The Gibbering Cockatrice

 I never even considered the possibility that I could draw heroes and monsters for a living until my daughter Jahnavi inspired and encouraged me with her own interest in fantasy in different genres. It re-ignited the 14-year-old boy I had almost totally forgotten --- or suppressed. (And there is plenty about 14-year-old boys that needs suppressing, but that's something else altogether...) We had the opportunity through those quiet pandemic years to cultivate our fandom for D&D (we love the Mighty Nein), and for me to finally realize that there is nothing that I can't do with a pencil or pen; I have denied myself the possibility of making a vocation of that skill set. 

Maybe I needed the years it has taken to develop an appropriate sense of humility about my relative gifts, and an acceptance that being a good colleague and team member is really the main priority for any commercial shop. Maybe I've finally grown up enough to be what I always wanted to be when I was young.

Sketchbook Pages

 

Any working artist will tell you that they either keep a sketchbook practice or feel guilty that they don't. I find them to be sanctuaries, places I can go both literally and figuratively and be perfectly playful. My goal at present is to try and reach back into these volumes and develop ideas that seem to have potential --- something I have been really poor at historically. I generate a lot of content, so it can actually be more of a slog to try and sort through it all, but such is life. I have an older post with dozens of pages' images, but these will do at present. I'll try to make this a regular feature that I post.

 

Fighting Clowns

 My first new entry on this page in years, and with purpose: I'm building my portfolio as a character designer and plan to use this platform to disseminate it to art directors. More posts impending.