dancing girl prelim sketch

I don't post WIP and sketches when working with commercial clients (which is to say I rarely post them at all), but here's a sketch from a private commission that I'm starting on. I think it'll be fun getting into the paint :)

Priestess of Torment

This is for a group show at the OhNo!Doom gallery in Chicago that opens next weekend. I think I'll let it speak for itself



15x21, oil on illustration board

Microvisions

Though the piece was completed in April and the show hanging at the Society of Illustrators a few weeks now, I was waiting until the auctions went live to share my contribution to the Microvisions scholarship. If you're not familiar with the event, each year a dozen or so sf/f illustrators are invited to create a piece measuring 5x7 inches which is then sold through a fundraising auction held by Society of Illustrators. The money raised goes to students selected through their annual jurried student competition. To check out the other pieces and maybe take one home, here are the Ebay links. Bidding closes on the 25th I believe.


oil on illustration board, 5x7 inches

Infidel

A recent cover, sequel to God's War. I started work on this right around when I got the news about Spectrum (see one post down), so there was a little extra incentive (which is to say, pressure) in not only advancing the cover narrative, but upping the ante visually. This is also very very slightly different from what the printed version will look like (a few additional details were revised, though I prefer this version). I only mention it because I'm uptight about things like that :P



18x27, oil on illustration board

Strength

Amazingly, the tarot series is nearly finished! I believe I only have three more to do before my 19 are all in, and we're expecting all 78 pieces to be done by the end of the summer. This is my most recent, catching up on more Major Arcana with Strength (which I was very surprised to see had not yet been claimed!)



14x21, oil on illustration board

***ALSO***

A few days ago I learned that I had received TWO medals in this year's (upcoming) Spectrum. I was awarded the Gold in the book category for Gods War and the Silver in the comic category for Sleep. Spectrum has come to be one of the two milestones of my creative year (the other being San Diego Comic Con) when I stop and assess where I've been and where I intend to go. It's a wonderful opportunity to reflect and a strong motivator to push further and explore, and I'm tremendously honored to have been selected for these awards. :D

The Whitefire Crossing

A recent cover piece here. This is the all oils version, though the printed cover will have some glowy red magic effects added where the figure touches to the tree. Story-wise, he's absorbing life from the living tree and the tree is blackening from his touch. This is how I picture it as described in the book, very subtle and quiet. For a cover to code as fantasy though, it was a bit too subtle. It was something we talked back and forth a bit, and in the end I think I prefer the original version as a painting though the more overtly magical certainly works better for the cover. Thanks to Photoshop, everybody wins :)



16x24, oil on illustration board

*edit* here's the digital retouch version as it was approved for print:

Though Smoke Shall Hide The Sun

A new piece for Tor.com, this time for a short from Brit Mandelo. This is a slightly different version of the piece from the one shown with the story. There was concern over the foreground character looking too much the victim (which I most definitely agree she should not) and so I was asked to give her a bit of a sly smile. It worked better for the story, though this version works a bit better for me, so here it is :)


9x16, oil on illustration board