Samiha's Song cover

This is the cover for Samiha's Song, second installment of my wife's trilogy " Chronicles of the tree".

I had to make this one as different from the first image as I could, while still keeping it in the "family". The brief was to do the scene where Samiha stands on the top of the damaged dome and sings to the people, calling them to the temple.

It was very tempting to design a cool building and have Samiha facing us. But I thought it might be better to be more "suggestive"and view the whole scene from behind her, as you can see on the black and white rough. This angle would allow me to be less precise with her features so as to leave the imagination to the readers.

The architecture of the town also had to be different from Argos and had to reflect the hierarchy of the city with the rich people buildings on the right, and the shantytown of the poor living in tents on the left.

The only thing I didn't see coming was the fact that the title would end up right where the sun is!

There's a few mistakes here and there in the final image, but I'll just pretend I made them on purpose.

The making of "GAS ATTACK"

Hi folks, here's a sneak preview of one of my paintings for the "White cloud Worlds" book.

This one is called "Gas Attack", it is part of a concept I called: "War of the Woods".

The idea for it came a few years ago as I was walking in the streets of Nancy, a city in the French region of Lorraine. The first world war still permeates the whole landscape over there. You know how it is when your mind wonders about ...What a strange building... Hey look a pretty girl... and then... hundreds of angry Dwarves wearing strange helmets and gas masks appear!

I ran home and did the sketch that you see at the top. Then I forgot about it for a year or two.

Later I thought it'd be fun to do a more finalized painting from that crude rough.

The image in the middle was taken by my wife as I was painting it. The books in the background are all real, and barely any of them is a Playboy magazine.

The last image is the final painting.

It is really sad to think that the real world influences the parallel world of the fairies in such a dramatic way, but there it is! Who knows what they're up to these days...

White Cloud Worlds!

Yours truly will have some paintings published in a book coming out on November 1st, 2010, and featuring the work of several fellow artists from New Zealand: 'White Cloud Worlds'. The title comes from 'Aotearoa', the Maori name for my adopted land which means: "Land of the long white cloud". There will also be an exibition and some book signings, check out the website:

http://www.whitecloudworlds.com/about.php

My own work included in the anthology is part of a project going on inside my head for a few years now. In the story, I discover a chest in New Zealand full of paintings dating back to the first world war. They relate a parallel history of the faerie kingdoms during that terrible time. All of the paintings are done with acrylic on paper or canvas.

You can buy the book here:
http://www.harpercollins.com.au/books/White-Cloud-Worlds-Paul-Tobin/?isbn=9781869508241

Girl power

What a weird composition, I hear you say!?!

And that's precisely the point: how far could I push this image before it would look unbalanced.

To get as much movement as possible, I did it in photoshop while listening to heavy metal... maybe I should have drunk some coffee as well?

The Hunter

Just a little free painting I did for the Plunket charity. Acrylic paint on paper.

Tymon's Flight book cover

This is the final cover for my wife's debut novel... Nepotism? Who said nepotism? I heard you at the back!

JUMPING!

Just trying my new photoshop. a two and half hour painting....

The Ambush "part two"

So there it is: "The Ambush part two"

I'm not saying it's finished. I might touch it again at some point... or not.

One thing is for sure: I don't want to kill the energy it has, by adding a million details!

Here's a little animation :

Gif animation

The Ambush "part two"

Finally, I found something that I liked, and pushed the sketch a little further.

I took a big canvas ( 80cm by 100cm ), and projected a pencil drawing of that rough onto it.

The Ambush "part two"

I started by placing elements and playing around with the composition in photoshop.

The whole thing took probably half a second.

No I'm kidding, it took 2 seconds.

"The Ambush" part two

This watercolor entitled " A Maori ambush" was painted in the nineteen century by a colorful character named Gustavus Von Tempsky.

Even though these people were his enemies, we can see the respect he had for the Maori rebels.

For quite a while I've been thinking of doing my own version of that event, by imagining what happens after the scene depicted there.

"The Ambush, part two"