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June 15, 2011

Faun, Satyr, Beastman, call him what you will…

Filed under: Fantasy, Gribbly — tb @ 6:40 pm

faun.jpg

 

There’s really not much to say about this fellow..I love the immense amount of character and personalty in goats, and I love monsters; So the day’s idle sketching brought us here, where the crossroads meet and we find goat-monsters.

 

Also to blame, I’m sure, is a recent re-watch of one of my favorite films.

 

 

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March 26, 2011

Demons, demons everywhere.

Filed under: Gribbly — tb @ 1:31 pm

 Here’s another little demon sketch I threw together last night; Teldris, The Mutable Wyrm, Grand Pyromancer of the Fourth Hell.

 firewyrm_lowres.jpg

 

I think I might go and explore this guy a little more, maybe tweak his design a bit and build up a maquette.  While I’m a fan of that crazy distended limb of his, I’m not terribly sure I enjoy that person-hand he has right now. Time for a few more exploratory sketches to help make up my mind.

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March 24, 2011

Cliche’s, Archetypes, and Thinking outside the box.

Filed under: Gribbly — tb @ 9:18 pm

Let’s get this post started with a sketch I did this afternoon;  Here’s Xaal the Liar, a charming demon with a trusting grin and a name I made up just now.

 bulldemon.jpg

 

   Before I get to explaining Xaal, I want to talk a bit about cliche’s and archetypes.  Not infrequently, I hear artists say something along the lines of “I simply wanted to avoid the cliche’” when speaking about their work.  The individual who uses that phrase may see bull horns and hoofed-feet as a cliche’ in demon designs.  I only see such a thing as a cliche’ if it’s done poorly, lazily, and sloppy.  If embraced and done well, you’re sticking to the archetype, and can come up with something classically-awesome, a timelessly-grand design.  And if you incorporate elements, or the essence, of the archetype, but take it in a completely different direction? If you shift, and take a lateral step, but with the same inspiration at the heart of the design?  Then you’re thinking outside the box.

 That is what I tried doing with Xaal here.  I wanted to take a side-step, To think outside of the box, but with the same inspiration as those archetypes at the heart of it.  Take a close look at Xaal…There’s no giant horns and hooves, but there’s plenty of “bull” in his design.  Bovine and human characteristics are all there; Two things that are present in many classic demon archetypes, are just presented and assembled differently here. After sketching him up, I went and added the little bull skull above his head for a few reasons.  I wanted to incorporate a design into the featureless face, but didn’t want to use warpaint or scars (so a cast shadow did the job instead).  I also thought that  it would be neat if demons, in order to manifest themselves, needed a sacrifice, and would take on physical attributes of whatever that sacrifice may be (a bull in this case), and be bound to the mortal world through a piece of that sacrifice (the skull of that bull).  The final reason I threw that little skull in was to hit the viewer over the head with the design.  If they didn’t notice the bovine elements in the demon before, seeing the cow skull just might flip on that switch, and get them to notice it.

 So, do I feel like I succeeded in my outside-the-box demon design?  I have no idea.  That’s for the art director and viewer to decide.   I can tell you that I had a heaping pile of fun creating our friend Xaal here, and this exercise is one that I’ll be revisiting soon.

 

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April 6, 2010

The Face of Dr. Frankenstien’s Hubris.

Filed under: A to Z monsters, Gribbly, Thumbnails — tb @ 6:45 pm

frankface.jpg

 

frank1.jpg

 

The face of a Frankenstien’s Monster redesign I’m working on, and the acompanying thumbnails.  The above-head will be going on something that looks akin to #14.  Further sketches on their way…

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March 19, 2010

What’s that? you want to see what I’ve been up to? Alright..

Filed under: A to Z monsters, Gribbly, Studies, Wildlife — tb @ 3:29 pm

My apologies for the lack of updates lately; I’ve been pretty busy with my new role as the Zorganizer (Zoo Organizer) for TheIllustrationboard.com.  Head over to the boards, sign up, and say hello.  While you’re there, check out the animal drawing blog I’m running for the board, and take a look at the “Events” section to jon us for our zoo drawing trips.

Anyways, you’re probobly wondering what’s been going on in my sketchbook.  Well, here you go…

goldlion.jpg

silverrhino.jpg

bronzemonkey.jpg

magpie.jpg

damndirtychris.jpg

uruk.jpg

gribblytroll.jpg

zoosketchpage1.jpgindianrhino.jpg

 

 

 

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October 2, 2009

He just wants a friend. And maybe pants.

Filed under: Gribbly, Sci-Fi — tb @ 12:14 am

hello.jpg

 

If you’re wondering what I’ve been up to, this is it;  painting pantless mutants with semi-automatic rifles.  This fellow is actually for a project I’m currently working on involving mutants, oppressive regimes, hyper-intelligent self-aware robots and  rail guns.  It’s been alot of fun working on this stuff, and I thought I’d share this guy in all his gribbly, sketched glory.

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