NM99 Sketching

I started this piece not too long ago, and put some more work into it while we were recording the 99th Ninja Mountain Episode. I'm interested in seeing how it turns out.

"...Twenty To Thirty Minutes a Day."

Alonso remarked on my Mark Kistler reference during the latest Ninja Mountain episode. I used to love watching Secret City on PBS, and was always trying to catch up with my older brother's skill whilst contributing to the family mural. I hadn't thought about it in years, but not too long ago we found his site and subscribed for my daughter. Here are sketches from a couple of episodes we watched together.

Mark Kistler -- http://www.draw3d.com/
Alonso -- http://monotremedreams.blogspot.com/
Ninja Mountain Scrolls -- http://ninjamountain.blogspot.com/

Working on Progress

I finally got back to this piece during an ensemble Ninja Mountain episode, and got in another 30 minutes talking with Torstein Nordstrand after the recording. He was up late waiting to hear back from someone in California, so I didn't feel bad that I was keeping him up.

April continues

Thanks again to everyone who stopped by at C2E2. Also, special thanks to Aaron and Laurie, not just for putting up with me, but for doing it for an extra day.

I picked at this piece a little during the latest recording session, but was too busy listening to find good reference or make good decisions, so I don't feel like I made any progress. I'll try to be more prepared for next week.

April 2010

I had an excellent time in Calgary and Saskatoon Easter weekend at this year's Iron Samurai L5R tournaments. Thanks again to all involved.

Here are a trio of sketches from the trip. On the left, I was half remembering a story of Tomoe Gozen. I worked it up a bit more whilst recording part of episode 60 of Ninja Mountain. After so many weeks away it was great to catch up with Jeremy and Socar again.

Another trip is coming right up: next weekend, April 16-18, I'll be at C2E2 in Chicago. I will be in the artist's alley, perhaps looking very much out of place. Still, you're welcome to come by and wish me a happy birthday!

Ninja Party

We recently recorded another episode for the Ninja Mountain Scrolls podcast. Beyond congratulating me on entry into the elitist cabal, we also talked about about these five pieces:

Mick Collins' Terrible Lizards

Jeff Johnson's Fire From Above

Nick Egberts' Lich Knight

Melissa Hitchcock's Vampire Hunters

Chris Burdett's Barbarian Essentials

Because it's such an easy thing to do I turned to doodling, so much of my contribution is these paint overs. Expect larger versions in the show notes, and hopefully some idea what I was thinking will come through the audio. More likely you'll discover I nicked any good ideas from Jeremy, Patrick, and Socar.

Revisions: Bullywug and Earthquake Dragon

First is my revised bullywug piece. I lightened the near toad's face and throat, and clarified some of the middle and background's value schemes (or something like that. It's been a couple of weeks. What Jeremy said). I also toned down the diagonals pointing into the corners.

Below that is my revised Earthquake Dragon. I posted the original version back in July. Flipping between the two now I seem to have edited out some of my favorite parts of the original. I guess another revisit is in order.

Ninja Bullywug!

I did this piece for Dungeon Magazine a while back. (Jon schindehette featured it on his blog if you want to see a larger version.) This week it faced the harsh eye of a Ninja Mountain critique. How did it fare? You'll have to listen to episode 44 to find out! Or wait for me to put up a post-critique version after the episode is released.