My vision of the character ‘Smaug’ from J.R.R. Tolkien’s ‘The Hobbit’.
Pencil sketch, coloured digitally on IbisPaint X.
Here is a passage from The Hobbit describing Smaug’s appearance: “There he lay, a vast red-golden dragon, fast asleep; thrumming came from his jaws and nostrils, and wisps of smoke, but his fires were low in slumber. Beneath him, under all his limbs and his huge coiled tail, and about him on all sides stretching away across the unseen floors, lay countless piles of precious things, gold wrought and unwrought, gems and jewels, and silver red-stained in the ruddy light. Smaug lay, with wings folded like an immeasurable bat, turned partly on one side, so that the hobbit could see his underparts and his long pale belly crusted with gems and fragments of gold from his long lying on his costly bed.”
Standing on a block (while two men sit up top),
The horse is deep in thought, wondering "Where can we walk?"
He's distraught 'cause he knows that there is nowhere to go,
And it does no good to tell them, they'll just say "I told you so."
Watercolor on Aquarelle. This piece is incredibly close to my heart. It closely resembles the emotions that I was going through when I painted it. I tried to replicate the numbness and the restlessness that I felt in the eyes.
I had a rock tumbler as a child and really enjoyed it. When my youngest was a child we bought her one. She was eager to enjoy it too, but somewhere after starting on that path, we lost track and it everything inside turned into a solid mass. We tossed it and forgot about it. On a recent beach trip, I collected handfuls of rocks, as I am always likely to do, and, upon return, remembered how I loved my childhood rock tumbler. I immediately researched, ordered and eagerly anticipated its delivery. Of course, with Amazon Prime, that was only a couple day’s wait. As soon as I unboxed it I thought “what am I doing?” I have neither time, nor space for yet another hobby. I thought “what will I DO with a pile of polished, pretty rocks?” I would gather them in my hands and feel their silky smoothness. I would likely gather them in some beautiful glass bowl and…then what? I have toddler grand kids frequently at my home. They put small colorful things in their mouths and up their noses and feed them to the dogs regularly. And I don’t even have a single space to display a bog bowl of pretty rocks. So I quickly decided “I’m Returning the Rock Tumbler” and will, for NOW, stick to painting them when the mood strikes.
Some crazy Moleskine doodles for the day. I haven’t been doing enough of these and really need to kick my butt harder. Not sure why because it’s so dang enjoyable.
I really liked the style that I used for one of the most recent labels I did for @abominationbrewingco and @snitzcreekbrewery so I decided to mess with it a bit more. Just a quick thing. I want to draw more animals in this style. This is for me, and my wife, and my daughter. Stay strong. This is for everyone. This is for you. Stay strong. No matter what you do on a day to day basis or what you go through. You are a strong person.
The (i think) 12th and final butterfly for the Literal Butterflies Project. Wow! thats a lotta flutterflies. This one was certainly tedious with such elaborate markings, she wasn't easy! ... That said, none of them were. With such beauty, and intricate wing pattern and design, butterflies are a very difficult subject to work with. But somehow we managed to get through all 12 with some of my hair left! Loved every step of this journey :)
Part of a series of drawings following characters on a journey through strange and chaotic zones of a gigantic metropolis. I really enjoyed using the Sakura brush pen for this one.
Red Admiral of the Fleet :3
this was a toughie, for trying to find a genuine admirals hat and symbol that wasnt fancy dress! Eventually traced the real thing by finding actual people wearing their hats