Of Eladrin and Amulets

Hey Everyone!
I'm back from Megacon and finally settling back into regular old life again :P I'm securing another second job (and possibly one full time job if the stars align in my favor) so I've been busy since getting back. However I did have a super fun awesome time and even got to see some old friends.

Here is the illustration I got to give to Wil Wheaton of his D&D Character Aeofel.



And here is the autograph I got from him too. The whole thing was a proud moment for me and I'll never forget it.


Next is an inked sketch from my sketchbook. I was having fun drawing my Dovakin, Merion, while waiting for the plane to arrive. This scene is from a quest in the game where she discovers this powerful book and while looking at it realized it was made of various kinds of skin (blood samples from each race of elves was needed to open the container it was in so looking back it probably didn't have human skin on it) but when you open the book you can choose which 'path' you follow and it levels you up in a bunch of stats. I reached a whole new level just from reading it :P But then it disappears...



Upon getting home I had to do some inking with my brush once more. I dearly missed inking with it while I was gone. Ink brush withdrawls anyone? Also added some Typography for fun and tried to make Merion look a bit more scratched up and weather-worn.



ALSO managed to find the perfect beads I had been looking for for my Amulet of Dibella. I tried in furious vain last night to sculpt the little leaves that are meant to be strung with the beads but I just couldn't get them right. The amulet itself is sculpted smaller than it looks when worn by a character. I think it looks too big and garish in the game so I made it smaller. But now with the leaf charms it's backfiring on me. I can't make them to scale no matter what I try. The leaves will not look exactly the same I'm afraid. I'm going to come back to it and try again later. For now this is my 'simplified' version of the Amulet of Dibella.



Next will be the Amulet of Mara! One of my favorite items, and diety, in the game! Also one of the more complicated pieces but I'm confident if I pace myself with sculpting it I can make it look as nice as the original. I'd like to make it as part of an 'Agent of Mara' cosplay one day. The priest robes aren't too complicated and I can pass around the little Mara pamphlets from the game :P Here's a peek!

Alencia Webcomic Plans

Aside from all the Skyrim inspired fun I'm currently working on (and thank you to everyone for putting up with all my Skyrim shenanigans lately) I'm also working on getting a buffer of Alencia comic pages inked and ready for lettering/toning. I've got about 7 more pages to go until this next story is all inked. (You may remember some of the comic pages I started back in October, well this is that story continued!)Then when I'm done with the pages I will officially launch Alencia as a webcomic!

The Alencia mini-comic I printed at the end of last year will not be posted online but will remain a printed exclusive. I'm thinking of doing a giveaway soon to celebrate the launch. I don't have a date for it yet as I'm currently getting ready for a vacation and nailing down a second job soon after, but when I have the details ironed out I will share them! Aside from the pages I've also still got to come up with a banner and logo for the project. Progress on those will be posted too!

In the mean time, here's a sneak peek!

Sketches and Scuplts

Hello everyone!
I'm snowed in today so I thought I'd take some time to post some of what I've been working on lately.

Sculpting:
I started working on a replica of the Amulet of Dibella from Skyrim. I used two different kinds of sculpy this time in hopes of painting the 'jewel' to look more realistic as I didn't have one that looked right. In the future I'd like to use metal clay and real stones to create a more precious version of this.


The uncooked sculpt.


After being cooked.


Some sanding and priming to the 'jewel.'


The jewel was then painted, and the rest of the amulet was painted for metallic and aging effects. Now I'm on the look out for beads to make it look as accurate to the game version as possible.

Sketches:
While on the subject of Skyrim I've also been doing some sketches of my characters in situations that arise in the game. My dad is currently borrowing my scanner, so I have more that need to be scanned, but in the mean time here are few new sketches.

Merion got separated from Onmund while defending the city of Whitefun, but after fruitlessly searching for his body she found him safe behind the city's walls after their victory. It's hard to loose a follower when you're so used to having them around.


A traveling mercenary marking Merion's map to show her the job she was going to do. It's not much fun to talk someone into giving you their job but then you have so many places marked on your map you have NO IDEA where they just indicated they were going. That's why she looks confused/annoyed, she has no idea where this woman has pointed to.


Sky-gazing is popular in Skyrim and I can see why. There's just so much to absorb and take in, especially after being cooped up in underground dungeons for days on end.

Be sure to stay tuned, I've got some more news and artwork coming up!

Series 7 Practice

Hello everyone!

Got inspired by some WIP shots of comic art from my favorite artists and decided to break out the brush and do some inking practice. These were all done with a Windsor and Newton series 7 #2 brush and ink.


Alencia and Theolyn enjoying some down time at an inn.



A portrait of She-Ra. I found a bunch of notes and sketches for a college project I did of a fake cover for Cereal Geek magazine and inspired by my old She-Ra sketches decided to draw her again.



I had a copy of "Museum Replicas Limited" catalog lying around so I decided to flip through it and draw random items from it. I'd like to another piece like this, just bigger and maybe with different items for different eras/time periods or even fashion styles. Gosh I love drawing clothes and props :D


Little WIP ink of my main Skyrim character 'Merion the Lioness' in her ebony armor. She just reached Lv. 41 and is very fun to play. The little guy drawn in pencil in the back is her follower Onmund the wizard wearing one of the dragon priest masks. She usually wears one too but I wanted to actually see her face in this drawing. This one was done with my Pentel pocket brush pen.

Leveling up in Smithing

Hello all!
I picked up some gold and silver metallic sculpy while on a trip to F-burg last week and decided to try it out last night by making some amulets of the divines from Skyrim. My sculpting skills are still not ideal but I figured this would be fun practice, and it was. I made amulets of Talos (hero-god of mankind), Zenithar (god of commerce, wealth, labor, and communication), and Stendarr (god of Mercy).

All three

Amulet of Talos

Amulet of Stendarr

Amulet of Zenithar
I used reference images from The Elder Scrolls Wiki and adjusted the designs to better suit my skill level. Overall it was a very fun learning experience and I'm hoping there will be a Skyrim cosplay on the horizon, tho probably not in time for Megacon this year. Still it was a lot of fun and paving the way for a more ambitious prop project I want to do involving my favorite weapon from the game.

Birthday Comic

Hello everyone! Today is my birthday and since I got up this morning I have been feeling the love. So to thank everyone for their kind gifts and birthday wishes I made this little gif comic.

Thanks again for all the love everyone! <3

Stuck in Skyrim

Hello all! Sorry for the silence around here. I've been busy with work, as well as addicted to Skyrim in my spare time, but I have some things to share.

I've done some more background rendering for the Gravedigger illustration. (She finally has a name now- 'Lor')
I don't consider the bushes finished yet even tho I fiddled with them for at least two hours. They just aren't right yet. Next I'll work on the trees in the back then go back to the bushes. I'm learning a lot from this piece and having plenty of fun with it, and the character.

Since I'm enjoying the previous image, and my hours spent playing Skyrim so much, I decided to combine the two, as well as encourage myself to practice drawing characters in scenes and environments, by drawing my favorite things to do in Skyrim. Here my 2nd character (Merion the Lioness) is chilling in a dungeon reading a book and having a snack. She will often halt a dungeon crawl if she finds an interesting book. I originally envisioned Lydia sitting on the floor bored out of her mind although she died a few months ago so now her favorite follower is Onmund the wizard.

More art (and crafts!) to come as things develop!

Also: noticed that the blog broke 10,000 views! Thanks for all your support guys! :D