New Work-from Rough to finished

[Baldemyr]

Sorry-Chedder wanted to help me set up something on his board to display my pics but I never got around to completing that.  As soon as its complete and I have a place to display without issue, they will be back.

[Custom_Hobby]

There is always Cheddarmongers and I also offer a private gallery to members if they would like one. Let me know if I can help.

[Baldemyr]

Lets see if this works.  Off Cheddars site.


This is something ive been working on for bit-I actually ended up putting it aside for about a year.  I got stumped as to background :)

 

[Custom_Hobby]

I think this is terrific. I can not wait to move forward with the commission of Kyrie. (By the way I will sedn you an email about that in a day or so)

Do you have any other projects you are free to post?

[Fabian]

Absolutely stunning - reminiscent of Elmore if you don't mind the comparison (and she's hawt too  :icon_razz:  :icon_suspicious:)

[cheddarmonger]

She's stunning!  Very nice!

Thanks for posting her on Cheddarmongers.

You'll notice that even though pictures get resized, the full size is still available, there's a size link on the top right corner above the picture.  You can even crop thumbnails when updating pictures.  I have my site set to override thumbnail shape and crop to square for a unified site.  I hope you don't mind I cropped a thumbnail for you.  The first picture is too big for the software to handle a thumbnail crop, but you can also upload a custom thumbnail.

Also, once you post a picture, you can hit the "get item urls" link on the left, and it will give you handy html and bbcode to paste into websites and forums, such as a handy thumbnail with link to picture like so:

[Baldemyr]

Ive been compared to Elmore before (even by Elmore at the 2005 Gencon Indy lol) and I certainly wont get insulted.  My favorite artists are Larry Elmore, Mark Givens and Keith Parkinson.  Plus some Frank Miller/Simon Bisley thrown in for flavour :)


  Someday, when im sickeningly rich and have legions of fans willing to throw themselves from buildings for me (if you are gonna go big and evil, go Thulsa Doom big and evil), I want to have a miniature made of this woman.  While the cropping the picture to fit seemed to do something odd to the line of her face on the left side(it isnt like that in a larger Photoshop version), she comes across as something really special to me.

  I always pictured her in front of a large open window with some form of cloud city behind her- a priestess summoning the viewer through his dreams to her aid.

[cheddarmonger]

I'm looking forward to seeing more of your art!  You're welcome to post as much as you like on Cheddarmongers...  I'll let you know if we have capacity issues with the larger images...

I have a bunch of fantasy art books, to help me when I'm stuck while painting a mini.  2d techniques are very similar to mini painting techniques.

So, do you have any interest in scribbling up a simple Cheddarmongers banner??  :cm

[Bodhi]

  Someday, when im sickeningly rich and have legions of fans willing to throw themselves from buildings for me (if you are gonna go big and evil, go Thulsa Doom big and evil), I want to have a miniature made of this woman. 

I think it's likely that you can get her quite cheap if you turn to amateur sculptors in need of practice. We're allways on the lookout for good concepts and some might even do one for free if aproached by an artist. Not one for me though. I positively HATE Larry Elmore and company. Well done but lifeless and with far to many female bimbos for my taste. Frazetta also has sexy ladies (which I do of course like) but he gives them a sense of power and believability as warriors. Larry Elmore just makes them look like Playboy models in fantasy suits.

But you are a great artist, no doubt about it. It's just a matter of tastes here

[Baldemyr]

No problems-although me squelching my snarky responses might cause my head to explode :) 


It is all a matter of prefrence.

[Bodhi]

No problems-although me squelching my snarky responses might cause my head to explode :) 

We can't have exploding heads on such great artists. Please let it all out  :icon_w00t:
Seriously:I have been convinced to like artists I didn't previously like before and it is allways a refreshing experience.

[Baldemyr]

Well my problem is with the idea Frazetta makes them somehow more realistic as warriors-no.  He REALLY REALLY doesnt.  Short, big breasted, wide hipped and with a cool feral looks in their eyes.  Add a big cat and VOILA.  A Frezetta pinup is born.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e49/admeralsarms/frank_frazetta_egyptianqueen.jpg

Frazetta is a phenomenal artist.  He is the artist that so many-including Elmore and Parkinson- draw their inspiration from.  His work on the Conan fables, and on the Tarzan stuff...and on fantasy in general is what set the stage for all fantasy art since.

  That includes some of the familiar concepts all artists now deal with.  One of the best (other then the iconographic strength of Deathdealer) known of course is...ironically...female bimbos.(although pinup art is farrr older then that.  the instant a heterosexual male discovered he could leave marks on things, the first big boobed/assed pinup was born)
  It wasnt Robert Howard that developed what we think of as heroic fantasy-Conan only exists because of the art that depicts him.  That art contains the female with little ability to fight being protected-to the death- by the hero(some exceptions do occur..like Belit).  Larry Elmore and K Parkinson were in fact following Frazettas pattern as they developed their own art.  Hell, i doubt any artist out there in the fantasy field doesnt see Frazetta as an inspiration.

http://images.google.ca/images?svnum=10&hl=en&gbv=2&safe=off&q=Keith+Parkinson     

  Parkinsons work contains all sorts of things-including movement and dynamism, static shots of pinups and everything else.  However his technical illustration abilities go way beyond Frazettas-  the problem is you sometimes get locked into the lines too closely when you have a technical background...so looking at Frazettas priestess above there is a flow to it that isnt as common in most artists (including myself...who frankly sucks at flows).   Instead of a murky fantasy world of greys, browns and mild greens-you see a world jump to life.  He paints as realistically as possible...and the cover he did for the Everquest Game is absolutely stunning in its detailwork-  I cant find a good version off the first gamecover he did-but here is the one he did for EQs add on  -FIX FIX -I discovered the initial cover art was done by Larry Elmore lol. 

  http://www.artnews.cz/obrazky/galerie06/200610272212_obr%203%20Everquest.jpg

  An artist must make you want to become a part of the picture in my opinion.  Look at that cover-that lizard is begging for you to show how manly you are and rescue her.  His work takes you inside.  it makes you curous about what else is going on.

  http://www.atemporel.com/images/parkinson/parkinson_north_watch.jpg

  No girl here, instead we share the vastness of a cold north with this fellow.  The pictures setup is its dynamism(instead of a sword weilding dude hopping around) with your eye following the direction Parkinson desired.   The vast open spaces compared to the ranger and mounts triangular shape make your eyes move-and let you feel the sense of distance and loneliness.


http://www.steamfantasy.it/gallerie_artisti/elmore/1/larry_elmore_dragonknights.jpg

  Here we have Elmores work.  Enough movement, the wings of course driving your eyes towards the figure on top.  Both artists are in love with the vastness of a fantasy world (as am I-i dont think Frazetta was-seem more claustraphobic to me) as opposed to the nitty gritty of ugly hand to hand combat. Heck-this looks like it could be contemporary to Frazetta (except for the different dates :) )



  All three of these people are wonderful artists....but what must be understood is that when they draw pinup art, they draw pinup art.  Period.  Frazettas women are no more beleivable as warriors then Elmores or Parkinsons.  Frazettas women are simply an older style of pinup girl.  The big breasted and hipped thing isnt in fashion now...so Elmore et al tend not to draw them(ironically, I do.  The women I draw tend to come from veeeerry old pinups or nude shots.....not the athletic little pinups with fake boobs of today-Earth mothers all the way. However its rather difficult to find model material in todays world unless you can afford to hire a live model).  None of these artists wanted to be grounded in reality- and all of them painted women in combat that shouldnt have been.  While opinion is perfectly valid-especially yours with your grasp of 3dspace- the idea that Frazetta did anything but print big breasted bimbos just isnt correct.  Frazettas work is grogeous IMO for just that reason-the femenine qualities of his women(and the masculine qualities of his men).  His women are no more realistic in their depictions then Elmores.  Nearly naked, little muscle, bigger breasted, bigger hipped and armed to the teeth.  Oh plus they have a cat.

[Bungle]

So you use things like this as inspiration?

Not safe for work

finding "non gynacolocical"/porn stuff must be hard.

[Bodhi]

I choose Frazetta as comparison exactly BECAUSE he draws pinup art as well. What makes them different -in my opinion - is probably the "flow" you mentioned which I think lacks in far to many modern day fantasy artists. That flow makes a bigbreasted Bimbo (even with a cat  ;)) look dynamic and believable despite having no believable warrior features in her anatomical set up. Among miniature sculptors of today I think Kev White captures this spirit perfectly whereas the "Elmor masterworks" figures  -despite being technically brilliant - just don't. You get a feeling of posing and THAT - not the size of hips and tits - makes them undelievable in my eyes. 

[Baldemyr]

Bungle-  I use that side for the models for some of my scetches




As for Bodhi,  understood.    I actually prefer iconagraphic poses-solid ones.  So for example. Wyrd minis dont appeal to me..no matter how well drawn and crafted they are. (the artist for them is amazing btw)