My shameless art plugging

[The Griot]

A sister! Yep, I need that one. :-) I'm working on a Sword and Soul RPG. I'll be in contact. Great work as always.

[Storn]

A sister! Yep, I need that one. :-) I'm working on a Sword and Soul RPG. I'll be in contact. Great work as always.

oooh.... I look forward to seeing what you come up with.

The Showgirl is another supervillain concept from Death Tribble. He wanted a demure costume if possible, but all the reference I could find had a lot of skin. She certainly is super doing a jump in heels... but hey, supers are fantasy. Do not try at home.



And here is another fantasy commission for the "party of 5". Fantasy takes a bit more time than the superhero stuff.... I used to think it was just because of the level of detail, folds in clothes, lots of accoutrements like bags, weapons, belts, buckles. But while doing this one, I came to think that it is also the different textures things are... so it is not just the bags, belts, weapons and buckles, its those things have different "feels" to them visually... or should. This one took a bit longer than I would have liked and I'm still feeling like it's missing something.

[Storn]

I thought I would share my continuing growing family of… Hobgoblins. Now a trio, soon to be a quartet. the Hobgoblins are for a pretty interesting kickstarter program of a collection of Monster Art. It looks like my client is pretty close to meeting the kickstarter goal. Y’all should check it out. Here is the website for that:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/...t/posts/170997





And we’ve got some more private character concept commissions to show. First up are two from that longtime patron, Death Tribble. An American Moriarity and a “Skyshark” plane. American Moriarity described to me as “pulp, villain”… DT wasn’t expecting the mask, but I wanted to show some visual hinting at the american part of his description. For Skyshark, of course the p40 for the Flying Tigers was a big inspiration.





Lastly, we’ve got Tahiti Tex. And interesting take on a bunch of classics… the classic superhero brick, cowboy, hawaiian shirt and bullwhip… all combo’d into one hombre.

[Storn]

Thanks guys for the nice comments...

I finished the hobgoblin series for the Monster Art Kickstarter. I heard back from the client. I’m gonna get more! Wheee! Anyways, if you haven’t yet, check out the link to the Monster Art Kickstarter here, by last check, it has been funded, so I think they might add more monsters and art as they go along!

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/...t/posts/170997

And I wanna share the hobs with you right now!



I did other stuff yesterday too. I finished up another commission for Death Tribble, which actually comes from a long time Hero poster, Arc. The idea for a Victor von Doom-like Witch Doctor. I pencilled and inked this one during a working lunch with awesome artist Steve Ellis. I think hanging out with Steve inspired me. Even borrowed the brush from him to do the inking. I like this one a lot. Fun to do African themed heroes and villains!



Last, but not least (at least as work went yesterday), got a crack at doing a Lich for another commission. Went kinda dark on this one… digital over pencil. And I like it!! Hope y’all do too. In hindsight, might have pulled out the front gauntlet a bit more… but love the color on the staff gem.



Just wanted to remind folks that I am selling prints and originals over at Fine Art. I just put up this pencil sketch on vellum. It was done for Other Worlds. Want to see if folks might be interested in buying my original sketches. I do sell quite a few of them at conventions.. but I don’t go to all that many conventions. Plus there are a few other pieces, some more suitable for printing. Check it out:

http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/storn-cook.html

[Storn]

Hi folks. Hope you don't mind some self promotion here.

Trying to figure out a few things as I go along. I'm trying out an experiment with selling originals over the internet. I've got hundreds of sketches and inked drawings kicking around... and I sell some of them at conventions. But they do take up space and if they can find loving homes, and I can make a few bucks... that would be icing on cake!!!

So bear with me as I throw up the occasional older piece to see what will sell and what won't. If you have an suggestions of what you would like to see for sale from art I've put up in the past, don't be shy and shoot me a comment or email.

So, today, I'm putting up this fine inked drawing that I just did a few days ago for sale over at my Fine Art site. Site is here: http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/storn-cook.html

The art is this one, you will recognize from the color version I just put up recently. It is a brush ink drawing done on sketch paper. Nuthin' fancy.



Also, while I'm being all self-promote-y, LPJ design just posted another one of my portfolios up. This time fantasy, containing some older stuff as well as some of the recent fantasy pics I've put up here. So, if you want good print quality images, instead of the 72 dpi guys you swipe here, check it out:

http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.p...ducts_id=99389

And a NEW pic certainly destined to be in a future fantasy portfolio is right here. Don't say I ain't givin' y'all sumthin' new to ponder! <g>

[Storn]

So, a couple of nights ago, I had insomnia. I have insomnia quite a bit, I'm afraid. And I'm not even a night person. Nope, I'm of the dreaded few, a morning person. Often, it is good things that keep me awake... like musing on art.

I will turn and toss a piece of art around in my mind, bringing in colors and design elements, switching camera angle and thinking about setting and mediums. Inspiration can really keep me up nights.

The other day, I got a facebook message from Matt Forbeck, a great game designer and all around cool guy, about his new Kickstart project called Shotguns and Sorcery. Stupidly, I didn't go the project website or do any research. I was going to do that the next day as when I read the message, I was almost done for the working day. So. I went to bed with Matt's Shotguns and Sorcery title kicking around in my noggin and awoke at 3 in the morning.

And I came up with an image, the sketch below, which I thought was kinda cool. I manage to fall asleep for a bit, waking again at 7ish and went straight to the drawing board to jot down what I had worked out in my mind. I quickly scanned it in, jotted a few notes in photoshop and sent it to Matt. Problem is, it is TOTALLY wrong for Shotguns and Sorcery. Shotguns and Sorcery isn't a western-fantasy mash up, it is a Noir-Fantasy mashup. I should have read the site. But still, I like the sketch. Glad I did it. Maybe somewhere down the road a project might find a place for it to live.

And I thought y'all might like to see a quickie preliminary cover idea sketched out, along with how I think about stuff written in the margins. And get a chuckle out of my knuckle headedness.

Here is a link to Matt Forbeck's project: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/...sorcery-novels

And here is my erroneous sketch:



Also, on a different tact, another superhero (or villain, not sure, didn't get that distinction in the art direction) for long time patron Death Tribble. Pencils were done over a couple of our "working lunches". Ethan Young and Steve Ellis are both local artists who've I've been hanging out with quite a bit. I did working lunch in quotations because, 1) we go a lot longer than lunch, 4-5 hours. 2) We actually get a lot done. It is almost like working in an old 30s-40s studio situation. So nice to have another couple of eyes looking at your work. The camaraderie is really nice and keeps one motivated. And we learn a lot from each other. I think we will be doing a lot more of it in the future.

Now, I just have to finish the 4-6 sketches that need to go to finishes!

Here is Supersuit:



See y'all in a few!

[Storn]

First up, we have an "indiana jones" like bard. That was in the art brief. I'll let y'all decide if I succeeded.



Next up, we have Skip. Skip is single. He is a Mind Flayer (or Illithid among his own kind). He likes walks on the beach during sunny dawns. He loves puppies. He has a steady job as a top notch barber. He plays whist. And Ladies, he is a budding top notch amateur gourmet french cook.



yup. another death tribble production!! <g>

[Storn]

Yup. I'm involved in another Kickstarter project. And folks, I really hope this one gets off the ground, because I really, really want to do the "old school" dungeon module cover for it. I worked up a bit of art for the interior, "The Beast", hopefully to drum up some support for JB Mannon and At The Table games.

Here is the blurb that At The Table provided me:

Within the Devil's Reach is a group of three adventures all set in the backwater town of Devil's Reach. The town was already about as close to hell as you could get but things are getting worse. All three adventures are great intro adventures for the Dungeon World Roleplaying Game. Dungeon World is a light weight game that is focused on delivering an old school, dungeon crawl experience.

Now I haven't had the opportunity to play Dungeon World, but it gets great buzz from Story Games. More importantly to me, my good friend Judd, has really enjoyed running it. From what I can tell, it is D&D old school, but lighter and tightly integrated mechanics with a lot of flavor for each "class" you play. Kinda the best of "old school" combined with "new school" game design. Dungeon World is reasonably priced too, although only available at the moment as a pdf, print is coming out this Gencon.

Here is a link to the kickstarter from At The Table: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/...tures?ref=card

Here is a link to Dungeon World itself: http://www.dungeon-world.com/

And here is my teaser art, "The Beast". I haven't inked in some time for a project that is to remain black and white. I ink all the time for my "superhero style", so it was fun to go back to an old friend and ink this up as a piece of black and white artwork.



It is odd how sometimes character concepts and commissions seem to run in similar thematics. I remember getting a few years ago, 3 speedster archtypes in a month. While 2 is not quite a trend, they did sorta tumble into my to do queue at the same time.

First up, we have a samurai for Death Tribble that called for a pretty straight forward treatment in the concept description.



Next, we have a character from a Legends of the Five Rings campaign. A monk who started out in the Spider Clan, became disillusioned, and went over to the Phoenix clan. But the white swash is symbolic of Takijiro being of two worlds. (Very similar to my own Tsuntake PC who was of Dragon Clan, but his mom was Unicorn and she died saving a lot of face for the Dragon, so Tsuntake was raised knowing he would go serve Shinjo Shoji of the Unicorn...also a young man of two worlds.)



Lastly, for today, I've got another one done for Inkwell's Monster Project kickstart. This time, I got to do a White Dragon. Dragons are tough. So many artists before me have done Dragons, hard to bring your own stamp on it. I think it is informative to show my mistakes and missteps. The first draft of this was rejected by Inkwell and rightly so...although when I had done it, I was too close to it and thought it was fine. I was rather happy with it. But after it's rejection, I started to see its flaws and a talk with my wife about it really cemented that it, well, sucked... and that I needed to do better. So here is the first sketch:



And here is what a good art director, a good wife, a couple of tossed away sketches, and drawing with chums at a coffee shop can accomplish. In my opinion, so much better. Joe over at Inkwell deserves a lion share of the credit for pointing out a much better wing attach to body arrangement. I also wanted to say that I really enjoy working in light colors sometimes. It is fun to do almost watercolor over pencils digitally.



Let me know what y'all think...

And here is the link to Inkwell's Monster Project kickstart in case anyone missed it before and are interested: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/...ster-stock-art

[Storn]

You now can wear ME on YOUR chest!!!

Silver Branch games has taken two of my covers and made them available as t-shirts. They look kinda snazzy, if I can say so myself. I want one.

Check dem out here:

http://silverbranch.spreadshirt.com/

[Samuel Mae]

Ha! Awesome!

[Storn]

Folks, there have been several events in motion behind the scenes at Studio Storn. I am about to embark on a 3 month (or so) project involving a comic book/video game that I am NOT at liberty to discuss. But it is a ton of work. I also have been working on a facebook game, helping with art chores on that. And several covers have made it to my desk.

So. I am raising the price on my private commissions from $45.00 to $60.00.

I have several reasons for doing this.

1) So, while I absolutely LOVE doing private commissions for folks, I need to slow down the rate of which I've been receiving them. A price increase will do that. The demand on me sometimes gets in the way of taking on publisher's paying work.

2) I haven't raised my rates since I've started to doing this (I lowered the prices when I very first started this gig).

3) I feel that I spend more time on each commission than I did when I first started, and there is a higher degree of polish and finish on my commissions and that takes time. While I am fast, a living wage is in danger of being a barely making it wage the more time I spend on these.

If and when my business gets sparse, I might lower my prices. I wholly admit this is an experiment and I expect folks to be a bit bummed about the price raise. So I might have to change my mind.

I really appreciate all the acceptance and support and work I've gotten over the years and I don't do this lightly.

So. Now that is out of the way, let me lay some art on y'all. This is a superhero group of past commissions gathered into one group shot.

[Storn]

Things have been really, really busy here at Studio Storn. I just spent a wonderful extended weekend in Ohio and Michigan. My step-grandfather passed at 89 in Dayton and he had a wonderful life and a wonderful family. I love 'em to pieces. So, please, no condolences. So, we passed through my old haunts in Michigan on the way to the memorial. Had a wonderful time with Eric, Rick and Neil, my old gaming buds. Had an awesome time at the memorial seeing family I haven't seen in decades. It was a very happy time!

And oddly, the best service in Ann Arbor ever! Way better than when I actually lived there. Kudos to Zingermans and Red Tractor BBQ. Just the nicest folks working there. Millie, my wife, loved Ann Arbor.

Getting back to the studio has been really busy with my NDA project and wrapping up other projects. So I have not been posting anything. I've got a couple of things to lay on ya.

First. I don't do many logos... but Darren Watts, formerly of Hero Games, asked me to do this one, because I've done Apes for him before. He is starting up a publishing company called Silverback Press. Here is a link to Silverback's facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/SilverbackPress

And here is the logo:


Next up is a private commission I of a character I believe is in a 7th Sea/ Legends of 5 Rings game.... so I went sorta fantasy-ish in that direction.


Lastly. Another LPJ Portfolio of my clip art work has come out. This one is fantasy, some pics are much more fully illustrated than the single figure, no background thing. A preview is available here: http://www.rpgnow.com/product/100689...%3A-Storn-Cook

So. Yeah. Posting from me is going to slow down a bit, as I won't have tons of new art to show as I work on the new NDA project. Millie's daughter has moved in with us, she will be going to school at Tompkins Cortland Community College for free, where Millie is a professor. And we might have to seek a bigger house. I so love moving.

I know that I have one painting that has been done for a couple of weeks, just waiting on the client to get his ducks in a row, so I can give him some free guerrilla marketing. And I will hopefully get some of the smaller commissions out here and there as we go along. Check back in a few days!

[Storn]

*phew* It has been awhile since I've posted anything. I've been doing my art and I've had things to post, but I've been trying to put to bed the first 8 pages of the comic I'm doing for Time Tribe.

Why I am bringing this up, is because Time Tribe has just launched their kickstarter looking for some funding. Here is the link: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/...adventure-game

But just to give you some background, Time Tribe is a video game. I'm doing some artwork for the in-game comic book, where pages will be unlocked as the player proceeds through the game. It is a game aimed at kids and teaching them history as the 4 young kid protagonists have the ability to travel through time to visit various eras. I could tell you more but the link will be a lot more clear and succinct than my poor writing skills.

Luckily, I have other skills. Like drawing. And my clients have given me permission to put up 2 pieces of artwork. Actually, I will be putting up 3, as 2 images are of the same thing... the gift shop. The first sketch I did was not the right angle and when I got a map of the actual mansion where the kids live and explore helped tremendously, so I wanted to show my evolution to the 2nd one. They really needed a ground floor view for the video game in-scene. Unfortunately, I never finished the gift shop as I had to move onto painting some NPCs and get started on the comic pages.




And here is an example of the digital color over pencils style I'm using for the comic pages. This happens to be page 13 (we are doing them out of order because certain pages are needed in-game more dearly than others).



So. There you have it. A taste of what has been consuming much of my time over the last month or so. Hope you are intrigued. If you have kids, really consider backing Time Tribes... I think it is an awesome way to spark some interest in history.