November 26, 2013

"The Star Spawn" on IBA

Managed to sneak submit a drawing of mine under the wire for the Infected by Art! Swing by and vote if you've got a mind to! Their judged gallery submission system reminds me of Epilogue from back in the day, only about a 1000 times clearer. Definitely worth exploring.

 Vote here!

September 1, 2013

Sneak "Peaks"





Some previews of a new personal project. All digital, all works in progress.

July 21, 2013

Colonel Tick-Tock!


My take on The Thrilling Adventure Hour's resident Victorian chrononaut, Colonel Tick-Tock! Set your watches for fun!

July 7, 2013

Mi-Go


Graphite on Bristol. 
For Chaosium.

June 23, 2013

Horror on the Orient Express

Abduction from Istanbul

The Rubbish Bin

The Surgical Lab

Here's some illustrations I did for Chaosium's upcoming pen and paper horror RPG.
Graphite, Prismacolor pencil, ink and Photoshop on Bristol.

May 6, 2013

The Star-Spawn



From the upcoming Call of Cthulhu RPG supplement - "Secrets of Tibet". 
Graphite and compressed carbon on Bristol. For Chaosium.

May 4, 2013

Closing the Door of the Earth




Cover art for the Call of Cthulhu RPG supplement "Secrets of Tibet". Published by Chaosium. 

April 29, 2013

Thrilling Adventure Hour: Agent Abby Adams



Can't say enough about Agent Adams: beautiful, deadly, and tougher than a red, white and blue coffin nail. Just one of the many awesome characters on The Thrilling Adventure Hour voiced by the amazing Annie Savage. Dirty Krauts!

April 27, 2013

Secrets of Tibet - Part Two

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More scary monsters and super-freaks. This one's a take on a spirit from Tibetan folklore that takes on the aspect of a beautiful maiden to tempt susceptible monks, then changes into a monster if they succumb to base urges. Seek enlightenment safely, kids.

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Here's a variation on the byakhee, a classic Cthulhu monster and one of my favorites.
One of the things that I loved about the old Chaosium game was that the supplements were written drily, like academic articles. They approached the beasts methodically, citing (fictional) sources and theorizing about their habitats. Even if the fantastic creature in question were from between the dimensions, they'd try to hypothesize about its native environment, something I hadn't seen outside of Barlowe's Guide to Extraterrestrials (and wouldn't see again until his book Inferno).
A byakhee's natural habitat, for example, is supposed to be on airless planetoids and comet nuclei. That is, until they get hungry.

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Mi-go: Silly name, terrifying concept. The ones crawling around the cave above are employing some signature weaponry - lightning guns and mist projectors.
Still more to come...

April 16, 2013

Secrets of Tibet - Part One

Ah, Lovecraftian horror. Neat stuff, right?

See, Call of Cthulhu was my gateway drug to the world of roleplaying games, and over the years my love for the game and the genre never lost its lustre. A month ago, Chaosium asked me if I'd include some art for the interior of their newest adventure supplement, Secrets of Tibet, and I jumped at the chance.

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Here we have a pleasant canoe tour of a remote Tibetan river; a wonderful place to make new friends.
This assignment afforded me a great chance to evoke mood and depth , and I thought it would be perfect as a chance to work in this graphite technique I've grown so fond of. All the images here were underdrawn with graphite on vellum Bristol, with compressed carbon shavings laid down and smeared with tissue first, in order to get darker values.

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Here are a pair of cephalopoid beings, looking none too happy that you interrupted their hyperdimensional meditations. I learned the Riley method of sketching while doing portraits, so mucking about adding growths and tentacles on a couple of otherwise unremarkable human frames was pure joy.

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According to Lovecraftian lore, those interstellar monsters the Mi-go prefer high mountain ranges for their outposts, and it doesn't get much higher than Tibet. Here we have a party of explorers encountering a friend after he's undergone the radical surgeries for which the Mi-go are known. I wonder if he's happy to see them?
More to come!

March 12, 2013

Nightmares the Clown


Nightmares is the childhood bogeyman of Frank Doyle from The Thrilling Adventure Hour's "Beyond Belief", voiced by the talented James Urbaniak. Trying to come up with a frightening, yet un-Pennywise clown turned out to be easier than I thought it would. Hope you enjoy!

March 11, 2013

Gummy


Why, it's the ever-lovable hobo mentor of Down in Moonshine Holler, Gummy (or my take on the character, anyway)! I'm no Apelad, but I really enjoyed doing this guy - I hope it shows.  Just another one of the many awesome characters on The Thrilling Adventure Hour voiced by Hal Lublin.

January 22, 2013

Phillip Fathom from The Thrilling Adventure Hour

He's the hero the ocean deserves! Starting up again with my portraits of characters from The Thrilling Adventure Hour. This is Phillip Fathom, the Deep-Dea Detective, an aquatic Caped Crusader right down to the themed gadgets, the combination of mystery and fisticuffs, and the ridiculous growly voice (by the talented Hal Lublin) that lurches into ridiculous growly shouting right when you least expect it. He's one of my favorite characters in the podcast, which you should listen to. If not, then shame on you.
HIS PARENTS DIED AT SEA!!!

January 12, 2013

Happy New Year! And Space Knights!

Sketch of some space-knights for a pitched sci-fi cartoon.