Official Webpage/blog of artist Andy Brase

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Dragonizor: Into the Amaurotic Abyss


"As he removed the needles from his split shoulder, several streams of blood spiraled down his arm. Following the crimson trails, small scales began to form, as the infection spread. Around the wound a series of thin, teeth-like bones pierced out from within, crisscrossing the opening and stitching it shut."

Dragonizor: Into the Amaurotic Abyss (color)
* view the FULL version larger here: Dragonizor (on DeviantArt)

Here is something new for a personal project. This creature design, "The Dragonizor" started as a sketch at a con. I liked how it turned out and wanted to do a more finished piece. I usually ink right over my pencil, but the original pencil sketch had already gone to the art collector. 
This is version #2 that I drew a bit larger, added a full background, inked and colored to give the creature more life.

Below I'm adding a number of WIP photos and details from this art. 

SkullHead: pencil detail

DragonHead: WIP inking photo

WIP Inking photo 2

SnakeHead: Ink detail (close up)
 
Dragonizor: Full Ink version
* view LARGER here: INK version (on DeviantArt)

The cave walls in the background were done as a separate pencil drawing.  They were drawn in a more fully shaded and painterly style than my line work.  The idea was to have these structures really swarming with darkness, alien shapes and mystery. There are various familiar shapes woven into the crawling surfaces as well.  Setting and atmosphere have always been very important to me and I was happy with how this design merged together with the Dragonizor. 

Here's the background drawing by itself and a couple close up details.

Walls of the Abyss: pencil

Walls Detail 1

Walls Detail 2


Finally here's a couple color details from the final.

DragonHead: color

ScalerHead: color

And an OLD little ink drawing dragon scene, that I stumbled across in my art folders.

Dragon Encounter: (old/early work)

Friday, October 5, 2012

October Creatures + Fallcon 2012

October is here! And I have lots of wicked projects in the works, so I haven't had much time to post.

I can't reveal much yet but here's some things coming.
New comic covers on a title I've always wanted to draw, new book covers for books including stories by George RR Martin and Neil Gaiman, and new crazy commission pieces introducing new characters I've designed and my take on other favorites.

I'm very excited about all these! For now here's a pencil detail of a sketch I reworked. A character/creature design for my own project.

Tommorrow (Oct 6) I'll be at Fallcon in MN.
Stop by if you are in the area.
More info on:  Fallcon webpage

Creature Design Rework: Pencil detail (WIP)
 Fallcon 2012 : Oct. 6 2012

Saturday, August 25, 2012

Dragon*con + Creatures + Books Update

Next weekend I'll be at Dragon*con Atlanta! (Aug 31-Sept 3)
I'll be at table TBL33 in the artist alley.  Located in Grand Hall East of the Hyatt Regency Atlanta.

Full artist list on  my Facebook
Dragon*con:  Official page here

Along with new Art Prints and sketchbooks/artbooks, I'll have my series of Creepy Tumbler Mugs and new T-shirts just released.  Here's a few pics of the designs:

Creepy Tumbler Mugs:
"The White Octopus" design:
Undead with Claws T-shirtLARGER version of front art here

New Creature design:
This started as a doodle while I was away from the studio and ended up turning out better than expected;)  I titled this creature the "Ossein Thief", and he's meant to tie in with my other "Collector" creature designs.

Ossein Thief: creature design
Pencil Detail

Books:  I had a couple covers released this month.

Dark Sun TPB:
This is the soft cover version for comic stores of the D&D graphic novel from IDW.  My Dark Sun cover will also appear in the upcoming "Spectrum 19", where it was nominated for an award in the comic section.

Bloodshot #2:
I did the limited variant cover for the second issue of Valiant's new explosive Bloodshot series.  Here's some of the process pics from rough sketch/idea to finished ink drawing.

Initial Rough:
Rough V2 with lighting and backgound concepts added:
Full PENCIL version:
WIP pencil to ink:
INK Version:
INK Detail:

Color version on my Facebook page.

Friday, July 13, 2012

Pencils: Bloodshot + Vicious Creatures & more

This post is dedicated to pencil, including various WIP pics, sketches, to finished pencil details.

First up is a WIP pencil pic from my upcoming Bloodshot #2 cover.
This is for a variant cover due out Aug 15 from Valiant Comics.
The full ink version can be seen here:
Bloodshot cover: Ink Version

Next, here's some various sketchpad doodles I did while away from my studio.  Some odd & twisted creatures that just came out while sketching.  Also a couple WarDreams WIP pics and a new scan of "Brooding Under Pillars".

Bloodshot: WIP pencil detail
Fishnose:
 
WarDreams: Left WIP
WarDreams: Right WIP
Dr. Death Collar:
Dr. Death Collar- Detail:
Bone Shard Serpent:
Brooding Under Pillars- Detail:
Brooding Under Pillars- Full: See larger here
Sunset: Taken on the road

Thursday, June 7, 2012

Yoda: Sketch to Ink + Summer Cons 2012

First up, I have a couple con appearances planned for the summer, including Wizard Chicago and Dragoncon.  I'll have an artist table at both with prints, artbooks, art, etc.  I'll try to give more info on my table #s closer to the events.  More show info at these links:

Wizard Chicago Comic Con 2012: Aug 9-12
Dragoncon Atlanta 2012: Aug 31- Sept 3

The Swamp Dweller
Here's a recent commission I did based on a familiar jedi master:)  I wanted to do my own spin on the character, but stay true to his nature. Creating an interesting swamp environment was my focus with this one, hence the title "The Swamp Dweller".  I wanted to add a few of my own slimy, alien critter designs to the swamp too.

Below I'm posting several steps from the rough sketch to finished ink drawing with a number of details too.  I hope you enjoy!

Rough Sketch

Swamp Dweller: Pencil Version

Lizard Pencil Detail

WIP Pencil photo

Ink Detail

Swamp Dweller: Ink Version

Skull Ink Detail

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Skin Shifter: creature design art

Here's a new creature sketch and design for my own project. This is a version of the creature from my drawing "Scale the Tower". I'll probably include this one in my next convention sketchbook/artbook.

Skin Shifter:

Scale the Tower:

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Skin Trade: cover art for George R.R. Martin

Last week my cover for George R.R. Martin's book "The Skin Trade" came out in France. It's a werewolf themed, horror story. I was pretty excited about this, as it was my first horror genre book cover.
I've always felt most comfortable in the realm of dark fantasy.

The book is now available in France and can also be ordered from the publisher (Actusf) here: Skin Trade Book


I thought I'd dig into my files and share some of the process for this cover.

Rough Sketch:
Here's my initial rough sketch and idea... I ended up just going with the first sketch. The idea was to draw a very shadowy killer in front of a mirror that was framed with bones. The mirror was a bit shattered and had the image of a wolf. This wasn't to be any scene from the book, but more catch the mood and themes. I also drew this cover at a smaller size than some of my cover-type drawings. It was printed smaller, so I needed to limit myself.

Wolf Skull Study:
A rough sketch/study of a wolf skull that I pulled from my sketchbook. This was actually an element that I had not used on another project and thought it would fit in the composition for this one.

WIP Pencil photo:
As in many of my drawings, I didn't use photo ref on the main character. I still study anatomy and how the shadows fall on a character, though I'm not going for a perfect photo real look. I look for interesting shapes and designs in a composition and try to catch the character's emotion and a mood to a scene. Those things are most important to me.

Pencil Version:
Here's the pencil stage. I left some areas rough, to be detailed out in ink.

Ink Version:
At first the background was going to be more black and in complete shadow. I decided to add some more twisted shapes and mystery back there, to give it a more creepy look. I wanted to keep with simple shapes in back though, so the detailed characters would stand out better.

Color Version:
My idea with the color on this one, was to just add a some minimal spot color in a stylized way. I think this sort of coloring works well, when the figures already stand strong in B&W ink. It also added to the horror feel on this book.