Back in the day when D&D was just getting started apparently they were hurting for monster ideas (not the case any more!).  Occasionally they would brew up a monster by taking random parts from different animals and sticking them together.  In this case the Owlbear.  Head of an owl and body of a bear.  Well, the ArtOrder challenge this time around was to re-imagine the owlbear.  What if the creature as so alien that the adventurer could only use the words he knew in order to describe it? Here is my submission!

I thought that it would be interesting if the teeth of the monster were vaguely shaped like the big round eyes of an owl that would glow yellow in the dark.  The silhouette of the monster would almost look owl-like but up close it would be terrifying!  The O-bears favorite treat are the glowing bugs that hang-out in the canopy of trees at night so their teeth are stained yellow from their phosphorescent goo.  And here are some of my sketches.

Thanks for stopping by!  I’m sick today so I’ll keep this short .

Kate Irwin – “The lighting draws you in and the composition works well. It seems kind of “young audience” and that might be another reason I’m drawn to it.”

Well, these days it seems like I’m only posting on the challenges over at ArtOrder .  Well, they are such amazing challenges!  If I have any artists reading this who aren’t already involved please take a look.  They are fantasy related so if you aren’t into that then you may be out of luck.  But the prize for playing along are things like having your work looked at by well known artists and art directors in the business!  This has been my motivation to submit entries and really work on my technique.  It’s just fun.

At any rate.  This week we are trying our hand at creating a book cover with two characters locked in battle.  I think my take may have come out a bit James Bond-ish due to the massive explosion coming from the castle but it served to add some contrast and visual interest to the cover so that the potential buyer would be drawn to it.  Let’s see if the judges agree .

Below is just a peek at my process.  I’m still ironing out the kinks but it is getting there.  Thanks for stopping by.

Click the image for a larger view

Earthquake Dragon

Hey gang!  I’ve got a fun update for you today!  The ArtOrder Concept Tuesday challenge this week was on catastrophic dragons.  These dragons embody the catastrophe they are named after… so a fire dragon would be filled with fire.  This is an Earthquake Dragon!  I feel bad for our intrepid knight and his faithful squire .  He may have bit off more than he could chew.

Enhance your desktop with the 1600×1200 version of my Earthquake Dragon.

***Update***

ArtOrder posted comments from the judges!  Here are the comments regarding my entry #47.

Lars Grant-West - 47. Really cool, dramatic scene. Nicely composed, well rendered. I’d
like to see more of the beast, but what I can see is excellent.

Todd Lockwood – There were many that struck me with the strength and energy of their rendering — 36, 47, 50 to name but a few.

I love warm fuzzies!

Another ArtOrder Concept Tuesday Challenge!  This week we were challenged to create a biker gang from one of the imaginary races in D&D.  I chose the Halflings… not to be confused with hobbits these guys are nomadic race and live along the shores of lakes and streams in stilted huts.  Since they spend a lot of time near the water I designed some amphibious cycles for them!  Also, I read that they like to trade so they ride laden down with goods and are always ready to haggle .

Below is a little of the doodling I did to come up with the amphibious bikes.

Another fun (for me!) ArtOrder challenge.  They have a style guide for gnomes and this week the assignment was to throw the gnome in the wayback machine and figure out how their primitive selves would have looked.

According to the style guide, gnomes are slight, sly tricksters who live in the forest.  They dwell among the roots so I imagined a slightly less refined and more monstrous gnome would be more animal-like.  The have longer arms and those clingy toes so they can flit among the branches of trees.  They travel in packs and use their illusory magiks to sneak up on unsuspecting adventurers and take them down!

Before long I’ll have a fantasy portfolio going .  Thanks for visiting!

Art Order continues to have some interesting and increasingly challenging assignments!  I really look forward to the time I can spend imagining new creatures and situations.  This week we were to take one of serveral imaginary races and project what they might be like in the future… here are my Dragon Born…

After the fall of Arkhosia the Dragon Born found themselves without a place to call home.  Instead of overtaking lands already occupied, they slowly became a race of nomads. Welcomed by all because of their honorable ways, they find situations where their strength and skills can be of use and then move on when the job is done… Think of Seven Samurai or the A-Team except with a large space-craft and cool jet cycles instead of a mini-van .

I have some other sketches that I may post later if I can clean them up a little.

This is another adventure in character development… or rather, race development. These exercises really remind me of the times my brother and I spent creating creatures when we were kids. We had pages of creatures that looked like Ewoks with each drawing focusing on a different role in the “Ewok” community… we had fun doing those… we also had a race of creatures that lived in the ocean … I’ll have to find some of those and upload them!

At any rate, these guys are called the Bromides… or the Bromide Race. They are described as being plant-like or plant-related humanoids who are intelligent and tend to be rather tall. Their plant-like aspects end up being incorporated into the way they defend themselves… so the vines coming out of his head could be used for grappling or camouflage. There are retractable thorns on his arms and legs… Armor made from barks and leaves… I also had thoughts about the taller Bromides being the elders of the community… sort of like tall tree-like beings who spend a lot of time swaying in the breeze and thinking . I had other thoughts to sketch on but there wasn’t enough time to fully explore the possibilities.

I had fun and I hope you enjoy the sketches. Check back for more fun stuff later .

From Illustration Dave

Maybe we’ll explore a more heavenly pet on the next go round!