Work-In-Progress: Space Wolf

I've spent the better part of this week getting the line work together for a new space wolf illustration. There's a ton of detail work in this guy, far more than the last marine I did. 

It's actually kind of ironic that the chapter that is portrayed as the most primitive has the most ornamentation, All the ropes, talismans, runes, pelts; they add up fast. In the end though, I feel like this will result in a superior product. If you're going to do something, do it right. 

From now on though, nothing but Ultramarines.  

Bowling for Blood

I'm amazed at how many incredibly cool Blood Bowl teams there are out there. I got a request from Roy to make a poster for his team as well as the league they played in. Bring on the bowl!

2012 CS Challenge Wrap-Up: Part 2

What a ride.

I started the 2012 CS Challenge to fill the gap left by the completion of my larger-scale painting projects. I had no idea just how clean the slate would get! 

The final CS Challenge models of 2012 are below for your perusal.

Dark Eldar: Drazhar, Master of Blades

Skorne: Hexeris

Warhammer: Adventurer

Orcs: Limited Edition Warboss

Dark Elves: Sorcerer 

I've been getting a truckload of great feedback from users about the illustration projects I've been posting lately, and I'm more than happy to continue them. So from here on in, it's time to let the good times and roll and the ink flow! That Guy James continues onward, still in love with games, still bringing you the best that I can every week. If anyone has any suggestions for new illustrations, just let know. I'll be happy to bring your idea to life.

Concept to Reality: Blood Bowl Poster

Collaboration is one of my favorite parts of art, and when I had a request from one of my readers to help execute an idea he had for a Blood Bowl team poster, I was all-in. Here's a play-by-play of how I took a scanned pen and ink drawing and re-rendered it in Adobe Illustrator.

Casey had sent me this drawing as a sketch of what he wanted to do with the design. Since this was my first time seeing the design, I made a couple notes of what I really liked about the design:

• The Crooked nose. This bad boy looked like it had been broken and reset a good dozen times. It screams character and attitude. Perfection.
• The Beard. Stylized to look almost like a set of blades, the facial hair looks just as crazy and dangerous as a Norse football player should be. 
• The Wings. Naturally.
• Blood and Thunder. A fitting slogan for this band of ultra-violent miscreants.

Step 1: The Face
I traced out the nose and beard, using the rest of the face as a guide. I actually went beyond the point where I knew the helmet would cover, as this would serve as a guide for when I placed the two together. By developing the head and face separate from the helmet, I didn't have anything to distract me and distort the image. I then gave the entire head a bit of a steeper tilt forward for that extra bit of aggression.

Step 2: The Helmet
I took the basic design from an actual football helmet, changing details as I needed to make it more Blood Bowl-esque. In addition to the wings coming off the ear guards, I pulled the front line back to help expose more of the face, and added a reasonable number of rivets (read: not baneblade level of rivets).

Step 3: Blood and Thunder

I wanted to slogan to be more integral of the illustration itself, so rather than isolate the banner, I had it above and below the face. I took advantage of the two-dimensional effect to tuck the "and" a little further back, letting the eye rest on the "Thunder" at the bottom of the composition. Finally, I cut some small triangles out of the banner at random intervals to give the banner a little more worn feel. 

Step 4: Variety
The current version of Adobe Illustrator has the ability to add variable stroke-widths to your line work. I use this option a lot to add contrast and interest while not overwhelming the smaller details. There are a number of width profiles that come standard that I use often, but I also created several profiles to reuse on my drawings. I also did a thicker solid line around the entire head to help it stand apart from the banner.

Step 5: Color
Not much to add here. Casey specified the color of the helmet should be the same as the Philadelphia Eagles. Done and done.

Step 6: Highlights
This two-step process was accomplished in just one. By tracing out the path I wanted the highlights to follow, I was able to duplicate the layer and set a thinner secondary highlight for extra depth. I made sure to highlight the areas that not only made sense but helped to reinforce the themes I mentioned earlier. The blade-edges of the beard, the curl of the sneering lips, the flow of the banners, they all strengthened the theme.

Step 7: Shadows and Posterizing

The shadows were a two-step process that couldn't be duplicated to save time, but were worth the effort regardless. The first layer was in the style of Anime cell-shading, using big blocks of slightly darker color. This gave a lot of much needed depth to the wings in particular. 

The second shading was inspired by woodblock cutters like Rockwell Kent. By repeating the black lines in the darkest areas, I was able to not only add depth but to also suggest a flow of surface, something that would not otherwise be apparent in a perfectly flat color like you get from a vector illustration. 

When I was happy with the illustration I dropped it onto a revised Blood Bowl poster template, where I shrank the Blood Bowl logo to give more breathing room to the main character. 

And with that I was done; an incredible experience overall. I learned a ton on this project, about positioning, facial expressions, and perfection versus imperfection in a believable and living character. Many thanks go to Casey for sharing his vision, a true pleasure to work for.

Next week I'm getting some more model together for the rest of the clean slate challenge. Painted goodness inbound!