alexries

Old Doodle

Nothing to show yet, current commission is NDA. Have an ooold commission sketch of a rejected creature I am rather fond of.

Book Cover Tests - HQ

Some high resolution cover explorations: these are part of the big pitch package I am putting together! Will only release them here and to select confidants. See what you think!

NOTE: The image is unlikely to be final: I will have LOTS more art as the book nears completion to choose from!

The Xeelee - Two Paths

Exploring two possible options for the Xeelee, one a more stark meeting. Love to hear your input.

Book Treatment - Pass 1

An exclusive for you all: I am developing the pitch package for the birrin book! That will require finally deciding on names and titles, but I present to you the first pass at a synopsis.

Critique the hell out of it: I appreciate fierce feedback, when honest.

“Two sisters are coming of age in a vibrant community of birrin spread along Two Sky River, a swathe of vibrant life cutting through the sun-blasted Kiln desert, and the great ruins of the civilization that once almost burn...

Xeelee WIP

Figuring out some of the details of the body form before adding the wings: the 'face' of a Baryonic Lord. Trying out textured brushes as well, which Simon Stalenhag has used to great effect.

Baryonic Lord WIP

A break from the birrin: I am exploring the physical form of the powerful Xeelee from Stephen Baxter's novels.

Finished - Gifts HQ

The final (for now) of the Reclamation super heavy lift helicopter delivering wind turbines to the river valley. To save fuel the vehicle is streamlined, with retractable nose gear and semi-retractable main wheels, and a hybrid electric-turbojet propulsion system. The tail carries a third turbine to charge the batteries, pick up the slack during engine failure, and when at full power to add a speed boost.

Gifts - Penultimate

Almost done: aiming for one week max per painting for the book. Tomorrow I will finalize the surface detail, decals, landing gear design and perhaps a small ground crew among other tweaks

Gifts - Update

Working out the main elements: going to have it kicking up the dust as it comes in to drop off a new wind turbine.

WIP -Gifts

Getting started on the next piece - big delivery.

Work to be Done

I have inventoried artwork done and yet needed for the birrin book, so ya'll have some idea.  

Approx Total Images: 118 

Completed: 32

Not as bad as I thought.

On Break

The finished image! A giant hanging with a small work crew on break.

On Break - Update

Getting more color and detail in: focus now switches to placing the eyestalks and the ground etc

On Break - Update

Working on coloring and detailing the work: now featuring the Blaze Helmet.

On Break

Starting the next image: a group of workers taking a break from bluestick harvesting to chill the hell out.

Flyover - Finished HQ

"Small and nimble, the Lightning was procured for strikes against insurgents attacking Reclamation assets. Originally built with hybrid electric turboprops, the old propulsion system was stripped out and replaced by small but proven jet engines as battery shortages persisted on forward operating bases.

The fuselage carries no weapons: instead, various stores are carried on hardpoints, with those operating in the river valley carrying a large gun pod. The pod, intended for larger aircraf...

C.O.I.N WIP

Update on the COunter INsurgency aircraft. The idea at the moment is they were turboprops that were retrofitted with pure jet engines. Will need some heat protection on the rear projecting parts...

Mudfighters - WIP

Continuing to develop the CAS aircraft, still in grayscale at the moment. Also learning the pain in the a** technique of painting mixed with photo-montage for the ground beneath!

Flyover - WIP

Working on a design for a Reclamation mudfighter zooming past. Added a little photobashed doodle from the old Irridalli concept that helped me work out some ideas.

Complete - Newcomers HQ Image

Its done! (for now).

The arrival of workers on the bluestick farm, delivered courtesy of the Reclamation works program.

Newcomers - WIP

Getting back into it after a mental health 'hiccup'.

Refining the design of the truck, now have to place all the birrin to complete the composition itself.

WIP - Arrival /4

Might file the other composition away for later use: this side view seems to tell the story of unloading workers better. A lesson in killing (or saving for later) your babies?

WIP - Arrival/3

More work on the dawn delivery of the farm workers: placing birrin models in place to start trying to tell the story within the image.

Might be worth splitting this into two image: one of the loaded trucks, one a close up of the workers and soldiers

WIP - Arrival

Exploring making the worker shift arriving before sunrise: life starts early on a farm. 

Arrival - WIP

Starting to lay out the next painting for the farm chapter: the Reclamation is delivering some definitely voluntary workers as farmhands for the harvest.

Finished - Sacred Chattertail

Finally done! The small flyers that help birrin farmers take care of pests, moving through the fields in chattering groups waving their tails about.

Finished - Glassworms

Completed an outline of the main castes of the little pain-in-the-a** creatures that have been a challenge for birrin farmers for thousands of years.

Grub Caste WIP

Designing the queen/processor, soldier and worker castes of the burrowers that inhabit floating vegetation mats. The plants are so hard to process that the workers cant digest them: they bring the food to the queens, who have oversized chemical digestive systems to deal with it, along with laying eggs. 

Predator (and Prey) WIP

Working out the mechanics of the probing, hunting limbs of the flyers, along with initial explorations of the eusocial little beings they hunt below the vegetation mat. 

'Sandpiper' - First color pass.

Working out the patterns on these little beasts: I imaging they are quite small, perhaps half the size of a pigeon.