The last image I completed, though it was the third that I started work on, probably the most successful of the the batch I tried to work in what I'd learned from experimenting with color and texture in the earlier pieces.

Background: Two scouts look out over the ruins of an imperial city from the top of a tall structure on its outskirts, a largely intact citadel stands at it center. Fires burn in several places, their source a mystery from this distance, an enormous crater can also be seen on the far side of the citadel.

The fourth image completed, when it became fairly apparent I was not going to be able to complete as many concepts as I would have liked I started trying to integrate more than one idea into a piece, when I started this I was having trouble nailing down a good environment piece so I tried to work one into an otherwise character focused image.

Not too much background for this, just the character in action wrecking some undead, the background is what finally inspired a workable environment piece.

One of the goals of this project was to work on my use of color and I wanted to practice that on at least one character, I still have a lot of details I need to complete for this sheet.

Background. Expeditions into the ruins of imperial cities are fraught with peril and some kind of protection is an absolute necessity. Many artificiers unwilling to trust mercenaries or men at arms gird themselves in arms and armor augmented by their own arcane abilities and personally lead such journeys. This particular example shows one such man clad in a partial suit of animate plate. These suits as the name implies seem to possess their own intelligence and strength, carrying themselves so that their wearers can move in what would otherwise be impossibly bulky gear. With the secrets of their creation seemingly long lost rumors and myths have sprung up to fill the void, the least damning of which still claim they are powered by the souls of fallen warriors, bound to the armor.

The second sheet finished, still wanted to focus on an item or prop but I wanted to build something more complex than the items on the equipment sheet. I'm much happier with the result of this than the first sheet, particularly what I was able to do playing with texture and custom brushes. Though parts of it remain a little looser than I would like but I still think its worth including in my portfolio at this time.

Background: With the collapse of imperial power and the upheaval that followed much was lost, almost any item intact or otherwise is prized by the current generation of artificiers and smiths. Once used as a means to carry items on long overland journeys many of these creations are now used by those willing to brave the ruins in search of lost treasures. Over time many of these platforms have been covered in carvings and runes by their handlers, some mundane crests or heraldry, others symbols of power meant to reinforce the magics that keep the platforms aloft or to ward off the horrors that lurk in the shadows. With their appearance becoming ever more arcane and the nature of what they are now used for many have taken to calling them sarcophagi.

Equipment

The first piece I finished, I wanted to start with something relatively simple and work up in complexity. I'm not unhappy with this but I'd like to revisit it and develop some of the ideas further. To give some background to it from left to right, ornate flail bodies and heads, a gauntlet, scroll tube, and shield with a built in gauntlet.

Color and Stuff

Trying to get some interesting lighting going here, particularly to add some color to stone buildings built in a rocky valley.

Still having issues with moving between computers completely wrecking the brightness and contrast of the image

work continues

Environment

Last but certainly not least in line to get finishing touches, this image has been driving me crazy, trying to capture the scale I'm looking for without losing that sense of medieval architecture has not been easy, nor am I sure I've been entirely successful yet.

On Monitors

Moving between computers in the lab which all have different color settings is making this thing a nightmare to work on. Finally figured out why so many people were telling me it looked dark on their screens though, apparently when I started laying down color I was on one that was unusually bright and saturated.

Color in a very wip state

Making an effort to really push brighter more saturated color into my work, results so far are interesting to me though I am not wholly satisfied with them as of yet

Action Pose

Giving the character a little more life, more to come of course