Monday, November 11, 2013

CTN Animation Expo 2013 is coming....

This Friday I'll be attending CTN Animation Expo again but this time as an exhibitor. I'm a bit nervous to be showing a side of my portfolio that only a few agencies, children's book publishers and animation studios have ever seen. Since my passions are equally split between realist painting and animation I didn't know exactly how or where to show art that wouldn't comfortably fit on my website until I went to CTN last year. This is a sample of the prints I'll have at my table XT11 on Nov 15-17 in Burbank CA. Looking forward to visiting friends at Dreamworks, SCEA, Riot Games and The HUB. Time to test the waters and share what's been sitting on the hard drive.



Visit http://robotenvy.wordpress.com/2013/11/11/robot-artist-spotlight-eric-wilkerson/ for some of the never before see robot art I'll have to offer at CTN and a quick interview I did with the Robot Envy team.  Looking forward to a great time in Cali!  For those interested in going, visit http://www.ctnanimationexpo.com/ for details.

Monday, November 4, 2013

GOD OF ANOTHER WORLD

Oil on Panel 24"x36"
This is a recent commission for a fantasy book cover.  “God of Another World” by Chad Michael Cox is the first in a potential series of new books.  This should be in stores and online next year.

The author gave me extensive notes, character descriptions and passages of text to review.

I was given free reign to design the characters’ wardrobe based on the color palette for each person mentioned in the notes.  This turned out to be more challenging than I thought.  To switch gears from robots and space suits to ornate fantasy robes was a nice change though.  A fancy style guide packet full of prepared concept art would have been helpful.

I chose to heavily infuse cultural influences from Japan, China, Morocco, Greece, Italy and India into the overall painting just to visually ground the piece in some kind of reality for me. Starting with...

Faunride – strong Caribbean influence dressed in traditional Japanese inspired garb.


Maldinado – More of a Spaniard in appearance/ facial hair.  Basically I was inspired by Duncan Macleod from highlander dressed in ceremonial samurai armor.

Adow -  Adored with Indian gemstone jewelry, robes inspired by Roman and  Moroccan design
alternate idea
Approved digital color sketch
final line art
This was fun and I look forward to the opportunity to paint these characters again.  Up next...Dark urban fantasy.  Switching gears from scifi is a fun change of pace.  Happy to be busy doing what I love.