Venice-like Fantasy picture

Bit of a departure from my usual style. I wanted to concentrate on the overall atmosphere of the scene.
Usually I`d work in a lot of detail but I held back this time.
The resulting picture took about an hour to paint in Photoshop.

Journey Through Life - FourteenNights challenge

A take on my journey though life so far. I wanted to put in the two most important aspects which are my family and my love of computer games - especially the 8 bit era which is where the retro game cassette box art style comes from.

The Dark Seas of Europa - Finished Picture

Here's the final picture. The Hydrobot was first modelled in 3dsmax and then overpainted in Photoshop.
The water particles were produce by overlaying a photo of a star-filled night sky.
Finally I produced three duplicates of the image and progressively blurred them. Using the eraser I then removed areas of the blurred image to make the creature and hydrobot appear our of focus.

The Dark Seas of Europa - WIP

At the moment tests are being performed on a submarine that is planned to be sent to Saturn's moon Europa where it will penetrate the icy crust to explore the oceans below.
Here's a link describing it in more detail;

http://seamus136.blogspot.com/2008/02/scientists-hope-to-send-robotic.html

There's always a slim chance that these oceans could be teeming with life which is where the picture inspiration came from.

A little unlikely that a marine creature of this size is down there but wouldn't it be cool if there was!

Below is a description of the steps taken so far. New ones will be added as the picture progresses;

First Stage
This is the initial colour rough. First pass to plan out the mood and rough composition.

Second Stage
The details are now starting to take shape. The focal area is the alien creature's head which looms into view from the murky waters.

Third Stage
First pass on the body shape. Definitely going to knock it out of focus like I`ve done on this stage. The flow of the body looks a little broken at the moment which is making the alien creature look a little stiff. Still need to inject a bit more of the original picture's atmosphere back into it.

Grannie's Birthday

I`ve been producing a few cards for family members and friends recently and have really enjoyed doing them.
This is the latest one which I created for my dear old Grannie for her birthday.
She's just got herself a mobility scooter. That's just too good a comedy prop to ignore :)

Easter Card

Here's another easter card I`ve produced for my wife's card business.
I drew the picture four times to create the final image style.
Coloured in Photoshop using a very low opacity to the brush which gives a watercolour-like look.

'Genetics Gone Wrong' challenge - Asylum

A genetically experimental 'creature' lost and forgotten in a padded cell deep in an underground government-run asylum.

Update: This is the final colour version.

'Rubbish Super Power' Challenge - Ultra Weed

Ultra Weed has the feeble strength of a thousand wimps but that's not going to stop him donning a customised suit and taking on the Mighty Crunch - luckily he finds it all a bit funny as does his victims.

Video Meanies

This is a screenshot I created for an update to a game I used to play as a kid.
The game is called 'Video Meanies' and it was the first game on the first computer I owned.
Here's a link to the original screenshot;

http://www.richmace.co.uk/c64/images/video_meanies_screenshot.jpg

Genetics Gone Wrong

A genetic experiment gone wrong. Drawn using a pencil, scanned and then the hi-lights were painted in using photoshop.

Fourteen Nights

Thought I go with a Tim Burton-esque children's book illustration.
Story, in short, revolves around a boy who is visited by the Shadow Monster for fourteen nights.
Over this period the boy is set 14 riddles. If he gets any of them right he'll dream sweet dreams. Getting any of them wrong, on the other hand, and he'll fall into the darkest of nightmares.