Chris Howard's Writing & Art

Mermaid

I haven't painted a traditional mermaid in a long time.  I've penciled and painted bunches of "people from the sea," but my Seaborn don't have tails, in fact they make fun of the mermaid myths.  I actually started thinking about this in May for a contest running on dA that ended in June.  But I was finishing up my last book, and never got around to it.

I wanted a fairly realistic mermaid with jewelry, rings in her hair, maybe some cool tattoos, and clothes of course would be for those freaks who breathe air.  I wanted a mermaid who can kick Waterhouse's mermaid's scaly butt--with her tail. I wanted a mermaid who was stronger, edgier and maybe a little tragic, none of that combing long tresses and singing on the rocks--not unless it was clear that it's just a ploy to lure sailors to their dooms. Finally got around to completing the painting this morning.

A lot of this painting is about the light, bold white light coming from above.  As usual, I'm still tweaking, but it's pretty much done.  Hope you like.  Love to hear what you think.

So, here's the full work and some detail crops.  Click them for the full view.

.

IF: unfold

I continue to tweak this one, starting out as from the perspective of someone looking over a vast forested landscape from above, and from there, drawing it deeper until we're now looking up at the figure at the crest of the tree from below.  Also playing with the reflection.

That's what reflections do, right?  Mirrors, prisms, the surface of water--they show you where and how reality can be unfolded.

This one's really big. Click here to see the full view.

illustration Friday topic: Craving

I painted this one in Art Rage, about 2.5 hours.  A scene from the last book, main character's a dryad, and here she's up in the trees, in the rain, staring down her man, and she's a bit...uh...anxious.  This one's a little wilder than I typically paint, but the topic called for it.  Art Rage, if you don't know is one of the smoothest, most natural, least expensive digital painting apps around.  (There's a free version, but the full version is only US$25!)  I usually work in Photoshop, and occasionally Painter, but I think Art Rage feels better than both.

Cracked...

.

.

Zombie Hunters into Gardening

Gardening...it's contagious.  By night, you're prowling the local graveyards, keeping the dead down.  By day?  You're hitting the garden, getting your hands dirty. There's just no reason for zombie hunters to go around pale and vitamin D deficient--so get your chalky goth ass out in the sun!  Soak up the rays, get into composting, it'll make you a stronger zombie hunter. Guaranteed. 

This is a character from my current book, and yes, she has eye-implants.

Painted this one tonight, about four hours of work, digital, CS, tablet.

Click for the full view:

 
.   

Scene Sketch

Spent a couple hours painting tonight, a quick one for a scene I'm currently writing, my two characters on the top step of some giant stone steps leading into a throne room.  Yes, one is sporting some pretty fancy wings of fire. 

.

IF: impossibility

Painted this scene from my current book, basically a dryad waking up, the tree goes into bloom, petals everywhere. Not sure if I got there, but I was going for fuzzy, floating, soft-focused crossed with Where the Wild Things Are--because, well, when a dryad wakes, the forest goes wild.  And you don't want to interrupt this ritual, either.  Trust me.

Digital, wacom, CS, about four hours of work.  Click for the full view.

IF: subtract

Watercolor, indigo blue and a brush, playing with negative space, and doing my best to stretch the topic, subtract = negative.

IF: intricate

One of a set of character studies I'm doing. Click for the full view:

.

IF: Breeze

Painted this at lunch for Illustration Friday topic: breeze.  I flipped it 90 degrees right, but I painted it horizontal.  Digital, CS, Wacom tablet, about an hours work.