Digital tonal concept sketch for a gaming company depicting a cityscape with forground elements. The emotional beat in this series remains consistant with the nature of the dark world depicted. This idea was painted with no preliminay drawings. My aim was just to capture the raw emotion I felt about the subject and the energy of the man on a mission.
This is a rough digital sketch I painted of a city environment for a gaming company. I love doing this sort of design work using broad strokes and alternating forms to create movement and drama. All of the artists at the studio are top notch so I was a bit apprehensive at first, but the art took over and it was fun seeing this new world emerge as the strokes of digital paint came together.
This gaming environment leads us inside a maze of steel beams and catwalks lined with tubular pipes, gas lines and cables. Painted in CS2, this quick sketch conveys the over all emotional dynamic of danger, hidden mysteries and pulsating directional lights. In this case, since it was just an idea sketch, I made it up as I went along feeling my way through the many possible design solutions. I had a lot of fun playing light against dark and exploring the raw emotion of the scene.
My digital painting "Marooned" depicts a space trooper stranded on an alien planet illuminated by the moon behind him. Wreckage of his ship in the background along with distant planets hint to his long journey from home. His mission completed, so it seems, is now behind him as the lone survivor is forced to ponder his fate. The vast expanse of this desert planet is formidable, but nothing compares to facing the dark enemy he has hated for years—himself.
I recently worked on product development designs for Naruto which is an ongoing Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Masashi Kishimoto. These are the only design sketches I'm allowed to show. It's funny how I finished illustrating a book project that was inspired by manga styling and then I get handed the opportunity to work on such a classic. 
I really enjoyed painting this character study of a cowboy who's eyes give a hint to the condition of his soul. Years of living in the old west has hardened him and his youth faded away along with his dreams. He's found someone he has been looking for making this is a dangerous moment—payback for something everyone else forgot about. He hasn't forgotten. It's as though it happened yesterday.
I wanted his face to be the primary focal point. The shadow color under his eyes is darkened and void of color to give a clearer vision of his nature and intent. This oil was painted on a double primed linen canvas using a lead primer. Very slick to paint on but easy to wipe off when a mistake is made. I allowed the canvas to show through in spots and had a blast playing around with the brush strokes.
Copyright © 2009 Marvel Entertainment
I painted this oil depicting a little girl who found a friend. The story in the painting depicts a lovely girl with the simple surroundings of a bare orphanage. The girl seems a bit out of place standing in the corner. There is comfort, however, in holding a doll that she found along the way. Their special relationship allows the little girl a friend wherever she goes.
The model for the girl was my daughter, Sarah, who my wife and I adopted from South Korea when she was a baby. I remember when Sarah got older she wanted a doll to play with. We went to the store and she finally chose the one she wanted. She smiled and gave it a big hug. At that moment, I saw in her the first hints of being a mother. A mentor. A woman.
