.
Another creature for the week is Balor.
Balor is the king of the Formorians, a race of giants. He has one eye on the front of his head and another eye on the back. Making it difficult to sneak up on him. There was a prophecy of a grandsons slaying him and was killed by killing his grandkids. I couldn't find a clear description besides his unusual eyes. So I based the design that was similar to my Ice Giants since they are related as giants but of different races.
Another green paper orc, the black, white and green is a combo that works well. The piece started out as a break between working digitally and turned out well. So I inked and added whites in my usual method. The orc isn't involved in Orbis, just a typical fantasy orc.
While cleaning my room recently I found a folder that contained all the character sheets from Dungeon and Dragons' campaigns from college. After reading over some of the sheets I found my character sheet for Zorn, my warforge knight. Zorn had an interesting background before the campaign started. Zorn was really Ellen Claxton, a knight of the realm. She was known for her fierce nature on the battle field and great leadership. Even with her great skills, Ellen was killed in a battle against the army of Hel (demons, skeletons, orcs, and a Wyvern) leaving their kingdom in the volcanic lands. She became separated from her battalion leaving her to fight her way back to her allies. A Wyvern blocked her path and the two faced off. After an exhausting battle, the Wyvern pinned Ellen down to the ground killing her. When the battle was over and the army of Hel retreated back to their land, a necromancer of Hel stored the soul of Ellen in a bottle. At the necromancer's lair he built a mechanical metal suit to place the soul in. When the suit came to life, Ellen gained control counteracting the curse place upon it. And killed the necromancer leaving to return to her knightly duties.
I drew the original drawing of Zorn during the campaign but after reading the sheet decided to redraw the character. I cleaned up the design making the warforge out of mostly armor pieces and added pops of color so it wouldn't be some dark. Her legendary sword made of meteorite is in the design though she has fought with other blades. The two pipes on her back help from the mechanical armor from over heating. Over all, I am pleased with the color palette as well as the design. If you are interested in having your character drawn, email me at PaigeConnellyIllustration@gmail.com for a price quotes.
Ice Giants are one of those monsters that I could draw day in and day out because of the variety of designs I am able to create. This Ice Giant is of a high rank due to having more sophisticated clothing of the leather chest plate, cape, and tattoos.
I drew this Ice Giant a while back to include into my new book Conjured Thoughts: Volume 1. Conjured Thoughts is a collection of ink drawing, toned paper drawings, and full color digital pieces compiled into a 32 page book. I'll have copies of the book at MoCCA Fest in NYC in April as well as Asbury Park Comic Con. The book includes never before seen drawings like the one above that have never been posted or published on the internet.
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.