Merry Christmas!

Here is a present for you:


Did this one for a friends annual Christmas card. 12 x 16 oil on paper on board

The Silver Hand

Here is a cover I recently finished painting for a novel titled "The Silver Hand: Book One of The Consortium" by Sharon Pansky. This one was a bit of a challenge for me, while I have painted many a still life in my day, doing a full fledged cover without a person in it was something new.

I was working directly with the author on this one, and she had asked to see photos of the painting progressing. I always swear I am going to do this one every painting, and this time I actually did. (These were shot at different times of the day and are uncorrected so the colors are kinda off from one to the other)

Thumbnail

Final drawing

Acrylic underpainting

From here I realized I had gone a little too warm with the metals. I usually do this to give them more "punch" but with a book titled "The Silver Hand" I went back in and toned them down digitally.


Final is 16" by 24" oil on paper on board. (ok, I guess acrylic/oil/digital)


In other news: I know everyone has just been dying to wear my artwork on a T-shirt. Well for a limited time you will have a chance, and help out the fantasy illustration community as well.

http://www.redbubble.com/people/artorder/works/8101324-michael-c-hayes?p=t-shirt

I am not sure how long they will be available for, Jon mentioned that it will be a rotating portfolio of shirts, so get em while you can. After Redbubble takes their cut, all proceeds will go to the ArtOrder community, an invaluable resource for aspiring illustrators.

Evocation

I started working on this painting quite some time ago, and recently finished it up for this years Illuxcon. (Which was amazing, as always)

There isn't a whole lot to say about this one. Sometimes I want to create something with a deep narrative and some days I just want to paint something beautiful. I am so grateful for shows like Illuxcon and the collectors that attend that allow me to get paid for both.

16" by 24" oil on paper on board.

Arthur and Morgana

So here is the final painting of a private commission I have been working on for awhile. I had a lot of leeway with this one. Initially the clients asked for an armored male knight of some sort and a female sorceress or with character. I wanted to have a story, not just generic characters , so I started looking around at stories from mythology to modern fantasy. The story of Arthur and the love-hate relationship with this scheming half-sister Morgana (or Morgane Le Fey or Morgaine) fit what they wanted perfectly and gave me something to really sink my teeth into.


I did a bunch of rough thumbs and gave them the 3 that were working best. They ended up going with the more traditional book cover approach.



I got some friends together, shot some reference and put together a detailed drawing to send them.



They weren't too crazy about the tattoos and suggested a few other small changes. From there I enlarged the drawing, mounted it too a board and got to work, here is a few progress shots: a thin rough underpainting and two of me working my way around the painting.




and here is a close-up for everyone who read to the end:

Alethia Brightsong

So here is something bright and shiny for you after all the doom and gloom of the Innistrad paintings. This is from the latest WoW TCG set entitled "Throne of Tides"

There is some digital work done on top of this one to get the underwater glow effect to work a bit better. A lot of the glazing layers I used in the original for this effect didn't photograph all that well and had to be recreated and then exaggerated digitally . Thus, I can't really show what the real painting actually looks like underneath the photoshop. Everything but the little glowing dots was hand painted though, and the effect was enhanced mainly through several soft light and masked off levels and color layers.

The original is 13" by 18" oil on paper on board, and will be on display at Illuxcon.

Arthur and Morgana is almost finished... stay tuned

More Innistrad paintings

Here are the other 3 paintings I did for the Innistrad set. I had done 6 total, but one got pushed back to the next set. It was a good one too, and I have been itching to show it off. To be honest I am not all that thrilled with how these 3 turned out, but a fan asked me to post them, so here they are.

In some ways they were a good kick in the ass. And a reminder that just because you have painted some good paintings in the past, you can't just expect them all to magically kick ass without any thought or effort on your part.

Reckless Waif and Merciless Predator

Sorry for the lapse in posting lately, things are crazy as always. I should have a fair amount of new art to show in the next 6 weeks leading up to Illuxcon. So much to do before then, just typing that I only have 6 weeks left is freaking me out.

Here is a double sided card from the upcoming Innistrad expansion that was just previewed.


These double sided cards are a new mechanic in the Innistrad block. They all start with a human character of some sort that can then flip over and change into a werewolf (or other monster). In order to link the images together, certain things like hair/fur color had to be the same in both paintings. Thus, I was in all seriousness, asked to paint a strawberry blonde werewolf:


Both images are 13 x 18 oil on paper on board. Stay tuned in the coming weeks for more Innistrad paintings, a Warcraft card, the Arthur and Morgana commission and one, hopefully two personal paintings for Illuxcon.

DragonCon

I am heading out to DragonCon in a few days, lots of friends on facebook are talking about attending. Since my location isn't exactly what you would call "prime real estate" I thought it might be useful to post a map to where I will be.


This is the dealers room, in the international ballroom which is located in the southeast corner of the Marriot Hotel. The red circle way in the back corner is where I will be all weekend. It is my first year there and I am gonna go out on a limb and guess that location was based on seniority. I have heard nothing but good things about the show, so I am looking forward to weekend regardless.

Oh yeah, since this is an art blog and all that, I should probably post some art since I haven't done that in awhile: Here is what I currently on my easel: a private commission of Arthur and Morgana. There have been a few changes, most notably I got rid of the tattoos and repositioned the castles a bit. If all goes as planned I should have this finished up not too long after I get back.

Poison Ivy

Just in time for San Diego Comic-Con. If you missed it in my last post, be sure to stop by artist alley table FF06. I will have this painting, Daenerys and Harley Quinn on display. As well as matted prints in all sizes of most of my work.

16" by 24" oil on paper on board.

Daenerys Targaryen / Mother of Dragons

I was hoping to get this finished to coincide with the release of Dance with Dragons yesterday... alas paint drying time had a little something to say about that.

For those who aren't familiar with the name, she is a character from the very popular Song of Fire and Ice books. Although I think Emilia Clarke is doing an outstanding job portraying her in the HBO series, I opted to paint my interpretation of Dany from the books.

I will have this painting on display at San Diego Comic-Con next week. If you are planning on attending please stop by artist alley table FF06 and say hi.

Original is 12" by 18" oil paper on board.

Crumbling Colossus

So this card just got spoiled a few days ago, another one from the Magic 2012 Core set. It was actually the first Magic card I ever painted.

13" x 18" oil on paper on board

Arya Stark / Maisie Williams

A fun little portrait I did of Arya Stark/Maisie Williams from the Game of Thrones book/tv series.

Distress

This just got revealed on the Magic the Gathering website yesterday. I have been itching to show it off since I painted it almost a year ago. It is one of the images that I got into Spectrum 18 and will be part of the upcoming Magic 2012 core set, releasing July 15th.

The original is 13" by 18" and will most likely be on display at San Diego Comic Con.

Vish Kal, Blood Arbiter

I can finally start showing some of the work I have been doing for Magic: the Gathering. This card was recently spoiled and will be in the upcoming Commander Deck that will be released in a few weeks.

Stay tuned, I should be able to show off two more cards from Magic 2012 which releases in July, including one that made it into Spectrum 18.

And now for something different....

With all the comic conventions I have been going to to I was feeling a little left out not having painted a single comic book character. I was told Harley Quinn (the Joker's girlfriend, from the Batman comics) would get some attention... and did it ever.

Poison Ivy is up next...

Conan and Red Sonja

Here is my latest, fresh off the easel. This was done as a private commission and measures 16" by 24". Oil on board as always.

For those in Arizona: I will be at the Phoenix Comicon this weekend, if you are planning on coming stop by booth # 331 to say hi.

By popular request...

Here is the sketch to the Red Sonja commission I have been talking about and everyone wants to see. I am shooting to get it done before the Pheonix Comicon next month.

Again, apologies for the lapse in posting. I am all kinds of busy lately. I hope to get back to a regular routine soon.

Framed limited edition canvas giclees now available

I finally got everything organized on this project, like everything else I tend to do this took a lot more time an effort than I had originally thought it would. But now that it is all said and done, I am very happy with the results. Without further ado, here are all the details:

These are 16" by 24" giclees printed with Epson archival inks on the best canvas I could find. Each has two coats of a glossy UV-protective varnish so they don't have be put behind glass. Each print is limited to an edition of only 25, and are hand-signed and numbered in oil. And last but not least they all come with a frame I personally selected for each image. They even come with hanging hardware attached.

(I know I am sounding like a bad infomercial salesman here, bear with me it's almost over)

Best part of all is that I am selling them for only $299 (plus $30 s&h). I am in the process of redoing my website so that these can be ordered through a paypal store. In the meantime just send me an email (mike@artofmike.com) and I will send you a paypal invoice. (or my address if you want to pay by check).

Because of the costs, time involved and space these take; inventory might end up being sporadic. I am going to be printing, varnishing and framing these in batches and just don't have time to do it on demand. So I apologize in advance if I run out of the one you want and take a few months to get it back in stock.

Here are the five giclees available to begin with.

Spectrum 18

The list is of artists to be included in this years Spectrum is now up.

http://www.spectrumfantasticart.com/

I don't know how to explain how good it feels, after being rejected five times, to finally see my name on that list.

Wondercon

I will be exhibiting my work at Wondercon in San Francisco this weekend. If you are going to be there, be sure to drop by artist alley table # 136 to say hi.

Guardian Angel

Finished this one last week, and unlike everything else I am doing lately, I am allowed to show it!

This was a private commission where I was given pretty much free reign. The only requirements were that it be a beautiful female angel, and that the birthstones ruby and diamond be worked into the design of some sort of weapon.

The final is 20"by 30" oil on paper on board.

On the easel

Sorry for the lapse in posting, and apologies in advance for some of the lapses to come. Things might be a little patchy between now and the end of March as I try and get everything ready for the first few conventions of the year. Between work, a large print run I am doing myself (including some framed very limited edition canvas giclees), a complete website facelift, taxes, family visiting and a whole lot of other little things the blog is taking a bit of a backseat.

In the meantime though: here is something cool I am working on: it is a private commission so no NDA!

I don't usually go quite so nuts on my underpaintings/block-ins. But with the effect I am trying to pull off on this one, getting my values and color relationships spot on is very important, so it seemed like a good idea.

More drawings, and some incoherent rambling on drawing for illustration.

In my last post I mentioned that I had gotten away from the red pencil drawings because I was worried the media might be influencing my assessment of the overall image. I want to expand on that thought today and explain my general philosophy for preliminary drawings.

In essence, I try and draw in as boring a style as I possibly can. Everything I was ever taught about attractive draftsmanship goes out the window. Thick and thin line weight, loose charismatic linework, cross hatching, etc... I am not having any of it. While all those things are very important to creating a good drawing, I don't think of my prelims as drawings. In my mind they are blueprints, a means to an end, and therefore function must come before form.


One of the hardest challenges an artist faces is imbuing a sense of life into their work, creating something that "breathes" instead of just 'shows". A somewhat common issue I have heard from several illustrators over the years is that the final painting lost some of the life that was in the sketch. There was some indefinable spark in the sketch that just didn't translate to the painting. When I looked at the sketches of these illustrators, they had many of the traditional characteristics of an attractive drawing that I mentioned above. It made me think that maybe that spark had come from their technique instead of something inherent in the content and that is why it didn't show up in the final.

Therefore, my thinking is that if I draw in a boring manner, and the image still has a breath of life in it, then I know that life is inherent in the content, not the technique, and will transfer into the final every single time.

Just to clarify a few things: by content I mean things such as composition, gesture of the figure, facial expression, storytelling, etc... Fundamental image-making concepts that are independent of style and media. I should also mention that I do start out with much looser and gestural technique, I just choose to erase and clean up as I go along.

Lastly I should mention that I arrived at this way of thinking on my own, it wasn't something I was taught. Therefore, there is a very real possibility I am dead wrong and I am giving everyone bad advice. I would love to hear other peoples thoughts on the subject.