IT'S FINALLY HERE

My cover for this month's Friend magazine came out! So excited to see it in print and have such an amazing opportunity! 

Making of 'The First Ideal'

So this past Saturday my poster for Brandon Sanderson's The Stormlight Archive series went on sale! The first 100 copies ordered will be signed by both me and Brandon so if you're looking for some awesome wall art for this Christmas season, now is the time. The final prints are on high quality paper and turned out lovely.

In this post I'll be talking a bit about my process for this piece. Like most of my work, it's a digital painting based on a pencil sketch. 

GETTING STARTED:

First things first, we went through quite a few thumbnails before creating the initial sketch. That sketch was then tweaked significantly in photoshop to work on the kinks, adjusting the proportions, armor design, and architectural elements.  

After getting the sketch where I wanted it, it was time for value studies and color tests. These  were reviewed and sent back with suggestions by Brandon's art director,  Isaac. 

THE PAINTING PROCESS:

After deciding on a color scheme, I got started painting. My digital painting process is based on Julie Dillon's, which starts with a value painting before adding on an overlay layer and then multiply layer of strong color in photoshop. The original color scheme was a lot warmer than the final, with primarily red tones. We also had a gold framing device that was later scrapped in favor of the added columns. 

After getting the base colors put down, it was time to start the actual painting process. On a new layer, I got my brushes and got to work. 

While painting, I constantly readjusted the colors by putting overlay layers at low opacities on top of the painting. Then I created a new layer on top of those and kept on painting until I got the colors where I wanted them. To keep the symmetry in the architectural elements,I would copy and then mirror the base painting on the left hand side to the right hand side and paint over the copy. This is also when I decided that the gold border just wasn't working and replaced it with the columns. 

The 'final' piece turned out like this, and I sent it to Isaac for approval.

 It was at this stage that we realized we were missing key elements from canon to make these characters more like the Knights Radiant, like their signature glow. We also wanted to try adding in a little ethnic diversity to the piece but due to time constraints ultimately decided to keep the characters as they were. You can see the in-process attempt below. 

We shifted the color balance of the piece as well, cooling down the overall tone, and viola! The finished piece! It was wonderful working on this project and I hope fans of the series enjoy the final product. Check out the Stormlight Archive for the back story behind this piece as well as great characters, diverse world building, awesome lady scientists, political intrigue, magical swords, and a whole lot more!

I've Been Featured!

A while back one of my employers, The Dream Press, featured me on their blog! Check out their website and their projects! They are an awesome new company. 

Check out the article here: http://www.thedreampress.com/blog/?p=258

Welcome back!

Wow! I haven't updated this blog in a long, looong time. This past year I've been working on a lot of projects (children's books, posters, card games, and more) and have gotten to work with some amazing people. I'll be uploading some samples from completed projects as I'm able. For today we've some pages from a small book I've been working on. 

There Was an Old Woman 
An illustrated nursery rhyme

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Vending Machine Show

For people in the local provo area, come check out the vending machine show for a chance to score some original artwork and help the community! I'll have three 6x9 prints in the show for sale as well. :)

Springville Art Museum

Happy news! One of my BFA project pieces was accepted into the Springville Museum's annual "Spiritual and Religious Art" exhibition. The piece will be on display in Springville, Utah along with a lot of other wonderful religious work until January 15, 2014. 

Visit here for more information about the museum. 

WIP - Manohara

In progress class assignment - we're painting folk tales. Still have a ways to go but liking things so far. 

Happy Halloween!

Happy belated halloween! 

BFA - Know Thee

Getting down to the end! 

Plein Air Paintings

With winter coming we're getting close to the end of plein air painting. Here are some of my favorite studies and master copies from the class:

BFA SHOW

The final show is coming up! Opening reception will be November 8, 2013 at the Harris Fine Arts Center, Brigham Young University campus. Here are some sample images from the show:

BFA - "Springing Up"

Getting closer!

Landscapes

Taking environment design this semester. First study of the class in color, and a couple master copies for fun. :)

BFA project progress

Working on my BFA this month, and felt like sharing a few works in progress. The project is a series of pieces illustrating themes and concepts from the scriptures. I'm hoping for a minimum of six pieces to be finished by November. These four are at various stages of completion and all have a ways to go. 

Enjoy the beginning of the semester everybody!

Mark Twain

We did portraits for our final in Greg Newbold's class. This was my take on Mr. Twain. :)

Tumblr!

This blog has been pretty quiet since I've made the move over to tumblr. For inspiration, random thoughts, ridiculous things, and updates of my work, check here. 

I'll keep updating this as strictly an art blog, but everything else will be there. 

Thanks!

WIP - Tree of Life

Study for a larger painting. Still not quite where I want it. 

Character Design

Messing around with some character designs for the adventures of Mal and Mara. 

Ether 2:25

Digital piece that I'm pretty happy with, also a study for my BFA project.