Champions of Aetaltis - Cover

This is easily the hardest and most challenging piece I have ever done. It started as a digital piece, turned into an oil piece, back into a digital piece, back into an oil piece, and then I basically had to restart and complete it as a digital piece.

It has taken more time than any single published piece of art I have ever made, and I am both relived and extremely happy it is finished.

This painting is the front, spine, and back for the upcoming Champions of Aetaltis anthology, whose successful Kickstarter can be found here.

Here it is:

(c) 2015 Mechanical Muse

League of Legends - Tahm Kench, The River King

I recently had the pleasure of working on Tahm Kench's champion promotion for League of Legends. I worked on two key parts: the "River King" video; and his Champion Reveal page.


The River King:

For this video, I provided feedback and direction to the wonderful Rovina Cai on the illustrations she did for the pages. I also created all the paper textures, designed all the block letters, and did some of the runic script treatment. I also had the pleasure of painting the background plate in the river shot. The water in mine is super temp since they were going to break it out anyway. Check it out:

Dan Norton provided direction for the project, and Julio Diaz developed the majority of the runic script seen on the pages. It was one helluva ride, but I think the result was well worth it.

Champion Reveal:

The reveal page can be found here.

I worked with our team's Visual Designer, Julio Diaz (mentioned above), to create illustrations that would work with the site's layout. I did all the lineart for them and much of the planning for how the illustrations would be built. Sperasoft handled the rendering on everything except the chunk at bottom, which was all me. I did have to do a significant amount of touch-ups, but that was pretty entirely because they got that whole site done in like... three days. Which is massively impressive. Check out my final contribution:

Heroes of Thornwall--Out Now!

Available now, Pay What You Want, HERE.

This is the first book I've ever art directed or done the cover for. Really pleased with how it turned out.

And announcing the next Kickstarter on May 11 for Champions of Aetaltis!

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From the press release:

Role playing game publisher Mechanical Muse is pleased to announce The Heroes of Thornwall, a new game book set in their world of Aetaltis.

With goblins on the loose and the nearest royal guard post more than three days’ ride away, the town of Thornwall needs help! Complete with gorgeous color artwork and maps, players will be able to visit the amazing world of Aetaltis as they never have before. This game book includes everything heroes need to complete their next Pathfinder campaign, including a detailed town environment, a classic fantasy tavern to serve as their launch pad to adventure, more than twenty non-player characters to help and hinder them, and a high-stakes adventure that plunges heroes right into the action.

BUY HEROES OF THORNWALL TODAY

Created by Marc Tassin, a published author and editor with years of experience in the gaming industry, Aetaltis is a world that embraces well-loved fantasy elements while breathing new life into them. Part of the initial idea of the world was to create a property that would be able to support a variety of creative endeavors across many platforms, including games, fiction, comics, and art. With that in mind, there is another upcoming event Aetaltis and fantasy fans everywhere won’t want to miss.

On May 11, Mechanical Muse will launch a Kickstarter campaign for its new fiction anthology, Champions of Aetaltis. This anthology will feature original fantasy stories from some of the biggest authors in roleplaying game and fantasy fiction today, including stories from:
David Farland (New York Times Bestselling Author)
Ed Greenwood (creator of the Forgotten Realms fantasy world)
Larry Correia (New York Times Bestselling Author)
Elaine Cunningham (New York Times Bestselling Author)
Michael A. Stackpole (New York Times Bestselling Author)
Elizabeth Vaughan (USA Today Bestselling Author)
Aaron Rosenberg (Star Trek, World of Warcraft, Starcraft)
Mel Odom (Shadowrun, Award-winning Author of The Rover trilogy)
Jean Rabe (Dragonlance, Forgotten Realms)
Dave Gross (Pathfinder Tales)
Lucy A. Snyder (Bram Stoker Award winner)
Steven S. Long (HERO System)
Richard Lee Byers (Forgotten Realms)
Cat Rambo (Nebula Award nominee and World Fantasy Special Award winner)
Bill Willingham (Creator of the Fables comic)


Along with many more equally talented and experienced authors. The anthology will be edited by John Helfers, who has edited more than one hundred anthologies for major publishers such as DAW Books, Tor, Baen, and many others.

Readers will experience the world of Aetaltis in the shoes of characters facing deadly dangers and long odds. They will discover what lies within the mysterious tower of the Golden God, test their courage in the monster-infested halls of the Deeplands, and accompany dwarven stonesailors as they brave the perils of the Blade Sea.

To learn more and to receive all of the latest news in the world of Aetaltis, please visit www.aetaltis.com, and follow @aetaltis on Twitter.For media inquiries, please contact: Melanie Meadors, Publicist, melaniermeadors@gmail.com Pathfinder and associated marks and logos are trademarks of Paizo Inc., and are used under license. Seepaizo.com/pathfinderRPG for more information on the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game.

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And check out these cool photos of the hardcopy, out soon!

Mage Redux

I was asked by the guys at Mechanical Muse to expand my mage piece I had licensed to them, so I took a couple weeknights to do a much bigger touch-up just to put my mind at ease (a lot of stuff has been brewing in my mind about this painting for the last couple years). It was weird revisiting the piece, but now that it is published in print I don't need to think about it. ;)

Here's where it is now:

The old one is here.

Cheers!

Aetaltis Iconic #1

The first iconic character for Aetaltis is now detailed up in her standalone image. This is our Fighter iconic, and it's based on a description from the Aetaltis character creation competition. It calls for a Dwarf of Calliosan descent with finely tailored clothes and some armor, with a sort of "Shirley Temple" vibe. This is my take:

Dwarven Fighter Iconic, Gouache on Cold Press Watercolor Paper

Faeria Kobolds (Old!)

I did these a while ago and had no idea they had been teased. They're pretty dated for me, but I want to share them still!

(c) 2014 Abrakam

(c) 2014 Abrakam

Again, they're not at my current skill level, but there's some parts of them I'm still fond of. Overly tight edges on everything is so weird. :x

KKG Art Book

My piece for the KKG Art Book was revealed. Check it out!

More info here.