I have been trying to learn from cushart’s vivid use of color, and his liberal use of the SSS effect. This drawing is the result of some of that experimentation.

Cushart is a Taiwanese artist that does a lot of high fantasy game art and romance novel covers. See some of his work here!

This drawing is a scene from my story, Discretional Valor. Silas, Opal, and Sir Vladimir (you can just barely see his helmet in the background) are waiting in a carriage for the arrival of Lily, the Ogmian Princess. They are to transport her to a Lord Vodnik’s castle, which is about four days East of Ogmia. This is the first time all three of them are working together. Opal is concerned about the consequences her absence from the capital city may cause among the gang that collects interest on a debt from her weekly. Silas is too naive and excited to be spending time with Opal to comprehend her concerns, and Vladimir is so preoccupied with the mission that he has barely spoken a word.

Two of the characters from my novel, Silas and Mia, watching the sun set on the Ogmian countryside from the Limestar Cliffs near Celedale. 

I tried to put all of my recent painting practice from portrait speedpaints and also some of my recent landscape practice to use. Everything here was drawn without a reference, which I painted over in PaintToolSAI.

I know I can do better than this, and possibly faster. I need to try another!

A scanned and cleaned up sketch of Silas. He kind of looks like an idiot in this one… But he’s cheerful like this throughout much of the story.

Silas and Mia in alternate winter outfits! Wow!

And that other guy on the left is Sigfried. He’s kind of a jerk.

Here are some older scraps I found lying around. Maybe as far back as 2010? I always liked this batch. And yes, that is definitely Bowser from Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars. Those Paper Mario games have been great, and the Superstar Saga has been too, but what I would do for a true sequel to that incredible game.

I’ve been flipping back and forth between writing a novel, and writing a graphic novel for my original work, Discretional Valor. I’m leaning towards comics again. I’m testing out a few different softwares for the best sketching, inking, and speech bubble designs.

I think Adobe Illustrator is going to be pretty good for text and speech bubbles. I used Autodesk Sketchbook Pro for the lines, but I’m not very satisfied with them. Maybe if I stick to the pencil brush tool only, and adjust the opacity so that its higher, I might get a better result… I used SAI for the colors, and I do like that result.

Discretional Valor sketches! Maybe I will ink the one of Vladimir and Silas together later?

Some sketches I did while relaxing in Galveston. Silas and Vladimir after a sword-training session, and some woman from a magazine lying around.

Silas and Opal, characters from my original story, Discretional Valor. She seems happier than usual! Silas seems like his typical excitable self.

Silas Zadkeel, one of four protagonists from Discretional Valor. A country boy who’s exceptional swordsmanship awards him a chance in a competition to determine the next Brigade Knight’s squire.

After playing Disgaea 4, I felt compelled to draw some of my characters as though they were part of a strategy RPG. I tried to do something a little more like Ogre Battle 64 than Nippon Ichi. I swear, Ogre Battle 64 had some of the coolest character art of any game I have ever played!

Miscellaneous sketches of my original characters from Discretional Valor.

Discretional Valor characters at the beach.

Sir Vladimir, Silas, Mia, and Opal travel along a scenic trail.

Silas, Mia, and Opal fight a gang of Ock-Wocks. All characters and monsters from Discretional Valor, and original story I am working on.