Holy crap - Sketch time!

I randomly got the image of a zombie silhouetted and wanted to draw it, ended up putting him in front of some kind of blaze/fire. Not 100% satisifed with the form but I'm actually much more pleased with it than I am any of my other photoshop sketches!


The left arm is too bulky, and his legs just aren't right, plus I wanted the whole thing to have a more menacing and hunched over posture to it. But hey, I drew it and that's all that matters these days!

Revisions to S/W art

A wise artist just told me this week "I always do what the layout editor tells me to do..."

I was asked to alter the various sketches/inks to full 100% ink with no opaque or wash areas. This forced me to alter the look and take out the blur effects. It forced me to reapproach each image with a different view. I also got a chance to alter my original disintegration spell idea with a cooler effect - a black/white body disintegrating into a pile of dust.



Reinked Prismatic Sphere




Original Disintegration Spell



Revised Disintegration

All are digital only.

More Swords & Wizardry art

Magic Jar spell - sketched on paper, then scanned and redrawn/traced in GIMP with ink tool. I should have started out at about 8"x8" or something similar at 300 ppi - this started at 3x3 and it looked too pixellated. But the shading and smoke turned out nice.

Prismatic Sphere

I submitted this (after some assistance by team-preston from the S&W forums) to the S&W team for inclusion in the 2nd printing of the Core Rules. We'll see if it goes anywhere, but if it does, that would be the coolest.

Grue Sketch

So I was inspired by Chgowiz's sketch of a Grue to not only remember exactly what a Grue IS, but also to draw one. This started as many of my drawings do, as a very small sketch at work that I turned into this slightly less small sketch:


I plan on inking it in photoshop sometime soon, making the background dark for greater effect.

Erol Otus Contest - Kobolds

Because I'm probably asking for much embarrassment, I've decided to enter the Erol Otus contest I mentioned in a previous posting. In further attempts to show my lack of skill, I'm going to post sketches and my attempts at using this as a learning experience. I have no real chance of winning, but the point is I'm going to try and learn as much as I can.

My first step was to come up with a concept - I'm going to go with the "Adventure takes an unexpected twist" category. Kobolds are luring the (apparently really dumb/inexperienced) adventurers into an ambush, by trailing them along with gold coins. Kobolds lurk behind the corner and behind a secret door. Originally, I was going to use a statue to hide behind...


... but after talking it over with my art teacher, I decided that wouldn't work. More kobolds hiding, shifted everything over a bit to avoid dead space and this is close to what I want.

So my first job was to start getting better at sketching something. So I went to my 50 Monsters book for inspiration...



And this is what I came up with as possible kobolds. Yes, his name is Tucker. Oh yes. >:)


Try to figure out some hands.

And I'm getting the hang of it.

Pictures Copyright 2009, M Shorten (chgowiz@gmail.com) - All rights reserved

Sketches from class: 2/3 and 2/10

Just some values and attempts at flowers. This is from the first class.


This stream scene was from the cover of a magazine called "Ozark Mountains". I couldn't do all the leaves justice, but the overall shapes and much of the values I did get.

Erol Otus contest

There's a big buzz around the old school blogosphere about the Erol Otus contest happening. I think we just got some inspiration for our efforts.

My drawing class continues. I'm learning about "values" and just practicing. I'll scan what I've done soon, it's mainly a lot of value blocks with different pencils and some sketches. I tried to sketch/copy the cover to an Ozark Mountain magazine - a woods/stream scene. It turned out OK. I also learned about "lost and found" outlines.