bad dreams good nightmares

2012-01-17T13:43:00.000-08:00

1.17.12
Here are the first 2 covers in a series I have been doing the covers for Penguin Books, called "The Treasure Chest" by Ann Hood .
You might notice in the links there are slight changes to the cover art, from what was originally given for sales purposes. They were slight revisions , which is normal especially when publishers have high expectations for an author or book. Hopefully it won't be too long before I can show you the other two covers for this series.

Thanks for checking!
S.

links to the books:
promo vid
Book 1
Book 2

2011-12-12T20:30:00.000-08:00

Here's a cover I did for "The Selfish Giant" being published by Oxford University Press. It may be a while before I can show the interiors since publish date may be a bit away.

I'm also posting the sketch they didn't go for, but I strongly prefer it. At least it can now exist on this blog.

Thanks for checking in- I'll try to update soon.-S.

2011-11-16T13:20:00.000-08:00

ink , acrylic on mylar

2011-10-27T21:34:00.000-07:00

After the cover, I was asked by Templar to create some character designs/ images for promotion and such. This was really fun , and I wish publishers did this with every book. It's really great being able to explore characters that you might not get the chance to illustrate for the cover.

I also have to give Katherine Roberts and the fine folks at Templar UK praise for the character development of Rhianna. This is one of the few times that I have ever been asked to make a character less attractive and a bit grittier. You can see the development in the top sketches below.

Thanks for stopping in!

-S.

2011-10-19T22:53:00.000-07:00

Pendragon Legacy : Sword of Light
This is the first book in a series I am working on for Templar UK. Excited to see how this reproduces, since they were planning on using acetate overlays and other fancy packaging. Thanks for checking in!

2011-10-16T08:53:00.000-07:00

New York Times cover collaboration with my close friend, Mark Pernice / Matic . This was literally painted within a few hours. No sketch-just straight to paint (eh..digital paint). Mark developed the concept and helped me tweak the painting with great art direction and design.
Since this was going to print on newsprint, I needed that expertise so we could get the image to reproduce optimally. My colors and values were too dark and muted at first, as you can see below.

this is before Mark made the necessary adjustments

this is our finished illustration

Can also check the online version to the article > here
and be sure to check out Mark's amazing work- the man is a beast! > MATIC

also....
I was recently asked to do a brief interview with artist Khuan Tru > here
There are lots of other artist interviews there as well , with some names you will likely recognize.

thanks! -s.

2011-09-23T12:10:00.000-07:00

Haven't had hardly any time for personal work but I really wanted to finally give the new version of Art Rage a whirl. It's been out for awhile ,but I hadn't gotten around to the upgrade.

This image isn't entirely ArtRage- but a good deal of it was. I jumped from ArtRage, to Corel Painter, and Photoshop just to see how they all interacted together. It's tough to determine how long this image took - since I only dabbled a little here and there on work-breaks.

It doesn't replace the big programs, but the price is good and I really love the oil brushes in the program. Definitely recommend to those oil painters who miss a bit of that feeling when working digitally. I'll try to get a process gif going soon ,but it's pretty busy right now! I'll do my best though. Thanks for looking!-S.

2011-08-27T21:48:00.000-07:00

This is the 3rd book in the Ring of Five series, published by Random House and written by the great author Eoin McNamee . Always a bittersweet feeling when I wrap up a series. It's great to have that completion , but many times you wish you could explore the worlds even more.

You'll notice there's a lot of empty space in this, which was part of the concept, but also because a great deal of it is the trim and bleed. Thanks for checking in!

Random House - Knopf Delacorte

2011-08-24T10:50:00.000-07:00

Wrapping this exercise up. I'm not satisfied with many aspects of it , but I did learn a ton from doing this and I'm excited to try another one. Thanks for everyone's input on this. It made the exercise even more beneficial than I originally hoped. Big thanks to Nigel Quarless -whose blog you can check out here:

http://mixedbagmythography.blogspot.com/

Got a huge amount of valuable info from him that has really altered my thinking of designing characters.

There's a huge batch of work that's under NDA right now, but I'll be back with soon with plenty of new covers to show soon. Take care everyone -S.

2011-07-21T10:10:00.000-07:00

Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan: I was notified that this piece of art I did for Wizards of the Coast : Dungeons & Dragons has recently been released.
Feels like I did this artwork almost a year ago, but I am not sure. I do remember liking the other sketch more, and I think I still do. Hmmmm....what do you think ?

2011-07-07T19:48:00.000-07:00

Website Crash - arrrgh! A quick note about my website. It's being figured out now and it should all be back up shortly. If you want to check my work before then you can check it out here:
CGhub page

Lots of new work coming - just under a bunch of NDAs, but I've been busy!
Thanks !-S.

a little 4th of July fun with a camera and sparklers

2011-06-17T13:07:00.000-07:00

Some more progress on this character. Think I'll do at least more iteration of her and then move onto something else.
I wanted to thank all of you who have commented and gave me valuable crits. It is greatly appreciated - sincerely. Please always feel free to leave me your thoughts- I really value it!

Have a great weekend folks and thanks for stopping by!-

2011-06-10T08:34:00.000-07:00

W.I.P.
Getting quite busy over here, but wanted to post a little something . Here's a WIP of a character design I've been playing with between jobs. I'll try to update as soon as possible. Thanks for stopping in!

2011-05-31T07:33:00.000-07:00

odds & ends

edit: Stumbled across this page that has an almost complete catalogue of my World of Warcraft TCG / Blizzard Entertainment art : click

I'm not even sure that is all of them but it's pretty neat to see them all together like that.

warm-up head sketches from various ref

creature sketch....might pursue...might not?

warmups from the sketchbook...some reffed...some cartoony stuff...just playing around

a quick 2.5 life painting I did about a month ago

First time I did a life-painting on mylar...pretty cool surface

thanks!-s.

2011-05-24T10:42:00.001-07:00

another creature for today. Creatures are way too fun.

thanks for stopping in ! - S.

started from this page in my sketchbook:

2011-05-20T07:11:00.000-07:00

Hello -Here's another World of Warcraft TCG card that got released recently:

And some things going on:

"Attack of the Shark Headed Zombie" , by the talented Bill Doyle is now available to order : Amazon link
Along with the cover , there are 17 black and white interior illustrations I did for this book.

......and one more thing

Feels odd even putting this in here, but with close to 1,000 "friends" I figured some folks would be interested. I took down my regular Facebook page, but I am keeping a "fan" page. Trying to streamline my life a bit, so it had to go. Here's the fan page.

2011-05-09T11:04:00.000-07:00

Another creature for today. . .
This one is from an older design that I was never satisfied with. I reworked it quite a bit and I think it's a much stronger design now.

Thanks for looking!

s.

2011-05-06T13:08:00.000-07:00

¡poogie!

2011-04-28T08:30:00.000-07:00

New World of Warcraft card :
just saw this got released. Thanks for stopping by!
(copyright Blizzard Entertainment)

2011-04-20T15:39:00.000-07:00

animated GIF session :

I've been really interested in "animating" some illustrations lately, so I took a practice run. It's quite primitive and not all that exciting, but I hope to get better at this. Any tips or good sources I should look at are greatly appreciated.

While I was making the animated GIF file, I decided to throw a quick process of the drawing while I was at it. Hopefully, I'll be returning to these soon with something a bit more ambitious to show. Thanks for looking!

S.

2011-04-04T20:24:00.000-07:00

A quick note about shipping prices in my new online store. I was able to lower the prices of small item shipping for both domestic and international orders. Don't worry -anyone who bought a book, was reimbursed the difference.

The bigger problem is for international prints. Because they are being shipped flat, the shipping price for int'l orders is quite large. I certainly wish this was not the case and was trying hard to remedy this problem. I have not been able to find a better price, so if someone has any solutions I would be very grateful to hear them. The other solution is to send 13" x 19" print orders in tubes internationally. I am very reluctant to do this, because I feel it often damages the print to a degree. Anyone who wants to chime in, I would love to hear your opinions. Thank you!

Finally have some new life-drawings I did just an hour ago - these are fresh off my sketchbook. Thanks for stopping by!

20 minutes

20 minutes each

5 & 10 minute poses

2011-03-24T16:10:00.000-07:00

*The STORE is open!*

the magic url : http://www.scottaltmann.com/store/

After more than six years of saying I was going to make an online store, I still didn't do it. .......

But I got someone else too! A huge thanks go out to amazing illustrator and my good friend Federico Piatti for creating the webstore. Check out his work here...you won't be sorry: Fed

Also , the store was designed by the wonderful Victoria Maderna, - check out her work too...it's awesome. Vic

Huge hugs and thanks to that power duo.

I will be updating the site regularly with more items. I plan on making some prints with different dimension, maybe some limited editions, and many more originals. Sketches, drawings , paintings- it will be a mixed bag.

If there's any image you would like to see offered as a print -just let us know. In most cases, will be able to offer it.

All the prints are custom embossed with my own design. Here's a close-up:

As a small thank you, I'm throwing in a little sillyEcoGreen sticker I had made up . For those that are concerned with such things, it is made from limestone , fade-resistant vegetable based ink, and uses zero water consumption or toxic agents. Pretty cool.

Stop by and check it out. Thank you!

2011-03-11T12:30:00.000-08:00

I am extremely pleased to announce that CFSL will be selling the book from the collective Gorilla Artfare.

It's an honor to be a part of the collective and book. I have to say, I have seen a PDF of the book and it looks incredible. You can check out a preview here : PREVIEW

I just finished the sequel to Harrison Geillor's "The Zombies of Lake Woebegotten"

which will be called " The Twilight of Lake Woebegotten". You can see where this is going.

I was directed to spoof on Grant Wood's "American Gothic" painting, and (sort of) suggest the characters of "Twilight". I had to avoid a direct likeness because of jumbo lawsuits. No thanks!

Started in oils and finished up digitally:

sketch:

2011-02-25T12:36:00.000-08:00

2 new World of Warcraft cards
Thanks for stopping in!

2011-02-21T11:17:00.000-08:00

More of an update than a new post. Here's another Dungeons & Dragon Fortune Card that got released:

everything owned and enforced with severe physical punishment by Wizards of the Coast : )

2011-02-17T11:50:00.000-08:00

Just got a package in the mail and since these two images have been released it should be okay to show them now. I'll show more when I can!

Done for Dungeons & Dragons -Fortune Cards. Copyright Wizards of the Coast

2011-02-01T08:14:00.000-08:00

Recently the collective , Gorilla Artfare celebrated its third year, and some of us whipped up some imagery inspired by song. If you have a moment check through the imagery - some very nice pieces were done.
Here is my humble entry:

Acrylic, pencil, gesso and some other stuff on Rives BFK paper. The image below is before digital tweakage.

2011-01-28T12:48:00.000-08:00

Another mylar experiment. Have a great weekend!

acrylic, prismacolor pencils, gesso on mylar

2011-01-25T13:59:00.000-08:00

As I'm waiting for NDA's to clear and get final approval on some recent illustrations I figured I should at least put something on this blog, as it's been a month. Some doodlin' from the sketchbook :

2010-12-23T14:11:00.000-08:00

Happy Holidays everyone and Happy New Year! Stay warm, relax and avoid the Yeti. - scott

PS. (I'll be back to posting more regularly soon.)

2010-11-28T01:24:00.000-08:00

Just learned these cards I did for World of Warcraft / Blizzard Entertainment were released. Hope you like them and thanks for stopping in!

all digital . All copyrights : Blizzard Entertainment

2010-11-17T23:16:00.000-08:00

Back from IlluXcon and as expected, it did not disappoint. Thanks for all those who stopped by, the artists, and the Wilshires for leading the charge.

Although I haven't seen a physical copy yet, I believe this book I was asked to work on this summer is being released : BOOK
This was my first venture in doing a step-by-step book. I didn't have total control over the book process and content, but I learned a tremendous amount about making a step-by-step book. It is geared towards beginner artists and basic fundamentals, but I did try and cover more advanced techniques such as combining traditional and digital media. Here's a sample of one of those :

oil/ digital mix

On another note, here's a personal experiment. A sort of self-portrait done on mylar. It's quite mixed, and if I try to remember everything I threw on there it was : ink, pencil, prismacolor, acrylic

Thanks for dropping in - always greatly appreciated! -scott

2010-11-10T10:12:00.000-08:00

This is where I'll be : IlluXCon

Come say hello if you like. I'll be bringing prints, originals, little books, and a bit of a sniffle. Hmmm...maybe I'll be bringing tissues and Purell as well.

I guess this would fall under the category "fan art" although I hate that term. This is a copy done by Karen Rosenbusch of my Charlie Bone cover for her class. Pretty neat and I was quite honored someone would use my work as a learning tool.

Thanks! -S.

2010-10-30T08:49:00.000-07:00

New Chris Grabenstein cover! The timing of this cover is very appropriate for Halloween, so I thought I'd throw it up here. It's like decorating your home for the holidays.

Before I get into that, I must give a huge, sincere thank you to everyone who left a comment, reposted, and help spread the word on my stolen portfolio. I know I am leaving many, many people out, but off the top of my head thanks to the Fenners at Spectrum, Randy Gallegos , Ralph Horsley, Erik Gist, and Jon Shindehette. Forgive me if I left anyone out. There were so many that came to help, and I appreciate it all.

If I can relay any advice or experience from this, it is actually mostly what I got from the great police officer over at the 10th Precinct in NYC. Surprisingly, theft at these conventions is a regular occurrence, and a person was put in jail at this same convention. He was saying that the reason they were able to catch this thief , was because of the strong network of comic-book sellers, and they quickly spread the word to each other and all over the internet, notifying each other of the theft. The thief came back to sell the stolen comic to another collector, and they were able to nail him. It made me appreciate and realize how important our community of illustrators is, and how we look after one another when the situation calls for it. That is a great thing, and although my work was not recovered, I felt a sense of community for the first time in ages during this debacle. Thank you all again.

Let's get back to the art. Here is the 3rd book I have done for Chris and this series. I feel really lucky to have landed this gig. The imagery is fun, my art director rules, Chris rules, the books are fantastic - easy right? Well, wraparound covers provide their own challenges. You can see in this template how there are several margins , dimensions to follow, and directions to follow. It's also to important to remember your art is not being seen as you create it. As a wrap - you see the right side of the image first in the store - that's the actual cover. The left side becomes the rear of the book jacket. It is very important to get the main image inside the margins that will appear on the cover , making sure it is not going off into the flaps of the book. I like to work on the focal area first and then spread out from there, making adjustments in Photoshop, moving things around ever so slightly, until everything lines up. We even worked on getting one of the angels on top of the mausoleum to appear on the spine of the book. It's like being an actor in front of a green-screen, trying to hit all the correct marks, and still trying to act simultaneously.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great Halloween!
Scott

2010-10-11T07:36:00.000-07:00

Lost/ Stolen Portfolio! Please help....

During the breakdown at New York Comic Con, my portfolio of original drawings went missing. It is large- at least 24" x 18" , black and had about 12 original drawings inside. Any info would be extremely appreciated. Thank you - Scott

These are some of the drawings that I know were in there. I will add more as I remember them and find the scans. Thanks again- all the help is much appreciated.

2010-10-05T23:38:00.000-07:00

New York Comic Con

Last mention of this before I disappear into convention madness.

I'll be with Dave Palumbo at booth 528. Prints, originals and enlightenment all await you at our piece of NYCC real estate. Hope to see you there! -s.

2010-09-30T21:30:00.000-07:00

9.30.10-

This is still a work in progress, but the cover has been approved and is on Random House's website, so I can show the cover for now. Here is the link to the book ---------> here

"Attack of the Shark-Headed Zombie" by Bill Doyle

The interior art will be in black and white, and we are looking at an April, 2011 release. I'll show more of this project when I get the 'okay'. Thanks for checking in as always- S.

2010-09-28T10:36:00.000-07:00

Here is Dave's more intellectually stimulating interview with me here
Hope you enjoyed this - I may do it again, because it was fun for me. Especially getting to grill my artist friends and make them answer my ridiculous questions publicly.

2010-09-24T23:26:00.001-07:00

Okay folks- we are going to try a little something different today. In a few weeks I will be at the NYCC with good friend and fellow artist, Dave Palumbo. .
But I'll get back to that in a later post closer to the convention.

"Transcend" by Dave Palumbo

"Sleep" by Dave Palumbo

I thought it would spice things up around here if I did a short interview with Dave. Many of you are probably already aware of Dave's work, but for those who aren't do yourself a favor and check out some of his links. Yes...there are several links,but it's only because Dave is so prolific and has several projects going on.

Dave's website

Dave's Blog

Dave's Postcard Nudes - Nudity warning for those that need a warning for such nudity :)

Also, be sure to check out Dave's instructional DVD and books:

Books Books Books

Onto the interview. I decided to keep it mostly light and fun, but Dave is able to give some good info regardless of my silliness. Look out for Dave's serious interview with me shortly :)

Scott - Have you ever crushed , crumbled or burnt a piece you were working on out of frustration?

Dave -I don’t think so. Not anything serious anyhow. I typically either paint over it or stick it in my leaky unfinished basement for a slow slow death. The only thing I remember wrecking in a dramatic fashion was the support structure for a 7 foot painting I did for my senior show in school. I always had trouble with my stretcher bars warping, so I had a very wood shop savy friend help me construct my own 6.5 x 7 foot stretcher frame out of about 80 feet of 2x4s. It was massive, heavy, time consuming, and ended up warping horribly by the time that the show went up. The bottom right corner was lifted at least four inches from the wall. After it was over and I had carefully removed and rolled up the linen, I dragged the stretcher frame back to the wood shop and beat it to splinters with a sledgehammer

Scott-Do you, or will you , have an interest in becoming an art collector yourself? Who would be top of the "must have" list ?

Dave - I am in a limited capacity, mostly smaller pieces and studies, and almost exclusively illustrators. My must haves would be a long list if money were no concern though. To keep it semi-realistic, I’ll say Jeremy Geddes, Alex Kanevsy, Greg Manchess, Sanjulian, and Sam Weber. I actually was fortunate enough to get a Sam Weber recently (one of the Lord of the Flies pieces no less!), but I could always use another ;)

Scott-You have been making the rounds of artist conventions latley - SDCC, NYCC, IlluXcon....
Would it be fair to call you a CONMAN ? sorry - couldn't resist

Dave - Ha, no, I don’t think so. There are plenty of guys who do way more shows every year, and I’ve still never even been to Dragoncon, Gencon, or Boskone. I wish I could do more, but it’s pretty tough on the work schedule.

Scott- Why don't you drink coffee? Are you better than the rest of us?

Dave- I am, I don’t need it. I also rarely drink soda and never drink energy drinks. Actually, I just don’t trust it. Something about addictive substances, even mild ones, turns me off.

Scott -Many freelancers have spent the day painting in pajamas or without pants. What's the weirdest thing you have worn while painting, or do you make it a point to get dressed like a true professional at his place of employment?

Dave - Not at all. I have a pair of thriftstore army pants that I wear to paint in. They’re not that stained, but the ass is completely worn through. It looks like I was dragged on my butt down ten miles of highway. I’ll start wearing shirts again once the weather gets cooler.

Scott - Studio is on fire. What do you grab ?

Dave - Portable hard drive and my Canon 5D2. And maybe that Sam Webber if I’ve got a free hand

Scott - You discover a technique that is years beyond what anyone has ever done in the history of art. It will change the way people look at painting forever. Do you share this technique or do you keep it secret?

Dave- I’d certainly use it, no question about that. In using it, I’d think that qualifies as sharing since anybody is free to examine and extrapolate. But beyond that, I think I’d be happy to talk about it and explain it. Guarding technique “secrets” feels so desperate to me. More to the point, I don’t really believe in technique secrets in the first place.

Scott - Concept work, book covers, TCG art, gallery work, a DVD - you've done a lot so far. Any plans for future works, or things you really want to do?

Dave - Every once in awhile I think it’s be really fun to do some painted comic pages, but I never get too far because I’m not a terribly good writer. Also, I love to make books. I have ideas rolling around for that sort of thing, ideally world building stuff like Gurney’s Dinotopia and Kevin Dart’s “Seductive Espionage”. Right now I’m just focused on finishing the Tarot project that my family has been working on the past few years and continuing my Quickie series though.

Scott -Do you ever wake up and feel - " I don't want to see, hear or think about art today? "

Dave - Maybe not art, but my job, yes. There are definitely days where I don’t want to work on the thing I have to work on, but usually that’s because there’s just something else that I’d rather be painting instead. I guess it’s kind of irrational when I think about it.

Scott - You come from a family of successful artists, but you have carved out your own style and approach to illustration . Was this something your parents encouraged you to do, was it self-imposed, or just came naturally? This is might be a stupid question because it's probably a little of everything.. no ?

Dave - I guess so. I look at my art sometimes and I’m not even really sure what my style is though. You look at an artist and define them by everything they’ve done. I do that, I think everyone does. When I look at my own work though, I look at what I want to do next. What I want to do that I haven’t done yet, or haven’t fully explored. It makes it hard to define your look or style when at least half of it is still theoretical.

Scott -You are going to be seeing me a lot in the next 2 months. How does this make you feel?

Dave- Dude, excited! I’m hoping we can do the drive to Illuxcon together again, that was so much fun last year! This time we won’t get lost.

Scott- You once gave me the helpful hint of eating raw garlic when you feel a cold coming on. Were you trying to get my wife to divorce me?
*sidenote- it totally helped!

Dave- Not entirely. I have some follow up advice on the subject of raw garlic though: do not try it first thing in the morning on an empty stomach. I’ve never swallowed something that made me have to vomit so fast in all my life.

Scott- You are one of the more articulate illustrators I have met. Do you have any desire to teach in a classroom setting?

Dave - I’ve thought about it, and have been flattered by offers that didn’t pan out for geographic reasons. Realistically though, I’m not sure. I like to talk, socialize, and to teach, but my time is precious to me so the students would have to be serious or I wouldn’t last too long

Scott-Do you collect anything?

Dave - Original art a little bit, when I can. Definitely art books. Also movies, I like to maintain a large collection to put on while I’m working, though that‘s a collection without “value“ in the sense of things collectible being worth money. That may make it a more pure collection, I’m not sure. In the past I’ve collected vinyl, comics, CCGs, mechanical watches, Star Wars toys… I think I have a basic collector mentality, it’s just my interests shift.

Scott- Wet Hot American Summer -greatest comedic film in the last decade?

Dave- Wow. Tough question. I think you may be right, though I do want to give the nod to team Apatow for a consistent run of first rate comedies in the 5 years.

Please feel free to leave comments for either Dave or me. What do you think of having an interview on the blog ? Bad idea, good idea -thoughts?
Thanks for reading and be sure to check out Dave's amazing work through the links above. More to come soon -it's going to be a busy few months!

2010-09-23T14:32:00.000-07:00

9.23.10
It's been exactly a month since my last post-yikes. Been extremely busy over here, but fortunately, some older works have been released that I can share. There will be more to come very soon-thank you for tolerating me : )

"Ice Maiden" by Salley Prue, published by Oxford University Press UK

These were the proposed sketches. The publisher liked them enough that I believe they are using them for interior art now.

"Ring of Five : The Unknown Spy" by Eoin McNamee , published by Random House
second book in this series

2010-08-23T19:50:00.000-07:00

Wanted to express a big thanks to all you fine folks who sent me messages of congrats on the Chesley award. I didn't expect to be nominated , and certainly didn't expect to win. Check out the other winners on the Missions Unknown blog - they have pictures!

Here's a study for a personal painting I've been playing with whenever I get a free moment. It might go through some more incarnations before I decide (if I decide? ) to jump to oils. And thoughts are always welcome. Thanks for stopping by ! - S.

pencils, acrylic, pastel pencil on Rives BFK

2010-07-23T16:30:00.000-07:00

Very honored to have been nominated for this year's Chesley Award for Best Cover Illustration-Paperback Books .
More info on the Chesley Awards here : http://www.asfa-art.org/

The piece being nominated is the cover art for The Mysterious Mr. Spines : FLIGHT . Really glad to see some of my good friends nominated as well, and other artists I have deep respect for.

Here's a sketch of our friend's 8 month yr. old baby, JD. They came over for a visit, and I got to sneak in a sketch while he was taking a nap.

Lastly here's another one of those chapter opener ink drawings I did. Hopefully, I'll be able to talk more about that project soon.
-s.

2010-07-03T10:40:00.000-07:00

I started this painting a long time ago, and decided I wanted to finish it up and move on to other personal works. It had been sitting for awhile in the studio, but then I got asked to participate in a group show. I figured this was a good incentive to finish it up. Lately I have been really enjoying surface texture , although I feel I was getting a bit self-indulgent. The piece will be at the 99% Gallery in Brooklyn , NY. The show opens July 16th.

oil on masonite panel, 12" x 16"

Here are some ink drawings I did for some chapter openers on a book in the works. Still struggling with the inks, but I am slowly learning. I just feel so stiff and tight when I ink, which is not how I work. I'll keep at it.

Lastly, just a sketch from the sketchbook:

Thanks for dropping in -s.

2010-06-10T11:44:00.001-07:00

Charlie Bone / Egmont Press UK

2010-05-31T23:10:00.000-07:00

Life sketches, an orc and some sounds

Trying to find more time for life-drawing, and hopefully find a (somewhat) convenient life-painting class. I was quite rusty, and I did not like that feeling one bit. Instead of going with my usual pencils, or ball-point pen, I used a brush ben and stating swishing around the ink with a brush dipped in water. I think I am going to explore this more. The lost edges and abstraction of the washy ink has really caught my interest.

Here is an image from an upcoming project. I am not sure how much I am allowed to say on the matter, so I will play it safe and say nothing :) I know orcs are as overplayed as the original Pac-Mac, but I have to admit, it was pretty fun to paint this handsome guy. All done digitally in Painter 11.

On my work breaks I have been playing quite a lot of guitar lately, and have really been itching to make new music. Here's just an improv little music sketch I did that I thought would be fun to share. Just let the webcam record and started layering loops. It's a slow , repetitive ditty, but it might be good for insomniacs who have trouble sleeping. I was a little reluctant to post music on an art blog, but I thought I would give it a chance.
Thanks for stopping in !- scott

2010-05-18T07:48:00.000-07:00

Microvisions auction open

Here:

Direct link:
Ebay

A post about the auction on Tor.com and The Art Department:

2010-04-23T11:02:00.001-07:00

Kid's Stuff

Egmont UK
Charlie Bone
I'll post more of this series as I get the nod from the publisher.
digital

Fablehaven
Scholastic UK
digital
this is for the UK release of Fablehaven. Started off as just a front image, but they decided things were looking good and wanted a full wrap.

Usborne UK
Time Train to the Blitz

Microvisions
An experiment with a palette knife :) Not exactly how I wanted it to come out, but I did experiment with some painting techniques and learned alot. I might work it up bigger now that I am more prepared.
Oil on 5" x 7" masonite panel

2010-04-06T11:40:00.001-07:00

4.06.10

2010-03-31T00:32:00.000-07:00

3.31.10

2010-03-09T12:34:00.000-08:00

3.09.10
Zombies , Dragons and Butterflies

The first image was done for Realms of Fantasy Magazine for a story called "Dragon" written by T D Edge. Fun job and Douglas Cohen at RoF was awesome to work with. Final image is one of my oil / digital hybrids .

This cover was done for Night Shade Books. The book is called "The Zombies of Lake Woebegotton" by Harrison Geiller which is a parody of the " Lake Wobegon" by Garrison Keillor. The goal was to have a really warm, friendly environment but with zombies roaming around. Definitely a fun job. All digital.

More Zombies! Here's another cover for Chris Grabenstein's book, "The Smoky Corridor." This was a wraparound cover published by Random House. Digital -<>-

Lastly, is a little drawing with some unlucky butterflies .
Ink, acrylic, pencil on Rives BFK.

2010-02-16T08:23:00.001-08:00

While I'm waiting on NDA's to clear so I can share some covers I've been doing , I figured I'd share some sketches I've got. There's a bunch more, so I'll try to be a good blogger and upload those soon. Speaking of sharing, I'm giving twitter a try:
http://twitter.com/scottaltmann
To be honest, I'm not sure if I'm going to stick with it. I was hoping it would be a faster way to share images, but that doesn't seem to be the case. We'll see.

The first sketch here is something I did for Mike "Daarken's " Beautiful Grim auction. I really encourage everyone to check it out and give it a read. It's for a great cause, and there are tons of great artists participating.

2010-01-25T10:54:00.001-08:00

Almost a month since last post- I stink. Still awaiting for NDAs to clear and such, but I do have some little projects and news to share. First thing that prompted this post is I got this awesome book in the mail today:
The Future of Fantasy Art
I have 2 images in the book, and there are a ton of amazing images by many of the top illustrators in the world. The reproductions really impressed me, and I love the square format. Very cool.

Over at Gorilla Artfare, my fellow artists and how celebrated our 2 yr. anniversary by covering another members' artwork. I was randomly selected to cover the amazing Alice Duke. I decided to cover her 'fish' sketch, probably because it was less intimidating to cover something that wasn't completely finished.

Lastly, here's a quick little job I did for my friends at the local college for their theatre production of Bells Are Ringing. It's about a 1960's telephone operator who falls in love over the switchboard...hence the hearts :)

Got a bunch of covers in the works, so hopefully I'll be back to share them sooner than later. Thanks for stopping in- s.

2009-12-30T09:27:00.000-08:00

Here's a little something before 2010 rolls in. I wouldn't exactly call this a "personal piece" -just a little something I would do on work breaks. It started off as a creature and just kept expanding. There weren't any sketches or thumbnails - just kind of playing. I'm not sure if I am going to keep working on it, but if you see anything that could help the piece I'd love to hear it!

Also - I apologize but I had to add on that secret code box when you comment. I really didn't want too , but the spammers are slamming my blog!

Happy New Year - scott

all digital

2009-12-10T22:27:00.000-08:00

Wow- sorry for the delayed posts. Trying to get a bunch of deadlines done before the holidays, which unfortunately I can't show just yet. So for now, I'll just post some thing lying around and catch up the last few weeks.

The first thing I wanted to mention was how amazing lluXcon2 was. And yes...if you click on that link you will see IlluXcon 3 is already in the works. If you would like to attend, think about it now, because tickets are very limited. It was designed to be kept intimate and small, and they are sticking by that.
The Wilshires (responsible for IlluXcon) have also released a very cool book called Visions of Never
It covers art from very awesome, but slightly under the radar artists like Rohb Ruppel , Marc Fishman and Mark Zug (among others) . I think I've seen it at really good prices too, so check it out if you are into that sorta thing.

I'll include some photos of my booth at IlluXcon. Not to show off my scruffy mug, but some of you might be interested in seeing how some of my originals look.

I grabbed these off various forums. websites, so thanks to those who took these pics!

And although I look sad, I was just sketching and practicing my inks. Those inks are hard!! Here's one of the more successful ones that day:

Lastly, I stumbled across this image on my older HD the other day and thought it might be fun to share:

I guess you can say this is a variant version I did for myself while I did this card art for Magic: The Gathering / WoTC a few years ago. The image I did for them was this
I think I was just messing around at the time and made a version without all the flames. It's a little rough and unfinished, but it may be worth a gander.

Last bit -some of you have inquired about prints and such. Well there is good news. I am in the discussion phase of getting a webstore! No seriously- -I really am . It's only been 5 years of procrastination but I think it is safe to say in 2010 I will finally have a place where prints and art will be easy to purchase. If there are any suggestions of what you would like to see, I'd love to hear them. That goes for any images you would like to see available as prints too.
Cheers-s.[

2009-11-09T22:01:00.001-08:00

11.10.09 -eventful events

I will have my piece, "topside" at the Strychnin Gallery, as part of their group show, Magistrates. Kind of gave me a reason to paint that sketch I posted fairly recently. The show opens November 13th, and runs until December 6th, in Berlin, Germany.

A little closer to home, I'll be gladly attending IlluXcon2. Just check out that guest list of artists. That runs from Nov.12- Nov. 15th in Altoona, PA.

"topside"
oil on linen
about 11" x 22" . I think ?

From Imagine FX magazine, Issue #49. I haven't seen the issue yet , but I basically discussed combining traditional oil painting with digital techniques. Still haven't seen the issue myself, but it is out there.

a little ink and digital experimentation. Well ...experimental for me since I am still trying to learn the nuances of inking.

A cover for Oxford University Press , "Ronia, The Robber's Daughter"
digital

2009-10-02T09:49:00.000-07:00

Oct.2 - cover
Thanks to everyone for dropping by and leaving the good words of support. Always good to hear your thoughts- critique, praise...I welcome it all.

Here's another cover I did for the fine folks at Harper Collins. This was a pretty cool story as the author, Katherine Langrish, draws from old Welsh tales (I believe Welsh) which gives it a really unique flavor in a very saturated genre.
When I submitted the sketches, they liked them all, and wanted to "frankenstein" a bit of each into one. The heroic pose from the first one, the setting and in the 2nd, and the horses in the background in the 3rd. I was just asked to leave out the "elf" creature. Although she is a major part of the story, she is a wild, feral looking thing, and they did not want to scare away younger readers. Would have been fun to include her...but I understand their point.

All digital - which I am slightly regretting, because I think it would have made nice oil. I gotta get those oils out more...the shame....the guilt.....

:)
Scott

2009-09-29T14:13:00.000-07:00

New Cover- The Rush Job

An art director from Random House contacted me over the summer requesting a wraparound cover within 2 weeks. I was busy at the time so I declined. She then emailed me back saying the cover concept is already in place, and I would just need to get the front done in time for a sales pitch. The story seemed cool and the art director really seemed to be in a tough situation. So I took it.
At first the art director and I both wanted to explore a bit of my expressive / distorted figures, but as usual that didn't make it past marketing. I would say 90% of the time I am asked to stick to realism as it sells better. I totally understand this, but I love playing around with proportions and pushing things. It just doesn't have as much of a demand as the more realistic work out there.

The process was super fast for this. I would send a sketch in, get feedback, send another sketch in -get more feedback and that was it. I painted the front in time for the sales pitch, and later completed the rear of the wraparound.

I feel there is a slight gamble to rush jobs. If you underestimate some factors such as time, your energy , or complexity of the job you can turn in an image you might not be completely thrilled with. On the other hand, you can really put yourself in good graces with an art director by helping them out. Fortunately, everyone was pleased with the outcome. Of course, all artists rarely have praise for their own work - I am no different in that regard.

I received the wraparound without the book in the mail the other day, and I thought it would be cool to show the final product. I have a whole blog post about wraparounds in mind for the future. They are a somewhat different beast than the single, front cover illustration. For another time ....
Thank you-S.

2009-09-06T10:41:00.000-07:00

2 quickies
Just 2 quick sketches done in between work. I think I might work that diver/bather up in oils- I think it could be a fun one to paint.
Thanks for checking in!
S.

2009-08-25T18:37:00.000-07:00

8.25.09-
Had an interesting few weeks since I last updated this blog. Learned a lot about taking on too much work, pacing yourself, career choices...etc...
Unfortunately it took some wicked illness to make me realize some things that are very obvious to others! The worst is over, and I'm ready to roll again. I actually think being that sick gave me a little more creative juice!
Waiting for the OK to show some other projects, but here is some older stuff to fill this blog up. Some card art for the Blizzard/ Upper Deck Entertainment World of Warcraft TCG.

copyright Blizzard / Upper Deck Entertainment

Thanks for stopping in!
-S.

2009-08-12T16:42:00.000-07:00

Post SDCC - yes , this is a bit late but I did want to say thank you to all those who came by our booth during the San Diego Comic Con. I definitely learned a ton , and had an amazing time. Most importantly, got to see old friends and meet new ones. Can't ask for much more than that.

Came home to a stack of work with imminent deadlines, so I'll share these sketches I did while at the SDCC. Still practicing my inks - I have a LONG way to go, so if any of you want to drop me some "inking" tips please feel free! I can use all the help there is. I have some new ideas on how to approach my own way of inking . If the result aren't completely career threatening, I will share. :)

Thanks again everyone!

2009-07-15T13:05:00.000-07:00

San Diego Comic Con
July 22- July 26

I will be at the San Diego Comic Con this year, sharing Booth #4813
with good friends and fellow artists Dave Palumbo and Daren Bader

We will have prints, originals and art books for your viewing, purchasing and owning pleasure
If nothing else, just stop by and say "hello!" . Always nice to see friendly faces in the chaos of the SDCC!

Speaking of books, I had these humble, little books printed up for the SDCC:
8 1/2 " x 5 1/2 "
28 pages front to back
full color
$10 -

If you are not going to SDCC but still want one, just email me at about@scottaltmann.com and we'll figure something out. I do intend to get an online shop going (no really this time) but I sell prints and art without one regularly.
Hope to see some of you there!

If you are dedicated you can print this out , cut it up and assemble your own very tiny, useless book :)

I thought he was a very good model for this product.

2009-06-21T23:25:00.000-07:00

6.22.09
IlluxCon2 commission : "misaligned" or "Hey -it's a dress with faces on it!"
I was extremely excited and flattered when Pat Wilshire commissioned me to do some artwork for IlluXCon 2. . Very briefly, IlluxCon is the largest gathering of fantasy/ sci-fi illustrators that I know of. Gathering is a more appropriate term, since it feels way more intimate than a convention.

The best part for me about this commission, was I was given carte blanche with the image. I was tossing around a few ideas, and I decided to revisit this one idea that has been bothering me for years. I am not sure why - usually when creating personal work if something doesn't click in a relatively short time I just move on. Once in a while though ,I get obsessed and almost take it as a challenge, as if I am going to conquer this image and rid if from my brain forever. Truthfully - it feels great when I do that. I feel like I can move on to other things without the extra burden of incomplete ideas.

I'll post a few sketches I found...some of which are quite old. I probably couldn't even find all the sketches I did for this over the years, as I tossed probably half of them. Oddly enough , I was just doodling in a tiny moleskin, waiting for my son to finish his gymnastics class when I found the composition I was finally pleased with.

"misaligned"
oil on linen
16"h x 26" w

underpainting

digital sketch

old sketches

old sketch

I will definitely be posting about IlluXcon 2 when it gets a bit closer- it's worth checking out if you can.

2009-06-16T06:04:00.000-07:00

6.16.09
The Mysterious Mr. Spines : SONG
Penguin Group USA / Grossett & Dunlap

Completed this cover a while ago. This is the last book in The Mysterious Mr. Spines series by Jason Lethcoe.. This book gets a little darker and more intense, so the client wanted a red based cover to go with the blue and green.

It started off in oil, but I ran out of time so this is more digital than I usually would like to do for a cover.
More images coming shortly!

[

2009-05-22T09:33:00.000-07:00

5.22.08
The Death-Defying Pepper Roux
Harper Collins[[

Here is a cover I did a few months back by the great author, Geraldine McCaughrean. I don't want to give away too much, but this is a really great book with a unique vision. It's not really fantasy, and it's more than just an adventure story. It's like existentialism for kids. Very briefly - the book is set Post WWI France, and the main character, Pepper, has been told he will die when he reaches the age of 14. The book starts on his 14th birthday.

There did come some minor issues with a story like this: How do we make a cover that is truthful to the story yet entices young readers to pick this up in a bookstore. The art director, Alison Donalty, had some great ideas and was just awesome to work with.

After the first set of sketches, we went with the top version. They liked the dramatic perspective and sense of adventure. We got to the color rough phase , and then the author decided that she would like to aim for a more mature look and the boy should be older looking. The fine folks at Harper Collins also liked the other sketch with the birds, so they asked for a revised version of that one. They also wanted to make his jacket reddish to stand out against the blue background.

This started off as oil on linen and I worked digitally on top.

Some time after the job was all wrapped up, the author requested the jacket go back to navy. Thank goodness for the magic of digital alterations. A few hours later, this was the final.

2009-05-17T20:56:00.000-07:00

5.17.09 - Flora Fyrdraaca Cover Art

Got the go ahead to post this cover i did recently for the Science Fiction Book Club. This one was a really fun job. I got to indulge in some offbeat colors, play with tentacles and the art director , Matthew Kalamidas was fantastic to work with.

The art is for the story , Flora Fyrdraaca by Ysabeau Wilce.
I also attached the jacket design Matthew did, just because I thought it was so perfect for the look and feel of the story. Good jacket design must be really tough to do, because I see more poorly designed covers than good ones.

It started off as oils and then I worked on top digitally. It's my new thing :)
Thanks again for stopping in.

2009-05-14T07:21:00.000-07:00

5.14.09
Surprisingly, a lot of the work I have been doing has been given the go-ahead to share.
This particular project is a bit different for me, which is why I took it. The client asked I don't speak about the project, but here
are two concepts I did for them . I don't do a lot of environments, so this was good practice for me. I'd definitely like to get better at doing environments , as I have A LOT to learn in that area.

Gotta cut it short for now, but hopefully I'll be back sooner than later. Thanks again for looking and all the comments!

2009-05-07T15:57:00.000-07:00

5.08.09
I know. I know. Way to not post anything for a month. Truth is, the busier I am , the less I get to partake in all this wonderful bloggy goodness. There's plenty of work being banged out in the studio - but it may be a bit until I get the approval of the publishers to share it.

Until then- here's a drawing I did for the fine people at GlubDub.com. Alex at GlubDub is working on story involving a man who falls in love with siamese twins. It's pretty crazy and funny. He's gathered a bunch of artists to do some imagery for it. I didn't have time for a painting, but I took the drawing and started to play a bit digitally. If I get the time , I might paint it up. I say that a lot.

Thanks again everyone. There probably will be another big gap between posts. Don't give up on me. There is hope for me, yet.
Scott

2009-03-02T21:14:00.000-08:00

Snow Day 3.2.09
Found a bunch of images I did that seemed to have been released lately, and felt it would be cool to share and get some thoughts. I might not say it enough, but critiques are always welcome. Feel I really need to step it up lately - getting a bit too comfortable if that makes any sense. The gears are turning though, and I'm looking forward to improving.

This is a cover for a guitar sticker book I did for Dover Publishing. As someone who likes to make noise with guitars, this was a cool project. digital on computer :)

This was my first wrap-around book cover, done for Random House / Golden Books for Young Readers. It's a really fun book that definitely has appeal for multiple age groups. I don't think I've ever done an illustration without a figure , so this was a challenge. Check out the author's site here : Chris Grabenstein

Another World of Warcraft card that got released. A little dwarf dude trying to get his mits on a fat mushroom. Kinda trippy, eh? UpperDeck Entertainment / Blizzard Entertainment (da Blizz)

Here's a study/ experiment for something more personal. The plan was to eventually take this to traditional oils. Not pleased with the lighting at all. I think I might go with something along the lines of Zorn's double side lighting. Just not feeling where this is going , so I may just drop it. I'll give it a bit more push and see where it goes.

Thanks again everyone- scott

2009-02-05T18:41:00.000-08:00

Still under a mountain of work, but I mustn't neglect my blogging duties.
A new great blog dedicated to the figure was kind enough to feature some life drawings of mine:
Artistic Anatomy Blog

Also , I just saw this image I did for UpperDeck / Blizzard Entertainment's WoW TCG was released so no harm in posting it here:

2009-01-29T16:54:00.000-08:00

Anthony Waters Workshop!

*Note: images belong to Anthony Waters...not me !
I apologize for the lack of posts as I am probably the busiest I have ever been. BUT - my friend and fellow artist Anthony Waters has asked me to help spread the word of an upcoming workshop. Awesome guy and awesome artist I had to take a break from the deadlines. Feel free to pass this info around. He says:

There’s going to be a concept art workshop hosted by the Laguna College of Art and Design in Laguna, California the first full weekend in February, and we want you!

http://fyreant.deviantart.com/art/LC…r-02-110970255

I’ve linked to my DA page for the flyer; in case it doesn’t work, I’m including my URLs and the school contact information too. The event will take place on Saturday, February 7 and Sunday, February, 8 from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm in studio 9, at the LCAD campus. Lunch will be provided.

The workshop will feature presentations by Anthony Waters (that would be me), Dean Deakyne, Farzad Varahrayan and Joe Peterson.

The cost of the event is $235. A non-refundable deposit of $100 is required by Friday, January 30. The remaining balance is due Friday, February 6 at noon. Please contact Kerri Redeker at 949-376-6000 ext. 240 or kredeker@lagunacollege.edu to provide your payment. She accepts Visa, Mastercard, check, and cash.

There you go. Come on down, it’s gonna rock!

Ant

Anthony Scott Waters
http://www.thinktankstudios.com
http://fyreant.deviantart.com/
http://bloated-nose.blogspot.com/

2009-01-14T22:08:00.000-08:00

quick update:article
A huge 14 page interview with me from the excellent Taiwanese magazine Artist.Record.Teach
Of course it is not in English, but most of the pages are full page illustrations from yours truly. I think there are more images in this article than I keep in my portfolio.

2009-01-13T13:37:00.001-08:00

To kick off 2009, I decided to post a bunch of sketches I don't believe I have shared yet. It's kind of a mixed bag of work...sketches, fun stuff, doodles, WIPs....
I apologize if some of these are double posts -hard to keep track.
Thanks again for all the comments, folks.

acrylic on masonite, 6" x 6"

acrylic on masonite, 6" x 6"

oil on masonite-personal work in progress.

2008-12-02T22:18:00.000-08:00

12.03.08 - The return to life-drawing

I used to monitor a life-drawing class every Monday night, which was a terrific way for me to keep on top of my life studies. Life and work got too busy, and I had to abandon the monitor position. What used to be a guaranteed weekly drawing session , turned into a year and a half without any life drawing. I've been really determined to change this.

On Nov. 22nd, I made the jump back into life drawing at the very popular Dr.Sketchy's with model MOSH.

It felt great to get back into it. I was definitely slower and my lines lacked confidence, but overall I didn't feel I lost too many beats while I'd been away.

Here are the 2, 20 minute poses from the session. The other sketches are just some fun things I've done in the last few weeks.

2008-11-02T23:05:00.001-08:00

11.03.08

I believe I can show this new cover now. This is the second book in The Mysterious Mr. Spines series by the talented Jason Lethcoe.

I posted the image for the first book in the series, WINGS

some time ago. The second book is called FLIGHT, and I think it is going to appeal to a lot of young readers. I believe they are expecting to release the first book early 2009.

Here are some of the sketches. The first book the team had a more definite idea of what they wanted on the cover, but for this one they really gave me a healthy amount of freedom to explore other ideas. I feel that extra elbow room made for a much stronger cover.

I will be selling originals and prints at the upcoming IlluxCon.

November 6-9 in Altoona, Pennsylvania.

Check out the guest list - a great group of artists will be there. Should be fun!

oil on board, approx. 30" x 40" with digital embellishments and tweaks.

2008-10-29T23:29:00.000-07:00

10.30.08 -

Some World of Warcraft TCG cards just got released so I can show these now. All were done digitally, and heavily influenced by caffeine.

Also , whipped up this little guy after work one night.Pretty rough and sketchy, but it was all in good fun. I posted him on a new blog I was invited too, which I think you all will enjoy:

Creature Artists

It has great artists and illustrators from around the world. I know it definitely provides me inspiration and motivation to do some great creature design.

Happy Halloween everyone!

2008-10-16T14:14:00.000-07:00

10.16.08
Been some time since I posted here. It's been very busy with work, and for the moment I am legally restricted to show most of it, but I will be free to show some things next month. Last night I was up late finishing up a deadline, and when it was all done I needed to relax and unwind. So I decided to draw more :)
Opened up ArtRage and spent 90 minutes on this girl. Of course there are numerous flaws, even for a sketch, but I had fun and I do feel it has a respectable amount of energy to it that often gets lost in the polish of my illustration work.
I'll be back with more work sooner than later if all goes well.
Thanks -s.

2008-08-26T11:53:00.000-07:00

8.26.08
Some news and recently released work.
I was pleasantly surprised to be included in Ballistic Publishing's, D'Artiste: Digital Painting 2 book. It's just a small spot, but you can see my image, BudHead, in there. Very cool to be included, considering how few artists are represented.

I also received word that I will have this guy along with this gal, in Ballistic Publishing's upcoming Exotique 4 book. Might be a bit of a wait on that one, but since this bragblog seems to be full of patting myself on the back, I figured I'd get it out of the way now.

No artist blog can do without some inward depreciation and self-loathing, so I will get that over with too. Here are some images I did for Wizard's of the Coast, Magic: The Gathering ,Eventide set (whoa- mouthful), and some others for Upperdeck Entertainment's and Blizzard Entertainment's World of Warcraft TCG (more mouthfuls) . Looking back I see tons of laziness, stupidity and a downright shortcoming of abilities.
It's okay.
Better I see them so I can improve and work on whatever was holding these images back from being better, than to be content with what I see. Optimistically speaking, I've already seen improvements in my latest work ( which of course is all NDA now).

As always - thanks for looking and thanks for the comments.

Wizards of the Coast, Magic:The Gathering

Wizards of the Coast, Magic:The Gathering

Upperdeck Entertainment/Blizzard Entertainment: World of Warcraft TCG

Upperdeck Entertainment/Blizzard Entertainment: World of Warcraft TCG

Upperdeck Entertainment/Blizzard Entertainment: World of Warcraft TCG

*All of these are digital with the slight exception of the swamp hag looking thing. Started off as an acrylic underpainting, with digital on top.

2008-08-09T23:37:00.000-07:00

8/10/08
I will be at the Gen Con Indy signing for Wizards of the Coast, alongside fellow artist Tom Baxa. We'll be signing cards, selling prints and other assorted goodies. Keep us company.

August 14th to 17th

2008-07-28T11:16:00.000-07:00

7.28.08
Still buried under deadlines, but I did manage to squeeze in some 'in-between work' fun and practice.

Here's a guy I did about a year ago, who never went past the loose sketch stage. I was browsing through old files and thought he might be fun to paint up. I might go back into some older sketches and do this now and then.

Here's another quickie enviro I did. Just trying to practice enviro's every now and then, even if it's only a study.
Added a little gif of the process for kicks.

2008-07-17T00:06:00.000-07:00

July 17th 2008

Not much to say here. Just some quick ladies I busted out between work stuff. Obviously one I left pretty rough and unfinished- kind of lost interest. The other I had a little more fun with. Thanks for looking. Should have loads to show soon - I hope.

2008-07-03T19:11:00.000-07:00

July 4th pics

Just some fun sketches done during breaks while working. I have some more, but I I'll keep working them until they are done or I get bored with them.

The other illustration is a recently released image I did for Upperdeck Entertainment/ Blizzard Entertainment's World of Warcraft TCG. A whole bunch got released, but I only have this one ready to post, and I'm feeling a bit lazy . I'll get the rest up soon..hopefully.....maybe.
This one is a little busy in retrospect, but there are some things I still like about it.

Thanks again for stopping in and leaving comments folks. Lots of new people have been dropping by the blog and I must say it's pretty awesome that the exchange of ideas and images is always growing. It gets me fired up and I can only dream I might spark someone else's brain - even a tiny spark.

Speaking of sparks, enjoy the fireworks on July 4th.

2008-06-03T00:20:00.000-07:00

6.3.08 Book cover

Thanks to all the previous comments. It is always a pleasure to hear from you fine folks and certainly makes me feel like I am somewhat still in contact with the human race. Hermit life is cool - but it's so quiet sometimes, ya know!?

Going to make this a quick post, since I'm quite sleepy.
This was a cover for Night Shade Book's upcoming title, "Fast Ships, Black Sails". It will be a pirate anthology with a fantasy edge - so I am told.
One of my objectives was to go for a more muted palette, with punchy color in only a few areas. I would have loved to do this in oils but once again -time was my enemy. One day- I will conquer time ,and maybe space...and maybe my cookie habit.

I should also mention a big "thanks!" to my homie Dave Palumbo for lending me his eye on the composition of this piece.

2008-05-18T18:34:00.000-07:00

5.18.08
The Mysterious Mr.Spines : WINGS

Here is a cover I recently did and got the OK to show it now.
The Mysterious Mr. Spines: WINGS, was written by Jason Lethcoe, and is being published by Grosset & Dunlap/ Penguin Group USA.
I think this story is really going to appeal to fans of (the later) Harry Potter Books, The Golden Compass, and others of that sort, while still being original. From the manuscripts I was given, it has wonderful imagery and will really fire up a child's imagination.

The art direction was very clear cut, and they already had a definite direction they wanted to go in, but sometimes working in those limits can bring about creative result. Below are the sketches, and after submitting the first 3, it was decided they would like a combination of sketch #1 and sketch #3, with the central character sitting.

The painting was done almost entirely in oils, but I added some elements and tweaked the face in digitally. I really enjoyed working in a mix of traditional and digital and when time allows, I think I 'll be pursuing that in my future works.

Thanks for stopping by!
-s*a-

oil on board / digital, 20" x 28"

2008-05-07T22:15:00.000-07:00

5.8.08 *sweet & sour and stuff in the middle*

Going to keep this short on words and just post random things done in between jobs. There's plenty lying around, but these were already scanned in.

Felt like doing some horrible creature. :)

Some cutesy monsters. Just a black Sharpie marker over some Col-Erase Rose pencil.

This is just a doodle page done in my sketchbook while in my hotel during the New York Comic Con. I need to draw more ladies- I miss drawing the hotties

About a month ago my son was sick with a nasty cold. It was the only thing that could keep him still for more than a few seconds...and even that really didn't stop him. I was able to sneak in a drawing or two while he was sleeping and just waking up. Ballpoint pen on paper.

2008-04-22T13:09:00.000-07:00

4.22.08 Shadowmoor MTG cards

Here are the 4 cards I did for the Shadowmoor Magic :The Gathering set that I worked on sometime ago. The art has finally been released so it's coolio to show it now.

Big thanks to all the folks who stopped by the Wizards of the Coast booth during NY Comic Con and paid me a visit. Everyone was super friendly and despite still be exhausted from the whole event, I had a great time. It's time for me to get back to work, but I hope to be back to blogging more regularly soon.

-s*a-

2008-04-14T12:52:00.000-07:00

4.14.08 -Don't Call it a Comeback
Sorry for the mid-90's pun up top. It has been absolutely insane since I last posted. A huge pile of work has prevented me from doing much else, but I did want to squeeze in some news and art in this blog.

First- I will be signing for Wizards of the Coast at the New York Comic Con as part of the Shadowmoor Release. On April 18th, 5:30-8pm,April 19th, 4:30-7pm and April 20th, 10-12:30pm. Booth 1641. I will also be selling prints.Say "hi" and buy stuff!

I will post some images I did for the Shadowmoor set as soon as I can. I'll repost the New York Comic Con info again as well.

Speaking of art done ages ago, some cards I did for the World of Warcraft TCG, Servants of the Betrayer set thay has been released. It should be okay to post these, and of course, all images hardcore copyrighted by Upperdeck Entertainment/ Blizzard Entertainment.

2008-02-20T14:32:00.000-08:00

2.20.08 - trying inks
Ink has always been my kryptonite. It is one of those mediums I never felt I did anything that looked very good. Oddly, I am a huge fan of ink masters as Arthur Rackham, Edmund Dulac, Joseph Clement Coll, Franklin Booth and Edwin Austin Abbey, just to mention a few. I figured it was time to try some inking again, and maybe find my own way with the medium. And the other pencil sketch was just a quirky warrior I did to have some fun.

I started off with some pencil, than added the ink. I decided to try and ink wash on top of that, and popped a few highlights with acrylic paint. I did it on Bristol Vellum paper, but I think I need to experiment on different papers to find the ideal inking surface.

This one was real quick. No pencil, just shot in with the ink with no plan. A little scary but fun.

2008-02-08T16:15:00.000-08:00

viscera
another prelim sketch for a personal work. Col-Erase pencil and standard 2B pencil. On paper. In my sketchbook.

2008-02-08T01:03:00.001-08:00

2.8.08
Thanks so much for all the comments on those little nasties I posted earlier this week. Got a lot of good feedback and even though I never meant for these to be more than some fun exercise, all the responses really motivated me to go back into them. I will go back into the 3rd critter as well…but for now here is this one (and larger)

2008-02-05T17:19:00.000-08:00

2.5.08
Sometimes the creative part of the brain can be very unpredictable. As a person who tries to make creativity part of their profession, I feel it is my job to harness that unpredictability when it presents itself. What am I going on about?

Last evening I was just finishing the daily illustration work, and going to start sketching on my own projects. I decided to make a custom brush or two in Corel Painter, as I have been trying to tweak my process as of late. Before I knew it, I was well into the night creating these odd creatures. I got off my path a bit, but I like where I wound up, if only for the gift of the unexpected and spontaneous. There are those moments where the results are really insignificant, and the process is what is important. I feel this was one of those moments. Perhaps most importantly, I was having a ton of fun.

2008-02-04T10:41:00.000-08:00

2.4.08-some things

You may have noticed I added a link to the blog for Gorilla Artfare. I can explain briefly what it is about, but I do encourage you to go there, and not because I am part of it. The group started well over a year ago, of like-minded artists all over the world. We are shocked on how well it is being received, and are very grateful for all those who visit.

Although I will probably post much of the same art in both blogs, it will not replace this one. Here, I will be able to be personable, and go into a little bit more detail of things going on. So this blog lives on.

In other news the Deep Pop show which I mentioned in a previous blog got a nice little pictorial on Juxtapoz's website > here!
I couldn't attend the opening, so my painting had to take its picture solo. It looks kinda sad that way...I like it.

This sketch is for a possible personal work tentatively titled, "dripping boy". I'm not sure this will make it to a full sized, fleshed out oil painting. I am still considering it, and more studies may come. Nothing fancy here -just acrylic in the sketchbook.

Just a quick sketch I did on the train in January. Limited time and a nauseating shaky train prevented me from going far with this sketch, but I like how it is just some facial features peaking out of this border of hair.
Thanks again for stopping by - I'll be back soon!

2008-01-28T18:50:00.000-08:00

1.28.08 - Preliminary Sketch
A prelim sketch for a personal painting. Pencil with digital overlays

2008-01-25T21:56:00.000-08:00

1.26.08 - Group Show

Yikes! Almost forgot about this.
My piece, Autohuman, will be included in a big group show as part of the ISM Gallery in Long Beach, California tomorrow.

Also this weekend I will have my piece, Specimens,
included in a group show entitled , Deep Pop.
The show opens January 27th, from 1pm - 3pm, in New Rochelle, NY. Unfortunately, I am tied up with deadlines, so I will not be able to attend, but it's quite an impressive collection of artists, so it's worth checking out.

2008-01-25T14:09:00.000-08:00

1.25.08
Wanted to post some experiments and practice sketches before too much builds up. I have a busy week ahead so I might not get a chance to sketch as much as I would like next week. Hopefully I am wrong.

This first sketch was probably done in 3 or 5 minutes. I was playing with Art Rage2 and it's actually a pretty cool program. I might fork over the $40 just to play around with the other features. Pretty reasonable for what looks like a good application.

Experimenting with different techniques and brushes. Might go back into this one -aliens are fun.

Some speed painting warmup from ref. I definitely need to do more of these. Feel free to send me nagging messages reminding me to do so.

I'll probably keep working on this one- but I thought it would be interesting to see how a quick warm-up might evolve into something else.
Thanks again!

2008-01-11T11:11:00.000-08:00

1.11.08 - Self-Portrait w/ Fossa

Hadn't done a self portrait in ages and was looking for a good warm up . I wanted to do a profile since I have been genetically engineered for caricature. Took a quick snapshot with the webcam for reference and began drawing and painting digitally as I normally would. It came pretty fast and was pretty fun to have a good laugh at myself. Fellow artist , Lars Grant West recently sent me an email with the animal , the fossa. I was fascinated by the creature, and still am. For no other reason except wanting to paint the fossa I threw it in there as well.
I'm sure the animal will turn up again in other paintings- it's the coolest.

2008-01-09T21:40:00.000-08:00

Charity Event
Some quick things. I am trying to organize this blog into categories, but it is taking a bit of time. I'd like it to be a little easier to navigate through old posts, but it's kind of tedious to go through and apply the correct labels. I'm whining..sorry!

More importantly , I am participating in a one day charity event :
Windup Gallery
January 12th, 2008 - "My Monster"
A charity for children by children

The Windup Gallery sent all the participating artists a young child's
rendition of a monster and some were even accompanied by a story. Our job was to interpret the child's drawing for the event.
It was alot of fun, and I only wish I had more time to work on this.

I got Lindsey's monster and her story fit the guy perfectly. The name just blew me away - Scary Barry. That's brilliant. And check out his snazzy clothes...way cooler than anything I could have come up with. Cheers to Lindsey!

Not much in the way of technique- it's a bit of watercolor, acrylic, and colored pencil. Just ran with it and had a some fun.

2007-12-30T18:43:00.000-08:00

12.29.07 sketch

Nothing more than a silly sketch I did between work to loosen up and play around. Then I made my first attempt at a GIF. I was so proud of myself when it was done-not because of the image , but just because I finally made an animated GIF. Hopefully I'll get a little better at making these animated GIFs and eventually move up to making some decent videos of me struggling to create a solid image. It will be the romantic comedy drama of the century.

I should make a note, that this isn't the best representation of how I work. I usually don't have a strict method, although some things remain constant throughout all my work. This was more like playtime and a good way to experiment a bit.
I should have had a more profound blog to end 2007, so hopefully I'll be able to redeem myself early 2008. And on that note-Happy New Year -{s*a}-

2007-12-22T21:34:00.000-08:00

Update to the previous post. Again, I apologize for the repeats, but some folks have seen this stuff, but I know others haven't since my posting habits are atrocious. Just something to hold this blog over until I get my act together a little bit more. In the process of doing a light renovation in the studio with pretty nonexistent results thus far. That's okay - I'd rather be making pictures anyway.

Have a great holiday everyone. A huge thanks to all those who stop by and check out what I'm doing and thanks to those who take the time to leave comments as well. I don't always respond, but I read everything with great gratitude. Cheers!
{s*a}

detail from the cover of "The Mall of Cthulhu", Night Shade Books

detail from the cover "Arthur & the Sword" , McGraw Hill, Silver Editions

an interior page from the "Arthur..." story. Extra room on top for type, but I like the open space, regardless.

the sketches for the "Cthulhu..." piece

2007-12-13T23:11:00.000-08:00

Here are some jobs I finished up the last few months that I haven't posted here. Some of you have probably seen them, but I figured I should post something. I'll get details of the pics soon.

"The Mall of Cthulhu" cover for Night Shade Books

"Arthur and the Sword" cover for McGraw Hill / Silver Editions

World of Warcraft TCG , UpperDeck Entertainment, Blizzard Entertainment

World of Warcraft TCG , UpperDeck Entertainment, Blizzard Entertainment

2007-11-05T21:07:00.000-08:00

Just a quick blog for now. I am the worst blogger I know. It just seems when I have a minute to spare, there are so many things that come before updating the blog. Even if it's checking out an artist's website or petting my cat's little head, I seem to leave the blogging at the very bottom of all tasks to be done. I will burn in blog hell for my sins.

Some older work that I've been seeing pop up on the internets. Kind of cool to see how your artwork is being used:

This first one is for UpperDeck's TCG Game / World of Warcraft (c) Blizzard Entertainment. This card was part of the sneak previews for the upcoming set.

http://fantasyflightgames.com/grimm/

This is an old design I did a few years ago for the Mutant Chronicles Miniature Game that is being released soon. My sketches were just in black and white. I'll have to dig back a little bit to find the drawing, but I will post that alongside the model for a comparison. Weird seeing work you did so long ago finally reach the surface.