Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Coelurus, and Shunosaurus

I am continuing work on the AS&SH Dinosaurs and am simultaneously inking two of them. I thought I would pop on before I put the pens down for the day and put up some work in progress images. 

The first is a nearly completed Coelurus (See-loo-rus), this is a smallish dinosaur that wast mostly food for larger

As I stated before when I posted up the sketch, he is a sprinty little critter, and I put him in a pose to suggest he was changing direction. His patterning will help hide him from prey, as well as protect him from predators.

Copyright Del Teigeler 2014. Licensed North Wind Adventures LLC.


I will eventually add a bit of background to help show his scale.

This next one took a bit to work out and I have several sketches to post up of the progress. I first had him in this straight up pose. Looking at an elephant standing on his hind legs for reference.


I thought his posture was kind of bland so I pushed the limits and came up with this version.


The Shunosaurus!

I much prefer this more action packed version, the flow and movement of his neck and tail suggest that he is in much more distress, and is fending off something. 

Here are the initial inks as well. 


Alot of work left to do, but good progress. 

Thanks for looking, and comments are always welcome. 




Friday, October 24, 2014

Allosaurus

As promised I am posting one of the illustrations I have been working on for +Jeff Talanian  of AS&SH, for the upcoming +Joe Salvador's "Forgotten Fane of the Coiled Goddess" module. 

You can check out the sketch of this guy here.

Jeff suggested that I add something to show the scale of this dinosaur, hopefully this is what he was expecting!

Allosaurus Dinosaur Drawing
(Click to Enlarge)
Copyright Del Teigeler, licensed to Jeff Talanain of North Wind Adventures LLC.

I am not sure how effective that dagger is going to be for her, but I wish her all the luck. 

I am pretty happy with this one over all. The rock piles were a challenge, but I think they came out okay. I really worked on the heroin's pose quite a bit and actually looked at a picture of some cheerleaders I found on the internet to get it right. 

Onward through the next dinosaur. 

Thanks for looking, comments always welcome. 

Thursday, October 23, 2014

Frank Frazetta

It has been a while since my last post, real life work has taken hold of me, and between travelling to Notre Dame for a work conference and just being completely busy I feel bad that I have not posted at least something. 

I thought I would take this blog and talk about one of my favorite artists of all time. 

Frank Frazetta. 

(Self portrait of Frank by Frank)

No other fantasy artist in the genre has shaped the american fantasy art scene, in my opinion than Frank Frazetta. It is not just his finished pieces either. His sketches, and his pen & ink are equally magnificent. 

I read about him in many places, and his background in renaissance era art instruction shows through in every piece. His realistically human figures with all their flaws personify his artwork.His men were men for sure, but their rippling muscles and savagery are made more realistic by the love handles of their midsection. The fat, if you will, of a man who eats like a man and fights like one too. I can imagine many of his masculine heroes with a leg of meat in his hands with greasy juices dripping from his lips, as much as a bloody sword.  

His work on Conan can only be described as miraculous.  


While working on many of the dinosaurs for +Jeff Talanian's  AS&SH RPG game I constantly scoured the inter-webs for images that I could learn from, and I always came across Frank Frazetta's  artwork. Like the illustration above his realism is not just in his men-folk, but also in his creatures. 

They have a life that is brought to the viewer through the pen, and try as many have (including me) to replicate the vision and technique of Frazetta we have all failed. The weight of the creatures, their presence in the scene, can only be described as perfect. 

The combination of lights and darks, the contrast of creature against background, and sheer movement of all images in the drawing are a joy to look at. 


Am I wrong when I say that Frank's women were, real women! They had shape and form. They are not some slim waif of a girl, they had meat. I mean this in the best of ways too, they were a realistic replication of real women, not some modern idealistic image of girls to thin, weak and fragile. These women would either knock your socks off, or your head! 

There were not many "chainmail bikinis" either, they were either clothed in furs or nothing at all. Savage, feral, they were products of their environment. they could equally have risen from the ground they walked on, or drifted down to it from the clouds. 

Frank made them sexy, powerful and provocative. 


His beasts were great! Man things of the imagination, ripped between the forms of man and something altogether not man. You can see the beast, feel its hot breath on your face, smell the musky, earthy odor of it's fur-flesh, and damn near feel its claws sink into your chest.

They could be equally savage and bestial as they could be human. Looking into their eyes they somehow had the feel that there was some humanity in them that existed, but was suppressed by the beast on the outside. 

His technique is amazing. Subtle lines on paper indicating such movement, ferocity, and anger. The contract of blacks to whites, compliments the areas of heavy detail. 

Frank knew anatomy. He was an expert at drawing the human and not human form. He went beyond just drawing arms and legs, chests and abdomens with a head stuck on top. He understood the way a person moves, which muscles contracted when other relaxed. How skin creased, folded and spilled across a human form. 

He seemed to breath life onto paper. 

More of my original artwork to come in the next post. 

Thanks for looking, and comments always welcome. 

All images on this blog post are copyright Frank Frazetta, and used to honor the artist. 






Thursday, October 16, 2014

Terror Bird

Okay, so here is the final Terror Bird. Finally got home and got this guy scanned in. I am pretty pleased, and I hope +Joe Salvador and +Jeff Talanian put it to good use in their Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperborea suppliment. 

(Click to Enlarge)
Copyright Del Teigeler 2014

I really worked the shadows here on this one, and tried to cram in the details. There is really nothing to show scale with this illustration but this guys stands fairly tall. Perhaps I will take a look at adding something for scale for the final that is submitted. 

Thanks for looking, comments always welcome.

Wednesday, October 15, 2014

AS&SH dinosaur sketching continues...

Work continues for the "Forgotten Fane of the Coiled Goddess" by +Joe Salvador module published by +Jeff Talanian (North Wind Adventures) for his Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperborea game system and campaign setting. 

Without further ado, I present three more thumbnail sketches for my continuing work. 

The crazy looking Pegomastax, sort of a bird like reptile with tusks. 

(Click to Enlarge)
Copyright Del Teigeler 2014

What sets this guy apart is the bird like beak with tusks. There are some great reference drawings of this guy, and I plan on inking him in like the rest in this series, maintaining a high level of detail and only slight grey-scale shading with Prismacolor markers. 

Up next is the speedy little Coelurus! I had fun with this one. 

(Click to Enlarge)
Copyright Del Teigeler 2014.

This guy is like a little sprinter, and so I wanted to show an extreme amount of movement in him, what better way to show this, than having him in a position that shows him changing direction rapidly. Perhaps he was pursuing some quick little prey, or maybe just chasing a potential mate. 

Regardless my aim was to capture the spirit of this little guy. I cannot wait to get to the inking. 

Finally, the mighty Allosaurus. 

(Click to Enlarge)
Copyright Del Teigeler 2014

So, this guy took a bit more research, how do you illustrate the second most terrifying "giant lizard" in the dinosaur genus, behind the mighty Tyrannosaurus, without making him look like a T-Rex? Well, firstly you have to find the differences between the two, and I did extensive research, little did I know that the Allosaurus actually existed before the Rex, and was quite a bit smaller. They were fast, smart and deadly. Quite unlike the T-Rex, who wasn't known for his smarts, but sheer brutality. 

That is why I put him in a pose that suggests that he had to do a bit more sneaking up on prey, versus just chasing a smaller victim down, ripping the tar out of them and cleaning his dagger like teeth with the bones. Allosaurus had to be a bit smarter about his behavior. Faster, and more devious. 

I also wanted to thank +Joe Salvador +Jeff Talanian  and the rest of you who follow my work and provide me with feedback. Thanks again.

Thanks for looking, comments always welcome. 


Monday, October 13, 2014

Terror Bird Sketch

I have been really busy with several projects. 

One that I am not able to disclose at this time, which requires roughly 12-15 drawings has got me drawing all kinds of weird creatures, from snakes to flying critters, to giant worms, and just about everything in between. I will post those up when the product is released, near about the end of the year.  

Then there is the project I announced where +Jeff Talanian of North Wind Adventures LLC publishers of Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea has contracted me to do 10 dinosaur (type) illustrations for an upcoming series of books to be released in the beginning of 2015. 

I just wanted to pop in real quick and post the "Terror Bird" sketch that I roughed in today. 

(Click to Enlarge)
Copyright Del Teigeler, Artwork owned by Jeff Talanian and North Wind Adventures LLC. 


Well, its back to the drawing board for me. I have a ton to finish up. 

Thanks for looking, and comments always welcome!
  

Monday, October 6, 2014

Dinosaur: Edmontonia


This creature is yet another dinosaur, one that most of you have seen before in pictures. I wanted to convey the fact that these things are docile, yet when threatened they will defend themselves with all the weapons available to them. 

So, I made him fighting back against some sort of threat and drew him from the perspective of slight worms eye once again making him look a bit more aggressive than his stereotype. 

Here is the sketch first. 
(Click to Enlarge)

And the final inks. I am really enjoying work on these dinosaurs, and am looking forward to more of these guys as I work through all of them that I have lined up. 

(Click to Enlarge)

All images copyright Del Teigeler, and owned by Jeff Talanian and North Wind Adventures LLC.

Thanks for looking, and as always comments welcome.


Sunday, October 5, 2014

Auchenia work

Contract work is rolling in, and +Jeff Talanian of North Wind Adventures, publisher of the popular Astonishing Swords and Sorcerers of Hypoborea has asked me to work on several dinosaurs for an upcoming Kickstarter group of supplements. 

Here is the Auchenia, a prehistoric land grazing animal akin to the llama, with the trunk of an elephant. 

Here is the sketch I started with, and Jeff and I agreed that I didnt quite have the trunk right, so that was later changed to the inked version further on. 

(Click to Enlarge)

I went with a mostly docile animal and put the fear of something awful in him, raising his front leg up and stretching him out, going for a slight worms eye view as well. 

Here are the final inks, not sure the background turned out as well as I had initially wanted it to, but it's a go. 

(Click to Enlarge)
Final image is copyright Del Teigeler with ownership by Jeff Talanian and Northwind Adventures LLC.

There will be a total of ten or so in this dinosaur series, and I look forward to seeing the final product at the completion of the Kickstarter. 

Thanks for looking, comments always welcome.