CROWNED CERATOK

"Crowned Ceratok" 

This is one of my latest pieces for Magic: The Gathering's Return to Ravnica set called "Gatecrash".  This image has been cropped down for the card but, when I went to paint it, I thought maybe a little more of a widescreen look might be cool for the original so I opened it up a little horizontally and just added some more panicked street folk.

I'm not usually one to explore subtle color variations and textures but I got a chance to do that in the ceratok's elephant-like hide which was rather fun to do.  The effect doesn't come across as well when it is shrunk down to card size but you can see some of that here.

I also don't often get a chance to play around with complex light and shadow scenarios like this (like REAL artists do!).  Here I have figures in the foreground in complete shadow and then right behind them are figures bathed in bright sunlight - enough to wash it out and push that spatial difference between the two.  I had to do a lot of orchestrating of atmosphere and light to properly place all those fleeing and getting-trampled people in there - not something I am used to but a welcome challenge none-the-less.

In scenes like this, I like putting in one figure that is getting the worst of the deal.  In this case, the dude being ripped to shreds by the twist of the ceratok's horned snout ruins what was just a quick run to the deli to get a bagel.  Poor bastard.

LYCANTHROPES!!! pt 2

Fianna

And to close out 2012, here are the other 8 of my Werewolf: The Apocalypse 20th Anniversary job.  All in all, I really enjoyed this revisit with my old garou tribe friends.  This was all familiar and comfortable territory for me but with the excitement of applying eight or nine more years of further-developed illustration skills. Here's hoping the book is a smashing success for my friends at WhiteWolf!

Notice in each piece (including the eight in the previous post) the totem animal or spirit on nature.  Shadowlords is Grandfather Thunder and Wendigo is a cold bitter northern wind spirit but otherwise, they all have specific-looking creatures as a totem animal.  Black Furies' totem animal was not included only because I seemed to have made a jpg out of the version that doesn't have the digitally inlaid pegasus.

Get of Fenris

Black Furies

Bone Gnawers

(I modeled the adidas high tops after my favorite pair from high school.  Sans the duct tape.)

Bunyip

(A forum commenter helped guide me to the right shape boomerang here - this one being more for hunting and killing)

Children of Gaia

Croatan

(This one had a couple reworks to keep her out of the stereotype "Pocahontas" look.  More difficult to do than you'd think!)

Glasswalkers

LYCANTHROPES!!! pt 1

Silverfangs

As I alluded to with my Werewolf:The Apocalypse 20th Anniversary post over on my Draw-Blog, Here are some of the final portraits I did for the series. Eight of 16 to be exact. This was a fun revisiting with the company and game that opened the door to the world of fantasy gaming illustration for me. Rendering werewolves became second nature to me for a good 6, 7, 8 years of my early career.

Red Talons

The muscle memory for drawing anthropomorphized wolves doesn't get rusty for long - even when I'm NOT doing work for White Wolf. I have had to apply that skill to Magic:The Gathering (Innistrad) as well as to World of Warcraft and Dungeons and Dragons.  Given, I draw and paint plenty of other stuff in between, but I haven't gotten tired of illustrating werewolves or creatures that have werewolf-like features like gnolls n' such.

Speaking of gnolls, I may have to post a Dragon Magazine Online piece I did featuring the demon Yeenoghu.  Maybe after these.....

Silent Striders

White Howlers

This was an interesting project in that the art director was posting the sketches as I turned them in to get fans excited and also to get feedback from the fans.  At first, that was kind of off-putting to me.  I listen to my art director but suddenly there was a slew of non-artists and non-art directors chiming in.  It took a little bit to swallow but then I realized that almost all of the comments were very constructive and I actually found myself enthusiastic about the responses and the input.  In several cases, somebody with some otherwise trivial knowledge of something would chime in and I'd apply that little detail. Other times, the comment would be understandable but mostly attributed to that person's personal taste and as we all know, art can never please everyone.  

Wendigo

(Ooooo!  A chance to ape Pacific Northwest Indian design! Score!)

Shadowlords

StarGazers

(My daughter's favorite one!)

Uktena

(Can't resist the chance to use traditional Hopi hairstyle when I can!)

Holiday Specials for you to buy!

Wondering what to get your significant other for Christmas?  How about the original Magic:the Gathering artwork for Kor Line-Slinger from the Zendikar set?  How about mom?  Wouldn't she love the original painting for Nearheath Stalker depicting a bloody-faced vampire sneaking out of a room in which he just slaughtered a half dozen unwilling hemoglobin donors? The answer, of course, is YES - and today is your lucky day!

I have four framed Magic:the Gathering paintings taking up space in my studio and they sure could use a good home.  Here's what they are:

Upper Left:  "Might of Alara"  9x12 acrylic on bristol paper  - $200
Upper Right:  "Kor Line-Slinger"  9x12 acrylic on bristol paper  - $300
Lower Left:  "Nearheath Stalker"  9x12 acrylic on bristol paper  - $400
Lower Right:  "Rampaging Baloths"  9x12 acrylic on bristol paper  - $400

With the purchase of any of the above framed original paintings you get for free a signed Magic: the Gathering Artist Proof of that piece and a copy of my art book: AGGREGATE along with a signed original pencil drawing of a Christmas elf on the title page!  How can you beat that?  Unless somewhere you can get Legos 80% off, you can't.

Contact me at steve2@rottface.com if you're interested in any of the paintings here - or if there are any you might be interested in that are NOT pictured here.  Or, of course, if you're just interested in getting a copy of the book only!  Happy Holidays, y'all!

Foolin' About

The day before I posted some White Wolf stuff over on my Draw-Blog and reminisced about my black-n-white White Wolf roots, I was reorganizing a couple boxes of artwork that I had been keeping out for convention use.  Most of these boxes are artwork that has been all but retired - taking up space but not having actually gotten out of my studio and put on a convention table in years.

There was a deposit of old black n' white artwork (mostly pen and ink stuff) in one of these boxes and this old hippie girl piece from the Werewolf tribebook: Children of Gaia was unearthed. I remember being pleased with the illustration despite some proportion problems.

I got a wild hair to scan this piece in, tweak the proportions (her head was too big and her legs were too short), and then drop some flat fields of color in.  Just fun kicks because, ya know, I have SO MUCH time on my hands (not really).

Anyway, this was my little one-hour muck-around project.  Now pass me that roach, man.

BARNYARD BATTLE IN PHILLY!!!!!

Ever wanted a playmat with a completely zany fantasy battle scene on it?  Your chance is coming at the end of the month.  October 26th through 28th is the Philadelphia Magic:the Gathering Grand Prix, be one of the first 600 players to sign up and you'll get a playmat featuring an epic barnyard struggle.  The barbarian goat-and-pig alliance vs. the forces of poultry and GMO corn!!!

So yes, this is my painting that will be gracing the playmats.  It was commissioned by Mike Guptil who specifically asked for "zany".  The previous playmat illustrations done by Ron Spencer featured a werewolf vs. squirrels - and - goblins vs. platypuses.  Mike pushed me beyond my original vision to get even zanier and so this abomination of barnyard battling is what resulted.

*If you look closely, you can find the names of Mike's five kids hidden around the painting (though they may be a bit hard to read at this resolution).

So yes, be there at the Philly GP and get one for yourself if you can.  I'll have a few nice prints of this available (sans the logos and such) and I might even have a small stack of my own Barnyard playmats to sell after the show so don't cry if you don't get in the top 600 to sign up!  Oh yeah, and I'll also be selling other prints, artist proofs, books, and sketches.  Hope to see you there!

RETURN TO RAVNICA!

First, let me welcome the "Return to Ravnica"set for Magic: the Gathering which is about to be released in the next couple weeks here.  Ravnica was immensely popular with the M:tG crowd - but I didn't start working on Magic until after the original Ravnica set came out so it was fun to get to dabble in that world after missing out the first time around (see the above dabbling - a creepy spike-chained dancer comin' at ya!)

Secondly, if you are in the general region of eastern Pennsylvania at the end of next month, I will be the guest artist at the Philadelphia Grand Prix October 27th and 28th.  I shall be the hand-cramped high-on-sharpie-fumes guy behind the little table signing cards, doing play mat sketches, selling prints and selling original artwork.

Speaking of play mats, there will be a surprise play mat available at this event only that yours truly did the artwork for.  That's right, all you collector nuts, limited edition Steve Prescott Philly GP play mats!!! What does it look like, you ask?  Well, you'll have to wait and see - but it's good, silly fun in keeping with Ron Spencer's previous two GP play mats - plus, it has a bit of Halloween/Fall appeal, too!

Lastly, all you Magic players and fans.  I need your help.  I'm looking to make some prints for this Philly show and am curious to know which Magic cards I have done that you would be willing to buy prints of.  I'm looking preferably for artwork from the last year or so - and I especially need a hint on which of the five soon-to-be-released Return to Ravnica pieces I did are worthy of making prints of (if any!).  Be truthful - you may like the artwork but that alone rarely sells prints at Magic shows - the artwork has to be on a card that is at least somewhat useful if not great in tournament play.  I've been burned too many times by making prints of art I thought was pretty cool only to sell close to none of them because the card is a stick in the mud!

As the month goes on, I will be posting more Ravnica stuff as well as (eventually) the play mat artwork for the Philly GP so keep in touch!