Sasquatch Parasite

Hey all!
This post was designed as a gift for my dear friend Emma. I tried to get other people involved, but with very little success. Anyhow, Merry Christmas, Emma. Hope you're having fun in New York, and hope you enjoy my terrible Christmas tree art. Also, isn't it wonderful to image some kind of jolly parasite feasting on the vital merriment of some giant festive creature, forcing jollyvibes into its corroded brain, forcing it to devour cookies and milk until it falls into an insulin coma?
For everyone else, it's a long story. Merry Christmas.

Merry Friggin' Christmas

Hey all! Who says I ain't got holiday cheer? More work to come.

Devil Dancer

Hey all!
I had an idea for this image after reading a section in China Mieville's Iron Council. The section was about demons of movement that lived in empty deserts and fed on rhythm. The idea was fascinating enough to me to devote an hour or so's work towards. Seriously, though, this would be a challenging painting to do, so I think I'm almost obliged to do it. Now I just need to get me a model who can dance :P If I can get the models, this one WILL be painted, rest assured. I feel like this one deserves to have actual humans involved.
I had so much fun with the concept of this piece as I was working on it. A human girl, allowed into the company of demons because she possesses a skill none of them can learn; the ability to contact the less physical elements of the spirit world. Demons of air and whispers, of dreams and breath. Her dance conjures these ethereal beings and makes them her slaves as they gorge on the hunger for a body they can never touch. This ancient rite began as a ritual, but to the modern demon it is little more than a diversion, but one that enslaves them just as much as their bodiless cousins. But then, what can be said of this young girl, using her body and her grace in the way a whore entices men; to command the world for her own benefit, demanding any price of her ghastly patrons, knowing that no price is too high for her unique services. Which one is the true devil; she who enslaves fleshless spirits with her lithe body, or those who pay her to do so for their own pleasure?
More to come :)

Antibody (Dreams of a Stone Head)

Hey all! This is just a little doodle I did in a coffee shop the other day, punched up with some photoshopping. I've been reading China Mieville's Iron Council so I've been in kind of a weird mood, so this felt very appropriate. It's a very interesting book, if you haven't checked it out. I can't say it's good, exactly, but it is interesting. The man's got a great sense of world-building, but his plots are getting less and less engaging. I highly recommend his first novel, Perdido Street Station. It's one of the weirdest, most wonderful books I've ever read, and really got my imagination working, which is, sadly, more than I can say for more writers these days.
This tangent is because I don't have much to say about this picture. I might refine the sketch a little and could paint it some day. I need to change the little dude, though. I just made him an alien thing because I've been reading The Invisibles from Grant Morrison and I've been thinking of aliens as the universe's antibodies. Damn good series, if you haven't seen it. I reread it every year or so to make sure I've gotten all of it. It's awesome if you're into a) magic b) spies c) Lovecraft d) intelligent action comics. And again, I'm recommending books, but this one I don't know if I can recommend highly enough. If you can wrap your head around it, it's just all around good.
Anyhow, more to follow shortly. Also, Montreal in winter is terribly pretty, but very inconvenient if you prefer to walk everywhere.

Beast of The Apocalypse

Hey all!
As many of you know, I'm one of the founders and organizers of the official Montreal Drink & Draw Night. We've been meeting weekly at Hurley's Irish Pub to draw, chat and down a couple of pints. Last week's get together was an utter disaster. No one showed up at all. It was just me and my fish and chips. Just the same, I got some work done, as we see here.
I did the graphite sketch on the night of the event, and the photoshop tones tonight to punch it up a little and make it closer to a tonal comp. The sketch needs some work, but I think this could be an image one day.
Also, for anyone who isn't reading it, I highly recommend the blog Muddy Colors to any and all artists. It's one of the best I've seen for artists. It's really worth reading. Hell, it's worth memorizing.
More to come.

The Hedge Wizard

Hey all!
This is a little something I made for a friend's house-warming gift. This was really just a clever excuse for me to oil paint on a sheet of Terraskin paper! I've been meaning to use this stuff for a while, and now that I've finally had a chance to try it out, I'm pleasantly surprised. To anyone who wants to use it; it's cheap, it's eco-friendly to the max, and oil paint just loves it. It also feels like really thin leather, but I can't decide if that's a plus or a minus.
I made a very detailed tonal pencil sketch in HB graphite. This paper really loved graphite (but not erasing it). Afterwards, I did a fast oil embauche (thank you James Gurney) and let that set overnight. The rest of the painting was done in one day in about a single layer with a fair amount of blending but keeping things very transparent to keep as much of my pencil drawing as I could.
This work was done on a short time limit. If I'd had more time, I could have played with it longer. As it was, this was a good practice, and made for a nice gift.
As for the theme, I just started drawing someone with a crazy ass costume in that position. I thought of adding an animal to the mix, to make it all that much more random, and I immediately thought of hedgehogs. So whatever, it works on some level.

Moloch: The Return

Hey all!
I've been really starving for a new idea lately, and, as it usually happens, I've gone to an old idea. This being in fact the first piece of art I ever put on deviantart. Here, we have an old character for whom I feel a great dear of fondness: Moloch, the black fire of Tophet, besmeared in blood and parent's tears. I wrote a short story years ago with Moloch as my main character. I turned him into a tragic figure, lost in today's age, barely surviving off of sacrifices made to himself. My original Moloch concept was a little more gothic than this new incarnation. In many old images, Moloch is a giant brass bull, serving as an oven in which children as cooked in sacrifice. I've incorporated the bull imagery into his shoulder pads, but the main image I went with was children and fire. Moloch's head is made from an enlarged child's skull, it's mouth stitched shut to compensate for a lack of teeth, and to add to the terror of his appearance. The bulls on his shoulders are slick with cooked blood and burnt grease. His body is that of the purely childhood bogey-man; his long limbs, embalmed in human hair and the feathers of carrion crows, are a terror to behold. His nails, sharper than flint knives, pluck at the dreams of innocents as they sleep and invite them to make grim sacrifices in his name. Held within his wicked clawed ribs is his fire, used to burn away the life of sacrifices so that their fear might flow through his dry veins like cancerous blood.
Moloch haunts the dark and desperate parts of the world, where hunger and poverty give way to madness and desperation. There, his clutching ribs find easy pray that may be consumed in the wretched fire of Moloch's heart. Moloch feeds on the tears of desperation and he, in turn, weeps for his victims with dessicated eyes that have not shut since the age of man began. He must survive, but he has no love or hate for his victims. He feels only pity for the frail bodies know nourish his corrupt spirit. Moloch desires to continue existing, and knows not why only the burnt flesh of children nourish him, and he has no desire to learn. He simply feeds, and weeps.
Anyhow, hope you like it :)

Gutshovel

Hey all! Sorry it's taken so long to update. I've been feeling a little uninspired lately. Office work is most likely the cause. Anyhow, here's a little something to tide you all over.
I really love avant-garde metal. I got into it back when LastFM didn't suck, and I've been trying to find what I can since. One of my favorites is Made Out of Babies. Is fun to hear such aggression coming from a girl. One day I was walking to work and the song Gutshovel from Made out of Babies came onto my mp3 player. I suddenly felt inspired to make this picture based on the song.
If anyone wants to check this song out and can't find it, I wouldn't be too surprised. Still, I applaud your effort if you do.

Drink and Draw!

Hey all!
Here are some of the precious artifacts of the 2nd monthly Montreal Drink & Draw (totally unofficial). These were the slightly less-terrible pages. It's all pretty random, so I don't even know if I really want to get into what all these images mean. And rest assured, they all exist for a reason. Suffice to say, this pages has inside jokes from school, stuff I thought of at work, local stray cats, The Monster of Glamis (who I plan to explore more thoroughly soon enough) taxidermied beer bottles, The Residents (look them up, seriously), and a little bit of Art Deco inspired madness.
There's something really nice about going to a pub and just drawing. I've desperately missed hanging out with artists, and doing this on a regular basis has been really nice. And, y'know, a couple of pints once a week don't hurt.

The Crow

I've been chatting with a guy who works at the coffee shop I frequent, and he's been preaching the merits of The Crow. Despite everything, I've never read it. Seen the first movie, though, and I did like it, but that's about it. And I know enough about shitty movies to know not to watch anything beyond the first one. Anyhow, I feel like I've been starving for inspiration, so I figured I'd draw The Crow. I think it turned out okay. I really feel enjoy working in ink sometimes. It makes me think of those good-old days when finger painting was an acceptable medium. At least, the way I do it does.
Anyhow, this was done in HB graphite, Pilot G-Tech pen and brush pen, with a little assist from photoshop to punch it up a bat. I don't necessarily believe in the value of digital painting, but I do appreciate how it can help sketches and comps.

A Long-Awaited Secret

Hey all!
So I know I haven't made as many updates lately. Not as many as I would like. I want you to know that this is the primary reason for it. Behold, a rare glimpse into my workspace. Here we have my precious drawing table, and the seven horrors who are currently holding my interest. These paintings are for a two-fold purpose. First of all, each one of them was done in a slightly different style. I've tried different combinations of mediums in each one, varying between acrylic and oil for different steps. I feel like I'm still trying to figure out what I like to paint with best, and this has been very illuminating indeed. I don't want to get into the particulars of each one just yet, as there may be more that I do to each one before too long, but so far this has been a very interesting and rewarding experience. Suffice to say, I've spent a long time looking into the techniques of various artists whom I respect and admire, and have been trying to emulate their methods to some extent in each of these pieces. Besides the names of the creatures depicted in each (and they all have names), I think of these in terms of the artist who's style is inspiring me.
The second purpose I hinted at is that there's an upcoming event in Montreal, called Expozine. I'm aiming to be there with a couple of friends to sell my wares and make a few connections. These paintings are, in part, an effort to expand my wares. But really, money aside, these pieces are meant to be a learning experience.
For the time being, each piece is on double-thick Illustration board which has been coated in about three coats of watered-down gesso. Also, in some cases, there's a few layers of acrylic wash over-top of that. The lot of them are pretty diverse. I'll get into specifics when each piece is finished, which, god-willing, will be in short-order.
Also, see that big, blank board up in the corner? I have big plans for that.

Mercy: Hero of the 21st Century!!

Hey all!
This is a little something I've had on my mind for a while now. I've been playing with the idea of a pulp-action style, two-fisted hero. Or, in this case, heroine. I've immersed myself in everything I could find related to the era of the ridiculous, over-the-top action hero, and I ended up with this character, Mercy. I noticed how just about all female protagonists in pulp-action stories are so horribly exploitative, and I wanted to do something to undermine that.
Mercy was born Helena Dare, is the daughter of a famous explorer and scientist, Prof. Hugo Dare, and younger sister of noted hero and vigilante, Marcus Dare. Little Helena never saw eye-to-eye with her family, so she instead took up the life of the academic, working closely alongside archeologist and naturalist Prof. Maximilian Ramsey. The two grew to be quite close, until the fateful day when Prof. Ramsey was found assassinated with a bullet through his head. Helena was able to turn up the calling card of her beloved mentor's killer, the international criminal mastermind, Umberto Umbra. Now, resurrecting her family's history of daring-do, but keeping it a secret from her immediate family, Helena has taken on the personal of Mercy to thwart Umbra's plans at every turn and battle his hideous minions at every turn, in order to uncover what made her beloved professor worthy of being a target of one of the most vile men on earth.
More to follow, I promise. I've been thinking about this idea A LOT :)

Necromantia

Hey all!
Sorry that I haven't posted anything new for a little while. In fact, I've been working on a rather large project that I'll show you as soon as I get some batteries for my camera. In the meantime, I haven't been sitting idle. Here is one of my latest sketches, with a little photoshopping to give it some depth. This is a character I came up with months ago, really just for fun. I call her Necromantia. That head at her side is being kept alive by an Herbert West-style green chemical used to resurrect the dead. She's a bit of a steampunk necromancer. Basically, my excuse to draw beautiful woman and severed heads together ;)

Pascale

Hey again! I've been making a point of attending regular model-drawing nights at my old alma-mater. The other night they had about the best model they've ever had. I don't know if I can identify particularly why she was the best, but she was. Great poses, great presences, just totally worth it. Of all the pictures I did that night, this was my favorite. I messed up a little on the hand, but she moved her hand a bit during the 15 minute pose, so I figured I'd focus on the main element, her back and the associated muscles.
This while piece was done with a brush pen, which some people couldn't believe. My secret; brush pen's leave pools of ink. I used that ink as a reservoir to make fingerprints. I used those as my texture. I really enjoyed it. Next model night, I'm bringing some wet mediums.

Jeremy

Hey again! This is another piece I made especially for my litter vernissage. This was part of a series I had in mind to center around adorable things and horrible monsters. I have a few more that I'm working on, just in time for Halloween. Until those get a little further along, here we have the first of these creatures I've ever put to paint. I call him Jeremy. He has a teddy. It is a nice teddy.
This was really fun to paint, if only because I felt a real affection for this creature. I love monsters. As such, there will certainly be more to follow.
Oil on canvas board. Also, I don't think I'll be using canvas board again any time soon. I'm experimenting with some new mediums to see how they work for what I want to do.

The Beauty No One Sees

Hey all! This is one of the pictures I made for my vernissage, about two months ago. I finally got to varnishing and scanning this. Granted, I should have photographed it, but live and learn.
By the by, the place I had my vernissage at is now closed. Go figure.
Anyhow, this piece was really just a test, both of oil paint and of a style I've wanted to explore for some time now; the juxtaposition between ugly monsters and beautiful women. The woman in this painting is meant to be supermodel-ish (not necessarily beautiful, but alien-pretty) to contrast the piggish ugliness of the other figure in the painting. This was really just a test. Now I need to test some new mediums. Coming soon.

Koschei The Deathless

Hey all! I've been wanting to get this piece submitted sooner than this, but it took me about two weeks to get my hands on a scanner big enough to accommodate this piece.
Before I get into the real nitty gritty here and just paraphrase my deviantart entry on the same piece, is anyone familiar with conceptart.org? Frankly, it's a very pretty website, but actually using it? Bloody forget it. This website hates its users and wants to make the whole process as complicated as humanly possible. Unless you're a spectator, stay far, far away. So, they don't get this piece and you, my readers, do.
Now, back to the matter at hand.
Koschei is a middle-range figure from Russian mythology. He's sometimes a servant of Baba Yaga, but generally he is simply a monster who rips people to shreds and can't be killed. His main concept is that he hid his soul in (and I'm not making this up) a needle, which he hid in an egg, which he hid in a duck, which he hid in a rabbit, which he hid in a box (or nesting dolls, depending on who you read) which he hid in the roots of an old tree which is on some island way out in the middle of nowhere with a million billion trees on it. Only by finding the needle (and, in some cases, breaking it against Koschei's forehead) can you kill him. Otherwise, Koschei is an insane old monster who can't die. I kept very close to the original myth while making this piece, wanting this guy to look just pure evil.
I had a lot of fun with the mark-making for this piece. The many textures I worked into this piece gave me great opportunities to try for the full extent which graphite could give me. I'll have to try more soon. There's something very nice about this medium; it's simple.
HB and 6B graphite on sketchbook paper.

Pumpkin Johnson!

Hey all!
No better way to begin October's posts with a little bit of monster action. Here's one of my own original characters. My schoolmates can attest to how many times I drew this little bugger on my desk. I wanted to make the most ridiculous action hero type character that I could who would still be a viable badass. Also, I can't begin to explain why, but I've always loved Pumpkin-headed creatures. This is about an hour's worth of graphite and brush pen followed by about four hours of photoshopping. I was really experimenting with this, trying new stuff. It was fun to get back into photoshop. I still love my traditional mediums, but it was good to get that out of my system.
Also, as soon as I can get my hands on a slightly larger scanner, there'll be more goodness on the way.

I love Hellboy

Hey all! Anyone who knows me or who has seen my library knows that I'm a huge Hellboy fan. He's a fun character, he's interesting, and he's one of those creations that makes me wish I'd thought of it, and there aren't many of those. Anyhow, I got bored in a coffee shop after taking a peek at The Crooked Man, and figured I'd pay my top comic hero a little homage. Hope you enjoy it.

Beasts and Beauties

Hey again! To just throw a little spice into my art and keep the darker places thing from getting too overwhelming, I give you a random page from my sketchbook. That way I was feeling kind of uninspired while I was at the coffee shop, but I found some fashion mags, and I considered a post I'd recently seen on conceptart.org, which, despite all its best intentions, I hate like a carnivorous virus. Anyhow, here we have some of my early work towards their concept for an 8-bit character redesigned: Firebrand from Gargoyle's Quest 2, an amazing game.
Firebrand rocks, enough said.
Also, the girl's are all from the random fashion magazine that was on the table next to me. I spent a while with the mag, trying to find decent pictures. Oddly, the same coffee shop wasn't really had any fashion magazines since, so I guess I had to make the most of it. I hear my old school's doing model nights on Thursdays now, so I'm gonna have to look into that. God knows I could use more models, and god knows my friends aren't doing enough posing for me. Oh well...

Beelzebub

Hey all! I figured that I would put something up that had nothing to do with Darker Places. Just a for-fun piece I did a while back in a coffee shop. Here we have my vision of Beelzebub, the lord of lies. I've always had this image of him in my mind, as a demon with segmented eyes and fly legs for teeth, who thrives off seduction and trickery. I've always drawn him as half-human and half fly, at times I've designed him as a giant winged maggot. Fun guy to work with. Anyhow, I was thinking of using this as the tonal scene for a painting. Thoughts and comments? Let me know!

Darker Places: The Halfway House

Hey all! Once again, we have another post in the Darker Places series. Here, we have what was originally the core of the series. This place was the heart of everything, back when I had this idea originally. This is The Half-Way House. Half way between the world of the story, and every other world.
The house itself serves as a border between multiple worlds. While its front door opens into a realm of darkness and wonder, the Half-Way House has many doors, each leading to another world. At any time, the Half-Way House is full of dozens of visitors; sleepers, maniacs and the truly gifted all pass through the thresholds of this house. It serves as a pleasant and mostly safe respite for those with the talent or ability to venture beyond themselves and their own worlds into something greater and, often, more terrible.
Serving as custodian and guardian of the house is an enigmatic creature who calls himself Hypnos Friend. Mr. Friend's appearance is hard to ascertain, though his presence is always felt as a strange halo of wellbeing and quiet unease, like having a pleasant afternoon tea while sitting with a serial killer. In truth, Hypnos may in fact be a god, or some remnant of human desire made strong enough to manifest in the form of the perfect host. Mr. Friend attends to the needs of everyone in his house in swift order, and prevents any attacks on the Half-Way house, of which there are many, for many know of the significance of the house and wish to tap into it's powerful potential.
Somewhere, in one of the upper rooms of the house, far from the madmen and schemers who normally roam the halls, is a young girl. Her life, her entire world, has been the rooms and halls of this house, and nothing more. Her private room is always well kept and tidy, and Mr. Friend regards her with a special affection. She has always been in Half-Way house, and no one can say why. Her name is Pistol. This is her story.

Darker Places: Xura

As promised, here's post number two for tonight. Behold another corner of the world of Darker Places, also inspired by Lovecraft; Xura, the land of Pleasures Unattained.
From the outside, Xura looks like a paradise on earth. Vast hills and valleys of flowers and verdant life as far as they eye can see. On the outside, the wilderness of Xura appeals to every sense, but scratching the surface of this wonderland reveals the gangrenous infection under the surface.
The winds of Xura carry both the songs of joyous celebration and revelry as well as the wretched strench of plague deaths and charnel pits. Every hill of flowers grows ravenously atop catacombs and mass graves. Nothing lives in Xura. Things may suffer and rot and decompose within the corruption of their own desires, but nothing truly lives in Xura. Even the vibrant greenery only feeds on the death and rot of spent desire and lost joy. Xura is a carnivorous land that masks its blighted nature with a painted surface, like a bright and colorful mask disguising the face of a desecrated corpse.
Enjoy the Hunter's Moon! It's supposed to be marvelous. I have a tree in the way...

Darker Places: Thalarian

Hey again! To compensate for the fact I didn't update last night, I'll be including two editions of my Darker Places series. For starters, we have the City of 1000 Wonders: Thalarian.
Thalarian was briefly mentioned by H.P. Lovecraft in his story The White Ship. I've adopted it into my darker places series. I felt it was a proper fit.
Thalarian is called the city of wonders with just cause. Each building is a palace, both temple and skyscraper, towering monuments to ingenuity and fortitude. The city is a veritable gallery of marvels. Each structure is a work of architectural genius and contains works of science and art that would baffle even the greatest minds. A single one of the great towers of Thalarian could occupy a human mind for a lifetime, and Thalarian is a city of almost endless towers. Streets stretch on for sightless miles, lined with structures grander and more imposing than the last.
However, looking beyond these wonders, the stale air of horror begins to permeate the senses. Thalarian is not so much a place of imagination as of obsession. The streets are paved in the pale dust of countless bones. The cries of the frustration and desperation of the long departed are carried on the breezes that sail between the vast towers, carrying the dust of their own powdered remains. The very air is thick with the sickly perfume of greed and regret. Down shaded streets, the rare wanderer can be found scouring the dust for some new inspiration,some new marvel, like junkies scrambling for a fix, only to reject it moments laters. To know the wonders of Thalarian are to be ever hungry for more. The city contains more marvels than anyone can explore in a lifetime, and the city itself seems to feed on that unsatisfied curiosity. Demons roam the streets of Thalarian, promising some new wonder, some new obsession, and linger around their victims like plague muses, siphoning off the feelings of longing and awe as if they were nectar.
Somewhere in the alleys and byways of Thalarian is the dreaded Lathi. Lathi's true form cannot be guessed at, as to gaze upon Lathi is to know the face of insanity and to be forever lost to Thalarian. Those who meet the Idol of Madness soon pave the dusty streets of Thalarian with their corpses. Lathi may be another demon, cunning enough to have given itself a name and dominance over its peers, or it could be something more sinister. Some say that Lathi is a god, lost and imprisoned within the city, soaking up inspiration and ideas in the hopes that it will eventually find its way out of the grip of the City of 1000 Wonders.

Darker Places: The Great Nowhere

Hey all! I took the weekend off at my folks place. I've got some art to show from it, but you'll just have to be patient for now. Why, you may holler? Because I've got yet another installation of my Darker Places series. This one if one of the oldest ideas I've had for this series, one of the originals; The Great Nowhere.
Deep in the recesses of the world without a name is a vast desert. Vaster than any world. No life can subsist in this space; not even the heartiest forms can last for long in this infinite wasteland. However, those with the skill an fortitude to survive into the deepest dunes may glimpse a true miracle. As far separated from any life as is conceivably possible, a vast obsidian pillar juts out of the bitter sands, rising hundreds of meters into the air. Atop this sheer pinnacle is a garden whose lushness is hardly seen anywhere in all the worlds, let alone in this improbable setting. The garden is ever green and lush, never dying or tiring but forever verdant and beautiful. It's said that one of the few gods who remain in this desolate, unravelling plane is responsible for this oasis. Other still claim that the god is in fact still inhabiting this garden of unearthly delights. Some claim that the invisible guardian, towering and unseen, if proof of its divinity, as many have perished in an attempt to scale the sheer walls of this nameless oasis, their bones now little more than dust in the seemingly endless desert.
Whether some divine power inhabits the garden or not is unknown, but so few have gazed upon its wonders that no one can even begin to speculate.
Also, I did a little photoshopping on this, just for the sake of the tones. More to come soon.

Darker Places: Descent

Hey all! Yet another addition to my Darker Places series. I don't know if I've stated it here, but I plan to paint some of these. Watercolor, gouache, maybe acrylic. I'm still thinking of practicalities. Anyhow, my new addition is yet another city; the infernal twin-city of Descent.
The name Descent is almost a joke amongst the population. The city in fact has two true names, one for each wall of the massive gulf that makes up the city proper, but everyone simply refers to the city as Descent. The vast architecture of both halves of Descent honeycomb the stone walls and dig themselves deep into the earth. Both halves of the city function independently of one another, and even trade with one another as if they were separate lands. Each half of the city has its own customs, arts and beliefs. And schemes. Though there have been conflicts in the past due to the polarized nature of the twin-city, they have usually been brief and subtle. Descent's true strength is something that both sides of the city can share, and it is also what keeps the city-states separate: the gulf.
For all intents and purposes, the gulf is bottomless. Descent has carved itself deep into the walls that oversee the gulf but only to a point. After a certain depth, construction of the ever-expanding city peters out, and few will willingly stay close to the gulf for long. The gulf is a place of deep mystery: a source of incredible power and even greater danger. The scientists of Descent have learned to harness the powers that seep from the depths of the gulf and bend it to their wills. The city and its industries (largely based around stone and gem-work and some metallurgy) are powered by energies drawn from the gulf. However, the gulf is not treated as a bottomless put, but rather as a divinity. Despite the temptation, the citizenry of Descent do not callously throw objects into the bottomless abyss, not so much as trash. To do so is considered a taboo and even accidental dumping must promptly be followed by an absolving prayer, begging the powers of the gulf for their forgiveness. People of Descent are largely separate because few people dare to cross the gulf. Once every twelve days, bridges are cast over the gulf allowing trade and transit, but any other movement across the gulf outside these times is generally forbidden. The only alternative is to leave the pits of Descent and trek across the barren wasteland that lies at the top of the gulf; an inhospitable plateau of searing winds and sand-blasted rock, and perhaps worse horrors still. The trip is hard and takes several days.
What lies inside the gulf that its citizenry would fear it so, yet still dare to tap into its wellspring of power?

Darker Places: Zeragith City

Hey again! I haven't posted in a little while, but don't assume that means I've been sitting on my hands. Here's my latest piece of conceptual location art, the Zeragith city, another part of my old Halfway House idea. Want more details? It's a long story, feels like it's from a lifetime ago. Just go to my older posts for Darker Places.
The Zeragith are a race of psionic bounty-hunters and mercenaries. It's believed they came from another dimension, one far more alien than anyone can comfortably grasp. It's believed that the city they erected in brass an obsidian was them trying to render their homeland in the crude materials at hand. It's believed that their city is situated so far from all other life because conscious thought is like white noise to the Zeragith, and that their tempers are short enough to silence that noise with little provocation. It's believed that gods walk the shadowey corridors of the city, long since bent in servitude against the powerful and alien minds of the city's inhabitants. It's believed the city is merely an outpost, a scout to a far greater invasion. The Zeragith are surrounded my speculation in the way a corpse is surrounded by flies. All that is known is that the Zeragith, when they can be coaxed from the depths of their whispering city, work as mercenaries and bounty hunters to the wicked and truly insane, for to deal with these creatures is to barter away your sanity.
Anyone foolhardy or desperate enough to cross the miles of jagged stone wilderness that separates the Zeragith from all other sentient life rarely ever report the journey to be a worthwhile one. Anyone directly confronted by one of these horrors will only remember a strong headache, words spoken too fast directly into their minds in a voice that sounds like grinding stone, and a floating silhouette of painted bone and oily ribbons of black flesh. The implacable creatures float aimlessly through the brass towers, conversing to one another in clouds of thought and alien sensations. Only those with true purpose even get close to the city, as the Zeragith have set up traps in the shadows of rocks and the angles of sunlight to distract and confuse intruders. Their remains can be found littering the stones on the path to the city and their unquiet and maddened spirits drift through the air like soot, begging for guidance and solace.
One this is certain: this place houses monsters.

The Ghoul's Birthday

Hey again!
Just a fast one this time. Sometimes, you just get an idea out of nowhere. Sometimes, that idea involved a birthday party for a ghoul. It happens.

Shotgun Enthusiast

Hey again! I'll be busy with posting stuff for the next little while. I've got quite a backlog to purge. In that spirit is one of my few forays into fan-art. Here we see Mr. Pendulum, stalwart sidekick of Wormwood from the amusing series of the same name. I love Ben Templesmith's art, and his ideas are no less sharp and fresh. I've enjoyed this character from the first moment I found out what he was. Fun concept, fun dialogue and his general love of mayhem makes Mr. Pendulum unforgettable. You won't often find me indulging in fan art, but this is a rare exception.

Weird West: Critters on the Range

Hey again!
I was in the mood to do some darker western stuff. I've been looking for some books with Western influences, though not necessarily westerns. I've been reading Steve Niles' Cal McDonald novels, and I've had a long-time admiration for mixed genre literature, generally when it's mixed with something supernatural and ghastly. In that spirit, I felt like doing a drawing of some poor old Wanderer of the Purple Sage meeting his match in the form of an unsavory beast out in the range. Who will emerge victorious? Who can tell. I mostly wanted to play around with lighting in this piece. Graphite makes for a fun campfire illustration. I've got another piece in mind that'll make its way here before too long.

Darker Places part 1

Hey again!
After my last illustration for the shores of Arcade (which, I'm now certain, I must paint) I've decided to go a little further into this old world of mine and see what else comes to mind. In the immortal words of Michael Keaton, "let's turn on the juice and see what shakes loose."
Here, we have the far shores of Arcade. If you were to venture three days into the ocean beyond those pestilent shores, you'd spy the abomination that is The Pillars. Older than recorded history, these gigantic constructs of stone and iron are rumored to be the ancient shores of a land long since sunk below the seas, a land of god and giants, swallowed by the waves for their hubris and decadence. Or they could simply have been intended for what they are now; a prison. High atop these vast, bone-white monoliths is a city of convicts, forever bound to their hopeless fate high atop their stone island. Though they've hollowed the vast pillar with their tunnels and used the resulting stone to build a vast city, their home is constantly on the verge of grinding down to nothing. Resources are scarce, and more so are decent men. Anyone on the city of The Pillar would gladly murder and devour their fellow man in a moment. This is a place of hunger, of desperation, and visitors would do well to be wary. Though there is trade to be found, how often is it bartered with a life?

Shores of Arcade

Hey again! I wanted to do a couple of landscape pieces. I don't know if this really is one, as I think I might look up some more refs. This was done from scratch. Anyhow, I amalgamated a few old stories in my head today, and decided to do a little drawing towards them. It's amazing how good this new pencil holder makes me feel :) Anyhow, I had this old idea, for a world that exists outside the material plane we all know and love, and another idea, taking place in a world just beyond the borders of Hell (see my entry on The Vile Child). Anyhow, I thought of combining the two, and exploring them further.
Here we see the shores of the distant city of Arcade, which exists half on the edge of Hell and on the farthest border of the sea of dreams. Here we see the harbor; a dilapidated shanty-town, cobbled together from old ruins and beached ships, every building an idol to the art of scavenging. Pieced together from fallen ships, or cobbled into new life by the locust-like inhabitants from older structures, Arcade is a parasitic city, subsisting on architecture long since abandoned. Here, on the shores, we see where the filthy locust children of Arcade gather the resources for their shanty-towns, and the paths into the darker city-heart, littered with the foreboding arches that overshadow ever flit of movement in these filthy warrens. How much of Arcade is old and how much is new is known only to the brutal children who inhabit the cities' dark corridors.
I'm thinking about actually painting this. I think I will...

Some new Freaks

Hey again!
So, last night was the night of my little show in downtown Montreal with several of my closest friends. It was a really good experience. Sure, we didn't see a big turnout, but it wasn't a big venue. And we've certainly learned some lessons from this one. I completed two new paintings which, as soon as they're varnished, will no doubt find their way to this humble blog.
Anyhow, we have another show coming up on October 29th. For that, I'll be sure to have more new stuff set up, and more advertising taken care of. Will these new images be somehow associated with that new show? Probably now, but just the same, I was just today.Here we have an afternoon's worth of artwork. After I put my ugly monster (top right) over a backdrop of London bridge, I remembered and old idea I'd had about doing a group of creatures under a bridge. Here, on the top right, we see those creatures as creatures no longer. This underbridge oracle may yet see its way to another form of life. The bottom two are just concepts that went through my head. Considering the date of our next show is so close to Halloween, I wanted to come up with some more monstrous concepts. More to come very shortly.
Also, I just got myself a set of pencil holders, which are absolutely marvelous.

Self Portrait with Minion

Hey all! In the midst of something kinda big. In the meantime, here's a quite, one-hour sketch I did of my my cat and myself. Trying out some new mark marking stuff, and I really enjoy it. My pencil's shaved to have about an inch of lead bared like a tiny black lance. Strangely, it's freeing. Also, once these current little projects are done, I'll be starting up something new. I had an idea for a series (and a technique) I want to try, so I'll be exploring that soon.
I the meantime, anyone fortunate or lost enough to read this, you are both corgially and forcefully invited to my (and several of my friend's) second vernissage. It'll be held this Thursday night, August 26th, at Bistro Etranger. Come stare at pretty pictures and listen to free music, you adoring public, you!

Devilish Sketchdump

Hey everyone! Once again, I've begun work, and I've been trying to keep my artwork going as much as possible. Part of my regime to, after every shift at work, I got to a local coffee shop/bookstore and draw for at least an hour. To that end, I've decided to include a couple of sketches to mitigate the fact that I haven't really updated recently. I've been drawing, rest assured, but nothing that I'd consider posting here. We're always out own toughest critics.
Above is something I devised just yesterday, and have decided to render in oils. Below is just a couple of sketches that I may have to keep working on, but they show some degree of promise. I like where they're going, I'm just not sure where that is yet. I've always enjoyed a kind of Halloween aesthetic, and I've been trying to figure out the best means of working it into some paintings. This is my first stab at it. If I felt like it, I'd be photographing my drawing table to show you, my public, my various new paintings which are in the works. But I really don't, so you'll just have to imagine them. For now...

The Vile Child

Hey all! Sorry it's been so long since my last update. Things have changed quite significantly on my end. I'm back to work, at long last. Though it's not an art job, it seems like it'll be a lot of fun, a real challenge, and I'm really looking forward to learning more there. Also, one of the biggest perks is that it's very flexible, so I'm still able to pursue my true interests. To that end, I've decided to dredge up an old character of mine and breathe some new life into him.
I had this story, years ago, about a caste of demons living in the suburbs of Hell. See, my idea was that the 9 nine circles of Hell we know and love. Think of the circles as the industrial section of Hell, and this story would take place in the residential part of the netherworld. This is Stray. He belongs to a caste of demon who spend their entire existences looking like children. They're viciously carnivorous and frighteningly pretty. The largest population live in the Hell ghetto of Arcade: a vast, bleak warren of twisting alleys and filthy tenements, packed suffocatingly-close together. The entire district is in a constant state of revelry, caught up in endless childrens games that lie uneasily between merriment and warfare. The streets are littered with trampled candy and soiled bandages, and forever patrolled by hungry packs of razor-toothed children, their eyes gleaming with predatory coldness.
I still think this idea's fun. I should try and rework some of the other characters I had from this.
More to follow shortly...

The Brucolac

I'm trying out something a little different in terms of technique. I found it in a book from James Gurney (which I really need to buy) where he goes over his painting and drawing techniques. That, and I'm really enjoying using my new brush pen.
I've been reading The Scar from China Mieville for the past little while. I loved Perdido Street Station, and I really love this one. This man had a masterful imagination at work. I just read about the city/state of High Cromlech, and I was fascinated! In tribute of that, I drew one of the books more interesting characters; The Brucolac, vampiric leader of the Dry Falls riding of the pirate city of Armada. There's something really deeply interesting about this character, and I'm eager to see what further role he plays in the book. I may do a larger series of drawings from the book. Mieville's works is very inspiring.

Tastes like Forehead

Hey all! Another coffee shop sketch, using the 8B again. I made this sketch bigger than the last, To try and get more detail in. As I was working on this, I realized I needed to come up with more diverse concept art if I'm going to hope to build my portfolio. Does anyone have any suggestions for what I should do? Let me know.
Also, this one comes with a bonus, you get to see a tiny thumbnail of a larger image I was contemplating.

This Mortal Blade

This is a piece I meant to do during I.Z.M. 2010, but I ran out of time. He's an old character I kind of did on a whim who I've wanted to give a fresh treatment, and what better reason to revisit an old idea than getting my fancy new Pentel Brush Pen. I've wanted to get one for years, and I had a couple of bucks left over from my birthday. So, huzzah.
This guy is a former, disgraced samurai, having died in an honorable duel with a fellow warrior. His head was cut right down the middle and he was left to rot at the side of the road. A wanderer, be they a sorcerer, a demon or a god, took pity on him and decided to rebuild him, albeit imperfectly. His original intention (for me as well) was for him to be a force of terror and sorrow, but too much of his disgraced spirit remained in his mangled form. And frankly, how can something looking this goofy be truly evil? Here we see him with the severed head of a fellow undead warrior, who serves as his traveling companion/projectile weapon.
Pentel makes a good pen.

Traumatist

A new piece that's technically an old piece. This is an old monster I devised years ago that I decided to give a new polish. Wanna know the idea? Of course you do.
Traumatists are named from the Greek word trauma, meaning wound. They serve as supernatural shock troopers for a cult who worship a particularly bloodthirsty demon god. Traumatists are drawn from the ranks of both loyal supplicates, and the non-believers, to show them the error of their ways. The creation of a traumatist is a ghastly, but simple ritual. A specially crafted and anointed blade is plunged into the heart of the future traumatist, henceforth known as the "victim". The blade must make it through the heart in a single thrust, or the ritual will not work. The force of the murder, combined with the intent of the blade's wielder, activated the energies infused into the weapon. The victim's death creates a vacuum where the soul used to be. The void is filled with hatred, and fueled by the victims mindlessness. The victim, now a Traumatist, is a vessel of fury and loathing with no mind to direct its energies, and very easy to control by an initiated member of the cult. Removing the blade will cause a dangerous reaction inside the empty shell of the traumatist, resulting in a horrible implosion. Destroying a sufficient piece of a traumatist's body will cause the energies that preserve the body to quickly dissipate over a few minutes.
I've been working on creating more traumatists, wounded in different ways with other weapons. People hunting for game concept artists should take note.

Emissary of the Black Flame

Hey all! A new week, a new batch of horrific artwork. This is a little something I wanted to try out. See, I've never made much use of the darker end of the B pencil spectrum, and I've been a little curious. For those who don't know, B pencils are softer and darker. An 8B is almost as high as it goes, and it feels like drawing with something between a pencil crayon and charcoal. It's not as greasy feeling as charcoal, though, and not as waxy as a pencil crayon. The results are pretty satisfying, so say the least. I'll probably do more in the future.

Clawhead

I've been experimenting more with mark making, line quality and rendering. At the same time, I've been looking at some of my favorite artists, trying to figure out what it is about them that inspires me. I've been told that I need to find what my real art looks like, without a whole lot of outside distractions. As the ever-so-talented Sean Gordon Murphy said, you need to be in your art. Now, I try and figure out how to do that.
This was just a fun coffee shop sketch. I made an effort to work on a larger scale than I usually do, taking an entire page instead of just a small corner of the page. I'm used to working small, you see.
I still need to work on the lighting a little, but I'm pretty pleased with this for the most part. I'll just have to keep experimenting and find what works. I was given a little pro-bono illustration work from a friend, so I'll be doing that before I get more seriously into my painting stuff. I've got a small one I want to warm up with before I get to the larger, more ambitious pieces that I'm still gathering references for.
Also, I really like extreme facial expressions like this.

Monsters Galore

Hey again! Here's a little insider treat for anyone interested in my process. Here we see a complete page from my sketchbook. This is pretty typical of how I draw. I fill the page, no particular forethought to placement, I just throw things down as they occur to me. I was having a particularly good creative day when I started this. It's so much fun getting back into monsters. Actually, the guy in the top right corner of the page is the first seed of a painting I'd like to work on. I need to develop the composition a little more, of course, think a little harder about backgrounds, but something appealed to me about this horrible demonic beast appearing weak and babyish. His physique, for the most part, is meant to be like a baby: kind of soft and pudgy, save for the claw-like legs. Those are just for good measure.
As I've stated before (at least I'm pretty sure I have) whenever I feel deprived of inspiration, I return to my old creative safety net: demons. The fact there are so few rules as to what they look like, but strong established rules about what they're all about, gives me a great deal of freedom.

Ol' Scratch

Hey all! Sorry I haven't been posting much lately. It's been a hectic couple of weeks. I'm still on the job hunt. It's a little appalling that no one seems to ever want to write back or acknowledge an email or CV. Just getting an automated response these days is a good sign. No matter, it's frustrating, but livable. And I still get to draw. Case in point, here's something I threw together yesterday.
I've been endeavoring to strengthen my style and technique. I've been experimenting with bolder lines, less "petting the line" as I've seen it described, and more solid strokes. Also, I've been really getting back to my first love; monsters. I've been digging through folklore, mythology, cryptozoology and my old sketchbooks for anything worth expanding on. So, here we have a character I created a number of years ago who I've always had a bit of a soft spot for: Ol' Scratch.
If you do a little homework (wikipedia is acceptable) he's one of the many names given to The Devil. Specifically, he's the Southern U.S.'s depiction of The Devil. The guy who's be waiting at a crossroads to barter your soul for some gift or other. Descriptions are usually pretty vague, since it seems to be assumed you'd know he's The Devil as soon as you saw him. I wanted to go with something that looked like something between a wealthy gentleman and the typical Southern hangin' judge: the kind of guy who's feared and respected all over. Black eyes, gnarled hands and a hideous, contemptuous sneer complete the package as one evil bastard, willing to give you your heart's desire for one hefty price.

Smoking Demon

The other night I had a little get together with some friends about the aforementioned gallery show. It was mostly to discuss advertising specifics. I'm still waiting to hear how that goes. Anyhow, after our talk, the night became a bit of a Drink n' Draw, in between a live jazz band and numerous really good comedians. I did a couple of doodles, but I kept poking at this one over the course of the night, so figured I'd post this hear. No theme in particular, I just felt like drawing a demon.