Sci-Fi
Scenes from Tomorrow. 2
17/06/15 17:00
These are the second sheet of quick painting thumbnails based on the theme "Scenes from Tomorrow".
I blasted them out trying to spend no more than one hour on each panel.
Scenes from Tomorrow. 1
17/06/15 16:57
These are the first sheet of quick painting thumbnails based on the theme "Scenes from Tomorrow".
I blasted them out trying to spend no more than one hour on each panel.
Full moon
14/05/15 10:56
Full moon.
I did this one for my new Patreon page. My plan is to do a few more like this
If you are interested in how I did it or just want to know more about what I do and why my Patreon page is a good place to check out.
www.patreon.com/Uglyheroes
Killzone Shadow Fall (ACTION)
16/01/14 09:41
Killzone Shadow Fall (ROOF)
16/01/14 09:29
Angels and Airwaves Painting
06/03/12 14:10
This piece was commissioned by the band “Angels & Airwaves”.
Tom from the band wanted it to have a Drew Struzan feel, and 70’s sci-fi flavor.
I loved the album covers from the 70’s.
The covers for bands like ELO, Meatloaf, and later Iron Maiden were some of the reasons I got into art.
I feel that album covers these days tend to be boring- maybe I’m just getting old.
Anyway’s. This was my take on that stuff.
Hope you like it.
I would loooove to do more of this kind of work.
Timeflux
02/12/11 10:52
I followed the art style of an older piece of mine called “Big Guns” where I sketch the design, do a tight linear ink line, and then fill the lines with painted detail. As usual I used SBP and PS.
The art director supplied me with a photo of his face, wanting to be immortalized as a bad ass time traveling bounty hunter type dude. Who could blame him.
I had a ton of fun doing this piece...Sometimes when I do a painting the character forms and develops itself. This one took off by itself and carried me along for the ride.
I always have fiction running through my head as I paint- "why does he have this scar?", "What does he do?". These questions ultimately shape the character.
A time traveller (if I were one, and maybe I am); would adorn himself with his favorite stuff from throughout time. There may be a gun that he favors, or a blade. He might like modern tattoos and clothing, or not. I think he would be a yard sale of style, weaponry & tools.
This guy is a hunter of sorts- part Ranger, part bounty hunter, part buccaneer. He prefers an augmented blunderbuss that can take down a TRex. His flintlock can cut a man in half, and his single action colt is a special edition .50 caliber that can put an end to almost anything. A wrestling trophy for a belt..... sort of? Er, stomach protection from knife fights maybe? Or just cos it looks cool?
Skeleton keys- every time traveller is going to need universal keys that open or start anything, right?
Multiple watches, betrays a lack of faith in technology.
My favorite is the arm knife- cos when it comes to shivs, you need to be able to get to your knife fast.
First men on the moon?
02/12/11 10:52
I love all of that ancient aliens/nazi conspiracy/UFO stuff.
So what did a Nazi space suit look like?
I figured it would be a kind of diving bell pressure suit with robotic appendages- right?
This piece came together for me when I started playing around with what the Nazi’s were collecting on the moons surface.
It started out with basic rock samples and evolved into a human skull- posing the question “who really were the first men on the moon?” NASA? NAZI’S? An ancient civilization?
Hahaha- I had fun doing this.
I used SBP and PS to mess around with the colours. I tried to restrict my time on it to force a looser style.
Judge Dredd
03/11/11 10:59
When I was nine years old I picked up the second issue of a British comic called 2000ad.
It was and continues to be a creative influence on me.
Judge Dredd is the “mascot” character and has been beautifully rendered by many amazing artists.
From a young age I was inspired by the bold inking styles of Mike McMahon and Carlos Ezquerra.
These days I continue to be in awe of there work as well as other “heavy inkers” such as Mike Mignola & Frank Miller.
I wanted to do some B&W test pages and take a stab at “Dredd”. I sketched and inked them in SBP.
I hope you like them, and hope to get the chance to do more comic stuff in the future.
Superbot
03/11/11 10:54
This is a poster that I did for a game development company called “SuperBot”.
“Superbot” is a great identity that conjures up all kinds of imagery.
The President wanted to do a “retro” take on a game poster.
I had ton’s of fun doing this.
I used SBP and PS.
Big Guns
10/11/10 09:37
This started out as just your basic hot chick sporting hardware.Over the course of the painting it evolved into an idea.
I always liked “The Punisher”, although I have to admit I am not well read on the series. The girl is my take on “The Punisher”.
The daughter of an assassinated President- out for revenge (hence the upside down flag).
She has to take on the govt to take down her families killer (the new President)- with a little help from some sympathetic secret service agents (where she get’s the guns).
I used sketchbook-pro primarily with some photoshop help. I did the black ink line drawing first then layered the colours beneath. The tattoos and other details were a layer between the skin and the ink.
Romans Vs Alien
10/07/10 09:32
This image started out as an idea I had for the "Aliens" franchise. A Roman legion hunting and battling what they believe to be a dragon who is terrorizing the countryside. The Romans were highly organized proficient fighters and I felt that they might stand a chance against an alien queen. Well maybe...
I think i overworked the image, and relied way too much on the airbrush and zoom tool. It took me way too long to finish this painting, and although I like the image I do feel it would have benefited from being loose. I have a tendency to overwork my stuff, and push back against this when possible.
I used Sketchbook pro for the illustration but also messed around with the temperature in photoshop.
Badbatch
11/06/10 09:35
I had too much fun putting the first seven pages together.
I have been working on the story for a while, I finished the script and thumb-nailed out the pages so I had a pretty good idea of how I wanted things to look.
Even so, once I started to illustrate things began to evolve. I moved stuff around and changed some wording added sounds.
The biggest leap was the colouring. I initially planned on the whole thing being black and white; but after continuing to be inspired by my favorite comics I just had to add colour.
I enjoy colouring that’s as bold as black & white. Colour’s that compliment the graphical style of comics- hence the liberal use of orange.
I hope I get the opportunity to work on Bad batch some more one day.
Shooting the Hoop
11/12/09 12:30
I did this painting after being inspired (again) by John Berkey’s art.
This guy was one of the greatest science fiction artists of all time (IMHO).
My idea came after a conversation regarding “Ring-world” books & “Halo” the video-game.
We were guessing that the space at the center of a “hoop” (Halo or Ring) might be illegal airspace for high velocity space craft.
My piece has someone “shooting the hoop” an event that everyone on the artificial world could witness.
My bear creature is there for scale, I now wish I had made him look a little more alien; but I was attempting to juxtapose it with the science fiction nature of its habitat.
I painted this in SBP.
Blimp chase
11/12/09 09:40
This is one of my favorite paintings.
One of those rare serendipitous moments where idea, composition, reference, and palette seemed to come together for me.
I originally painted the car in pretty tight- which is a bad habit of mine to overwork a subject then rework it.
I switched out to a fatter brush and went back in and loosened it up, and much preferred the result.
This was done for “Fallow” a comic/game I was working on a few years back.
I used sketchbook pro (which I use pretty much all of the time).
Hero and Caddy
25/11/09 12:57
We were pitching an idea of mine a few years back called “Fallow”.
We were out selling it as a game with animated series, comic and toy line potential. Cowboys, cars, dinosaurs, & demons- it had them all.
I painted this piece over a posed Maya model a few years back. A colleague of mine did a great job modeling the character and car and another did a great job of posing the two.
They were low rez models without any textures but it was great composition for a painting.
I kept the paint loose and experimented creating SBP brushes. I used a chisel brush for the most part.
Big Monkey
24/11/09 13:10
This guy was a quick ink sketch that I did for a concept a few years back called “Fallow”.
He is a gorilla who has been augmented and can speak.
I love black and white and I had a lot of fun doing this piece. I used SBP with a thin to fat brush alternating black and white ink.
Hopefully I will get to do more stuff like this.
Dive attack
28/10/09 13:12
An old friend of mine is working on a pretty cool sci-fi project.
He had an idea for a future warrior who has the capability of flying through space as well as through the hulls of spacecraft.
The hero rams and cuts through the ship using a combination of his suit and futuristic blades.
I painted this in SBP before bringing it into PS and adding the lens flare.
Overall I felt that the piece was a little overworked. I had fun doing it though.