Dice Game box cover art

Happy New Year! This my first post of the new year. This illustration was done back before Christmas but it has been too busy to post it sooner. Its actually the entire layout with final art for the box cover. Also posted it to my Facebook fan page. It was done for the dice game Fandooble which should be in stores this spring...cool! What a treat to work on a fantasy piece like this with stylized characters I created. I used to love drawing Lord Of The Rings type stuff like this back when I was a kid, before computers, internet...MTV :-) I love the tag line: The only thing more fun than stealing gold from a Dragon...is stealing it from your friends! I was given free reign to do what I wanted, character wise and composition wise and with no revisions at all....totally awesome experience! Love how I was given name credit nice and big on the side panel where the bar code is.

Just wondering if I can steal away this week to play hooky and go snowboarding :-)

Skateboard Madness Board Game cover Illustration

Heres an Illustration I did for a game board box cover for wonderful folks at Mindtwister. I also did character art that will be on game pieces and various pieces of art for other aspects of the game. It should be out in stores hopefully this spring. What a great project to work on. Being a skateboarder its very rare I get to combine my passion for art and skateboarding in one shot. The characters (which I will post soon) were really fun to create, they reflect different personality types in the world of skateboarding. Working closely with Tony Mag (skateboarding legend and owner of Mindtwister) has been a real blessing! One of the coolest guys I've had the pleasure to work with and get to know...period! In the process of creating art with Tony for a dice game with a fantasy theme...dragon,knights and wizards...AWESOME! I will post the sketch for the cover next week...so stay tuned.

I have this wicked chest cold. I've lost my voice....bummer!

Horned Lizard Character Design

Heres a recent character design of a horned lizard named "Spike" for Texas Parks and Wildlife. Did him up, in Illustrator CS-4 which is a real treat and change of pace from working in Photoshop. I really like the flat colors and simple shapes and overall clean look you can achieve with vector art. I have 4 more poses to create with this guy before its wrapped up.

Going to post some other characters soon for a gameboard I am doing which involves skateboarding as the theme of the game. Still in the process of working on it so I can't post just yet.

Still trying to find time to set up a shop on Zazzle.com linked to my site to sell goods with my art. Lemme know what you think if you've had any experience with that...I'd love to hear your input.

Read this quote the other day on Facebook from a friend of mine which goes:

Opportunity tends to knock once, then it's gone... temptation, however likes to stand there and lean on the doorbell.

Sooo true!

-Fian

George Washington Illustration

Here's the final illustration of George Washington turning in a 221 year old overdue book I created for Scholastic News. The sketch was done in Corel Painter. I really love the way you can draw a pencil sketch using Painter and making it look like a real pencil sketch. The final art was created in Photoshop CS-4 using layer masks and the airbrush tool as the primary tools.

What caption do you think would make a good one for this illustration?

George Washington sketch

Heres a rough sketch for an illustration I did for Scholastic, Inc. of George Washington turning in an overdue library book that is 221 years overdue. the book was actually checked out by George himself but never returned. I wonder what the late fees are on something like that :-) I finished up the final art for it this week and will post it soon...if you all play nice.

I have some really fun projects going on right now. One is a character development gig for a magazine to develop a horned toad character that would in the magazine monthly and other print materials as well. Another is creating characters and artwork for a board game that incorporates two of my passions...art and skateboarding. Now thats what I call a labor of love! Stay tuned for postings of some of these works.

Gotta get back to it....the drawing board...er...Wacom tablet that is.