Digital Illustration Master Class 14 & 15 April

Hi all - just wanted to give those if you in the Wellington area a heads up regarding the White Cloud Worlds 2 day Digital Illustration workshop coming up this weekend, at Massey College of Creative Arts. Paul Tobin and myself will be teaching the fundamentals of creating illustrations using Photoshop, and giving away a few of the secrets we've both learned from many years in the business.

It's a fun, informal way to get some one-on-one tuition from a couple of seasoned industry professionals, and there are still a couple of spots left. You can enroll here!

Also this weekend, Ben Wootten is taking a 2 day Traditional Sculpting for Creature Design workshop, also at Massey. There are a couple of spots available in this class, too, and it should be a blast for those of you who'd like get to grips with the entire process of creating a design maquette.

Might see you there!

Prints For Sale

I have a selection of limited edition giclee prints available to purchase. They are printed using archival inks on 100% cotton Hahnemühle Photo Rag archival fine art stock.

Please email me at stephen@stephencroweillustration.com if you'd like to purchase a print, or for more information. I will ship internationally, and you will be advised of the shipping costs when you make your enquiry.

The actual prints do not have the Cranky Machine blog address or the copyright on them.

Here are the prints!

Engineer

Image size 290mm x 410mm 

Edition of 50, hand numbered, titled and signed

$150.00 NZD

or

Image size 420mm x 594mm

Edition of 10, hand numbered, titled and signed

$320.00 NZD

Inghram's Approach

Image size 425mm x 260mm 

Edition of 50, hand numbered, titled and signed

$150.00 NZD

or

Image size 1200mm x 735mm

Edition of 5, hand numbered, titled and signed

$550.00 NZD

Victori and Ash

Image size 584mm x 800mm

Edition of 10, hand numbered, titled and signed

$380.00 NZD

Thanks!

White Cloud Worlds Exhibition comes to Auckland

White Cloud Worlds is a first-of-its-kind popular culture exhibition, which showcases the diverse and unique work created by New Zealand science fiction and fantasy artists.

16 February – 15 April  –  Free Admission

Come and check it out!

Cheers,
Stephen.

Armageddon Expo

Hey folks

I'm going to be hanging out at the White Cloud Worlds booth at Armageddon Expo in Auckland this Friday and Saturday with Claire Hackett. I'll be doing some digital painting demonstrations while I'm there, and we'll have art prints from the White Cloud Worlds artists available. We'll also be selling and signing copies of the book and WCW postcard sets, plus doing an art portfolio review if you're interested in getting some feedback on your work.

Stu Thomas will be joining us on Saturday, and Ben Wootten and Kate Jorgenson will be taking over for Sunday and Monday.

Should be a blast! So drop on by Booth # 76 if you're at the show, and say hi!

Farewell My King

Hi there

This is a concept piece I did recently for my good friend Christian Gossett. Christian is making a short film titled Farewell My King, about the death of his father. It's a great project, and he's currently raising the funds necessary for production on the website Indiegogo. Go check it out!

Inghram!

Hey all,

Here's a digital sketch of Inghram. He's hanging off the side of something, while looking earnest. Always important to look earnest, don't you think?

By the way, had a totally fab time in San Diego, hanging out with the rest of the White Cloud Worlds gang, and the Weta crew. Signed lots of books, met loads of wonderful folk - and it was warm.

Just got these...

...back from the printers.

Yet to be numbered and signed :)

World of Warcraft!

Hey - here are a couple of pieces I did earlier this year for the World of Warcraft TCG, The War of Elements:

Fun stuff! Thanks to Doug Gregory for his t'rific art direction.

Cheers.

Crop Face

Hey! Just a little something different for a Friday afternoon :)

Morning Visitor

'The crowds thin, and the open spaces of the market place divide into narrow cobbled streets that climb steeply from the docks, as the Chéneschal rider follows its course through unfamiliar, alien territory.'

This is a piece I completed last year, for inclusion in the White Cloud Worlds anthology. For me it's a first look at the city in which the bulk of my story will take place; a port city of steep, narrow streets with dwellings and commercial buildings stacked precariously on top of each other.

Thanks for stopping by!

Sketch

Hi all - just a quick sketch to show, a bit of fun...

Happy New Year :)

Inghram's Approach

Hey again

Here's one I finished recently - another study for my graphic novel. The driver character I've posted sketches of previously, and of course his car, also from a previous post.

Cheers!

Engineer redux

Hey there, and happy new year!

I couldn't help myself – I've always disliked the way I rendered the face in this painting of my engineer character, and lately it just got too much to ignore. To me it always made her look a bit severe, or undernourished, which wasn't the look I intended with the original line drawing.

So – as if I didn't already have enough to do – I went and changed it, didn't I:

I padded out her cheekbone, softened the jaw-line slightly, gave her a little more colour, and did another pass over the whole face with a brush to smooth things off a bit. I think the new version is definitely an improvement. She now looks more like the character I've had in my head for so long.

For interest, here's a comparison of the original pencil drawing, the original painting (centre), and the new version:

Thanks for stopping by!

Zoo Critters

Hey Folks - I was lucky enough recently to be involved in designing and illustrating the visitor experience for Wellington Zoo's new state of the art animal hospital The Nest - Te Kohanga, which had its official opening yesterday.

The Nest - Te Kohanga is quite unique in that it has a number of treatment and recovery rooms that are glass walled and so able to be viewed by the Zoo-going public, and integrated in and around the building is an educational visitor experience, conceptualised, designed and built by Locales, a company with whom I work.

People can rock on up and watch procedures and treatments be performed on zoo animals and native wildlife that have been rescued within the region - pretty cool! It's a great, worthwhile project to have been involved in, and I got to do a bunch of fun animal illustrations!

Victori and Ash

Hey all - I know, it's been ages since I've had anything to post. I've been up to my ears in sick kids and contract work and, well... life, really. You know how it goes.

This piece is of a couple of the major players from my story - one's a dude, and one's a robot, just in case there's any confusion (the robot is the taller, shinier one at the back).

You may recognise the foreground guy from this painting I posted back in June. He now has a purpose in life! And while that purpose might put him in the line of fire more often than not, I'm sure he's much happier to have goals.

And I'm happier too - because now I have closure with a painting that always seemed a bit lost.

Thanks for coming over!

Spectrum Exhibition

Hey there - I was a bit chuffed to be told on the weekend that one of the pieces (above) I painted up for Christian Gossett's The Red Star: Sword of Lies has been included in the Spectrum Exhibition, currently on at the Museum of American Illustration in New York City.

Pencils by the inimitable Chris Gossett, digital paintin' by me.

Image copyright Christian Gossett.

Character Sketches

Trying to find my main character... I've been avoiding this for quite some time now, having done some initial sketches and paintings a while ago. I guess because it feels like the stakes are higher - like doodling just won't do.

But, jeez - got to start again somewhere, right?

Thanks for coming along and having a little looksie!

It's Friday... it's fat... and it's a dog.

Hey there! Following a brief work-enforced hiatus, Fat Dog Friday returns to thrill you with canine obesity...

Special Haul

Hi there - this drawing is of the car driven by the character I posted sketches of a couple of weeks ago - the rugged dude with the goggles.

This is why he looks so beaten up - he has to try to keep this thing going in a straight line while picking bugs out of his teeth.

Built for long-haul travel, customised for the special delivery service...

Fat Dog Friday...

Hey all - I've had a pretty full-on couple of weeks with freelance work, so in the absence of any decent self-driven project work to show you... here's another fat dog.

Awww - go on, give'im a scratch...