I've decided to take the advise of several Dumpshockers and begin work on a portfolio of artwork to submit to Catalyst. I will be doing several pieces and then only sending the best of the best. As for the rest, I've decided to share.

My first "reject" is of a Lone Star Cop. I felt that we haven't seen a lot of images of these favorite antagonists in recent books. Unfortunately, this piece wasn't dynamic enough (in my opinion), although it would make for a good Contact image.

ARTWORK SO FAR...
Lone Star Cop - Added 7/11/09
Elf Sketches - Added 7/13/09
Mara Blaine - Added 7/13/09

VERY nice!

I especially like that you made him a Ork, I haven't seen many 'clean cut' Ork images.

thats a reject???

wow

i think it would make a great contact pic, or even a PC pic

the devs most be very picky, or well bribed

funny, i have thinking of creating an ork cop the last few days, too

I've yet to submit anything to Catalyst. I'm am currently working on pieces and I'm "weeding out" things that I don't think will show my best work.

That picture actually fits the last PC i made quite well, which I find kinda awesome. Keep up the good work, man - I look forward to possibly basing characters off your illustrations.

Very nice. Very nice indeed.

Very, very nice. Do you accept requests ? I actually want to see how you draw heavily cybered samurai.

Wow that's amazing, i'm stealing him for a contact pic. Assuming that was somewhat the intent here.

Kenshi: your drawing is great!! You should certainly submit some of your work. According to the June Chat the Catalyst Team is currently looking for artists for Missions adventures. You should email them at missions@shadowrun4.com.

Lurker: Anything I post here on Dumpshock is fair game to use for personal use.

Mirilion: I will do commissions for a small fee. PM me if you are interested.

Everyone: Thanks for the kind words. I'll be posting more stuff in the next few days as I finish a few more pieces and organize what I have. I should have a new one up later today.

That is very good. You definitely should submit a portfolio to Catalyst.

Please, do us all a favour, and keep it up. In fact, if I like what I keep seeing, I wouldn't mind paying for some stuff to put up on my website, or commissioning you for certain specific things.

Definitely! I'd easily put this up against about half the old 2nd and 3rd edition Contact "mugshots". Very nice job.

I liked this topic until i heard this "fee-thing". ^^

You now don't like the topic because this talented artist will consider doing commission work for a modest fee?  And is completely willing to share his "rejects" with us for free private use?

I am a bit of an artist myself, and I am guessing by the quality of the work demonstrated, this person spent quite a few hours on jsut that one mugshot.  If he is doing work for others, does he not deserve some recompense for his time and creativity? It's not like he's trolling for contracts.  He is sharing his work with Dumpshock.  Others brought up the concept of him doing private work for them.




Vlad

Oh, he can definitely take some fee for his great artwork. Maybe I´m a little bit oldschool. Was thinking about the small SR-community, doing some good things from fan to fan. You know...sorta this. Just my opinion, don´t need to share em.

I'm a bit oldschool myself (as many of hte DSers are... we've gotta be one of hte oldest aged on average gaming boards around) and I apologize if I came off a bit harsh there.  I feel like this board shares with each other in the extreme and it makes me proud to be a player of the game.  The people around here, or most of them, are great examples to all of hte roleplaying hobby.  This also includes the creators of the game.  They have their heads on straight, realizing that if it wasn't for the players and fans of the game, they wouldn't have a product to sell at all.  They are very free in their sharing and support of the community. 


So, when for hte above reasons, when other folks were being supporting and admiring of the artist's work (which is pretty darn good) I read your post, It made me feel a bit "Whoa dude..."  I think we all have the dream of somehow making this silly hobby (that we all have devoted so much time out of our lives) actually give us a bit back in return. So, when somoene actually has the requisite skills, such as the artist, to make a tiny bit of that happen, to actually be paid a pittance for doing somehting he enjoys anyway, then I am over-supportive of him.  If he had come on here from nowhere and been hawking his wares, no.  But the fact he is a DSer and was just showin' off his stuff and replied to a request with "yes, for a bit of a fee, I can do your work too.".. I don't know... that's what a community is also about.  Not jsut a commune, but a society.  Where else are you likely to find such a contact to do work for you, probably at extrememly reasonable prices that knows his subject matter and is likely to create something that you really want?  

So, in the end, we are both on the same page.  I jsut took your simple line of dialogue a bit out of context, considering the support others were visiably giving the artist.  



Vlad

excellant drawing. As some one with no artistic talent at all, I can appreciate the hard work you put in on that. If you consider that a reject, I can't wait to see what they publish of yours.

Trevor

Maybe i can add some pictures by myself. I am terribly in need of an latino-orc-ganger for one of my collegues.^^

By his/her own standards. I do agree that there needs to be more there to really make it into the books; full body + background, etc. etc.

Really depends on what they need and the layout demands of the product. This would be perfectly suitable for an NPC profile.

Kenshi, if that was one of your "rejects", I'd LOVE to see what you'd consider a keeper. That Ork Lone Star Cop was effing good.

orly?! I'm gunna step up my game then. I work on photo-realism pics myself. Takes a lot (a LOT) more time though. Like easily 2 hours on a head, and at least 15 mins per hand.

And I need to get a scanner...

This is pro-quality work, Kenshi. I say this objectively as a graphic designer, and also subjectively as a guy who likes nice art in his shadowrun books. Submit your stuff, please!

I hate people who can draw so well, mainly because I wish I could but I can hardly do stick figures.

I agree with what everyone says, if thats a reject I would love to see a sample of what you consider your best work.

NEW ARTWORK ALERT

This should actually qualify as a "sketch". It's a Couple of Elves.

I typically do a lot of sketching before working on a finished piece, trying to nail down a "look". The first elf is a pencil sketch. I've included it here because I'm constantly asked how I work. This should give you an idea of how I develop an image.

The second elf was an experimentation with a new "brush pen" that I bought. It turned out... ok.

As a whole, I was shooting for a "street" look. Someone you might see in the barrens (squatters, BTL addicts, etc.).

The concept sketch is really good. I highly suggest refining that one into a final form.

NEW ARTWORK ALERT (PART 2)

Here's one of Mara Blaine (from SR Missions NYC). The only reason this one didn't make the cut is because it doesn't have a background. Otherwise, I'm actually pretty proud of this one...

Your work is awesome, Kenshi!

Who's cut, man?! Either you are too hard on yourself or you already submitted that and they said no? If its the later, I'm a little disappointed they didn't pick it up. IMHO this is easily good enough for Missions stuff. In fact, it's considerably better than some of the stuff they are already charging people money for! Plus you have to keep in mind the scope of the project- they aren't producing a fully developed sourcebook every three or four months like the main SR line. They are producing a $3.95 .pdf adventure in the course of 6-8 weeks. If I were you I would not wait to contact them. They need people now.

These are great little pieces, perfect for something like the Shadowrun Missions. Really fun to see them.

Thanks,

Khadim.

I really like everything you've shown us so far.

Looking good!

Practice...lots and lots and lots (and lots) of practice.



I've actually been doing that for my campaign. I make pencil sketches of all of the characters. Of course, I have illusions of Catalyst accepting my stuff. My style is very cartoony and kind of light-hearted/comedic....I think I might post some here though....

Anyway's this stuff looks awesome....I think I'll have to show some of my running companions...I'm sure they will appreciate it as much as everyone else seems to....

That's some real quality artwork there. It's the perfect blend of gritty street level and cartoonish exaggeration that I feel captures the world of Shadowrun in fullest form. Truly wonderful.

mara looks great

she can be either a hacker or technomancer

background? sometimes the background takes away from the subject of the pic

like what Method said. start submitting
so what if they say no 10 times. hopefully they will ask you to make a mod & resubmit.
the devs also scout these boards out. if they know your name, and keep seeing the FANS raving about the artwork, hopefully they will pick up a few of your picks which they know FANS will buy just because you did some of the artwork

keep drawing man, give the rest of us, or aleast more pics we can "borrow" for contact pics and PC pics