Ursa Major

Here is an illustration whose line art I worked on a while ago but didn't get around to painting until now.  The idea is that during the war a prototype vehicle was designed for a soldier to traverse any and all rugged terrain.  Taking the terrain busting attributes found in a tank, a jeep and a tractor the vehicle known as the Ursa Major or Big Bear was introduced.  But do to budgeting constraints during the war effort only one vehicle was ever produced.  I originally wanted this image to be black and white to achieve the look of old World War II black and white photography.  I later decided that adding a bit of colour and making the image more monochromatic would be best.

Shaak Ti

Next in line for my series of "The Women of Star Wars" is Shaak Ti.  She is easily one of favourite members of the Jedi Council and what I wanted to accomplish with this image is a regal stoic posture and atmosphere.   It took a while to find out the type of day light that I felt would work with the mood I wanted to establish but once I decided on sunset the image started to really take shape. 

Purgatori

In the early days of Chaos comics I was a huge fan of one of their flagship titles, Lady Death.  One of the characters from the Lady Death was Purgatori a blood red vampire goddess with thigh-high boots and a wicked smile.  I never thought of creating an image for her until a friend of mine, a fellow Purgatori fan, recently celebrated his birthday and I wanted to give him something more than a gift certificate!  So this image is for my buddy and all of the Purgatori fans out there.

Uprising

Rolling clouds engulf the city and what rises out of the storm are the swarming wings of doom that are large enough to blot out the sun.  
A swarm of dragons over taking a city whether that city be medieval or modern has always be a visual that I've been drawn to.  Perhaps it's the idea that these majestic dragons are finally taking back the land that belongs to them that I love, or maybe it's just that dragons have the freedom to go anywhere and do anything they want.  Really, who would tell them no!  In this image I've visualized those ideas in a way that I hope conveys a sense of majesty and savagery that only dragons possess.

Published in Exposé 10

Lamin Illustration & Design is very pleased to announce that you can find our fantasy art images in the pages of  EXPOSÉ 10 available NOW!
For the last decade, Ballistic Publishing has released the Computer Graphics industry must have, digital art annual: EXPOSÉ. The latest installment of the Finest Digital Art in the Known Universe brings together a record number of inspiring works from not only the giants of the entertainment industry, but also many rising stars.  EXPOSÉ 10 is the largest EXPOSÉ to date with 288 pages, and features a record-smashing 548 images by 380 artists representing artists from every continent on Earth, making it the most diverse collection of styles and cultural influences, and a true depiction of the worldwide digital art community with Lamin Illustration & Design being showcased as one of the many proud Canadians.

Autumn

Here is an illustration that I worked on for writer Richard A. Valicek.  In this illustration the direction was to come up with a classic romantic fantasy scene.  The challenge that came with working on this image was trying to come up with a scene that is both familiar and recognizable while at the same making it seem otherworldly.  I think with the bridge design almost acting as a third character in this composition it took the scene from a forest to a fantasy.

 

 

 

Laura Secord Secondary School Presentation 2012

A few months ago I was given the opportunity to visit Laura Secord Secondary School in St. Catherines Ontario where I was asked to conduct a lecture on illustration followed by a how-to session on digital painting and illustration.  It was an amazing experience where I met a very talented and enthusiastic group of young up and coming artists under the very insightful guidance of their teacher Steve Azzopardi.  A huge thanks goes out to Steve (Mr. Azzopardi) for inviting me out and allowing me to speak to the students, Peter Romo for his accomodations and assistance, Ben for his video work and Andrew Schaefer for his beautiful photo documentation of the event.  You can take a look at some of those photos HERE and you watch a video excerpt of the presentation found HERE.  If you'd like to see more of Andrew's work you can take a look at amazing portfolio HERE.