The Silent Deal

For the past month or so, I had been working on a commission for a book cover for a self-published book called "The Silent Deal".  The author, Levi Stack, got in touch with me because he enjoyed my "Save the Date" image from my wedding so much.  I had used Vladislav Erko's playing cards as inspiration for the Save the Date, and Levi was looking for a similar style for his cover.  He wanted the two main characters to be shown on the king of spades card.  Levi had wonderful descriptions for the way the characters looked and how the personalities differed.  He was a great help, and made making the image an extremely painless experience.  I hope "The Silent Deal" is a success and we can work together again on the next book in the series.

Here is an image of the finished painting:

The Silent Deal, 13.25" x 20", Oil on Paper on Masonite, 2013. ©Owen William Weber

And here is the final cover image.  I personally think this looks awesome, and I'm very happy this came out looking so tasteful.  So please pick this book up when it is released, I will add a link when you can order it.

Fægår the Fearless

This piece has a bit of an interesting history.  I was given a commission to do a dwarf piece, where a dwarf king was kind of contemplating his past and thinking of where he went wrong.  So I did a really nice drawing of this; it was right up my alley(and I will eventually paint it also).  The art director loved it, but his bosses weren't quite on board.  So the art director asked for a dwarf in action.  So, while I was away for a wedding, I spent any second at the hotel sketching this image.  When I got back home, I sent the image to the art director, but because this back and forth had gone so slowly, mostly between the time of the first drawing and the decline from his bosses, this piece was in no way going to meet the deadline.  The piece was cancelled, and I was not compensated, because I had not started painting it yet, as stipulated in the contract.  Whatever, I was angry initially, not because I wouldn't get the money, but because I was happy with both images and they would not be published.  But that's how it goes sometimes, I think most illustrators have these types of stories. 

Anyway, I put this all behind me, and went ahead and painted the piece anyway.  Dwarves are awesome! And I'm not gonna just not paint one because I didn't get paid.  This is Fægår, (pronounced fay-go) a dwarf warrior that will inevitably walk away from this image, and in the future I will paint him in that throne, looking quite weary and old.  I wanted this piece to kind of have that feeling of old sepia toned photos, so when I paint the image of him as an older man, it will seem like he is looking back into his past.  Hope you all like it, I will try to finish the other one before Gen-Con.

Fægår the Fearless, 11"x11", Oil on Paper on Masonite, 2012

The Nisse or Glaedelig Jul 2012

This year I am fully immersed in Danish culture. Sarah and I are talking a Danish language course at NYU, we are reading all about Danes in the Xenophobes guide to Denmark, and we are planning our trip to Denmark next year. So, it only naturally feels like our Yule holiday card should be based on a Danish Christmas folklore.
The Nisse is a very small gnome-like character who tends to the farm when the farmers are asleep. But he is also very mischievous if you are not kind to him and he will upset your favorite animal or play tricks on you in the night. He is also know to bring the presents on Christmas Eve.
In Denmark, this is a very lovable character and most people decorate their trees or houses with his likeness.

The Nisse, 17" x 12", Oil on Paper on Masonite, 2012.

Riding Hood Final

Well, the crickets over here are nearly deafening! I know myself and my fellow RWP crew have been working feverishly on both personal and freelance commissions. But that's good! Hopefully we can get something going on here again in the near future, but I won't make any promises because if everyone else's schedule looks like mine...it will be tough.
In any case I finally managed to finish up the Riding Hood piece that I posted the drawing for so long ago. I think I managed to solve most of the problems with it....at least I hope I did.

16"x22" Oil on board

Ragnarok: Fenrir Swallows Odin Whole

Yay! I FINALLY FINISHED! Sorry folks, that took way too long.  If memory serves we started this project back in november? Awful, simply terrible.  But I have been doing a couple commissions and arranging my wedding preparations, which include a bit of design work.  But I have finished.  This is my depiction of a small event that happens during Ragnarok, the Norse Armageddon, where Fenrir, a giant wolf, swallows Odin, the Norse Zeus, whole.  Don't worry, because later one of Odin's sons, Víðarr, cuts Fenrir's belly open, freeing Odin.  I love Odin, he's got one eye, carries a spear, has wolves and ravens at his bidding, and has a great big bushy beard!  I painted a portrait of my professor, Dennis Nolan, as Odin back in college.  I am Danish, so I have Viking blood in me, or at least I tell myself that every night before  I sleep, so I loved doing this piece.  I had been a little while since I had done something so big, 18" x 24", which I thought this painting deserved.  Hope you all like it!

Ragnarok: Fenrir Swallows Odin Whole Sketch

Sorry for the quality of the picture, this was as good as I could do right now.  Fenrir, the huge wolf, eats Odin whole as Valhalla is destroyed in the background by falling meteors or fireballs or something epic like that.  In the final I'm thinking Fenrir will be tones of red, pretty much the entire pice will be in a reddish hue.  Snow will be falling, people will be running out on the gates of Valhallah.  It's gonna be fun.

Owen's Troll Sketch

Here is my sketch for the Troll assignment.  It's a take on the tale of the Three Billy Goats Gruff.  The big bad Troll is holding onto the youngest goat as it pleads for it's life, and to eat his father, for he is more of a meal.  The goats father and grandfather look over the bridge wall in the upper left corner.  Let me know what you think!

Becca's Unicorn

Hey all! Here's my unicorn! I had a great time working on this one. It was a challenge, but I got it to a place where I'm happy with it. I looked a lot at Charles Vess and James Jean's work (esp his Fables cover art) for color palette ideas and general inspiration on this piece.

Question - the colors look a bit dull on my monitor - how do they look to you?

Becca's Pandora Sketch

Hey guys! This is a sketch that goes with a larger project which is in the works. I'm sorry I can't post the whole story behind the image, but I'd love feedback anyway! I haven't had this many figures in a painting in years... and I think the last time it was rats, not people...

Becca's Aesop's Fable roughs

OK, I'm torn. Here is the fable that I chose:

The Ass, the Fox, and the Lion

The Ass and the Fox, having entered into partnership together for
their mutual protection, went out into the forest to hunt.  They
had not proceeded far when they met a Lion.  The Fox, seeing
imminent danger, approached the Lion and promised to contrive for
him the capture of the Ass if the Lion would pledge his word not
to harm the Fox.  Then, upon assuring the Ass that he would not
be injured, the Fox led him to a deep pit and arranged that he
should fall into it.  The Lion, seeing that the Ass was secured,
immediately clutched the Fox, and attacked the Ass at his
leisure.

Moral: Never trust your enemy

In the first one, the fox and lion are conspiring, while the poor donkey nibbles away obliviously. In the second one, I took it slightly less literally, and show the fox and the lion conspiring, while the donkey nervously looks on (whether or not he realizes he's about to be betrayed is left unknown). In the third image, the donkey has fallen into the trap, and the fox suddenly realizes he is now in danger.

Thoughts?

Becca's Agents of Artifice Final

The deadline for the competition is today, and I think we've all squeaked in just under the wire (I know Scott and I were both burning the 3am oil last night). I'll submit the painting to Wizards of the Coast this evening. Results won't come out for at least a few weeks, and I'm sure there will be a lot of high quality entries, given the huge fan base (there are a lot of us art nerds out there). No matter what the outcome of the competition, I am happy to have done this painting.

Assignment: Agents of Artifice

Wizards of the Coast is running a fan art contest, and we have decided to use this for a project - and enter the contest, of course! The assignment is to create an illustration based on a favorite scene from the new book Agents of Artifice by Ari Marmell. Copies of the book in hand, we are studiously reading away, and will soon be posting thumbnail sketches for the assignment. Check back to help critique our progress!