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Contests!

Every month Gnomon Workshop puts on a contest where they give away several thousand dollars worth of their training DVD’s. My Catacombs painting won said contest in February of 2008, since then I have not entered. Not that I would enjoy entering again, I just rarely have the time to finish a painting to that level of polish in any given month. Well this month I am going to try and get an entry submitted. The topic this month is Gothic Beauty and I have just over a week, in which I am REALLY busy with work projects. As if that isn’t enough I am also going to enter the CG Challenge at CGSociety.org Challenge 24 “Secret Agent”. This challenge I have a VERY low chance of winning, but the prizes are very impressive, the competition is top notch, their is a reasonable amount of time and I have a great idea for my image.


For me the competitions are fun, because I am a competitive person and like to see how I stack up against the best people in the world. In addition the exposure never hurts, heck the judges even looking at my image is great, and who knows maybe I’ll create an image that just blows everyone away.

Because these images will take up all of my free time, which isn’t going to leave much time for daily sketches or other projects that would normally get posted here, I am going to do something I never thought I’d do. I am going to put my daily progress for the contest up here for your review and hopefully for comments that will help me improve the images. I will also try to explain what I am doing in each step so that you can follow my personal process. So you help me make a better image by giving feedback, and I’ll show you how a master painter works (Just kidding, I am no master… hold back the laughter!)
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Goblin Painting and Kobold Quartlery

Goblin Painting

Alright, it is a beginning. My first attempts at painting in Painter 11 disappeared with the computer issues. The problem was timed perfectly.I was pretty much fed up with Painter, and the short break gave me the opportunity to approach it anew.

This time around I tried using Painter as it wants to be used, a natural media tool, in this regards it was brilliant. This paining is definitely not finished, and is of course from the drawing you likely recognize from this site. There is quite a bit left to do, but I think I will leave it for now. New projects and all that.


Speaking of new projects, I have been comissioned to do a spot illustration for Kobold Quarterly. They are a Roleplaying Magazine out of Kirkland Washington. Until I was contacted by them I had not heard of this publication. If I was into the whole role-playing thing, I would definitely be subscribing to this mag. If that happens to be your 'cup O' Tea' I would suggest checking out their online store. They have produced several books on a wide variety of fantasy game related subjects, such as Game Design and of course the magazine subcription iteself.

I hope that this first commission might lead to others from Kobold, as it is a very interesting genre that is tremendous fun to illustrate. Hopefully they will ask me to do cover work, as I feel that is where my strengths really lie.
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Back to the Drawing Board


I broke out the sketchbook again last night for the first time in several weeks. I have instead been spinning my wheels in Painter 11 and Alias Sketchbook. It was nice to get back to the analog world for a night, if for no other reason than to get something into the world.

The head of this thing is fun, the rest is rough at best. I also had a bit of fun with the head on the lower left, not sure where that one was going.

I have been super over stressed with projects recently and have not had the time to do any of my own projects because of it. I plan on entering a contest this month, the topic is "Gothic Beauty", boy do I have many ideas for this one. The main one I keep coming back to is a slight up angle shot of a Gothed out girl doing a pin-up pose, leaning on an old gothic cathedral. Hopefully I will have time for it. Several other paintings still in the works and I hope to have them on this site soon.

It has been quite the rollercoaster rides this month.
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Short Story - Fall of Helinor

Writing stories of a fanciful nature is something to which I desire, however I am far from a proficient author. This short story is the first of a world I have imagined in my mind from the time I was a small child. It is a mix of fantasy and Sci-Fi. Much like the worlds of Star Wars there is much of the future and much of the ancient past. It is a world in which science and magic are one and the same, maybe science has advanced that far, or maybe science is based on the magic. This short is just flowing from the top of my head, no planning, just typing words as they come. It is an experiment of sorts for me.

“The Fall of Helinor”
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Ze Joust Sketch

Joust, sketch, concept, drawing

It is hard to look noble with such a steed. This sketch is heavily influenced by Brian Froud and his designs for the movie "Labyrinth".

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Angel of Fury

Angel of Fury

This painting was begun as a speedpaint while I was attending the Massive Black/Concept Art event in Seattle 2008. It has been worked over so many times it little resembles the original. I have this idea for an angel of fury that is literally an animate explosion. Why would a “living” explosion need a sword? Maybe the sword is the talisman of his power, who knows.

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Updated Diver Down painting

Diver Down Update

As is typical of one of my digital paintings, the first "final" image is never the last. I don't know if it is just the process of posting the image that allows me to see it clearly, or if some other mental trick is at play, but it is very common for me to think I am done and then revisit the image mere hours later.

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Diver Down Painting

For more Check out my portfolio site C-Hammer.com
Diver Down

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Killer Wabbit Painting

It is time to tell the full story of this painting.
This painting was created entirely digitally.
For more visit my site c-hammer.com
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Catacombs Painting

Catacombs Saying Goodbye

First the why. This painting was created as my entry in the Gnomon Workshop monthly challenge for February of 2008. The topic for that month was Catacombs. I won first place with this painting. I didn’t want to paint dusty old tunnels, with zombies or walking skeletons. I wanted to add a human element that was emotionally stronger than my first idea of a female Indiana Jones like character. So I started thinking about popular mythology and the various historic uses for ancient catacombs. And then this lead me to the early Christian church. They hid, and worshiped in the catacombs.

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