This image was produced by the Doomsday Dream Clan for Team CHOW II at conceptart.org.

The original drawing and character design was developed by Clanlord, I did the color and digital painting as well as placing the character in an environment. Clanlord contributed in the end by adding finishing touches to this image including some of the green lighting.

Lorian is acknowledged as one of the most powerful magicians of all time. He is considered the supreme magical leader of the forces of the Church of the Holy Sun. He is also the most reviled enemy of the Narayah Faithful as he has personally slain hundreds of their priests over the centuries. Lorian’s true age is unknown though written records of the Narayah Priests confirm his interference in their matters from over a thousand years ago. Other less known texts of the Church of the Holy Sun confirm Lorian was born over two thousand years ago and even at the age of 10 he had surpassed all of his teachers in the magical crafts. Many magicians have tested Lorian over the years and he has proven himself proficient in the use of every elemental magic, though he seems to prefer using the forces of Nature.

One thing is certain though, Lorian was not immune to the effects of greed and his lust for power led him into a trap a few months ago. Word had spread of a powerful magical artifact hidden in the Dark Emperor’s Tomb. Lorian quested for the artifact and eventually broke into the Emperor’s Sarcophagus, but before he could obtain the magical amulet he was ambushed by Narayah Priests and taken prisoner. Even though his imprisonment was short he was tortured and the evil Narayah Priests managed to extract a large portion of his soul and magical power.

Eventually Lorian did break free, no known force could hold him prisoner even as he had been weakened and diminished by his recent ordeals. As he fled from the Narayah Syndicate a new enemy trailed on his footsteps…

This image was produced by the Doomsday Dream Clan for Team CHOW II at conceptart.org.

The original drawing and character design was developed by Clanlord, I did the color and digital painting as well as placing the character in an environment.

Delamar is a dark wizard and the arch nemesis to Lorian the Benevolent. As one of the most diligent acolytes of the Narayah Faith Dalamar climbed up the ranks of Priesthood in the span of just a few years. His control of the magical elements was so potent that his strength was the main factor in Lorian’s imprisonment at the Dark Emperor’s Tomb. Upon capturing Lorian it was Dalamar who took possession of the Emperor’s Amulet which opened up his mind’s eye to arcane rituals long forgotten by the mage clans. While it was Dalamar’s idea to extract Lorian’s power in order to destroy the Narayah’s ancient enemy he could not pull of the feat by himself. But with the help of the most powerful wizards of the Narayah Priesthood the ritual was deemed possible, and a decision was made to attempt the destruction of Lorian. However, as Lorian’s power was being forcibly removed from him something went hideously wrong. After days spent in fighting the magical torrents controlled by Lorian it became apparent that Lorian’s power was simply too much to be removed all at once. As the head of the magical circle Dalamar became trapped in the magical maelstrom and unwillingly absorbed a large portion of Lorian’s soul and power into himself. This not only damaged Dalamar’s soul beyond recognition it altered his physical appearance. Because of the physical changes, the Surviving Priests thought he was Lorian and attacked Dalamar after Lorian had fled the scene. Dalamar easily dispatched his attackers but his rage was not sated in the slayings of the priests. Within him two souls were fighting for power and neither could gain advantage, black madness descended upon him and he lost control of himself.

As Lorian fled from the Narayah Syndicate it was Dalamar who followed him and as his newly acquired powers uncontrollably bled into the world. Despite all the efforts Lorian took to hide his trail he could not shake the abomination which was inexplicably drawn to him. Death, chaos and destruction trailed behind Dalamar and his madness spread like a disease through the Narayah Priesthood and their followers. This was the prelude to, and the ultimate cause of, The Greatest War.

As years passed some level of sanity returned to Dalamar, but only because Lorian’s essence and soul prevailed in the struggle between the two aspects. Dalamar’s own soul remained strong within though, and it’s embers could easily be kindled into a blazing inferno at a moment’s notice.

This image was produced by the Doomsday Dream Clan for Team CHOW II at conceptart.org.

The original drawing and character design was developed by Clanlord, I did the color and digital painting as well as placing the character in an environment.

Even before his corruption Fares was one of the best fighters in the elf clans. World renown as a true master of the art of war he was well respected by his fellow hunters. With his deadly magical crossbow he fills his enemies with fear. He is known with his accuracy and close combat abilities, unlike most elves who prefer to fight at a distance Fares has been known to fight on the front lines and is proficient in the use of multiple heavy weapons.

The Narayah Priests noticed Fares due to his heroic feats, singled him out from his fellow warriors and placed a powerful curse upon him. As the curse ate away at Fares’ life, his family and his town his soul bled and everything seemed lost. At first Fares turned to the powerful Church of the Holy Sun but the priests there would not help him and could not even remove the curse. Eventually, after promises were made, Fares turned to the Narayah Priests to be healed. The dark ritual to which Fares was subjected altered him forever. Once his tutelage at the Narayah church completed Fares emerged into the elven society and wreaked such havoc from within that the entire Elven Empire collapsed as internal wars wrecked their social and religious order.

Fares was once upon a time from the good side, but know the dark seal has been rammed into his heart, mind and soul.

The infamous black-toothed cave dwellers are some of the most dangerous creatures one can encounter in a cave! Not only are they nearly invisible in their natural environment but they usually prefer to drop down on their prey from above. Not only are these creatures extremely strong but their black-toothed bite is very poisonous. The toxin injected by the black teeth serves both as a tranquilizer to paralyze the prey, and immediately starts tenderizing soft tissues for consumption. There is one thing that tends to give these creatures away though, they are very slimey and if you’re careful you can spot the liquid pools of their excrement below their hiding places.

This started as a pencil sketch but I didn’t take any in between shots of the critter as I was painting him. Here you can see the initial sketch though.

This drawing was done for COW 154: Hanging Upside-Down at conceptart.org

Tree dragons are very small beasts with very little magic. Generally they don’t get bigger than a household cat. However, due to the relative size of their heads they spend a large part of their time hanging upside down from trees because otherwise their necks get tired if they stand up.

Despite their size tree dragons are extremely strong and are known to attack and kill creatures over ten times their weight.

This drawing was done for COW 154: Hanging Upside-Down at conceptart.org. I did not intend to draw a dragon when I started but it’s what came out. Below you can see the animation of the image as it came together:

This is another image produced by the Doomsday Dream Clan for Team CHOW II at conceptart.org.

The original drawing and character design was developed by Clanlord, I did the color and digital painting as well as placing the archer in an environment.

The legend of the mythical elven archers states that they have the olfaction of wolves, the sight of an eagle and the endurance of a bear. The elves are a humanoid race and have a rigidly structured society which may appear very strange to unaccustomed observers. Usually elves keep to themselves and are not very talkative. The most significant difference between them and the humans is that their strive for perfection is beyond the human comprehension. Also the natural lifespan of the elves is on average three times longer than that of the humans, though tales of thousand year old elves are not so rare. The ultimate task of these creatures is to preserve the balance in nature and they were created by the Gods for this purpose alone.

While elves are not known for fighting great battles in close combat they are very accurate with their handmade bows. If they have a chance to stalk their enemy and sneak up on them they prefer to use their ritualistic knives Majaira (pronounced: Ma-hai-ra). These knives are quenched in poison to which the elves are somewhat immune, but to most enemies even a small scratch from a Majaira will lead to certain death. Disgraced elves also use the Majaira to commit suicide.

The word hunt in the elven language is commonly used to describe art of war and killing an enemy. Their society places great religious importance upon the preparation for hunting. Usually they put three or two feathers of the most beautiful bird called Eol on the top of their bows. They believe that the feathers will give them the strength to execute their tasks with absolute perfection.

The clothing and armor worn by elven archers also has great significance. To knowing observers there are many signs upon an archers outfit which tell about the warrior’s place in the social hierarchy and tribe of origin.

Arthane, depicted in the image above is a famous Archer-Healer. While he endured lots of conflict in his life and suffered grievous losses as his family was killed in a war, his soul was saved by the Church of the Holy Sun and he is one of their most famed warriors now.

This image depicts a female mage riding atop a green drake in a desert landscape. The creature is extremely mean but she has telepathic control over it such that the creature simply doesn’t notice her and she can give him suggestions of where to go. This is usually how it works with all dragons, you can only give them suggestions…

Here is a link to a higher resolution image. Not sure how I feel about this composition, usually I draw much more square of vertical pieces so this was a challenge in its own right.

This started out as a tiny pencil sketch, which was then scanned and painted in Photoshop. This is a very common process for me, I usually get my best ideas when I have a pencil handy. I’ve tried to capture the various stages of the artwork as it came along, below you can see the breakdown:

This was an image inspired by the nickname of someone I met on conceptart.org.

Started as a pencil sketch, lots of work was done in Photoshop to bring it to this stage. Original drawing had a girl holding a gun, she was wearing metallic headgear of some sort, eventually it morphed into what you see above. I did use a photo of Adriana Lima as a reference for the face towards the end, I also don’t feel I’m quite done with this image so look forward to upcoming changes.

This is an image made for the Team Monthly Challenge at CA – LINK TO FINALS HERE

 
In a small fishing town on the bank of the Dunbar river a set of twins were born on a warm eve of the fall season. The two boys were the four and fifth child of a well respected human merchant who ran a small empire of fishing vessels down the Dunbar and into the ocean. However, this story does not have a happy ending, for the babies were extreme opposites of one another and clearly possessed by magic beyond the understanding of the humans inhabiting this town. Word spread like wildfire throughout the town about the babies and in two days riots erupted demanding the children’s deaths.

It was not just the appearance of the newborns which incited the riots, but the very apparent magical essence of them. One of the children was born beautiful by human standards except for a pair of white feathered wings upon its back, always smiling and seemingly lit up by a glowing blue light. This baby radiated joy and calm throughout the household. The other child was born mutated, ugly and deformed. The bloodcurdling cries of this baby caused discord and fear to enter into the minds of everyone in the town and was perhaps the main reason for the riots which ensued. The housewife who delivered the baby wanted to destroy the child due to it’s hideous appearance, the head of the child was adorned by horns, it had a pair of leathery wings and a wickedly powerful tail. Worst of all was the very anger which radiated from this child, it seemed to affect everyone around in a bad way. Amazingly the town was spared from having to euthanize the children as seven days after the birth, both babies disappeared mysteriously. As soon as the town hall reached the decision to have the children destroyed men were dispatched to carry out the orders. The men who were sent to kill the babies were found slain by magical powers, consumed by flames from the inside or found pinned and suffocated by the roots of trees which had sprung up from the ground in places where there were no trees at all!

The relief of tension in the town after the disappearance of the babies was the calm before the storm. As an all out war erupted which sent the entire countryside into chaos. Rumors from the battle fronts told of the mysterious magical toddlers actually joining the battles and sending entire crowds into frenzied warfare. The stories of heroism and self sacrifice were unbelievable at first, but eventually the tale of the magical twins and their incredible powers spread throughout the world.

Information about my process:

 
I came up with the concept of the babies and made them from start to finish. Below you can find the work in progress animations for each baby:

The babies were entirely painted in Photoshop from start to finish. We had many other options of a character we can enter into the challenge and rather than doing something more traditional we opted out to do something both funny and different. I had a lot of fun painting them and used some different techniques in the process.