stasisdelirium

Khavijas Baths

A simplified ink version of the baths sketch.  I'm debating if I'll simply do a colour illustration treatment to this, or turn it into a full painting.

Either way, Ajaatu and Keelahi enjoying the hot springs-fed baths of their wintery clan home.  I was thinking of maybe making this a dusk picture, with the skies turning that brilliant pink/blue they do in the winter.

-T.J.

January Patron Illustration.

I was finally able to sit and finish projects again for the first time this month, and the first on the list to be finished was January's Patron Illustration.

This time around its an image of Vēž stopping over at 'Beep Boop FOOD' to get a quick bite and drink before heading to training.  I was given a fair bit of free-reign in terms of surroundings, with it suggested that he lives in a futuristic setting.

I'm a sucker for drawing tattoo's on characters.  Ironically I d...

Hemoglobe-trotting

There's a certain cold feeling that goes through you when you ask a parent who, normally, is pretty stoic and tough if they're okay, and you are met with a head-shake, and an exhausted few breaths.

My father had to go to the ER on Friday night.  I won't go into all of the details, but his hemoglobin hit a level where he was dizzy, barely able to stay conscious and needed to go in and get a few units of premium red put in him.

It has been a hell of a busy and roller-coaster we...

Slightly more arf.

I don't normally post revisions in sketches until they're in the inking stage, but this one was fairly large.  I ended up removing the wall and decided to make it an open air scene in the background instead.  It'll be a snowy sort of day, nice enough to settle into the onsen style baths they have there.

I'll also note that I'm going to be sending out the next patron sketch note to the next person on the list tomorrow (Friday the 22nd).  I was going to do it earlier this w...

Khavijas Baths - Rough sketch.

Another rough work of an idea that hit me today.  Bath's at one of the Khavijas settlements in the Aegencald.

Trying to remember how to draw wolves again.  Its been a while o.o

-T.J.

Party goat.

Still getting used to some of the tools in the art program.  Things got reset so I'm learning to use the defaults until I can go back in and tweak things.

I was waffling for ideas, so this goat with fluffy eyes volunteered to be drawn.  

Headbutt U.

Go fighting lawnmowers.

-T.J.

Sarky Bones - Rough sketch

I'm going to try and do a few more 'show your work' posts like this.

I realize I have a habit of only posting compositions when all the backgrounds are done, or when the linework is final enough for me to start inking things over.  But a lot of 'idea' drawings tend to not get posted simply because they're much like the above: In a very rough/begging state.

However these sketches still do convey an idea.  I liked elements of this enough to post, and will be adding in back...

Road Home - Sketch.

I recently finally upgraded my production box after 12 years.  USB ports and an ethernet port began failing on the 'auldr Dragon' as I called it, and it was showing signs that it wasn't going to last.  Thus it put a delay on getting work done as I had to reinstall everything, get everything to work with each other again, and lean new quirks of fresh installs after literally over a decade of old comfortable tweaks.

And then the events of last week happened, which utterly wrecke...

Hullo Sammich - 300dpi

More dots.  More crumbs.

Hullo Sammich - Final

"Hullo sammich.  Are you ready to be rawred?  'Cuz dragons rawr, and sammiches are on the menu.  Prepare to be rawred with alacrity and finality."

I had hope to have this done earlier but life has been throwing a continuous stream of curve-balls at me as of late.  It was nice to at least get to hide inside this painting as a type of escapism.

In the end, I don't know how this really turned out.  I just kept painting at it until I finally had to stop before...

Hullo Sammich - 300dpi inkwash.

The version with more dots.

Hullo Sammich - Inkwash

The colour flats for the 'hullo Sammich' image.  Not everything is colour-balanced yet, and I've put in only the basic shadows and light sources just to figure out a general look for the picture.

Soot's colour scheme took ages to figure out.  I knew 'purple' was a major factor, but couldn't figure out what her dorsal/alternat colour would be.  Turns out its kind of an aquamarine.

I'll be working on the refinements and painted parts over the next week or so.  Th...

The Depths (Patron Sketch)

I was given kind permission to share November's patron sketch.  I believe this is the first under water/sea character I've ever drawn (not counting pirates or maybe a skeleton or two under the water).

As they're a new character, they're yet un-named, but I really liked the concept.  It gave me a chance to escape and hide in doing linework again, which I always tend to enjoy, and I got to get some references for fish and sea environments (though I ran out of time to add a detai...

Hullow Sammich - Inks

I had chance to sit and finish the inks that I started just over a week ago for this.  Simplified inks, since I'll be doing colours.

I have inks for November's patron sketch to finish next, and then one last set of inks before I start doing a lot of painting.

And probably muttering Bob Ross things.

I should be able to catch up on comments this evening.  Thanks all.

-T.J.

Some news for this month.

I'm usually loathe to talk about life-issues in an online forum.  Everyone has different things going on in their lives that aren't shared online because part of being an adult is dealing with things as they come on their own.

However, because this current life situation is going to have an impact on my work here, and the upcoming patron sketch for December.

So, a couple of things to note:

1) I will largely be doing colour works this month from existing art.  I mig...

Hullow Sammich - Sketch

A few days ago I had a strong sense of nostalgia hit me that implanted a character into my consciousness whom I haven't thought about since I was probably maybe six or seven years old.

The  nostalgic spark also reminded me of why, in my formative years, I was drawn more and more to fantasy as a genre, and magical spaces.

I distinctly remember going with my parents to these Christmas productions they used to do there for families.  Not the typical "Santa running around ga...

Me Nerves are too Short for Me Body.

I'm finally starting to get back on track when it comes to answering e-mails and comments, and more importantly doing art again.

I had a sciatic nerve pinch for the last 6 days that was a wonderland of not being able to stand, sit, or lay down without an impressive amount of pain.  And given that I haven't mastered being able to float weightlessly, this meant 'always pain'.

I have managed to pick away at a couple sketches, but it was very slow going.  Sitting up at certa...

Berrand Concepts

I've started doing more concept work for the whole comic idea I've been batting around, and decided I wanted to try and iterate on what the hell Berrand's design for it would be.  This is the third sheet that seemed to be the one that worked for him, though I still have to figure out his tattoos even if this is an 'earlier' version of him in the canon.

I was trying to get the 'bulk' of a lorrnathi warrior across.  They tend to have a lot more on their  frame than people d...

Ellythistle colour

This  wasn't meant to be a very detailed or over-worked colour piece since it was  just done as an 'NPC portrait' for the game I'm running, but I figured I'd share it here anyway.  

I hope everyone is okay.

-T.J.

Emergency goat.

I know the last couple days have been a stressful time for a lot of folks.  Please accept this emergency goat.

-T.J.

(Note:  I'll be answering back replies over the next few days.  I had to take some time off.  My apologies).

Fallen Justiciar

"The creature rose from it's blasphemous prayer as if an invisible hand pulled it from it's scruff to unwillingly stand, and with uneasy creaks of armor older than any of us it turned with a seething countenance behind it's empty sockets.

It's skull was held aloft by tendrils of eldritch, haunted power of pale green, and a barely heard chorus of wails told me that it may have been souls themselves holding that rotting icon aloft.  

Ellythistle Fenn - Smol Halloween

First, wow, lots of good feedback on the 'Price Check' post previously.  I'll be going through tonight and see which route I want to go.  I'm still struggling a bit for time, but I think doing a commission or two over the next while can be possible.

This is a bit of a personal project picture.  I'm writing up a game campaign that has Elly as an NPC and wanted to have some art of her to show.  I also wanted to finalize a look (one of many) for her.  I didn't like...

The Price Check

I've been thinking of taking on commissions for a couple years now, which always tended to get thwarted due to life situations that come up, and a sudden drop in free time.  This year wasn't an exception, but after some rather fun pet-expenses suddenly cropped up, its looking more likely that I have to start bringing in a bit more income.

I'm faced with a few problems though.  The first is time.  I seem to never have any time to do anything anymore.  I have a Steam l...

Tiny Brew

I wanted to draw something oddly 'cartoony' and still 'spook' themed.  This time around, Ellys (even more tiny than usual) brewing up.. something, with the assistance of Jenliita Donkadoodle, her faithful donk.

I'll be sending out the notification to the next person on the sketch list for this month.  As its started to actually snow here, something tells me I won't be doing any more 'outside' work for a little while.

Farewell leef season.  You existed.

-T.J. 2020-10-19 23:47:16 +0000 UTC View Post

Pumpkins are the focus of every picture.

Pumpkins, the most important part of every picture they are featured in.

I haven't got a clue what possessed me to sketch this out (It's likely Brambles, the pumpkin haunt did).  I wanted to try a picture with a bit more of a dynamic angle than I've been drawing lately, and while I've been drawing a lot of Cinders, I haven't drawn much of Berrand through the years.

Luckily Brambles is the focus though.

-T.J.

It Begins (Repost - brighter 300dpi)

Now with  more dots, and Crelm (tm) brightening power.

It Begins (Repost - With better colour balance)

In the last image that I posted, there was something that was kind of driving me crazy about it.  I found that while the colours were okay, the balance felt 'muddy'.  Its hard to explain without nerding out about 'levels' and 'curves' too much, but the darker parts of the image felt a little blurry.  Like they were too mixed in and it gave everything too much of an 'airbrush on the side of a van' feeling.  The image also wasn't conveying the light how I wanted it to be. &n...

It Begins (300dpi)

The version with more pixels.

It Begins (final)

The painting that never ended.

I finally just had to call this one done.  There's a million things I probably want to fix and tweak but this has now taken me around a month to get to this point.  It was so long, in fact, it was started when the leaves were just turning, either at the end of August, or very early September.  The trees are getting pretty bare in these parts now.

Stay safe, folks.

-T.J.

Acorns, Then and Now (September Patron Sketch)

This post has a fair bit  more history than a lot of the art I put up here.  It also comes with a quote from the squirrel herself (Written by September's Sketch recipient, Mr. Rancourt).

The character, Amanda, dates decades back to 1996, just after I dropped the moniker 'Ravenwolf' and started using my own name (Though I often do ponder going back to a 'pen name' sometimes).  The original art featured a far more erotic bent than I usually take these days, and sadly the sc...