Coral Polyp Study

Age of Empires - Expansion concept cover

Cut away - Bag End from J.R.R. Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings"

This one required a lot patience, I had stopped and started at least 50 times. I think in total the piece took me around 80 - 100 hours (I should have kept a log or something).

The original 35" x 24" drawing was first sketched out on bond paper after extensive reference from the Lord of the Rings novels, films and art (especially Allan Lee's and Howard Shore's concept work). The perspective was re-enforced by a grid that I laid behind the sketch. The next step was pencil rendering over the sketch, which is what took the bulk of the time (at least 70%). I scanned in the drawing, then colourized and enhanced it using Photoshop CS3. I must admit I did enjoy working on this piece, but at times it felt like I would never finish it... and of course to celebrate I watched the entire Lord of The Rings extended trilogy in one day (that's aprox. 11 hours)

Note: This piece looks a lot better in the giant print version.

Mayan head dress concept

Mayan concept