ShimmeringSword

Battletech Retooling

I'm still a little undecided on the correct route for this, be that retooling this patreon page or starting a completely new one, but! I've been approved for posting Battletech in progress and finished work as part of my Patreon rewards. I'm not sure yet if I will be mingling Battletech stuff with Protectorate Wars stuff, but for the time being I'm focused on Battletech work.

With that in mind. I want to let everyone know I'll be reactivating monthly subscription charges very shortly, a...

Patreon Pause Round Two

First I want to say thanks again to all recent and ongoing patrons. Sadly however, I've found myself in an art slump again that isn't allowing me to deliver a volume of content that I consider fair to be charging you guys monthly, so I've switched the charge mode to "per piece" where I simply wont charge for anything posted until I resume.

If I did things correctly it shouldn't have charged anyone at the turn of last month. Please let me know if that isn't the case.

I've really struggled...

Advanced Bioneural

Still not finished with this one, but slowly chipping away at the design. Having a bit of fun tinkering with it along the way instead of racing to get it finished, as I want it to be a good keeper.

A Protectorate response to the Prostor Salamander mech. Both beyond the timeframe covered in my book.

Exfil

Sorry for the slow month for art guys, my workload at the bill paying job got heavy recently so a lot of my usual art time has been spent resting. Hopefully next month things will slow down again, but that's not guaranteed among the chaos :)

This piece here is the final sketch needed for my book to fill all the 2 page unit descriptions out. From here any book art additions are optional / at my discretion, and will be mostly full page illustrations, and the odd filler sketch such as this one. 2018-03-21 01:43:04 +0000 UTC View Post

Stacked Munitions

Here's a side view and internal schematic for the Serval M-94 IAW (Individual Assault Weapon), used by certain Udziman Farari Outrider forces.

Both barrels fire stacked shaped charge munitions, with the top being configured as a fragmenting shotgun type, and the bottom more "typical" of a rifle caliber.

It's not described in the book, but I thought it might be useful to also have a magnetic shaping system along the barrels to stabilizing the forming penetrators as they fire, as modern sh...

Artillery Observers

The sketches continue!

Here are some Youshu infantry spotting/observing for guided artillery. Maybe not the most advantageous position considering the walker itself has a similar vantage point, but more eyes on target is good right? :)

Infiltrator Suit

Here's another one I just finished.

I'm torn on showing off more of the optical camo capabilities of the suit, but of course, if the camo works, then you can't see it. So there's just a little transparency to hint at it.

Elemental Gunslinger

Oops, sat on this one for about a week after forgetting to post it here :)

More page filling sketches. Just a handful more to go for the most critical holes.

Dropships Incoming!

Another month down, hopefully another month of satisfying content. I know it was a bit light on the color work, but I hope the Ghazni piece that ate up that time is something you guys enjoyed seeing develop.

We've got several new patrons going into next month too. Welcome aboard guys!

Here's another filler sketch for my book. This one completes the 2nd page of specs on the Protectorate Dropship, shown here coming in at high speed while receiving and sending fire, each carrying a mech und...

Protectorate Neural Mech

I haven't been completely satisfied with the neural mech design shown in my book, so I decided to do a little design exploration in this sketch. It will help fill space in the book too.

I'm undecided on if I'll update the other art, or even do further design changes. Definitely don't want to lock myself into specific design details, as the creative freedom is much of the fun :)

Dropship Launch

Here's a quick sketch I whipped up the other day, one of many pieces that will help fill in empty page space in my book. For this example the right half will be filled out with text.

Shown is a Protectorate Dropship launching from the top bay of an Assault Cruiser.

Might possibly go back and add weapons fire to the piece, and crane arms to the ship interior that help launch small craft. You wouldn't want to be free floating inside if the ship had to maneuver :)

Showdown at Ghazni

And here we have the complete piece! Attached is a 1440 resolution image for desktop use too.

It's been a while since I tackled a big personal piece like this (even if it is going into the art book). Was definitely more fun than following a commission brief once I was able to nail down the initial creativity challenges.

Probably wont do these too often though, working on this ate up an entire month of art time, and I'm sure you guys would like to see more than one piece per month.

...

Ghazni Battle WIP5

Edging ever closer to finished on this one. Only one leg and the canon missing its first pass of detailing on the Elemental, then it can get a grit and damage pass, along with stronger lighting effects. Then just tweaks here and there to finish. ETA 1-2 days I think.

You guys like? :)

Ghazni Battle WIP4

Getting closer!

A couple more sessions and I should have this one done, some time next week probably.

Ghazni Battle WIP3

Here's another progress update. Midground mech is mostly complete, starting on the farground mech.

I'll be finishing off Marx in her Elemental armor last, to ensure the focus gets the best treatment and full integration into the scenes lighting.

Ghazni Battle WIP2

Time for an update to this piece!

I decided to go with 3D base modeling the background mechs for higher perspective accuracy, and might have use for them later. I don't know the last time I used this process on a non battletech piece of this scale, so should be interesting.

And apologies for the slow end to last month. Been going through some personal issues that hit my motivation hard, but I'm digging my way back out of that. I want to make this year a strong one.

Ghazni Battle WIP

I wasn't quite feeling the composition I posted previously for this piece, so I changed it up. This new setup doesn't show off as much motion, but trades that for some more offense.

It's been a long time since I tackled a big painting completely of my own conception, so we'll see how this goes :)

Patreon Details Updated

I finally took the time to rewrite my Patreon description to better indicate how I'm operating these days and clarify some things.

First up, is anyone who accrues $15 of donations with me, be that over several months or just one, will get a free copy of my book, eventually leading to several copies. Please respond to the wave of messages I sent out to get things rolling.

For those yet to accrue $15 in donations to date, I will contact you later when you hit that milestone :)

Second...

Soldier Finished

Here's the previous piece finished off.

He's got a light power armor suit based off (or salvaged from) an Elemental type.

Soldier WIP

Here's something that I believe I started during my initial kickstarter campaign for fun, but then lost / forgot about. I noticed it recently in one of my KS update header images, and was barely able to hunt down the PSD file for it.

So here I am finishing it off. Should only take one more session.

Possible painting wip

Here's a starting sketch for a possible book piece. The Showdown at Ghazni battle, with Elemental Marx taking down combat mechs.

Youshu Special Forces

Here's the final piece to be updated from Kasim Lewis' concept sketches. I liked this design from him and it was fairly well refined from the start, so it wasn't to hard to spruce up and make pretty.

I'm quickly running out of "need to do" artwork for my book (though I do want to expand on it with some specifics), so I've got much more use for taking art requests now. Any opinions?

Udzima Flagship

Here's another piece based on Kasim's work, though in this case I started with a fresh sketch and angle, using his basic design ideas.

This ship not only acts as a typical command ship, but also aids in the interoperability of combined Udziman fleets that consist of differing national command and supply chains, as the Udzima Wa Wasi are a union of various states and cultures. For this is has expanded supply holds and facilities for the operation of command structures.

Youshu Exo Armor

This was another design sketched by Kasim Lewis, though in this case I chose to go full color for the final image. Went pretty fast!

Hope you guys are enjoying the increased volume of art coming through.

Youshu Shock Trooper

Here's a trooper initially sketched up by Kasim Lewis for my book, who gave me permission to polish his stuff up. This is the first of a few from his set, and I'll likely be doing a color piece or two also.

Udzima Military Hub

Here's the finished version of the sketch I started earlier. I went for a full page but still black and white image for book layout (cropped out all the empty space here).

Improved the lighting a little, and added some of the stations automated defense satellites.

Art updates should start to come more quickly now, as I just recently finished the last major bit of layout work on my book. It's mostly art production from here on.

Wallpaper Pack Update!

Rather than individually post each piece on here, I've gone and updated the wallpaper dropbox folder to include most color images from my book that support such an aspect ratio. Many of the newer additions are also in 1440, an upgrade from the previous 1080 pieces.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/aiai8mwavyw5g5z/AABXK4SW9R5LjBGGszeShyDSa?dl=0

Enjoy!

González Commissions - Covert Operative

Here's the last of the pieces I'll be posting from Jonathan's work.

This one came out quite impressive in detail level and I was very happy with the result.

You can check it out a little closer by downloading the desktop resolution attachment.

González Commissions - Stealth Ship

Another of several commissions by Jonathan González for my art book.

This is a craft used by special operatives to make landfall or air drops undetected.

Desktop resolution file attached.

González Commissions - Guard

Here's one of a few pieces I commissioned from Jonathan González for my art book. After cleaning their backgrounds up I decided I may as well post them here too as part of my usual art dumps.

More on the way.