Grave Sight Graphics

Another quick posting. I initially wanted to keep this blog mostly for work I've done for myself. But as you can see I'm breaking with tradition and showing off paid work.

Here's a couple covers for 0One Games and Misfit Studios, respectively. More to come soon. And hopefully with something I've done for myself next time :)





As always, thank you for looking (and commenting!).

www.ericlofgren.net

The Paizo Bestiary is finally out so I thought I'd post the work I provided for it. I love doing stuff like this. Plus, it was neat illustrating some old favourites from D&D. Hope you enjoy  :)  

















Thanks for looking!

Eric
www.ericlofgren.net

It's been a long time since I've posted anything. Mostly because I don't have much new stuff ot show.  So I thought I'd throw up a WIP of a dragon painting I've been working on. I hope to have it finished soon. I hope :)   

Something for fun and for my portfolio. I tried out the demo version of Painter Tool Sai for a lot of it and I have to say that that is a pretty cool little program. It has a lot of features that I wish my PS 6 had, at any rate. For what it's worth though, I did end up completing this with PS, just because I'm so damn comfortable with that program. So, here's the Attack of the Toadie Thing for your amusement :)



I'm still thinking that I might go back and change the foreground in the very front from foliage to something else, with lots of bones and skulls. We'll see.

Thanks for looking!


Eric
www.ericlofgren.net

Well, today's post, at any rate. These are a couple recent inks I did for a Sword and Sorcery themed RPG project. I love doing inks, but it's been a long time since I've allowed myself the opprtunity to do them. These drawings were a welcome change.

   



Thanks for looking!

Eric
www.ericlofgren.net

They say "A picture's worth a thousand words". In other words, a good painting (or photo) should try and tell the viewer a story with but a single snapshot or composition. But a thousand word story? Who knows. I think if it just piques the viewers interest (and hopefully, an AD or three) and makes them look longer then just a couple seconds it's succeeded in it's mandate :)

I'm never happy with where I'm at artistically. Something I know most of you can relate to. I'm always trying to update my skills in the hopes of landing a beefy contract. For this post, I thought I'd show off some of my latest efforts to that end. The first one is a basic conflict themed piece between a Deva, a new race for D&D and a Tiefling. Pretty bog standard, but I am happy with the result. I've always been one to try and capture a moment of action that supplies all the requisite elements of excitement without relying on the portrayal of actual physical contact in the subjects of the painting. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but I look at what I try and do as a challenge, I suppose. And I think for the most part it worked in this one. This painting also features some other typical devices I like to use in my compositions. Strong verticals. And those verticals, coupled with the overall tilted composition help to add some strong visual interest to the painting.  It's that strong visual interest, I think, beyond the obvious subject posing where any sort of narrative, or at least any sort of interesting narrative; one worth following, derives.  I also played with lighting in this one, as well as trying to expand my colour value range, which has been quite limited in the past. So if I was to pass this one through my title filter above, I think you could get a paragraph or two of a story. And for that I am happy :)       


The next one is another fairly standard piece, of a small group of adventurers exploring a dungeon type setting. Well, it actually looks more like a mine. But whatever the case it's underground. This one features a Halfling, a Human and a Warforged. While the 'action' is fairly low key (well, non existent, in fact), I still think I managed to impart some tension with the lighting, which I am very satisfied with here. The body posing in this one also worked to that end. Again, if you squeeze hard enough, you could find a few words of story in this one, beyond what you see.  And even just a few words hard fought and won, beyond the obvious, works for me.  



The last two are just straight character shots of an Elf and a Hobgoblin. But I taught myself a long time ago that when it comes to just straight character work, never just portray them, mannequin like. Actually show them as vital, living and interesting beings. I think I managed that with these two. And to that end, an interesting narrative would more easily slip from your mind based on these guys and the way they look. In the way they are portrayed and appear to be ready for whatever comes their way.   

 



Thanks for looking! I'm always looking for work, so don't be shy and drop me a line if you need something:)


Eric
www.ericlofgren.net  

I have a lot of stuff on my HD that is, in a word, unfinished. And unfortunately, will probably stay that way forever. At least, until I get off my can and do something about them. A lot of those unfinished pieces have negative aspects to them in one fashion or another and at the time my  enthusiasm to carry on and fix those aspects dwindled, or the time required to keep working on them was needed for paying work. It's worth noting that most, if not all of these pieces are personal works, intended for fun, study or meant for the portfolio. All the same, I think it's not really a bad thing to have incomplete works laying around. Especially when they contain elements in them that really work well. At the very least they can be a source of inspiration for newer works on which to apply those favourable elements to and even possibly, assuming one does get off his can, provide a quick release for inspiration when it hits, providing an opportunity to have a completed work in your portfolio in shorter order. Since most of the hard stuff is done already :) 

At any rate here are some examples- 

Dragonne and Warrior. This was going to be a submission piece to WOTC. Unfortunately, the cumbersome vignette composition got the better of me and I lost all steam for it. That said, I've been reworking it a bit more these days; cropping here and there and I think I can save it.  Despite the comp, there are a lot of things I do like about this one.    


Dragon Warrior. A piece meant for my portfolio. Again, another compostion bungle. Cutting him off at the waist was not, I believe, a good idea. And the strong diagonal of the sword bisects the plane in half too evenly. I've tried expanding on the bottom half of the image and while I think this may provide a fix, It's going to be a lot of work to get to the finish line. I think it's worth it, though.


The Swordsman. Just an experiment on colours for this one. I like what's happening that way, in the armour especially, but I just don't like the way it's all progressing as far as the figure goes. You can see some of the adjustments I've been making to the figure in the leg area. I think this one will probably languish as is for some time. There are some elements I will be borrowing from it though, at some point.


The Band. Man, this one I had such high hopes for. Not only was it one that I started without the benefit of pencils, I was just loving the way things were coming together. But I think it's the fact that I didn't have a clear goal in mind to begin with that eventually caught up with me. Most notably in the background and setting. But also in with the storytelling as well. There is something there that works, though. Just not overtly so. Definitely a lesson learned with this one. All that said, I will likely revisit this one again in the future, it just won't become a primary focus.


As always, thanks for reading and looking. And I'm open to commissions these days. So drop me a line when you can :)


Take care,

Eric
www.ericlofgren.net

Lately, I've been having some fun participating in Jon Shindehette's Art Order blog, in which every Tuesday, he presents a concept design challenge for people to take on and try to illustrate. My first entry here is one that attempts to conceptualize a weapon that oozes 'Shock & Awe'. The second entry is my attempt at a creature called a 'Boll Deevil'. Basically, the brief was to take an ordinary Bull Weevil beetle and make it as badass as possible.

Shock & Awe weapon -


Boll Deevil monster-


If you haven't checked out Jon's blog yet I'd highly recommend you take a few moments and have a look. Jon is the senior art director of WOTC and is very open to hearing from artists. You can find his blog at www.artorder.blogspot.com

While I'm on the subject of informative sites, another site that I recommend highly is Ninja Mountain, which offers the Ninja Mountain podcast every week. Full of fun, facts and useful information of all sorts from some of the best artists working in the field of Fantasy and Sci- Fi today. You can find it every Friday here-   http://ninjamountain.blogspot.com/2009/05/ninja-mountain-podcast-15-cue-music.html


And as always, I'm always open to hearing from people interested in my work or my blog, so give me a holler at elofgren@telus.  net <(just remove the space before 'net').

Back again soon. Thanks for lookin' in the mean time.


Eric
www.ericlofgren.net

I'm still trying to get into blogging mode. Something I'm not really used to, but I'm sure it's something that just comes with practice. At any rate, I thought I'd just throw up some odds and sods in here today just to keep it going.

First off some sketches and drawings. At the heart of my love for art is drawing. 

Dragon-

Dwarf 1-



Dwarf 2-


Fighter-


Gnome-


Minotaur-


Werewolf-

I've actually painted some of these as you can see from the last posty. But I still think that they hold up well just as drawings.  

Now for some stuff from the 'left field' category. Someone online a while back was talking about what it might be like if Jack Kirby had designed Pokemon. So I thought I'd have some fun with that idea. I'm a big fan of Kirby's style.

Pikachu-


Charizard-

Psyduck-
 
Charmander-

 

More to follow soon. Thanks for lookin'!

Eric
www.ericlofgren.net

For my  first entry I'd like to present some of my artwork. I'm a freelance illustrator by trade and much of what I do I can't post publicly. But occassionaly I do artwork for myself and that I can post. That's what you'll be seeing here mostly.  But when I can I'll show off some commissioned work, as well. 






As you can see the above are character art examples. In fact, I really enjoy doing these. As well as creatures and monsters-






Over time I'll be posting more of this sort of work, so check back often. 

As these are my own creations, or at least done soley for myself, they are licensable artworks. If you are interested in something like that, let me know by e-mail (found at my website) and we can discuss it further.

Thanks for looking!

Eric out.
www.ericlofgren.net