ArtRage chat

Hey All, Just a quick one to let everyone know that a bunch of luminaries of the ArtRage scene and me as well will be appearing live on the internet demoing and taking questions about ArtRage and our work tomorrow (29th November 2010) at 2.30pm UK time (9.30 am EST)

All the details are here, over at the Ambient Design forums:
http://www2.ambientdesign.com/forums/showthread.php?t=32150

Hope to see you there!

D101 Games

Ahoy hoy. Couple of new covers doe D101 Games - the roman chap is a couple of weeks old, the knight was finished just the other day.

Personal work in progress...

New site, new vid

Hey all,
Just a little one to say I have updated my website at www.jonhodgson.com, since it was way overdue an update, after half years...

And here's a new speedpaint video recording doodah over on youtube:

Yikes! How long between posts?

Man alive I am so busy. Art direction for Cubicle 7 continues apace, alongside all my regular freelance art duties.


Here's some recent work. A banner for Battle of Azuran:


(c)2010 Project Quest Ltd

A couple of speedies:



Accompanying video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhqLOFnsFbo

And one for Paizo:

(C)2010 Paizo Publishing

Sketching and a video movie film

So I've been doing some real world drawing type stuff in an actual book with actual pencil.





And here's another little video I made about ArtRage:

Underpainting in ArtRage

An video wot I made: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3OwoLHx6to

Anglerre Triple Jeopardy!

(C)2010 Cubicle 7 Entertainment Ltd

This one was a challenge. An image that will be used as a whole, and in three horizontal sections. That had some major ramifications for the composition and sizing of figures, but I think it just about scraped into working.

DSA cover

Hey. Another cover for my friends at Ulisses Spiele. Click it to see it larger.


(C)2010 Jon Hodgson

Artrage video

I made another abstract(ish) piece, but recorded it this time. Watch the video on YouTube.

A page from my book

Hey, I shared this page from my book "Fantasy Art for Beginners" with some artist friends the other day, and since it's online I thought I would put it up here too.

Click it to see it full size.


You can buy my book here:RUBooks (EDIT: oh! No wait, you can't - out of stock. And that's the publisher's store front. How very bizarre.)

Or on: Amazon.com

You can watch the intro video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAnrnx9k7Og

Personal werk

Its been too long. Artrage I still love you:



Click for big.

From Gencon

Thanks go to the ever wonderful Gregor Hutton for snapping some shots of The One Ring art preview from Gencon this year. Hopefully I'll get clearance to show off some of the original files rather than phonecam pics, taken on a bright monitor in a dark hall, very soon!

Most frightfully busy

So between being art director at Cubicle 7 (which I'm really enjoying btw, and feel we're doing some really good work), working on art for stuff like The One Ring, and upcoming Facebook game Battle of Azuran I haven't had much time to post on my blog.

Here's my current favourite piece I've done for Azuran - a thug captain:

(c)2010 Project Quest Ltd

Dont forget you can follow my weekly reports on what I'm up to over on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Jon-Hodgson/155241647318

Catch you later!

Old School Minis boxes.

Cross posted from Scotch Corner, since time is something I no longer seem to have any of...

Some covers for miniature boxes (as in figurines, rather than small boxes) for the wonderful folks over at Otherworld Miniatures. Seriously one of my favourite clients to work with. These feature monsters in the old school style of DnD from the late 70s, and so were a lot of fun to do.





Ye Embiggenatorz:




In other news I'm now ADing for Cubicle 7, which is proving to be an educational and very interesting experience!

Plague War

From the latest Legend of the Five Rings expansion:

Kingmaker

Some images newly released, from Paizo's Kingmaker Adventure Path:

Discover a Muse Challenge

So over on the ArtOrder blog, intarweb home of Jon Schindehette, head of art on the DnD brand at Wizards of the Coast, there is a challenge/contest in progress. Jon runs these things quite regularly, and they're well worth checking out. The ArtOrder blog is general is an absolute goldmine of info for anyone looking to break into freelance illustration.

Anyhow, this challenge is about taking some reference material of model and artist's muse Veronika Kotlajic and making a piece of art for a poster. The winning 5 entrants will feature on posters to be sold for charity. You can check out all the finer details here.

I don't normally get time to take part in these things, as my schedule runs pretty full most of the time. But since this one was for charity I found the time. Here's my entry:


And here's the thumb wot you can click to see it a little bigger:


The deadline for entries is tonight. Mine's in. Wish me luck!

Halflings

Personal Work, ArtRage

Owlbear Saga concludes

The previews of the Kingmaker Adventure Path have been coming thick and fast over on the Paizo blog, so in a double whammy we get to see the last two parts of the Owlbear saga!






You can check out the images at a larger size, and see the whole saga in it's entirety over here: http://paizo.com/paizo/blog/tags/jonHodgson

Moar, poor, Owl...boar? Wait...

The next installment of the Owlbear Saga from Paizo's Kingmaker Adventure Path is revealed. Poor Owlbear!


See it big here: http://paizo.com/paizo/blog/tags/jonHodgson/v5748dyo5layq

Anglerre Revisited

So the cover from the previous post had a bit of a facelift and has been swapped from the Companion to the Anglerre Corebook. Don't ask, it's a long story!

Here's the new version:

Click for embiggenation:


And here's a dwarf carpenter I did for Paizo:

Anglerre Companion

Soz mah peeps, I hath been so very busy. Here's a freshly unleashed cover from Cubicle 7, which I painted last year:


(C)2010 Cubicle 7 Entertainment Ltd.

You may click here to see it bigger.

Brevoy

Got my comps of Paizo's Kingmaker 1/6 - Stolen Land this morning. Here's a sneak peak before I post all the art I did for it tomorrow.


(C)2010 Paizo Publishing.

Wordplay: The Big Five

Hey. A stylishly minimalist cover for my friends at d101 Games, for their forthcoming title "Wordplay:The Big Five"



Artrage and Photoshop.

When shall we three meet again?

When the hurlyburly's done,
When the battle's lost and won.

That will be ere the set of sun.


Where the place?


Upon the heath.

There to meet with Macbeth.


(Artrage3 watercolours=love)

Victoriana the second

Hey folks!
Another cover for my Cubicle 7 chums. This one is the first cover for the two parter "Faces in the Smoke". I completed the second cover some time ago: HEEEEAAAARRRR





Other news: Check out Episode 56 of Ninja Mountain Podcast. All-Brit line up this week: HEEEE-AAAAR

Plus: A very nice review of my book "Fantasy Art for Beginners" from Photoshop Creative:

Dragon Warriors Players Book

Hey All. Can't stop to chat, apart to say I love doing this stuff, but here's the cover to the titular tome:


(C)2010 Jon Hodgson and Magnum Opus Press

Bigger:

Poem

The Owlbear saga begins...

So some of my work was featured in the Paizo blog: http://paizo.com/paizo/blog/tags/jonHodgson

Check out this first image from a series of Owlbear paintings I've been making for Paizo:



I very much enjoyed reading all the comments over there, since I know what happens next!
Click through to the Paizo blog and click the image there to see it superbig.

FAFB review

Hey All,
Apologies for the slow posting lately.  The family has expanded which of course devours time, and without going into uncomfortable level of personal revelation, things aren't going so well on the health front for the new one.  Work is also very busy in between!

Anyway. life goes on, and this months ImagineFX magazine has a great review of my book Fantasy Art for Beginners:

Interior Colour...

Personal life is in overdrive at the moment, but the beat don't stop.

Here's some colour interior work recently completed for my friends at Uhrwerk Verlag in Germany. Looks like it's shaping up to be a very exciting world they're building over there, and I'm happy to be a part of it.


(C)2010 Jon Hodgson

And to see bigger: http://img694.imageshack.us/img694/9098/126qh.jpg

Lord of the Rings RPG announced

Here's the press release for the secret project I've been dropping infuriatingly vague hints about:


20 January 2010 - Cubicle 7 Entertainment and Sophisticated Games announce that they are developing The One Ring: The Lord of the Rings® Role-playing Game.


Cubicle 7 Entertainment and Sophisticated Games are proud to announce that they are jointly developing The One Ring: The Lord of the Rings® Role-playing Game.


“We’re tremendously excited about The One Ring,” said Dominic McDowall-Thomas, Cubicle 7 Director. “Our aim is to give our audience an authentic Middle-earth gaming experience, one that really captures the feel of Tolkien’s world.”


The designer and lead writer of this project, Francesco Nepitello, is a games industry veteran, best known for the hugely successful and critically acclaimed War of the Ring strategy board game, which he designed with The One Ring co-designer Marco Maggi and Roberto di Meglio. A recipient of the International Gamers Award, War of the Ring is recognised by many ‘Lord of the Rings’ enthusiasts and hobby gamers alike as one of the most engaging recreations of the world-renowned fantasy saga by J.R.R. Tolkien. Francesco and Marco are the designers of other immersive board game titles like Marvel Super Heroes and Age of Conan, but started their game-designing careers creating Lex Arcana, the most successful and popular fantasy role-playing game published in Italy.


Francesco has designed the new LOTR RPG game system to make sure that players are completely immersed in Middle-earth from the moment they begin creating their characters. As an experienced designer of games based on JRR Tolkien, as well as being a lifelong devotee of the Tolkien works, Francesco brings a dimension -and a depth- to this RPG which has probably never been seen before in a LOTR game.


Robert Hyde, head of Cambridge (UK) based Sophisticated Games said, “When we first acquired the rights from Tolkien Enterprises to publish this RPG - as part of our wider LOTR book based board game license- we had no hesitation in approaching Francesco to conceive a completely fresh LOTR and The Hobbit RPG, and for him to be the writer. We knew that he possessed both these skills and that the game would be in very safe hands. His presentation of Middle-earth, along with stunning artwork from John Howe and others, brings this incredibly evocative and exciting world to life.”


“We also approached Cubicle 7 to be our publishing partners on the new The One Ring RPG because we loved the quality of their previous publications and felt that Dominic and Angus (Abranson) had both the experience, and with the creation of Cubicle 7, the role playing game resources, to bring LOTR and The Hobbit to a very wide audience.”


For more information on The One Ring: The Lord of the Rings® Role-playing Game please contact Cubicle 7 on info@cubicle7.co.uk


The One Ring: The Lord of the Rings® Role-playing Game will be published in the second half of 2010.


The One Ring, Middle-earth, The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and the characters, items, events and places therein are trademarks or registered trademarks of the Saul Zaentz Company d/b/a Middle-earth Enterprises f/k/a Tolkien Enterprises and are used under license by Sophisticated Games Ltd and their licensees.

Invoice 300

Hi All,
Just wanted to write a quick post to commemorate issuing my 300th invoice. The lucky recipient being D101 games.

It's funny looking over 300 jobs, some for tiny one off illos, some covering entire books solely illustrated by my own fair hand.

Hey ho, onwards and upwards!

Oh and just to bug Jan, the secret project I haven't been able to talk about should be announced very soon, and I've just learned i will shortly be doing more work for it. Double yay!

Digital Artist 2

Hey All.
Back to work at a sprint, so my planned review of 2009 has been summarily shoved onto a back burner. Ever onwards! Hopefully I'll get a chance to write it up sometime. Hey just whilst I'm typing, here's a thought. I read in Chris Burdett's excellent article about when he started to get serious about making a career in art, that an AD had told him that if an artist didn't update their blog regularly they took that as a sign they were not working. Funnily enough I don't get time to do as much self promo as I would like, since I'm working constantly. And everything is generally under NDA for at least a couple of months, if not 12 to 18. Go figure. Seemed worth mentioning in relation to not getting as much blogging done as I'd like!

So back to the point. Issue 02 of Digital Artist is out and about, featuring a little interview with yours truly about ArtRage, and a bunch of my artwork. Go get it.