Finishing Touch

Here is the 2011 holiday card we painted for a pair of friends, marking this the sixth year we've had the pleasure! :]

It's safe to post now, since all of the mailed out cards should have reached their destinations!

You can see cards from the previous years under the "More Info" link!

Wizard

This was a holiday gift for a pair of friends, a painting of their husky Wizard. Since they've now shredded it's papery exoskeleton, I figure it's safe to post!

Happy Holidays everyone! May your day be merry, your drinks be spiked, and the new year treat you well!




(8.5x11 acrylic on wood)

Here's Looking At You

"Too much of a good thing is wonderful."
~Mae West

Salute

"Avere la Botte Piena e la Moglie Ubriaca!"

Dragonborn

Okay, I admit it. Between a lot of sketching and a lot of painting, there's been a lot of Skyrim. ;]

Murderous

Gaily I lived as ease and nature taught,
And spent my little life without a thought,
And am amazed that Death, that tyrant grim,
Should think of me, who never thought of him.
~René Francois Regnier

Juniper

I painted this as a surprise gift for two friends, as a thanks for having me over last week, and also to help replace some of the art they lost in the Binghamton floods last September!


8x10 Acrylic on Wood

Good Fortune Badge

During a dinner at RMFC this weekend, I received a remarkably convention-appropriate fortune in my fortune cookie. Last night I had to paint myself a quick badge to make good use of it. ;]

Hogwarts Badges

These are the free Hogwarts badges I painted before AnthroCon, for the six folks who's names I drew randomly from the contest's submissions! :]
And oddly enough, yet again no Gryffindors were chosen. Entries were largely either Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw!

(More information on the free badge give-a-way [which has now long since ended,] can be found under that More Info button.)

Avian Postal Strike

Here's an example of one of the original sketches I'll have for sale at my Dealer's Table this weekend at AnthroCon! :]

Aztec Coffee

A caffeinated jaguar for a label of coffee liquor, which you can find at EuroFurence from Cougar's Liquors. :]

One out of Five

All God's children are not beautiful. Most of God's children are, in fact, barely presentable.
~Fran Lebowitz

Halfdome

I started painting this back in 2009 and it gave me weeks worth of trouble trying to make it look halfway decent. Frustrated, and contemplating burning it in the desert, I stuffed it into the dark recesses of a closet for a year.
It would resurface every four or five months, and with much gnashing of teeth and words to make a sailor blush, I would attempt to throw a few more paint strokes at it--until I'd again get frustrated and hide it somewhere new. Today, I found it again (under the air conditioner) and figured I'd do the two or three or twelve things to at least make it "whole," though it is not exactly what "I was going for."

It's nice to consider it finished and have it off my mind for 2011! ;]

Wizard and Gypsy

This was a Christmas gift I made for two of the Sofawolf Press fellows earlier in December, which has their two huskies, Wizard and Gypsy, doing Sofawolfy things. :]

Under the Aurora

Here's this year's card design for a pair of good friends, which I did some weeks ago. I suspect all the cards have made their perilous journey through the postal system by now! :]

Swimming Hole

Another little piece for FurtherConfusion. I started it a few weeks ago, set it aside, and finally had the time to finish it the other day. :]

Southern Crossing

This painting was quite the challenge, but I'm pretty happy how it came out. :]
I don't think I've spent so many hours painting a single piece since college, somewhere close to ninety hours in the end.
It's about 11x17 inches and is mostly painted with acrylics.


It's the cover for FurtherConfusion's convention book next January, following their down under theme of "Southern Crossing."
I drew a lot of inspiration for it from my own experiences camping three weeks in the Outback with friends and family a few years ago. :]

From left to right, we've got Diego (dingo), Jack (red kangaroo), a quoll and feral goat up on the truck, a wombat, emu, Diego's mum, an echidna, a numbat in the foreground, a Tasmanian devil and another quoll.

Isolation Play - Brutal Game

This is one of the interior illustrations for Kyell Gold's newest book Isolation Play. I did 11 interior illustrations for the book (plus the cover.) The interiors will be printed in greyscale, but I figured I'd still paint them since I like that kind of thing. ;]

Isolation Play - Cover

Here is the cover to Kyell Gold's long awaited sequel to his book "Out of Position" -- "Isolation Play". I painted the cover a month or so ago, along with 11 interior illustrations and 5 inked chapter heads.

Book jacket blurb:
Devlin Miski thought coming out on national TV would be the hardest part about being a gay football player. But it's when his press conference is over that the trouble really starts. The athletic tiger and his boyfriend Lee, a fox with a tongue as quick as his wit, still won't get many breaks in their fight for understanding. They'll need to deal with a stubborn reporter determined to get a story any way he can, furious parents, and hostile teammates--not to mention each other.
All's fair in love and war--and this is both.

Boomerang

Nothin' special, just a small dingo dude I painted a little ago for FurtherConfusion.
It crops down to 2x4 for their badge purposes. :]

Legend of the Rainbow Serpent

Art for FurtherConfusion's sponsor/patron print. With their theme of "Southern Crossing," one of the first things that came to my mind was the Rainbow Serpent legends. There are countless variations to the creation myths, and here's another:

A long time ago, in the Dreamtime...

Before there were men or animals, plants or any other thing, there was the Rainbow Serpent. She was the mother of us all. She moved around in the darkness before there was the sun and the moon in the sky, and her heavy, winding body created the mountain ranges and deep channels. Where she thrashed her tail, great rifts appeared, and there were great hallows where her body had lain sleeping...

(You an read the rest under either the [Comment] or [More Info] button there.)

Smoke Signals PG 7

Here's the next batch from "Smoke Signals," the comic I made for the 24-hour comic challenge yesterday, essentially 24 pages in 24 hours, starting midnight on Oct. 2nd.

I got pretty far before sleep got the better of me, with about 16 pages finished and the rest laid out and drawn. I'll put the next batch up sometime next week or so, then probably try to finish a page here or there between other stuff, so I can finish it and get it all online eventually.

(Pages are painted in watercolor, about 5x7, text added digitally afterward The comic ends up silly despite it's melodrama, but it probably gets an R rating for all the violence and head-bashing.)


Definitely was a challenge and a lot of fun! It certainly got my art muscles limbered up. :]

Smoke Signals PG 6

Here's the next batch from "Smoke Signals," the comic I made for the 24-hour comic challenge yesterday, essentially 24 pages in 24 hours, starting midnight on Oct. 2nd.

I got pretty far before sleep got the better of me, with about 16 pages finished and the rest laid out and drawn. I'll put the next batch up sometime next week or so, then probably try to finish a page here or there between other stuff, so I can finish it and get it all online eventually.

(Pages are painted in watercolor, about 5x7, text added digitally afterward The comic ends up silly despite it's melodrama, but it probably gets an R rating for all the violence and head-bashing.)


Definitely was a challenge and a lot of fun! It certainly got my art muscles limbered up. :]

Smoke Signals PG 5

Here's the next batch from "Smoke Signals," the comic I made for the 24-hour comic challenge yesterday, essentially 24 pages in 24 hours, starting midnight on Oct. 2nd.

I got pretty far before sleep got the better of me, with about 16 pages finished and the rest laid out and drawn. I'll put the next batch up sometime next week or so, then probably try to finish a page here or there between other stuff, so I can finish it and get it all online eventually.

(Pages are painted in watercolor, about 5x7, text added digitally afterward The comic ends up silly despite it's melodrama, but it probably gets an R rating for all the violence and head-bashing.)


Definitely was a challenge and a lot of fun! It certainly got my art muscles limbered up. :]

Smoke Signals PG 4

Here's the next batch from "Smoke Signals," the comic I made for the 24-hour comic challenge yesterday, essentially 24 pages in 24 hours, starting midnight on Oct. 2nd.

I got pretty far before sleep got the better of me, with about 16 pages finished and the rest laid out and drawn. I'll put the next batch up sometime next week or so. After that, I'll try to finish a page here or there between other stuff so I can finish it and get the whole comic online eventually.

(Pages are painted in watercolor, about 5x7, text added digitally afterward. The comic ends up silly despite it's melodrama, but it probably gets a PG13/R rating for all the violence and head-bashing.)


Definitely was a challenge and a lot of fun! It certainly got my art muscles limbered up. :]

Smoke Signals PG 3

24 Hour Comic Challenge--still going strong!

Here's the first three pages, which I finished around 5am this morning. Working now on the 14th page...


The 24 Hour Comic Challenge is pretty much what it sounds like--make a 24 page comic from scratch in 24 hours, without any prior planning or writing. This years competition started Oct. 2nd at midnight.

Despite it's melodrama and I suppose an R rating for violence, this comic is really rather silly. ;]
It's watercolor and ink, pages are about 9x6, and the text is added digitally.

Smoke Signals PG 2

24 Hour Comic Challenge--still going strong!

Here's the first three pages, which I finished around 5am this morning. Working now on the 14th page...


The 24 Hour Comic Challenge is pretty much what it sounds like--make a 24 page comic from scratch in 24 hours, without any prior planning or writing. This years competition started Oct. 2nd at midnight.

Despite it's melodrama and I suppose an R rating for violence, this comic is really rather silly. ;]
It's watercolor and ink, pages are about 9x6, and the text is added digitally.

Smoke Signals PG 1

24 Hour Comic Challenge--still going strong!

Here's the first three pages, which I finished around 5am this morning. Working now on the 14th page...

The 24 Hour Comic Challenge is pretty much what it sounds like--make a 24 page comic from scratch in 24 hours, without any prior planning or writing. This years competition started Oct. 2nd at midnight.

Despite it's melodrama and I suppose an R rating for violence, this comic is really rather silly. ;]
It's watercolor and ink, pages are about 9x6, and the text is added digitally.

Across Thin Ice: Page 11

Here is Page 11 from Across Thin Ice

Across Thin Ice, first of three Nordguard graphic novels, will be 100 or so pages of turn-of-the-20th-century arctic adventure, printed in full color from Sofawolf Press, a PG13 rating for bloody violence. It'll be out next year!

If you want to see a bunch more art, pages and concept stuff, click that [More Info] button!

Also, on Twitter, @Nordguard!

www.NORDGUARD.com

Applejack and Catgut

While sorting through a few things in preparation for the print sale, I unearthed this from early August.

I painted it as a joke, in about thirty minutes, for use as a duel badge for visiting Rocky Mountain FurCon. I couldn't attend the convention, but still wanted to drop by for a few minutes and say hi to some folks, so I figured I'd go incognito and with the theme. Since the convention's theme was the Old West, thus were born the fictitious Applejack and Catgut, out to steal booze and shoot things. And we did.