The Floating Wumpa
My inspiration was once again drawn from my childhood memories of running around in the virtual world of Crash Bandicoot! The wumpa fruit depicted in the piece however was redesigned to give the delectable rarity a somewhat more complex and mystical look.
I created this piece by first outlining the appropriate shape of the fruit I wanted to depict and then I used various techniques with oil pastels to color and blend the piece the way I wanted it to be.
Crash Bandicoot Landed
The inspiration for the piece came from a very special video game franchise that I have been playing ever since I was just a little boy at 4 years old. The piece is a re-imagining of the first game in the franchise "Crash Bandicoot." Basically I've made the story a little deeper and I've also taken the liberty of filling in some of the gaps the original developers left uncovered. Its not just a carbon copy of the first game either as I've switched some things around added some new characters and bent a couple of events to better suit my vision for this retelling.
I created the piece with a mix media sketch book and a number 2 pencil. I also used several of my own "Aliens" comic books that I still have from my childhood to help me with cinematic camera angles to help make the piece look nicer.
Glass Rat
The inspiration came from my love of the little rodents as well as my two favorite colors - green and purple, which is why I used those colors exclusively. The piece was created by drawing a very faint picture of the rat on a black piece of paper. Next special color pencils were used such as white to give the picture, and thus the glass the rat was supposed to be made out of, a very glossy appearance. Finally the colors were blended together to give the rat the illusion of glass.
Aku Aku's Mask
I chose to do this piece for a few reasons... One I don't find working with clay to be very enjoyable most of the time so I wanted to do something a little simpler, and two I've always wanted a version of this mask that I could actually put up somewhere in my home.
The piece mainly consisted of flat pieces being cut into the appropriate shapes that I needed to bring AkuAku to life. Afterwards extra clay was piled in to get the smooth texture around his eyes and his lips.
Artist Statements
The Sleepy Rat
I decided to draw a rat because I've kept them since I was very young. Strange as it sounds to say, rats are kind of a big part of my life. They're by far my favorite animals and they are probably some of the greatest pets I've ever had.
I started off by drawing the outline of the rat in a resting position from a semi bird's eye view perspective. Next I highlighted in white and black where I wanted my reflections in the fur and shadows around the rat's body to be. Then I colored in the rat with the appropriate pastels. Finally I used the scraffito technique to create the texture of the rat's fur, tail, and whiskers. I also used a gray pastel to give the cotton bed, in which the rat was resting, a more natural texture.
The Predator
My piece depicts a member of the alien race know as the Yautja, who roam the galaxy in search of dangerous creatures which they can hunt for sport, like humans.
Texture, shape, line and form were the elements used to create unity and balance in the piece. I just wanted to draw something I thought was really cool as a kid and still enjoy to this day. In this case... An alien hunter
War for Supremacy
My watercolor piece depicts a High-Elven general starring off into the distance, contemplating about the oncoming skirmish that is he is about to take part in upon the battlefield below.
Line, space and form are used to create balance, contrast and movement between everything from the three armies on the battlefield to the elf's flowing hair.
I chose to do an elf during the medieval period of my fictitious world in order to show my love of the fantasy genre.
Real Fantasy
My piece depicts a bust of myself as I am now sitting in the middle of two other characters. The other two people in the piece are of characters based on my likeness. The one to the right is a half-elven man with auburn hair, pale skin and a full beard, while the one to the right is a chaotic entity with snow white hair and jet black skin.
Value, texture, and form are the primary elements used in the piece to create contrast and unity.
Honestly I just wanted to try my hand at a hyper (or at least decently) realistic take on these characters. I've drawn them several times over, and the ones I have look do look fairly realistic but, there is still a sort of cartoonish element to them.
The Council of 13
My inspiration came from my love of rats as well as the novel series I've been working on for the past little while. The color purple was used because the "deities" shown in the piece have a very sacred connection to that color which represents the primordial element of chaos.
I began my piece by drawing the figure of the man in the center. Next I found where I wanted to place the tails and drew them around the figure. Finally I drew the 12 rat heads around the character and painted each element of the piece accordingly.