Saturday, 28 January 2017

More Monkey

The Monkey RPG is kickstarting now so here are a few little insights into the character design process for you.
With such an iconic character as Monkey, you are blessed with both limitations and benefits. You can get away with leaving out a lot of detail as the character pretty much speaks for himself, BUT you do have to make sure you get a few essential  'markers' in there.
Here is an early first pass at him (my very first pass isn't here- those were pretty hardcore. Maybe you'll get to see them someday if I do an interpretation of 'Journey to the West'..)
There are also a couple of detail shots and a linework pic. It's important to always try to capture his humour. He should always look like he's planning something. Or amused at the prospect of what he's planning.
On the detail shots you can see that his belt is a kind of 'championship' belt. A bit  Hercules meets WWE(/F). It speaks to his martial aspect and it bears the symbol for immortality.
His big loin cloth (I do like these. Belts and cloths. Too much Conan, I guess?) says simply 'Monkey King'. He's THAT guy. He has his own name on his crotch.
You also get to see the legendary cloud-jumping/stepping slippers here. I decided to keep them pretty simple.
He wears his tiger pelt. It's one of those 'markers' that he just has to have. I made it an off-the-shoulder affair and have the tail on so I can play with it in movement.
And his eyes "are lit as if with the fires of heaven". He's a god, remember. The kind of god that knows stuff. The kind of god that f@cks sh!t up. He needs to look insightful, devious and cheeky all at once at all times.
If we get enough backers I'll share some more stuff with you. But in the meantime; check out the link, back the game and spread the word...

Wednesday, 11 January 2017

Monkey!

The Kickstarter for this RPG is now live!

Check it out, share it about if you can.

Back it and I get to draw more pictures!

MONKEY!

Monday, 7 November 2016

The Exorcist

I am a huge fan of the original Exorcist film. It's one of my all-time top movies.
I love the script, the acting. The fx work was revolutionary. The cinematography is breathtaking.
The sheer effort put into its' production shines through every time.
Plus, I first watched it when I was quite young so it scared the shit out of me.
The cultural and anthropological study of possession in its many forms is one of my specialist chosen subjects, too.
So I was intrigued to see the new TV series of The Exorcist.
And then I was totally blown away by it.
If you haven't seen it: you need to.
And I had to pay my respects in some way, particularly to the two stand-out stars (not to detract from any of the other cast in any way- they are all absolutely amazing!); Hannah Kasulka as Casey Rance and Ben Daniels as Father Marcus. They both have amazing faces for drawing: both of them possess singular qualities which make them quite beautiful.
So here are my two quick tributes. Both done in black and white.
With Casey's I tried to capture the luminous quality, to show her innocence and to show a kind of divine light shining down on her. Her eyes are amazing so I tried to convey the "backlit by stars" quality they have.
Marcus' picture was an attempt to capture the sadness in him. He is a very powerful character but has a fragile core. I love how Ben Daniels is playing him; the depth and nuance he is bringing to the performance is amazing.
The pictures are both done with .5 linework and then a shading layer with airbrush.
Hope you like them.


Thursday, 22 September 2016

Into Fear

New book with a cover by me has just been announced!

I did the whole thing in this- illustration, logo, design and pdf.

Awesome fun.

And I'm super pleased with how it turned out.

Here is some blurb...

Daniel Marc Chant releases INTO FEAR on 1st October. 22 tales of despair and dread. Zombies, Godless beasts, Eldritch horrors, serial killers and more lurk between its pages in wait to lure you into dreams, into nightmares, Into Fear!

Duncan Ralston, author of WOOM, said it was, "one of the best collections I've read in a while."

PRE-ORDER TODAY!

UK LINK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01IIJ2YSK
USA LINK: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01IIJ2YSK


Wednesday, 6 July 2016

Kids -cover

My next cover for Dark Minds has been released. This time around it graces the cover of 'Kids' by that top-notch fellow, Paul M Feeney.

This cover is the third in a series, using the black and red on white style established with the first one.

The cover images were all done in Sketchbook on a Samsung Galaxy Note 3 (the images were then increased in resolution in Photoshop). Pdf design and production was done in Inkscape.

The cover image is based off a picture of my own little psycho-killer, Kitty Jean, who is currently 6.

If you wish to purchase one for yourself, here are the links:

Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Kids-Dark-Minds-Novella-3-ebook/dp/B01HOI6YRS/ref=sr_1_1_twi_kin_1?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1467822678&sr=8-1&keywords=paul+m+feeney

Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/Kids-Dark-Minds-Novella-3-ebook/dp/B01HOI6YRS/ref=sr_1_2_twi_kin_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1467822745&sr=8-2&keywords=Paul+M.+Feeney#nav-subnav