Southern Crossing

This painting was quite the challenge, but I'm pretty happy how it came out. :]
I don't think I've spent so many hours painting a single piece since college, somewhere close to ninety hours in the end.
It's about 11x17 inches and is mostly painted with acrylics.


It's the cover for FurtherConfusion's convention book next January, following their down under theme of "Southern Crossing."
I drew a lot of inspiration for it from my own experiences camping three weeks in the Outback with friends and family a few years ago. :]

From left to right, we've got Diego (dingo), Jack (red kangaroo), a quoll and feral goat up on the truck, a wombat, emu, Diego's mum, an echidna, a numbat in the foreground, a Tasmanian devil and another quoll.



"Swimming Hole" & "Boomerang"

These were two little pieces for FurtherConfusion.

Seasons Greetings

We've had the pleasure of being asked to do a couple of friend's holiday card for the last few years!


From 2010


From 2009, 2008, 2007 & 2006

Isolation Play

Here is the cover to Kyell Gold's long awaited sequel to his book "Out of Position" -- "Isolation Play." I painted the cover along with 11 interior illustrations and 5 inked chapter heads.


Here's a few of the interior illustrations, and two of the chapter heads:

Legend of the Rainbow Serpent

Art for FurtherConfusion's sponsor/patron print. With their theme of "Southern Crossing," one of the first things that came to my mind was the Rainbow Serpent legends of Australia. There are countless variations to the creation myths, and here's another:


A long time ago, in the Dreamtime...

Before there were men or animals, plants or any other thing, there was the Rainbow Serpent. She was the mother of us all. She moved around in the darkness before there was the sun and the moon in the sky, and her heavy, winding body created the mountain ranges and deep channels. Where she thrashed her tail, great rifts appeared, and there were great hallows where her body had lain sleeping.

After a time, the Rainbow Serpent decided that it was time to create life for the world. So at the place called Uluru, she gave birth. She gave birth to the Frog tribe and the Kingfisher tribe. But the Kingfisher people couldn’t see to fly and the Frog people didn’t have any water to live in.

The Rainbow serpent told the Kingfisher people what they must do. The Kingfisher flew up into the sky and shot down at the Rainbow Serpent’s head, splitting it in twain with his long, sharp beak. Out of her stomach leaped all the animal tribes of the world and all the spirit beings.

The sun leaped up into the sky to light the world for the tribes, and the moon jumped up to take his place in the night sky.

The Frog tribe started singing as the blood of the Serpent flowed out of her body and into the channels cut by her travels, and into the deep chasms to become the sea. The vibrant rainbow-coloured scales of the Serpent flew up into the sky to become a colorful flock of birds. The image of her colours was left on the sky as the rainbow, the reminder to all the tribes of their common mother.

Smoke Signals

Here is a short, unfinished comic, "Smoke Signals."
I made it for the 24-hour comic challenge yesterday, essentially 24 pages in 24 hours, starting midnight on Oct. 2nd.

I got pretty far before sleep got the better of me, with about 16 pages finished and the rest laid out and drawn. Here's the first seven pages, which I was the most happy with.

(Pages are painted in watercolor, about 5x7, text added digitally afterward The comic ends up silly despite it's melodrama, but it probably gets an R rating for all the violence and head-bashing.)

Definitely was a challenge and a lot of fun! It certainly got my art muscles limbered up. :]

Across Thin Ice Pages

Here's a few pages from my graphic novel, Across Thin Ice.
You can see a whole lot more, including in-progress photos of these pages, concept art and studies from the comic either on www.nordguard.com or here on Blogspot!



Pages 29 & 60 from Across Thin Ice


Pages 39 & 45 from Across Thin Ice

FC Flyer

Artwork I did earlier this summer for Further Confusion 2011, specifically for a flyer to advertise next year's con, themed "Southern Crossing."

Since it was for a flyer, it seemed only natural to do a female kangaroo and a joey, since in some parts of Australia, flyer is slang for a female or a young 'roo. :]

Across Thin Ice Pages

Here's a few pages from my graphic novel, Across Thin Ice.
You can see a whole lot more, including in-progress photos of these pages, concept art and studies from the comic either on www.nordguard.com or here on Blogspot!


Pages 28 and 80 from Across Thin Ice


Pages 33 & 37 from Across Thin Ice

EuroFurence Shirt: Serengeti

A month or so ago, I did the t-shirt design for the up coming EuroFurence, in Germany, Sept 1st-5th (one of the best darn conventions out there.)

With a theme like Serengeti, I really couldn't pass it up! :]


For "Serengeti," the Maasai word meaning "The place where the land moves on forever," the herd migrations were the first thing that came to mind. I originally had a water buffalo up front, but everyone figured something other than a cow would be more beneficial for shirt sales. ;]

The Great Elk

A big (15x21-ish) piece I've been passively working on the last couple days, in line with AnthroCon's theme, Modern Stone-Age Furries.

See you in Pittsburgh next weekend! I'll be in the Dealer's Room at table G10! :]

Swarm

Another little piece I painted between comic pages--it's about 4x8 inches.
Barbary striped grass mouse, lilac crested roller and scrumptious red locust.

The Northern Territory

A map, as promised! I love making maps.

Specifically, it is a map of the Northern Territory, part of the Nordguard universe and where most of the fun in the books will take place. For a "real world" point of reference, Kuuvik (down at the bottom) is in relation to Churchill, Manitoba. The map is based on period maps (late 1800s/early 1900s) and the charted arctic region of the era. Some of the topographical features of the map are different in the Nordguard universe (namely there's a few additional mountain ranges, which slightly effect climate and the treeline) but the coastline is roughly the same.

It was a nice, brain dead break from painting pages--and now I can stop using the scribbled bar-napkin map I was referencing before. ;]

Across Thin Ice Pages

Here's a few pages from my graphic novel, Across Thin Ice.
You can see a whole lot more, including in-progress photos of these pages, concept art and studies from the comic either on www.nordguard.com or here on Blogspot!

No Time To Waste

Make haste, make haste!

Odds and Ends

"The Heads of House Gaar"

This is a piece done for a card--(well, technically, two adjoining cards) I did back in February for Furoticon, the adult furry card game.



"Sunday"
A little something in honor of Mother's Day and Mom


"Outlaw"

Sic utlaws as hi an is men
Vil England nivr si agen.

Obiit 24 Kal Dekembris, 1247

Goldbust

Now that FurtherConfusion and it's Gold Rush has passed, it's a good time to post this.

"We're drinking my friend, To the end of a brief episode, Make it one for my baby, And one more for the road."
~Johnny Mercer