New Project: Pathfinder Sample 1 Underway

At GenCon this year I once again had the great opportunity to meet with Mrs. Robinson, the art director at Paizo, for a portfolio review. Meeting with art directors at conventions is a fantastic opportunity to get solid feedback on one's work from the people who actually are in control of the hiring of artists. Plus, meeting people whom you would like to work with face to face is always good.

Overall the portfolio review went fairly well. The sense of action in my newest illustration Aria & Ire was well received as well as the level of detail in my work. However, my style is still too animated in its nature; a remnant of my animation background. I will continue to work on adjusting my style moving forward ever seeking the elusive balance between realism and stylized work. Samples featuring Paizo’s Iconic Pathfinder characters were also requested, which makes sense. Clients need to know that as an artist they can count on you to make the artwork they specifically need.

So, here is the beginning of my first Pathfinder Iconic sample. Stage one: thumbnailing. For my first sample I want to do an illustration featuring Ezren the iconic wizard, being that he is different than any other character in my current portfolio.

Things are very simple here as you can see. I already had a pretty solid idea in my mind of what I wanted this illustration to be before starting. I wanted to do a simple character heroic up-shot like you would see on a main character card in a TCG. So, in the thumbs I was mainly concerned with getting the figure’s overall pose/gesture right. Once I had the pose solved for I advanced to stage two: the comp.


During the creation of the comp I decided to add more characters in to make this a better sample, plus I feel that this fills the composition better and makes this a more entertaining illustration. Now I have a group of adventurers: Ezren the wizard leading the way followed by Seelah the paladin, with Merisiel the rogue in toe making their way through the swamps of Sinaria. Though being a tight character shot not much of the background can be seen. I should note that in between the thumb and comp step I enlisted my brother’s aid and took some reference photos to prepare for the final drawing. After reading this great article by Donato Giancola in which he talks about and shows his process for a recent book cover illustration I decided to go traditional for the comp vs. my usual digital path. It was fun to bust out the toned paper, colored pencils, and white gouache for a change. Next up is the final under-drawing.