Last Stand of The Spartan

Well this was a bit of a beast.
I set out to try and create an 'iconic', frazetta-style hero image. I tried to include as many techniques for visual composition as I could, from the arrow shape of the lead figure, the rule of thirds, the golden ratio, having the background arch spiral round to draw you in, having the skeletons weapons and bodies angled to focus you on the character, using areas of contrast and detail to attract your eye to the hero.
I also wanted to get away from using found textures so much for my skies so I set myself the task of fully painting it for this one. I managed to find a technique which I'm quite pleased with and hopefully it's something you'll be seeing more of soon.
The Spartan himself has a lot of engravings on his armour, most of which you can't see anymore. They were to represent his path from Sparta as he hunted various monsters through the night. Acting as a sort of champion of good against nocturnal forces and picking up various protective wards on the way. Now his journey is at an end in a ruined temple in the far north of Dacia.
His story may continue in the forthcoming 'Carpathia' game as we return to this region in the 1800s.

Heroes of Hellas

I am currently edging towards wrapping up my work on the forthcoming Heroes of Hellas RPG and am hoping to go out with a bang.
The current piece I am working on is a Frazetta-type piece of a warrior fighting off a horde of undead.
I have redrawn and redesigned the main character several times but I ended up going for a Spartan to make it look 'greek' on the first visual read. His posture was changed many times to convey dynamism and tension in the final piece.
Anyways, I drew the character a little larger so I could get some more detail into him and thought I'd save the linework in case it was any good for editorial purposes. I then banged on a couple of textures and some text to make a quick poster on the train on the way to work, which is what this is.
I am also delving into a massive, forthcoming project which is a Hammer Horror style game called 'Carpathia'. This has a small influence on this piece: kind of a secret prequel if you will. In the final image our Spartan will be far from home in the cold night of northern Dacia (yep, that's Carpathia fact-fans. We see this lone monster hunter, his armour inscribed with signs and seals from his long adventures battling the forces of the night at their nexus. Maybe he fails in his final quest. Maybe he succedes and beats them back for a thousand years. Only you can decide...