SOTW 294

Did you know that bulbous nosed cat-men need protective headgear? However,
two eyed, two nosed lip less aliens only need the back of their heads protected.
THIS WILL BE ON THE TEST.

Since 2007 I've been posting a sketch/doodle/whatever every week on my site. I'll be continuing this trend here on my blog and on my new site:
http://www.vinodrams.com/sotw/

Fun with Gen Con - Part 2

Drawing on stuff other than paper.
When you have a table at a con, you end up doing a ton of drawings for fans. The weird and sometimes frustrating part of this is that you get asked to draw on odd surfaces that aren't paper. Stuff like…

Playmats:

Some guy wanted penguins drawn on his playmat... I drew
a robot penguin. I feel like he fits in a Mega Man game.

Fabric dice bags:

They auction these off for charity each year. They're actually pretty easy to draw on.

Bandanas:

I did the sharp looking elf man on the left. Emily did the beautiful elf lady on the right.

Slick shiny trading card backs: (only one pictured but I ended up doing 4 or 5 of these)

This was like drawing with butter. The pen would bead up and smudge really easily.

SOTW 293

More lumpy headed goodness from Gen Con. I can lose myself in neck and chin
wrinkles...

Since 2007 I've been posting a sketch/doodle/whatever every week on my site. I'll be continuing this trend here on my blog and on my new site:
http://www.vinodrams.com/sotw/

SOTW 292

Hanuman was for a sketchbook my parents insisted on buying when they came to
visit Emily and I at Gen Con. The lumpy ogre was drawn because lumpy ogres
are easy to draw.

Since 2007 I've been posting a sketch/doodle/whatever every week on my site. I'll be continuing this trend here on my blog and on my new site:
http://www.vinodrams.com/sotw/

SOTW 291

A bit of a back log due to Gen Con... time to catch up!

Men with mustaches and swords. I like the guy on the left, if he were animated
you'd just have to make his mustache jiggle when he talked.

Since 2007 I've been posting a sketch/doodle/whatever every week on my site. I'll be continuing this trend here on my blog and on my new site:
http://www.vinodrams.com/sotw/

Fun with Gen Con - Part 1

Another year, another Gen Con. That might sound like I'm getting tired of coming to Gen Con, but that's far from the truth. I love Gen Con, but getting ready for it is always stressful. Our studio essentially spills into the rest of our house with suitcases, con display paraphernalia, and original paintings strewn onto every available floor space in our house.

But we made it out to Indianapolis, got all set up, and let the onslaught of genre art lovers gaze upon our tables and shower us with compliments. (that's the real fun part!)

Me, my booth, and my books.

The weirdest interaction with a "fan" was actually fairly early on Thursday. An older gentleman came by and looked through my print book and angrily let the pages drop from his hand and shuffle off, he then went next door to Emily's table and asked if she had any mermaid art. She said the closest piece she had was her water nymph from her book, to which the guy grumbled "That's not the same thing."  Later after talking with the other artists, who had similar interactions, we deemed this individual… "Mermaid guy."

Go forth mermaid guy, the perfect mermaid art awaits you! (just not at Gen Con)

Seriously though, 99% of the fans are awesome, super nice, and really fun to talk to. Over the last 6 years we've actually made quite a few friends that visit us every year and we actually talk about things that aren't nerd or art related! Gasp!

More posts about Gen Con coming soon! As well as sketches I did in the many sketchbooks I sold!

Pygmy Triad - World of Warcraft TCG

 

Here's one of the most recent World of Warcraft cards I worked on. I did three cards for this set, and this one was my favorite out of the three.  I might post the other ones, but then again I might not! You know the old saying: Out of sight, out of portfolio.

 Card art is challenging, especially for a newbie like me. Some of my other illustrator friends do dozens of cards a year so they really understand how to push their composition, colors and contrast to create art that reads well when it's printed on a trading card. I, however am still getting the hang of it.

This particular card was interesting since the pygmy characters are supposed to be stacked on top of each other, which of course doesn't really work for a card with a horizontal picture plane. Here's how the characters appear in the game:

And here's my thumbnail. I took the basic idea but "squished" them so they fit into the card format. Which also let me breathe some life into the characters since they're supposed to be goofy.

 

And the drawing before I started my digital painting:

 Finally here's the art as it appears on the card. It still reads well in teeny tiny card format!

SOTW 290

Have you guys seen my nuts? ...Why are you
laughing? I have one nut here in my hand, but I'd
rather have two nuts. It's a much better feeling
having two. STOP LAUGHING!

Since 2007 I've been posting a sketch/doodle/whatever every week on my site. I'll be continuing this trend here on my blog and on my new site:
http://www.vinodrams.com/sotw/