Blog Exposure, with interview and CONTEST!

The nice folks at Zip and Ruth have kindly featured me on their blog this week, which includes links to my work, an interview, and a contest! The prize is a free print from my etsy printshop. Check it out!

Weekend Sketches, and Upcoming Events!

Spent a long weekend at my family's vacation house on the Chesapeake Bay. It's located in an area that has a long fishing industry history, and there are all these crazy looking fish-processing factories, as well as the ruins of older ones, hence the the sketch below.














I really love drawing factories and industrial stuff. I realized that it's even more fun to do without any reference at all, just doing it based on memory and speculation. This is something I do now and then, and want to start doing more: memory life-drawing.

I did it when I went on a trip to Ireland, we were in this ebus and wizzing by all these beautiful scenes so I had to try to take a mental snap-shot then draw what I remember afterwards. It's fun, try it sometime!

















In other news, I will be attending the San Diego Comic-Con this week on Thursday and Friday, so if you see a weird, bearded dude with a crazy look in his eyes, it is probably me, so say HI, won't you?

I will only be there as an observer, BUT, in late August, I will have a table in the Artist's Alley at the BALTIMORE Comic-Con, where you might also catch a glimpse of my very famous co-worker (and the executive art director of 38 Studios) Todd McFarlane!

Also, more progress on this drawing:

Robo-feelings.

Here's another WIP. I am trying to draw more robots. Hope you like it, let me know if you have any thoughts about it before I take it to finish.

Bowl-Full-o-Sketch

Wizard Meet-up

I've been working on this sketch in my sketchbook. Got the idea after watching Harry Potter, then going to the aquarium. Wizards are so fun to draw, and can look like anything. I want this piece to have a really spooky, back-alleys of London kind of feel to it. Also, when I was trying to say "fish-wizard" to my wife, I ended up saying "Wish-Fizard", which I think is actually a great name for a magical creature. So don't steal it. I OWN Wish-Fizard.

Getting the hang of it...

Another iPad sketch using Sketchbook Pro and the Pogo Stylus. Played with layers and more brush options this time.




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

First iPad sketch using the pogo stylus

Works OK, but not perfect. Some day Apple will support pressure-sensitive styluses...... Won't they??


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Claw Knight WIP

Slowly but surely.....

A skosh of sketch

Stalled: Clawbeak

Introducing a new feature on my blog! Occasionally I find things that I started drawing, then just suddenly stopped.... either not convinced I was going to like it, or because I got on to something else. Who knows the fate of these stalled pieces... maybe they will live again... sooner or later.

Without further ado, I present: CLAWBEAK!

Temple of the Great Fish - Finished!

I have finished it. Let me know what you think. Prints are available on my etsy page: http://seanandrewmurray.etsy.com

Temple of the Great Fish WIP, and some sketchbook morsels

So, working on the Fish Temple piece. Doing it in watercolors and pen&ink. Hoping this one turns out OK, still perfecting this methof working. Basically, I printed out the sketch very lightly onto watercolor paper, and then I out down the base tones, then do a layer of line-work, then some more watercolor to pop out details and shadows, then highlights, but I am trying NOT to add highlights, but rather think about them ahead of time and just leave white space which is what you are supposed to do with watercolor.... so I hear.

Then a couple sketches from the sketchbook.

Sketcherlings

More transmissions.

A couple more works-in-progress on the easel....

The first image is another "stream of conciousness" piece, along the lines of "What's Mine is Mine", and the second one is an old pencil drawing I started a long time ago, and started working on again... I WILL finish it!

Temple of the Great Fish

OK, this is a new piece I am working on. This is based off of an old sketch from my sketchbook that you may have seen before.

I am going to print out this drawing very lightly on watercolor paper, then paint it with watercolors and pen&ink. I also have several other drawings in the works, but all at various states. My friend Marc Taro tells me I should post a photo of them on the blog anyways, just to show how big they are and to give everyone an idea of what is to come. I will do that soon.

I can't decide with this one whether or not I like the additional buildings/temples in the background, or if it should just be a desolate mountain-scape, making this particular temple seem very remote. What do you think?

The Mirror Maiden - Finished!

Done with this one at long last (it has been sitting on my "easel" for a few months).

Anyways, let me know what you think. Many exciting (hopefully) things to come soon. Stay tuned!

Spectrum 17 - I made it!

According to the Spectrum website, I have made it into the juried competition again! Yay! I don't know which piece they chose, but I will let you know as soon as I get the letter in the mail.

Congrats also to friends: Paul Harding, Mclean Kendree, Sam Bosma, Eric Deschamps and Kali Ciesemier!

List of Spectrum 17 Winners

Jury Duty sketch

Something I sketched up during downtime in my week long adventure with jury duty. Fun!

I have an Etsy shop now!

I have finally set up an online shop to buy prints of my work. Check it out: http://www.etsy.com/shop/seanandrewmurray

Let me know what you think, or if you have any favorites that you would like me to make available as prints.

Mirror Maid - Work in Progress

So, though my freetime lately has been scant (you know, work, baby, freelance), I have been slowly working on this personal piece that I call "The Mirror Maid". The great and wise McLean Kendree gave me some pointers on this one, which I plan on incorporating. Let me know what YOU think!

Teenage Mutant Ninja Sketchbook

Small offering this time.

My 4-page sketchbook article in ImagineFX

I forgot to post this a while back, but in case you missed it, here is the 4-page sketchbook article I had in December's (U.S.) issue of ImagineFX Magazine... I think technically it is the November issue.

Sketchasaurus

Transmissions from the sketchbook

Sorry about being MIA for a while.... the usual excuses: Work, Freelancing, The Holidays.... A BABY!!! Anyways, here's some more transmissions from Planet Sketcho.

Privateer Press illustrations

Several illustrations I was commisioned to do for "No Quarter" magazine. All of these are for the "Iron Kingdoms" world which is a lot of fun to work on. The last image is the first in a series of pieces I will be doing for them throughout the year depicting various important cities in the Iron Kingdoms world. I will post those when they are published!