Dungeons of the Past, Dragons of the Past

One of the things that's been keeping me away from you all is a new D&D book I'm contributing to called The Players Strategy Guide. This one should be interesting, as it's incorporating a totally new visual style distinct from other D&D products. As it's waaay to early to talk about posting any of that stuff yet, you'll just have to wait and see what I mean.

But it got me thinking back about all of the D&D art I've done over the last few years, that for one reason or another, I never got around to posting on the old site. So without further ado, I present for you here, a stroll back in time through my D&D folder.


I present these first two in glorious black & white, since with the benefit of hindsight, I'm not really feeling the colors. But enough yammer... onward!



The preceeding images appeared in Faiths of Eberron and Secrets of Sarlona, repsectively. Now for some good old fashioned mainstream D&D, from The Book of Nine Swords...
















That last piece is from Expedition to Castle Ravenloft, as is this next one, which also features a break from form in that it's in pencil-tone, which, at the time, I think, was the mandate for D&D Chapter starts. It's also noteworthy in that it was co-opted and used as the Myspace icon for some metal band from Des Moines or something.

Pssst, hey, Metal Band from Des Moines, you can send royalty payments (and/or fruitbaskets) via the email address above. K thx.

I Fell into a Burning King of Fire

So seen here, is a promo illustration commissioned by my NYX partner-in-crime, Marjorie Liu, for, among other things, the July/August web exclusive over at chez Liu. Since it's now September, I think it's safe to post it here too.

The Fire King is the ninth book in Marjorie's acclaimed Dirk & Steele series. You can learn all about the book and how to get it here.

Based on the comments left on Marjorie's blog here, it sounds like a lot of readers thought this was the actual cover art for the book. Since it features typographical elements like a book cover, I guess I can understand the confusion. Still, wanna know how you can tell that there is no way that this is an actual book cover?

The title is bigger than the author's name. No publisher would ever let that happen.

I had a great time interpreting Marjorie's characters and flexing some character design muscles... haven't really designed anything I've illustrated since NYX, and even those were re-designs.

Marjorie and I are hatching plans for future collaborations related to the world of Dirk & Steele. Can't say much more than that for now, but watch this space (or Marjorie's blog) for more soon!

Marjorie and I at NYCC 09, with an auspicious portent looming over Marjorie's shoulder.

Spider-man Black (and White)

By request (talking to you Cyberweasel) the lineart for my cover art to Spider-man: The Clone Saga #3.

I was never a big Spider-fan as a kid, but the Bendis/Immonen run on Ultimate Spider-Man turned me around completely on the character. So much so, that I had real jitters breaking this piece down, trying to come up with something iconic and appropriate but also a little bit different.

Spider-man Spider-man

...does whatever a spider can. Spins a web, any size. Catches thieves, just like pies.

How I thought the song went from age 4 to age 9.


This is the cover art to Spider-man: The Clone Saga #3. Yep, you heard right.

Some New Covers

In the throes of a nasty deadline crunch, so this is going to be a terse post with a bland title. Behold the cover art for R.E.B.E.L.s annual: STARRO the Conqueror, and for #9. I'm doing a 9 page chapter in the annual featuring the secret origin of STARRO!

A Peek Behind the Colors

While on the Deviantart page of the monumentally talented David Williams, I realised something. I really like looking at line art. Dave's posted the final lineart alongside every finished cover he's done (Click the link if you're curious, this is my blog...)

Sure a finished colored piece is great, but there's just something about black & white, so I'm taking a page from Dave's book and catching you up on my last bunch of covers in lineart versions.

Maybe, like me, you'll realise you like looking at lineart too.
As an added bonus, here's the lineart for my as-yet-unseen cover for STARRO: Unleashed. Color version to follow once solicitation imagery is released...

Some Props

A nice little piece about me and my R.E.B.E.L.s covers went up today over at the DCU Blog (thanks guys!) Since they've done so, I'm going to go ahead and also post my cover for R.E.B.E.L.s #8.