Another of my courtesans, meet Ayomi. Unlike the rest of the harem, Ayomi chose to join Kalam before she had ever met him and given the choice between being part of the crew or the harem, chose the latter. Hailing from the volcanic Fyre Isles, she brought the Beserker with her, the two bound through blood, the beast's destructive nature kept in check by the courtesan. If ever you see the beast without its mistress, you had better run. If you like her, you can see more of my Whaler Girl world art on my Instagram Account: https://www.instagram.com/thewhalergirl/
A couple of portrait of my villainous Dark Merchant, Kalam, from my personal project, The Whaler Girl. If you like reading snippets of story with your artwork, you can find the text here: https://www.daichenchronicles.com/stories/darkglance
A while ago, the lovely folk at Critical Role commissioned me to paint Jester's mother, The Ruby of the Sea for the Chronicles of Exandria Artbook, released last month. This was such a dream job, elegant tieflings in fancy dresses, heck yes. It was also great to take Matt Mercer's descriptions of the Lavish Chateau and try and translate it into an elegant visual.
Some daft fanart of Game of Thrones, that started with wondering how Drogo would look on a shetland pony.
A long fought victory against my weaknesses with environment art, I started this in my mentorship with the lovely Todd Lockwood back in December last year, it's taken me this long, on and off, to finish it. The richer quarters of Ravahn, my pirate merchant city. Ancient, and built in the rock stacks with methods long since forgotten to mankind, the Courtesans' Quarters are where my gifted women live their day to day lives, each with an impressive square footage of ornately decorated space to call her own and do with as she pleases. This is the plant-loving Lanyra's abode. No 3d used, just straight up photoshop and lots of headaches over the spiral staircase, haha. Was good to do it once, to understand it, but I shall certainly use 3d in future. Very much inspired by my own love of the Mediterranean countries and places like Malta.
Reworking the main key art for one of my main characters from The Whaler Girl, Saul. The heroine's father, he's a quiet, stoic and dependable type. Often leads the whale hunts as the most senior Spear among the brotherhood. You can read more about him here: https://www.daichenchronicles.com/saul-kinnaird
Working on some outfit/costume designs for my main character, Eideann, from The Whaler Girl. These are her traditional, northern hometown outfits. Some designed for the cold, harsh winters and some for the celebrations the towns partakes in. Enjoy the youtube timelapse too, for those who enjoy that kinda thing!
One of the main characters, Saul, from my Whaler Girl project.
Needed a place to put the more sketchy CR fanart I do. Couple of overlaps from my May Sketch a Day files.
Reworking a couple of the characters in my Whaler Girl world whose designs could have been a little better researched and considered, given their roles and cultures within the world. Ayomi was one who's core vibe I liked, but her design never quite suited her, so much like Rosa's design, I'm exploring my options to see what suits the character. Plenty of pinterest references for hair and faces, trying to understand how to bring her to life in a more real, grounded way.
The main character from my Whaler Girl project, in her Dark Merchant get up. This time including a fully fleshed out version and timelapse! Think of the Dark merchant as pirates meet Moorish sailors, with a penchant for business no one else will deal in. They wear skull masks as a way to hide their identity when boarding ships and killing crew, except Eidy has a hard time of it with her shock of red hair and being so close to Kalam.
Fanart redesigns of three of the four Dragon Aspects from World of Warcraft. I always thought Alex's outfit didn't really befit a character of her standing, so once I did her, the other two followed after. For those who see these, I'm always delighted to see folks cosplay, no need to ask for permission, just mail me or catch me on twitter with a tag when it's done, and I appreciate credit when images are posted online.
'The furnace that melts gold also hardens clay. Before blaming thy fate, therefore, find whether thou art gold or clay' - Ivan Panin A little more Caduceus fanart from Critical Role, he's my place of zen when things get a bit hectic. Prints available here: https://www.inprnt.com/gallery/samhogg/the-furnace-that-melts-gold/
The 2021 Song of Ice and Fire calendar I spent most of last year painting is available to buy! I've been given the clear to share a couple more images, this has to be the most complicated of the 13, Dany in the moments after she takes control of the Unsullied and shows her hosts that Dragons are not to be bought and sold. All 13 images are original oil paintings, as it's not always obivous from the final artwork and are all based off the books, with my own take on the characters and visuals, not associated with the TV show. https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/609078/a-song-of-ice-and-fire-2021-calendar-by-george-r-r-martin/ for those who'd like to grab a copy (also avilable from Amazon).
My first fully finished piece, for my semester with Smarter Art School, under the wise eyes of Todd Lockwood. Story snippet here: http://fav.me/dbto0oq Have gone much further with this rendering than I would normally, and while I don't think I'd want to work every piece up to this level, it's been great for seeing where I often rely on speed painting hacks vs spending the time to make something look more naturalistic. Also flexing my group and interior painting skills, which is why this has taken me 9 weeks, on and off, alongside work and a couple of other pursuits. From my Whaler Girl IP, the heroine, Eideann, relaxing with her new Spear brethren in one of her town's halls.
The lovely folks at Hi Rez approached me last year about doing some possible skins for Smite. When they told me it was Pele, I jumped at the chance. Sadly, my schedule never quite worked out to have the time to do more skins, but it'd be something I'd love to do more of if I go back to freelance at any time. I really enjoyed the process for this, even if my own armor designs drove me nuts in the turnaround. I'm sorry to the character artist who got lumped with them. I really loved the suggestion of playing with dragon opals as a colour scheme, and I love how the colours turned out in this. My thanks to John Bridges for all his guidance during this! https://www.artstation.com/redcrow
Back in 2018, the lovely Liam OBrien commissioned me for a Xmas gift of the Mighty Nein, Critical Role's second campaign characters. He asked me if I could do them in a regency style vanity fair shoot, so I totally jumped at the chance. This is the result, now part of the Deluxe edition art book for the campaign, which is mind blowing to me. Seemed fitting to share it now the campaign has finally wrapped up after 3 amazing years.
