Concept Art and Fantasy Art Illustration
Concept Art through Digital Painting
Through the years I have tried to keep my drawing ability active and relevant. Being a kid that grew up on Dungeons and Dragons and Star Wars, I have an affinity for fantastical creatures and places. This is a series I called “Creeptures” which features a menagerie of animals from a fictitious planet that follows many of the mammalian life of Earth but with a twist.
So much of my preferred illustration is like this and it derives from anatomy study and the attempt to make a fantasy creature as believable as possible. However, owing to the fantasy arena, true to life is less important than overall “coolness”.
Much of this work was done while taking a professional enhancement course at the Rhode Island School of Design. The class in fantasy creature creation was taught by Lars Grant-West https://www.larsgrantwest.com who did many illustrations for Dungeons and Dragons and Magic The Gathering.
Cthulu Mythos Concepts
Utilizing my interest in Lovecraft and horror, I took it upon myself to come up with my concept for Cthulu and how I envisioned his look. His minions as well would get some treatment. We see Cthulus’s head which I based more on a “Squid” rather than an Octopus as often depicted. Cthulu’s minions were studied in a way I could humanoid versions of the insane creatures he manipulates to rule the Earth. The distorted features and aquatic aspects hint at his deep-sea origins.
Aardvark of Death
This art was generated for an album cover for a band called Aardvark Spleen. The Aarvark is the icon of the band and the concept behind his album was armageddon. Some of the tracks were “Who Killed the Dinosaurs” which deals with randomness. In this pix, we see the Aardvark Death hurling an asteroid at the dinosaurs. Why the Aardvark is an agent of chaos is unknown but a theme nevertheless. This was a fun project that was never used unfortunately.
Concept Ideations: Ferrets
One part of my study was to run a creature through a few permutations. My first choice was to make a flying ferret. A study of owl wings and feathering combined with the overall anatomy of a Ferret went into my Northumbrian Crested flying ferret. As a second iteration, I created a combination crocodile-ferret. The “Ferridile”. These were fun an amusing creatures. I had hoped to make many such variations off of a ferret and someday I may.
Snake Queen
The mythical snake empress was based on the Naga Raja and the Persian myth of ShaHmaran. I made her as ruler of the strange world of creatures I was inventing.
A trickster and powerful witch, she protected the world with her powers. I decided to use the cobra-like hood as a form of crown and display of authority. I forked her snake tail so as to give her the hint of an aquatic form later on. Studies of a skeletal structure and movement were tried to conceive of the beings mobility.
TamaBoa
This creature was based on a combination of a Tamandua (Aardvark-type critter) and a Jerboa ( a form of gerbil). This gives it the ability to hop like a Kangaroo but the powerful forelimbs of an Aardvark. I created two different looks for this beast. One is closer to an Aardvark with the other closer to a Tamandua in appearance.
Lizard Beast
The TuoTarac is the alpha predator in this world. The size of an elephant yet with the leaping capacity of a bug, this creature can pounce on prey from a long distance.
Studying the critter from different angles was needed to grasp the mass for the final illustration.
Various Creations
This class led me to explore many creature combinations and create interesting monsters. Perhaps I will at some point gather them into a folio and tell the story of their habitat and lives.
