Recent Sketches

Unannounced game design commission

The Eidolon book cover

A few sketches from some recently completed commissions.  Be sure to check out the final painting for The Eidolon here.

ImagineFX Rising Stars 2012

A nice little mention from ImagineFX this month!  If you haven't already gotten your copy, head on out and check out page 55.  I was fortunate enough to be chosen as one of the honorable mentions for their 2012 Rising Stars competition in the Illustration category.  Such a great way to cap off an already awesome year.

Spectrum 19 & Expose 10

Some shots of my work in the most recent Spectrum 19 & Expose 10 illustration annuals.  I was certainly honored to be included, but when I received my artist copies in the mail I was downright ecstatic!  Destroyermen I was printed full page showing off all the brush work and Swashbuckle Dom (Printed full page as well) received an award of excellence.  My A Princess of Mars, 1027, & Destroyermen II pieces were also included.  Really looking forward to Spectrum Live this May!

Tattoo

While I don't have any, Ive always loved tattoos.  So when the good folks over at Spirit Gallery Tattoo contacted me and said they had a client that wanted to use my 1027 painting as the basis for some ink, I said "Absolutely!"

Since I used myself as the model for the main figure in the painting I love the fact that someone now has my face permanently tattooed on their body.  Poor guy.

Now, if I can only get someone to tattoo Swashbuckle Dom on themselves.  Im thinking very large sprawled across their back would be best.  Any takers?  Anyone...

Recent Sketches

A few sketches from some recent unannounced cover commissions.  Really looking forward to showing off the finals soon!

Spectrum Live!

All the necessities of a 19 hour road trip.

This has been a long time coming but here are a few shots of my booth from Spectrum Live this past spring in Kansas City.  Cant wait for this coming May to do it all over again!

-Dom

Diabolical or Genius?

“Oh Dom, I cant tell if he’s diabolical or a genius.  He really pushes us to the extreme and surprisingly enough, it works!”    

-Anonymous student evaluation 

This past fall I had the pleasure of teaching the Digital Painting class at Moore College of Art & Design again.  Above are just a few examples of some of the stellar work created by a bunch of really talented budding professionals.

The class is made up entirely of juniors and seniors, most of whom have never used a Wacom tablet before, let alone painted with Adobe Photoshop or Corel Painter.  In addition to exploring the concepts and skills needed for digital illustration in the publication and entertainment arts industry I have the students approach each assignment as if they were real world commissions. The importance of each stage of the image making process is stressed from initial thumbnails to final rendered drawings right through on up to the final digital painting.  A constant theme throughout the entire 14 weeks was that applications (such as Photoshop & Painter) are simply just another medium like oil paints or water colors and that preparatory work pays off in dividends.

I’m a big believer that to grow as an artist one has to push themselves.  Often times to the extreme, working outside the comfort zone.  If your good at painting the figure, paint a landscape. Draw or paint something you've never painted before.  Don't sit on your laurels and be content with your last best piece, make the next one even better.  Be better than your best piece.

Thanks for stepping up to the plate, accepting the challenge, and knocking it out of the park.  I’m really proud of you guys.

-Dom

Images above created by (from the top left to right):

Anja Gudic

Stephanie Zuppo

Michelle Segal

Kristina Buylova

Laura Bushinski

Chrysta Stever