Art by Storn

kroh · Post by **kroh** » Sun Feb 05, 2012 11:11 pm

Storn! glad to see you hop in around here. great stuff!

regards
Walt

Storn · Post by **Storn** » Thu Feb 09, 2012 8:27 am

I thought I would share my continuing growing family of… Hobgoblins. Now a trio, soon to be a quartet.

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.

urbwar · Post by **urbwar** » Thu Feb 09, 2012 9:39 am

I love the plane!

kroh · Post by **kroh** » Thu Feb 09, 2012 1:06 pm

Wow! Great Images.

Regards,
Walt

MrJupiter · Post by **MrJupiter** » Thu Feb 09, 2012 10:39 pm

Yes, great pictures. That sharkplane looks incredible!

Storn · Post by **Storn** » Sat Feb 11, 2012 11:46 am

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/ink ... sts/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

kroh · Post by **kroh** » Sat Feb 11, 2012 11:50 am

Great images. The Lich is amazing and I love the Hobs. Sounds like the name of a good fantasy fun book or rpg module.

Dustland · Post by **Dustland** » Sat Feb 11, 2012 1:45 pm

I love the witch doctor and the red accents on the lich armor are fantastic!

Storn · Post by **Storn** » Mon Feb 13, 2012 12:23 pm

Thanks folks for the really nice comments. 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.php? ... s_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>

Harrigan · Post by **Harrigan** » Wed Feb 15, 2012 2:50 am

Storn, excellent to see you've joined the Bash! community -- I stumbled across it myself late last year. Also digging that your art has evolved from when I used to commission your services back a decade or more ago (think Emperor Dang, Ultraman, Paragon vs. Talos, ASERT Troopers, etc.) -- absolutely love the fantasy pics you're posting here. Top notch stuff!

Storn · Post by **Storn** » Fri Feb 17, 2012 2:45 pm

Harrigan wrote:Storn, excellent to see you've joined the Bash! community -- I stumbled across it myself late last year. Also digging that your art has evolved from when I used to commission your services back a decade or more ago (think Emperor Dang, Ultraman, Paragon vs. Talos, ASERT Troopers, etc.) -- absolutely love the fantasy pics you're posting here. Top notch stuff!

Thanks! I did see your thread and your switching to commissioning from other artists. Which is totally cool. Style happens, it isn't something I ever tried to nail down, it just is how I make marks and see stuff. And it evolves naturally over the years. Lastly, my style is not suitable for everything or everyone. So seeing that older artwork was really neat for me. Kinda memory lane stuff.

Storn · Post by **Storn** » Fri Feb 17, 2012 2:47 pm

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/for ... ery-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!

urbwar · Post by **urbwar** » Fri Feb 17, 2012 5:23 pm

I always enjoy your powered armor pictures, and Death Tribble always gives you some interesting commissions to draw!

Storn · Post by **Storn** » Wed Feb 22, 2012 4:32 pm

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 · Post by **Storn** » Tue Feb 28, 2012 1:02 pm

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/ink ... -stock-art