Fool on the Hill...

A good friend loaned me a copy of the book Fool on the Hill by Matt Ruff. It's definitely a fun read and worth checking out.
I started this piece after reading just the first few pages, but I'm thinking I might have to do a few more based on the book. The author's imagery is just too much fun!
The images below are just variations on the one piece. The first includes a villain rat character in the foreground, though I excluded him in the second version and on my portfolio site. I removed all the characters from the third version to highlight the foliage and lighting. I was trying to take a page from the books of artists Robin Joseph and Jon Klassen.
The final image is a really quick pass on the design of the sprite characters.
All righty then...




Some Chinese-themed Monster Fun...

I've been working on this one on-and-off for a while now, but I think it's pretty much done. As with all of these pieces, I may go back and pick at it, but I'm pretty happy with where it is at this state.

I've included several detail shots below to show some specific areas that I enjoyed doing. The silk image on the lady's dress, the texture on the monster (modeled after the "lions" seen in sculptural form and also in the martial arts dances on the Chinese New Year and other times), and the guard wall that protects the village beyond- I had a lot of fun figuring out these areas, and may revisit them in a new piece down the road.

Thanks for stopping in!