SOTW 358

Rubal the boatsman, he'll take you as far as you need to go. Though most
pay him for information, not travel.

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 site:
http://www.vinodrams.com/sotw/

SOTW 357

Florista the wood elf is giving you the side eye.
You've been warned.

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 site:
http://www.vinodrams.com/sotw/

SOTW 356

Mess. There was a cool spaceman there until I
screwed him up. There was a cool robot there till
I screwed it up... now there's a big headed, weird
cloaked swordsman. Definitely a bad drawing day!

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 site:
http://www.vinodrams.com/sotw/

Lands and Legends Kickstarter

I wanted to bring your attention to a new book that's up for funding via Kickstarter.

At this years Gen Con an art fan by the name of Mike Phifer approched our table and told us about his book project. Mike and his brother are trying to put together an art book, but not just a random assortment of fantasy art, rather, a themed book about some of the old stories and mythology that feeds so much of genre art.

I was instantly impressed by the artists that he already had signed on. Prominent artists like James Gurney, Donato Giancola, and Todd Lockwood! Also a bunch of my friends and colleagues have signed on. Emily and I are also contributing to the book. Emily's painting "The Lady of the Lake," and I'm painting "The Green Man."

So if you're a fan of fantasy, mythology and art, please contribute to the book! Mike's promo video might not be very flashy but the book itself will be well made and printed. (He showed us an example of a very well designed book he worked on before this project.)

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1633797078/lands-and-legends-the-fantasy-illustration-library

SOTW 355

"Greetings, the name's Sir Killeth Stabbington.
Mind if I borrow that knife?"

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 site:
http://www.vinodrams.com/sotw/

SOTW 354

Tom Stevens, Junior Accounting Manager at Prentice - Shaw legal.

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 site:
http://www.vinodrams.com/sotw/

SOTW 353

Laureaal Narrowchin doesn't care if smoking takes years off your life.
He's got years to spare, man.

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 site:
http://www.vinodrams.com/sotw/

SOTW 352

Blogg the Dwarf!

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 site:
http://www.vinodrams.com/sotw/

SOTW 351

Jorius Blacklung. You will never find a blacker lung than he.

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 site:
http://www.vinodrams.com/sotw/

SOTW 350

Another crap-ass alien.
Hey, it's called "sketch of the week" not
"amazing drawing of the week."

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 site:
http://www.vinodrams.com/sotw/

SOTW 349

That bad drawing of an alien was to cover up a bad
drawing of a human. Good job Vinod.

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 site:
http://www.vinodrams.com/sotw/

SOTW 348

NORF!

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 site:
http://www.vinodrams.com/sotw/

Sketchbook and Greeting Cards on Sale!

I have two items for sale in Emily's Etsy shop: "Fabled Earth Art." I've been meaning to start my own shop or have a spot on my site to sell stuff but since I'm really lazy about all things internets, Emily finally got me to do it.

Anyway, if you haven't seen them at a con, my sketchbook "Linework" is 154 pages of monsters, characters, aliens, and weirdos. It's black and white with a glossy color cover. If you buy one you get a sketch in the front! (probably of a monster, character, alien or weirdo) Click HERE to get one!

rock not included with purchase

The other item of mine we put up in her Etsy store is a greeting card I designed years back. I still like the painting and the message. Without to much effort I was able to capture some warm feelings with a simple image. (which can sometimes be the hardest part of being an illustrator!) There's more pictures, including the interior message HERE on her shop. We're selling both single cards and a pack of 10.

If your interested in either of these items and tons more of great stuff from Emily please visit her store by clicking HERE.

If you celebrate, I hope you all had a good Thanksgiving!

The Art of Role Playing Games Gallery Show

I Wanted to make a quick last minute announcement that I have a piece in Krab Jab Studio's "Art of Role Playing Games" show! The show opening is this Saturday (Nov. 9th) at their studio in the Georgetown neighboorhood in Seattle.

Come by and check out some of the great art done for an often overlooked genre: the table top RPG.

I'll be showing an oldie but goodie of mine. The cover to the "Red Dragon Codex" by R.D. Henham. I did this cover in 2007, shortly after finishing a run of twenty three covers for the "Dragonlance: The New Adventures" book series. The dragon codex series was focused on ... you guessed it, dragons. The designs for the dragons were based on the D&D 3rd edition dragons that Todd Lockwood created. Luckily for me, Todd's design work for those dragons was amazing so it was a joy to illustrate them. (trust me I've had to depict some really bad designs over the years and it's an uphill battle)

I thought I'd use this opportunity to show some of my sketches for this cover. The brief from my AD was simple... a nasty looking red dragon. Give it a cool pose and don't worry about the background. Here are my thumbnails:

Want to get into fantasy art? Learn to draw dragons.

The biggest problems with illustrating dragons is their wingspan. Most artists find creative ways to foreshorten and crop out the wings so you can still get in close and draw the head. My AD and I decided to go with #4. Pretty straightforward, just a dragon hovering in a cool pose. Sometimes you really don't have to over think the art making process.

Here's my rough drawing:

I really like to get in there and work out the muscle groups and get the weight right. Notice how thick and heavy his neck looks. This drawing is fairly sloppy even my my standards but it was enough to start painting. The only other drawing I did before this stage is two quick roughs to work out how to handle those giant wings.

#1 makes much more sense, anatomically. The wings in #2 are just kinda hanging there.

I wish I had more scans of the painting in progress, but I don't, so here's the final painting. It's done in gouache on a 13"x19" piece of 140lb cold press watercolor paper. This is one of my favorite paintings that I've done over the last few years, I still look back on it to see how I handled things. I really think the muscle-y (is that a word?) neck has some good mass and weight to it. I also really like where the wings connect with the body. I think I was able to make fantasy anatomy look believable. There are plenty of things I don't like about the painting but since it's for sale at KrabJab I think it would be unprofessional to bad mouth my own art right now!

I hope you can make it out to the show and see this mean looking guy in person!

SOTW 347

If this guy were animated his mustache would be
the only thing that moved when he talked.

Pen drawings are fun and all, but getting in there with pencil is still my preferred way of sketching.

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 site:
http://www.vinodrams.com/sotw/

SOTW 346

Fat Godzilla. Ignore the two other bad drawings.
FAT GODZILLA.

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 site:
http://www.vinodrams.com/sotw/

Digital Arts Festival Moving to Early Next Year

The Digital Arts Festival that I mentioned in this post has been moved to early next year, check back on this blog for more information about the new date.

MEEEEEEEEEEEEP!!!

SOTW 345

A Steller's Jay wearing a scarf, vest, and sword.
Cute in a drawing but in real life... frightening.

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 site:
http://www.vinodrams.com/sotw/

SOTW 344

More from the Monge workshop. More shapeshifting animal people.
This character ended up looking very Alice in Wonderland... not my
intention but whatever works!

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 site: http://www.vinodrams.com/sotw/

SOTW 343

A little preview of the piece I started at the amazing JB Monge Workshop I attended
recently. Yes it's a little imp man that can tun into a rat.

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 site:
http://www.vinodrams.com/sotw/

SOTW 342

Karn the adventure-mans and Xlorp'than the space-mans.

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 site:
http://www.vinodrams.com/sotw/

Digital Arts Festival - November 2013 - Redmond, WA

Update: The Digital Arts Festival has been moved to early next year, check back on this blog for more information about the new date. 

Here's some exciting news!
I was invited to attend and present at the upcoming 2013 Digital Arts Festival in Redmond, WA. I'll be doing a two hour talk/presentation on Tuesday Nov.5th and a two hour workshop on Saturday Nov. 9th.

http://digitalartfestival.com/index.html

Here's more information about the two events:

Click the image for more info and to buy tickets

Concept artist Vinod Rams is coming to Redmond to talk about what it takes to become a full time concept artist and demonstrate his process. Vinod's clients include Monolith Games, Wizards of the Coast, Raven Software, and Paizo Publishing. He is currently a senior concept artist at a new company, Motiga Inc. in Bellevue. Don't miss this great opportunity to learn from one of the greats!

Click the image for more info and to buy tickets

Giving your characters.... CHARACTER! by Vinod Rams

In this 2 hour workshop, senior concept artist Vinod Rams will give you insight into giving your character designs real personality and charm. Knowing your anatomy is only half the battle when it comes to character design, getting inside your characters heads is how a good design becomes great. Vinod will go over topics like expressions, posing, costume design, and the importance of selling your character to it's viewers. There will be discussion, demo's, drawing (traditionally or digitally) and critiques. 

If you're a student that is coming out to my workshop please feel free to e-mail me or post a comment about what character related stuff you'd like me to cover. The workshop is only two hours long so I have to keep it focused. You can buy tickets for individual workshops or for the entire week long festival, so you can take advantage of all the events and speakers. This is a small intimate event, limited to just 10 seats so buy your ticket quick before it gets sold out! 

Lots to prepare for both of these events, better stop blogging and get to it!  

SOTW 341

Elanthir the sexy elfman and Groff the stinky toughman. 

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 site:http://www.vinodrams.com/sotw/

SOTW 340

Can't think of anything to draw?
Mishapen goblin heads to the rescue!

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 site:
http://www.vinodrams.com/sotw/

Things to Click On

The Internet is full of infinite beauty and horribleness... (mostly horribleness)

Here's some nice stuff that's caught my fancy as of late:

Models for Disney's Wreck it Ralph, it's a cool thread since they show the concept and the model work.
http://www.zbrushcentral.com/showthread.php?178524-Wreck-it-ralph!!!

Here's a cool viral marketing site based around the Hunger Games's fashion designs.
http://capitolcouture.pn/

Great talk with Terryl Whitlatch. They show some previously unreleased designs and concepts. She also talks about some cool new books and projects she's working on.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=hw4tonAYHhw

Picked up this fun storytelling game at Gen Con this year. The art's done by my favorite artist... Omar Raayyan!
http://www.atlas-games.com/ouat3/
http://studiorayyan.com/index.php

I love Dave Rapoza's work on his comic, Starveil. It has that great mix of European, Japanese, and American comic styles that I love! Great bold Moebius inspired colors too.
http://daverapoza.cghub.com/images/

That's all for now... happy clicking!

Rose City Comic Con and 2D Artist Magazine

Just a reminder that Emily and I will be sharing a table at Rose City Comic Con in Portland this weekend. So if you're in that neck of the woods, please drop by! I'm still selling my sketchbooks and some prints of my illustration work. More info on Emily's site here.

Speaking of sketchbooks, I have a sketchbook feature in the current issue of 2D artist magazine. Here's a little teaser, but the actual article has about 35 sketches with a bit of insight and commentary by me. (for what it's worth)

Some of these sketches will be familiar to my loyal blog-readers.

It's a pretty cool issue, especially the interview with Ryan Lang, a vis-dev artist at Disney.
You can download the magazine here.

SOTW 339

Even fish men need stylish pants.

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 site:
http://www.vinodrams.com/sotw/

SOTW 338

Saytr man with a bulbous nose. I like his mouth.

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 site:

http://www.vinodrams.com/sotw/

SOTW 337

I sorta hate the drawing of the weird guy at the bottom.
But I sorta love the meek little guy on the right.

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 336

Oh hi monkey. Would you like an needlessly ornate hat?
You would? Well then, you've come to the right blog.

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 335

Monkeys wearing ornate hats... hmmm I see a fun
series emerging...

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 334

Joblias the strong. He works at a very skeevy looking
traveling carnival. He does not wash his hands after using
the bathroom. (bonus guinea pig doodles by Emily!)

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 333

I'm sure my sister, Maya, appreciates that a beefy dwarf is happy
for her. (actually I was starting to write a speech for her wedding
reception... decided to "wing it" and drew Mr. Thick Neck in it's place.)

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 332

Goblins and crows, crows and goblins...

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 331

Wow, so after a long hiatus I'm finally ready to start posting SOTW sketches! I hope you all haven't lost interest... I'm going to be much more punctual about posting in the future!

This lady totally ripped off my wife's hairstyle. So unoriginal.

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/

Emily's First Solo Gallery Show

My wife, Emily Fiegenschuh, is having her first gallery show in August!
Here's some info on her blog:
http://fabledearth.blogspot.com/2013/07/fabled-earth-show.html

If you live in the Seattle area, we'd love for you to come to the opening on August 10th from 6 to 9 PM at Krab Jab Studio in Seattle's Georgetown neighborhood.

Nowadays, we all look at so much art on the internet. There's an upside and downside to this. While "the net" does give us unprecedented access to all kinds of new art we'd have never known about, there's something lost when looking at art on a backlit screen. It's a temporary experience. We've all had our eyes glaze over as we've spent hours just clicking away through galleries, blogs, and tumblrs. You sometimes forget where you started, or that you only wanted to check your e-mail.

Viewing orignal art is such a different experience. It's slow; you can stand there and really SEE the art. Things like the paper texture, or the way a stroke of paint was applied, become apparent. A transparent medium like gouache or watercolors loses so much when scanned. I may have gone on a tangent here so let me bring it back home: If you want to see some beautiful gouache paintings come to Emily's show opening and support traditional art!

(Now to start matting and framing her pieces for the show! Sorry Sketch of the Week–you'll have to wait a while to be updated!)

Mystery Monsters Revisited

Sorry for the lack of posts lately. I'm busy at work and busy at home. I realized I had completely forgot to post the last cover I did for Paizo Publishing. So here's a process post about the creation of this illo.  Enjoy!

The cover idea was pretty straighforward, two of Pathfinder's iconic characters being attacked by a lake monster. Not exactly high art, but I guess I can make up some b.s. about monsters representing our fears or how it's an allegory for the Iraq war or blah blah blah....

Here's a few thumbnails for the cover. I find when doing cover art it's always good to put the type in your mockup so you get a better idea for how the final book will look.

I really like the confining feeling that #3 gives you.
Ultimately #1 was picked.

After the art director picked a direction I started on the final drawing. Paizo used to allow more of the image to overlap the text, but now the rule is to keep the title clear of any obstructions. I had to move the serpent's head down a bit, but I think it helped the composition, creating a circular viewing path with the two characters and the monster.

Here's the drawing at a mid stage, the foreground and
background aren't worked out yet.

Checking the "live" area.

As with most of Paizo's covers you have to illustrate their existing character designs. Both Seelah and Ezren were designed by Wayne Anthony Reynolds. Wayne's awesome designs are known for their insane level of detail, and sometimes it can be a challenge to figure out how much to show and how much to omit. Here are his character designs:

Seelah

Ezren

The finished drawing.

I was a good little artist and actually did a color rough in gouache. Ideally if you do a color rough it should be in the medium you intend to paint it in, but doing them digitally does allows for more options. I wanted to try a more limited and muted palette. I was imagining a foggy lake on an overcast, stormy day. The two most saturated colors are the blue of the serpent and Seelah's red cape.

For color comps, I typically print my drawing on a
very small piece of watercolor paper.

I'm usually really bad about taking any progress shots of my work, but for this cover I happen to have the camera out, so here's a few shots of the painting with a basic wash and some line work painted in. Look how neat and organized my drafting table is! Emily was also working on a Paizo cover, check out her post here.

Can you have to much reference? ...YES.

My metal "butcher" palette has fallen many times much to Emily's annoyance.
CLAAANG!

Paintings usually look really bad before they look
 really good.

Finally, here's the finished illustration: 

In retrospect, this isn't my best painting. I think it turned out pretty well overall and I had fun working on it since I don't do a lot of freelance anymore but there are a lot of things I would fix. It's funny, but my favorite part of the painting is the coils of the serpent that are fading away into the mist. I'm also happy with the expressions I got on the characters, I know RPG fans really key in on those things so hopefully the illustration still resonated with them. Click here to see the book on Paizo's site.

I'm going to be working on some more paintings soon, both for myself, and for an independent company, hopefully this will jump start my art brain for the rest of this year.