FINNIGEN KAX

(Gel Fineliner on A5 Paper)

Characters like this are easy to think up and even easier to draw. They can sometimes cause a creative block if ignored, so it's always best to draw them, give them a silly name, and then have done with them.

Silas Grimbeard

 

(Fineliner on 115mm x 87mm paper)

A grumpy dwarf wizard, travelling with his feathery familiar.

This piece was done to try out some cheap gel fineliner pens I'd just bought, and they seem to work quite well, giving a good line and a decent opaque finish to the black areas. Not bad considering they're 3 for £1!

FF Spoof IV: "DARIUS JUN"

 

Fighting Fantasy Spoof page IV

(2B pencil on 150mm x 130mm paper)

I decided to go for the traditional wizard for the fourth Fighting Fantasy spoof image. Like with all these images, they work well on their own without the text, which is the way i want to keep them.

The Old Librarian

(fineliner on 190mm x 130mm paper)

This was a pen sketch that I did last year which I decided to finish-off a little more. The initial idea of it was a bookish, wizard-like, individual who was something of a travelling library, and wore one of his books as a hat.

The Clueless Wizard

 

(2B pencil on 110mm x 81mm paper)

An odd dreamscape piece which produced the unlikely pair of characters of a wizard and, what looks like, a rocker, with the wizard having trouble deciphering a magic scroll he's been given. The rocker doesn't look too impressed!

The Book of Magic & Mayhem

 

(HB pencil on 110mm x 78mm paper)

Odd characters and weird objects do tend to come to the fore when doing dreamscape pieces. This elf-like wizard, with even stranger looking ears than normal, reading a chaotic looking book of magic, is no exception.

Dreamscape Calling Cards

 

- DREAMSCAPE CARDS NOT AVAILABLE -

The images above are five examples of the quick works I mostly do, but usually dismiss, in between other pieces. They're basic in their subject matter and are usually smaller than other works (which are small in themselves). I decided that, instead of wasting them, I'd draw them on 80mm x 50mm paper and card, laminate them, and give them to anyone I meet who asks for an example of my work. A sort of sample art calling card I can hand out.

Little time is spent on them. In the case of these dreamscape examples, they're no different to the tutorial speed tests I did. None of them takes me more than 30 minutes to do. Usually a lot less.

The Wizard's Cloak

(B grade pencil on 125mm x 75mm notecard)

- NOT AVAILABLE -

With this dreamscape image, there were fewer highlighted areas to it, with the rest shaded into the background as dream construct.

They were curious choices to make, considering all the other shaded forms, but that simple central focal-point of the floating piece of paper does seem to balance the kneeling figure on the right quite well, so little else was needed.

Guardian Spirit - XENDRA

(Red Biro on a 125mm x 75mm notecard)

- NOT AVAILABLE -

 

With this second guardian spirit piece, I decided on using a red biro, which seemed to influence the type of character that I drew, just as the Xorina piece had done. The character is a powerful sorceress, which is shown by her only using her little finger to casually conjure fiery lightning. A good piece, even though her left arm does look a bit bent.