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Early last year I was commissioned by Fantasy Flight Games to work on a few of their cards for the card game, Call of Cthulhu. They have been released for sharing so I thought I’d post them here. This project was lots of fun and was my first experience working on a card game of the sort. Some of the cards I like more than others but I learned SO much working on these. I’ve since then worked on other games of theirs including Talisman: The Dragon and more on Call of Cthulhu. I hope to be able to share some of those as well soon. Special thanks to Zoe Robinson, my AD for the project! :)

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Been working on lots lately. I’m preparing to have some new work ready for Spectrum Art Live in May this year. It’s going to be an exciting convention! If you’re in the Kansas City area, mark your calendars to come out and see some incredible art! I’ll be sharing what I’m bringing here as it gets closer and such.

One project I’m working on in between things is the Flora/Fauna Project. It started with an image I created for Imagine FX magazine a while back – in which I created a creature made from plants. I had so much fun exploring plant-life that I’ve decided to create a mini series out of it. The image above is the first (official) creature from that series. This time I decided to explore Opium – poppies and such. I’ll be exploring other plant groups as I am the Lily beastie below:

Lily (work in progress)

This weekend I created something for a blog I’m part of called Fanartica (finally). I decided to draw and paint one of my favorite comic book characters, Wexter. He was a challenge because I don’t usually get to draw guns too often but he was too much fun to paint!

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He’s from a comic called AxeCop, which if you haven’t read this comic, you NEED to. It’s amazing. The artist that creates it is incredible and the writer (his 6 year-old brother) is awesomely imaginative. This comic has me laughing and cheering non-stop. It’s a favorite among me and my friends. Go read it here: http://www.axecop.com.

More updates to come soon! Work from The Red Valley is on the way with some new environment and creature studies I’m very excited about along with announcements of some upcoming projects due toward this summer! :)

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An image created for a friend as a gift. This was so much fun to put together! I always love drawing animals and putting them in bee costumes made it way too much fun. :)

More work coming soon as well as some really exciting projects!

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The new year brings new and exciting projects to work on! I’m already very excited about some new work coming out as well as some really great new opportunities. I think this will be a fantastic year!

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These two illustrations are out in Imagine FX this month. You can find them in issue 77 in the US right now. This particular set of Q&A’s were really fun and challenging. The top image actually led to an idea for a small project. I had mentioned it a few months back but I’ve recently been distracted with a day job. Now that I have more time to spare, I’m able to pick it back up again as my daily warm up. The project is called “Flora/Fauna” and it deals with creature design influenced by plant-life. I’m hoping to create a small series of Flora/Fauna and compile them into a mini-book. This was one of the critters I had started a while back for the project:

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I like the design so far but I might work a bit on the pose. For now this is just a side project that I plan to work on when I warm up before I start work on client projects or The Red Valley Project.

That’s it for now. Stay tuned for more updates soon! :)

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I hope everyone has a lovely Holiday this weekend! I know I have so much I am grateful for. This year has been amazing to me and I’m looking forward to a fun and productive 2012! :) Thank you everyone for your support.

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The piece featured in the book was created for Imagine FX magazine to illustrated how to paint a elegant but wriggly fish.

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In other news, I’ve been working on laying out my next collection of artwork. Fish Hooks volume 1 has been taken down from being sold online. I’m currently working on volume two to bring to “Spectrum Art Live!” in May. I’m working on finding a good printer I can go through at the moment. I’ll have the finished book available for purchase in my etsy store, with links on my blog. I’ve been working on a few different pieces lately, mostly for myself. Here is a piece of something I started last week:

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Hoping to finish it up soon.

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We lost an incredible man and illustrator on Friday last week. (December 2nd, 2011) Dugald Stermer was one of the best.

He was a huge influence on my own work and countless others.

Dugald’s Work

(Dugald Stermer at Ease  Photo by Judith Calson   /   found via Robert Hunt)

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I have been working on some new images that I really can’t wait to share! Life has been a bit hectic lately with the Holidays coming and work. More updates are on the way for The Red Valley along with a few new images for my portfolio. I have two new images in Imagine FX magazine this month. You can see both of these in Issue 76! Be sure to check it out if you can. I had lots of fun painting that landscape and, of course, the canines as well. It’s always a pleasure working with the Imagine FX team. :)

Stay tuned for more updates!

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Things have been sort of crazy these last few weeks. I’ve been working on a few projects that I’ll have to wait to share here. Until then I’ll be posting more personal work, now that I have a little more time for it. Work has really started to pick up with The Red Valley and the first post has been put up on the blog. You can see it here: The Red Valley: Rain. It’s a challenge. The way I’m visioning the storytelling aspect of the project will require lots of work, which is good of course, but it will take more time to complete.

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I’m hoping to have most of the first act (along with a few creature profiles) done by May of next year for Spectrum Fantastic Art Live. I’d like to have a small preview book of the project for sale there along with information about where I’d like the project to go. The project is still in its very early stages and so even I’m unsure of where it’s headed.

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These sketch images aren’t really related to the project so much but they were starting points for a very large creature I’d like to introduce on the blog soon.

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About two weeks ago I went to the Mojave Desert to visit family and while I was there I had the privilege of teaching a second-grade class how to draw a couple of animals. Since it was close to Halloween I taught them, step-by-step, how to draw a simple cat and a bat. It was way too much fun! I was also able to show them some of the work I’ve done for clients and my own projects. They were so excited! It’s always encouraging to have kids get excited about art and what you do as an artist.

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I also made a few posters for the kids to take home. This was a promotional poster that I made for October. I had it printed on a glossy stock so the kids could roll them up – so it looked a little different from this image.

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Of course to top it all off, I got a packet of letters from the kids yesterday, thanking me for visiting their class! I can’t express how much this means to me! They are the best thing ever! I’ve read every letter and will probably keep this in my desk (along with the letters from last year’s class). I love all of the lovely pictures each of the students drew for me!

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Here are three of the letters from the packet. They are amazing and I wish I could post them all! So, You’re welcome Mrs Smith’s class! It was a pleasure visiting you all! :D

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Saw these on the stands yesterday in Imagine FX magazine. They were created for issue 75′s Q&A section. Be sure to check them out if you can! This round was particularly challenging but the two creatures feeding on the carcass up top were especially tricky. My goal was to make it look natural – as if the predators have always eaten this way. Nature can be incredibly gruesome and gory at times and I really wanted to show that without exaggerating it. In any case, these were so much fun to paint.

I’m currently visiting the Mojave desert area to see family. I’m also taking the opportunity to take some notes and photos for The Red Valley. I’m very excited to begin posting content for the project. I should begin in early November.

New work to be posted soon!

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These two images have gone live in the current issue of Imagine FX magazine. I created them for the Q&A section to talk about how to paint slimey alien skin and how to color pencil lines, digitally.

Issue 74 is a special Star Wars issue so be sure to check it out! If you’re interested in creature design, it has an amazing tutorial section by Terryl Whitlatch! Anyway, pick one up if you can.

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I’ve also found out that I’ve been included in Ballistic Publishing’s Exotique 7 this year! Very excited to be included with so many talented artists! My piece “Mars” will be featured inside. Check it out!

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I will also be showing a piece in CCAC’s Faculty & Alumni show this year. I am incredibly honored and very humbled to be included in the show. I’ve also been asked to give a small talk about my experience at and after CCAC along with 4 other alumni. I’m very excited (and also very nervous) to be able to talk about my work and what I’ve done so far. I’m looking forward to seeing everyone and seeing the work this year.

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Anyway, that’s the news for now. I’m off to get some commission and personal work done before this next project hits. Really looking forward to October! :)

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Two new images that I’ll post more about later. One has inspired me to create a series of plant/creatures. Should be fun when I get more time! :)

In other news, I’ll be showing and selling a few Limited Edition prints at Rendition Gallery’s “IT’S ALIVE” show. The show is focusing on creepy creatures for Halloween! If you’re in the Fort Collins area, you should check it out! It will be a really great show! I will take some photos of what I will be showing this week once everything is framed.

Working on deadlines today. This weekend is going to be sleepless…

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Two new playing card illustrations I created at the beginning of the year. (wow! the year is slipping away!) Talisman: The Dragon is now on sale, and two of the cards I created for the game are inside!

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images are © to Fantasy Flight Games LLC

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Finished this up between projects. I am so ready for fall…

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Finished this up the other day and thought I’d post it here too. It served as a warm up for a few mornings. I tend to forget that I need to take about a half hour to warm up before I start working for the day.

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Also working on another image that I think I might make into a promo-poster. This was originally started for COW over on ConceptArt.org. I haven’t participated with COW in so long!

Anyway, more work to come along with some exciting announcements in October and November! :)

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Created for a private commission of the mythological bird: The Phoenix. Birds are always fun and challenging to paint! :)

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Two new images that I’ll post about later. Things have been busy with friends visiting this week! We’ve been having so much fun and we still have until Saturday! :)

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We went to Stinson Beach the other day and explored the coastline around there. It was so incredibly beautiful! Afterward, I felt so inspired. Sometimes I forget that putting your feet in the surf and being in nature can really help take the edge off. I’ve been under a lot of stress lately with work and finding more work. Somehow, standing in the sand and watching the ocean helped me feel grounded. It was just awesome to be with great friends in an awesome place. I will most likely return to this spot to recharge. :)

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John’s dad came to visit last weekend and we took a trip to see the Redwoods. Such an amazing place; especially right now. Because of all of the rains, the forest has exploded with green moss, lichen, saplings and new ferns everywhere! It looks almost prehistoric! It was nice to go and “re charge” for a bit. Sadly, I don’t get to make it up there all too often.

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I’ve been messing around with personal work lately too. Work on The Red Valley is picking up and I’ve begun to to lay out species ideas and thoughts about how the project will flow. I should be posting work on the blog come November this year. I’m very excited about the project and am really looking forward to exploring the concept.

I’ve been working on the illustration section of my website too – trying to round it out with more personal work lately. This is an image a created about a week ago.

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These two images are live now. They were created for Imagine FX’s Q&A section. As always, I have a lot of fun answering the questions and creating work for the magazine. I’m fortunate in that I get to answer questions that tend to relate to creatures and such. :) You can see them in the current issue (in the US now) here –> Imagine Fx – Issue 73

That’s it for now. Fall is looking busy! :)

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New personal work. Hoping to swap out a few of the images in my portfolio in the coming weeks…

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More creature work! I’ll post more about these soon. For now, I have lots of work to start on. Things are picking up again!

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I can’t believe it’s already August. 2011 is just flying by! This year has been excellent so far. I’ve learned so much and I’ve gotten to work on some really exciting and fun projects; some of which I have yet to share! I really can’t wait to either. This is a work in progress – a profile study of something I’m working on in my spare time.

Lately, I’ve been trying to work out more human characters and I’m going to need it. I’ll need a lot of practice for another upcoming project I’ll be involved in. This is the more successful out of the few I’ve sketched out this last week:

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This character is actually directly based off of a man I saw in the Mission in San Francisco last month. I was on my way to give a talk at my former college when this man came walking down the street, cat and all. His boom-box was blaring metal too! It was a pretty remarkable sight. This can only mean I need to spend more time in the Mission to observe more amazing people for my sketchbook.

That’s it for now. More updates coming soon!

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These two images were created a while ago but they are in the current issue of Imagine FX magazine and can be seen in the Q&A section. I really loved creating these two paintings. It’s an awesome creature design issue! Bobby Chiu created an excellent cover for it! You can check it out here –> Imagine FX – Issue 72

Also, I just found out that I am on the confirmed exhibitor list for Spectrum Fantastic Art Live! - A new fantasy art convention being held in Kansas City, May of next year! It should be really awesome and the list of exhibitors is pretty incredible. Needless to say, I have lots of work to get done before next Summer!

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This is a work is progress. I help run an activity on CGhub called Creature Planets. It’s a creature design activity and the current topic is to design a new mutant creature Villain for the TMNT (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle) Universe. I chose to create a Honey Badger chick! Excited to get her done – I think I might put together a tutorial for this image if I get the time.

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Making a an effort to do more animal studies for an upcoming project. Hopefully this is just one of many…

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New personal piece. I actually didn’t like the way this image started but it grew on me as I worked on it. I’m currently working on some new work to replace some of the images in my portfolio that I feel are “out of date”.

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One of the images I was working on was this one, of a female space pilot. (Can you tell I’m trying to include more humans in my portfolio?) Anyway, this character is actually part of a private commission that sort of came to a halt a while back. I decided I’d use some of the prompts as a loose inspiration for some character studies. When I was fleshing out the costume for this character study I looked up X-Wing pilots from Star Wars for reference:

(© Lucas film)

I love this costume. It looks so simple. I mean, I’m pretty sure you could replicate this pretty easily at your local hardware store. It’s awesome and I think it points to a time in film where there weren’t massive budgets to be thrown around. At least the budget wasn’t the selling point of a movie anyway. It was about keeping it iconic. You immediately know what this is when you see it (assuming you’ve seen Star Wars). I think it’s a great reminder that, in design, the best solution is usually the simplest one.

Anyway, I’m not sure if I’ll finish the pilot or not. She was a good warm up but I think I’d like to explore more ideas about the costume and such…

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Anyway, head down to your local magazine shop or visit Uppercase online and check out my interview in issue 10! The 10th issue had two covers – two adorable dogs in bow-ties! I suggest picking one up!

Special thanks to the team at Uppercase and Super Special thanks to Glen Dresser for contacting me about the interview and asking excellent questions! :)

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Here are two new beasties! I’ll post more about them later when I get more info and such.

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I hope everyone (in the states at least) had a happy 4th of July! It was a great weekend for me. I was able to see family and sort of take a break from work. It was a good “re-charge” and I totally needed it. Excited to get back to work though. I have lot’s planned for the next couple months!

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Working on this among other things this weekend. This is just a bit of a larger subject. Decided to post this work in progress look for twitter. A neat idea came up about posting whatever is on your drawing board (and I assume computer screen) at 10am every day. Of course, you’re also supposed to mark the tweet with #10oclockart. If you’re on twitter, you should join in on the fun! :)

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This was sort of an experiment that turned into a finished piece. It’s what I imagined Katniss Everdeen to look like from The Hunger Games series.

Been working on lots lately. Mostly for Sychey Games. We’re working on getting content put up online so I should have more to show and talk about in regards to that soon.

Been working out more about the Red Valley too. I’m hoping it will turn out to be a fun project.

But for now, more ridiculous sketching:

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Note: The cat in the tutu is none other than Luna the Fashion Kitty. It’s become a personal mission to spread word about this cat!

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Here are the books that I own:

Animal Anatomy for Artists: The Elements of Form

I’ve had this book for years and I turn to it almost daily. It’s a very simple guide to bone and muscle structure to most mammalian forms.

The Art of Animal Drawing: Construction, Action Analysis, Caricature

I recently picked this up and I love it! This book is older and the drawings inside are mostly about form and action – drawing animals in motion.

Animals Real and Imagined

By one of my favorite creature artists, Terryl Whitlatch compiles her knowledge into a beautiful book! I’ve turned to this book for all sorts of anatomy questions. Not to mention its very inspiring to look through!

The Wildlife of Star Wars

Same as above, an inspiring collection of creature designs from the Star Wars movies.

The World of Kong

This book is gorgeous. I kept getting comments on The Morae River about how people were reminded of this book after looking through the project (I was incredibly flattered!) An inspiring collection of creature designs from the recent re-make of King Kong.

Creature

This was a gift and I never thought I’d really use it for reference. However, I look through it all the time! Especially for ideas on skin texture and facial expression.

Anatomy for the Artist

Not the traditional creature anatomy book but I love this human anatomy book. The artist handles the body so well and I love the overlays inside. It really helps to see the muscle structure of the animal that is most familiar to us! ;)

Wildlife Fact Files – I got these when I was a kid. I’m not sure if you can still subscribe to them or not. They offer some photos and interesting facts about animals. They aren’t extensive but are good for quick reference.

The Encyclopedia of Animals

An amazing book FULL of images and illustrations! This book helps me so much!

The Audubon Field Guides

These are small quick field guides and while they don’t offer a huge amount of photo reference they offer behavioral traits which is super important when designing creatures!

Here are also a few books that are on my “To Get” List:

Art Anatomy of Animals

Animal Drawing: Anatomy and Action for Artists

Prehistoric Life

Color and Light

When it comes to referencing animals, I also like to watch Nature Documentaries. Nothing really beats seeing the animal move around in it’s natural habitat doing what it does. Here is a quick list of some documentaries that I find particularly helpful and have watched too many times:

Life of Mammals – available on NetFlix Instant Watch

The Blue Planet- available on NetFlix Instant Watch

YellowStone – available on NetFlix Instant Watch

Planet Earth

Life

Life of Birds – available on NetFlix Instant Watch

Human Planet

Of course, going to the zoo and museums helps tremendously! It’s something I know I need to do more of too. In any case, I hope this list is informative for those of you who might be interested in creature design and animal illustration. If you know of any books that you like to reference or share, please comment! :)

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Finished up this study last week. I would call it the very fist image for The Red Valley project. I’m hoping to work more on this project when I get the time between things. Life is getting busier, which is good.

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Sketching hipster alien kids in blue pencil while photoshop saves a massive file is always fun too.

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Two new pieces. I’ll be posting more about them later. I had a lot of fun painting these!

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I feel like I learned a lot working through these. I’m finding that the more I slow down while drawing and painting, the better results I get. I know, that seems obvious. I think it can be hard to remember that when painting digitally though. It’s simple to lay down one color and move on but I’m finding that I need to stay and really add to the color to make it look more textured and rich. I’m also learning more about textures lately. I’m hoping I’ll keep improving my technique. Lately, I feel like I’m actually understanding how to paint in the computer (what, two years after I really started!) I know I have SO much more to learn.

I also ordered a few postcards and business cards to send and hand out. I mostly wanted to try out Moo.com and get in on the small business offer they had going. I got a square card reader for free! Looking forward to being able to take credit cards at conventions and such. Hopefully I’ll actually get a touch phone by then! haha!

Anyway, working lots on game stuff this month. Hopefully I’ll be able to share some updates about that later this summer. More work coming soon!

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Starting the first image from The Red Valley project. Still very much in progress…

trying to squeeze personal work in between client projects :P

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Here are the two illustrations I created:

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Been working on lots lately. I was also recently asked to do an interview about my work for a different magazine – I’ll share more details on that later when I get the go ahead. Gearing up to start my new personal project soon as well. Really looking forward to focusing on some personal work. I’ve been working to round out the fantasy side of my portfolio lately too.

But for now, tea time! :)

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A new personal piece. More work coming soon!

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Some quick creature concept sketches for the current CGhub Creature Planets challenge.

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A new personal piece I finished up. I’ll be updating my website with some new work soon but for now you can see new work here and on my facebook page – Brynn Metheney – Concept Art & Illustration on Facebook.

I also wanted to give a shout out to Chris Koehler! Chris is a freelance illustrator  and instructor who I met through college. I never had the joy of taking his website class but he is an awesome and inspiring dude! You can check out his work here: Chris Koehler Art and Illustration.

He recently featured me on his awesome blog along with some other incredibly talented people:

http://chriskoehler.com/blog/artist-spotlight-books/

The post is about books and FishHooks was featured. Check out the rest of the post to see some awesome work from the other artists! Big thanks Chris! :D

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Been working away lately and the year is going by so fast! I can’t believe it’s already May. Where is 2011 going? So far this year has been full of surprising opportunities and good things.  Just finished two new pieces. I’ll post more about them later when they go live and such. These were super fun to create! I always enjoy painting Gnolls and weird alien creatures.

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This critter above was actually inspired by an older sketch I did. You can find him in one of the sketchbook pages of this post.

Trying to fit in personal work lately. Finding it harder to find time for things of the sort though. However, it is a must so I’ll be posting some progress here soon to stay on top of it more. I have a new project I’ve just become a part of. I’ll be working as lead artist for a new start-up in Seattle, WA. I’m very excited about the project (as it involves a huge amount of creatures) and I can’t wait to start sharing work. I’ll be posting news and such as we release content online. Of course, this is a freelance gig so I’ll be staying here in Oakland for the time being. :)

Here is something I’m currently working on:

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Obviously still a work in progress. I’ve warmed up to the image in the process of creating it but I’m not sure if I’ll keep it around. I’m wanting to update my website with some new work and this image was the beginning of that…

I’d also like to post a reminder about my book “FishHooks”. May is my birthday month so if you buy FishHooks during this month you can save 15%! I had a lot of fun putting together this book and have started plans for my second volume. Of course, that means that I will probably discontinue this book once I release volume 2 this fall. You can view more images of the book here: http://www.fishhookstudio.com/2010/09/fish-hooks/

You can buy FishHooks on Lulu.com, here: http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/fish-hooks/12917022

Anyway, I suppose that’s it for now. I’ll be posting more news soon!

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I am very happy to announce that I’ve found out that “Elegant Hunters” has made it into Spectrum this year! I got the letter in the mail yesterday. I am so incredibly happy and honored to be a part of this amazing publication! A big thank you to the judges for accepting me into this awesome book! I really can’t wait to see it.

“Elegant Hunters” was created for Imagine FX magazine. You can see the magazine article here.

Anyway, I’ve been working on updating my current portfolio. This is a study I did for my concept art section – Mother and offspring. I’m wanting to try and expand on some other subjects and show them in alternate views more. I don’t think I will expand this species though. I’m also working out some new environments and such too. I’m excited to start posting some new work! I haven’t been able to much in the way of personal work lately so I’m excited to actually have some time. I’ll be posting some progress on a few new images for my illustration section later this weekend. I’m also working on lots of new work for Sychey Games. It’s a very exciting project to be a part of! I’ll be posting lots more on it as we release content online.

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Things have been bittersweet lately. The sketch up above was something I thought I’d finish but it’s been “collecting dust”. I’ve had some really great prospects for a new job coming up soon. I’m really very excited about it! It would definitely be a step up and more in the direction I’d like to go with my career. Of course, as it is with movies and video games, everything is “Non-disclosure”. I can share things as I go along though. I’ve been working closely with Sychey Games recently on a new project they are creating. Here is some artwork that I am allowed to share. Sketches for Plasmagonia™ :

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This project has been a blast to work on so far! Lots and lots of creatures to design. I’ll be sharing more about this project as it moves forward too!

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I suppose (some) of the bitterness of the last couple of weeks would come from the fact that my project, The Morae River, has come to a close. I’ve decided to leave it alone for now. It’s hard to let go of a project that has been such a huge part of my life for the last three years. I feel as though the project has grown stagnant and I’ve fallen into a “system”. Which is always good but I need the project to be more than that. The Morae River taught me so much though. Really, I’m seeing it as somewhat of a jumping off point for my next project. I’ve realized that I’d rather not be in Solturna. Of course, even though I rarely have time to work on personal work my mind needs a place to go so I’ve decided to take on something new a little closer to “home”.

This is a rough banner for my new venture. I’ll be posting more on this project soon but for now it’s very “under construction”. I am really excited for it though. I feel as though it’s closer to the project I envisioned in the first place.

Also a reminder that you can follow my activity and such on Facebook now:

Brynn Metheney – Concept Art & Illustration

I also post sketchbook pages on that page a little more frequently than I do here so check it out! :)

More exciting news coming soon!

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A very big thank you to the Imagine FX team for featuring some of my work! :) It is always such an honor to be included in this magazine and always so much fun answering questions for the panel!

Here are the two images that were created for the tutorials:

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That’s it for now. Some other really great news to come soon along with some new work from a new project I’m beginning to work on.

:)

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I don’t have much to post in the realm of personal work. Adjusting to my work load has caused some of my personal stuff to become neglected. I do manage to sketch here and there though. This is something I like doing – just sort of sketching lots of body-forms quickly in pen. I have a tendency to want to get everything right and so this helps me to loosen up and try to let go of making the drawing perfect.

Here are more doodles:

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I’ve also recently made a facebook page for my artwork. I was sort of opposed to the idea for a while – only because I already update a million things on the internet already so one more thing seemed like a bit much. However, it sort of needed to happen. If you’d like to keep up with my work on facebook you can here:

Brynn Metheney – Concept Art and Illustration on Facebook!

I know a very talented lady by the name of Laura Guill – we went to school together and had studios almost next to each other in thesis. Recently I commissioned a small illustration from her and just had to share it!

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This tiny tapir is literally the most adorable thing in the world. Laura’s work involves her painting subjects in acrylic and then cutting them out and pasting them to a background to created a three dimensional effect. I love my tapir so much! Thanks Laura! :D You can see more of Laura’s tiny animals on her blog, here: http://crown-of-laurel.blogspot.com/

Anyway, I’m off to work on some developmental work. I do have a about 10 card illustrations I’m hoping will be released so I can show those as well.

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This was an old sketch I stumbled across and I thought I’d post it. I was reminded of it by my recent “Daily Deviation” feature over on DeviantArt.com. “Dinner With Gnolls” was part of an idea I had to explore gnoll customs and physiology as a way to boost my portfolio with more fantasy/concept work. The piece was sort of a turning point for me as I began to experiment with light-source a bit more than I was used to. While I’m not really fond of the piece now it was a nice surprise to have it featured as it was to stop and remember it for a minute. In any case, I’d like to explore gnolls a bit more as I usually think they are overlooked in fantasy and such. Most times they a written off as bloodthirsty and dangerous – which I suppose could be the case. However, I always have fun taking something like this and putting a naturalist twist on the subject. ;)

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This is a more recent piece. Another one for Imagine FX magazine. This one should be out in stores soon. I have a few other Q&A’s that will be out sooner that this one but I felt as if I should post about it now since it hadn’t been put up anywhere else before now.

Work on personal projects is slow as I am busy with other projects – I feel like I’ve been saying this a lot. :P  Either way I’m beginning to adjust to the work load so I’m hoping to get some personal work done soon. I have some ideas for a new project I’d like to start. The Morae River has been halted for now. I think the project has been exhausted. I think there were too many restrictions with the way it was set up. In any case, I’m excited to start exploring a new world.

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Just got this in today – a piece I did for Imagine FX’s Q&A section. These have been so much fun to work on! This was one of my favorite questions to answer: “How do I give my creature a human personality?” You can view the article here and the step by step I did here:

It’s available in this month’s Imagine FX magazine, (USA) which by the way, had a really great cover featuring Catwoman by Adam Hughes. It’s always such a pleasure working with this magazine. I’m very excited and honored to be a part of their Q&A panel! :)

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Something fun for promotion.

I’ve also added a subscribe feature to this blog. Now you can receive email updates in your inbox whenever I post new content. It’s in the sidebar ————>

Recently I’ve been working on more and more projects. It’s been exciting as some of them have been with some bigger clients – which I hope I can talk about more soon! While I draw and paint for most of my day there are times when I’d like to just do something else to pass time. Not that I don’t absolutely love what I do but there are times when I’d like to have a change of scenery. I don’t think I’m alone. Some artists like to take walks, garden, play video games, make things or do something else that stimulates the brain and body in a different way.

Recently I’ve been working on these small brooches. They started as Christmas gifts I gave to friends and family this past year and they have turned into something I do when I’ve finished working for the day and just need to unwind on the couch with a glass of wine. The name “Coyote Tail Crafts” come from my living in the Mojave desert. It was a hard place to live – it was always hot and there wasn’t much out there growing up. Recently it’s been expanding into more of a suburban paradise which, was something I always wished for as a kid. However, I find myself feeling heartbroken over the fact that some of those empty fields have been filled in with tracking homes and that some of those large open expanses of desert have been replaced by Super Wal-Mart. There aren’t too many coyotes near the city anymore but they’re still out there somewhere. I want it to be the desert again, not some weird artificial environment. :/

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Anyway, the brooches are really fun to make. I like to name each pin after a place or memory – which is what the “name” is here in this image. Anyway, I just thought I’d share on of the little things I like to work on other than illustration and such. I’ve always thought it was important to branch out and try everything. Sometimes it’s just fun to make something with your hands that you can give to loved ones or sell to strangers. Either way, doing something creative everyday is important even if its just cutting up felt and fabric. Its a way to get through it all…

To see more brooches you can visit my etsy store here –> http://www.etsy.com/shop/CoyoteTailCrafts

What do you like to do in your spare time?

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First up is Mike Corrieros book: “Planet to Planet”. This book is filled with creature sketches an designs. The cover is gorgeous, as you can see. The inside is full of black and white pencil drawings and what looks to be digital sketches. I actually own this one and I look at it constantly. This book is 67 pages – each one is filled!

Mike has always been a big inspiration to me – I remember joining COW for the first time over on conceptart.org for the “StormBringer” challenge and being blown away by what he produced. He was even kind enough to comment on my entry. Mike has always had great ideas and is very willing to share his knowledge and learn more about creatures, the natural world and the industry. He’s always looking for ways to push form and keep his designs looking credible – like they could actually work. More about Mike Corriero.

Allison Theus has been an inspiration since I was in middle school! I’ve been following her art online for a while now and I’m very happy to say that we’ve been able to become good friends through a small project we’ve been working on. Her work is just awesome; incredibly detailed and imaginative. She’s also made an online book called “A Book of Mostly Creatures”. From what I’ve seen of this book it looks like a great collection. It’s also 154 pages!

Her attention to anatomy and form has always been a motivator for me to make sure I’m looking at animals and paying attention to their muscles and how they connect and move their bodies. Not to mention her beasties are usually demented and just all around badass! More about Allison Theus.

Next up is Christopher Burdett. Chris and I have recently become contacts and have quickly become friends online. Chris’ works is incredible. He’s always been super fun about his work too (check out his birthday posts on his blog). His blog is constantly being updated with new and exciting things to look at. His work is always dynamic and always awesome! He has always inspired me with how he’s able to handle his creatures! Chris has actually made a number of online books but one I’m sharing is called “Pandas 1-36″.

Something that I think is important in being an artist is to always give back. His book, which was orginally created from doing sketches of pandas for his wife, is acollection of panda drawings. What’s so great about this book, besides the adorable drawings of pandas, is that all of the proceeds go to helping pandas and their charities! This is so important. To give back to something that perhaps inspired you to begin what you do or to donate to something you believe in; this is how we can give back through our own art. Anyway, Check out more of Christopher’s work and learn more about him here.

Anyway, I hope I did some justice to this awesome bunch. Please be sure to check out their work and the books I mentioned above.

Last year I put together a book through lulu.com called FishHooks. It is a collection of illustrations, sketches and studies that I thought I’d like to show and sell at APE. It actually did quite well and lots of people seemed to enjoy the book. Overall is was a great experience putting it together. I highly recommend putting together a book of work. Not only is it a great way to get your work to fans and potential clients, its really fun!

Here are links to all of the books if you’d like to purchase them:

Planet to Planet by Mike Corriero

A Book of Mostly Creatures by Allison Theus

Pandas 1 – 36 by Christopher Burdett

Enjoy!

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This was a quick warm up from this morning. Nothing too special – just trying to wake up and get things going.

Tuesday night I was invited to speak to two classes at my former college, CCAC. Robert Hunt and Bob Ciano had me share my work with their students and talk about life after school. I focused mainly on self promotion and the act of working on something creative everyday. Something I knew right out of college was that I’d need to keep up my momentum. Having a blog like this and joining online communities helped me stay on top of deadlines I had set for myself because I felt like I had an audience to please somewhere – even if that was never the case. I also covered online promotion and the power of social networks like blogs, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. I’ve had a good amount of success reaching people through the internet. Of course I also talked about physical promotion, networking and meeting people. Sending out books and prints to potential clients and such. I also covered how long it takes to get things moving when it comes to freelancing. Graduating in the midst of a economic crisis was hard enough. December 2009 was tough, real tough. No jobs anywhere. Yet somehow, I made it work. It took lots of willpower. There were plenty of days where I wanted to give up and go back to school for something – anything at that point. Something to take me out of the recession. However, I think sticking with my art through that time really made me realize how much I love doing it. Of course, I’m busy with lots of deadlines and projects but I’ll never be busy enough. I think that was the thing I really wanted to talk to them about. To never be satisfied. To try everything. To constantly move forward. This is what really got me working at what I love – never giving up, never giving in and always being thirsty for the next project. Overall it was a lot of fun to talk to the students. A friend of mine and fellow illustrator, Brianna Harden shared a quote on her blog a while back that I thought was inspriring to anyone starting out and anyone who has been in this for a while. I shared it with the classes later through email:

“Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.” -Ira Glass

While I’m no expert and I’ve only been at this for a couple of years, I do know that: working as hard as you can and being nice to your peers can get you places. It’s not easy and it will never be easy but if you have others there with you who are as inspiring and motivated as you are, it can be awesome.

Anyway, those were some of my thoughts. Today I’m working on more stuff I can’t share for a while. I do have another spot in Imagine FX coming to the States soon and some cards done for Fantasy Flight Games that I should be able to post in the coming days.

Otherwise, I’m working on the project I’ve always wanted to work on and its awesome. ;) I really can’t wait to share it.

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Fact: Honey Badgers don’t make good Valentines.

Happy Valentines Day everyone! Hope your day is super romantic!

Working on lots of projects lately – all of which are on the “down-low” for the time being. Posts about them are coming soon!

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Lately I’ve been working with Imagine FX magazine on their Q and A section, answering art and illustration questions. The experience has been fun and exciting as most of them have been on the subject of creatures! The magazine is incredibly inspiring and I’m really excited to be pat of it.

This is the first (of a few) Q and A’s I’ve done for the magazine. It can be found in the current issue of Imagine FX – issue 66. I’ll be posting others as they appear in future issues. More posts for other work I’ve done for clients soon.

Meanwhile I’ve been pinching myself about some opportunities that have presented themselves… Life is good.

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Been trying to do more sketching in the sketchbook lately. Here are some recent doodles. Really liking the blue pencil. It sort of takes me back to when I was studying game design and animation in L.A. I’m hoping to dig a little deeper into more traditional media soon.

I’m leaving for L.A. 6 hours from now. I’m not very sleepy but I am exhausted. It’s a weird in between feeling. This last week has been full of work and surprises. I’ve been keeping up a steady flow of Q&A articles for Imagine FX magazine for the last couple of months. Mostly to do with creature questions. I’ve been having so much fun creating and showing process for the magazine. I’m really excited to see them in print soon and show them here on the blog.

Mostly nervous about L.A. I guess. Some exciting things are taking place lately. Things are looking up…way up.

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