An Island Unto Myself

One of the aspects of dragon folklore that always fascinates me is the belief that dragons have the ability to hide in plain sight as either trees, rocks or even mountains. Here is my take on a very skilled dragon, taken from the line art found in LEATHER WINGS SEMBLANCE, who's claimed her hiding place in the form of an island.

Elements Workshop - Setting a Mood

A new workshop, graphically designed in the Imagine FX Style, is complete and ready to download in the WORKSHOPS section on www.laminmartin.com. In this workshop I go through the thoughts and processes behind "Message in a Bullet", a full colour rendering of a line illustration found in the pages APOCRYPHA, where I explain the importance of establishing a mood, dramatizing the environment and adding the right accesories to a character to take it from an illustration to a concept design. You can download the free PDF HERE or by clicking the image below.

Message in a Bullet

When I think of angels I've always envisioned them as an army. Each soldier has their own specialized skill set complete with their tools of the trade. The soldier that I came up with, found in the pages of APOCRYPHA, is one who's passion in service to God is to hunt and kill demons with his weapon of choice being a long range double-barreled breech-loading rifle.

Let There Be Dragons

I love to play around with combining different design elements to come up with dragons that are more conceptual than some of the traditional dragon designs that are present in fantasy illustration. Below are a batch that I recently painted that were once line drawings found in the pages of LEATHER WINGS SEMBLANCE but have now been brought to life in full colour. Poster available HERE

Lamin


Xenomporph Dracus is my interpretaion of how an Alien, designed by my hero H.R. Giger, would look if it mated with a dragon. An Alien with wings would be a dream come true for me.

Shadow of the Colossus was one of my favourite games on the PS2. The art direction and character design of the colossi was absolutely beautiful so in honour of a game that is more art than escapist entertainment I created a dragon that is modelled after a colossus.

Jewel of the North is a step away from the bulky and heavier looking dragons that I usually draw by combining the softer qualities of unicorns and the majestic qualities of dragons to come up with a delicate yet regal dragon design.

In Succession

Here is an image that was originally line art found in the pages of SOLSTICE. I don't know how or if I'll ever get over the love I have for the look of Victorian clothing so I'm always playing around with fashion elements from that time period. Here is another example of how I took bits and pieces from that fashion movement and threw them into a fantasy setting to illustrate the fact that this character is a citiizen in a decadent hybrid dragon society who is next in line to take her positon of authority in the royal family.

The Art of Lamin Martin Exhibit

December is shaping up to be an exciting month with the upcoming The Art of Lamin Martin Exhibit happening Friday, December 3rd., 7pm - Midnight, @The WALYA Bar & Lounge, 996 Queen st. E (Queen E & Carlaw) in downtown Toronto. The Art of Lamin Martin Exhibit WWW.LAMINMARTIN.COM will showcase line artwork taken from the pages of six my published artbooks entitled, FIELDS, DECORUM, LEATHER WINGS, APOCRYPHA, LEATHER WINGS SEMBLANCE and SOLSTICE and brought to life in full colour. The select colour pieces have been printed on beautifully immersive 2 1/2 foot by 3 1/2 gallery framed canvases. If your in the Toronto area feel free to make it out to the event where there will be plenty of fun, friends and art. Click on the event flyer below to add yourself to the invite list.

See you soon!

Lamin

Sweet Nectar

Greek mythology has tons of characters with amazingly descriptive literary reference to pull inspiration from and translate visually.  Medusa, especially, being one of those characters.   Using a line image taken from the one of the pages of APOCRYPHA I wanted Medusa to be more playful than some of the other interpretations that I've come across in books and films.  I like the idea of her being so skilled at turning warriors into stone that she takes great pleasure in it, which is why she has an awesome smile on her face!

Within Reach

I've been in a very demonic mood lately with the recent crop of images I've been posting. I was never really into demonic imagery but now that I have a taste for it I absolutely love it! Taken from the pages of APOCRYPHA, is a line illustration entitled "Within Reach". It's my interpretation of "Death" but instead of harvesting souls with a scythe he instead has multiple hands all within reaching distance of those ready to cross over.  I also changed the hooded "Death" image found in the line illustration to the horned skull image found in the new colour version to create a more dynamic gesture and design.

Lamin

From pencil to colour!

Over the next couple of months I'm going to be sifting through the pencil illustrations found in my line of artbooks, selecting some of my favourite images and bringing them to life in full colour.   I've always had an idea how every image would look like in colour so instead of putting it off any longer I finally decided to dive in and see how each image fills itself out.  So to get started the first image below is from a pencil illustration found in APOCRYPHA entitled "A Bountiful Harvest".  It's my interpretation of Famine, one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, who feeds on angels wings.
The second image below is from a pencil illustration found in LEATHER WINGS entitled "Verse 1, Chapter 1".  This is my interpretation of a demon who is so dedicated to seeking redemption that he pins pages of scripture to his wings. There will be plenty more colour illustrations to come so check back soon.

Lamin

 

 

 

Toronto Fan Expo 2010!

This post is a little late but I just wanted to do a little recap on The Toronto Fan Expo and the debut of SOLSTICE.  From the attendees perspective to say that the show had it’s ups and downs would be an understatement.  This years show was again plagued with the overselling of tickets coupled with angry fans who had to wait in line for hours just to be able to walk through the front doors or not even being able to walk through the front doors at all.  It was a great disaster.  Great in the sense that Fan Expo is becoming so huge that the Metro Toronto Convention Centres North Building space of 193,000 sf, wasn’t enough to accommodate the amount of people who showed up.  Next years show will be in the South Building which has a floor space of 260,000 sf.  That is why The Toronto Fan Expo is the third largest convention in North America next to San Diego and New York.  So to say that the release of Solstice went well would be an understatement when being debuted in venue like that.  Thank you to all of the fans, new and old, who came out looking forward to picking up a copy of the new title and a very special thanks goes out to Kurt Sasso from TGT Webcomics for doing an interview with me and spreading the word that Lamin Illustration & Design is out there. 
Take a look at his site and the interview HERE.

You can also take a look at some of the photos from Toronto Fan Expo HERE.

SOLSTICE Now Available!!

Hey guys!! I'm very pleased to announce that Solstice is now available! Feel free to visit www.laminmartin.com to order a copy now where you'll find the newest fantasy artwork being produced by Lamin Illustration & Design.

Hope you enjoy!!

Solstice Image - The Thrill of the Hunt

This image is another found in Solstice. I really love the look and feel of a misty English countryside. Combine that with the love for a strong British dragon woman who believes that bearing arms is not only a right but a necessity in the face of any all opposition and you've got a winner as far as I'm concerned!

Solstice Image - Treasure Trove

Here is another image that will be going into Solstice.  There is something magical and mysterious about mermaid folklore that has inspired many artists such as Munch, Waterhouse, Beardsley, Pyle, Rubens, and Bosch.  So in keeping with the tradition of the folklore I came up with my version of a mermaid, but with a slight twist.  She is unique in the sense that she has horns that are derived from her being born with dragon blood.

Newest Solstice Image

Here is one of the many images that will be going into Solstice, the newest illustration book from www.laminmartin.com. I love and will always love the look of classical Renaissance art so I felt it was only fitting to take my work in that direction for as long as it will allow me. So the images in the new book will hopefully have that same feel and sensibility.

New website online NOW!!

The new website for Lamin Illustration & Design is now online. Feel free to drop by and check out the new artwork, prints and downloadable content that fills out our new home. Also take some time to view the trailer for Solstice, the new artbook set for release August 27th at the Toronto Fan Expo.

Take care!

Lamin

New website online July 1st!

Things have been pretty hectic over the past couple of months in preparation for the launch of the new website. Right now I'm just finalizing some of the finishing touches which, of course, is the part of the creative process that takes the longest. But it'll all be worth it once everyone gets a chance to check out the bigger and better Marketplace complete with new prints and merchandise, a new gallery section complete with new and exciting artwork and new free downloadable content. Also don't forget to catch the launch of the trailer for Solstice, the newest illustrated artbook from Lamin Illustartion & Design, along with the launch of the new website on July 1st. August 27th will then mark the day that the Solstice artbook will debut at this years Toronto Fan Expo.

See you then!

Lamin

Elements Workshop: Narrative Textures

Here's the latest workshop that I put together that explains how important I feel it is to ground your fantasy worlds in some sense of reality by combining digital painting with photographic texture reference to make the unbelievable, believable. Download the free PDF HERE and please don't hesitate to leave feedback and suggestions for future workshops.

Take care!

Lamin

Preview sketch for upcoming new book!

Here is an image that is a work in progress for my upcoming new artbook that will explore and tell the story of combining dragon anatomy with human anatomy. I haven't decided on a title yet but I'm always open to suggestions. I'll be posting more sketches as the weeks and the months go on until the debut of the book in August. Stay tuned!!

Lamin

Decorated Valour

Here is a new digital painting done using the line art from the pages of LEATHER WINGS. I love the idea of soldiers so heroic in their actions on the battlefield that their armour is decorated with commendation after commendation, each medal marking the survival of another conflict. The large main ribbon has an inscription that spells out the word "peace" using the Elvish runic alphabet in the hopes that, one day, through their efforts peace will finally be achieved.
I'm working on the tutorial for this painting so check back soon!

Lamin